XKCD's "Lakes and Oceans" chart of the other 70% of the planet

By Cory Doctorow at 11:34 am Monday, Apr 9 • Comments • Share

Randall Munroe's produced another in his series of his spectacular, gigantic charts of unimaginably large and complex things compared and rendered tractable by the human imagination. "Lakes and Oceans" has everything you need to cultivate an appreciation for the vasty depths and the ocean blue. Plus, a snarfworthy punchline at the deepest depths.

Lake and Oceans

Alternative science mnemonics

By Cory Doctorow at 9:05 am Monday, Dec 19 • Comments • Share

Just in time for the lull in the conversation at your holiday dinner table, XKCD brings us these handy, sure-fire conversation-starting mnemonics for scientific concepts. Click through for the full set.

Mnemonics

XKCD on the password paradox: human factors versus computers' brute force

By Cory Doctorow at 4:24 am Wednesday, Aug 10 • Comments • Share

Today's XKCD, "Password Strength," neatly illustrates the research from this paper (PDF) by Philip Inglesant and M. Angela Sasse from University College London, with the ironic conclusion that we've trained our users to use passwords that computers can easily guess and humans can't possibly remember.

Password Strength