xkcd

xkcd #3123: Canon

Title text:

Achilles was a mighty warrior, but his Achilles' heel was his heel.

Transcript:

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Source: https://xkcd.com/3123/

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xkcd #3122: Bad Map Projection: Interrupted Spheres

Title text:

During the most recent glacial maximum, it's believed that land bridges extended from the surfaces and connected several of the spheres together.

Transcript:

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Source: https://xkcd.com/3122/

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xkcd #3121: Kite Incident

Title text:

Detectives say the key to tracking down the source of the kites was a large wall map covered in thumbtacks and string. 'It's the first time that method has ever actually worked,' said a spokesperson.

Transcript:

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Source: https://xkcd.com/3121/

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xkcd #3120: Geologic Periods

Title text:

Geologists claim it's because the earlier Cenozoic used to be called the Tertiary, but that's just a ruse to hide the secret third geologic period, between the Neogene and the Quaternary, that they won't tell us about.

Transcript:

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Source: https://xkcd.com/3120/

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xkcd #3119: Flettner Rotor

Title text:

"And in maritime news, the Coast Guard is on the scene today after an apparent collision between two lighthouses."

Transcript:

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Source: https://xkcd.com/3119/

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xkcd #3118: iNaturalist Animals and Plants

Title text:

Washington, DC: Eastern gray squirrel, Amur honeysuckle. Puerto Rico: Crested anole, sea grape. US as a whole: Mallard, eastern poison ivy.

Transcript:

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Source: https://xkcd.com/3118/

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xkcd #3117: Replication Crisis

Title text:

Maybe encouraging the publication of null results isn't enough--maybe we need a journal devoted to publishing results the study authors find personally annoying.

Transcript:

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Source: https://xkcd.com/3117/

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xkcd #3116: Echo Chamber

Title text:

This is almost as bad as the time I signed up for a purely partisan fishing expedition.

Transcript:

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Source: https://xkcd.com/3116/

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xkcd #3115: Unsolved Physics Problems

Title text:

'Tin pest' makes more sense to me. Tin just doesn't want to be locked down in a shape like that. I get it. But why would any metal want to grow hair??

Transcript:

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Source: https://xkcd.com/3115/

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xkcd #3114: Building a Fire

Title text:

That was quicker than usual! The cabin's sprinkler system often makes it really hard to keep anything lit.

Transcript:

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Source: https://xkcd.com/3114/

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xkcd #3113: Fix This Sign

Title text:

We're building on our earlier success getting web developers to pay to change the backslashes in our displayed payment URL to forward slashes.

Transcript:

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Source: https://xkcd.com/3113/

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xkcd #3112: Geology Murder

Title text:

After determining that his body was full of pipes carrying iron-rich fluid, our current theory is that the dagger-shaped object precipitated within the wound.

Transcript:

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Source: https://xkcd.com/3112/

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xkcd #3111: Artificial Gravity

Title text:

Low gravity can cause bone loss, so we're pleased to report that, since we initiated capsule motion, the number of bones in each crew member has been steadily increasing.

Transcript:

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Source: https://xkcd.com/3111/

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xkcd #3110: Global Ranking

Title text:

Starting a meta-leaderboard for tracking who holds the record for ranking behind the most distinct people on an online leaderboard.

Transcript:

[Cueball is seated at a desk, and uses a laptop. White Hat is standing right behind him.]
Cueball: I'm ranked 7,145,000^th^ globally on this chess platform.
Cueball: It's hard to be ranked that low in any activity.

[Zoom on Cueball talking]
Cueball: Few pastimes even have 7 million rated players. Until the Internet, it wasn't really possible. You could be this bad, but only unofficially.

[Cueball is now facing White Hat]
Cueball: So in a sense, I'm worse at chess than anyone was at anything for most of human history.
White Hat: Why are you still doing it?

[Cueball is back on the laptop]
Cueball: Well, no human has ever had this many friends to play with.
White Hat: That person is calling you some very obscene names.
Cueball: Our friendship is complicated.

Source: https://xkcd.com/3110/

explainxkcd for #3110

xkcd #3109: Dehumidifier

Title text:

It's important for devices to have internet connectivity so the manufacturer can patch remote exploits.

Transcript:

[A store salesman, Hairy, is showing Cueball a dehumidifier, with a "SALE" label on it. Several other unidentified devices, possibly other dehumidifier models, are shown in the store as well.]

Salesman: This dehumidifier model features built-in WiFi for remote updates.
Cueball: Great! That will be really useful if they discover a new kind of water.

Source: https://xkcd.com/3109/

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xkcd #3108: Laser Danger

Title text:

To combat the threat, many airlines are installing wing-mounted spray bottles.

Transcript:

Megan: Shining laser pointers at planes is a federal crime. It's incredibly dangerous.
Cueball: Oh, because it can blind the pilot?
Megan: That's one reason...

[A plane is shown, with a green laser pointer aimed at it.]

[The laser disappears. A cat, approximately the same size as the plane, pounces on the plane and sends it tumbling.]

Source: https://xkcd.com/3108/

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xkcd #3107: Weather Balloons

Title text:

Once you add the balloons into the model, it makes forecasting easier overall--the forecast is always 'cold and dark, with minimal solar-driven convection.'

Transcript:

[A graph is shown. The X axis is labeled Number of Weather Balloon Launches Per Day. It's logarithmic, with ticks in powers of 10, and values shown at 1, 10, 100, 1,000, 1 million, 1 billion, and 1 trillion. The Y axis is labeled Weather Model Accuracy, no values are shown. The plot starts above the mark for 1 balloon, at about 40% of the maximum value of the curve, it quickly rises through a point labelled "Current Rate", at about 4000 launches per day and 85% of the maximum. The maximum value is reached at 100 million, plateaus until 10 billion, and then reduces even more rapidly down to perhaps 15% maximum accuracy above the 10 trillion mark.]

Source: https://xkcd.com/3107/

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xkcd #3106: Farads

Title text:

'This HAZMAT container contains radioactive material with activity of one becquerel.' 'So, like, a single banana slice?'

Transcript:

[Cueball holds a stick while talking with Megan and White Hat.]
Cueball: This stick is one meter long.
Megan: Cool.
White Hat: That's a nice stick.

[Cueball holds a smallish rock.]
Cueball: This rock weighs one pound.
Megan: I'd believe it.
White Hat: Looks like a normal rock.

[Cueball holds a small battery.]
Cueball: This battery is one volt.
Megan: Seems fine.
White Hat: Might need a recharge.

[Cueball holds a capacitor while Megan and White Hat panic.]
Cueball: This capacitor is one farad.
Megan: Aaaaa! Be careful!!
White Hat: Put it down!!

Source: https://xkcd.com/3106/

explainxkcd for #3106

Original static webpage version: https://what-if.xkcd.com/147/

xkcd #3105: Interoperability

Title text:

We're getting a lot of complaints from commuters who were routed onto a coaster, but the theme park patrons who spent hours stuck on an intercity line are also not happy.

Transcript:

[A close-up shot of Black Hat from the shoulders up]
Black Hat: Compatibility and interoperability are so important.

[A zoom out reveals that Black Hat is standing in front of and pointing at a diagram showing a commuter subway car and a roller coaster car, and the tracks they both run on. Standing next to him are Cueball and Hairbun]
Black Hat: For example, most subway rails are 143.5 cm apart. But many roller coasters use a narrower 110 cm gauge.

[This panel shows only Black Hat]
Black Hat: For the last few years, our company has been quietly retrofitting roller coasters to use 143.5 cm tracks.

[Black Hat now has his fists raised]
Black Hat: Soon, we can begin phase 2.
Voice from off-panel: Maybe interoperability is actually bad.
Black Hat: If you listen to the destination announcement while boarding, you'll be fine.

Source: https://xkcd.com/3105/

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xkcd #3104: Tukey

Title text:

Numbers can be tricky. On the day of my 110th birthday, I'll be one day younger than John Tukey was on his.

Transcript:

[Text formatted as a block quote]

"Far better an approximate answer to the right question, which is often vague, than an exact answer to the wrong question, which can always be made precise."

John W. Tukey
The Future of Data Analysis (1962)

Caption below the comic:
Happy approximate birthday to John Tukey, author of my favorite statistics quote, who was born 110.000 years ago sometime this week.

Source: https://xkcd.com/3104/

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