explain xkcd - User contributions [en]

2616: Deep End

2022-05-08T19:24:43Z

108.162.238.84: Replaced content with "welcome to the cumzone"

welcome to the cumzone

2562: Formatting Meeting

2021-12-31T18:27:40Z

108.162.238.84: /* Explanation */ Clarify the ISO and endianness discussion.

{{comic
| number = 2562
| date = December 31, 2021
| title = Formatting Meeting
| image = formatting_meeting.png
| titletext = Neither group uses iso 8601 because the big-endian enthusiasts were all at the meeting 20 years ago.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by a BOT - Needs expansion, wikification, organisation, clarification, and consideration of whether there is a relation to new year's eve. Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

In the United States, it's common to write dates numerically in the format ''month/day/year'' -- 2/3/22 means February 3, 2022 (the century is often omitted when it's obvious that the date is around the current time). In Europe, the usual format is ''day/month/year'', so 2/3/22 is March 2, 2022.

"Localization" is the technique used in software to make it accept input and display output in the formats most natural to users in their locations. For example, in the United States numbers use commas "," to separate thousands and a decimal point "." to separate the decimal values, while in the EU it is the reverse. And textual output will be translated to the local language. Naturally, this also includes displaying dates in the local format, as described above. Note: Currency is not localized as it would actually change the money value ($100 is not the same as €100).

The joke in this comic is that two dates are shown on the same display related to meetings regarding localization. The date of the meeting of the US team is localized in the US format, while the EU team's meeting is localized in the European format, and these two dates about a month apart happen to be formatted the same (there are many such pairs of dates, as long as the day of the month is between 1 and 12). Cueball needs to explain that the European meeting will be a month later than the US meeting, to avoid confusion due to the ambiguity (which is ironic, since localization is intended to reduce confusion).

There could also be subtle commentary around the nature of cultural influence in modern times: things like diseases and political influence spreading to other countries, and how this is handled differently locally.

ISO-8601 (that is, standard number 8601 as promulgated by the International Standards Organization) specifies a date format of YYYY-MM-DD (e.g. 2021-12-31), which results in dates being listed in chronological order when sorted numerically. The ISO format is also "big-endian", which refers to the fact that the largest unit in the date (the year) comes first; the European format is instead "little-endian", while the American format is neither since the unit given first is the one whose size is in the middle. (Regular numerals are also written with the largest place values on the left – for example, the first 2 in 2021 is the thousands place – though whether this convention is big-endian or little-endian depends on whether the numbers are being read in the context of a left-to-right or right-to-left language. The "endianness" terms are most often used in reference to whether the address of a value in computer memory which takes up more than one cell is the location of the most significant or least significant cell, though they originate in a Dr. Seuss story about a war over which end of the egg to eat first.)

The joke in the title text is that someone interpreting the date in ISO-8601 format will treat it as March 22, 2002, so they went to the meeting almost 20 years ago. Unless the announcement of the meetings was made 2 decades in advance, there's a paradox that these participants would have taken the date from an announcement in the far future.

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
:[A screen displays:
Localization working group
Upcoming meetings
US Team: 2/3/22
EU Team: 2/3/22
]

:Cueball: And the European formatting and localization team will meet a month later...

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]

1747: Spider Paleontology

2016-10-31T12:20:09Z

108.162.238.84: /* Explanation */ commas

{{comic
| number = 1747
| date = October 17, 2016
| title = Spider Paleontology
| image = spider_paleontology.png
| titletext = Whenever you see a video of birds doing something weird, remember: Birds are a small subset of dinosaurs, so the weirdness of birds is a small subset of the weirdness of dinosaurs.
}}

==Explanation==
This Monday comic was the first in a series of two comics that continued in the next release [[1748: Future Archaeology]] on Wednesday. Both comic in this series have titles of a noun followed by a field of research. It was a so far unused release schedule and it was the first time in six years two related comics were released in the same week. See more under the [[:Category:Time traveling Sphere|Time traveling Sphere]] series.

A {{w|time travel|time-traveler}} (the black floating energy Sphere) visits present day from the far future. {{w|Spiders}} are the Spheres civilization's current craze, just as {{w|dinosaurs}} are currently our craze. The {{w|Jurassic Park}} media franchise began with the {{w|Jurassic Park (film)|first film}} in 1993 and the year before the release of this comic (in 2015) the fourth movie {{w|Jurassic World}} were released with at least {{w|Jurassic_Park#Fifth_film_.282018.29|one more film}} in development. And we also have {{w|Dinosaur World (theme parks)|theme parks}} and kids dressing up as dinosaurs.

It arrives in the presence of [[Megan]] and [[Cueball]] and tells them who it is and why it is here, to see spiders which they learned about through {{w|fossils}} (See the next comic about the strange fact that it speaks English). Megan points it towards a spider sitting in it's web and the Sphere is awestruck to see the object of its obsession in the living flesh. {{w|Spider web|Spider silk}} does in fact {{w|Spider#Fossil_record|fossilize in amber}} (and most fossils of spiders are found in {{w|amber}} due to the soft body of spiders which do not easily {{w|petrify}}), but the reason we know that these threads of silk made up a spider web is because we can compare to the spiders of today. If not for the fact that we knew about spiders webs in advance it would be hard to say if we would have made the connection from the amber fossils. The Sphere is thus surprised to see the spider in a web since they had not understood any possible hint of spiderwebs in the fossil records, from which the Sphere's civilization gathered all their knowledge of spiders. Spiders have been on Earth at {{w|Spider#Evolution|least for 380 million years}} and are still thriving and more than 40,000 species are known.

We, with our current knowledge, know that webs are an essential part of a spiders life. Making sense of a spiders life is practically impossible without including their webs. However, the future-people have done so until now; discovering how wrong they are is bound to become an intense experience for them.

It is unclear what the Sphere is. Since it states that the spiders they know of is from fossils from your planet, it seems likely that the Sphere is neither human nor from our planet. So most likely they are a space traveling species. Hence it seems unlikely that they are humans. The appearance as a sphere may either be an indication that they did not travel in person but rather only looks out at the past through the energy sphere, or it may be that these aliens are actually spheres, floating as energized objects in space. In that case this is an actual alien floating in front of Megan and Cueball. The Spheres civilization did already have the spider craze before they invented time travel. It seems like the first the Sphere decided to use time travel for was to go back to see real spiders on Earth. This also tells us that they are from so far into the future that there are no spiders left. Of course with climate changes etc. going on, that may not necessarily be too far into the future. As long as the human race (or knowledge of spiders) has also disappeared from Earth. But since the Sphere it self tells us that it comes from a distant future, the setting is not related to how fast humans and spiders becomes extinct.

Megan immediately connects the fact that the Sphere did not even know about spiderweb to our current understanding of dinosaurs: If a future civilization think they understand spiders based on fossil, while missing something as essential (but non-fossilizing) as their web, what are the human civilization missing about dinosaurs? Cueball quickly catches on, and both ask if they can borrow the time-machine to experience their own revelations about dinosaurs just like the revelation the Sphere has just had about spiders.

The title text calls back to one of Randall's favorite facts (see [[1211: Birds and Dinosaurs]]) - that {{w|birds}} are technically part of the {{w|clade}} ''Dinosauria''. Birds do lots of weird stuff - like [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eakKfY5aHmY starlings flocking], [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W7QZnwKqopo the dances of birds of paradise], [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VjE0Kdfos4Y lyrebird mimicry] or [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ii_w8og8RXg petrels puking stomach oil]. Randall says that for every time a birds does something weird then it is likely that dinosaurs would have had equally strange behaviors, and birds are only a small subset of all dinosaurs. So there would have been even more strange behaviors among the dinosaurs than among the present days birds. It is, however, basically impossible to tell from the fossil record. All we know is that dinosaurs had features such as display feathers (like on a {{w|Peafowl}} (a decedent of dinosaurs), {{w|neck frill|neck frills}}, and crests (like on the {{w|Dimetrodon}}, which lived before the dinosaur with which it is not related) which likely played a role in mating and territorial shows.

This is the second comic with special mentioning of a science related directly to spiders, the first being [[1135: Arachnoneurology]].

In this comic Randall manages to combine no less than three of his favorite recurring subjects with [[:Category:Time travel|time travel]], [[:Category:Spiders|spiders]] and, of course, [[:Category:Dinosaurs|dinosaurs]].

==Transcript==
:[The Sphere, a time-traveler depicted as a solid floating black energy sphere surrounded by six outwardly-curved segments) seems to have materialized in front of Megan and Cueball who is in the right part of the panel facing left towards it. The Sphere looks like this except in the zoom in from panel two. A voice emanates from the Sphere.]
:Sphere: I'm here from the distant future!
:Megan: Cool! What for?
:Sphere: ''Spiders!''

:[A close-up of the Sphere, still depicted as a black sphere, but not perfectly round at this zoom level and also clearly with some white dots in the dark area. It is also now surrounded by seven (rather than six) narrow rays with irregular dots between the rays. Megan answers it from off-panel.]
:Sphere: We've learned about your planet's spiders from fossils.
:Sphere: There's a whole spider craze. We have spider theme parks, spider movies, spider costumes...
:Sphere: Such beautiful animals!
:Megan (off-panel): I guess...

:[Same setting as in the first panel but Megan is pointing left past the Sphere.]
:Sphere: Now we've got time travel, so I'm here to see one for myself!
:Megan: Sure! There's one over there!

:[The Sphere floats over a leafless branch sticking out of the ground. A spider web is strung between the left border of the panel (four spokes) and the branch (three spokes). A spider (almost as large as the Sphere) sits in the center of the web. Megan answers it from off-panel.]
:Sphere: ''Woowwww!''
:Sphere: What's that giant net it's caught in?
:Megan (off-panel): You mean its web?
:Sphere: Its what?

:[Same setting as in the first panel.]
:Megan: Oh, right, fossils. So you wouldn't know about...

:[In a frame-less panel only Megan is shown facing left while she ponders. Beat panel.]
:Megan: ...

:[Again a scene similar to the first.]
:Megan: Oh my God. Dinosaurs must have been ''so weird''.
:Cueball: Holy crap, yeah.
:Megan: Listen, can we borrow your time machine?

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Time traveling Sphere]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]
[[Category:Time travel]]
[[Category:Spiders]]
[[Category:Dinosaurs]]
[[Category:Animals]]

1750: Life Goals

2016-10-24T22:57:18Z

108.162.238.84: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 1750
| date = October 24, 2016
| title = Life Goals
| image = life_goals.png
| titletext = I got to check off 'Make something called xkcd' early.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|What does the note section of the [[#Table of words|table of words]] mean when it reefers to Proper noun or noun? Similar with "Score (ignoring blanks)" and 50 points...}}
The first eight primary goals on this to-do list feature one or more strange words containing an excess of the last three letters of the alphabet (X, Y and Z) as well as Q, often using several of them in the same words, even several of the same rare letter in a row. (See [[#Table of life goals|Table of life goals]] below).

All of these words can be looked up in the English version of Wikipedia, but only a few are {{w|common noun}}s, the rest being {{w|proper nouns}}, i.e. names (fictional or animals) or obscure names for places or games. The first goal is the one with fewest of these letters, only using two x's, and only the first word is strange, {{w|Skrillex}} being the artist name of a musician. All later entries have at least three of these letters, and often used in strange words.

The punchline, in the final goal, expresses that the writer of this list often uses these unexpected and bizarre words in {{w|Scrabble}} games, which exasperates his opponents to such a great extent that he has yet to finish a game without getting punched. All of these words would theoretically earn a player many points in Scrabble (see [[#Scrabble points|Scrabble points]] below).

In the title text, a reference is made to the fact that none of these goals have been checked off yet. It also turns out that it is indeed [[Randall|Randall's]] list, since the writer of the list did manage to check of the goal ''Make something called xkcd'' early. Sadly there are neither y's nor z's nor even more than one x in that four letter combo.

This comic was published the week after the [[what if?]] ''{{what if|152|Flood Death Valley}}'', which referred directly to the city {{w|Zzyzx}} in one of the pictures. It was the first what if? post in almost three months, the longest break between two posts during 2016 (and third longest of all time at the time of release). This makes it the third comic in a row released after that what if? post that references it more or less directly, the previous two being [[1748: Future Archaeology]] and [[1749: Mushrooms]]. It seems likely that Randall created this comic after doing research for this what if? post, and came across the city Zzyzx as the shortest way to dig a channel to flood Death Valley.

===Table of life goals===
{|class="wikitable sortable"
! Goal
! Explanation
! #Q
! #X
! #Y
! #Z
! Total
|-
| Meet Skrillex in Phoenix || Randall's goal is to meet the musician using the artist name {{w|Skrillex}} in the city of {{w|Phoenix, Arizona|Phoenix}}. Not that Skrillex has any specific connection to that city. || 0|| 2|| 0|| 0|| 2
|-
| Study zymurgy || Randall's goal is to study {{w|fermentation}}. {{w|Zymurgy}} (or zymology) is an applied science which studies the biochemical process of fermentation. || 0|| 0|| 3|| 1|| 4
|-
| Get a pet axolotl named Hexxus || Randall's goal is to obtain a pet salamander (an {{w|axolotl}}) and name it after the malevolent Hexxus from the animated film {{w|FernGully: The Last Rainforest}} || 0|| 3|| 0|| 0|| 3
|-
| Observe a syzygy from Zzyzx, California || Randall's goal is to observe and astronomical event where three celestial bodies form a straight line (known as a {{w|Syzygy (astronomy)|syzygy}}, from the Californian city {{w|Zzyzx, California|Zzyzx}}. That city was just mentioned in the last [[what if?]] ''{{what if|152|Flood Death Valley}}'' released less than a week before this comic. || 0|| 1|| 4|| 4|| 9
|-
| Port the games Zzyzzyxx and Xexyz to Xbox || Randall's goal is to {{w|porting|port}} (i.e. adapting software from one platform so it can be used on another platform) two old video games so they can be used on the modern video game platform {{w|Xbox}}. The first game is {{w|Zzyzzyxx}}, a 1982 {{w|arcade video game}} about navigating a labyrinth, and the second is {{w|Xexyz}}, a 1988 game for the {{w|Nintendo Entertainment System}} with platform and shoot-em-up game-play. It would be very difficult to port these to Xbox. || 0|| 5|| 3|| 5|| 13
|-
| Publish a Zzzax/Mister Mxyzptlk crossover || A {{w|Crossover (fiction)|crossover}} means that two different stories (often comics) are mixed together, mixing either characters from the two, or the world of one and the characters of another story. In this case Randall's goal is to make a cross over of {{w|Zzzax}}, a {{w|Marvel comic}} book villain, with that of {{w|Mister Mxyzptlk}}, a {{w|DC Comics}} villain. Since Zzzax and Mxyzptlk come from different companies, a crossover story involving them both might run into license problems. || 0|| 2|| 1|| 4|| 7
|-
| Bike from Xhafzotaj, Albania to Qazaxbəyli, Azerbaijan || Randall's goal is to bike from {{w|Xhafzotaj}}, a village in {{w|Albania}} in eastern {{w|Europe}}, to {{w|Qazaxbəyli}}, a village in {{w|Azerbaijan}} in the {{w|Caucasus}}. The distance between [https://www.google.com/maps/place/Xhafzotaj,+Albanien/@41.3420999,19.538176,15z/data=!3m1!4b1!4m5!3m4!1s0x134fd7eb6257dec7:0xc0c17ea9f1d4ef05!8m2!3d41.3442157!4d19.547883 Xhafzotaj] and [https://www.google.com/maps/place/Gazakhbayly,+Aserbaidschan/@41.1604329,45.3040337,15z/data=!3m1!4b1!4m5!3m4!1s0x4041307bb83f5793:0x30f6c3728844806e!8m2!3d41.1606486!4d45.3147936 Qazaxbəyli] is about 2800 km (1700 miles). Doing this trip by bike would be challenging, but possible. || 1|| 2|| 1|| 3|| 7
|-
| Paint an archaeopteryx fighting a muzquizopteryx || Randall's goal is to make a painting of two bird-like dinosaurs fighting. Unfortunately the {{w|Archaeopteryx}}, a famous small feathered dinosaur, and {{w|Muzquizopteryx}}, a {{w|pterosaur}} (the famous flying dinosaurs), lived in different time periods, so such a fight (most likely) could not have ever taken place. The feathered dinosaur was only about half a meter long, but with clear feathers. It is a clear candidate for a {{w|transitional fossil}} between non-avian dinosaurs and birds. It lived in the {{w|late Jurassic}} epoch around 150 million years ago. The pterosaur had a wingspan of about 2 m and was one of the first (and smallest) of this type of dinosaur and it lived in the {{w|Coniacian}} age about 86-90 million years ago. This means the two dinosaur live as far apart in time as we live apart from the last of the dinosaurs. Since only the bigger one could fly, it seems most likely that the pterosaur would have won such a fight. Randall has previously made several comments on the feathers of dinosaurs, as recently as the comic released a week before this one [[1747: Spider Paleontology]]; see more there.|| 1|| 2|| 2|| 2|| 7
|-
| Finish a game of Scrabble without getting punched || Randall's final goal is to avoid getting punched during a {{w|Scrabble}} game. As he always try to use some of all these unexpected and bizarre words mentioned in his other goals when playing Scrabble games he exasperates his opponents to such a great extent that he has yet to finish a game without getting punched. || 0|| 0|| 0|| 0|| 0
|-
| Make something called xkcd || '''Title text''': Here it is made clear that it is Randall's list, as this is his only xyz goal that he has succeeded, and quite early, as he has celebrated 10 years anniversary with {{xkcd}} see [[1581: Birthday]]. || 0|| 1|| 0|| 0|| 1
|}

===Scrabble points===
All of these strange words would theoretically earn a player the prize of many points in Scrabble (Go to the [[#Table of words|table of words]] below). However, most of them would not be found in {{w|SOWPODS}}, the combined list of all words valid in either British or North American Scrabble tournaments, and many include too many X's, Y's or Z's (there's 1 X, 2 Y's, 1 Z in a standard set), meaning at least one would have to be substituted for a blank (which is not worth any points). Some words would also be very difficult to play in reality, since there are only 7 letters in a Scrabble hand, so they could only be played in extremely rare circumstances (there are only a couple of ways to play MUZQUIZOPTERYX: for instance, from MU and OPTER; or MU, QUIZ and ER; or an astonishingly unlikely set of crossing letters). Many are long enough that, in theory, they could net the player the additional 50 point bonus for using all seven letters in a hand if played right.

====Table of words====
*Explanation of the columns:
**Word: With xyz
**Definition: Of the word
**Notes: ??
**In SOWPODS?: Is the word a valid Scrabble word.
**Enough tiles (...): Are there enough tiles in the standards English version of Scrabble to write the word?
**Score: What would the score in Scrabble be for this word. (Without any bonuses.)
**Score (ignoring blanks): ??? If the word can only be written using blanks, and these are set to zero what would the score then be?
**50 points possible?: ??? Is it possible to use all seven letters writing the word? If so it will give 50 points extra.
{|class="wikitable sortable"
! Word !! Definition !! Notes !! In SOWPODS? !! Enough tiles ({{w|Scrabble letter distributions|in English version}})? !! Score !! Score (ignoring blanks) !! 50 points possible?
|-
| {{w|Skrillex}} || A dubstep musician || Proper noun, stage name || No || Yes || 19 || 19 || Yes
|-
| {{w|Phoenix, Arizona|Phoenix}} || A city in Arizona (or the {{w|Phoenix (mythology)|mythological bird}}) || Proper noun (but noun for the bird) || Yes (but only because of the bird) || Yes || 19 || 19 || Yes
|-
| {{w|Zymology|Zymurgy}} || The study of fermentation. || Noun || Yes || Yes || 25 || 25 || Yes
|-
| {{w|Axolotl}} || A kind of water-breathing salamander which lives on the bottom of lakes. || Noun, name of animal species || Yes || Yes|| 14 || 14 || Yes
|-
| [http://villains.wikia.com/wiki/Hexxus Hexxus] || An evil spirit from the animated movie {{w|FernGully:_The_Last_Rainforest|FernGully}} || Proper noun, fictional name || No || Yes, with a blank as X || 23 || 15 || No
|-
| {{w|Syzygy (astronomy)|Syzygy}} || An astronomical event where three celestial bodies form a straight line. || Noun || Yes || Yes, with a blank as Y || 25 || 21 || No
|-
| {{w|Zzyzx, California|Zzyzx}} || An unincorporated community in California || Proper noun, name of city. || No || Yes, with both blanks as Z || 42 || 22 || No
|-
| {{w|Zzyzzyxx}} || A 1982 arcade video game about navigating a labyrinth || Proper noun, name of game || No || No || 64 || 26 (assuming infinite blanks) || Yes
|-
| {{w|Xexyz}} || A 1988 game for the Nintendo Entertainment System with platformer and shoot-em-up gameplay. || Proper noun, name of game || No || Yes, with a blank as X || 31 || 23 || No
|-
| {{w|Xbox}} || A series of home video game consoles developed by Microsoft. || Proper noun, name of game console || No || Yes, with a blank as X || 20 || 12 || No
|-
| {{w|Zzzax}} || A Marvel comic book villain. || Proper noun, fictional name || No || Yes, with both blanks as Z || 39 || 19 || No
|-
| {{w|Mister Mxyzptlk}} || A DC Comics villain. || Proper noun, fictional name || No || Yes || 42 (8 for Mister, 35 for Mxyzptlk) || 42 || Yes
|-
| {{w|Xhafzotaj}} || A village in Albania || Proper noun, name of city || No || Yes || 38 || 38 || Yes
|-
| {{w|Qazaxbəyli}} || A village in Azerbaijan || Proper noun, name of city || No || No, because it's spelled with a {{w|schwa}} (ə, upper case Ə), this word would be impossible to spell in English-language Scrabble, although you could put an E tile down upside down (Ǝ) or use a blank. It can alternatively be spelled "Kazakhbeyli". || 39 (at least, unclear) 36 for Kazakhbeyli || 39 || Yes
|-
| {{w|Azerbaijan}} || A country in the Caucasus || Proper noun, name of country || No || Yes || 28 || 28 || Yes
|-
| {{w|Archaeopteryx}} || A famous small feathered dinosaur || Noun, name of animal species || Yes || Yes || 30 || 30 || Yes
|-
| {{w|Muzquizopteryx}} || A pterosaur || Noun, name of animal species || No || Yes, with a blank as Z || 55 || 45 || Yes
|-
| {{w|xkcd}} || From title text. See [[207: What xkcd Means]]. || Proper noun, name of web comic || No || Yes || 18 || 18 || No
|}

==Transcript==
:[A to-do list with a caption above:]
::<big>Life Goals</big>
:☐ Meet Skrillex in Phoenix
:☐ Study zymurgy
:☐ Get a pet axolotl named Hexxus
:☐ Observe a syzygy from Zzyzx, California
:☐ Port the games Zzyzzyxx and Xexyz to Xbox
:☐ Publish a Zzzax/Mister Mxyzptlk crossover
:☐ Bike from Xhafzotaj, Albania to Qazaxbəyli, Azerbaijan
:☐ Paint an archaeopteryx fighting a muzquizopteryx
:☐ Finish a game of Scrabble without getting punched

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Charts]]
[[Category:Comics featuring real people]] 
[[Category:Animals]] 
[[Category:Dinosaurs]]
[[Category:Video games]]
[[Category:Fiction]]

1604: Snakes

2015-11-16T15:46:08Z

108.162.238.84: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 1604
| date = November 16, 2015
| title = Snakes
| image = snakes.png
| titletext = The last band of color indicates the snake's tolerance for being held before biting.
}}

==Explanation==
In the comic, [[Megan]] confuses a popular method of identification of the dangerous North American {{w|coral snake}} by its red, yellow, and black stripes with the {{w|Electronic color code|color-coding system}} using colored bands to mark the resistance of electrical resistors.

The coral snake has red bands adjacent to its yellow bands. However, coral snakes are {{w|mimicry|mimicked}} by nonvenomous species with similar coloring, such as the {{w|milk snake}}, whose red bands are not adjacent to its yellow bands. This has led to a variety of rhyming {{w|mnemonic}}s, such as “Red touches yellow, kill a fellow; red touches black, friend of Jack.”

In electronics, {{w|resistor}}s and other electronic components have their parameters marked on their body using colored bands. Resistors have at least three bands to identify their nominal resistance in {{w|ohm}}s, followed by an optional fourth band showing the {{w|engineering tolerance|tolerance}} as within the bounds of a certain percentage of the aforementioned resistance value. A red band followed by a yellow and a black one identifies a 24 ohm resistor (the Omega symbol, “Ω”, stands for ohms). See this [http://www.audionotekits.com/resistorcodes.html resistor code calculator].

Therefore, Megan is actually holding a coral snake, which contains the most potent venom of any snake in North America. Luckily for her, the snake lacks an efficient method of delivery when compared to rattlesnakes or cobras, and must actually ''chew'' on the victim to release a fatal dose. Most people can remove the snake well before it can finish, so the survival rate is quite high.

The title text refers to the fourth band specifying the tolerance but interprets it as the snake's tolerance for being held before biting, instead of the measure of the inaccuracy of the 24 Ohms.

==Transcript==
:[Megan and Cueball are standing in some grass. Megan is holding a snake with red, yellow, and black stripes.]

:Megan: Red touches yellow, which I think means this is a 24Ω snake.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics with color]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]
[[Category:Animals]]

1600: MarketWatch

2015-11-08T10:16:38Z

108.162.238.84: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 1600
| date = November 6, 2015
| title = MarketWatch
| image = marketwatch.png
| titletext = Markets have been rocked by a second day of uncertainty after someone set up a giant Ouija board on the NYSE wall controlled collectively by the movement of the stock tickers.
}}

==Explanation==
DC is {{w|Washington, D.C.}} The DC skyline shown here has the {{w|Lincoln Memorial}}, the {{w|Washington Monument}} (an obelisk) and the {{w|United States Capitol}}, which are located in that order in a line down the {{w|National Mall}}. The Washington Monument is not equidistant from the other two, so it would not be possible to get a view of the skyline that exactly matches the line shown.

{{w|MarketWatch}} is a website focused on stocks and the {{w|Dow Jones Industrial Average}} (DJIA as written on the screen), commonly referred to as the Dow, is a {{w|stock market index}}, meaning that it is a general indicator of how the market is running (in this case, an aggregate of how 30 major industrial companies are doing). The stock market is famous for having unpredictable price swings, but for them to specifically make a tracing of the skyline of Washington, D.C. (or any recognizable image) would definitely weird out most investors.

As seen in [[276: Fixed Width]], unusual patterns can be addictive to the point of harming those involved in the pattern's creation. The joke, however, rests in the fact that stock investors probably have a lot at stake, so following a pattern rather than pursuing gains would be uncharacteristic. Although some investors follow superstitious behavior (such as making trades to follow a pattern rather than make more obvious profits), many trades are now made by automated computer systems, which may recognize some types of patterns, but would not recognize the DC skyline, making it impossible for the stock market to continue to follow such a pattern merely because of the efforts of the human traders.

Buying and selling stocks based on patterns in the price charts is a common, but controversial, method of investing. Many {{w|day trader}}s and some professional investors still use stock patterns ({{w|head and shoulders (chart pattern)|head and shoulders}}, {{w|trend line (technical analysis)|trend lines}}, etc.) to make trades (see for instance [http://www.investopedia.com/university/charts/ Analyzing Chart Patterns]). Most professional investors and finance academics believe that this practice is random (see strong and weak {{w|efficient markets hypothesis}}).

In the title text it is noted that the markets again has been shaken by uncertainty (for the second day running, after the DC skyline incidence from the main comic). This time, it was because someone at NYSE (the {{w|New York Stock Exchange}}) had set up a giant {{w|ouija}} board that was controlled by the movement of the stock tickers, thus, collectively, everyone at the NYSE, as all have some influence on those.

The ouija is also known as a spirit board, a flat board marked with the letters of the alphabet, the numbers 0–9, the words "yes", "no" and a possibly a few other. A movable indicator indicates a spirit's message by spelling it out on the board during a séance.

{{w|Ticker tape}} was an early way of transmitting stock price, and it was run through a {{w|stock ticker}} which printed abbreviated company names as alphabetic symbols followed by numeric stock transaction price and volume information. Today this has been replaced with electronics, but the concept of the stock ticker lives on, however, in the scrolling electronic tickers seen on brokerage walls and on financial television networks.

If the stock exchange begins to look to spirit boards people will get worried (also maybe by the cryptic messages from beyond they are receiving via the stock ticker) explaining the uncertainty. Of course, some people might claim that this is not so far from how stock brokers decide what to do anyway…

==Transcript==
:[Ponytail is a news presenter reporting on the day's price swings in the DOW. To the left of her is a chart showing how the index suddenly went from "random" to tracing out Washington DC's skyline starting with the Lincoln Memorial, then the obelisk of the Washington Monument and finally the United States Capitol. After that the index goes back to normal "randomness". Two words are written at the top of the screen to the left and right:]
:MarketWatch
:DJIA

:Ponytail:
::Wild swings on the markets today
::as investors noticed the DOW was
::tracing out a silhouette of the DC
::skyline, and everyone got too weirded
::out to break the pattern until they
::finished the capitol building.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Ponytail]]
[[Category:Charts]]

1600: MarketWatch

2015-11-06T15:18:50Z

108.162.238.84: /* Explanation */

1600: MarketWatch

2015-11-06T15:15:26Z

108.162.238.84: /* Explanation */

1600: MarketWatch

2015-11-06T15:12:59Z

108.162.238.84: /* Explanation */

Talk:1594: Human Subjects

2015-10-23T14:43:10Z

108.162.238.84:

The responses in panels 1, 3, and 4 show that Megan is trying to downplay the issues despite better knowledge. This is probably done to surprise the reader of the dialogue for better dramatic effect. Sebastian --[[Special:Contributions/162.158.91.159|162.158.91.159]] 05:59, 23 October 2015 (UTC)

In the second panel, Megan makes a good point which Ponytail misses. If the control group had a high incidence of arson, while the experimental group did not (and assuming that proper protocols were followed in assigning subjects to groups), there is a possibility that the drug has the side-effect of suppressing the urge for arson [[User:Sysin|Sysin]] ([[User talk:Sysin|talk]]) 06:45, 23 October 2015 (UTC)
: Where is the point? "People where arrested for arson" - "Side effects" - "They where in the control group". That's not really a point for the side-effect of surpressing the urge for arson, is it? [[Special:Contributions/162.158.114.217|162.158.114.217]] 09:01, 23 October 2015 (UTC)
::If only people from the control group have been arrested, it is or could be. Sebastian --[[Special:Contributions/162.158.91.213|162.158.91.213]] 10:58, 23 October 2015 (UTC)
:::In this case both the control and the test group must be full of arsonists and the question is why did Ponytail let them lose to commit arson in the first place. May bye a double-blind test?[[User:Jkotek|Jkotek]] ([[User talk:Jkotek|talk]]) 13:29, 23 October 2015 (UTC)

did [[Danish]] cut her hair? --[[Special:Contributions/108.162.216.8|108.162.216.8]] 11:22, 23 October 2015 (UTC)

also, the title text could allude to the fact that sociopaths (or successful ones at least) tend to be really adept at getting other people to write off or engage in their behaviours. that is, the IRB, despite the apparent awfulness of the actions of the subjects, on meeting them thought they were pretty cool and people should lay off. --[[Special:Contributions/108.162.216.8|108.162.216.8]] 11:28, 23 October 2015 (UTC)

Are those "citation needed" of any use? There is already a link to Wikipedia for sociopathy. Also, the invoked reasons ("Is an arsonist defined as a sociopath?", "Is a masochist the same as a sociopath?", "Is there an agreed upon definition of 'truly sociopathic behaviour', and is this it?") are not sound to me. Sociopathy is defined as "antisocial behavior", so are arson and sadism. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.66.23|141.101.66.23]] 11:32, 23 October 2015 (UTC)

: I elected to simply remove references to sociopathy. I think the comic uses the phrase "awful" people, and I don't think it is necessary to instill the article with controversy by defining the people as sociopaths or any other term. Simply describing their traits and noting that it is unusual and why should be sufficient. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.216.31|108.162.216.31]] 14:01, 23 October 2015 (UTC)

I realize that this area is for discussing the subject of the comic, but of all the comic strips out there this is the last one I would ever expect to include the "word" ''snuck''. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.216.26|108.162.216.26]] 13:23, 23 October 2015 (UTC)
:This area is mainly for discussing the improvement of the article. Unlike Wikipedia, here we also can discuss the subject of the comic. I addressed your comment, because I never had heard the word (no scare quotes) ''snuck'', but immediatly knew it was an alternate past tense of ''sneak''. I added this: ''Snuck'' is a dialectal past tense of ''sneak''.[http://dictionary.reference.com/help/faq/language/g08.html]. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.221.17|108.162.221.17]] 13:37, 23 October 2015 (UTC)

::With respect, I don't think the word "snuck" is uncommon or in any way unique to this comic. I don't think there is any valid need to include a line defining a common verb. If people don't know what the word "snuck" is, dictionary websites are aplenty, but let's not turn this site into one of those ones where every word is a link to a definition. Unless it's jargon or technical or a proper noun that needs explanation, I don't think definitions or links are really needed. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.216.31|108.162.216.31]] 14:01, 23 October 2015 (UTC)
:: Why use a dictionary when Conan can do it for you? :-) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PmoHSczX8pU

1594: Human Subjects

2015-10-23T14:37:21Z

108.162.238.84: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 1594
| date = October 23, 2015
| title = Human Subjects
| image = human_subjects.png
| titletext = After meeting with a few of the subjects, the IRB actually recommended that you stop stressing out so much about safety guidelines.
}}

==Explanation==
This strip plays on certain experiments involving {{w|Human subject research|human subjects}}. [[Ponytail]] is questioning the reliability of [[Megan]]'s experimental results, given that her human subjects appear to be extremely unusual and highly {{w|sociopathic}}.

In the second panel, she mentions that several people in one study had been arrested for {{w|arson}}. Megan begins to suggest that the arson is a {{w|side effect}} of whatever is being tested before she learns that the arsonists are in the {{w|Treatment and control groups|control group}} – that is, the group that is ''not'' subjected to whatever is being tested and is used as a comparison to see the differences in the people who are actually being tested. This result is "troubling", as the control group would not be expected to have such a high rate of incidence of arsonists. The implication is that her subjects are not representative of the general population, but appear to have been selected from some aberrant subpopulation, such as a prison or mental institution. Or she could have recruited them through an announcement that catered in some way to arsonists. An alternate explanation comes from comic [[790: Control]], in which [[Randall]] notes his hobby of sneaking into experiments and giving LSD to the control groups.

The third panel alludes to the {{w|prisoner's dilemma}}, in which two subjects must independently decide whether to "collaborate" with or "betray" the other subject based on different rewards for each choice (often framed as a different length of prison sentence, or a different amount of money). The rewards tier are selected so that best united outcome for the pair is if both subjects "collaborate", but the best individual outcome is for a subject who betrays when the other subject collaborates (if both betray, the outcome is usually the worst for both individuals). Each subject must decide what to do based on their perceived risk to reward ratio - but in order to do so, they need to know what the rewards are. It would not be expected that normal people would simply betray each other for no reason of personal gain without being offered reward to do so.

The last panel references the {{w|Milgram experiment}}, in which subjects were instructed by experimenters to administer electric shocks to an unseen third party. The unseen third party was part of the experiment and pretended to be in agony. As shocks escalated they would beg for them to stop. The results suggest that people will continue to administer harm, despite the pleading of the victim, simply if told to do so by an authority figure, even when no incentive is provided to the subject to continue. In this case, however, the actual experiment did not involved electric shocks, and thus suggests that the subjects, of their own volition, brought equipment to produce electric shock and simply engaged in the activity unprompted.

In each of these cases, the subjects seem to have some "negative" psychological traits. While one or two people with such traits might not be unusual to be found in a randomly selected group, the fact that all three experiments contain multiple subjects with these traits (and seemingly the same traits in each study) is very unusual.

The title text refers to safety procedures normally required by {{w|institutional review board}}s, which are centralized groups within universities that ensure that experiments are ethical and safe. The inference is that for an IRB to recommend dispensing with safety procedures after meeting the subjects, the subjects must really, ''really'' deserve bad treatment. Or the members of the IRB are, like the human subjects, just sociopathically awful people.

==Transcript==
:[Ponytail and Megan sit at a desk.]
:Ponytail: We're concerned that some of your results may be tainted by the fact that your human subjects are ''awful''.
:Megan: What do you mean?

:[Ponytail picks up a sheet of paper.]
:Ponytail: Several participants in your drug trial were arrested for arson.
:Megan: Side effects can be unpredictable.
:Ponytail: They were in the control group.

:[Zoom in on Ponytail.]
:Ponytail: In your prisoner's dilemma study, 80% of the participants chose to betray their partners '''''before''''' the experimenter had a chance to tell them about the reward.
:Megan (off-panel): Definitely troubling.

:[Ponytail shows Megan another sheet of paper.]
:Ponytail: In one experiment, your subjects repeatedly gave electric shocks to a stranger in another room.
:Megan: That's a famous psychological-
:Ponytail: This was a study of moisturizing creams!
:Megan: Yes, we're not sure how they snuck in all that equipment.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Ponytail]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]
[[Category:Science]]

1594: Human Subjects

2015-10-23T14:34:29Z

108.162.238.84: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 1594
| date = October 23, 2015
| title = Human Subjects
| image = human_subjects.png
| titletext = After meeting with a few of the subjects, the IRB actually recommended that you stop stressing out so much about safety guidelines.
}}

==Explanation==
This strip plays on certain experiments involving {{w|Human subject research|human subjects}}. [[Ponytail]] is questioning the reliability of [[Megan]]'s experimental results, given that her human subjects appear to be extremely unusual and highly {{w|sociopathic}}.

In the second panel, she mentions that several people in one study had been arrested for {{w|arson}}. Megan begins to suggest that the arson is a {{w|side effect}} of whatever is being tested before she learns that the arsonists are in the {{w|Treatment and control groups|control group}} – that is, the group that is ''not'' subjected to whatever is being tested and is used as a comparison to see the differences in the people who are actually being tested. This result is "troubling", as the control group would not be expected to have such a high rate of incidence of arsonists. The implication is that her subjects are not representative of the general population, but appear to have been selected from some aberrant subpopulation, such as a prison or mental institution. Or she could have recruited them through an announcement that catered in some way to arsonists. An alternate explanation comes from comic [[790: Control]], in which [[Randall]] notes his hobby of sneaking into experiments and giving LSD to the control groups.

The third panel alludes to the {{w|prisoner's dilemma}}, in which two subjects must independently decide whether to "collaborate" with or "betray" the other subject based on different rewards for each choice (often framed as a different length of prison sentence, or a different amount of money). The rewards tier are selected so that best united outcome for the pair is if both subjects "collaborate", but the best individual outcome is for a subject who betrays when the other subject collaborates (if both betray, the outcome is usually the worst for both individuals). Each subject must decide what to do based on their perceived risk to reward ratio - but in order to do so, they need to know what the rewards are. It would not be expected that normal people would simply betray each other for no reason of personal gain without being offered reward to do so.

The last panel references the {{w|Milgram experiment}}, in which subjects were instructed by experimenters to administer electric shocks to an unseen third party. The unseen third party was part of the experiment and pretended to be in agony. As shocks escalated they would beg for them to stop. The results suggest that people will continue to administer harm, despite the pleading of the victim, simply if told to do so by an authority figure, even when no incentive is provided to the subject to continue. In this case, however, the actual experiment did not involved electric shocks, and thus suggests that the subjects, of their own volition, brought equipment to produce electric shock and simply engaged in the activity unprompted.

In each of these cases, the subjects seem to have some "negative" psychological traits. While one or two people with such traits might not be unusual to be found in a randomly selected group, the fact that all three experiments contain multiple subjects with these traits (and seemingly the same traits in each study) is very unusual.

The title text refers to safety procedures normally required by {{w|institutional review board}}s, which are centralised groups within universities that ensure that experiments are ethical and safe. The joke is that for an IRB to recommend dispensing with safety procedures after meeting the subjects, the subjects must really, ''really'' deserve bad treatment.

==Transcript==
:[Ponytail and Megan sit at a desk.]
:Ponytail: We're concerned that some of your results may be tainted by the fact that your human subjects are ''awful''.
:Megan: What do you mean?

:[Ponytail picks up a sheet of paper.]
:Ponytail: Several participants in your drug trial were arrested for arson.
:Megan: Side effects can be unpredictable.
:Ponytail: They were in the control group.

:[Zoom in on Ponytail.]
:Ponytail: In your prisoner's dilemma study, 80% of the participants chose to betray their partners '''''before''''' the experimenter had a chance to tell them about the reward.
:Megan (off-panel): Definitely troubling.

:[Ponytail shows Megan another sheet of paper.]
:Ponytail: In one experiment, your subjects repeatedly gave electric shocks to a stranger in another room.
:Megan: That's a famous psychological-
:Ponytail: This was a study of moisturizing creams!
:Megan: Yes, we're not sure how they snuck in all that equipment.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Ponytail]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]
[[Category:Science]]

1594: Human Subjects

2015-10-23T14:32:41Z

108.162.238.84: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 1594
| date = October 23, 2015
| title = Human Subjects
| image = human_subjects.png
| titletext = After meeting with a few of the subjects, the IRB actually recommended that you stop stressing out so much about safety guidelines.
}}

==Explanation==
This strip plays on certain experiments involving {{w|Human subject research|human subjects}}. [[Ponytail]] is questioning the reliability of [[Megan]]'s experimental results, given that her human subjects appear to be extremely unusual and highly {{w|sociopathic}}.

In the second panel, she mentions that several people in one study had been arrested for {{w|arson}}. Megan begins to suggest that the arson is a {{w|side effect}} of whatever is being tested before she learns that the arsonists are in the {{w|Treatment and control groups|control group}} – that is, the group that is ''not'' subjected to whatever is being tested and is used as a comparison to see the differences in the people who are actually being tested. This result is "troubling", as the control group would not be expected to have such a high rate of incidence of arsonists. The implication is that her subjects are not representative of the general population, but appear to have been selected from some aberrant subpopulation, such as a prison or mental institution. Or she could have recruited them through an announcement that catered in some way to arsonists. An alternate explanation comes from comic [[790: Control]], in which [[Randall]] notes his hobby of sneaking into experiments and giving LSD to the control groups.

The third panel alludes to the {{w|prisoner's dilemma}}, in which two subjects must independently decide whether to "collaborate" with or "betray" the other subject based on different rewards for each choice (often framed as a different length of prison sentence, or a different amount of money). The rewards tier are selected so that best united outcome for the pair is if both subjects "collaborate", but the best individual outcome is for a subject who betrays when the other subject collaborates (if both betray, the outcome is usually the worst for both individuals). Each subject must decide what to do based on their perceived risk to reward ratio - but in order to do so, they need to know what the rewards are. It would not be expected that normal people would simply betray each other for no reason of personal gain without being offered reward to do so.

The last panel references the {{w|Milgram experiment}}, in which subjects were instructed by experimenters to administer electric shocks to an unseen third party. The unseen third party was part of the experiment and pretended to be in agony. As shocks escalated they would beg for them to stop. The results suggest that people will continue to administer shocks despite the pleading upon the insistence of the authority figure for longer than one might expect, even when no incentive is provided to the subject to continue. In this case, however, the actual experiment did not involved electric shocks, and thus suggests that the subjects, of their own volition, brought equipment to produce electric shock and simply engaged in the activity unprompted.

In each of these cases, the subjects seem to have some "negative" psychological traits. While one or two people with such traits might not be unusual to be found in a randomly selected group, the fact that all three experiments contain multiple subjects with these traits (and seemingly the same traits in each study) is very unusual.

The title text refers to safety procedures normally required by {{w|institutional review board}}s, which are centralised groups within universities that ensure that experiments are ethical and safe. The joke is that for an IRB to recommend dispensing with safety procedures after meeting the subjects, the subjects must really, ''really'' deserve bad treatment.

==Transcript==
:[Ponytail and Megan sit at a desk.]
:Ponytail: We're concerned that some of your results may be tainted by the fact that your human subjects are ''awful''.
:Megan: What do you mean?

:[Ponytail picks up a sheet of paper.]
:Ponytail: Several participants in your drug trial were arrested for arson.
:Megan: Side effects can be unpredictable.
:Ponytail: They were in the control group.

:[Zoom in on Ponytail.]
:Ponytail: In your prisoner's dilemma study, 80% of the participants chose to betray their partners '''''before''''' the experimenter had a chance to tell them about the reward.
:Megan (off-panel): Definitely troubling.

:[Ponytail shows Megan another sheet of paper.]
:Ponytail: In one experiment, your subjects repeatedly gave electric shocks to a stranger in another room.
:Megan: That's a famous psychological-
:Ponytail: This was a study of moisturizing creams!
:Megan: Yes, we're not sure how they snuck in all that equipment.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Ponytail]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]
[[Category:Science]]

1594: Human Subjects

2015-10-23T14:31:11Z

108.162.238.84: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 1594
| date = October 23, 2015
| title = Human Subjects
| image = human_subjects.png
| titletext = After meeting with a few of the subjects, the IRB actually recommended that you stop stressing out so much about safety guidelines.
}}

==Explanation==
This strip plays on certain experiments involving {{w|Human subject research|human subjects}}. [[Ponytail]] is questioning the reliability of [[Megan]]'s experimental results, given that her human subjects appear to be extremely unusual and highly {{w|sociopathic}}.

In the second panel, she mentions that several people in one study had been arrested for {{w|arson}}. Megan begins to suggest that the arson is a {{w|side effect}} of whatever is being tested before she learns that the arsonists are in the {{w|Treatment and control groups|control group}} – that is, the group that is ''not'' subjected to whatever is being tested and is used as a comparison to see the differences in the people who are actually being tested. This result is "troubling", as the control group would not be expected to have such a high rate of incidence of arsonists. The implication is that her subjects are not representative of the general population, but appear to have been selected from some aberrant subpopulation, such as a prison or mental institution. Or she could have recruited them through an announcement that catered in some way to arsonists. An alternate explanation comes from comic [[790: Control]], in which [[Randall]] notes his hobby of sneaking into experiments and giving LSD to the control groups.

The third panel alludes to the {{w|prisoner's dilemma}}, in which two subjects must independently decide whether to "collaborate" with or "betray" the other subject based on different rewards for each choice (often framed as a different length of prison sentence, or a different amount of money). The rewards tier are selected so that best united outcome for the pair is if both subjects "collaborate", but the best individual outcome is for a subject who betrays when the other subject collaborates (if both betray, the outcome is usually the worst for both individuals). Each subject must decide what to do based on their perceived risk to reward ratio - but in order to do so, they need to know what the rewards are. It would not be expected that normal people would simply betray each other for no reason of personal gain without being offered reward to do so.

The last panel references the {{w|Milgram experiment}}, in which subjects were instructed by experimenters to administer electric shocks to an unseen third party. The unseen third party was part of the experiment and pretended to be in agony as shocks escalated. The results suggest that people will continue to administer shocks despite the pleading upon the insistence of the authority figure for longer than one might expect, even when no incentive is provided to the subject to continue. In this case, however, the actual experiment did not involved electric shocks, and thus suggests that the subjects, of their own volition, brought equipment to produce electric shock and simply engaged in the activity unprompted.

In each of these cases, the subjects seem to have some "negative" psychological traits. While one or two people with such traits might not be unusual to be found in a randomly selected group, the fact that all three experiments contain multiple subjects with these traits (and seemingly the same traits in each study) is very unusual.

The title text refers to safety procedures normally required by {{w|institutional review board}}s, which are centralised groups within universities that ensure that experiments are ethical and safe. The joke is that for an IRB to recommend dispensing with safety procedures after meeting the subjects, the subjects must really, ''really'' deserve bad treatment.

==Transcript==
:[Ponytail and Megan sit at a desk.]
:Ponytail: We're concerned that some of your results may be tainted by the fact that your human subjects are ''awful''.
:Megan: What do you mean?

:[Ponytail picks up a sheet of paper.]
:Ponytail: Several participants in your drug trial were arrested for arson.
:Megan: Side effects can be unpredictable.
:Ponytail: They were in the control group.

:[Zoom in on Ponytail.]
:Ponytail: In your prisoner's dilemma study, 80% of the participants chose to betray their partners '''''before''''' the experimenter had a chance to tell them about the reward.
:Megan (off-panel): Definitely troubling.

:[Ponytail shows Megan another sheet of paper.]
:Ponytail: In one experiment, your subjects repeatedly gave electric shocks to a stranger in another room.
:Megan: That's a famous psychological-
:Ponytail: This was a study of moisturizing creams!
:Megan: Yes, we're not sure how they snuck in all that equipment.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Ponytail]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]
[[Category:Science]]