explain xkcd - User contributions [en]

Talk:2498: Forest Walk

2021-08-05T18:06:48Z

162.158.74.197:

Have just added a transcript. Hope I did good! :) -Lance ([[Special:Contributions/172.70.126.211|172.70.126.211]] 02:40, 5 August 2021 (UTC))
:You did good, Lance. *pats head* [[Special:Contributions/162.158.74.197|162.158.74.197]] 18:06, 5 August 2021 (UTC)

Wonder what Beret Guy would do if Cooper said, "I don't have it any more," since some of the money was discovered, badly deteriorated and partially buried, along the banks of the Columbia River back in 1980, as verified by serial numbers on the found currency. Given the absence of any other evidence, it was assumed that the hijacker had gotten separated from the money either during or right after the jump, the found currency had been deposited as flotsam at its discovery point through the actions of the river itself, and the rest of the money was still somewhere in the Pacific Northwest awaiting similar discovery, [[User:RAGBRAIvet|RAGBRAIvet]] ([[User talk:RAGBRAIvet|talk]]) 04:23, 5 August 2021 (UTC)

If it can be considered that the comic is a reference to random walk (in a forest), can it also be considered a reference to [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Random_forest random forests] ? [[Special:Contributions/141.101.68.73|141.101.68.73]] 07:14, 5 August 2021 (UTC)
:I don't get why the comic is supposed to be a reference to random walks or to random forests. Nothing points to that. Real forests exists, and people walk in them. The only peculiarity of this particular forest is that D.B. Cooper hangs in one of its trees. --[[Special:Contributions/188.114.103.244|188.114.103.244]] 08:20, 5 August 2021 (UTC)

I feel like there should be a D.B. Cooper category at this point. --[[Special:Contributions/141.101.104.52|141.101.104.52]] 07:51, 5 August 2021 (UTC)

Hey there, I think the alt text is also a reference to https://xkcd.com/2390/ ? Kind regards :) [[Special:Contributions/162.158.89.61|162.158.89.61]] 08:13, 5 August 2021 (UTC)

Typo: "he might have simply inherited it form his mom". --[[Special:Contributions/162.158.255.39|162.158.255.39]] 12:40, 5 August 2021 (UTC)
: Done, now. I'd seen it, but apparently missed it, in preparing for my first big corrective edit of the day (little tyops, a lot less awful than ones ''I'' have previously left for others to correct). Or maybe I thought I should leave it suspended from the tree until some other issue had been resolved. :P [[Special:Contributions/162.158.158.105|162.158.158.105]] 12:53, 5 August 2021 (UTC)

Not to question the artistic representation, but rather than Forest (tree canopy and dense undergrowth), I'd say that was more Woodland Savanna (individual tree growth smattered around grass/shrubland at most). Or maybe we just can't properly see the woods for the trees... (Or the action is set at the edge of a clearing, of course!) [[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.184|141.101.98.184]] 13:32, 5 August 2021 (UTC)

Doesn't it seem likely, that Beret Guy's trees have soup outlets on them? Like his Business does? (Or, maybe Ghosts (like the business))

'You help me down this instant!' is not an "unlikely combination of words" or an unusual phrase. I'm not sure if it is regional, but as a native US English speaker, this is a completely normal wording to use if you are frustrated and insisting that someone do something, especially someone much younger, so perhaps it is meant to further indicate the man's age. As an example, a parent might say to their unruly child who is refusing to do their chores, "young man, you clean your room this instant!" (or "right this instant") It can also be used playfully: you are taking a walk along a river with some friends, when one of them suddenly playfully splashes water on you and takes off running (to avoid retaliation) and you run after them shouting "I'm going to get you for that! You get back here right this instant!" [[Special:Contributions/172.70.131.28|172.70.131.28]] 15:36, 5 August 2021 (UTC)
:I had the same reaction to both the title text and the explanation (although I believe it refers to the "help me down" part and not the "this instant" part). Either way, neither part of the phrase nor the entire phrase seems unlikely or unusual. I actually first came to this page to see if I was missing a reference in the title text, but it appears Randall just finds our dialectic somewhat strange. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.114.73|172.70.114.73]] 16:28, 5 August 2021 (UTC)

2089: Christmas Eve Eve

2020-12-31T00:04:08Z

162.158.74.197: /* Transcript */

{{comic
| number = 2089
| date = December 24, 2018
| title = Christmas Eve Eve
| image = christmas_eve_eve.png
| titletext = It turns out that saying "Oh, so THAT'S why they call it Boxing Day" is a good way to get punched a second time.
}}

==Explanation==
This year's [[:Category:Christmas|Christmas comic]] was posted on December 24, 2018, the {{w|Christmas Eve}} of 2018.

The evening or day preceding a special day such as a holiday is often referred to as the ''eve'' of that day (derived from the same word from which we get ''evening''). Thus December 24 is Christmas Eve. Some people extend this and call December 23 "Christmas Eve Eve," as Christmas Eve is itself a noted holiday. The day before ''that'' would be "Christmas Eve Eve Eve," adding one "Eve" for each night before Christmas morning, although the increasing extension leads to each additional "Eve" being continuously less common.

[[Cueball]] notes the general idea, and [[Megan]] acknowledges it. Cueball follows by naming December 24 as Christmas Eve, December 25 as Christmas, and then mentions that the following day is his favorite. Megan's "Oh no" implies that she knows what Cueball will say next.

Since December 26 is the 364th day before Christmas (when the following year is not a leap year, which was correct in 2018 when the comic was released), it follows that it is "Christmas" followed by "Eve" 364 times.

Megan finds listening to Cueball recite this unacceptable. As such, she announces that she will not give him gifts, taking the extra step of returning the gifts she'd already bought. As Christmas presents in America are first handed out on Christmas Day's morning (unless the giver and recipient are aware in advance they will be unable to meet in person on that day; Megan's presence on Christmas Eve indicates this is not a threat), she has not given it to him yet.

The title text refers to the {{w|Boxing Day}} holiday celebrated the day after Christmas in the UK and many parts of the former British Empire. Although the exact origin of the name is unknown, it is believed to be in [https://people.howstuffworks.com/culture-traditions/holidays-christmas/10-christmas-myths8.htm reference to the Alms Box] placed in areas of worship to collect donations to the poor, which was then opened right after Christmas. Most Americans don't know this and make jokes about how it refers to {{w|Boxing|the sport of boxing}}. In this title text we can presume Cueball was punched (or ''boxed'') after his litany of 364 ''Eve''s, to which he replies, "Oh, so ''that's'' why they call it Boxing Day." As this is a pun of groan-inducing triviality, {{tvtropes|LamePunReaction|he receives another punch}}.

==Transcript==
:[Cueball with his arms out is talking with White Hat and Megan. In Cueball's long last remark the letters get smaller from line to line.]

:Cueball: Today is Christmas Eve. Yesterday was Christmas Eve Eve.
:Megan: Uh huh...
:Cueball: Of course, tomorrow is Christmas. And then, my favorite...
:Megan: Oh no.
:Cueball: ...Christmas Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve  Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve  Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve  Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve  Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve  Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve  Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve  Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve! 
:Megan: I'm returning the presents I got you.

==Trivia==
*The day before this comic was released (that is on the actual Christmas Eve Eve day) a {{w|Nancy (comic strip)|Nancy}} comic with a similar theme was released:
**[https://www.gocomics.com/nancy/2018/12/23 Nancy 2018/12/23]

*The Code Golf Stack Exchange put out a contest to display the current date in this format in the smallest amount of code. The author states they had not read the comic before coming up with the idea.
**https://codegolf.stackexchange.com/questions/178003/encode-the-date-in-christmas-eve-format

*Each line has the following number of eves:
:# 11
:# 14
:# 14
:# 14
:# 15
:# 16
:# 17
:# 17
:# 18
:# 20
:# 21
:# 22
:# 24
:# 25
:# 27
:# 30
:# 32
:# 27
:*364 total!
::*The first line also has Christmas along with the 11 eves, and do take up more space than the 14 eves below.
::*The last line is only partially filled, with 4 eves from the line above on each side (so room for more than 35, probably 40, eves in one line with that font size.)
::*The first three lines with 14 eves becomes clearly shorter, before more is added almost in every line after this, except two lines with 17 each.

{{comic discussion}}

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

2317: Pinouts

2020-06-09T07:21:54Z

162.158.74.197: i am so sorry for wiping conflicting edit i have to go and i wrote a lot

{{comic
| number = 2317
| date = June 8, 2020
| title = Pinouts
| image = pinouts.png
| titletext = The other side of USB-C is rotationally symmetric except that the 3rd pin from the top is designated FIREWIRE TRIBUTE PIN.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by a FIREWIRE TRIBUTE PIN. Should include a column for the actual purpose of the pin. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
Electronics connecters are designed to transport both information and power. A {{w|pinout}} diagram describes the function of each pin such as to communicate data, transport power, physical function (keying), etc. In this comic there is an absurd alternative to the actual pins used in connectors. The pin labels are references to many tech issues and attributes, and not all may be documented correctly here.

Hardware hobbyists might feel ezcitement at seeing a unified specification for these common connectors, but the comic is of course humorous. The real life diagrams are as follows: [http://unitedtechnologies.com.pk/Nti/image/10ci.png HDMI], [https://www.arrow.com/en/research-and-events/articles/micro-connector-usb-pinout Micro USB], [https://www.allaboutcircuits.com/technical-articles/introduction-to-usb-type-c-which-pins-power-delivery-data-transfer/ USB-C].

=== HDMI ===

{| class="wikitable" style="text-align: center;"
! Label !! Explanation !! Pin No. !! Actual purpose
|-
| +3.3V DC
| 3.3V is a typical voltage in digital electronics. The "+" Indicates a voltage positive with respect to Ground.
| 1
| TMDS Data2+
|-
| Data
| Most digital communications cables contain at least one wire that carries data. Typically there will be a more descriptive name if there are multiple data pins. "Data" and "3.3V" set up the appearance of a normal pinout diagram to experienced readers.
| 2
| TMDS Data2 Shield
|-
| -3.3V DC
| Negative voltages were used more frequently in the past; however, modern systems typically generate any negative voltages they might require internally from the given positive voltages. This could be a reference to frustration specification implementers have to go through whrn handling hardware quirks: negative voltages are very abnormal, and would require design alteration to meet, but the designers of a ubiquitous plug can do whatever they want.
| 3
| TMDS Data2-
|-
| +5V
| Many actual pin configurations use +5 volts to supply power to a device. That's not what this means.
| 4
| TMDS Data1+
|-
| Tx
| "Tx" typically refers to pins used to transmit as opposed to "Rx"/receive
| 5
| TMDS Data1 Shield
|-
| +6VI
| V is usually used to represent volts, but here, VI represents the Roman numeral 6. Voltages above 5 are not usually used in micorcircuitry cables. (See Pin 4)
| 6
| TMDS Data1-
|-
| Wx
| "Wx" does not typically exist in the "Tx"/"Rx" scheme. In the weather forecasting community, Wx means "weather" .
| 7
| TMDS Data0+
|-
| +7VII
| V is usually used to represent volts, but here, VII represents the Roman numeral 7, continuing the pattern from above.
| 8
| TMDS Data0 Shield
|-
| Rx Only
| "Rx" typically refers to pins used to receive as opposed to "Tx"/transmit. In this case "Rx" is used as part of a pun on "Rx (prescription) only." This description might also be related to the fact that most ethernet devices can exchange the Rx and Tx port automatically, if needed, in order to eliminate the need for crossover cables and the fact that it is legal to insert the USB-C connector rotated by 180°.
| 9
| TMDS Data0-
|-
| Antidata
| Some ports use differential signaling, where a signal and its inverse are sent over a pair of pins (e.g. D+ and D-). The combined signal is more robust to interferences. This mixes that practice with a humorous reference to the notion of matter versus antimatter. Currently there is no such thing as antidata. Antidata pins could be needed in the future as low-entropy or high-entropy source in quantum communication connectors to securely dispose of data.
| 10
| TMDS Clock+
|-
| Unknown
| Occasionally extra pins will be included for future use; however they will typically be labeled "reserved" to point out that their usage is not yet defined. The use of "unknown" suggests that this pinout is based on an incomplete reverse-engineering of the HDMI format, instead of on the official documentation, or maybe the official documentation doesn't explain it and this pin's function is being kept as a secret by the ones who designed it.
| 11
| TMDS Clock Shield
|-
| Water
| Labs often have ports connecting to common sources of various supplies (oxygen, water, fuel, vacuum).
| 12
| TMDS Clock-
|-
| +240V DC
| This is a reference to washing machines and other large home appliances, which use 240V AC for power. Additionally, many cable specifications try to provide a way to power devices over them, bit these small communication cables usually carry only DC and not AC electricity.
High voltage power is only sometimes used in small communications connectors. It might help to keep the current of power lines low to avoid generating excess heat. With +240V DC inside the HDMI cable, monitors would not need any longer a separate power plug. This is similar to Power-over-Ethernet, which does not exceed 60V, or ISDN, which goes up to 110V depending on country, and help surveillance cameras or telephones to work with one connecting cable only. But with this much voltage on such a small cable, a short or a peripheral drawing too much current would seem more likely to quickly cause a fire on such thin wires, melting the insulation and wiring in a sudden burst of toxic smoke.
| 13
| CEC
|-
| Vacuum
| Labs often have ports connecting to common sources of various supplies (oxygen, water, fuel, vacuum).
| 14
| Reserved (1.0-1.3a), Utility (1.4+, optional)
|-
| 5V AC
| Pins often supply low voltage direct current to devices. This pin supplies 5V alternating current, which is not typically supplied. AC is used for washing machines, not microcircuitry, and conversion between the the two kinds of power everywhere makes for transformers being embedded in most modern devices, taking extra materials to manufacture and losing a significant percentage of all electricity in the conversion.
| 15
| SCL (I²C serial clock for DDC)
|-
| Amazon Copyright Pin
| HDMI can optionally be protected by a digital rights management (DRM) scheme, known as HDCP. This pin humorously implies the presence of a different DRM scheme specific to Amazon.com, as well as poking fun at the fact that copyright is an explicit part of the HDMI protocol (although it is not assigned to a specific pin). This is likely a reference to how chips and cables and specifications often have specific strange additions or functionality in them to meet the rrquests of various bodies invested in the design process: additionally after reverse engineering many strange things have been found laying around in the functionality of hardware that do unexpected special things.
| 16
| SDA (I²C serial data for DDC)
|-
| GND
| GND typically refers to "ground" on pinout diagrams. Remarkably, this is correct.
| 17
| DDC/CEC Ground
|-
| Decorative
| Decorative elements are pieces of an assembly that serve only an aesthetic purpose without any technical function. This would not be particularly useful inside a connector, as almost no one will ever see it--however, in HDMI, pin 14 was reserved for future use in versions 1.0–1.3a (and was only assigned an official use in 1.4).
| 18
| +5V
|-
| Ground
| Compared to Pin 17 ("GND"), this appears to be the same ground pin. However, the presence of both GND and Ground seems to imply that GND represents something other than the standard "ground" pin, unless it is this one that supplies something like soil (like [[1293|soup]]). Some systems have different grounds for analog and digital sections, but they would typically be disambiguated by terms like AGND. Many pinouts have multiple grounds or dc supplies with no apparent explanation, seen more prominently on Randall's USB connector.
| 19
| Hot Plug Detect
|}

HDMI uses four pairs of shielded twisted-pair connectors, along with seven other connectors. (Twisted-pair means a wire is wrapped with the other wire that returns the current to the original device, thus minimizing electromagnetic noise. Shielding refers to wrapping a cable with a conductor to absorb the energy of noise.) Three of these pairs are for data (TMDS Data0, Data1, and Data2) and the other is a clock. These pairs take up three pins as one of them is a ground pin for the shielding wrapped around each pair. TMDS stands for "{{w|Transition-minimized Differential Signaling}}" and is also used in the DVI standard.

DDC stands for "Display Data Channel" and is based on the {{w|I²C}} serial standard. It is used to allow the transmitting device to learn what formats of data the receiving device can accept.

CEC stands for "Consumer Electronics Control" and is supposed to allow a single remote control to control multiple devices.

"Hot Plug Detect" refers to hot-plugging, where a cable is connected to a device already turned on. The device should then ideally detect that the cable has been plugged in and respond appropriately.

=== Micro USB ===

A ground pin is commonly found on USB and other pin connectors. At least one ground is necessary to complete the circuit, and some cables use multiple ground lines to distribute current or to support {{w|twisted pair}}s. However, there is no purpose served by having many more ground pins than data pins. Therefore, it seems rather silly for the micro USB to have 4 ground pins and only 1 functional "USB" pin. It also does not give much information about what the "USB" pin would do, as opposed to a standard pinout diagram. This diagram also leaves out the +5V power pin that is present in the real micro USB connector, which would render most USB peripherals unable to function.

The ordering and count of the pins may be an allusion to {{w|Monty Python}}'s {{w|Spam (Monty Python)|"Spam"}} sketch, in which one of the many Spam-related menu items is "Spam, Spam, Spam, egg, and Spam".

{| class="wikitable" style="text-align: center;"
! Label !! Explanation
|-
| GND
| A ground pin
|-
| GND
| A second ground pin
|-
| GND
| A third ground pin
|-
| USB
| Apparently the only data pin in this connector. This could be a play on how the USB specification tries to squeeze all data onto a single channel as if it is a software protocol rather than specializing the structure of a physical cable to provide for rapidly carrying the information likely to flow over it. USB is an external packet network similar to ethernet, but uses a totally new design without any reuse of prior similar specification.
|-
| GND
| A fourth ground pin. A real micro USB only has one ground pin, in addition to the metal plug housing.
|}

=== USB-C ===
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align: center;"
! Label !! Explanation
|-
| +5V DC
| A common electronics supply voltage.
|-
| +3.3V DC
| Another common electronics supply voltage. This pin is not present on USB type C, mostly because the voltage is too low to supply useful levels of power at the current limit of the pins.
|-
| +120V AC
| Residential supply voltage in the United States; its use on an electronics connector would be very unusual, as it would burn out any unguarded transistor-logic electronics, producing smoke and melting the metal together such that the cable likely couldn't be removed. But this high a voltage might be an allusion to the high voltages USB-C screens and similar devices can request in order to get enough energy without exceeding the cable's current limit.
|-
| Boobytrap Pin (Pure Solder)
| {{w|Solder}} is a metal alloy with a low melting temperature (typically around 360°C, but in special cases melting points between 90°C and 450°C or above are available), used to bond electronic components together permanently. Most solder materials are quite docile so it might be too easy for the forces a connector is subject to to permanently change their shape. Along with the fact that the resistance of solder is typically way higher than that for copper the pin under heavy electrical stress could overheat and melt, thus bonding the connector to its receptacle, and thereby "trapping" the receptacle. Additionally putting a pin that might slightly change their shape directly next to a high voltage pin means risking to accidentally connect two power rails with entirely different voltages together (causing an overvoltage in the lower-voltage rail that is likely to break the circuit, as has happened with some Apple devices). In this case the +120V AC pin might be able to deliver enough power to actually fuse the solder-only pin. This could also be a reference to increasing publicity around the fields of electronics security: hobby reverse engineers have been finding ways for some time now to evade the blown fuses in microcircuitry preventing them from being reprogrammed, using glitching techniques.
|-
| Mechanical
| All connectors include portions whose job is to ensure a solid connection between the cable and the port. This is typically not the job of the pins, however. In real USB type C connectors, this task is performed by the center tongue of the female connector.
|-
| +3.3eV/C
| {{w|Electron-volts}} per {{w|coulomb}} would be a very unusual unit to see in a pinout. These units are used in particle physics, but thr appearance is very similar to the common 3.3V supply. It would be a unit of electric potential equivalent to approximately 1.60217662 * 10^-19 volts. There 3.3eV/C would be 5.287183 * 10^-19 volts, or slightly more than 1/2 attovolt. It could also be read as +3.3 eV/c (per {{w|speed of light}}), in which case it is equivalent to a momentum of 5.3E-28 kg m/s, In high-energy physics, the momentum of particles is sometimes expressed in MeV/c or GeV/c units.
|-
| Candlepin
| Randall is making a pun on the word ''pin'', which refers to a electrical connector pin as well as a thing to knock down in bowling. {{w|Candlepin bowling}} is a form of bowling.
|-
| Facebook use
| This would imply that Facebook had a hand in specifying USB type C, and had a pin dedicated to their use. This could be seen as strange given Facebook's primary business is web technology and would have little need for a dedicated pin in the USB standard, but a lot of back doors have been found in electronics.
|-
| +5V (Positrons)
| {{w|Positron}}s are the antimatter counterparts to electrons. So this pin is supplying +5V, but does so by sourcing positrons into the device rather than sinking electrons out. NOTE: Positrons cannot be conducted through normal matter conductors as they would annihilate with the electrons.
|-
| Pin Roulette
| Presumably in the same vein as "Chat Roulette", this pin's purpose is not rigidly defined and is instead left to chance. According to the title text, this pin's counterpart on the other side of the connector is the "FireWire Tribute Pin", so this cable would only be truly rotationally symmetric (which is the whole point of the USB-C connector) when the pin roulette ball lands on that same function.
|-
| GND
| Ground pin. Typically denoted as "GND".
|-
| SKY
| Reference to the ground pin, which refers to the common grounding on the larger metal body. There is no corresponding "sky" pin, although sky is often thought as the opposite of ground.
|-
| FireWire Tribute Pin
| ''In Title text:'' {{w|FireWire}} is Apple's version of IEEE 1394 which is a 6 pin connector that has a ground pin a power pin and two pairs of data pins. It was something of a competitor to USB, and had faster data rates than USB 2.0, but is much less popular now. Presumably the writers of the USB-C standard (which far outpaces its data rates) wished to memorialize it somehow, although it's not clear how the pin actually works for that purpose.
|}

The fact that only half of the USB-C pins are documented might hint to an alternative way to manufacture connectors that can be legally inserted rotated by 180°: Make the receiver use only the right side of the pins and make the sender connect both the left and the right side so all Pins that might match a function are connected correctly no matter if the cable is rotated by 180°.

=== Coax ===

{| class="wikitable" style="text-align: center;"
! Label !! Explanation
|-
| Pin
| An {{w|RF connector|coaxial RF connector}} has two contacts - one pin, and the shield; typically the whole connector is labeled with whatever function/signal is carried by the pair.
|}

==Transcript==

:[Caption at top]
:Pinouts
:Quick Reference Guide

:[Four common connectors are depicted - vertically, rather than the usual horizontal orientation.]

:[The first connector is a 19-pin HDMI connector.]
:[The nine pins on the left are labeled:]
:*Data
:*+5V
:*+6VI
:*+7VII
:*Antidata
:*Water
:*Vacuum
:*Amazon Copyright Pin
:*Decorative
:[The ten pins on the right are labeled:]
:*+3.3V DC
:*-3.3V DC
:*Tx
:*Wx
:*Rx Only
:*Unknown
:*+240V DC
:*5V AC
:*GND
:*Ground

:[The second connector is a 5-pin Micro USB connector.]
:[The five pins are labeled:]
:*GND
:*GND
:*GND
:*USB
:*GND

:[The third connector is a 24-pin USB-C connector, with only the right side labeled.]
:[The twelve pins on the right are labeled:]
:*+5V DC
:*+3.3V DC
:*+120V AC
:*Boobytrap Pin (Pure Solder)
:*Mechanical
:*+3.3eV/C
:*Candlepin
:*Facebook Use
:*+5V (Positrons)
:*Pin Roulette
:*GND
:*SKY

:[The fourth and final connector is a 1-pin COAX connector.]
:[The one pin in the center is labeled:]
:*Pin

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Computers]]

Talk:2303: Error Types

2020-05-07T17:49:38Z

162.158.74.197: Minor: separation between two comments

As of the time of this post, the title text is "Type IIII error: Mistaking tally marks for Roman neumerals". Is "neumerals" a typo, or is there a joke in there that I'm missing? [[User:Cosmogoblin|Cosmogoblin]] ([[User talk:Cosmogoblin|talk]]) 22:52, 6 May 2020 (UTC)
:Looks like a typo to me. Randall's patrons should have caught this for him!
:[[User:ProphetZarquon|ProphetZarquon]] ([[User talk:ProphetZarquon|talk]]) 23:07, 6 May 2020 (UTC)

::That particular mistake is actually just called a type error.
::[[Special:Contributions/162.158.62.221|162.158.62.221]] 23:12, 6 May 2020 (UTC)
:::Or, surely, a Type-0. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.159.82|162.158.159.82]] 01:09, 7 May 2020 (UTC)
::::I am Type-O and as a Type-O Negative, I'm VERY popular at the blood bank! (Universal Donor) [[Special:Contributions/108.162.216.48|108.162.216.48]] 01:25, 7 May 2020 (UTC)
::::: Actually, that's an over-simplification. Type-O-neg is only universal for whole blood donations, and only truly universal for whole blood if you are also CMV-negative. For plasma donations, Type-AB (both -pos and -neg) are universal donors. For platelets, only Type-AB-pos is universal donor. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.74.81|162.158.74.81]] 16:11, 7 May 2020 (UTC)
::I was hoping it could be bent to be a tribute to John von Neumann. [[Special:Contributions/172.68.189.223|172.68.189.223]] 05:00, 7 May 2020 (UTC)
::Looks like same type of typo he made at word "blag": [[https://explainxkcd.com/148/ Intentional.]] [[Special:Contributions/172.69.54.189|172.69.54.189]] 08:04, 7 May 2020 (UTC)
:: Perhaps a reference to {{w|Neume|Neumes}}? [[Special:Contributions/162.158.158.211|162.158.158.211]] 09:47, 7 May 2020 (UTC)

[[Special:Contributions/108.162.216.48|108.162.216.48]] 01:24, 7 May 2020 (UTC)
The explanation builds on definitions of terms in statistics. That's fine, but there are also non-statistical usages, just for example whether someone has now (or had before) the COVID-19 virus. A false positive is a test result which incorrectly indicates that a particular condition or attribute is present, and a false negative is a test result which incorrectly indicates that a particular condition or attribute is absent. A particular test is useful when its incidence of Type I and II errors is low. Types III and IV in that context would be given by poorly designed tests which, even if they give correct results, do it for unsupportable reasons and are therefore unreliable for future results. Types V, VI, VII, and VIII are necessary fillers in the sequence, once you decide that calling The Rise of Skywalker a mistake has to be error type IX simply because it's the ninth film in the series. [[User:JohnB|JohnB]] ([[User talk:JohnB|talk]]) 00:54, 7 May 2020 (UTC)

I could convince myself that the errors are a reference to each Star Wars movie. Definitely a stretch but I'd believe it. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.106.24|162.158.106.24]] 02:00, 7 May 2020 (UTC)

Surely an Error of the Third Kind is when an Alien gets lost and lands on Earth. [[User:Arachrah|Arachrah]] ([[User talk:Arachrah|talk]]) 11:28, 7 May 2020 (UTC)

Can we please stop categorizing every comic about scientific research and methods as COVID-19 related? This is getting quite silly.[[Special:Contributions/162.158.187.201|162.158.187.201]] 14:31, 7 May 2020 (UTC)

I spent some time musing about whether the Skywalker saga could be taken as an exemplar of each of the types (e.g. the hypothesis for #1 is that Anakin Skywalker could bring balance to the Force, and the experiment was assigning him a tutor), but it's a stretch. I do like the idea that #9 is the epitome of errordom.16:07, 7 May 2020 (UTC)

I'm not sure where this would fit in, but a correct answer that is viewed by the experimenter as being incorrect because of a misunderstanding, so that he changes the recording of the measurement, resulting in an incorrect measurement that he view as correct. This happened in a college classroom exercise involving Reynolds numbers. Above a certain value of Reynold's number, laminar flow will change to turbulent flow. However, that number is not where the change occurs but where laminar flow becomes unstable. One student changed all the measurements to indicate that the flow changed to turbulent almost immediately. I wondered what could have sped up the transition, thinking of things like loud noises and vibrations affecting the apparatus. The student immediately and loudly yelled that he "hadn't changed the numbers", with the vehemence indicating that he had actually changed the numbers. One problem with analog meters was that some people staring at the meters actually thought that the needle moved when it actually hadn't. Digital meters with automatic logging tended to get rid of this problem. 17:17, 7 May 2020 (UTC)