explain xkcd - User contributions [en]

2312: mbmbam

2020-05-28T03:53:17Z

162.158.155.212:

{{comic
| number = 2312
| date = May 27, 2020
| title = mbmbam
| image = mbmbam.png
| titletext = Hello and welcome to Millibar Millibarn Attometer, an advice show for the Planck era.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by 10^-47 BROTHERS. Please mention here why this explanation isn't complete. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

In part, this comic is an homage to the referenced podcast, ''{{w|My Brother, My Brother, and Me}}'', which often features rapid garden-path conversations and puns and double entendres that are at once groan-worthy and delightfully witty.

The millibar is a metric unit of pressure, equal to a thousandth of a {{w|Bar (unit)|bar}}, or 100 Pa. The millibarn is a metric unit of area, equal to a thousandth of a {{w|Barn (unit)|barn}}, or 10^-31 m^2. Both units would theoretically have the symbol '''mb''' (though '''mbar''' for the pressure unit is more common).

Hence, '''mbmb''' (the pressure unit multiplied by the area unit) would be a unit of force. Applying a bit of dimensional analysis, pressure x area = (force/area) x area = force.

'''am''' would be the symbol of an {{w|Atto-|atto}}meter, or 10^-18 metres. Multiply that to create the unit '''mbmbam''', which would be a unit of energy. Specifically, it would be a unit of work: the energy expended to move an object. More dimensional analysis: force x distance = (work/distance) x distance = work. The actual value of 1 mbmbam is correctly calculated in the comic: 100 Pa x 10^-31 m^2 x 10^-18 m = 10^-47 J.

The final panel is an extended series of puns--that yeast rises, for one (implicitly of a spontaneously generated energy, a reference to black body radiation); a second soon follows about spacetime having unleavened dimensions in {{w|string theory}}. This seems to be a punning reference to spacetime having eleven (actually, ten--M theory says eleven) dimensions in string theory, while continuing to play on the theme of yeast--in this case, the universe is presumably flat because some of its dimensions lack the Planck yeast that would make them rise.

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

:[Cueball, Megan, and White Hat are standing next to each other, talking. Megan has her hands raised to the side, in a shrugging gesture.]
:Megan: Odd how in physics "'''mb'''" is both millibars (pressure) and millibar'''n'''s (area).
:Megan: '''mbmb''' could mean millibar-millibarn, which is a unit of force, strangely.
:White Hat: Units are weird.

:[Same scene - Megan is now checking her phone. White Hat is raising his right index finger.]
:Cueball: So what's '''mbmbam''', the My-Brother-My-Brother-And-Me unit?
:Megan: Millibar-millibarn-attometer, I guess? That'd be a unit of energy. 10<sup>-47</sup> Joules.
:White Hat: "One podcast"

:[Same scene in a frameless panel. Megan holds her phone to her side. White Hat has his arms raised to the side, excited.]
:Cueball: 10<sup>-47</sup> sounds small.
:Megan: Yeah, it's roughly the energy you'd need to lift one yeast cell by one Planck length in Earth's gravity.
:White Hat: Planck yeast!

:[Same scene in a regular panel. Megan has put away her phone, and has her right index finger raised. White Hat has his hands balled into fists, frustrated.]
:Cueball: Doesn't Planck yeast rise on its own?
:Megan: Yeah, that's what makes quantum foam. But data suggests our universe is flat.
:Megan: String theory says it's because spacetime has unleavened dimensions.
:White Hat: ''... I hate you.''

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Physics]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]
[[Category: Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category: Comics featuring White Hat]]

Talk:2308: Mount St. Helens

2020-05-19T07:41:12Z

162.158.155.212: added comment

I suspect the wiggles in all the hand-drawn lines are actually more than the changes in height of the various mountains, and almost certainly not correlated to the actual changes in height, since this is all unknown. [[User:Barmar|Barmar]] ([[User talk:Barmar|talk]]) 00:56, 19 May 2020 (UTC)

This comic needs to be translated to non-retard units [[Special:Contributions/162.158.155.212|162.158.155.212]] 07:41, 19 May 2020 (UTC)

Talk:2307: Alive Or Not

2020-05-18T12:22:14Z

162.158.155.212:

I'm pretty sure high-pressure fire hoses belong on this scale[[User:60sRefugee|60sRefugee]] ([[User talk:60sRefugee|talk]]) 21:47, 15 May 2020 (UTC)
:What about wacky waving inflatable tube guy? [[Special:Contributions/172.68.38.124|172.68.38.124]] 00:41, 16 May 2020 (UTC)

Funny, for once viruses are said to be alive. That's new... [[Special:Contributions/141.101.107.138|141.101.107.138]] 22:01, 15 May 2020 (UTC)
:Definitely new, and extremely angering! I could scream... [[Special:Contributions/172.68.143.30|172.68.143.30]] 22:47, 15 May 2020 (UTC)
::Jup. The nex disgusting piece of antiscience after Wednesday´s nonsense about handwashing helping against respirational diseases. I think Monroe has caught a bug from Potus Donald. --[[Special:Contributions/141.101.69.33|141.101.69.33]] 07:44, 16 May 2020 (UTC)

Do we want to bicker over the placement of the line (like "Why is it below viruses"), or the order things are placed in (like "Why are slime molds below plants")? [[User:GreatWyrmGold|GreatWyrmGold]] ([[User talk:GreatWyrmGold|talk]]) 22:06, 15 May 2020 (UTC)
: Oh, go on. If you insist. You go first, unless you already have. ;) [[Special:Contributions/162.158.154.31|162.158.154.31]] 22:46, 15 May 2020 (UTC)
: Seconded, I'm most interested which criterion (even a numeric one, as the diagram is suggestive of) Randall used. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.158.163|162.158.158.163]] 09:43, 16 May 2020 (UTC)

True fossils have remineralised so generally do not have DNA left. They are merely the shadow of a previous life.
: So fossils are closer to "Rocks with Faces," well, for the ancient vertebrate fossils anyway? [[User:Nutster|Nutster]] ([[User talk:Nutster|talk]]) 15:36, 16 May 2020 (UTC)

Surprised no one has noticed the typo yet. It's 'archaea', not 'archea'
:(Sign yourself(/ves), "True fossils" and "Surprised"?) I disagree. It's 'archæa'... [[Special:Contributions/162.158.154.31|162.158.154.31]] 22:46, 15 May 2020 (UTC)

Poor English and a mistake. It should say...
"...discussion about *whether* virus*es* are alive."
Also the (covid for starters) is wrong. Covid19 is the disease caused by the virus (as mentioned in the line above) not the virus itself

I am disappointed that sponges are not mentioned as an example of weird animals. I mean, come on, way weirder than jellyfish. But it is good that viruses get the recognition they deserve.[[User:Jkrstrt|Jkrstrt]] ([[User talk:Jkrstrt|talk]]) 13:34, 16 May 2020 (UTC)

When looking at viruses, I consider them made of the things of life (proteins, lipids, nucleic acids), but are not actually alive as they have no metabolism and can not reproduce on their own; they need to co-opt the protein production facility of truly living cells in order to reproduce. Without a host, they just sit there (or maybe blow around on the wind). Also without metabolism, they can not starve to death, like bacteria and other single-cell organisms that get into the wrong environment. [[User:Nutster|Nutster]] ([[User talk:Nutster|talk]]) 15:36, 16 May 2020 (UTC)

Well, this raises the question where the sun (or any main sequence star) fall on this list. Is it just a really big thermonuclear fire?

This is not a COVID-19 comic. Just because it is biology-related, doesn't make it a COVID-19 comic. I have removed it from the category and its mention in the explanation.[[Special:Contributions/172.69.34.38|172.69.34.38]] 07:33, 17 May 2020 (UTC)
:Of course it is. The whole idea about this comic is to spark the discussion if Virus (covid) is alive or not. I put it back. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 21:59, 17 May 2020 (UTC)
::I fully disagree, this comic could have been published in previous years. This is only tangentially related to COVID-19, and is a general discussion about "life". Viruses are only barely mentioned in this comic. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.34.38|172.69.34.38]] 23:26, 17 May 2020 (UTC)
:::Agree it shouldn't be classified as COVID-19, but then there's a bunch of others that should be removed from the category: 2278, 2283, 2289, 2292, 2293.[[Special:Contributions/141.101.107.78|141.101.107.78]] 08:34, 18 May 2020 (UTC)

Somewhat disappointed that he didn't include any fictional items such as golems. For that matter, where to place Alexa? [[User:Cellocgw|Cellocgw]] ([[User talk:Cellocgw|talk]]) 10:51, 18 May 2020 (UTC)

353: Python

2019-09-04T16:18:32Z

162.158.155.212: Changed around the "hello world" so python 3 is first as python 2 will soon no longer be offically supported and it seems wise to encourage new people reading this towards python 3

{{comic
| number = 353
| date = December 5, 2007
| title = Python
| image = python.png
| titletext = I wrote 20 short programs in Python yesterday. It was wonderful. Perl, I'm leaving you.
}}

==Explanation==
{{w|Python (programming language)|Python}} is a programming language designed specifically to make it easy to write clear, readable programs. Flying is often used as a metaphor for freedom and ease, and here Randall shows Cueball literally flying in response to using Python.

A {{w|"Hello, World!" program}} is a very simple program that prints the phrase "Hello, World!", used in textbooks to illustrate a given programming language. While this sounds simple, it can be nontrivial in some programming languages where you need to explicitly import a library that contains the <code>print</code> function (for instance, in C you need to begin with <code>#include <{{w|stdio.h}}></code>) or do complicated things with classes and variables (see [https://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Computer_Programming/Hello_world#Java the Java "Hello, World!"] for one example). Python doesn't need any of that: <code>print("Hello, world!")</code> (or in Python 2, <code>print "Hello, world!"</code>) really is all you need to do.

{{w|Dynamic typing}} and {{w|significant whitespace}} are two controversial features of Python, which make some people—like Cueball's friend—hesitant to use the language.

Dynamic typing means that variables do not have types (like "list of short integers" or "a bunch of letters"); any value of any type can be placed in any variable. Dynamic typing allows for more flexible languages, but it means that certain kinds of errors (like trying to subtract a letter from a number) can't be caught until a program is run, and some people think this is too dangerous for the tradeoff to be acceptable.

Whitespace is a string of invisible text characters, like spaces or tabs. In programming, blocks of code controlled by a statement are usually indented under that statement. Most languages require you to use braces (<code>{…}</code>) or special keywords (<code>BEGIN…END</code>) to delimit these blocks; in Python, the indentation itself is the delimiter. Many Python programmers find that this makes code more readable, but many other programmers find it too "magical" and don't trust it.

Classes, functions and constants in Python are packed into modules. To use a module, you write "<code>import ''module''</code>" at the top of your source file. Python comes with a very powerful standard library of modules to do everything from parsing XML to comparing two sets of files for differences, and new modules can be easily installed from the PyPI repository, which has more than 79,000 more to choose from (as of April 2016). [[Cueball]] can fly because he imported the <code>antigravity</code> module. Python still works for Cueball in [[482: Height]].

In the final panel, Cueball admits that his ability to fly may actually be because he has "sampled everything in the medicine cabinet", though he's sure it is the Python anyway. An implication of this is that ingesting everything in the medicine cabinet has given him the feeling of freedom and ease that "flying" represents - or that he is hallucinating himself flying and having a conversation with the other character about it. Here, the metaphor of "feeling like you're flying" while using Python is transformed back from being literal (Cueball is actually flying) to being metaphorical (Randall feels like he is flying because Python is so easy to use... or because he had too many strange drugs).

{{w|Perl}}, mentioned in the title text, is another programming language with the same target audience as Python, as both are {{w|High-level programming language|high-level}}, {{w|General-purpose programming language|general-purpose}}, {{w|Interpreter (computing)|interpreted}}, {{w|dynamic programming language}}s.
However they strongly oppose each other in their language design:
* Perl’s philosophy for its syntax is "{{w|There's more than one way to do it}}", so each coder can choose his own coding style to do exactly the same thing,
* Python’s {{w|Zen of Python|philosophy}} for its syntax is "There should be one— and preferably only one —obvious way to do it", so the written code is more consistent.
Since he has discovered Python [[Randall]] doesn't like Perl anymore, probably because its syntax is less consistent.

==Transcript==
:[A Friend is talking to Cueball, who is floating in the sky.]
:Friend: You're flying! How?
:Cueball: Python!
:Cueball: I learned it last night! Everything is so simple!
:Cueball: Hello world is just 'print "Hello, World!"'
:Friend: I dunno... Dynamic typing? ''Whitespace?''
:Cueball: Come join us! Programming is fun again! It's a whole new world up here!
:Friend: But how are you flying?
:Cueball: I just typed 'import antigravity'
:Friend: That's it?
:Cueball: ...I also sampled everything in the medicine cabinet for comparison.
:Cueball: But I think this is the python.

==Trivia==
*In response to this comic, the Python developers implemented the module <code>antigravity</code> in version 2.7+. When you <code>import</code> it, the default web browser will open this comic. Also, in version 3+, the module contains a [[426: Geohashing|geohashing]] function.
{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Programming]]