Aurora Coolness https://xkcd.com/3196/ I've had countless nights where the line never left the bottom zone of the graph, but the few moments where it's climbed all the way to the top have made up for them all. Explain xkcd: https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/3196

International Station https://xkcd.com/3195/ Welcome to the International Space Station Exclamation Point! Explain xkcd: https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/3195

16 Part Epoxy https://xkcd.com/3194/ (alt-text too long for a BlueSky message, see image alt-text instead) Explain xkcd: https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/3194

Sailing Rigs https://xkcd.com/3193/ I wanted to make the world's fastest yawl, so I made the aft sail bigger, but apparently that means it's not a yawl anymore! It's a real ketch-22. Explain xkcd: https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/3193

Planetary Alignment https://xkcd.com/3192/ We're going to need to modify the surface to mount it on the test stand. Which ocean basin do you like the least? Explain xkcd: https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/3192

Superstition https://xkcd.com/3191/ (alt-text too long for a BlueSky message, see image alt-text instead) Explain xkcd: https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/3191

Tensegrity https://xkcd.com/3190/ (alt-text too long for a BlueSky message, see image alt-text instead) Explain xkcd: https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/3190

Conic Sections https://xkcd.com/3189/ They're not generally used for crewed spacecraft because astronauts HATE going around the corners. Explain xkcd: https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/3189

Anyone Else Here https://xkcd.com/3188/ Anyone else watching this Youtube video in 1954? If so, my last trip definitely messed with the timeline. Explain xkcd: https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/3188

High Altitude Cooking Instructions https://xkcd.com/3187/ 1,300,000-1,400,000 ft: Ask a crew member to show you how to use the ISS food warmer. Explain xkcd: https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/3187

Truly Universal Outlet https://xkcd.com/3186/ Building Inspectors HATE This One Weird Trick Explain xkcd: https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/3186

Sauropods https://xkcd.com/3185/ Vertebrae Georg Explain xkcd: https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/3185

Funny Numbers https://xkcd.com/3184/ In 1899, people were walking around shouting '23' at each other and laughing, and confused reporters were writing articles trying to figure out what it meant. Explain xkcd: https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/3184

Pole Vault Pole https://xkcd.com/3183/ My goal in life is to be personally responsible for at least one sports rule change. Explain xkcd: https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/3183

Telescope Types https://xkcd.com/3182/ I'm trying to buy a gravitational lens for my camera, but I can't tell if the manufacturers are listing comoving focal length or proper focal length. Explain xkcd: https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/3182

Jumping Frog Radius https://xkcd.com/3181/ (alt-text too long for a BlueSky message, see image alt-text instead) Explain xkcd: https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/3181

Apples https://xkcd.com/3180/ The experimental math department's budget is under scrutiny for how much they've been spending on trains leaving Chicago at 9:00pm traveling at 45 mph. Explain xkcd: https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/3180

Fishing https://xkcd.com/3179/ 'That's definitely above the catch-and-release size minimum for planetesimals.' 'I'm going to throw it back anyway.' Explain xkcd: https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/3179

Hyperacute Interdynamics https://xkcd.com/3178/ Our models fall apart where the three theories overlap; we're unable to predict what happens when a nanometer-sized squirrel eats a grapefruit with the mass of the sun. Explain xkcd: https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/3178

Chessboard Alignment https://xkcd.com/3177/ Luckily, the range is limited by the fact that the square boundary lines follow great circles. Explain xkcd: https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/3177

Inverted Catenaries https://xkcd.com/3176/ Some tires are marketed as 'all-shape tires,' but if driven in a climate with both inverted catenary falls and triangle falls, they wear out really fast. Explain xkcd: https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/3176

Website Task Flowchart https://xkcd.com/3175/ Tired of waiting on hold? Use our website to chat with one of our live agents, who are available to produce words at you 24/7! Explain xkcd: https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/3175

Bridge Clearance https://xkcd.com/3174/ A lot of the highway department's budget goes to adjusting the sign whenever the moon passes directly overhead. Explain xkcd: https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/3174

Satellite Imagery https://xkcd.com/3173/ Every weekend I take an ATV out into the desert and spend a day tracing a faint "(C) GOOGLE 2009" watermark across the landscape. Explain xkcd: https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/3173

Fifteen Years https://xkcd.com/3172/ "Want to feel old?" "Yes." Explain xkcd: https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/3172

Geologic Core Sample https://xkcd.com/3171/ If you drill at the right angle and time things perfectly, your core sample can include a section of a rival team's coring equipment. Explain xkcd: https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/3171

Service Outage https://xkcd.com/3170/ Now, if it were the *Canon* wiki, it's possible to imagine someone with a productivity-related reason for consulting it, but no one's job requires them to read that much about Admiral Daala. Explain xkcd: https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/3170

EPIRBs https://xkcd.com/3169/ 'Oh no, the box is drifting out into the harbor!' 'Yeah, I wouldn't worry about losing it.' Explain xkcd: https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/3169

Beam Dump https://xkcd.com/3168/ We're adding some industrial flypaper to minimize reflection or scattering of customers who might complain. Explain xkcd: https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/3168

Car Size https://xkcd.com/3167/ 'They really shouldn't let those small cars drive in traffic. I worry I'm going to kill someone if I hit one! They should have to drive on the sidewalk, safely out of the way.' Explain xkcd: https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/3167

Big and Little Spoons https://xkcd.com/3166/ Are you the annoying spoon or the sleepy spoon? Explain xkcd: https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/3166

Earthquake Prediction Flowchart https://xkcd.com/3165/ At least people who make religious predictions of the apocalypse have an answer to the question 'Why didn't you predict any of the other ones that happened recently?' Explain xkcd: https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/3165

Metric Tip https://xkcd.com/3164/ The package weighs 7 kg 9 oz. Explain xkcd: https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/3164

Repair Video https://xkcd.com/3163/ The statue should be in the likeness of whatever sculptor posted the sculpting tool repair video that was most helpful during the installation of the statue. Explain xkcd: https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/3163

Heart Mountain https://xkcd.com/3162/ Even geology papers about Heart Mountain are like, "Look, we all agree this 'volcanic gas earthquake hovercraft' thing seems like it can't possibly be right, but..." Explain xkcd: https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/3162

Airspeed https://xkcd.com/3161/ Carefully maneuvering the balloon down a mineshaft in an effort to break the OTHER altitude record Explain xkcd: https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/3161

Document Forgery https://xkcd.com/3160/ It comes with a certificate of authenticity, which comes with a certificate of authenticity, which comes with a... Explain xkcd: https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/3160

Continents https://xkcd.com/3159/ (alt-text too long for a BlueSky message, see image alt-text instead) Explain xkcd: https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/3159

Shielding Chart https://xkcd.com/3158/ Sharks can occasionally travel short distances through air when pursuing prey, but their attenuation coefficient is pretty high. Explain xkcd: https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/3158

Emperor Palpatine https://xkcd.com/3157/ Many things about Star Wars were not well planned out, but having a 37-year-old in old-age makeup play the Emperor in Return of the Jedi was such an incredible call. Explain xkcd: https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/3157

Planetary Rings https://xkcd.com/3156/ (alt-text too long for a BlueSky message, see image alt-text instead) Explain xkcd: https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/3156

Physics Paths https://xkcd.com/3155/ If nothing else, that reasoning definitely overturns syllogisms. Explain xkcd: https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/3155

Physics Insight https://xkcd.com/3154/ When Galileo dropped two weights from the Leaning Tower of Pisa, they put him in the history books. But when I do it, I get 'detained by security' for 'injuring several tourists.' Explain xkcd: https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/3154

Hot Water Balloon https://xkcd.com/3153/ (alt-text too long for a BlueSky message, see image alt-text instead) Explain xkcd: https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/3153

Skateboard https://xkcd.com/3152/ I understand it's hard to do more than 300 feet on these 90-second rush jobs, but with a smaller ramp I'm worried the gee forces will be too high for me to do any tricks. Explain xkcd: https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/3152

Window Screen https://xkcd.com/3151/ The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine or Home Improvement or DIY Explain xkcd: https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/3151

Ping https://xkcd.com/3150/ Progress on getting shipwrecked sailors to adopt ICMPv6 has been slow. Explain xkcd: https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/3150

Measure Twice, Cut Once https://xkcd.com/3149/ "Measure zero times, cut zero times." --carpenter who has achieved enlightenment and realized the wood is fine where it is Explain xkcd: https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/3149

100% All Achievements https://xkcd.com/3148/ I'm trying to share my footage of the full run to prove it's not tool-assisted, but the uploader has problems with video lengths of more than a decade. Explain xkcd: https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/3148

Hiking https://xkcd.com/3147/ Every downhill walk is a waterslide that might have been. Explain xkcd: https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/3147