explain xkcd - User contributions [en]

Talk:2873: Supersymmetry

2023-12-28T16:10:11Z

162.158.18.28:

Ah, good, I was ''just'' about to tell people (on 2872's Talk page) that there was a new one... (And that we obviously need to prod the theusafBOT.) Currently, [[2872: Hydrothermal Vents]] doesn't have the 'Next' links to here, but (from last comic's experience) it might just be a matter of nudging its server-side cache a bit. I'll try the tricks I tried yesterday. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.99.101|141.101.99.101]] 20:08, 27 December 2023 (UTC)

Too bad the franchise has never introduced a Weach character (there's a couple of witches). A game with Peach as the main protagonist would be interesting, and it would give us a convenient positron. [[Special:Contributions/172.71.26.135|172.71.26.135]] 20:56, 27 December 2023 (UTC)
:If they made Weach, people would start asking for Wowser. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.245.202|108.162.245.202]] 21:53, 27 December 2023 (UTC)
::Isn't that just Bowyer? [[Special:Contributions/172.70.131.37|172.70.131.37]] 21:59, 27 December 2023 (UTC)
:There is a Princess Peach game, Super Princess Peach. [[Special:Contributions/172.68.174.237|172.68.174.237]] 14:06, 28 December 2023 (UTC)
I think the mouse over text references mariokart? We know that Randall plays... [[Special:Contributions/172.70.200.144|172.70.200.144]] 00:43, 28 December 2023 (UTC)
: Absolutely. It's directly referring to the track ''GCN Baby Park'', found in ''{{w|Mario Kart: Double Dash|Double Dash}}'', ''{{w|Mario Kart 8|MK8}}'', and ''{{w|Mario Kart 8 Deluxe|MK8DX}}''. on the other hand, it also references ''The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask'' (which is already included in the explanation) <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS'">[[User:SomeoneIGuess|someone, i guess]]<sup>([[User talk:SomeoneIGuess|talk i guess]]|[[Special:Contributions/SomeoneIGuess|le edit list]])</sup></span> 02:21, 28 December 2023 (UTC)

I'm not that familiar with Mario or particle physics. What would the anti-Peach particle be? Bowsette? [[User:GreatWyrmGold|GreatWyrmGold]] ([[User talk:GreatWyrmGold|talk]]) 00:59, 28 December 2023 (UTC)
:I'm fairly well acquainted with particle physics but not at all with anything Mario (post Donkey Kong, at least). I wish now I'd formatted my own initial explanation with unordered-list (*) or tabular format of the referenced-particles side of this parody when I first visited (141.101.99.101, 20:08, 27 December 2023) rather than the current stop-gap version, but would naturally want to have columns/continuation for the Marioland characters (of which I know too little, only that they exist and that Mario's evil 'twin' is Wario at some much later point in the franchise). Can we perhaps knock it into shape, or are too many editors on Christmas break/distracted by RL? I can still reformat it into a table, but I have less idea what the Mario columns need to leave space for than the other bits... [[Special:Contributions/172.69.194.14|172.69.194.14]] 12:37, 28 December 2023 (UTC)

Clearly, he's referencing Wapeach. --[[Special:Contributions/162.158.74.118|162.158.74.118]] 10:35, 28 December 2023 (UTC)

I'd suggest to prefix the explanation by explaining what a "Super Nintendo" is. I had to look it up in the other wiki to figure that the [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Super_Nintendo_Entertainment_System SNES] (which I'm only familiar with by name) actually stands for "Super Nintendo". [[User:Ralfoide|Ralfoide]] ([[User talk:Ralfoide|talk]]) 15:09, 28 December 2023 (UTC)

Far out in the reaches of Zelda we find the legendary Tom Brier rendering a Zelda theme on the piano. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9dvF-Z7vPK0
[[Special:Contributions/172.71.26.127|172.71.26.127]] 16:03, 28 December 2023 (UTC)

According to Wikipedia, Electron Capture "is a process in which the proton-rich nucleus of an electrically neutral atom absorbs an inner atomic electron, usually from the K or L electron shells. This process thereby changes a nuclear proton to a neutron and simultaneously causes the emission of an electron neutrino." Does this mean Bowser is an unstable amalgamation of Marios and Luigis? Maybe all of the Marios And Luigis that failed to reach the castle become part of Bowser. And since he is made of them that is why he is obsessed with capturing Peaach. Does he release Daisy whenever he captures Peach? [[Special:Contributions/162.158.18.28|162.158.18.28]] 16:10, 28 December 2023 (UTC)

1845: State Word Map

2017-06-04T21:36:20Z

162.158.18.28: In fact since HTML is trivially reducible to plaintext this is a complete nonissue; whichever ua wants meaningless representation just strips the tags. ww

{{comic
| number = 1845
| date = June 2, 2017
| title = State Word Map
| image = state_word_map.png
| titletext = The top search for every state is PORN, except Florida, where it's SEX PORN.
}}

==Explanation==

This is another of the many comics where [[Randall]] used a map of the United States for his joke (see below for examples).

Similar in spirit to [[1138: Heatmap]], this comic pokes fun at many maps that attempt to use data to discern unique characteristics about various sub-regions, in this case {{w|U.S. state|American states}}. This map may have been inspired by [https://twitter.com/GoogleTrends/status/869624196921303040 this map] posted on Twitter by Google Trends the day before the comic was posted. Many web companies use maps like this in viral marketing, but the methodology behind them is pretty weak. The random noise in the data will mean that there will be variations between states even if there is no underlying pattern - and this can be further boosted by statistical tricks. A common one is to show the "most characteristic" or "most distinctive" term for each state. For instance, [http://www.businessinsider.com/most-common-causes-of-death-in-each-state-2014-6?IR=T the most common cause of death is heart disease or cancer] in every US state, but this makes for a boring map. Looking at the [https://www.cdc.gov/pcd/issues/2015/14_0395.htm most distinctive cause of death] produces a more interesting map, but it highlights very minor trends - Lousiana is marked as having syphilis as its most distinctive cause of death, even though [https://www.cdc.gov/nchhstp/stateprofiles/pdf/louisiana_profile.pdf only 15 Louisianans in every 100,000 have the disease] and there were only 22 syphilis deaths in the state over a whole decade. These maps can give a misleading impression of huge variation between states that doesn't really exist.

This map does not say anything real, but says:
:You can make these maps say whatever you want by adjusting the methodology. Half of the time you're just amplifying random noise because the underlying data doesn't change that much from one state to another. But whatever. Nobody checks this stuff. Just pick whatever normalization lets you make fun of Florida.

The primary joke is that the likelihood of these being the words used most often by the inhabitants of each state is low, rather than accurately representing the most used words Randall has just done exactly what he says he can do (make fun of Florida by putting whatever he wants). He also has not obtained the data from anywhere, just 'Something Something'.

The joke about Florida is that the most used word in Florida is "Florida", which would make people in Florida very self-centered.

The comic continues to make fun of Florida in the title text by saying that Florida searches for ''sex porn'' instead of ''porn'', which is not needed since porn means images and film of people having sex. This is also probably a reference to PornHub's [https://www.pornhub.com/insights/united-states-top-searches data-farming] exercises, where they have periodically released the most frequently searched term by state.

{{w|Florida}} is often the butt of many jokes, including the {{w|Florida Man}} meme and many mocking jibes regarding its {{w|2000 United States presidential election recount in Florida|messy electoral history}}. {{tvtropes|OnlyInFlorida|"Only in Florida" phenomenon}}

Randall previously used a map of the United States as the basis for his comics in [[1767: US State Names]], [[1653: United States Map]], [[1509: Scenery Cheat Sheet]] and in [[1079: United Shapes]].

==Transcript==
:[Caption above the map, with sub caption:]
:<big>Most-Used Word in Each State</big>
:Based on Something Something Search Data

:[Beneath the captions are a colorful map of the United States of America. Each state has one color, but the colors do not change from state to state, but rather between rows of states. The top "row" is purple, the second row is gray-blue, but only goes half across. Where it stops a pink row of states begins. Beneath this runs a yellow row, except it does not take California with it, since it belongs to the next purple line beneath this yellow line. Finally the two states not in the contiguous states as well as the southern states from Texas to Florida are again pink. Inside each state is written one, and only one word (or for small states the word is outside and if needed a line indicates which state it belongs to). The words size depends on the size of the state and the word. If it can fit inside the state it will be written in a font large enough to fill the entire state if possible (in one case a hyphen is used). So a short word, like "lets" in huge Texas becomes huge, but a word like "noise" which has been fitted inside small Massachusets becomes small.]

<table style='text-align: center;' class='wikitable'>
<tr style='color: #639;'>
<td style='font-size: 16pt;'>You
<td style='font-size: 18pt;'>can
<td style='font-size: 14pt;'>make
<td style='font-size: 12pt;'>these
<td style='font-size: 12pt;'>maps
<td style='font-size: 12pt;'>say
<td style='font-size: 12pt;'>whatever
<td style='font-size: 10pt;'>you
<td style='font-size: 10pt;'>want
<tr style='color: #369;'>
<td style='font-size: 16pt;'>by
<td style='font-size: 10pt;'>adjusting
<td style='font-size: 16pt;'>the
<td style='font-size: 10pt;'>methodology<ins>.</ins>
<tr style='color: #C06;'>
<td style='font-size: 14pt;'>Half
<td style='font-size: 16pt;'>the
<td style='font-size: 10pt;'>time
<td style='font-size: 10pt;'>you're
<td style='font-size: 14pt;'>just
<td style='font-size: 8pt;'>amplifying
<td style='font-size: 8pt;'>random
<td style='font-size: 8pt;'>noise
<tr style='color: #C96;'>
<td style='font-size: 12pt;'>because
<td style='font-size: 14pt;'>the
<td style='font-size: 12pt;'>underlying
<td style='font-size: 16pt;'>data
<td style='font-size: 12pt;'>doesn't
<td style='font-size: 14pt;'>vary
<td style='font-size: 10pt;'>that
<td style='font-size: 12pt;'>much
<td style='font-size: 8pt;'>from
<td style='font-size: 8pt;'>one
<td style='font-size: 8pt;'>state
<td style='font-size: 8pt;'>to
<td style='font-size: 8pt;'>another<ins>.</ins>
<tr style='color: #639;'>
<td style='font-size: 14pt;'>But
<td style='font-size: 10pt;'>whatever<ins>.</ins>
<td style='font-size: 14pt;'>Nobody
<td style='font-size: 14pt;'>checks
<td style='font-size: 14pt;'>this
<td style='font-size: 14pt;'>stuff<ins>.</ins>
<td style='font-size: 12pt;'>Just
<td style='font-size: 12pt;'>pick
<tr style='color: #C06;'>
<td style='font-size: 12pt;'>whatever
<td style='font-size: 12pt;'>normalization
<td style='font-size: 18pt;'>lets
<td style='font-size: 10pt;'>you
<td style='font-size: 10pt;'>make
<td style='font-size: 14pt;'>fun
<td style='font-size: 14pt;'>of
<td style='font-size: 10pt;'>Florida<ins>.</ins>
</table>

==Trivia==
*The comic lacks the border line dividing {{w|New Hampshire}} and {{w|Maine}} while both states have distinct words attributed to them ("you" for NH and "want" for ME).

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics with color]]
[[Category:Maps]]
[[Category:Geography]]
[[Category:Charts]]

1845: State Word Map

2017-06-04T21:30:41Z

162.158.18.28: Undo revision 140721 by Dgbrt is not helpful for a transcript. How many user agents don't understand HTML? And how many do and benefit from expanded semantics? Insisting on plaintext is nonsense. wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww

1845: State Word Map

2017-06-04T21:19:02Z

162.158.18.28: w

1845: State Word Map

2017-06-04T21:16:09Z

162.158.18.28: wwwwwwwwwwww

{{comic
| number = 1845
| date = June 2, 2017
| title = State Word Map
| image = state_word_map.png
| titletext = The top search for every state is PORN, except Florida, where it's SEX PORN.
}}

==Explanation==

This is another of the many comics where [[Randall]] used a map of the United States for his joke (see below for examples).

Similar in spirit to [[1138: Heatmap]], this comic pokes fun at many maps that attempt to use data to discern unique characteristics about various sub-regions, in this case {{w|U.S. state|American states}}. This map may have been inspired by [https://twitter.com/GoogleTrends/status/869624196921303040 this map] posted on Twitter by Google Trends the day before the comic was posted. Many web companies use maps like this in viral marketing, but the methodology behind them is pretty weak. The random noise in the data will mean that there will be variations between states even if there is no underlying pattern - and this can be further boosted by statistical tricks. A common one is to show the "most characteristic" or "most distinctive" term for each state. For instance, [http://www.businessinsider.com/most-common-causes-of-death-in-each-state-2014-6?IR=T the most common cause of death is heart disease or cancer] in every US state, but this makes for a boring map. Looking at the [https://www.cdc.gov/pcd/issues/2015/14_0395.htm most distinctive cause of death] produces a more interesting map, but it highlights very minor trends - Lousiana is marked as having syphilis as its most distinctive cause of death, even though [https://www.cdc.gov/nchhstp/stateprofiles/pdf/louisiana_profile.pdf only 15 Louisianans in every 100,000 have the disease] and there were only 22 syphilis deaths in the state over a whole decade. These maps can give a misleading impression of huge variation between states that doesn't really exist.

This map does not say anything real, but says:
:You can make these maps say whatever you want by adjusting the methodology. Half of the time you're just amplifying random noise because the underlying data doesn't change that much from one state to another. But whatever. Nobody checks this stuff. Just pick whatever normalization lets you make fun of Florida.

The primary joke is that the likelihood of these being the words used most often by the inhabitants of each state is low, rather than accurately representing the most used words Randall has just done exactly what he says he can do (make fun of Florida by putting whatever he wants). He also has not obtained the data from anywhere, just 'Something Something'.

The joke about Florida is that the most used word in Florida is "Florida", which would make people in Florida very self-centered.

The comic continues to make fun of Florida in the title text by saying that Florida searches for ''sex porn'' instead of ''porn'', which is not needed since porn means images and film of people having sex. This is also probably a reference to PornHub's [https://www.pornhub.com/insights/united-states-top-searches data-farming] exercises, where they have periodically released the most frequently searched term by state.

{{w|Florida}} is often the butt of many jokes, including the {{w|Florida Man}} meme and many mocking jibes regarding its {{w|2000 United States presidential election recount in Florida|messy electoral history}}. {{tvtropes|OnlyInFlorida|"Only in Florida" phenomenon}}

Randall previously used a map of the United States as the basis for his comics in [[1767: US State Names]], [[1653: United States Map]], [[1509: Scenery Cheat Sheet]] and in [[1079: United Shapes]].

==Transcript==
:[Caption above the map, with sub caption:]
:<big>Most-Used Word in Each State</big>
:Based on Something Something Search Data

:[Beneath the captions are a colorful map of the United States of America. Each state has one color, but the colors do not change from state to state, but rather between rows of states. The top "row" is purple, the second row is gray-blue, but only goes half across. Where it stops a pink row of states begins. Beneath this runs a yellow row, except it does not take California with it, since it belongs to the next purple line beneath this yellow line. Finally the two states not in the contiguous states as well as the southern states from Texas to Florida are again pink. Inside each state is written one, and only one word (or for small states the word is outside and if needed a line indicates which state it belongs to). The words size depends on the size of the state and the word. If it can fit inside the state it will be written in a font large enough to fill the entire state if possible (in one case a hyphen is used). So a short word, like "lets" in huge Texas becomes huge, but a word like "noise" which has been fitted inside small Massachusets becomes small.]

<table style='text-align: center;' class='wikitable'>
<tr style='color: #639;'>
<td style='font-size: 16pt;'>You
<td style='font-size: 18pt;'>can
<td style='font-size: 14pt;'>make
<td style='font-size: 12pt;'>these
<td style='font-size: 12pt;'>maps
<td style='font-size: 12pt;'>say
<td style='font-size: 12pt;'>whatever
<td style='font-size: 10pt;'>you want
<tr style='color: #369;'>
<td style='font-size: 16pt;'>by
<td style='font-size: 10pt;'>adjusting
<td style='font-size: 16pt;'>the
<td style='font-size: 10pt;'>methodology<ins>.</ins>
<tr style='color: #C06;'>
<td style='font-size: 14pt;'>Half
<td style='font-size: 16pt;'>the
<td style='font-size: 10pt;'>time
<td style='font-size: 10pt;'>you're
<td style='font-size: 14pt;'>just
<td style='font-size: 8pt;'>amplifying
<td style='font-size: 8pt;'>random
<td style='font-size: 8pt;'>noise
<tr style='color: #FC9;'>
<td style='font-size: 12pt;'>because
<td style='font-size: 14pt;'>the
<td style='font-size: 12pt;'>underlying
<td style='font-size: 16pt;'>data
<td style='font-size: 12pt;'>doesn't
<td style='font-size: 14pt;'>vary
<td style='font-size: 10pt;'>that
<td style='font-size: 12pt;'>much
<td style='font-size: 8pt;'>from
<td style='font-size: 8pt;'>one
<td style='font-size: 8pt;'>state
<td style='font-size: 8pt;'>to
<td style='font-size: 8pt;'>another<ins>.</ins>
<tr style='color: #639;'>
<td style='font-size: 14pt;'>But
<td style='font-size: 10pt;'>whatever<ins>.</ins>
<td style='font-size: 14pt;'>Nobody
<td style='font-size: 14pt;'>checks
<td style='font-size: 14pt;'>this
<td style='font-size: 14pt;'>stuff<ins>.</ins>
<td style='font-size: 12pt;'>Just
<td style='font-size: 12pt;'>pick
<tr style='color: #C06;'>
<td style='font-size: 12pt;'>whatever
<td style='font-size: 12pt;'>normalization
<td style='font-size: 18pt;'>lets
<td style='font-size: 10pt;'>you
<td style='font-size: 10pt;'>make
<td style='font-size: 14pt;'>fun
<td style='font-size: 14pt;'>of
<td style='font-size: 10pt;'>Florida<ins>.</ins>
</table>

==Trivia==
*The comic lacks the border line dividing {{w|New Hampshire}} and {{w|Maine}} while both states have distinct words attributed to them ("you" for NH and "want" for ME).

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics with color]]
[[Category:Maps]]
[[Category:Geography]]
[[Category:Charts]]