explain xkcd - User contributions [en]

Talk:2166: Stack

2019-06-24T13:00:03Z

172.68.133.54:

I wasn't sure how to format the transcript, but I put in something for starters - feel free to adjust as needed. I don't think the arrow directions for each layer are significant and are just random. [[User:Ianrbibtitlht|Ianrbibtitlht]] ([[User talk:Ianrbibtitlht|talk]]) 14:53, 21 June 2019 (UTC)

Is there any significance to the two thin layers inserted between the larger labels in the stack? I don't think so, but I'm not sure either way! [[User:Ianrbibtitlht|Ianrbibtitlht]] ([[User talk:Ianrbibtitlht|talk]]) 15:08, 21 June 2019 (UTC)
:I would say that the thin layers are actually boundaries between major parts of the stack. The lower one seems to be a boundary between hardware/firmware and (system & application) software, the upper one a boundary between a software product/system/framework as released/sold and the same system as installed/configured at a particular site (the "customer" layer suggests that to me) -- [[User:Malgond|Malgond]] ([[User talk:Malgond|talk]]) 16:17, 21 June 2019 (UTC)
::I was thinking something along those lines, but I thought it was strange there was one inserted between the compromises by a current and a past employee. (A compromise by a past employee was likely implemented while they were employed, maybe as a backdoor they can access after leaving the company.) [[User:Ianrbibtitlht|Ianrbibtitlht]] ([[User talk:Ianrbibtitlht|talk]]) 17:34, 21 June 2019 (UTC)
:::I think this stack is most supposed to be some form of website. The customer (a site visitor/user) is exploiting a Javascript vulnerability. The former employee is exploiting a deeper vulnerability but still through the browser/otherwise through the web (e.g. an URL-based exploit, like adding "/../"s to url to access files that aren't supposed to be part of the site) that they know about because they worked on it. The current employee is compromising using their access to the code, the database, or the server, hence the division. [[User:Schpeelah|Schpeelah]] ([[User talk:Schpeelah|talk]]) 17:58, 21 June 2019 (UTC)
::::I agree that the stack likely represents a website (maybe '''''all''''' websites), and your point about the top two using only the browser being the reason for the separation bar makes perfect sense! Thanks for sharing your thoughts. [[User:Ianrbibtitlht|Ianrbibtitlht]] ([[User talk:Ianrbibtitlht|talk]]) 18:35, 21 June 2019 (UTC)

Not to be confused with the [https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/1636:_XKCD_Stack XKCD Stack]. --[[Special:Contributions/162.158.182.232|162.158.182.232]] 15:52, 21 June 2019 (UTC)

Isn't the title text a reference to [https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/security/open-mongodb-databases-expose-chinese-surveillance-data/ when china had some surveillance databases publicly visible]? [[User:Rerere284|Rerere284]] ([[User talk:Rerere284|talk]]) 17:48, 21 June 2019 (UTC)

we seem to be missing compromised by anti virus software - but that aside I want the t-shirt[[Special:Contributions/162.158.34.206|162.158.34.206]]
:It's probably not a Windows-based server, so no anti-virus software is needed! [[User:Ianrbibtitlht|Ianrbibtitlht]] ([[User talk:Ianrbibtitlht|talk]]) 23:44, 21 June 2019 (UTC)

I think the stack resembles an 8-layer wedding cake! [[User:Ianrbibtitlht|Ianrbibtitlht]] ([[User talk:Ianrbibtitlht|talk]]) 02:24, 22 June 2019 (UTC)

I don't think labeling the layers by the OSI layers makes much sense. There is no indication in the comic that the OSI model is intended. If going to cover OSI, maybe put in a table with the OSI model levels as one column (to clearly separate that interpretation from others). [[Special:Contributions/162.158.107.79|162.158.107.79]] 08:00, 23 June 2019 (UTC)
: I disagree. There's a clear link, with hardware exploits on the bottom, and the "foreign government" layer is likely a reference to the US-Huawei situation.

2162: Literary Opinions

2019-06-12T04:27:57Z

172.68.133.54: More formatting fixes.

{{comic
| number = 2162
| date = June 12, 2019
| title = Literary Opinions
| image = literary_opinions.png
| titletext = If I really focus, I can distinguish between John Steinbeck and John Updike, or between Gore Vidal and Vidal Sassoon, but not both at once.
}}

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

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

:[Megan is walking with a finger raised toward Cueball, who is seated in a chair with a book.]
:Megan: Literary opinion:
:Megan: I firmly believe that William S. Burroughs, Hunter S. Thompson, Chuck Palahniuk, and David Foster Wallace are different names for the same person.
:Cueball: ...I see.

:[Megan puts down her hand.]
:Megan: '''''Fear and Loathing in Los Vegas''''' and '''''Fight Club'''''? Same book with different covers, I bet.
:Cueball: I have both. Want to open them and check?
:Megan: I do not.

:[Cueball turns back to his book.]
:Megan: Moving on: my next opinion--
:Cueball: You should start a book club for discussing the books you refuse to read.
:Megan: --is that E.B. White and T.H. White are the same person.
:Cueball: Ok, ''that'' I believe.

{{comic discussion}}

2162: Literary Opinions

2019-06-12T04:27:30Z

172.68.133.54: Fix strange wording.

{{comic
| number = 2162
| date = June 12, 2019
| title = Literary Opinions
| image = literary_opinions.png
| titletext = If I really focus, I can distinguish between John Steinbeck and John Updike, or between Gore Vidal and Vidal Sassoon, but not both at once.
}}

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

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

:[Megan is walking with a finger raised toward Cueball, who is seated in a chair with a book.]
:Megan: Literary opinion:
:Megan: I firmly believe that William S. Burroughs, Hunter S. Thompson, Chuck Palahniuk, and David Foster Wallace are different names for the same person.
:Cueball: ...I see.

:[Megan puts down her hand.]
:Megan: '''Fear and Loathing in Los Vegas''' and '''Fight Club'''? Same book with different covers, I bet.
:Cueball: I have both. Want to open them and check?
:Megan: I do not.

:[Cueball turns back to his book.]
:Megan: Moving on: my next opinion--
:Cueball: You should start a book club for discussing the books you refuse to read.
:Megan: --is that E.B. White and T.H. White are the same person.
:Cueball: Ok, ''that'' I believe.

{{comic discussion}}

2162: Literary Opinions

2019-06-12T04:26:26Z

172.68.133.54: Fix formatting.

{{comic
| number = 2162
| date = June 12, 2019
| title = Literary Opinions
| image = literary_opinions.png
| titletext = If I really focus, I can distinguish between John Steinbeck and John Updike, or between Gore Vidal and Vidal Sassoon, but not both at once.
}}

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

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

:[Megan is walking toward Cueball with a finger raised, who is seated in a chair with a book.]
:Megan: Literary opinion:
:Megan: I firmly believe that William S. Burroughs, Hunter S. Thompson, Chuck Palahniuk, and David Foster Wallace are different names for the same person.
:Cueball: ...I see.

:[Megan puts down her hand.]
:Megan: '''Fear and Loathing in Los Vegas''' and '''Fight Club'''? Same book with different covers, I bet.
:Cueball: I have both. Want to open them and check?
:Megan: I do not.

:[Cueball turns back to his book.]
:Megan: Moving on: my next opinion--
:Cueball: You should start a book club for discussing the books you refuse to read.
:Megan: --is that E.B. White and T.H. White are the same person.
:Cueball: Ok, ''that'' I believe.

{{comic discussion}}

Talk:2145: Heists And Escapes

2019-05-04T21:43:22Z

172.68.133.54: hmm

The real-life battle of Alesia was appparently the opposite of Winterfell, insofar as where the "rattling" happens. [[Special:Contributions/198.41.230.244|198.41.230.244]] 21:37, 3 May 2019 (UTC)
:I think that title text theory it's also a reference to the [[wikipedia:Tommy_Westphall#The_Tommy_Westphall_Universe_Hypothesis|Tommy Westphall universe hypothesis]]. --[[User:Valepert|valepert]] ([[User talk:Valepert|talk]]) 21:48, 3 May 2019 (UTC)

I'm pretty sure that "Kevin McCallister's Subconscious" is an Inception reference. [[User:LegionMammal978|LegionMammal978]] ([[User talk:LegionMammal978|talk]]) 22:44, 3 May 2019 (UTC)
: I've out of reflex hafe read that Kenny is dead, instead.[[User:Gunterkoenigsmann|Gunterkoenigsmann]] ([[User talk:Gunterkoenigsmann|talk]]) 05:08, 4 May 2019 (UTC)
:"Kevin McCallister" is the name of the lead character in the Home Alone movies, played by Macaulay Culkin.
:[[User:ProphetZarquon|ProphetZarquon]] ([[User talk:ProphetZarquon|talk]]) 17:21, 4 May 2019 (UTC)

I'm guessing that Randall also watches Game of Thrones. Also should we add a GoT or ASoIaF category? It's been referenced in several comics in the past. [[User:Herobrine|Herobrine]] ([[User talk:Herobrine|talk]]) 00:32, 4 May 2019 (UTC)
:Yes please?
:[[User:ProphetZarquon|ProphetZarquon]] ([[User talk:ProphetZarquon|talk]]) 17:16, 4 May 2019 (UTC)

inb4 crazy anti-semitic conspiracy theorist vandalises the page [[User:RandomIsocahedron|RandomIsocahedron]] ([[User talk:RandomIsocahedron|talk]]) 00:56, 4 May 2019 (UTC)
:For the most part he only vandalized comics related to space or science, there's no reason for him to vandalize this page. Besides he hasn't vandalized any pages recently either, I think he got tired of constantly having to type in a CAPTCHA to vandalize pages only to have it reverted almost instantly by us. [[User:Herobrine|Herobrine]] ([[User talk:Herobrine|talk]]) 01:50, 4 May 2019 (UTC)
::Can confirm, CAPTCHAs suck.

Dude, spoiler alert?! [[Special:Contributions/162.158.62.15|162.158.62.15]] 19:19, 4 May 2019 (UTC)
::~ Please sign your posts ~

Anyone else get the feeling that Randall is taunting us explainxkcders with the last part of the title text on this one? [[Special:Contributions/172.68.133.54|172.68.133.54]] 21:43, 4 May 2019 (UTC)

2142: Dangerous Fields

2019-04-29T01:07:24Z

172.68.133.54: Explanation: Deleted paragraph not relevant to topic

{{comic
| number = 2142
| date = April 26, 2019
| title = Dangerous Fields
| image = dangerous_fields.png
| titletext = Eventually, every epidemiologist becomes another statistic, a dedication to record-keeping which their colleagues sincerely appreciate.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by an INEXORABLE PROCESS. Percentages needed to be added (like [[1895: Worrying Scientist Interviews]]). Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

This is a graph of fields of study, ordered by how likely one is to die because of something that that field studies, with mathematics being the least dangerous and gerontology being the most. Gerontology is shown as much more dangerous than the other fields, so it is far on the right side of the graph. The joke is in the distinction between the danger of studying the thing, and the overall death rate from the thing. Studying ageing doesn't put you at much more risk of ageing than the general population. However, studying volcanoes is likely to put you in dangerous environments.

===Fields===
*{{W|Mathematics}} is such a pure non-physical field that the probability of it being the direct cause of death is extremely low. The study of it might cause death through workplace disputes or absent-mindedly wandering in front of traffic while pondering (as in [[356: Nerd Sniping]]).

*{{W|Astronomy}}, the study of stars and space. Astronomy is slightly more dangerous than mathematics though, since it studies physical objects instead of abstract concepts. In addition to meteor or asteroid impacts, astronomical phenomena that might cause death include solar flares, nearby supernovas, distant magnetar quakes, a solar nova (the likelihood of which will increase over the next billion-odd years), perturbations in earth's orbit, increased or decreased solar radiation, alien invasion. Given that the density of magnetars and potentially hostile alien civilizations in the potentially lethal radius is (like the radius itself) completely unknown, and not all past mass extinctions are explained, this one might be misplaced a bit. Astronomy mostly deals with extremely far-away things., so astronomers are usually not at much increased risk from the things they study compared to the general population.

*{{W|Economics}} is the study of markets. Markets can kill you by depriving you of goods and services you need to survive. Goods can become unavailable (e.g., cartels, embargos) or unaffordable (through job loss, inflation), in depressions or recessions. The study of such markets usually does not involve great risk, unless the markets are illegal (e.g., illicit drug markets), the economy being studied has put people under great stress, or one's findings are really unpopular.

*{{W|Law}} in this context refers to the rules people have to follow in society, and given the nature of laws (civil and criminal), the odds that your death is related to law is usually low. Possible causes of death more-or-less directly related would include prosecution for a capital crime, persecution under legal authority (such as being killed by an officer of the law), attack by a guard, or for lack of medical treatment, while incarcerated, or death by exposure after expulsion from one's repossessed or otherwise legally confiscated home. However, when large groups of people are dispossessed, or have the protection of law removed, casualties can be quite high. For instance, the {{w|Partition of India}} in 1947 resulted in 200,000 to 2 million deaths. The laws of the {{w|Great Leap Forward}} contributed to the starvation of tens of millions of Chinese. Perhaps most ironically, a lawyer who committed a capital crime in a country which practices capital punishment (such as the United States, China or Iran), and was executed for it would be directly killed by the thing s/he studies.

*{{W|Criminology}} is very similar to law, but is the study of crime, meaning it's more dangerous than just "law." Criminologists may be directly involved with criminals in the course of their studies, increasing their exposure to potentially life-threatening behavior.

*{{W|Meteorology}} is the study of weather. Encountering powerful weather events such as hurricanes, tornadoes, blizzards, floods, and thunderstorms brings distinct possibility of injury and death. Curiosity to see a storm in person, or (if working for television news) exposing yourself to the weather event in order to file a report, may expose you to lightning, wind-blown projectiles, cold, water, etc., any of which can negatively affect your survival. Less dramatic weather also kills - hot weather can lead to heat stroke and dehydration.

*{{W|Chemistry}} is the study of chemicals and reactions of those chemicals. Since, under terrestrial conditions, everything is made up of chemicals (and chemists often use especially reactive or dangerous chemicals), the likelihood of a chemist's death being caused by chemistry (e.g., explosions, poisoning, chemical burns, suffocation) is not insignificant.

*{{W|Marine biology}} is the study of ocean life. Many marine creatures are venomous, many are very large. Death could result from storms, boat accidents, drowning, diving accidents, exposure to pathogenic bacteria, toxins (such as those produced by cone snails, and "red tide" dinoflagellates), allergies to shellfish, or water pollution, in addition to such perhaps more obvious (but overwhelmingly rarer) risks as shark attacks.

*{{w|Volcanology}} involves the study of {{w|volcanoes}}, {{w|lava}}, and {{w|magma}}, with obvious risks to the scientists studying them in the field. At least 67 scientists have been killed in volcanic eruptions, as of 2017 ("[https://cosmosmagazine.com/geoscience/volcanologists-lose-their-lives-in-pursuit-of-knowledge Volcanologists lose their lives in pursuit of knowledge]").

*{{w|Gerontology}} involves the study of aging, and of growing old in general. As everyone ages and eventually dies{{Citation needed}}, those who study gerontology are not immune to dying in old age even if they evade all the other possible causes of death - thus making it the most likely among all shown fields. A gerontologist still can die from something else first, but without the inherent risk factors of other professions such as active volcanoes or underwater diving they're more likely to survive to retirement and thus meet their death of old age.

*The title text is about {{w|Epidemiology}}: the study of health and disease conditions in populations. In the event of an epidemic, there is a strong chance that epidemiologists in the search for the causation, transmission and treatment will be exposed and become victims of the disease in their own right. However, the title text refers more broadly to the role of epidemiology in maintaining detailed statistical records of diseases and other causes of death, such that eventually any epidemiologist (whatever the cause of death) will become one of his/her own statistics.

==Transcript==

:[A line chart is shown going from left to right with two arrows on either side. On the line are ten dots spread out unevenly from close to each end. The first four dots are clustered together on the left side. Then follows 5 more dots unevenly spaced, all to the left of center. On the far right of the line, near the end, there is one dot. Beneath each dot there goes a line down to a label written beneath each line. Above the chart there is a big title and below that an explanation. Below that again, there is a small arrow pointing to the right with a label above it.]
:<big>Probability that you'll be killed by the thing you study</big>
:By field

:[Arrow pointing right, labeled:]
:More likely

:[Labels for the ten dots from left to right:]
:Mathematics (0 pixels from first field, 0.00% of overall range of fields)
:Astronomy (9px, 1.35%)
:Economics (16px, 2.40%)
:Law (22px, 3.30%)
:Criminology (77px, 11.56%)
:Meteorology (96px, 14.41%)
:Chemistry (156px, 23.42%)
:Marine Biology (166px, 24.92%)
:Volcanology (206px, 30.93%)
:Gerontology (666px, 100.00%)

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Charts]]
[[Category:Rankings]]

Talk:2141: UI vs UX

2019-04-25T05:48:02Z

172.68.133.54: "Life's experience of time"?

The comic as a whole is making fun of how meta software developers get about the user experience, seeking to name all the different types of interactions a user can have with an app or webpage.
This comic is massive for me on my desktop (chrome); I wonder if this is a joke about bad UX or if it is a genuine error? [[User:Fwacer|Fwacer]] ([[User talk:Fwacer|talk]]) 18:50, 24 April 2019 (UTC)

:It's not this big on xkcd.com. Did it start this big and got fixed on the original site? Update: replaced with the image from xkcd.com which was much smaller. [[User:Cgrimes85|Cgrimes85]] ([[User talk:Cgrimes85|talk]]) 18:55, 24 April 2019 (UTC)

::Looks like it is fixed now, but yes it was also that big on xkcd.com initially. [[User:Fwacer|Fwacer]] ([[User talk:Fwacer|talk]]) 19:19, 24 April 2019 (UTC)

To me, it comes across as a hyperbolic play on the common confusion between the meaning of UI and UX. [https://twitter.com/sdw/status/709853249407361024] [[User:Ahiijny|Ahiijny]] ([[User talk:Ahiijny|talk]]) 19:06, 24 April 2019 (UTC)

It makes sense that it would be alpha and omega, but I originally thought it was the "proportional" symbol. I only ask because alpha is lowercase and omega is uppercase, although perhaps this was to avoid confusion with the Latin "A". [[User:Cgrimes85|Cgrimes85]] ([[User talk:Cgrimes85|talk]]) 19:13, 24 April 2019 (UTC)
:Concerning the lowercase/uppercase difference, since alpha is the beginning and omega is the end, then consider that in the beginning we are born little and then grow up - we start out as lowercase and end up as uppercase. [[User:Ianrbibtitlht|Ianrbibtitlht]] ([[User talk:Ianrbibtitlht|talk]]) 19:30, 24 April 2019 (UTC)

This is a joke on integration, yes?[[Special:Contributions/172.69.68.129|172.69.68.129]] 19:33, 24 April 2019 (UTC)
: "The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice" -- I guess the big in the comic being about the arc of the moral universe can reference the fight against segregation and thus for integration...

I'm happy with the explanations I just added for everything but "Life's experience of time" -- does anyone know what that phrase is from? [[Special:Contributions/172.68.133.54|172.68.133.54]] 05:48, 25 April 2019 (UTC)

2141: UI vs UX

2019-04-25T05:46:19Z

172.68.133.54: /* Explanation */ wikilnkem

{{comic
| number = 2141
| date = April 24, 2019
| title = UI vs UX
| image = ui_vs_ux.png
| titletext = U[unprintable glyph]: The elements a higher power uses to bend that moral arc. U[even more unprintable glyph]: The higher power's overall experience bending that moral arc.
}}

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

[https://www.google.com/search?q=UI+vs+UX UI vs UX] is a discussion in software engineering of the differences between {{w|user interface design}} (UI) and {{w|user experience}} design (UX). As explained in the comic, UI design is typically concerned with the elements of the interface that a user encounters, while UX design is more concerned about the user's overall experience in using such interface.

The comic takes this to absurd levels by adding further categories to the discussion with UZ, and other U{X} types of designers. UZ refers to the psychological motivation behind the user behavior interacting with UI and UX.

"The psychological roots of motivation" is a [http://playbook.amanet.org/brian-tracy-the-root-of-motivation/ buzzword phrase] from [http://www.maccoby.com/books/WhyWork.php management theory] which may not have a particularly well-defined meaning. {{w|Motivation}} is itself the psychological root of behavior. While motivations certainly have causes, they are usually not clear enough to meaningfully treat in formal or clinical contexts. "{{w|Self actualization}}" is the most abstract, immaterial form of motivation, meaning the need to find comfort in one's own goals and achievements, available only when more material needs such as those for food, shelter, warmth, security, and a sense of belonging are met. It forms the pinnacle of {{w|Maslow's hierarchy of needs}}.

"The arc of one's life," means the overall thematic elements present in a person's entire existence, and is used as such in philosophical humor novels such as ''{{w|The World According to Garp}},'' which remarks on how easily the arc of any human life can turn on a single sexual relationship. "Life's experience of time" is a very rare phrase which does not seem to have a coherent meaning across the handful of times it occurs.

"The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice," is a famous line from a speech by {{w|Martin Luther King}}, referring to the slow pace at which progress is often achieved, and paraphrasing parts of a 1853 sermon by abolitionist minister {{w|Theodore Parker}}: "I do not pretend to understand the moral universe. The arc is a long one. My eye reaches but little ways. I cannot calculate the curve and complete the figure by experience of sight. I can divine it by conscience. And from what I see I am sure it bends toward justice." President Obama had the sentence from King's speech woven into a rug in the Oval Office.

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

:Designer     What they are responsible for

:'''UI'''     Elements of the interface that the user encounters
:'''UX'''     The user's experience of using the interface to achieve goals
:'''UZ'''     The psychological roots of the user's motivation for seeking out the interaction
:'''U∝'''     The user's self-actualization
:'''UΩ'''     The arc of the user's life
:'''U∞'''     Life's experience of time
:'''U⬤'''     The arc of the moral universe

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Programming]]

2141: UI vs UX

2019-04-25T05:43:36Z

172.68.133.54: /* Explanation */ typo

{{comic
| number = 2141
| date = April 24, 2019
| title = UI vs UX
| image = ui_vs_ux.png
| titletext = U[unprintable glyph]: The elements a higher power uses to bend that moral arc. U[even more unprintable glyph]: The higher power's overall experience bending that moral arc.
}}

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

[https://www.google.com/search?q=UI+vs+UX UI vs UX] is a discussion in software engineering of the differences between {{w|user interface design}} (UI) and {{w|user experience}} design (UX). As explained in the comic, UI design is typically concerned with the elements of the interface that a user encounters, while UX design is more concerned about the user's overall experience in using such interface.

The comic takes this to absurd levels by adding further categories to the discussion with UZ, and other U{X} types of designers. UZ refers to the psychological motivation behind the user behavior interacting with UI and UX.

"The psychological roots of motivation" is a [http://playbook.amanet.org/brian-tracy-the-root-of-motivation/ buzzword phrase] from [http://www.maccoby.com/books/WhyWork.php management theory] which may not have a particularly well-defined meaning. {{w|Motivation}} is itself the psychological root of behavior. While motivations certainly have causes, they are usually not clear enough to meaningfully treat in formal or clinical contexts. "{{w|Self actualization}}" is the most abstract, immaterial form of motivation, meaning the need to find comfort in one's own goals and achievements, available only when more material needs such as those for food, shelter, warmth, security, and a sense of belonging are met. It forms the pinnacle of {{w|Maslow's hierarchy of needs}}.

"The arc of one's life," means the overall thematic elements present in a person's entire existence, and is used as such in philosophical humor novels such as ''{{w|The World According to Garp}},'' which remarks on how easily the arc of any human life can turn on a single sexual relationship. "Life's experience of time" is a very rare phrase which does not seem to have a coherent meaning across the handful of times it occurs.

"The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice," is a famous line from a speech by Martin Luther King, referring to the slow pace at which progress is often achieved, and paraphrasing parts of a 1953 sermon by abolitionist minister Theodore Parker: "I do not pretend to understand the moral universe. The arc is a long one. My eye reaches but little ways. I cannot calculate the curve and complete the figure by experience of sight. I can divine it by conscience. And from what I see I am sure it bends toward justice." President Obama had the sentence from King's speech woven into a rug in the Oval Office.

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

:Designer     What they are responsible for

:'''UI'''     Elements of the interface that the user encounters
:'''UX'''     The user's experience of using the interface to achieve goals
:'''UZ'''     The psychological roots of the user's motivation for seeking out the interaction
:'''U∝'''     The user's self-actualization
:'''UΩ'''     The arc of the user's life
:'''U∞'''     Life's experience of time
:'''U⬤'''     The arc of the moral universe

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Programming]]

2141: UI vs UX

2019-04-25T05:42:20Z

172.68.133.54: /* Explanation */ reword

{{comic
| number = 2141
| date = April 24, 2019
| title = UI vs UX
| image = ui_vs_ux.png
| titletext = U[unprintable glyph]: The elements a higher power uses to bend that moral arc. U[even more unprintable glyph]: The higher power's overall experience bending that moral arc.
}}

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

[https://www.google.com/search?q=UI+vs+UX UI vs UX] is a discussion in software engineering of the differences between {{w|user interface design}} (UI) and {{w|user experience}} design (UX). As explained in the comic, UI design is typically concerned with the elements of the interface that a user encounters, while UX design is more concerned about the user's overall experience in using such interface.

The comic takes this to absurd levels by adding further categories to the discussion with UZ, and other U{X} types of designers. UZ refers to the psychological motivation behind the user behavior interacting with UI and UX.

"The psychological roots of motivation" is a [http://playbook.amanet.org/brian-tracy-the-root-of-motivation/ buzzword phrase] from [http://www.maccoby.com/books/WhyWork.php management theory] which may not have a particularly well-defined meaning. {{w|Motivation}} is itself the psychological root of behavior. While motivations certainly have causes, they are usually not clear enough to meaningfully treat in formal or clinical contexts. "{{w|Self actualization}}" is the most abstract, immaterial form of motivation, meaning the need to find comfort in one's own goals and achievements, available only when more material needs such as those for food, shelter, warmth, security, and a sense of belonging are met. It forms the pinnacle of {{w|Maslow's hierarchy of needs}}.

"The arc of one's life," means to the overall thematic elements present in a person's entire existence, and is used as such in philosophical humor novels such as ''{{w|The World According to Garp}},'' which remarks on how easily the arc of any human life can turn on a single sexual relationship. "Life's experience of time" is a very rare phrase which does not seem to have a coherent meaning across the handful of times it occurs.

"The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice," is a famous line from a speech by Martin Luther King, referring to the slow pace at which progress is often achieved, and paraphrasing parts of a 1953 sermon by abolitionist minister Theodore Parker: "I do not pretend to understand the moral universe. The arc is a long one. My eye reaches but little ways. I cannot calculate the curve and complete the figure by experience of sight. I can divine it by conscience. And from what I see I am sure it bends toward justice." President Obama had the sentence from King's speech woven into a rug in the Oval Office.

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

:Designer     What they are responsible for

:'''UI'''     Elements of the interface that the user encounters
:'''UX'''     The user's experience of using the interface to achieve goals
:'''UZ'''     The psychological roots of the user's motivation for seeking out the interaction
:'''U∝'''     The user's self-actualization
:'''UΩ'''     The arc of the user's life
:'''U∞'''     Life's experience of time
:'''U⬤'''     The arc of the moral universe

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Programming]]

2141: UI vs UX

2019-04-25T05:39:30Z

172.68.133.54: /* Explanation */ better

{{comic
| number = 2141
| date = April 24, 2019
| title = UI vs UX
| image = ui_vs_ux.png
| titletext = U[unprintable glyph]: The elements a higher power uses to bend that moral arc. U[even more unprintable glyph]: The higher power's overall experience bending that moral arc.
}}

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

[https://www.google.com/search?q=UI+vs+UX UI vs UX] is a discussion in software engineering of the differences between {{w|user interface design}} (UI) and {{w|user experience}} design (UX). As explained in the comic, UI design is typically concerned with the elements of the interface that a user encounters, while UX design is more concerned about the user's overall experience in using such interface.

The comic takes this to absurd levels by adding further categories to the discussion with UZ, and other U{X} types of designers. UZ refers to the psychological motivation behind the user behavior interacting with UI and UX.

"The psychological roots of motivation" is a [http://playbook.amanet.org/brian-tracy-the-root-of-motivation/ buzzword phrase] from [http://www.maccoby.com/books/WhyWork.php management theory] which may not have a particularly well-defined meaning. {{w|Motivation}} is itself the psychological root of behavior. While motivations certainly have causes, they are usually not clear to treat in a formal or clinical context. "{{w|Self actualization}}" is the most abstract, immaterial form of motivation, meaning the need to find comfort in one's own goals and achievements, available only when more material needs such as those for food, shelter, warmth, security, and a sense of belonging are met. It forms the pinnacle of {{w|Maslow's hierarchy of needs}}.

"The arc of one's life," means to the overall thematic elements present in a person's entire existence, and is used as such in philosophical humor novels such as ''{{w|The World According to Garp}},'' which remarks on how easily the arc of any human life can turn on a single sexual relationship. "Life's experience of time" is a very rare phrase which does not seem to have a coherent meaning across the handful of times it occurs.

"The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice," is a famous line from a speech by Martin Luther King, referring to the slow pace at which progress is often achieved, and paraphrasing parts of a 1953 sermon by abolitionist minister Theodore Parker: "I do not pretend to understand the moral universe. The arc is a long one. My eye reaches but little ways. I cannot calculate the curve and complete the figure by experience of sight. I can divine it by conscience. And from what I see I am sure it bends toward justice." President Obama had the sentence from King's speech woven into a rug in the Oval Office.

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

:Designer     What they are responsible for

:'''UI'''     Elements of the interface that the user encounters
:'''UX'''     The user's experience of using the interface to achieve goals
:'''UZ'''     The psychological roots of the user's motivation for seeking out the interaction
:'''U∝'''     The user's self-actualization
:'''UΩ'''     The arc of the user's life
:'''U∞'''     Life's experience of time
:'''U⬤'''     The arc of the moral universe

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Programming]]

2141: UI vs UX

2019-04-25T05:37:40Z

172.68.133.54: /* Explanation */ more more more

{{comic
| number = 2141
| date = April 24, 2019
| title = UI vs UX
| image = ui_vs_ux.png
| titletext = U[unprintable glyph]: The elements a higher power uses to bend that moral arc. U[even more unprintable glyph]: The higher power's overall experience bending that moral arc.
}}

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

[https://www.google.com/search?q=UI+vs+UX UI vs UX] is a discussion in software engineering of the differences between {{w|user interface design}} (UI) and {{w|user experience}} design (UX). As explained in the comic, UI design is typically concerned with the elements of the interface that a user encounters, while UX design is more concerned about the user's overall experience in using such interface.

The comic takes this to absurd levels by adding further categories to the discussion with UZ, and other U{X} types of designers. UZ refers to the psychological motivation behind the user behavior interacting with UI and UX.

"The psychological roots of motivation" is a [http://playbook.amanet.org/brian-tracy-the-root-of-motivation/ buzzword phrase] from [http://www.maccoby.com/books/WhyWork.php management theory] which may not have a particularly well-defined meaning. {{w|Motivation}} is itself the psychological root of behavior, and while professional and academic psychologists discuss motivation in depth, distinguishing motivation from its roots is extremely uncommon at best, and something of a redundancy if not a {{w|category mistake}}. "{{w|Self actualization}}" is the most abstract, immaterial form of motivation, meaning the need to find comfort in one's own goals and achievements, available only when more material needs such as those for food, shelter, warmth, security, and a sense of belonging are met. It forms the pinnacle of {{w|Maslow's hierarchy of needs}}.

"The arc of one's life," means to the overall thematic elements present in a person's entire existence, and is used as such in philosophical humor novels such as ''{{w|The World According to Garp}},'' which remarks on how easily the arc of any human life can turn on a single sexual relationship. "Life's experience of time" is a very rare phrase which does not seem to have a coherent meaning across the handful of times it occurs.

"The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice," is a famous line from a speech by Martin Luther King, referring to the slow pace at which progress is often achieved, and paraphrasing parts of a 1953 sermon by abolitionist minister Theodore Parker: "I do not pretend to understand the moral universe. The arc is a long one. My eye reaches but little ways. I cannot calculate the curve and complete the figure by experience of sight. I can divine it by conscience. And from what I see I am sure it bends toward justice." President Obama had the sentence from King's speech woven into a rug in the Oval Office.

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

:Designer     What they are responsible for

:'''UI'''     Elements of the interface that the user encounters
:'''UX'''     The user's experience of using the interface to achieve goals
:'''UZ'''     The psychological roots of the user's motivation for seeking out the interaction
:'''U∝'''     The user's self-actualization
:'''UΩ'''     The arc of the user's life
:'''U∞'''     Life's experience of time
:'''U⬤'''     The arc of the moral universe

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Programming]]

2067: Challengers

2018-11-02T12:21:55Z

172.68.133.54: /* Comics in the large picture */

{{comic
| number = 2067
| date = November 2, 2018
| title = Challengers
| image = challengers.png
| titletext = Use your mouse or fingers to pan + zoom. To edit the map, submit your ballot on November 6.
}}
To see the full zoomable picture go to the [https://xkcd.com/2067/ original] comic page.

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Please enter all embedded comics here at the explanation and not at the transcript because you can't see them in the picture on the first place. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

This comic shows all challengers to the {{w|United States elections, 2018|midterm elections}} hold on November 6, 2018. The landmarks are taken from this {{w|List of U.S. National Historic Landmarks by state|Wikipedia}} page. Since the map is large there's also a [https://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/challengers.png loading screen] present that can be seen while the map is loading.

===Comics in the large picture===
There are many comics embedded into the map:
:'''Washington, DC'''
Subcomic probably referencing the White House.

:[We can see Cueball standing in the middle of Washington, DC]
:Cueball: I can see my house from here!

:'''Weed, CA'''
:[We can see Cueball holding a piece of paper talking to Megan]
:Cueball: Question #1 voids all 2018 ballot measures except itself.
:Cueball: Question #2 retroactively lowers the threshold for passing ballot measures to 5%
:Cueball: Question #3 requires a re-vote on all failed ballot measures a day later
:Cueball: Question #4 requires a re-vote on all passed ballot measures a day later
:Cueball: Question #5 bans those annoying phone scammers, but also says that if an odd number of ballot measures pass, Christmas is canceled
:Cueball: Question #6 makes a "yes" count as a "no" on odd-numbered ballot measures
:Cueball: Question #7 does nothing but counts as a ballot measure passing
:Cueball: Question #8 says that-
:Megan: I'm leaving these all blank and voting against whoever approves ballot measures

:'''Alger, WA'''
:[We can see a presentation by Cueball to a group of people including White Hat and Hairbun sitting at an office desk. The presentation shows a map of a district]
:Cueball: Under my new Carlymandering plan, we'll create five red districts, five blue districts, and one district which contains only Carly Rae Jepsen
:Hairbun: That seems fair.

:'''Abernathy, TX'''
:[We can see Black Hat and Cueball talking]
:Black Hat: Starting on November 7th, we're going to blanket the airwaves with attack ads
:Cueball: Isn't the election on November 6th?
:Black Hat: Yeah, the advertising rates go way down after that.

:'''Storm Lake, IA'''
: Queball: The midterms are so stressfull
: Megan: I just hope J.D. Scholten wins
: Cueball: Why?
: Megan: google steve king
: [Cueball looking at his phone]
: Cueball: Yikes.

:'''Primm, NV'''
:[We can see a group of people]
:Remember: The only poll that counts is the one on Election Day. And the ones that help campaigns allocate resources. And the ones that drive media coverage and the ones that inform us all about what our fellow members of the public believe. And the ones that...

:'''Richmond, VA'''
:[Cueball is holding a sign that says: Abigail Spanberger for Congress]

:'''Saint Louis, MO'''
:[We can see two people near the Gateway Arch talking]
:Ah, Saint Louis. Home of America's largest... Whatever that thing is.

:'''Chadron, NE'''
:[Woman standing at a podium]
:If elected, I vow to find and punish the voters responsible.

===Title text===
The title text shows the hint that the reader can zoom in and move over all US-States revealing many details can't be seen at the overall view. Furthermore [[Randall]] does a call to vote, he requests people to take an active part in the elections to change that picture.

==Transcript==
:[A loading screen appears shortly before the large picture has rendered. We can see an American flag in an oval badge with the text:]
:"I voted"
:[And beneath a text saying:]
:Loading...

:2018 Midterm
:'''Challengers'''
:The bigger the candidate's name, the higher the office and the better their chances of success.

:[In a frame a zoomable map shows all US-States (Alaska and Hawaii are shown in the left lower corner.) The candidates are shown colored mainly in red and blue at different sizes. Each state has many landmarks shown in gray. There are also many comics embedded into the picture.]

:By Randall Monroe, Kelsey Harris, and Max Goodman

:Landmarks from Wikipedia. Success odds estimated from district voting history, special election
:results, and seat ratings. Thank you to Dailykos Elections for their spreadsheets, shaplefiles election
:ratings, and advice, and to @davidshor, @charlotteeffect, and @thedlcc for additional candidate data.

==Trivia==
*The comic [[Design_of_xkcd.com#Header|header]] had changed to:
:''Find out where to vote: [https://www.vote.org/ Vote.org]''
:''See what's on your ballot: [https://www.ballotready.org/ BallotReady.org]''
:This happened on the day this comic came out, as it up till [http://web.archive.org/web/20181101081612/https://xkcd.com/ the day before], had been a different reminder of the election only with the vote.org link.
*The interactive picture does not work in many browsers when using the link ''[https://www.xkcd.com www.xkcd.com]'', only the short ''[https://xkcd.com xkcd.com]'' works properly because the page uses an absolute link to a file ''[https://xkcd.com/2067/asset/map-data.json map-data.json]'' at the domain ''<nowiki>xkcd.com</nowiki>'' which is not allowed from ''<nowiki>www.xkcd.com</nowiki>'' according to {{w|Cross-origin resource sharing}}.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Large drawings]]
[[Category:Interactive comics]]
[[Category:Comics with color]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Politics]]
[[Category:Elections]]

2067: Challengers

2018-11-02T12:20:30Z

172.68.133.54: /* Comics in the large picture */

{{comic
| number = 2067
| date = November 2, 2018
| title = Challengers
| image = challengers.png
| titletext = Use your mouse or fingers to pan + zoom. To edit the map, submit your ballot on November 6.
}}
To see the full zoomable picture go to the [https://xkcd.com/2067/ original] comic page.

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Please enter all embedded comics here at the explanation and not at the transcript because you can't see them in the picture on the first place. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

This comic shows all challengers to the {{w|United States elections, 2018|midterm elections}} hold on November 6, 2018. The landmarks are taken from this {{w|List of U.S. National Historic Landmarks by state|Wikipedia}} page. Since the map is large there's also a [https://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/challengers.png loading screen] present that can be seen while the map is loading.

===Comics in the large picture===
There are many comics embedded into the map:
:'''Washington, DC'''
Subcomic probably referencing the White House.

:[We can see Cueball standing in the middle of Washington, DC]
:Cueball: I can see my house from here!

:'''Weed, CA'''
:[We can see Cueball holding a piece of paper talking to Megan]
:Cueball: Question #1 voids all 2018 ballot measures except itself.
:Cueball: Question #2 retroactively lowers the threshold for passing ballot measures to 5%
:Cueball: Question #3 requires a re-vote on all failed ballot measures a day later
:Cueball: Question #4 requires a re-vote on all passed ballot measures a day later
:Cueball: Question #5 bans those annoying phone scammers, but also says that if an odd number of ballot measures pass, Christmas is canceled
:Cueball: Question #6 makes a "yes" count as a "no" on odd-numbered ballot measures
:Cueball: Question #7 does nothing but counts as a ballot measure passing
:Cueball: Question #8 says that-
:Megan: I'm leaving these all blank and voting against whoever approves ballot measures

:'''Alger, WA'''
:[We can see a presentation by Cueball to a group of people including White Hat and Hairbun sitting at an office desk. The presentation shows a map of a district]
:Cueball: Under my new Carlymandering plan, we'll create five red districts, five blue districts, and one district which contains only Carly Rae Jepsen
:Hairbun: That seems fair.

:'''Abernathy, TX'''
:[We can see Black Hat and Cueball talking]
:Black Hat: Starting on November 7th, we're going to blanket the airwaves with attack ads
:Cueball: Isn't the election on November 6th?
:Black Hat: Yeah, the advertising rates go way down after that.

:'''Storm Lake, IA'''
: Queball: The midterms are so stressfull
: Megan: I just hope J.D. Scholten wins
: Cueball: Why?
: Megan: google steve king
: [Cueball looking at his phone]
: Cueball: Yikes.

:'''Primm, NV'''
:[We can see a group of people]
:Remember: The only poll that counts is the one on Election Day. And the ones that help campaigns allocate resources. And the ones that drive media coverage and the ones that inform us all about what our fellow members of the public believe. And the ones that...

:'''Richmond, VA'''
:[Cueball is holding a sign that says: Abigail Spangerber for Congress]

:'''Saint Louis, MO'''
:[We can see two people near the Gateway Arch talking]
:Ah, Saint Louis. Home of America's largest... Whatever that thing is.

:'''Chadron, NE'''
:[Woman standing at a podium]
:If elected, I vow to find and punish the voters responsible.

===Title text===
The title text shows the hint that the reader can zoom in and move over all US-States revealing many details can't be seen at the overall view. Furthermore [[Randall]] does a call to vote, he requests people to take an active part in the elections to change that picture.

==Transcript==
:[A loading screen appears shortly before the large picture has rendered. We can see an American flag in an oval badge with the text:]
:"I voted"
:[And beneath a text saying:]
:Loading...

:2018 Midterm
:'''Challengers'''
:The bigger the candidate's name, the higher the office and the better their chances of success.

:[In a frame a zoomable map shows all US-States (Alaska and Hawaii are shown in the left lower corner.) The candidates are shown colored mainly in red and blue at different sizes. Each state has many landmarks shown in gray. There are also many comics embedded into the picture.]

:By Randall Monroe, Kelsey Harris, and Max Goodman

:Landmarks from Wikipedia. Success odds estimated from district voting history, special election
:results, and seat ratings. Thank you to Dailykos Elections for their spreadsheets, shaplefiles election
:ratings, and advice, and to @davidshor, @charlotteeffect, and @thedlcc for additional candidate data.

==Trivia==
*The comic [[Design_of_xkcd.com#Header|header]] had changed to:
:''Find out where to vote: [https://www.vote.org/ Vote.org]''
:''See what's on your ballot: [https://www.ballotready.org/ BallotReady.org]''
:This happened on the day this comic came out, as it up till [http://web.archive.org/web/20181101081612/https://xkcd.com/ the day before], had been a different reminder of the election only with the vote.org link.
*The interactive picture does not work in many browsers when using the link ''[https://www.xkcd.com www.xkcd.com]'', only the short ''[https://xkcd.com xkcd.com]'' works properly because the page uses an absolute link to a file ''[https://xkcd.com/2067/asset/map-data.json map-data.json]'' at the domain ''<nowiki>xkcd.com</nowiki>'' which is not allowed from ''<nowiki>www.xkcd.com</nowiki>'' according to {{w|Cross-origin resource sharing}}.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Large drawings]]
[[Category:Interactive comics]]
[[Category:Comics with color]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Politics]]
[[Category:Elections]]

2056: Horror Movies

2018-10-13T07:03:53Z

172.68.133.54: /* Explanation */ Seems complete

{{comic
| number = 2056
| date = October 8, 2018
| title = Horror Movies
| image = horror_movies.png
| titletext = "Isn't the original Jurassic Park your favorite movie of all time?" "Yes, but that's because I like dinosaurs and I WANT there to be an island full of them. If John Hammond's lab had been breeding serial killers in creepy masks, I wouldn't have watched!" "Wait, are you sure? That could actually be good." "Ok, I WOULD watch the scenes where Jeff Goldblum tries to convince a bunch of executives that the park is a bad idea."
}}

==Explanation==

{{w|Horror_film|Horror movies}} are a {{w|Film_genre|genre}} of {{w|movie|movie or film}} which attempt to elicit the emotional response of {{w|fear}} in the viewer. Some enjoy that type of movie because it allows them to experience and release that emotion, perhaps as a form of {{w|catharsis}} or release. Others take a more detached view and enjoy watching bad things happen to other people, perhaps deriving humor or enjoyment out of a situation that they are glad not to be in themselves.

[[White Hat]] suggest to [[Cueball]] that they see a horror movie, and Cueball appears excited and states ''Sure! I love watching terrible things happen to people and feeling afraid!'' This is basically the idea about seeing horror movies, so people who like them might make a statement like this if they say they enjoy them. As the caption speaks against horror movies, it's most likely that Cueball is being sarcastic.

[[Randall]] comments on this in the caption below the panel saying that he simply does not understand why people would want to watch a movie whose themes and intended emotions are steeped in such negativity. While he fully admits he is criticizing from a position of ignorance (and tries his best not to think less of horror movie fans) he still cannot wrap his head around them.

In the title text a conversation between Randall and a friend goes on, as the friend double checks that his favorite movie of all time is {{w|Jurassic Park (film)|Jurassic Park}}. This movie could be considered a "horror" film as there are elements of fear and terror, especially when the dinosaurs that Randall loves so much are chasing and eating humans. However, this movie type is usually placed in the adventure or science fiction genre. Randall agrees that he likes it, but instead of claiming that ''Jurassic Park'' isn't a horror film, replies by saying that he likes dinosaurs and actually wants there to be an island full of them. He then continues by giving an example of an alternative premise for Jurassic Park which maintains the horror aspect of the film by removing the dinosaurs and adding serial killers instead, and that type of movie wouldn't appeal to Randall. An amusement park about "Serial killers in creepy masks" refers to the movie trope from the ''{{w|Scream (franchise)|Scream}}'', ''{{w|Halloween (franchise)|Halloween}}'' and the ''{{w|Friday the 13th (franchise)|Friday the 13th}}'' series of films, among others. The friend then states that such an idea would be really great for a horror movie. While Randall may not agree, he could see the humor in watching {{w|Jeff Goldblum}} (who portrays {{w|Ian Malcolm (Jurassic Park character)|Ian Malcolm}} in Jurassic Park), in the scene where his attempts to prevent the "brilliant" idea of breeding serial killers as an amusement park attractions from coming to fruition, fails! This of course also fails in the case with Dinosaurs in the original movie, but how could Jeff fail to convince people about the bad idea in breeding human serial killers for an amusment park? It is that scene, and only that, Randall would like to watch from that alternative movie.

==Transcript==
:[White Hat and Cueball are standing together and talking. White Hat points at Cueball who has raised his arms.]
:White Hat: Wanna see a horror movie?
:Cueball: Sure! I love watching terrible things happen to people and feeling afraid!

:[Caption below the frame:]
:I know everyone's into what they're into, but I have never understood horror movies.

== Trivia ==
In early issues, [[Randall]] frequently referenced his fear of [[:Category:Velociraptors|velociraptors]].

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring White Hat]]
[[Category:Jurassic Park]]
[[Category:Dinosaurs]]

394: Kilobyte

2018-10-13T07:02:16Z

172.68.133.54: /* Transcript */ tables are bad

{{comic
| number = 394
| date = March 10, 2008
| title = Kilobyte
| image = kilobyte.png
| titletext = I would take 'kibibyte' more seriously if it didn't sound so much like 'Kibbles N Bits'.
}}

==Explanation==
This comic pokes fun at the confusion over the definition of a kilobyte. Some interpret the prefix literally, meaning a kilobyte is 1000 bytes. Others, however, usually define it as 210 = 1024 bytes, because it is computationally easier to deal with.

The first row of the table is simply mocking this discrepancy.

The second row is Randall's interpretation on how {{w|Stan Kelly-Bootle}} would approach this problem. Kelly-Bootle is known for writing ''The Computer Contradictionary'' which satirizes the jargon and language of the computer industry. Kelly-Bootle was likely motivated to write this work after working for several years at IBM, a company infamous for its excessive use of acronyms in the work place. Averaging the two definitions together to get 1012 bytes is simply a humorous approach that Kelly-Bootle would likely have taken ("''Should array indices start at 0 or 1? My compromise of 0.5 was rejected without, I thought, proper consideration.''" — Stan Kelly-Bootle). The serendipitous fact that the initials of Kelly-Bootle's name are "KB," the same letters used to abbreviate the word "kilobyte," adds a layer of plausibility to the joke.

The {{w|Imaginary number|imaginary}} kilobyte simply plays on the fact that complex analysis is required in quantum computing in relation to quantum mechanics. The imaginary number is represented as ''i'' and has a value of the square root of -1. This is a pun on the fact that KiB is used for the "binary kilobyte" (occasionally "{{w|Binary prefix|kibibyte}}") which is standardized at 1024 bytes.

The Intel kilobyte mocks the Pentium floating point unit which, in 1994, became notorious for having a {{w|Pentium FDIV bug|major flaw}} in its {{w|Floating-point arithmetic|floating point}} division algorithm that gave slightly erroneous results.

The smaller, drivemaker's kilobyte mocks a business model for handling higher prices that keeps prices constant but reduces quantity. The food industry has been notorious for decreasing quantity of food and keeping prices the same instead of increasing prices and keeping quantity the same. Randall is suggesting that if the computer industry tried to do this with hard drives, it could have humorous results such as smaller number of bytes in a kilobyte. In reality, hard drive capacity is specified in 103 byte (kB) units, while the content you put on it (programs etc.) is specified in 210 (KiB) units. Formatting the drive, i.e. making it usable for storage, further decreases the available space. Thus a 250 GB drive might be reported to have a capacity of only 232 GB (really GiB) by the operating system. This discrepancy increases with increasing drive size. The trend humorously suggested in the comic, however, would make the drivemaker's kilobyte 1024 bytes in 1979, 1000 bytes in 1985, {{#expr:8940-4*{{#time:Y}}}} bytes in {{#time:Y}}, and 0 bytes in 2235!

The baker's kilobyte is a play on the {{w|Dozen#Baking|baker's dozen}}, which is 13 instead of 12. A baker's byte with 9 bits to the byte would result in a total of 9216 bits in a 1024 byte kilobyte. Converting this into "normal" bytes (with 8 bits), we divide 9216 bits by 8 bits per byte to get 1152 8-bit bytes to the baker's kilobyte.

At the title text [[Randall]] mentions the definition {{w|kibibyte}}, which is defined more precisely. The binary prefix kibi means 1024, a portmanteau of the words kilo and binary. But he doesn't like the word because it sounds like the dog food {{w|Kibbles 'n Bits}}.

==Transcript==

{{incomplete transcript}}

:There's been a lot of confusion over 1024 vs 1000,
:kbyte vs kbit, and the capitalization for each.
:Here, at last, is a single, definitive standard:
:[table of various kinds of kilobytes]
:{| border="1" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="1" class="wikitable" style="width: 50%; text-align: left;"
|-
|SYMBOL
|NAME
|SIZE
|NOTES
|-
|kB
|Kilobyte
|1024 bytes OR 1000 bytes
|1000 bytes during leap years, 1024 otherwise
|-
|KB
|Kelly-Bootle standard unit
|1012 bytes
|compromise between 1000 and 1024 bytes
|-
|KiB
|Imaginary kilobyte
|1024 √-1 bytes
|used in quantum computing
|-
|kb
|Intel kilobyte
|1023.937528 bytes
|calculated on Pentium F.P.U.
|-
|Kb
|Drivemaker's kilobyte
|currently 908 bytes
|shrinks by 4 bytes each year for marketing reasons
|-
|KBa
|Baker's kilobyte
|1152 bytes
|9 bits to the byte since you're such a good customer
|}

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

715: Numbers

2018-10-13T03:05:13Z

172.68.133.54: /* Explanation */ table is sortable because why not?

{{comic
| number = 715
| date = March 17, 2010
| title = Numbers
| image = numbers.png
| titletext = The typical internet user (who wants to share) has an IQ of 147 and a 9-inch penis. Better than the reverse, I guess}}

==Explanation==
The graphics use the popular search engine Google to show how many hits (or web pages) are returned as relevant based on a given search replacing <X> by different numbers.

;Bottles of beer
:The top one is of the popular children's song {{w|99 Bottles of Beer on the Wall}}. In this song, the singers begin with 99 bottles and with each repeat of the verse, decrease the bottles of beer by one. The graph shows a slowdown at 66 bottles of beer, something highlighted. A spike occurs at 49 bottles of beer, which seems to be a popular variant (possibly due to 49 bottles taking about half the time that 99 would).

;Boy/girlfriends
:On the second row, the left graph represents how many girlfriends or boyfriends someone has had. They seem pretty similar, though the logarithmic chart may be working on that. There is a clear peak at four girlfriends.

;School grade
:In the middle of second row is a curve for how old (in grade) Internet users seem to be. Going purely by grade, the average is at 7th grade. However, using the notation of Freshman (9)/Sophomore (10)/Junior (11)/Senior (12), there's a notable resurgence.

;Penis length
:The graph on the far right of the second row describes Internet users talking about the lengths of penises that they have. 5-6 inches (~13-15 cm) is generally considered average, but it doesn't appear that way on the Internet. There is a general trend (also shown by the line), but the maximum, 9 inches (23 cm), peaks way above the trend line - indicating that guys think they can pull this one off, although 12 inches (30 cm) peaks way above the trend line as well. Probably because 12 inches equals a foot.

;Cup size
:The third row contains four graphs. The far left is the breast size of the Internet user. (This presumably refers to female users, since male breasts are not typically measured in cup size.) The actual breast size is generally considered a bell curve around a B or C cup, yet the hits on Google describe almost an exact opposite trend. Taken with the above male penis length and this describes a trend where either the "average" person posting information seems to embellish or the majority stay quiet. Typically those with small breast will complain, and those with large breast will complain or brag. Those that are content with a C cup do not need to do either.

;I have never had a boyfriend
:The second graph on row three is number of hits per (mostly) female Internet users talking about how old they are without having a boyfriend. There's a spike at 18. The comic was written in 2010; as of 2014 the spike does not exist. Google behaves very strangely in this case, as it shows two very different numbers for each search.
{|class="wikitable sortable"
!Age!!First number reported by Google!!Actual number of pages after advancing to the last one!!First number reported by Google after clicking on "More results from answers.yahoo.com"!!Actual number of pages after advancing to the last one (Yahoo Answers)
|-
|15||4||4||56,000||35
|-
|16||29,200||16||66,300||51
|-
|17||25,900||11||62,900||49
|-
|18||22,600||18||33,900||31
|-
|19||16,600||16||25,300||30
|-
|20||13,700||18||8,110||25
|-
|21||13,600||18||11,700||46
|}

;Glasses of water a day
:Third from the left in row three is the number of glasses drunk per day. Many "health authorities" claim that 8 glasses of water a day should be the most healthy. This {{w|Drinking_water#Requirements|common misconception}} is not supported by scientific research. This is the subject of [[1708: Dehydration]] and is also mentioned [[1853: Once Per Day]]. In both these six glasses of water is mentioned first rather than eight. (New research...)

;Number of lights
:On the far right is a description of the number of lights. The spike at four is due to a famous scene from {{w|Star Trek: The Next Generation}}, episode {{w|Chain_of_Command_(Star_Trek:_The_Next_Generation)#Part_II|Chain of Command Part II}} where {{w|Captain Picard}} answers that there are four lights, despite pressure to answer that there are five. This is itself a reference to {{w|George Orwell|George Orwell's}} novel {{w|Nineteen Eighty-Four}}, where {{w|Winston Smith}} is tortured until he "learns" to be unsure of the number of fingers being held up by his torturer, despite him only holding up four.

;Number of problems
:Bottom left is a reference to the popular {{w|Jay-Z}} rap song {{w|99 Problems}}. It is the only reason that ''100 problems'' only ends up second by more than a factor of 100.

;IQ
:Bottom right describes the {{w|IQ}} of the Internet goer compared to the average. By the definition of the test the average is 100 with a standard deviation of 15. However, the comic implies that the average claimed IQ closes in on 133 more than 2 standard deviations above the real average! This high average are thanks mainly to the million who has given their IQ as 147. There are four other peaks that are also labeled, and these peaks are the only other above 100,000 hits, but neither of these have much more than 200,000 hits. Apart from these five there are only 5 more with more than 50,000 hits. Note the log scale of the y.axis!
:Many studies have shown that people today would score a higher average than 100 if they took the earlier test - an effect know as the {{w|Flynn effect}}. However, new test from today should still average out to 100, as an IQ of 100 is defined as the average of any give IQ test.
:The five labels: Why 147 is so popular is hard to guess? The {{w|maximum break}} in {{w|snooker}} is 147, but it is unlikely that this is known by enough to make a difference here. There is also a frequently repeated factoid that Albert Einstein scored an IQ of 147 but there's no real record or consensus of this. That 100 (the average) peaks out is obvious. 110 - ten more also makes sense. In general there are almost always more hits at every 5 and 10, than the two values before or after. 133 is a third of the way to 200, and also it will take you clear of the {{w|Mensa International|Mensa}} requirement for membership of 132 on the {{w|Stanford–Binet Intelligence Scales}}. Why 142 is popular is also difficult to say. Of course {{w|Answer_to_Life,_the_Universe,_and_Everything#The_number_42|42 is a special number}} for fans of {{w|The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy}}, so 142 for an IQ score could be helped to peak for this reason. Although then it is no longer 42... (But an IQ of 42 would be really bad!)
:The scale of the graphs x-axis is completely off. This can easily be seen from the labeled points. Whereas 100 and 110 is close to the mark, the point labeled 133 is much closer to 140 than 130 (at about 138) and the 147 point lies clearly past 150 (at around 152). It is, however, for sure the scale that is off as there are the correct number of points between all five labeled points.
:There is a clear point on the y-axis at 80, but then there seems to be a gap up to the next point, and there are also only 16 points between this first point and the point labeled 100. It thus seems that while there are in fact about 20,000 who claim as low an IQ as 80, then there are not enough who claims a score of 81-83 for them to be shown in this graph. The graph begins at around 80-90 hits because of the log scale so there could be some hits, but way less than the lowest point on the graph which lies close to 1000 hits. From an IQ of 84 and up to 168 there are a point for each IQ for a total of 86 points (with the point at 80).

;Title text
:The title text refers to the searches. It concludes that the average (male) internet user has a 9-inch penis and an IQ of 147. Humorously it continues to state that this is better than the reverse - having a 147-inch penis (over 12 feet or 3.7 m) and an IQ of 9 (only 2 % of the population have below 69).

==Transcript==
:Google Result for Various Phrases:
:{Each panel is a scatterplot of the described X against the number of Google hits, with trend lines. The scales vary.}

:<X> Bottles of Beer on the Wall
:[There are peaks at 1, 49, 73, and 99. A dip in the middle is marked "They lose steam at 66." After 99 is a steep dropoff. The largest peak is around 100,000 hits.]

:I've Had <X> Boy/Girlfriends
:[Both lines descend at roughly the same rate from 1 to 10, although the boyfriend graph is smoother; the girlfriend graph has a small peak at 4 and a small dip at 6. The peaks are between 100,000 and 1,000,000 hits.]

:I'm in <X>st/nd/rd/th Grade
:[The curve is a bell peaking at 7th grade and about 500,000 hits. A second line labeled "Including Junior, Senior, etc." follows the bell curve until the peak, then dips only slightly for 10th grade and resumes climbing.]

:I Have a/an <X>-Inch Penis
:[The line ascends shallowly from 100,000 hits for 3 inches to a peak of 180,000 for 9 inches, then descends steeply to 20,000 for 13 inches.]

:I'm a/an <X>-Cup
:[A has a few hundred thousand hits; the graph dips to a few thousand for C, peaks again around 100,000 for E, and then tails off.]

:I'm <X> and Have Never Had a Boyfriend
:[The graph is mostly a simple bell, starting and ending around 300,000 hits for 13 or 21, but there is a sharp peak of 700,000 at 18 (well above the trend line).]

:Drink <X> Glasses of Water a Day
:[There are barely any hits below 4 or above 12; between the two it rises steeply to about 1,000 hits, with a steep, narrow peak of 10,000 at 8.]

:There Are <X> Lights
:[The graph descends smoothly from several hundred thousand hits for 1 to about 10,000 for 10, except for a peak of about 1,000,000 for 4.]

:I Got <X> Problems
:[The plot is extremely jagged, with the largest peak of 10,000,000 hits at 99, another of 10,000 at 96, and 100 and 88.]

:My IQ Is <X>
:[A smooth curve starts and ends at a few thousand hits for around 85 and around 170, with the peak at several tens of thousands for 140, but there are several prominent outliers: 100, 110, 133, and 142 are all around 100,000 hits, and 147 is around 1,000,000.]

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Statistics]]
[[Category:Line graphs]]
[[Category:Penis]]
[[Category:Google Search]]
[[Category:Star Trek]]

2048: Curve-Fitting

2018-09-22T04:38:32Z

172.68.133.54: /* Linear, No Slope */

{{comic
| number = 2048
| date = September 19, 2018
| title = Curve-Fitting
| image = curve_fitting.png
| titletext = Cauchy-Lorentz: "Something alarmingly mathematical is happening, and you should probably pause to Google my name and check what field I originally worked in."
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Please edit the explanation below and only mention here why it isn't complete. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

An illustration of several plots of the same data with {{w|Curve fitting|curves fitted}} to the points, paired with conclusions that you might draw about the person who made them. This data, when plotted on an X/Y graph, looks somewhat random and there is a desire or need to determine some kind of pattern. With some kinds of data the pattern can be visually obvious, and perhaps a straight or diagonal line, represented by a simple mathematical formula, hits or comes very near hitting all the points. In other cases where it's not as intuitively obvious, one begins to look for more sophisticated mathematical formulas that appear to fit the data, in order to be able to extrapolate or interpolate other data that wasn't in the initial sampling.

When modeling such a problem statistically, it is common to search for trends, and fitted curves can help reveal these trends. Much of the work of a data scientist or statistician is knowing which fitting method to use for the data in question. Here we see various hypothetical scientists or statisticians each applying their own interpretations, and the comic mocks each of them for their various personal biases or other assorted excuses. In general, the researcher will specify the form of an equation for the line to be drawn, and an algorithm will produce the actual line.

Nonetheless scientists work much more seriously on the reliability of their assumptions by giving a value for the {{w|Standard deviation|standard deviation}} represented by the Greek letter sigma σ or the Latin letter s as a measure to quantify the amount of variation of the data points against the presented ''best fit''. If the σ-value isn't good enough an interpretation based on a specific fit wouldn't be accepted by the science community.

Since [[Randall]] gives no hint about the nature of the used data set - same in each graph - any fitting presented doesn't make any sense. The graphs could represent a star map, the votes for the latest elected presidents, or your recent invoices on power consumption. This comic just exaggerates various methods on interpreting data, but without the knowledge of the matter in the background nothing makes any sense.

===Linear===
[[File:Anscombe's quartet 3.svg|thumb|200px|Different data sets result in the same regression.]]
<math>f(x) = mx + b</math>

{{w|Linear regression}} is the most basic form of regression; it tries to find the straight line that best approximates the data. As it's the simplest, most widely taught form of regression, and in general derivable function are locally well approximated by a straight line, it's usually the first and most trivial attempt of fit.

The picture to the right shows how totally different data sets can result into the same line. It's obvious that some more basics about the nature of the data must be used to understand if this simple line really does make sense.

The comment below the graph ''"Hey, I did a regression."'' refers to the fact that this is just the easiest way of fitting data into a curve.

===Quadratic===
<math>f(x) = ax^2 + bx + c</math>

{{w|Polynomial regression|Quadratic fit}} (i.e. fitting a parabola through the data) is the lowest grade polynomial that can be used to fit data through a curved line; if the data exhibits clearly "curved" behavior (or if the experimenter feels that its growth should be more than linear), a parabola is often the first, easiest, stab at fitting the data.

The comment below the graph ''"I wanted a curved line, so I made one with math."'' refers to the fact that quadratic correlations like this are mathematically valid (and probably the simplest kind of curve in math) but rarely occur in real life.

===Logarithmic===
[[File:Logarithm_plots.png|thumb|200px|Common logarithm functions.]]
<math>f(x) = a\log_b(x) + c</math>

A {{w|Logarithm|logarithmic}} curve growths slower on higher values, but still grows without bound to infinity rather than approaching a horizontal {{w|asymptote}}. The small ''b'' in the formula represents the base which is in most cases 2, ''{{w|e (mathematical constant)|e}}'', or 10. If the data presumably does approach a horizontal asymptote then this fit isn't an effective method to explain the nature of the data.

The comment below the graph ''"Look, it's tapering off!"'' builds up the impression that the data diminishes while under this fit it's still growing to infinity, only much slower than a linear regression does.

===Exponential===
[[File:Exponential.svg|thumb|200px|Exponential growth (green) compared to other functions.]]
<math>f(x) = a\cdot b^x + c</math>

An {{w|Exponential growth|exponential curve}}, on the contrary, is typical of a phenomenon whose growth gets rapidly faster and faster - a common case is a process that generates stuff that contributes to the process itself, think bacteria growth or compound interest.

The logarithmic and exponential interpretations could very easily be fudged or engineered by a researcher with an agenda (such as by taking a misleading subset or even outright lying about the regression), which the comic mocks by juxtaposing them side-by-side on the same set of data.

The comment below the graph ''"Look, it's growing uncontrollably!"'' gives an other frivolous statement suggesting something like chaos. Also this even faster growth is well defined and has no asymptote at both axes.

===LOESS===
A {{w|Local regression|LOESS fit}} doesn't use a single formula to fit all the data, but approximates data points locally using different polynomials for each "zone" (weighting differently data points as they get further from it) and patching them together. As it has much more degrees of freedom compared to a single polynomial, it generally "fits better" to any data set, although it is generally impossible to derive any strong, "clean" mathematical correlation from it - it is just a nice smooth line that approximates well the data points, with a good degree of rejection from outliers.

The comment below the graph ''"I'm sophisticated, not like those bumbling polynomial people."'' emphasis this more complicated interpretation but without a simple mathematical description it's not much helpful to find academic descriptions on the underlying matter.

===Linear, No Slope===
<math>f(x) = c</math>

Apparently, the person making this line figured out pretty early on that their data analysis was turning into a scatter plot, and wanted to escape their personal stigma of scatter plots by drawing an obviously false regression line on top of it. Alternatively, they were hoping the data would be flat, and are trying to pretend that there's no real trend to the data by drawing a horizontal trend line.

The comment below the graph ''"I'm making a scatter plot but I don't want to."'' suggests someone expressing frustration & cynicism about the whole endeavour of fitting curves to the data. Maybe they've seen or imagined the other panels & think this is ridiculous, I can just draw a straight line across & it's just as semi defensible/valid as the rest

===Logistic===
[[File:Logistic-curve.svg|thumb|200px|A standard logistic function between the values ''0'' and ''1''.]]
The {{w|Logistic regression|logistic regression}} is taken when a variable can take binary results such as "0" and "1" or "old" and "young".

The curve provides a smooth, S-shaped transition curve between two flat intervals (like "0" and "1").

The comment below the graph ''"I need to connect these two lines, but my first idea didn't have enough math."'' implies the experimenter just wants to find a mathematically-respectable way to link two flat lines.

===Confidence Interval===
Not a type of curve fitting, but a method of depicting the predictive power of a curve.

Providing a confidence interval over the graph shows the uncertainty of the acquired data, thus acknowledging the uncertain results of the experiment, and showing the will not to "cheat" with "easy" regression curves.

The comment below the graph ''"Listen, science is hard. But I'm a serious person doing my best."'' is just an honest statement about this uncertainty.

===Piecewise===
Mapping different curves to different segments of the data. This is a legitimate strategy, but the different segments should be meaningful, such as if they were pulled from different populations.

This kind of fit would arise naturally in a study based on a regression discontinuity design. For instance, if students who score below a certain cutoff must take remedial classes, the line for outcomes of those below the cutoff would reasonably be separate from the one for outcomes above the cutoff; the distance between the end of the two lines could be considered the effect of the treatment, under certain assumptions. This kind of study design is used to investigate causal theories, where mere correlation in observational data is not enough to prove anything. Thus, the associated text would be appropriate; there is a theory, and data that might prove the theory is hard to find.

One notable time this is used is when a researcher studying housing economics is trying to identify housing submarkets. The assumption is that if two proposed markets are truly different, they will be better described using two different regression functions than if one were to be used.

The additional curved lines visible in the graph are the kind of confidence intervals you'd get from a simple OLS regression if the standard assumptions were valid. In the case of two separate regressions, it would be surprising if all those assumptions (that is, i.i.d. Normal residuals around an underlying perfectly-linear function) were in fact valid for each part, especially if the slopes are not equal.

A classical example in physics are the different theories to explain the black body radiation at the end of the 19th century. The {{w|Wien approximation}} was good for small wavelengths while the {{w|Rayleigh–Jeans law}} worked for the larger scales (large wavelength means low frequency and thus low energy.) But there was a gap in the middle which was filled by the {{w|Planck's law}} in 1900.

The comment below the graph ''"I have a theory, and this is the only data I could find."'' is a bit ambiguous because there are many data points ignored. Without an explanation why only a subset of the data is used this isn't a useful interpretation at all.

===Connecting lines===
This is often used to smooth gaps in measurements. A simple example is the weather temperature which is often measured in distinct intervals. When the intervals are high enough it's safe to assume that the temperature didn't change that much between them and connecting the data points by lines doesn't distort the real situation in many cases.

The comment below the graph ''"I clicked 'Smooth Lines' in {{w|Microsoft Excel|Excel}}."'' refers to the well known spreadsheet application from {{w|Microsoft Office}}. Like other spreadsheet applications it has the feature to visualize data from a table into a graph by many ways. "Smooth Lines" is a setting meant for use on a {{w|line graph}} and is purely aesthetic; as it simply joins up every point rather than finding a sensible line, it is not suitable for regression.

===Ad-Hoc Filter===
Drawing a bunch of different lines by hand, keeping in only the data points perceived as "good". Not really useful except for marketing purposes.

The comment below the graph ''"I had an idea for how to clean up the data. What do you think?"'' admits that in fact the data is whitewashed and tightly focused to a result the presenter wants to show.

===House of Cards===
Not a real method, but a common consequence of misapplication of statistical methods: a curve can be generated that fits the data extremely well, but immediately becomes absurd as soon as one glances outside the training data sample range, and your analysis comes crashing down "like a house of cards". This is a type of ''overfitting''. In other words, the model may do quite well for (approximately) {{w|Interpolation|interpolating}} between values in the sample range, but not extend at all well to {{w|Extrapolation|extrapolating}} values outside that range.

''Note:'' Exact polynomial fitting, a fit which gives the unique <math>(n-1)</math>th degree polynomial through <math>n</math> points, often display this kind of behaviour.

The comment below the graph ''"As you can see, this model smoothly fits the- wait no no don't extend it AAAAAA!!"'' refers to a curve which fits the data points relatively well within the graph's boundaries, but beyond those bounds fails to match at all.

The name is also a reference to the TV show ''{{w|House of Cards (U.S. TV series)|House of Cards}}'' ("WAIT NO, NO, DON'T EXTEND IT!").

===Cauchy-Lorentz (title text)===
{{w|Cauchy_distribution|Cauchy-Lorentz}} is a continuous probability distribution which does not have an expected value or a defined variance. This means that the law of large numbers does not hold and that estimating e.g. the sample mean will diverge (be all over the place) the more data points you have. Hence very troublesome (mathematically alarming).

Since so many different models can fit this data set at first glance, Randall may be making a point about how if a data set is sufficiently messy, you can read any trend you want into it, and the trend that is chosen may say more about the researcher than about the data. This is a similar sentiment to [[1725: Linear Regression]], which also pokes fun at dubious trend lines on scatterplots.

A brief Google search reveals that Augustin-Louis Cauchy originally worked as a junior engineer in a managerial position. Upon his acceptance to the Académie des Sciences in March 1816, many of his peers expressed outrage. Despite his early work in "mere" engineering, Cauchy is widely regarded as one of the founding influences in the rigorous study of calculus & accompanying proofs.

Alternately, the title-text could be implying that the person who applied the Cauchy-Lorentz curve-fitting method may not be well qualified to the task assigned.

==Transcript==
:'''Curve-Fitting Methods'''
:and the messages they send

:[In a single frame twelve scatter plots with unlabeled x- and y-axes are shown. Each plot consists of the same data-set of approximately thirty points located all over the plot but slightly more distributed around the diagonal. Every plot shows in red a different fitting method which is labeled on top in gray.]

:[The first plot shows a line starting at the left bottom above the x-axis rising towards the points to the right.]
:Linear
:"Hey, I did a regression."

:[The second plot shows a curve falling slightly down and then rising up to the right.]
:Quadratic
:"I wanted a curved line, so I made one with math."

:[At the third plot the curve starts near the left bottom and increases more and more less to the right.]
:Logarithmic
:"Look, it's tapering off!"

:[The fourth plot shows a curve starting near the left bottom and increases more and more steeper towards the right.]
:Exponential
:"Look, it's growing uncontrollably!"

:[The fifth plot uses a fitting to match many points. It starts at the left bottom, increases, then decreases, then rapidly increasing again, and finally reaching a plateau.]
:LOESS
:"I'm sophisticated, not like those bumbling polynomial people."

:[The sixth plot simply shows a line above but parallel to the x-axis.]
:Linear, no slope
:"I'm making a scatter plot but I don't want to."

:[At plot #7 starts at a plateau above the x-axis, then increases, and finally reaches a higher plateau.]
:Logistic
:"I need to connect these two lines, but my first idea didn't have enough Math."

:[Plot #8 shows two red lines embedding most points and the area between is painted as a red shadow.]
:Confidence interval
:"Listen, science is hard. But I'm a serious person doing my best."

:[Plot #9 shows two not connected lines, one at the lower left half, and one higher at the right. Both have smaller curved lines in light red above and below.]
:Piecewise
:"I have a theory, and this is the only data I could find."

:[The plot at the left bottom shows a line connecting all points from left to right, resulting in a curve going many times up and down.]
:Connecting lines
:"I clicked 'Smooth Lines' in Excel."

:[The next to last plot shows a echelon form, connecting a few real and some imaginary points.]
:Ad-Hoc filter
:"I had an idea for how to clean up the data. What do you think?"

:[The last plot shows a wave with increasing peak values. Finally the plot of the wave is continued beyond the x- and y-axis borders.]
:House of Cards
:"As you can see, this model smoothly fits the- ''wait no no don't extend it AAAAAA!!''"

==Trivia==
*This is the comic 2048, or 211. In addition to being the name of a popular app referenced in [[1344: Digits]], this is an extremely round number in binary (100,000,000,0002). [[1000: 1000 Comics]] pointed out that comic 1024 would be a round number, but there were not any comics noting 2048.

*This comic is similar to [[977: Map Projections]] which also uses a scientific method not commonly thought about by the general public to determine specific characteristics of one's personality and approach to science.

*Regressions have been the subject of several previous comics. [[1725: Linear Regression]] was about linear regressions on uncorrelated or poorly correlated data. [[1007: Sustainable]] and [[1204: Detail]] depict linear regressions on data that was actually logistic, leading to bizarre extrapolations. [[605: Extrapolating]] shows a line extrapolating from just two data points.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics with color]]
[[Category:Scatter plots]]
[[Category:Math]]
[[Category:Science]]

2048: Curve-Fitting

2018-09-19T19:27:09Z

172.68.133.54: /* Explanation */

Talk:2047: Beverages

2018-09-17T07:36:34Z

172.68.133.54: Signed unsigned comments

Randall Munroe needs to be less existential ... oh wait. {{unsigned ip|162.158.155.146|05:22, 17 September 2018‎ (UTC)}}

Wouldn’t it warrant being freaked out *more* if it were shaped like lungs? Now that would freak me out.
(Choking on food is but one example that even nature can not get a dual function, single endpoint API perfectly right. Luckily nature was unaware of GraphQL - or we’d have one orifice, 1 endpoint for all bodily functions. {{unsigned ip|172.69.130.70|05:36, 17 September 2018‎ (UTC)}}

(Responding to the above unsigned) Aren’t there some animals where that is the case? Jellyfish and starfish (I think) are the examples that comes to mind, but I’m sure there are others (especially among sea life). Also wow, humanity (at least the English speaking portion) really likes naming things that aren’t fish “fish” 😂 [[User:PotatoGod|PotatoGod]] ([[User talk:PotatoGod|talk]]) 07:19, 17 September 2018 (UTC)

Isn't the stream of beverages interrupted in intervals by swallowing? Sebastian --[[Special:Contributions/172.68.110.10|172.68.110.10]] 06:16, 17 September 2018 (UTC)

2037: Supreme Court Bracket

2018-08-24T04:29:09Z

172.68.133.54: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 2037
| date = August 24, 2018
| title = Supreme Court Bracket
| image = supreme_court_bracket.png
| titletext = My bracket was busted in the first round; I had Massachusetts v. Connecticut in the final, probably in a case over who gets to annex Rhode Island.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by a SUPREME COURT REFEREE - Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
United States supreme court cases are typically titled "Prosecutor Versus Defendant". Randall is spoofing this idea by imagining them as not individual cases but some source of tournament, complete with a ranking bracket. "Sweet 16" in the context of a tournament refers to the stage in a tournament where 16 competitors remain.

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

{{comic discussion}}

2011: Newton's Trajectories

2018-06-26T20:03:28Z

172.68.133.54: /* Explanation */ added another explanation (didn't try to hard to integrate it into the rest of the explanation though)

{{comic
| number = 2011
| date = June 25, 2018
| title = Newton's Trajectories
| image = newtons_trajectories.png
| titletext = With just one extra line, he could have anticipated the 2003 film The Core, but some things are too audacious for even the greatest visionaries.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by a cannonball - Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

[[Image:1669780A-D3EE-43E7-BD94-DD34B224BFF4.gif|thumb]]

The comic shows the Earth, with three apparent rockets on separate trajectories. One is released with sufficient velocity to attain a stable orbit, while the other two fall towards the Earth. This is a slight modification of {{w|Newton's cannonball}}, a thought experiment demonstrating the planetary effects of gravity.

Here, Newton's cannonball is used both to observe humanity’s technological future (interplanetary travel, availability of advanced technology to the masses, and constant scientific improvement; or nuclear desolation and the extinction of our species) and to underscore that argument by pointing out the inherent metaphor in the experiment: the cannonball can only escape the atmosphere by achieving high velocity (i.e. escape velocity). Similarly, Randall’s technological utopia will only deliver us from nuclear extinction if it happens quickly; otherwise, mankind will destroy itself. Of course, that threat only exists because of a triumph of technological progress, the {{w|Manhattan Project}}, but again, technology is a means to an end.

Another shallower way to interpret this comic is that the red text is a result of the failed rocket being seen as a nuclear attack by some other worldly country, triggering a nuclear war that will end civilization as we know it.

The phrase "slip the bonds of Earth" comes from the sonnet "[http://www.arlingtoncemetery.net/highflig.htm High Flight]" written in 1941 by John Gillespie Magee Jr., an American pilot in the Second World War. Portions of this poem appear on the headstones of many interred in Arlington National Cemetery, particularly aviators and astronauts; it was also quoted in [https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2016/01/28/how-ronald-reagan-explained-the-challenger-disaster-to-the-world-its-all-part-of-taking-a-chance/?utm_term=.0553e0d1d468 President Reagan's speech] after the Challenger disaster.

The title text alludes to the unfortunate film ''{{w|The Core}}'', involving drilling to the center of the Earth to restart the stopped rotation of the magnetic core. The line is ostensibly aimed at the center of the Earth. Apparently, not even Newton could predict such a disastrous movie. Or movies.

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

:[Label 1:]
:Humans slip the bonds of Earth to travel the stars

:[Label 2, in red:]
:Civilization ends in fire

:In retrospect, Newton's little cannonball drawing does a surprisingly good job illustrating the range of possible futures of our species.

{{comic discussion}}

847: Stingray Nebula

2017-03-17T16:14:28Z

172.68.133.54:

{{comic
| number = 847
| date = January 14, 2011
| title = Stingray Nebula
| image = stingray_nebula.png
| titletext = Eärendil will patrol the walls of night only until the sun reaches red giant stage, engulfing the Morning Star on his brow. Light and high beauty are passing things as well.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|More on the LOTR quote and Sam's experience to compare to what Cueball faced in his youth. Not enough to just tie it in in the title text explanation.}}

The {{w|Stingray Nebula}}, in the constellation {{w|Ara (constellation)|Ara}}, is the youngest known planetary nebula in the galaxy. It was formed by an {{w|asymptotic giant branch}} (AGB) B1 {{w|supergiant}}, which blasted out the gas while becoming a {{w|white dwarf}} in 1987. Well, it happened about 18,000 years ago, but the light of the incident reached the Earth in 1987.

This comic went from a reassuring comic about stars at night giving hope in the darkness, but then as with most xkcd's, it took a turn. In this case, the twist is that because [[Cueball]]'s star he got attached to exploded into a nebula, we should only become attached to stars that aren't quite as volatile as the one that formed the Stingray Nebula.

While talking about his star, cueball shares with his friend a quote from the Lord of the Rings: Return of the King, the third installment in J. R. R. Tolkien epic fantasy series. With this quote, cueball is relating Sam's experience to his own in that they both were able to find beauty and solace in the glimmering of some distant light (in cueball's case a literal distant light, and in Sam's a more metaphorical one). By attaching their hopes, woes and feelings to this small point of hope, they both get a sense of perspective and comfort in the fact that there is beauty in a greater sense before them.

The title text ties into the Tolkien quote. {{w|Eärendil}}, with a {{w|Silmaril}} strapped to his forehead, is the {{w|Tolkein}}ian myth explanation for the planet {{w|Venus}}, which has historically been mistaken for a star due to its brightness, being known as the "morning star" or "evening star". Venus will eventually (in billions of years time) be engulfed by the sun's expansion into a red giant. The source of Sam's comfort is also temporary in the long term.

==Transcript==
:[Cueball and his Cueball-like friend to the left is shown as white silhouettes against a dark sky. They're sitting on top of a grassy hill also shown inverted as white.]
:Cueball: I know things are tough right now. When I was going through some difficult times as a kid, I would go up on the roof and look through my telescope.

:[Zoom in on the twos white heads and upper torso only.]
:Cueball: One day I found a tiny star in Ara that seemed friendly.
:Cueball: There were millions like it, but I decided that this one was mine.

:[Zoom in only on Cueball's head and torso.]
:Cueball: When things got bad, I'd go find that star, and think of my favorite Tolkien quote. It's from Sam's time in Mordor.

:[The next panel is diagonally downward to the right of the previous. The upper left corner overlaps. A single star is shown above the highest peak in a jagged chain of mountains with at least five other large peaks and several smaller ones. Above the star in the black sky is a long quote.]
:"There, peeping among the cloud-wrack above a dark tor high up in the mountains, Sam saw a white star twinkle for a while. The beauty of it smote his heart, as he looked up out of the forsaken land, and hope returned to him. For like a shaft, clear and cold, the thought pierced him that in the end the shadow was only a small and passing thing: There was light and high beauty forever beyond its reach."
::::—The Return of the King

:[Back to normal panels below the quote panel. Larger zoom than in panel two both showing the same of the two.]
:Friend: That's comforting!
:Cueball: It was rather undercut in 1987, when the light from my star's explosion reached Earth. The debris forms the Stingray Nebula.

:[Zooming further out even than the first panel, showing more of the grassy mound below the two.]
:Friend: There's probably a lesson there.
:Cueball: "Never trust an unstable asymptotic giant branch star. Stick with main sequences and dwarfs."
:Friend: I'll, uh, keep that in mind.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics with inverted brightness]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Multiple Cueballs]]
[[Category:LOTR]]
[[Category:Philosophy]]
[[Category:Space]]
[[Category:Astronomy]]
[[Category:Telescopes]]