2292: Thermometer

2020-04-11T05:36:47Z

162.158.74.241: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 2292
| date = April 10, 2020
| title = Thermometer
| image = thermometer.png
| titletext = I hate how many times you have to press it to get to the system normal people use, degrees Rømer.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by a ROGUE RADIAN. Please mention here why this explanation isn't complete. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
This comic expresses comedic undiscussed frustration at the difference between expected units of {{w|temperature}} in different contexts. [[Randall]], as an engineer, would likely have strong opinions with units, as unit conversion is often a gripe for many engineers. As body temperature is a symptom of {{w|COVID-19}}, the comic is additionally the 17th in a row concerning the virus.

[[Cueball]] may be sick or ill, and is trying to check his {{w|Human body temperature|body temperature}}, but he is unclear what the results mean. Cueball's {{w|thermometer}} has several units, of which the four shown grow progressively and humorously less useful:

*{{w|Celsius}} units are used in most of the world. They set 0 degrees to water's freezing point and 100 degrees to water's boiling point. Randall lives in Boston, USA, one of the only countries where Celsius is not used for health measurements. The health relevent temperatures are discussed only in Fahrenheit in the USA.
*{{w|Kelvin}} is a unit often used in scientific fields. It is based on Celsius, with 1 Celsius degree equivalent to 1 Kelvin unit, where 0 K is {{w|absolute zero}} or -273 °C.
*Degrees {{w|Rankine scale|Rankine}} are similar to Kelvin, but far less well known. It is the Fahrenheit equivalent to Kelvin, starting at absolute zero with 0°R equal to -459 °F, and 1 Fahrenheit degree being equivalent to 1 Rankine degree.
*In a scientific sense, temperature is the average {{w|kinetic energy}} of a group of particles. Using {{w|Boltzmann's Constant}}, one can convert between the kinetic energy and temperature.
The use of these last three units for home temperature gauging is ridiculous, as Kelvin and Rankine are far too large and uncommon to be practical for the average user, while kinetic energy is scaled so wildly that no user would likely know it; this is why Boltzmann's Constant is printed on the thermometer.

In the last frame Cueball calls the thermometer the worst. From a nerd's perspective this would be an extraordinary device, offering even exotic temperature scales. However, a "normal person" would find this thermometer terribly difficult to use for everyday purposes, like checking their body temperature or the temperature of food.

{{w|Fahrenheit}} is not shown, though Cueball presumably (until seeing the title text) wants to use it. It is primarily used in the United States and generally appreciated for 0 degrees being "really cold" and 100 degrees being "really hot", but is defined as 32°F for the freezing point of water and 212°F as the boiling point of water (earlier definitions used a rescaled Rømer scale, the temperature of brine, or the body temperature of a healthy human.)

The title text references an archaic temperature unit, {{w|Rømer scale|Rømer}}, which is a scale whose fixed points are 7.5 as water's freezing point and 60 as water's boiling point. A unit on the Rømer scale is about 40/21 of a unit on the Celsius scale.

In [[1643: Degrees]], Cueball struggles with which temperature unit to use, and ultimately tells his friend the temperature in {{w|radian}}s, which is not a valid temperature scale. In [[1923: Felsius]], Randall proposes a combined Fahrenheit/Celsius temperature scale called Felsius.

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
:[Cueball stands in the center of the panel holding a thermometer.]
:Cueball: This thermometer is in Celsius. How do you change it?
:Off-panel voice: Long press the button.

:[Cueball presses the button, and the thermometer beeps]
:''Press''
:''Beep''
:Thermometer: Units: Kelvin
:Cueball: No...

:[Cueball presses the button, and the thermometer beeps]
:''Press''
:''Beep''
:Thermometer: Units: Degrees Rankine
:Cueball: What.

:[Cueball presses the button, and the thermometer beeps]
:''Press''
:''Beep''
:Thermometer: Units: Average Translational Kinetic Energy
:Cueball: This is the worst thermometer.
:Off-panel voice: Boltzmann's constant is on the side if you need it.

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Science]]
[[Category:Physics]]

Talk:2269: Phylogenetic Tree

2020-02-17T16:01:40Z

162.158.74.241: Describe Gonzaga / Jimmy Kimmel

Because of timezones this comic was released on Sunday in some areas [[Special:Contributions/172.69.34.228|172.69.34.228]] 07:21, 17 February 2020 (UTC)
:Well, it's always either that or Tuesday in some areas, right? However, yes, this again was up quite early. But the exact upload times seem to fluctuate heavily all the time. --[[User:Lupo|Lupo]] ([[User talk:Lupo|talk]]) 07:40, 17 February 2020 (UTC)

I don't know much about basketball (only heard about march Madness here/xkcd and on HIMYM before), but where is Gonzaga coming from? shouldn't it be either UVA, Kansas or FSU? or is it a different name for one of those 3 teams? Also: Do we need a march madness category? maybe as a subcategory of bracket tournaments? It seems to be quite reocurring. --[[User:Lupo|Lupo]] ([[User talk:Lupo|talk]]) 07:43, 17 February 2020 (UTC)
:Gonzaga is on here as a joke. In 2019, late night host Jimmy Kimmel humorously refused to believe that they were a real college from the start of the tournament. They lost in their division finals.[[Special:Contributions/162.158.74.241|162.158.74.241]] 16:01, 17 February 2020 (UTC)

Could someone explain what a "March Madness Bracket" is? It appears to be something to do with American college basketball, but why does it have the same structure as a phylogenetic tree? What does the word 'Bracket' mean here? {{unsigned ip|141.101.98.148|07:48, 17 February 2020}}
:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bracket_(tournament) [[Special:Contributions/162.158.214.82|162.158.214.82]] 07:51, 17 February 2020 (UTC)
:Seconded. The explanation as it stands assumes that the reader is from the USA and understands American sports. Neither of these is true for me. Can we please have concise one-line explanations of:
* what sport?
* what teams?
* what a bracket is?
* what tournament this refers to?
I was a biologist; the science part is clear to me. It needs an explanation akin to that about phylogeny, for non-sports-followers and non-US-sports followers. [[User:Lproven|Lproven]] ([[User talk:Lproven|talk]]) 09:02, 17 February 2020 (UTC)
:: Getting better! Terms now undefined: "NCAA", "ABA", "NBA", "Division 1", "single elimination", "bracket pool", "college basketball". [[User:Lproven|Lproven]] ([[User talk:Lproven|talk]]) 11:05, 17 February 2020 (UTC)
::: NCAA = National Collegiate Athletic Association, but it doesn't cover all colleges -- just the bigger ones. NBA national Basketball Association, the (main?) pro basketball grouping of mens' teams (as opposed to the WNBA). ABA is _probably_ the American Basketball Association, of which I know nothing (but guessing by analogy with NBC/ABC television networks; National/American Broadcasting Company. And college basketball is, well, basketball played by college teams. For the rest of it, I'm out of my league.
:::: From what I understand, the NCAA categorize teams into divisions, with Division 1 being the highest. "Single elimination" is a type of tournament bracket where once you lose a match, you're done. A bracket pool is where people get together and each makes a prediction of the bracket. Whoever is closest to what actually happened wins. The ABA is the American Basketball Association.

The three prominent "Duke"s in the center of the chart, made me look for the logical continuation "of Earl." I didn't see it... :(

* Likewise. Also, duck fuke.

explain xkcd - User contributions [en]

2292: Thermometer

Talk:2269: Phylogenetic Tree