xkcd

rsuri , in xkcd #2922: Pub Trivia

4 is a trick question. Both had zero shark attacks, the so-called "shark" in Jaws was in fact a symbol of predatory capitalism and its amoral violence against the proletariat

SchmidtGenetics , in xkcd #2915: Eclipse Clouds

Something that can happen any day vs a potentially once in a lifetime experience…. Yeah I can totally see why someone would be equally excited about those.

scarilog ,

Tis a joke my good sir

SchmidtGenetics ,

And some people truly don’t see the difference.

chaogomu , in xkcd #2877: Fever

Ah, another excuse to whip out my one bit of interesting temperature based trivia.

-40 is the same in Celsius and Fahrenheit, and 575 is the same in Fahrenheit and Kelvin.

Frozengyro ,

What about rankine?

chaogomu , (edited )

That one is easy. Rankine and Kelvin line up at 0 and technically a bit at 1 as well. sort of.

More like 0.5555 Kelvin and 1 Rankine, but I'm allowed to round up a bit in this.

Zagorath ,
@Zagorath@aussie.zone avatar

What about Rankine and Celsius?

threelonmusketeers ,

Where does Rankine line up with Celsius?

psud ,

Never. Rankine increases faster than Celcius, so the two will never cross

Rankine starts at zero Celsius starts at -273.15°

Rankine at room temperature 527.67 Celcius at room temperature 20

Those lines do not cross

threelonmusketeers ,

Huh, so the lines do cross, just at a pysically impossible temperature of -614.5875. Neat!

WhiskyTangoFoxtrot ,
Cold_Brew_Enema ,

Wow that was useless. Thanks!

TheHotze ,

That’s nice, but you still need to get out of the volcano.

RandomStickman , in xkcd #2852: Parameterball
@RandomStickman@kbin.social avatar

Would be a great video game haha

captain_aggravated ,
@captain_aggravated@sh.itjust.works avatar

Hmm, I haven’t worked with Godot’s 3D system yet, this seems like as good an excuse as any.

4am ,

Better hurry, there will probably be 1000 of these by the end of the week 😆

captain_aggravated ,
@captain_aggravated@sh.itjust.works avatar

Meh they can have it then.

Amaltheamannen ,

Especially in VR

lugal ,
n00b001 ,

That’s a bit like rocket league with mutator settings

randomaccount43543 OP , in xkcd #2835: Factorial Numbers
randomaccount43543 OP ,

I fell like this one really needs the explainxkcd and I still don’t get it 🤣

quindraco ,

I appreciated them correcting Randall’s bad alt-text math - he was off by a power of ten!

Spuddaccino ,

The idea is, each number is expressed as a sum of n factorials, with n being the number of digits in the number post-conversion. You start with the highest factorial that you can subtract out of the original number and work your way down.

1 becomes 1, because 1 = 1!, so the new number says “1x(1)”.

2 becomes 10, because 2 = 2!. The new number says “1x(2x1) + 0x(1)”.

3 becomes 11, because it’s 2 + 1. The new number says “1x(2x1) + 1x(1)”.

21 becomes 311: 4! is 24, so that’s too big, so we use 3!, which is 6. 3x6 = 18, so our number begins as 3XX.
That leaves 3 left over, which we know is 11. The new number says “3x(3x2x1) + 1x(2x1) + 1x(1)”.

FlyingSquid , in xkcd #2817: Electron Holes
@FlyingSquid@lemmy.world avatar

but because I had the device they couldn’t charge me.

Oh Randall, no.

disguy_ovahea , in xkcd #2945: Broken Model
Assman , in xkcd #2929: Good and Bad Ideas
@Assman@sh.itjust.works avatar

What is this transition lense slander

Evotech ,

I know right, I recently replaced my glasses with transition lenses and it's pretty nice.

Who doesn't want automated sunglasses? Not seeing any downsides yet. Only thing I know they don't work in cars, but I don't generally drive so it's ok

The technology has come a long way since the 90s

SidewaysHighways ,

They have different varieties, some do work in the car

Evotech ,

But then they would probably work in a well lit office too.

aBundleOfFerrets ,

The human brain is very good at smoothing over brightness differences, even an oppressively well lit office is still typically an order of magnitude dimmer than the sun.

BearOfaTime ,

No, they don't change inside (I've had them). They do have a slight tint all the time though, which isn't a big deal.

Evotech ,

Was it long ago? Mine have no tint

surewhynotlem ,

In the cold they take too long to transition to clear. So you end up taking them off for a few seconds when you go inside. It's only minorly annoying.

rockerface ,
@rockerface@lemm.ee avatar

To be fair, regular glasses mist up anyway when going inside from the cold, so you take them off anyway

Evotech ,

Didn't really notice much in the winter here

Grandwolf319 ,

Can confirm, it’s all positives with the only downside being that it costs a little more.

twice_twotimes ,

One problem my mom did not anticipate was that she would be stuck effectively wearing sunglasses for my brother’s outdoor wedding, where was sitting up with the bride and groom for the whole thing (Indian wedding). She just looked like an asshole, and continues to look like an asshole in the just about every photo of the ceremony. Oops.

Evotech ,

Haha. Good point. You pretty much always have sunglasses on outside like it or not. Even when its shady

WalrusDragonOnABike ,

Why would wearing sunglasses outdoors make someone look like an asshole?

wizardbeard ,
@wizardbeard@lemmy.dbzer0.com avatar

I find that they don't "un-tint" when going inside fast enough for my liking, personally.

Creates kind of the opposite effect of going from a dim room into a bright space. Instead of evrything seeming extra bright, it just dimmed everything and made it more difficult to see.

MirthfulAlembic , in xkcd #2899: Goodhart's Law
@MirthfulAlembic@lemmy.world avatar

It’s even better when these metrics explicitly become your yearly goals. Or department-wide metrics you have very little influence over. I sure hope all these people I don’t manage happen to achieve a specific error rate this year so I get a good bonus.

rynzcycle ,

God this is too real. One place I worked loved to pick odd company wide metrics too. Instead of just like "profit", 50% of our bonus would be determined by how low a % held stock was against revenue, globally... I worked in marketing. Needless to say the "bonus" did not motivate anyone.

You999 ,

What’s even better is when your metrics are based on last year’s metrics so you better achieve exponential growth or start looking for another job.

MirthfulAlembic ,
@MirthfulAlembic@lemmy.world avatar

The year before last we achieved 1% test error rate in an area, and the bosses were seriously considering having the following year’s goal be 0%. Someone had to point out that if anyone had 1 error on Jan 1, we literally couldn’t do anything to achieve the goal the rest of the year and may as well give up entirely.

lowleveldata , in xkcd #217: e to the pi Minus pi (31 Jan 2007)

There’s no way that I’d believe e^π^−π to be an integer without seeing a proof

blargerer ,

e^iπ tricks you into thinking e is magic.

piecat ,

It… Kinda is?

marcos ,

Nature has quite a special place for the basis of the natural logarithm.

Kolanaki , in xkcd #2869: Puzzles
@Kolanaki@yiffit.net avatar

This is what it’s like to watch Detective Conan in America. They will even have commercial segways where they say “hey, remember this important clue!” And then not even use that clue in the English dub’s edit. They still present it as a mystery the viewer can solve, but then the solution is always some convoluted BS using clues the audience was never shown lol

sawdustprophet ,

commercial segways

I’m amused at the linguistic backport that just occurred here.

Starbuck ,

I’m sure they meant segue here

segue 1 of 3 imperative verb se·​gue ˈse-(ˌ)gwā ˈsā- 1: proceed to what follows without pause —used as a direction in music 2: perform the music that follows like that which has preceded —used as a direction in music

Kolanaki ,
@Kolanaki@yiffit.net avatar

No, I totally meant those little upright, lean-to go forward scooter things. 👀

WalrusDragonOnABike ,

Watching detective conan in america sounds expensive.

sawdustprophet ,

I’m sure they meant segue here

Correct. The amusing part being that “Segway” was intentionally chosen as a play on the actual word “segue”. Hence the phrase “linguistic backport”.

KpntAutismus ,

subtitles are slightly more annoying, but i at least partially know what’s going on.

plus english dubs often times suck balls.

mononomi , in xkcd #2914: Eclipse Coolnesss

Now I looked up the next total eclipse in europe. Spain 12 August 2026 here I come!

Btw, is a total eclipse that different from an annular eclipse? Anybody got tips on what to do?

invisiblegorilla ,

I think the problem with this one was how close it was to to sunset.

Global Event: Total Solar Eclipse, in Spain

Start of Partial: Wed, 12 Aug 2026, 19:30 CEST

Start of Totality: Wed, 12 Aug 2026, 20:26 CEST

End of Totality: Wed, 12 Aug 2026, 20:33 CEST

End of Partial: Wed, 12 Aug 2026, 20:46 WEST

Sunset:

  • 20:49 - Wednesday, August 12, 2026 (GMT+2)
NeatNit ,

in an annular eclipse you don’t get the “someone broke the sky” thing. It basically means there’s always bits of the sun sticking out from around the moon.

Edit: so bascially the whole spike in the middle of the graph is gone

bdonvr ,

An annular eclipse happens when the moon is farther out, making it appear smaller than the sun. So when it covers it, you still see a ring of sun. Cool, but not spectacular. You need special glasses for sun viewing the entire time. It looks like so:

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e7/2023_Annual_Eclipse.jpg

A total solar eclipse is when the moon is closer and appears as large or larger than the sun, completely blocking it. This creates a temporary night-like environment for a small section of the earth. It also makes it so that you can view the sun’s outer atmosphere, which extends away from the sun in ghostly white outcroppings. This is always there, but the sun’s surface is so bright it usually drowns it out. It appears about as bright as a full moon, viewable with the naked eye. The moon itself becomes absolutely, mesmerizingly black. Even very-science minded persons have described it as a religious experience

https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/SNoNFdiH2LP2FSyYTfr5SP-320-80.jpg

CherenkovBlue ,
@CherenkovBlue@iusearchlinux.fyi avatar

If you are in the path of totality, go find a spot early on and just kind of hang out - bring snacks and water and a book. If you aren’t familiar with the area, download a map on your phone because the cell network might be slammed with people. Don’t look at the sun without solar glasses until totality. The moon takes a while to move in front of the sun and the light level gradually drops, but you won’t notice it until probably 90% of the sun is covered. Once totality occurs, you can look at the eclipse with the naked eye.

It is beautiful and indescribable and I was profoundly moved when I watched the 2017 eclipse. I will watch the upcoming one, provided the clouds don’t cover it.

Once the eclipse is over, prepare to wait for traffic. It might be a while to get out because so many people go to such a small area.

CherenkovBlue ,
@CherenkovBlue@iusearchlinux.fyi avatar

If you go north/west, the eclipse will take place a bit higher over the horizon. If you go to the eastern part/coast of Spain, it will be very low to the horizon, which would maybe suck inland but might be cool over the ocean.

leaky_shower_thought , in xkcd #2913: Periodic Table Regions

“super fancy protons” is special in its own

but boron is specialer.

dependencyinjection ,

Can you explain for an idiot.

JoeBigelow ,
@JoeBigelow@lemmy.ca avatar

A hydrogen ion doesn’t necessarily have a neutron, making it sort of a fancy proton, with a little friend somewhere around.

kofe ,

But why is boron specialer

orphiebaby , (edited )

“Boron” rhymes with “moron”, but we can’t say that anymore because it’s politically-incorrect, so we say “special”. /jk

Donkter ,

Like a… Boron?

randomaccount43543 OP , in xkcd #2913: Periodic Table Regions
LazaroFilm , in xkcd #2898: Orbital Argument
@LazaroFilm@lemmy.world avatar

Technically, the sun is pulled by the earth too so it’s sort of true.

dev_null ,

Yeah, any 2 bodies actually orbit a common point in between themselves. In case of the Sun and Earth that point is probably still inside the Sun, not far from the center.

lugal ,

My thought exactly but isn’t the common center still inside the sun?

knatschus ,

Yes, but they still both orbit the black hole in the center of our galaxy

kamenlady ,
@kamenlady@lemmy.world avatar

The urge to orbit a black hole is universal

KidnappedByKitties ,

Only until we find something heavier

the_joeba ,

Looks over shoulder Nobody’s going to take this? Sighs Fine. I’ll get this one. Clears throat

Now we all orbit KidnappedByKitties mom.

KidnappedByKitties ,

Get in line! It’s you, everyone and the rest of the universe!

Orbiting…

Slowly watching…

Slowly descending towards the crushing abyss…

Fast or slow, near or far, there is inevitably only Mother…

And the complete annihilation of her touch

TWeaK ,

The common centre is the galaxy they both orbit spiral around together.

Then, the galaxy moves around some other point along with other galaxies.

Then, a bunch of aliens are playing with marbles.

Tier1BuildABear ,
@Tier1BuildABear@lemmy.world avatar

Thanks, kurzkesagt

TWeaK ,

I was thinking Men in Black.

Jaytreeman ,

Except it's still inside the sun, so depending on how big you view the center of the sun it could still be wrong.

danc4498 ,

So if the point is inside the sun, do we not consider the sun as orbiting that point? I would think it is still orbiting a point.

ech ,

The sun isn’t orbiting itself, though, so to say it’s wrong is also wrong. The sun is orbiting a small point in space that is affected by the bodies around it. That the point is covered by the sun doesn’t change that.

starman2112 ,

It’s usually not inside the sun thanks to Jupiter’s fat ass

Bademantel ,

I mean, yeah. That’s the joke.

LazaroFilm ,
@LazaroFilm@lemmy.world avatar

Oh thanks! I wasn’t sure. /s

Bademantel ,

A cunning display of deception!

TrickDacy ,

May as well lose the /s

Nightwind ,

No it’s not. The common center here is the center of our galaxy which both orbit. Even if the sun wobbles a miniscule bit there is no common orbit between them.

tryptaminev , (edited )
@tryptaminev@feddit.de avatar

it is possible for objects to orbit multiple objects at the same time. Add the moon to the system. The moon is orbiting the earth that is orbiting the sun that is orbiting the center of our galaxy. And yes each of them have a common center, just that it is very very close to the center of mass of the larger object in each case.

For the moon the earth is the dominant gravitational force, for the earth it is the sun and for the sun it is the center of our galaxy

Cypher ,

for the sun it is the center of gravity.

You mean the galactic center, which in turn orbits a point somewhere in the middle of our local galactic cluster.

Sylver ,

And our local galactic cluster is heading towards something ominous called the Great Attractor. It’s direction is hidden by the horizon of the Milky Way, but it is most likely another larger cluster of galaxies

tryptaminev ,
@tryptaminev@feddit.de avatar

youre right, i miexd up the words and edited it. thank you.

Donkter ,

There’s a very famous smart man with zany hair and a big tongue that says your comment is wrong and it’s all relative to your frame of reference.

SomethingBurger ,
@SomethingBurger@jlai.lu avatar

zany hair and a big tongue

Gene Simmons?

blanketswithsmallpox ,

The Goblin Bulge King?

CosmicCleric ,
@CosmicCleric@lemmy.world avatar

I would have gone with Groucho Marx.

Zron ,

No the common center is called a barycenter and it’s somewhere just outside the middle of the sun.

Fermion ,

Then Jupiter and Saturn enter the dance and they’re all sort of wrong.

V0lD ,

I mean, yeah, but the bigger argument here is that due to the sheer mass of Jupiter, the centre of mass of our solar system is actually very so slightly outside of the sun

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