explain xkcd - User contributions [en]

1416: Pixels

2016-03-20T18:25:05Z

162.158.252.197: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 1416
| date = September 3, 2014
| title = Pixels
| image = pixels.png
| titletext = It's turtles all the way down.
}}
<div style="float:right"> __TOC__ </div>
'''NOTE:'''
*The above is only a zoomed out version of the this interactive comic.
*To experience the interactivity, visit the {{xkcd|1416|original comic}}.
*For a collection of images that appear when zooming in on this comic, see [[1416: Pixels/Images]].

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Peer review of individual panel explanations needed.}}
{{incomplete|Some explanations do not explain jokes in them. For example, the only thing written in Clouds is describing the panels.}}
This interactive comic begins with a panel where [[Cueball]] is stacking turtles. This is a reference to the idiom "{{w|turtles all the way down}}", which refers to the problem of infinite recursion: if everything in the universe is "on top of" something else, so to speak, there must be a "bottom." A joking solution to the paradoxical nature of such a bottom is the proposition that the world rests on a semi-infinite stack of turtles.

The origins of the turtle story are uncertain. It has been recorded since the mid 19th century, and may possibly date to the 18th. One recent version appears in {{W|Stephen Hawking}}'s 1988 book {{W|A Brief History of Time}}, which starts:

:A well-known scientist (some say it was {{W|Bertrand Russell}}) once gave a public lecture on astronomy. He described how the earth orbits around the sun and how the sun, in turn, orbits around the center of a vast collection of stars called our galaxy. At the end of the lecture, a little old lady at the back of the room got up and said: "What you have told us is rubbish. The world is really a flat plate supported on the back of a giant tortoise." The scientist gave a superior smile before replying, "What is the tortoise standing on?" "You're very clever, young man, very clever," said the old lady. "But it's turtles all the way down!"''

:—Hawking, 1988

Several {{w|World Turtle|ancient myths}}, dating back thousands of years, involve a turtle which supports the whole world, or a part of it, although it is usually just one turtle, not an infinite regression. This is also repeated in {{w|Terry Pratchett}}'s {{w|Discworld}} novels, in which the world is supported by four elephants standing on the back of a single turtle called {{w|Great A'Tuin}}.

As can be read you should '''"scroll to zoom"'''. This can be done by placing the cursor inside the panel of the comic. When scrolling up (using the mouse wheel) the picture zooms in on the pixel beneath the cursor. Moving the cursor will also move the point to which the picture zooms. You can then zoom in until the pixels are visible. When you continue to zoom in on a pixel it then resolves into another comic picture, with black-on-white comic panels making up the white pixels and white-on-black panels making up the black pixels. Scrolling on until you can see the pixels of the comic picture you are now zooming into the process is repeated again and will be so for all subsequent sets of comic panels. Not all white and all black panels are the same; some sets involve more than two different panels, but all involve repetitive tiling.

Once you have zoomed in, you are able to click and drag the picture, thus enabling you to move from black to white picture pixel. This is reminiscent of the earlier [[:Category:Interactive comics|interactive]] comic [[1110: Click and Drag]].

==Themes==
*Below are all the themes relevant to cover all the images found when zooming in.
*They are sorted in the same order as in the gallery: [[1416: Pixels/Images]].
**Open the gallery in another window - zoom out and then you can see the pictures in this window as you read about them here below. You can see thumbnail versions of each picture at the top of the theme sub-section.

===Turtles===
[[Image:01-100-pixels-turtles.png|link=File:pixels-turtles.png]]
[[File:02-100-pixels-quiet-turtle.png|link=File:pixels-quiet-turtle.png]]
[[File:03-100-pixels-i-am-a-turtle.png|link=File:pixels-i-am-a-turtle.png]]

Apart from the first image there are two more with a single turtle in them. In one of these the turtle thinks "I am a turtle". This is a reference to [[889: Turtles]]. It may say so to the Cueball that is seen standing all alone in another picture.

===What if?===
[[File:04-100-pixels-blank-figure.png|link=File:pixels-blank-figure.png]]
[[File:05-100-pixels-whatif-trade.png|link=File:pixels-whatif-trade.png]]
[[File:06-100-pixels-whatif-king.png|link=File:pixels-whatif-king.png]]

There is a panel featuring just Cueball, followed by is a picture of the ''What If?'' book, large enough that all of the text is visible on the front cover. But there is also another version where the author's name is crossed out and replaced with {{w|Stephen King}}, the word "Spooky" has been added above the title, and the word "xkcd" below has been struck and replaced with "being afraid" to form the phrase "creator of being afraid". Stephen King is one of the most prolific and well-known horror authors of all time.

===Book Launch===
[[File:07-100-pixels-book-launch.png|link=File:pixels-book-launch.png]]

This comic was released on September 3, 2014, the day after [[Randall|Randall's]] book ''[http://whatif.xkcd.com/book/ What If]'' was launched. The book is shown and referred to in a number of frames; for example, it is [[:File:pixels-upgoer.png|'''literally''' launched]] as a part of an <strike>rocket</strike> [[1133: Up Goer Five|''up goer'']] built by Cueball. There is also a picture with Cueball holding his book, while being excited about the launch.

The model ''up goer'' is [[:File:pixels-assembly-1.png|made of Rocket Parts from KSP]]. KSP is the {{w|Kerbal Space Program}}, a spaceflight simulator which was also [[1350: Lorenz#Themes|part]] of the latest interactive comic [[1350: Lorenz]]. Perhaps xkcd's "parts" refers to KSP's large community of mod developers who contribute 'parts' to the game, although it was likely intended as nothing more than the humorous supposition that one could purchase physical rocket parts from a simulator. The frames showing the book launch use URLs that include the text "upgoer" in reference to the [[Up Goer Five]] comic.

In the end the up goer leaves the Earth after one orbit and then flies through space.

===Needs More Struts===
[[File:08-100-pixels-assembly-1.png|link=File:pixels-assembly-1.png]]
[[File:09-100-pixels-assembly-2.png|link=File:pixels-assembly-2.png]]
[[File:10-100-pixels-assembly-3.png|link=File:pixels-assembly-3.png]]
[[File:11-100-pixels-assembly-4.png|link=File:pixels-assembly-4.png]]
[[File:12-100-pixels-assembly-5.png|link=File:pixels-assembly-5.png]]
[[File:13-100-pixels-assembly-6.png|link=File:pixels-assembly-6.png]]
[[File:14-100-pixels-assembly-7.png|link=File:pixels-assembly-7.png]]
[[File:15-100-pixels-assembly-planet.png|link=File:pixels-assembly-planet.png]]
[[File:16-100-pixels-assembly-planet-1.png|link=File:pixels-assembly-planet-1.png]]
[[File:17-100-pixels-assembly-planet-3.png|link=File:pixels-assembly-planet-3.png]]

{{w|Strut|Struts}} are structural members in engineering, and are one of the components used in Kerbal Space Program to construct rockets. "Needs More Struts" is a meme amongst players of Kerbal Space Program along the lines of "when in doubt, overengineer"; it stems from a time when the ragdoll physics in the Unity engine underlying KSP was unstable enough to necessitate their overuse. Megan deems Cueball's rocket to be insufficiently structurally sound, and declares that it "[[:File:pixels-assembly-4.png|Needs More Struts]]".

The first three images depict Cueball building a Kerbal Space Program rocket out of parts from a box, labelled "KSP Rocket Parts". The top part of the rocket, usually where the crew module would be located, is made from the ''What If..?'' book. In the fourth panel Megan declares that it needs more struts, and in the next three panels, Cueball takes her advice and adds more struts.

Panel 8 shows the Earth from a distance, with somebody (presumably Megan) saying again "More Struts". Panel 9 shows the Earth alone, and panel 10 shows the Earth with the rocket nearby, having just launched.

===The Only Copy===
[[File:18-100-pixels-upgoer.png|link=File:pixels-upgoer.png]]
[[File:19-100-pixels-upgoer-2.png|link=File:pixels-upgoer-2.png]]
[[File:20-100-pixels-upgoer-3.png|link=File:pixels-upgoer-3.png]]
[[File:21-100-pixels-upgoer-4.png|link=File:pixels-upgoer-4.png]]
[[File:22-100-pixels-upgoer-5.png|link=File:pixels-upgoer-5.png]]
[[File:23-100-pixels-upgoer-6.png|link=File:pixels-upgoer-6.png]]
[[File:24-100-pixels-upgoer-planet.png|link=File:pixels-upgoer-planet.png]]
[[File:25-100-pixels-launch-planet.png|link=File:pixels-launch-planet.png]]
[[File:26-100-pixels-upgoer-planet-2.png|link=File:pixels-upgoer-planet-2.png]]
[[File:27-100-pixels-upgoer-planet-3.png|link=File:pixels-upgoer-planet-3.png]]
[[File:28-100-pixels-upgoer-planet-4.png|link=File:pixels-upgoer-planet-4.png]]
[[File:29-100-pixels-upgoer-space.png|link=File:pixels-upgoer-space.png]]

This series of panels parallels the "Needs More Struts" series. The first four panels shows the rocket lifting off, and the subsequent gasses dissipating.

Cueball and Megan look up at the ascending rocket, and then turn to each other having just launched the What-If book rocket into space (construction and launch are seen in other panels). Perhaps Megan realizes they may have misunderstood the term "book launch", and that they may have just lost ''[[:File:pixels-upgoer-6.png|the only copy]]'' of the book.

Panel 7 shows the Earth from space; panel 8 also shows the Earth, with the words "Book Launch". The next three panels show the rocket circling around the Earth once before heading into deep space, and the last shows the rocket by itself on its journey.

===Space objects===
[[File:30-100-pixels-sun.png|link=File:pixels-sun.png]]
[[File:31-100-pixels-moon.png|link=File:pixels-moon.png]]
[[File:32-100-pixels-saturn.png|link=File:pixels-saturn.png]]
[[File:33-100-pixels-stars-1.png|link=File:pixels-stars-1.png]]
[[File:34-100-pixels-stars-2.png|link=File:pixels-stars-2.png]]

Here are five objects in space. It is possible that the What-If book rocket passes them by, or that these images are seen from the point of view of the rocket.

First is the Sun, shown with visible {{w|solar prominence}}s. Next is the Moon, shown in a crescent view with stars behind it. This is followed by Saturn, also in a crescent view with stars behind it.

There follow two images with just stars.

===Sky===
This is a reference to [[428: Starwatching]]:
[[File:35-100-pixels-sky.png|link=File:pixels-sky.png]]
[[File:36-100-pixels-sky-2.png|link=File:pixels-sky-2.png]]
[[File:37-100-pixels-sky-3.png|link=File:pixels-sky-3.png]]
[[File:38-100-pixels-sky-4.png|link=File:pixels-sky-4.png]]

In four pictures Cueball and Megan are sitting below the stars. In the second the following conversation takes place:
:Cueball: Someone once told me the great kings of the past look down on us...
:Megan: From the stars?
:Cueball: Just in general.
The second panel is a reference to Disney's [http://lionking.wikia.com/wiki/The_Great_Kings_of_the_Past The Lion King]. Early in the film, Mufasa tells Simba that the great kings of the past look down on them from the stars. Later on, Simba recalls this to his companions, Timon and Pumba (who don't take him seriously). In the film, the kings of the past literally look down on — and watch over — the characters, which is how Megan interprets Cueball's initial statement. Cueball's reply that they just look down on us in general shows that he means the kings of the past figuratively look down on us (they view us as inferior or beneath them).

In the next image a shooting star is seen above them. The final picture is almost identical to the first (only four stars and a few pixels of ground are different).

===Mario===
[[File:39-100-pixels-mario-entry.png|link=File:pixels-mario-entry.png]]
[[File:40-100-pixels-mario-sitting-1.png|link=File:pixels-mario-sitting-1.png]]
[[File:41-100-pixels-mario-sitting-2.png|link=File:pixels-mario-sitting-2.png]]
[[File:42-100-pixels-mario-sitting-3.png|link=File:pixels-mario-sitting-3.png]]
[[File:43-100-pixels-mario-sitting-b.png|link=File:pixels-mario-sitting-b.png]]
[[File:44-100-pixels-mario-n1.png|link=File:pixels-mario-n1.png]]
[[File:45-100-pixels-mario-n2.png|link=File:pixels-mario-n2.png]]
[[File:46-100-pixels-mario-n3.png|link=File:pixels-mario-n3.png]]

A series of 8 images are called ''Mario''. The first is called ''entry'', and has a picture of a TV on a low stand. The next four has Megan in front of said TV, holding a video game controller. The cable is connected to something inside the stand. She first sits on her knees, then on her butt. In the third picture she is lying down. What follows is a picture which is an inverse of the sitting picture.

The last three images seem to depict a level from one of the {{w|Super Mario Bros.}} games. In the upper right one can see the iconic bricks which Mario can smash, two clouds appear stationary in the background, and a crude depiction of Mario is standing in the lower left. Over the course of the three images, a galaxy rises into the sky. It does not look like the Milky Way would from anywhere on Earth.

The view is reminiscent of a quote from Carl Sagan: "...from a planet orbiting a star in a distant globular cluster, a still more glorious dawn awaits. Not a sunrise, but a galaxy rise. A morning filled with 400 billion suns. The rising of the milky way." The quote was also referenced in https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/681:_Gravity_Wells

Randall often allows images of transcendant awe to take over mundane scenes. In this case, the galaxy-rise is a surprising twist revealing the true setting of the Super Mario Brothers games. At the same time it conveys how long Megan has been playing the game - day has turned into night in her room, and also within the game itself. Instead of playing it, she is simply watching the galaxy-rise, as the character on the screen has not moved. The view may contain a hidden pun, by calling to mind {{w|Super Mario Galaxy}}.

===Shut Down the Server===
[[File:47-100-pixels-server-1.png|link=File:pixels-server-1.png]]

Cueball tells an offscreen character that he is going to [[:File:pixels-server-1.png|shut down the server]], while carrying a bucket of water.

Usually shutting down a {{w|Server (computing)|server}} is done via the operating system or software. Directly turning it off or pulling the power plug also would technically work though not recommended for obvious reasons. But in this case it appears that Cueball is going to attempt to shut off the server by dousing it with water. This will likely result in serious water damage to the hardware, thus forcing it off as it no longer is able to function.

===Clouds===
[[File:48-100-pixels-clouds-1.png|link=File:pixels-clouds-1.png]]
[[File:49-100-pixels-clouds-2.png|link=File:pixels-clouds-2.png]]
[[File:50-100-pixels-clouds-3.png|link=File:pixels-clouds-3.png]]
[[File:51-100-pixels-clouds-4.png|link=File:pixels-clouds-4.png]]
[[File:52-100-pixels-clouds-5.png|link=File:pixels-clouds-5.png]]

In five pictures Megan is floating in the clouds. The first shows Megan flying to the right, the second and third show just clouds, the fourth shows Megan flying to the left, and the fifth shows birds flying.

===Walking===
[[File:53-100-pixels-walking.png|link=File:pixels-walking.png]]
[[File:54-100-pixels-stockholm.png|link=File:pixels-stockholm.png]]
[[File:55-100-pixels-time-turner.png|link=File:pixels-time-turner.png]]
[[File:56-100-pixels-walking-b.png|link=File:pixels-walking-b.png]]
[[File:57-100-pixels-fire-hydrant.png|link=File:pixels-fire-hydrant.png]]

In two images Cueball and Megan are seen walking. The first is a normal black-on-white close up, and the second an inverted image seen from afar. They are talking while walking; after the first walking image they discuss [[#Stockholm Syndrome|Stockholm syndrome]] and then [[#Time Turners|Time Turners]], and after the second walking image Black Hat discusses a [[#Fire Hydrant|fire hydrant]] with a firefighter.

====Stockholm Syndrome====
{{w|Stockholm syndrome}} is the name for a psychological phenomenon, in which hostages develop sympathy, empathy and/or positive feelings towards their captors. These feelings are usually seen as irrational, seeing as the hostage is held against their wishes, usually with the threat of physical harm or death.

[[:File:pixels-stockholm.png|This panel]] asks "How do we know anyone really ''wants'' to live in Stockholm?", questioning whether everyone who lives in the city of Stockholm is in fact held hostage there and only stays because they have developed to like life there (due to Stockholm Syndrome).

====Time Turners====
The time turner is a device from the {{w|Harry Potter}} series of novels by {{w|JK Rowling}}. It allows the user to re-live a period of time over again. In the third novel Hermione is given the time-turner to allow her to take extra classes, however it is eventually used to spare Buckbeak the hippogryph from execution. This prompted many questions regarding why time-turners weren't used on other occasions to save people's lives (among other things).

While J.K Rowling has "[http://pottermore.wikia.com/wiki/Time-Turner solved the problem to her own satisfaction]" she admits that she entered into the subject of time-travel too lightly.

[[:File:pixels-time-turner.png|This panel]] jokes that if the real life JK Rowling had a fictional time-turner which worked, she would have gone back and removed the time-turner plotline from the book, saving her all the hassle of dealing with the resulting time-travel questions. This act would result in a time-travel paradox.

====Fire Hydrant====
[[Black Hat]] is talking to a fireman, with a fire engine on fire in the background, he asks "To be fair, what else would you expect to come out of a "[[:File:pixels-fire-hydrant.png|fire hydrant]]"?"

Black Hat appears to have managed to replace the usual water supply to the {{w|fire hydrant}} with actual fire. Thus when the hydrant is used, the result is, quite literally, fire (or oil with possibly flint and steel contraptions to cause fire). In Black Hat's logic, a hydrant which delivers water should be called a water hydrant.

This completely ignores the meaning of the word "hydrant", a pipe which supplies water (derived from the English root ''hydro-'' meaning ''relating to water'', which is in turn from the Greek ''hudōr'' meaning ''water'').

An alternative explanation is that Black Hat has replaced the water that would normally come out of the fire hydrant with a strong alcoholic beverage, colloquially called {{w|firewater}}, with a high enough ethanol content to burn. If this were the case, the ability to douse a fire would be severely decreased, both due to the flammable component and because ethanol can absorb less heat per volume than water.

===Eeee===
[[File:58-100-pixels-e1.png|link=File:pixels-e1.png]]
[[File:59-100-pixels-e2.png|link=File:pixels-e2.png]]
[[File:60-100-pixels-e3.png|link=File:pixels-e3.png]]
[[File:61-100-pixels-e4.png|link=File:pixels-e4.png]]
[[File:62-100-pixels-e5.png|link=File:pixels-e5.png]]
[[File:63-100-pixels-e6.png|link=File:pixels-e6.png]]
[[File:64-100-pixels-eb.png|link=File:pixels-eb.png]]

Megan hears a very long stretched ''EEEEEEEEEEEEE'' sound which goes over 6 images. It turns out it is a large letter '''E''' that shouts ''EEEEEEE!!!''. In total there are 64 small E emanating from the big one. There is also a picture with two big white E on black background. Those E are larger than the E that shouts.

===Evolution===
[[File:65-100-pixels-evolution.png|link=File:pixels-evolution.png]]

The {{w|March of Progress}} image is a famous and instantly recognisable image showing the stages of human evolution by way of a series of primate figures as if marching in a line. The panel parodies the March of Progress image, with [[:File:pixels-evolution.png|5 ducklings following an adult duck]]. In this case, rather than portraying selected individuals millions of years apart, the March shows evolution in action on a human timescale, the mother taking care of her ducklings. The comic has some resemblance to [[537: Ducklings]].

===Rope===
[[File:66-100-pixels-rope.png|link=File:pixels-rope.png]]

Four ropes cross diagonally across this black picture.

===Chess and Cantor Set Fractals===
[[File:67-100-pixels-chess-b.png|link=File:pixels-chess-b.png]]
[[File:68-100-pixels-chess-w.png|link=File:pixels-chess-w.png]]
[[File:69-100-pixels-cantor.png|link=File:pixels-cantor.png]]

There are two chess boards on black and white background with smaller chessboards drawn upon them in a {{w|Fractal}} pattern.

[[:File:pixels-cantor.png|One panel]] contains a number of lines and dots, which are in fact a depiction of the first 5 steps of a {{w|Cantor set|Cantor Ternary Set}}, mirrored about the horizontal centreline (see {{w|File:Cantor set in seven iterations.svg|reference image}}). The Cantor ternary set is constructed by repeatedly deleting the open middle thirds of a set of line segments. In the comic, the two upper-left most segments and the two lower-right most segments are misaligned slightly.

The Cantor Set is one of the canonical examples of a fractal, a shape whose individual parts resemble the whole. The use of the Cantor Set in this comic is self-referential, in that the comic, itself, is composed of parts of the same shape as the whole.

===Atom etc===
[[File:70-100-pixels-particles.png|link=File:pixels-particles.png]]
[[File:71-100-pixels-atom.png|link=File:pixels-atom.png]]
[[File:72-100-pixels-string.png|link=File:pixels-string.png]]

There is a picture of tiny particles, quite spaced out. These probably represent atoms, and given how distant they are, they may well be a gas.

There follows a picture of a Bohr Model atom with point electrons surrounding a nucleus of protons and neutrons. The atom is a {{w|Carbon}} atom which is essential for all living matter and therefore for evolution. There is also a picture of what is probably a vibrating cosmic string fragment (a concept in {{w|string theory}}). Despite {{w|Werner Heisenberg|Heisenberg's}} {{w|Uncertainty Principle}}, zooming down to the string does not mean that the cartoon viewer has reached the "bottom" of the comic - zooming in on the loop will show a picture of string.

===Holism, Reductionism, Mu===
[[File:73-100-pixels-mu.png|link=File:pixels-mu.png]]
[[File:74-100-pixels-mu-b.png|link=File:pixels-mu-b.png]]
[[File:75-100-pixels-holism.png|link=File:pixels-holism.png]]
[[File:76-100-pixels-holism-b.png|link=File:pixels-holism-b.png]]
[[File:77-100-pixels-reductionism.png|link=File:pixels-reductionism.png]]
[[File:78-100-pixels-reductionism-b.png|link=File:pixels-reductionism-b.png]]

These three words refer to "A MU offering", an essay by {{w|Douglas Hofstatder}} in his book {{w|Godel, Escher, Bach}} (which was referenced by Randall in [[24: Godel, Escher, Kurt Halsey]]). It includes a similar multiple level drawing: {{w|Mu (negative)|the word MU}} is composed of copies of the words [[:File:pixels-holism.png|HOLISM]] and [[:File:pixels-reductionism.png|REDUCTIONISM]], each of which are in turn made of smaller copies of the other, which are in turn made of [http://newtonexcelbach.wordpress.com/2011/02/16/two-more-letters/ tiny copies] of the word [[:File:pixels-mu.png|MU]].

{{w|Mu (negative)|Mu}} is an important word in {{w|Buddhism}}. Literally, it means "no" or "not", but in Buddhism it also refers to a state of being or thinking - or rather, of not being and not thinking. It could be said that the pairs of panels in this series are each other's Mu, being negative (white-on-black and black-on-white).

{{w|Holism}} is a philosophical principle that systems should be considered as a complete whole, not as a set of individual parts. For example, a human viewed holistically is a whole interconnected being which can only be fully understood in its own context.

{{w|Reductionism}} is essentially Holism's opposite, a philosophical principle that any complex object can be reduced to a collection of simpler objects. A human can be considered as a set of organs (eg the heart), which in turn is composed of tissue (in this case muscle), composed of many cells. Cells can then be reduced to organelles, such as the nucleus; this contains chromosomes, made of DNA, a molecule made of atoms; atoms are made of components including protons; and protons are composed of quarks (which may be considered as one-dimensional strings). Reductionism holds that a full understanding of the simplest components of a system, and how they interact, can lead to a full understanding of the system as a whole.

Holism and reductionism are complementary, rather than competing, philosophies, as both have their strengths and weaknesses. Holism can be very effective in understanding the larger-scale effects of a system by observing macroscopic events and how they are linked, but it ignores the more in-depth understanding gained by considering the smaller-scale components. Reductionism can in theory give us a complete understanding of the entire system by building it up from the smallest and simplest parts, but for a complex system, this is effectively impossible (a typical human contains roughly 1029 quarks, whose interactions cannot possibly be computed and understood in human terms or timescales).

"Pixels" is an example of a system best understood with a combination of holism and reductionism. Each panel can be fully explained in its own terms, but is more completely understood as part of a small series of panels. The interconnectedness of all the panels shows a more holistic understanding, yet even this cannot explain comic fully, which must be experienced, with its interactivity and sense of exploration.

These panels can be found inside panels with Megan.

===du===
[[File:79-100-pixels-du.png|link=File:pixels-du.png]]

"[[:File:pixels-du.png|du]]" is a {{w|POSIX}} (think {{w|Linux}}/{{w|Mac OS X}}) command to indicate the "disk usage" of a file or directory.

~$ du -s video/
4170882256

This is a command that shows how large all the files are in this user's "video" directory - presumably where they store their personal videos. The units of the result is probably kilobytes (depending on settings, could also be the number of 512-byte blocks).

This number is clearly large and difficult to parse, and the units are not clear (to a bystander). More appropriate units would be gigabytes rather than bytes. The du command offers an option to display units in "human readable format", which will adapt to use kilobytes, megabytes, gigabytes, terabytes, etc. as appropriate. The next command purports to request the same result in more human-readable form.

~$ du -hs video/
A lot.
~$

It seems that the computer, rather than giving a specific answer, simply says that the size of the video directory is "A lot."

The final line indicates the computer is now ready to accept a new command.

==Transcript==
:[Cueball is stacking turtles, and is about to put the fourth turtle on his pile. At the bottom right there is a small panel. Inside this is written:]
:Scroll to zoom

:[When zooming in there will be several panels with text. The transcript of these may not be possible to complete - but add the transcript of these panels here: [[1416: Pixels/Transcript|interactive transcript]]]

:The following code can be found by inspecting the comic's source code:
:<nowiki>[[A large picture of a person kneeling on the ground, stacking turtles.]]</nowiki>
:<nowiki>((In this strip, when you zoom into the panel, each pixel becomes its own panel. Each of those panels can be scrolled into, for the same effect. The story progresses as you scroll deeper.))</nowiki>
:<nowiki>[[The Earth as seen from space with the words BOOK LAUNCH.]]</nowiki>
:<nowiki>[[A stick-Randall holding a copy of 'What If?' saying, "So excited about my book launch!"]]</nowiki>
:<nowiki>[[A copy of the cover of 'What If?' labeled "book."]]</nowiki>
:<nowiki>[[Stick-Randall is assembling parts from a box labeled 'rocket parts' and preparing to 'launch' his book.]]</nowiki>
:<nowiki>[[Various stages of assembly.]]</nowiki>
:<nowiki>[[A second person comes in, looks at SR's rocket set-up and says, "Needs more struts."]]</nowiki>
:<nowiki>[[SR adds more struts.]]</nowiki>
:<nowiki>[[The rocket launches.]]</nowiki>
:<nowiki>[[A big cloud of smoke, which then dissipates.]]</nowiki>
:<nowiki>[[SR and the other person look skywards at the launched book.]]</nowiki>
:<nowiki>[[The book is shown leaving Earth's orbit.]]</nowiki>
:<nowiki>[[The other person turns to SR and says, "I think that was the only one."]]</nowiki>
:<nowiki>[[The two walk away.]]</nowiki>
:<nowiki>((The panels after this are a random assortment of these mostly stand-alone panels.))</nowiki>
:<nowiki>[[A momma duck with several ducklings in a row behind her, labeled 'Evolution.']]</nowiki>
:<nowiki>[[The other person floating around in the sky.]]</nowiki>
:<nowiki>[[A stick figure with a sploshing bucket of water saying, "I'm gonna shut down the server!"]]</nowiki>
:<nowiki>[[Two people walking along, one saying, "But if the Time-Turners worked after Book 3, Rowling would have used one to go back and remove the Time Turner from Book 3."]]</nowiki>
:<nowiki>[[The code:</nowiki>
:<nowiki>~$ du -s video</nowiki>

:<nowiki>4170882256</nowiki>
:<nowiki>~$ du -s video</nowiki>

:<nowiki>A lot.</nowiki>
:<nowiki>~$]]</nowiki>
:<nowiki>[[A cloud.]]</nowiki>
:<nowiki>[[A flock of birds.]]</nowiki>
:<nowiki>[[MU]]</nowiki>
:<nowiki>[[A pixel.]]</nowiki>
:<nowiki>[[A person using a computer on the floor.]]</nowiki>
:<nowiki>[[HOLISM]]</nowiki>
:<nowiki>[[Saturn]]</nowiki>
:<nowiki>[[An atom.]]</nowiki>
:<nowiki>[[Two people star-gazing on a hill.]]</nowiki>
:<nowiki>[[Person one says, "Someone once told me the great kings of the past look down on us..." Person two says, "From the stars?" The first person replies, "Just in general."]]</nowiki>
:<nowiki>[[The start of Mario World 1-1.]]</nowiki>

:<nowiki>{{Title text: It's turtles all the way down.}}</nowiki>

==Trivia==
===Gallery===
[[1416: Pixels/Images|This gallery]] contains the [http://azttm.wordpress.com/2014/09/03/xkcd-com-1416-pixels/ 79 images used in this comic]. The images are related in a [http://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/images/3/37/1416_Pixels_layout.png directed graph].

===Images Database===
This google sheet describes all possible images, their associated codes, and what possible images can be used as sub-images for each zoom level: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1nldKAkeVcK606CY12KI9bah9rDmK9E7CZOyinsEj2Lo/edit?usp=sharing

===Image scraping script===
This gist recursively downloads all possible images:
https://gist.github.com/Aaron1011/d3b56325881cd639506a

===Bugs===
*Doesn't seem to work properly in all browsers (e.g. Firefox and Safari on MacOSX), giving "TypeError: this.data is null" in line 173 of zoom.js: "var item = this.data.get(dims)"
*Firefox on Lubuntu 14.04 (presumably other Ubuntu/Linux distros as well) will allow zooming in, and then freeze when each pixel is about 1/3 of the pane.
*Doesn't seem to work in IE8, comic is blank, but title text works.
*Does not work on xkcd.org neither www.xkcd.org in Firefox and Chrome. Currently you should visit http://xkcd.com for this comic to work properly.
*Also, it doesn't work on HTTPS.
*Very slow and consumes a ridiculous amount of memory (>4GB) in Firefox.

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Interactive comics]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Black Hat]]
[[Category:The Lion King]]

Talk:1404: Quantum Vacuum Virtual Plasma

2015-12-16T22:59:39Z

162.158.252.197: Idiots don't know how organizations take actions.

This is another one of Randall's knocks on pseudoscience... I've seen things like this before, where the guy puts 1000's of volts between a piece of tinfoil and a wire and is amazed that the thing (weighing a few grams) flies around. I'd search for it for reference but it's late here and I'm tired [[Special:Contributions/173.245.54.209|173.245.54.209]] 04:41, 6 August 2014 (UTC)

Here is the article referenced: http://ntrs.nasa.gov/archive/nasa/casi.ntrs.nasa.gov/20140006052.pdf [[Special:Contributions/199.27.128.83|199.27.128.83]] 05:24, 6 August 2014 (UTC)

20 kW is probably not from any reference, but just to summarize the history of claims in a vivid manner. The news surge was predicated about the prestige of the NASA organization attaching to any tiny lab under the aegis even though the paper was not in a peer-reviewed top journal but the very last presentation made at a multi-day conference. The NASA abstract differs wildly from the abstract of the same-date paper (or draft). http://rghost.net/57230791 \\ Other coverage from the skeptical side goes a bit into the history of similar microwaves-in-a-funny-shaped-can claims, where the reported thrust seems to diminish as the sensitivity of the measurement. http://scienceblogs.com/principles/2014/08/04/impossible-thruster-probably-impossible/ http://blogs.scienceforums.net/swansont/archives/15155 https://plus.google.com/117663015413546257905/posts/WfFtJ8bYVya https://plus.google.com/117663015413546257905/posts/C7vx2G85kr4 And finally may I close with a reference to Tooth-Fairy-(pseudo)science. http://www.skepdic.com/toothfairyscience.html [[Special:Contributions/199.27.128.118|199.27.128.118]] 05:41, 6 August 2014 (UTC)

What I'm missing is any reference to NASA being the third party to conduct this experiment and the third to witness these results. So while this looks an awful lot like Tooth-Fairy-science, it still raises the question of what the hell is going on there? Usually these pseudo-science experiments fail on reproduction or are only reproduced by non-scientists. - Nine [[Special:Contributions/141.101.104.59|141.101.104.59]] 06:46, 6 August 2014 (UTC)

More than a decade ago a few weird Italian guys already demostrated more than a twitch. Italian Army officials ("Esercito") were not that impressed. Their bizarre website http://Www.asps.it mostly dedicated to pseudo-religious stuff and fighting trolls, repeatedly states that technical details won't be shared until a patent is definitely granted. - [[Special:Contributions/108.162.229.182|108.162.229.182]] 06:58, 6 August 2014 (UTC)

;Fancy way of building an (ordinary) photon drive

A bit of context:

The idea of using virtual particles/quantum foam as your reaction mass has been around for a while. This turns out to just be an overly-complicated way of building a photon drive. If you accelerate a charge (real or virtual), it'll spit out photons. If you interact with charged virtual particles in a way that results in real thrust (by accelerating them), the photons you get out are real photons, and you pay for them in the usual manner (they cost you energy).

If you're building a photon drive, a heating element and a mirror work just as well.

As for the anomalous thrust in the experiments, there are a huge number of ways that you can get that from an experiment that isn't set up sufficiently carefully. The fact that two different experiments got vastly different measurements is a very big hint that something was flawed with at least one of them (possibly both).

Among other things, generating intense microwaves involves large electric currents. If any part of your apparatus is made of metal (and lots of this was), ordinary EM forces produce quite a few contaminating effects that are a royal pain to account for, especially if you're trying to measure an effect much weaker than they are. --[[Special:Contributions/108.162.246.221|108.162.246.221]] 09:26, 6 August 2014 (UTC)

I don't like how the sciencey posts use a lot of scientific terms without explaining them. I thought the purpose of this site was to make xkcd accessible for all people, science laymen included, but sometimes these explanations obfuscate more than they help. --[[Special:Contributions/141.101.99.188|141.101.99.188]] 10:46, 6 August 2014 (UTC)
: +1 -- I would suggest a rewrite of the explanation with that in mind. [[User:Spongebog|Spongebog]] ([[User talk:Spongebog|talk]]) 12:15, 6 August 2014 (UTC)

I don't see any "joke on quantum superposition". Either explain what the jokes are or remove that claim? --[[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.162|141.101.98.162]] 12:08, 6 August 2014 (UTC)
: That was a "correction" of "quantum supposition" which made more sense. Chad Orzel makes an ''actual'' joke about quantum superposition: "Most physicists I know have reacted to this with some linear combination of “heavy sigh” and “eye roll.”" Anyway, I have edited away the superposition by rewriting the description of the last panel. [[Special:Contributions/199.27.128.118|199.27.128.118]] 16:02, 6 August 2014 (UTC)
:: I don't see any joke about quantum uncertainty, just regular uncertainty and the scientific method in the last panel. The claim of thrust without exhaust or other momentum transfer is a claim of new physics, but the evidence of this claim is weak because the device was not tested in isolation and vacuum and the reported thrust was not in line with the claimed mechanisms. But Megan points out that new physics isn't created but only discovered, so she is just as likely to interact with the newly claimed physics as the Q-drive if enough power is applied. The Uncertainty Principle applies to systems not what model of physics applies so the claims of the Q-drive mechanism can't be in a superposition of true and false. [[Special:Contributions/199.27.128.118|199.27.128.118]] 17:03, 10 August 2014 (UTC)

I see a sex joke in "If you pumped 20 kw into me, I'd twitch a lot" and "I do a lot of things". {{unsigned ip|141.101.104.43}}
:1. Sign your posts
:2. Remind me never to have sex with you
[[Special:Contributions/173.245.54.209|173.245.54.209]] 14:08, 6 August 2014 (UTC)

;Not "a violation of conservation of momentum"

Please can someone senior in this community update this as I don't want to get I to an edit war. Unfortunately the media has been conflating the idea between the [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/EmDrive |EmDrive]] and a [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quantum_vacuum_plasma_thruster |Quantum vacuum plasma thruster]] as Roger Shawyer has been talking about both. NASA tested the idea of a Quantum vacuum plasma thruster which does not violate conservation of momentum

--[[Special:Contributions/173.245.56.213|173.245.56.213]] 15:06, 6 August 2014 (UTC)

: NASA did not test "the idea of a Quantum vacuum plasma thruster" -- In 2013, a very small group of researchers at NASA tested a pair of RF devices supplied to them for 2 days (and 6 days of setting up the tests). One was supposed to produce thrust in empty space while the other wasn't. But both devices were tested in air and very similar results recorded for both. Therefore either the test was flawed or the devices did not operate sufficiently different from each other to measure. Thus the "idea" was not tested, only the supplied devices and the testing protocol. In that the devices were allegedly designed to demonstrate designs to take advantage/not take advantage of the so-called "quantum vacuum virtual plasma," then to the extent where NASA might have tested a new physics principle, they certainly did not validate it. They also tested (in 2014) a much different Shawyer-type microwaves-in-a-can RF load, and got similar results. The details of the testing (and a misleading section on the vacuum capabilities of the chamber and a weird part on interplanetary trajectories) are in the pre-print.

: But as for conservation of momentum, the principle claim is that the "Quantum vacuum plasma thruster" imparts momentum on the microwave cavity while balancing opposite momentum goes where? Since the vacuum has no state of motion and no momentum, not here. Since no microwaves or other particles are emitted, not here. Thus the claim violates conservation of momentum. [[Special:Contributions/199.27.128.118|199.27.128.118]] 15:55, 6 August 2014 (UTC)

:After reading both [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quantum_vacuum_plasma_thruster Quantum vacuum plasma thruster] and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/EmDrive EmDrive], it seems that they're the same type of device. In particular, scroll down near the bottom of the EmDrive article, and you can see that they're using "interacting with virtual particles" as one of the justifications for it working. Both articles also cite several of the same experiments in their introductions. The physical description of both devices was similar (resonant microwave cavities), differing only in specific cavity geometry.

:And yes, they would have had to be tested in vacuum for a serious test. If you have strong electric fields in air, the air will move (because you'll bleed charge into it, and it'll then be accelerated by the electric field; that's how those tinfoil "lifter" devices work). You'd also have to put it in an RF-absorbing chamber, to avoid resonant interactions with the chamber walls (which can cause your device to be displaced from what you think its neutral position should be; force only costs power while you're moving, so this would look like deflection with no net power applied after the system stabilizes). -[[Special:Contributions/108.162.246.221|108.162.246.221]] 20:17, 6 August 2014 (UTC)

; Revision weirdness

(For [[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]]) Not meaning to start an edit war, but how is [http://nasawatch.com/archives/2014/08/jscs-stealthy-s.html NASAWatch] a better source for the breaking news than the earlier and glossier [http://www.wired.co.uk/news/archive/2014-07/31/nasa-validates-impossible-space-drive Wired UK]. Also, Johnson Space Center and NASA are under no obligation to comment on the work of the Eagleworks lab under Sonny White. That's just one of the many points that Hambling and NASAWatch get wrong: "NASA" didn't validate anything, a small group of researchers employed by NASA claimed verification in a non-peer-reviewed presentation at a conference. [[Special:Contributions/199.27.128.99|199.27.128.99]] 20:20, 8 August 2014 (UTC)
:First thanks for not doing an edit war. My reasons were:
:*NASAWatch is still the most serious site to document but also criticise NASA's activities.
:*The "wired.co.uk" article is available at that NASAWatch article. I decided to remove that "wired" link here because it uses a hell of external sites blocked at my browser by default (NoScript on Firefox). The site is not "wired.com", one of my favorite pages is there: [http://www.wired.com/category/beyondapollo/ Beyond Apollo].
:*NASA did NOT release any official statements, only a small external publication did refer to an NASA employer.
:*NASA keeps silent on this matter because they know there is no prove.
:--[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 20:29, 9 August 2014 (UTC)
: "'NASA' didn't validate anything, a small group of researchers employed by NASA claimed verification" -- This is (a) needlessly splitting hairs and (b) incorrect. When an organization employs individuals to take actions, those actions are, ''de facto,'' the actions of the organization. If the researchers were employed by NASA to verify or validate a claim, and they did so successfully, then it is said that NASA verified or validated the claim. The only way your assertion would be true is if the researchers, which ''just happened'' to be otherwise employed by NASA, conducted the validation / verification outside of their normal work hours, without any NASA facilities or equipment. This does not appear to be the case here. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.252.197|162.158.252.197]] 22:59, 16 December 2015 (UTC)

(for [[Special:Contributions/199.27.128.118|199.27.128.118]]) Your edit of <blockquote>But while they hooked it up to a measurement apparatus, applied RF input and measured changes in the apparatus, their interpretation of the experiment conducted in an air-filled stainless-steel chamber as a tiny ''thrust'' only explainable in terms of new (undefined) physics under the moniker of "quantum vacuum virtual plasma" is an extraordinary claim on very weak data. This may fall under the category of "[http://www.skepdic.com/toothfairyscience.html Tooth-Fairy (Pseudo-) science]", trying to quantify a phenomenon before one has confirmed it exists.</blockquote> to <blockquote>But while they hooked it up to a measurement apparatus, applied RF input and measured changes in the apparatus, their interpretation of the experiment conducted in an air-filled stainless-steel chamber as a tiny ''thrust'' explainable under the moniker of "quantum vacuum virtual plasma".</blockquote> isn't a sentence anymore. There is considerable tension between your justification "citation needed for any comment on the validity of the experiment)" and [[User:Lcarsos|Lcarsos']] justification of "For the love of all that is good and holy just link to the damn link. No need to go all research paper on us with footnote labyrinths." where Wikipedia-like references were removed. The remaining links to the XKCD comic itself, [https://plus.google.com/117663015413546257905/posts/WfFtJ8bYVya John Baez], and [http://scienceblogs.com/principles/2014/08/04/impossible-thruster-probably-impossible/ Chad Orzel] all support the wording of the original. There's also [http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/outthere/2014/08/06/nasa-validate-imposible-space-drive-word/ Corey S. Powell @ Discover Blogs] and [https://medium.com/starts-with-a-bang/how-to-fool-the-world-with-bad-science-7a9318dd1ae6 Ethan Siegel @ Medium] as well as other links in this Talk page. [[Special:Contributions/199.27.128.99|199.27.128.99]] 20:20, 8 August 2014 (UTC)

The Rise of Open Access

2015-10-24T04:43:57Z

162.158.252.197: Fixed broken link

{{comic
| date = October 4, 2013
| title = The Rise of Open Access
| image = the_rise_of_open_access.jpg
| before = The accelerating pace of scientific publishing and the rise of open access, as depicted by xkcd.com cartoonist Randall Munroe.
| ldomain = sciencemag.org/content/342/6154/58.full#
| extra = yes
}}

* The full-size version of this chart can be found here: http://www.sciencemag.org/site/special/scicomm/infographic.jpg.
* The original article "The Rise of Open Access" on the journal Science can be found here: http://www.sciencemag.org/content/342/6154/58.full.

==Explanation==
{{Incomplete|New Page}}
This comic is a one-off exclusive created for the journal {{w|Science (journal)|Science}} by [[Randall Munroe]].

==Transcript==
{{Incomplete transcript}}

'''How much science is there?'''

Scientific publication has been accelerating--a new paper is published roughly every 20 seconds. Let's imagine a bibliography listing ''every'' scholarly paper ever written. How long would it be?

If we can fit 140 citations per page... [image of page] > [image of stack of pages] > ...1000 pages per book... [image of book] > ...and then we start stacking books... [image of stack of books]

A list of papers published in 1880 would fill 100 pages.
By 1920, the list would be growing by 500 pages a year.
The 1975 section would fill four huge volumes.
Today we're up to 15 volumes per year--a page every 45 minutes.

'''...This is what the full list would look like:'''

[Chart below showing the approximate number of volumes per year. On the right end, starting around 1990, a bubble with the words "Moved to open access" points upward to a different chart under the header "How open is it?" Under the cloud is a header "Traditional Publication", referring to the volumes in the chart.]

Cueball: All scholarly articles from before 1880 fit in just a few volumes.

[The rest are notes added to various points on the graph]

{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Year !! Note
|-
| 1869 || First issue of ''Nature''
|-
| 1880 || ''Science'' founded
|-
| 1987-89 || First online journals appear
|-
| 1991 || Paul Ginsparg launches ARXIV for physics reprints
|-
| 1999 || NIH director proposes an archive of free biomed papers
|-
| 2000 || Pubmed Central debuts Plos founded
|-
| 2001 || 30,000 scientists call for a boycott of journals that don't allow free access on Pubmed within 6 months
|-
| 2002 || Biomed central begins charging $500 author fee HHMI agrees to pay author feeds for open-access publication
|-
| 2003 || ''PLOS Biology'' launches, charges $1500 author's fee
|-
| 2006 || U.K. medical research council mandates free access within 6 months PLOS raises top author fee to $2500, launches ''PLOS One'', which reviews for scientific rigor, not importance
|-
| 2008 || NIH requires that papers it funds be made free within 12 months Harvard faculty agree to post papers in university repository
|-
| 2010 || PLOS becomes profitable ''PLOS One'' becomes world's biggest scientific publisher by volume
|-
| 2013 || White House orders all scientific agencies to plan to make papers free within 12 months
|-
| 2014 || European Commission will require free access within 6-12 months
|}

[The following publications are also noted in speech bubbles in bibliography form, but are cut off by the edges of the bubbles]

{{w|Albert Einstein|Einstein, A.}} "{{w|Über die von der molekularkinetischen Theorie der Wärme geforderte Bewegung von in ruhenden Flüssigkeiten suspendierten Teilchen}}." (1905) 
Einstein, A. "On a Heuristic Point of View Concerning the Production and Transformation of Light." (1905) 
Einstein, A. "Zur Elektrodynamik bewegter Körper." (1905) 
Einstein, A. "Ist die Trägheit eines Körpers von seinem Energieinhalt abhängig?" (1905) 

{{w|Edwin Hubble|Hubble, E.}} "Effects on Red Shifts on the Distribution of Nebulae." Proceedings by the National Academy of Sciences Volume 22 Number 11 (1936)"

{{w|Hans Bethe|Bethe, H.}}, {{w|Ralph Alpher|Alpher, R.A.}}, and {{w|George Gamow|Gamow, G.}} "{{w|Alpher–Bethe–Gamow_paper|The Origin of Chemical Elements}}." Physical Review Volume 73 Number 7 (1948) 
[Although all other names are listed in a lastName, firstInitial format, Randall put "G. Gamow" instead of "Gamow, G."]

[The author listed (Watson, J.D.) did not write the article (Molecular Structure of Deoxypentose Nucleic Acids) but he did write another paper on DNA that was published in the same article of ''Nature'']
{{w|James Watson|Watson, J.D.}} and {{w|Francis Crick|Crick, F.H.C.}} "A Structure for Deoxyribose Nucleic Acid" Nature 171, 737-738 (1953)
{{w|Maurice Wilkins|Wilkins, M.H.F.}}, Stokes, A.R. & Wilson, H.R. "Molecular Structure of Deoxypentose Nucleic Acids" Nature 171, 738-740 (1953)

{{w|Kurt Godel|Godel, Kurt}}, B. Meltzer, {{w|Richard Schlegel|Schlegel, Richard}} "On Formally Undecidable Propositions of Principia Mathematica and Related Systems." Physics Today Volume 17 Issue 1 (1964)
[Again Randall switches the order of last name / first name and puts "Richard Schlegel")

'''How open is it?'''

Since the advent of the web, much of scientific publishing has been moving to ''open access.'' According to Science-Metrix, open access reached a "tipping point" around 2011: more than 50% of new research is now made available free online.

[The following text is inside a cloud shaped bubble]

'''Open access papers'''

Megan: As journals move to open access and digitize their archives, old papers from every period move here...
Cueball: ...In addition to the flood of new papers being published here directly.
Black Hat: 25% of open-access papers are freely available on publication. The rest becomes free within 12 months on journal websites or other repositories.

[Next to Cueball, a woman fishes a book out of a pile of volumes with a fishing rod.]

[[Category:Science]]
[[Category:Large drawings]]

Talk:1594: Human Subjects

2015-10-24T04:16:05Z

162.158.252.197:

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 {{unsigned ip|108.162.238.84}}

This comic could be referencing the growing realization that that the subjects of almost all psychology studies are not representative of the world population at large and of the great variety of humans found in the world. The subjects in psychology experiments are usually psychology students or other undergraduate students. Thus the subjects of these experiments are WIERD (Western Educated Industrialized Rich Democratic), these subjects are not close to worldwide normal. See this [//www.scientificamerican.com/podcast/episode/psychology-studies-biased-toward-we-10-08-07/ Scientific American article] for more information. Thus this biases the results of psychology experiments in systematic ways, just as having a bunch of sociopaths as subjects would also systematically effect the results. --[[User:Benjamin|Benjamin]] ([[User talk:Benjamin|talk]]) 15:07, 23 October 2015 (UTC)

Might this comic be related to the increased effect of placebo in medical studies? The "awful people" explanation is one of the ones mentioned in the article: http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-34572482 [[Special:Contributions/141.101.79.49|141.101.79.49]]

:: Not really [[Special:Contributions/162.158.252.197|162.158.252.197]] 04:16, 24 October 2015 (UTC)