explain xkcd - User contributions [en]

Talk:1005: SOPA

2021-01-13T22:30:01Z

162.158.75.216: Links to EFF and DYN about SOPA are no longer available, removing needed context while internet censorship continues to increase.

Anyone try the brightness-contrast with the XKCD [[521: 2008 Christmas Special|2008 x-mas Special]]? [[Special:Contributions/66.19.70.101|66.19.70.101]] 02:20, 9 January 2013 (UTC)

:Negative. [[Special:Contributions/108.233.253.211|108.233.253.211]] 02:53, 9 January 2013 (UTC)

:Yes. There is NO color information in those black panels, all pixels read 0x000000. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.216.53|108.162.216.53]] 20:52, 5 March 2014 (UTC)

:I tried it in Microsoft Office 2010 and got a faint, but very readable image just like the one above.[[Special:Contributions/141.101.99.42|141.101.99.42]] 18:35, 6 March 2015 (UTC)

What do they mean "typical XKCD fashion"? What other comics have hidden messages in them? [[Special:Contributions/173.245.48.91|173.245.48.91]] 22:11, 8 August 2014 (UTC)
:The "typical xkcd fashion" line wasn't referring to the exact scenario of a hidden message in the comic. It was referring to the tendency of xkcd comics to have deeper messages (besides the explicit point being made) that may not be immediately visible. [[User:NealCruco|NealCruco]] ([[User talk:NealCruco|talk]]) 19:13, 17 March 2015 (UTC)

To me, the phrasing "I'm getting totally blacked out" suggests that the narrator is getting blackout drunk. Does anyone else get this impression, or am I crazy? [[Special:Contributions/108.162.241.123|108.162.241.123]] 16:58, 31 October 2015 (UTC)
:Ah yes, I totally get that impression too. [[Special:Contributions/103.22.201.115|103.22.201.115]] 14:45, 11 November 2015 (UTC)
:: Agreed. Added that to the explanation. [[User:Yfmcpxpj|Yfmcpxpj]] ([[User talk:Yfmcpxpj|talk]]) 21:47, 11 September 2020 (UTC)

PDF links and DYN link on the comic page are no longer available.

Talk:305: Rule 34

2021-01-02T11:01:48Z

162.158.75.216:

Who is Lance from the title text, throbbing..., is it Lance Armstrong? Sounds odd.--[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 22:06, 8 August 2013 (UTC)
: Very good question. I don't know. In any case, wetriffs.com died less than 3 months ago. What a shame. --[[User:Quicksilver|Quicksilver]] ([[User talk:Quicksilver|talk]]) 21:34, 21 August 2013 (UTC)
::It being Lance Armstrong seems like a stretch to me, but a lance is a kind of spear, and spears are reasonably phallic, so there you go. --[[User:Alex|Alex]] ([[User talk:Alex|talk]]) 13:51, 4 May 2014 (UTC)
:::I'm sorry, but the Rule 34 isn't about gays. The title text is more about shocking youngsters. --[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 19:19, 4 May 2014 (UTC)
::::When did I say Rule 34 is "about gays"?? It's just a spelling bee joke about penises. --[[User:Alex|Alex]] ([[User talk:Alex|talk]]) 09:18, 27 May 2014 (UTC)
::::I reverted your edit 'cuz it makes no sense to me whatsoever. If you want, please explain at my talk page. --[[User:Alex|Alex]] ([[User talk:Alex|talk]]) 09:20, 27 May 2014 (UTC)
::::Wait, no, I've figured it out: It's {{w|spelling bee}} porn, so it's rule 34. --[[User:Alex|Alex]] ([[User talk:Alex|talk]]) 10:11, 27 May 2014 (UTC)
:::::Sorry again, and I'm not saying you are wrong. But the explain should be also understood by non US citizens. --[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 21:28, 27 May 2014 (UTC)
::::::To clarify: No, Rule 34 isn't about gays, but this particular invocation of it IS. The title text is expanding on the second panel, one of the examples Cueball gives is "homoerotic spelling bees", the example specifies it's homoerotic, and thus homosexual. Furthermore, at least in North America, "Lance" is thought of as a stereotypically common name for a homosexual man, such that some people, upon hearing the name Lance, might simply assume he's a gay man, making this name a perfect choice for the title text in order to increase the connection to Cueball's example. It seems to me that the explanation is missing connecting the title text to Cueball's example in the second panel. - NiceGuy1 [[Special:Contributions/108.162.218.160|108.162.218.160]] 13:34, 9 February 2016 (UTC)

Know this comic has been out for years, and not commented on in over a year, but first time seeing this. I actually knew someone named Lance that would have immediately registered that domain if he thought it would work at making money. When I knew him he already had about a dozen domains of Celebrity Fake-Porn that he made his living off of. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.62.231|162.158.62.231]] 19:21, 7 July 2017 (UTC)

I can't believe nobody made a g-string joke yet. Actually, I'm disappointed Randall didn't make one in the first place. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.91.251|162.158.91.251]] 11:44, 16 August 2018 (UTC)

So, we had wetriffs.com and spelling bees, but did anyone ever see any porn set atop storm-chasing vans? [[Special:Contributions/162.158.75.216|162.158.75.216]] 11:01, 2 January 2021 (UTC)

2400: Statistics

2020-12-20T18:31:28Z

162.158.75.216: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 2400
| date = December 18, 2020
| title = Statistics
| image = statistics.png
| titletext = We reject the null hypothesis based on the 'hot damn, check out this chart' test.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by a PLACEBO GROUP. Please mention here why this explanation isn't complete. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

This comic is another comic in a [[:Category:COVID-19|series of comics]] related to the {{w|2019–20 coronavirus outbreak|2020 pandemic}} of the {{w|coronavirus}} {{w|SARS-CoV-2}}, which causes {{w|COVID-19}}.

The main focus of the comic is a graph showing cases of COVID-19 versus time for two groups: one group was vaccinated and the other group was not. Graphs are ways to visualize data, and almost always indicate specific values. This graph does not; it simply has two lines, and no indication of any of the scale values involved. The higher line ("placebo group") rises in a steep curve. The lower line ("vaccine group") follows the first for a bit but then levels out to a much slower rate of climb. The caption eschews statistical analysis in favor of a holistic assessment: the vaccine is clearly working; just look how much those lines diverge.

This comic was released one day after the [https://www.fda.gov/media/144434/download FDA's Dec 17th briefing document] for the {{w|mRNA-1273|Moderna COVID-19 vaccine}} was released. The document includes the following [https://www.zq1.de/~bernhard/images/share/mRNA-1273-trial.png chart]: [[File:FDA_Modena_Dec17.png]]. The charts draw the integral of the incidence data rather than the data itself ("cumulative" rather than "rate"): this results in changes in disease rate towards the left side of the chart, being added into the data on the right side, amplifying their difference. This technique for emphasizing the data is valid: the spread between the lines only continues to increase if the effect continues happening, such that the total spread at the right is proportional to the total effect the vaccine had. The charts do not show any information on other possible variables. Randall has described previously in his webcomics how very clear charts can be made to hide misleading data. The linked graph does not leave the numbers out, and the numbers indicate the vaccine is 91% effective at preventing the disease (and a 95% chance of being between 85 and 95% efficient).

The advice here could be seen as the inverse of the "science tip" in [[2311: Confidence Interval]], in which the data was so ''bad'' that its error bars fell outside of the graph and were not shown. Also there's some association with [[1725: Linear_Regression]] where the data is not so good that you don't need to perform linear anlysis

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
:[Shown is a graph with the x-axis labeled "time" and the y-axis labeled "COVID cases." There is a black line on the graph labeled "placebo group", which has a roughly linear slope moving toward the top right corner. There is a red line labeled "vaccine group", which follows the black line for about an eighth of the width of the graph before leveling off.]
:[Caption beneath the graph]:
:Statistics tip: Always try to get data that's good enough that you don't need to do statistics on it

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:COVID-19]]
[[Category:Comics with color]]
[[Category:Statistics]]
[[Category:Tips]]