explain xkcd - User contributions [en]

Talk:2314: Carcinization

2020-06-02T22:39:58Z

172.68.141.142:

Honestly, what is there to explain here? The only thing I can imagine in this explanation page is an explanation of why carcinization happens, which isn't explaining the comic. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.62.119|162.158.62.119]] 22:52, 1 June 2020 (UTC)
:We might need to look at the differences between various 'false crabs' and their relatives, to show that ''in the false crabs' lifestyle'', some crab-feature they have and their close cousinshttps://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=User:Lightcaller&action=edit&redlink=1 do not is a thing that the CCs would be unable to match if they lived in the FC-like style. This is probably the subject of a whole dissertation (if not several). [[Special:Contributions/141.101.107.80|141.101.107.80]] 00:22, 2 June 2020 (UTC)

Does this mean all programming languages evolve into Rust?[[Special:Contributions/172.69.68.87|172.69.68.87]] 23:08, 1 June 2020 (UTC)
:I think this might be part of the joke here. Rust has partially replaced other programming languages in [https://old.reddit.com/r/rustjerk/comments/grspew/request_for_help_where_did_rust_replace/ well known companies], and it has been [https://stackoverflow.blog/2020/05/27/2020-stack-overflow-developer-survey-results/ the most beloved language] for four years straight (according to StackOverflow survey). There has been many XKCDs with programming themes, I don't think Rust would go unnoticed for so long. (Note: Rust's mascot is a crab) [[Special:Contributions/141.101.96.198|141.101.96.198]] 15:22, 2 June 2020 (UTC)

Is it just a coincidence that today's Questionable Content also contained a reference to crabs? [[Special:Contributions/172.69.68.195|172.69.68.195]] 00:31, 2 June 2020 (UTC)

It may be of note that Qwantz (a comic previously parodied in [[145]]) did a [http://www.qwantz.com/index.php?comic=3547 comic about carcinisation] earlier this year [[Special:Contributions/162.158.158.179|162.158.158.179]] 01:08, 2 June 2020 (UTC)
:Why do you call Dinosaur Comic Qwantz? --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 11:51, 2 June 2020 (UTC) <-- because that's the web URL[[User:Cellocgw|Cellocgw]] ([[User talk:Cellocgw|talk]]) 12:36, 2 June 2020 (UTC)

Gotta say, this is the first xkcd in a while that made me laugh. [[User:Lightcaller|Lightcaller]] ([[User talk:Lightcaller|talk]]) 03:49, 2 June 2020 (UTC)

Nature: Time for crab [[Special:Contributions/162.158.50.204|162.158.50.204]] 04:58, 2 June 2020 (UTC)

This comic was posted 3 weeks too early, seeing as Cancer doesn't start until June 21 or 22 [[User:Cellocgw|Cellocgw]] ([[User talk:Cellocgw|talk]]) 12:34, 2 June 2020 (UTC)

Looks like it already happened at one Taiwanese semiconductor company: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Realtek_logo_vector.svg. [[User:Shamino|Shamino]] ([[User talk:Shamino|talk]]) 14:11, 2 June 2020 (UTC)

=== Webcomic Name ===

IMHO, it's pretty likely the last panel is a reference to webcomic name - the formatting of "OH NO" with no punctuation, no other text, the fact it's the last panel etc all seem not particularly xkcd-ish, and very webcomic name-ish. Do we really need this disclaimer " But may have nothing to do with it, since having told Cueball about this and then seeing him turned into a crab, may indicate Megan was the cause! And either way, saying "oh no" to something bad is not particular to the mentioned web comic." [[User:Stevage|Stevage]] ([[User talk:Stevage|talk]]) 13:53, 2 June 2020 (UTC)

: Agreed, the rambling is not needed. Good edit. --[[User:V2Blast|V2Blast]] ([[User talk:V2Blast|talk]]) 19:05, 2 June 2020 (UTC)
:: I disagree that this is related to "webcomic name". "Oh no" doesn't necessarily relate to anything. It is unclear whether Randall is aware of or a fan of that comic. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.33.203|172.69.33.203]] 21:57, 2 June 2020 (UTC)

:By weird coincidence yesterdays Questionable Content ended with Ancient Aliens were Crabs gag...
https://www.questionablecontent.net/view.php?comic=4276
Not sure if that's relevant, but it's at least interesting. --[[Special:Contributions/172.68.141.142|172.68.141.142]] 22:39, 2 June 2020 (UTC)

1905: Cast Iron Pan

2017-10-20T21:18:16Z

172.68.141.142: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 1905
| date = October 20, 2017
| title = Cast Iron Pan
| image = cast_iron_pans.png
| titletext = If you want to evenly space them, it's easiest to alternate between the Arctic and Antarctic. Some people just go to the Arctic twice, near the equinoxes so the visits are almost 6 months apart, but it's not the same.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Each of the advices should be explained/discussed individually - Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

[[White Hat]] tells the old myth[https://lifehacker.com/go-ahead-and-use-soap-to-clean-your-cast-iron-pan-1658416503] [http://www.thekitchn.com/can-you-really-not-wash-your-cast-iron-with-soap-235237] [http://www.seriouseats.com/2014/11/the-truth-about-cast-iron.html], that "you shouldn't wash your {{w|Cast-iron cookware|cast iron pan}} with soap since it destroys the {{w|Seasoning (cookware)|seasoning}}", to [[Cueball]]. Seasoning is the process of treating the surface of a pan with a stick-resistant coating formed from polymerized fat and oil on the surface. Although it may not be a problem to use soap on your seasoned cast iron pan, you should still {{w|Seasoning_(cookware)#Care|proceed with care}} with how you treat it.

After giving Cueball this somewhat exaggerated piece of advice, he tells him that if he ever as much as let soap touch the pan he should just throw it away, as that fact alone would prove that he would not be up to taking care of such a precious possession. A kind of scare tactic that might make Cueball believe this and anything else he tells him.

From there on White Hat runs with it to absurdity and beyond with his next two advices and in the end even Cueball begins to doubt these advice.

His second advice is to apply {{w|moisturizer}} to the pan daily to keep it fresh. Cueball asks why and is told that it is avoid the pan getting {{w|Wrinkle|wrinkles}}. Thus implying that the pan would age like a human and get wrinkles. This is of course nonsense. But Cueball is not yet ready to dismiss White Hat's advice.

The final advice is that twice a year Cueball should fill the pan with {{w|iron filings}} and leave it in direct sunlight for 24 hours. Both details are intended to be absurd. For one, the iron filings appear to serve no actual purpose. Second, White Hat proclaims that you should be willing to go to a place where the sun shines 24 hours in a day twice a year. Above the {{w|Arctic Circle}} (often shortened to simply "the {{w|Arctic}}") there will be at least one day a year where the Sun does not set. So what White Hat implies is that it is not enough to leave the pan with the iron fillings in sunlight for a combined 24 hours (over a couple of days); no it has to be 24 continuous hours of sun. And if you are not prepared to make such a trip you simply don't deserve a cast-iron pan.

In the title text White Hat mentions that if you wish to evenly space the two 24 hours of sun each year, it is easiest to alternate between the Arctic and the {{w|Antarctic}} regions. But this will mean that you have to travel a long distance at least once a year, even if you already lived inside one of the {{w|Circle_of_latitude#Polar_Circles|Polar Circles}}, you would have to travel to the other at least once a year.

It is though implied that you do not have to space them evenly. As he mentions some people just go to Arctic twice a year near the {{w|equinoxes}}. However, according to White Hat, this is not the same, probably because it doesn't lead to an exact six month spacing and the sun would stay very low on the horizon and the sunlight would not be as intense.

In order to accomplish this other scheme it also means that they would actually have to go very close to the {{w|North Pole}} (or {{w|South Pole}}) as this is the only place with midnight sun around the equinoxes. So in principle this would be much more cumbersome than just going inside southern most part of the Arctic region at the {{w|summer solstice}}, and similarly the Northern most part of the Antarctic region at the {{w|winter solstice}} (which will be the summer solstice in the southern hemisphere).

When looking at it like this, it may seem that White Hat actually means that you should always go to the poles, rather than just to a place with 24 hours of sunlight, in order to have the sun high in the sky as well.

==Transcript==
:[White Hat is holding a pan by the handle pointing to the frying surface as he shows it to Cueball.]
:White Hat: Never clean a cast-iron pan with soap. It destroys the seasoning.
:Cueball: Got it.

:[White Hat shift the pan to his right hand and lowers it to his side holding a finger up in front of Cueball.]
:White Hat: If you ever let soap touch the pan, throw it away. You're clearly not up to taking care of it.
:Cueball: Wow, okay.

:[In a frame-less panel White Hat has taken the pan back to the first hand holding on the the edge while he holds his other hand close to the frying surface.]
:White Hat: Apply moisturizer to the pan daily to keep it fresh.
:Cueball: ...Moisturizer?
:White Hat: Do you want it to get all wrinkly?
:Cueball: ...I...guess not.

:[White Hat has shifted the pan to the second hand again holding it by the handle away from Cueball, while pointing at Cueball with the other hand.]
:White Hat: Twice a year, fill the pan with iron filings and leave it in direct sunlight for 24 hours.
:Cueball: Wait. 24 hours of sun?
:White Hat: If you're not willing to travel to the Arctic, you don't '''''deserve''''' cast iron.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring White Hat]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Food]]

1904: Research Risks

2017-10-20T21:13:18Z

172.68.141.142: /* Table */

{{comic
| number = 1904
| date = October 18, 2017
| title = Research Risks
| image = research_risks.png
| titletext = The 1919 Great Boston Molasses Flood remained the deadliest confectionery containment accident until the Canadian Space Agency's 2031 orbital maple syrup delivery disaster.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete| First draft. Add percentages on the table, elaborate on the explanations. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
This is a comparison of the possibility of the subjects of various sciences being a threat to humanity. It can either be an autonomous threat to the local population (i.e. by escape from a lab), or as part of a supervillain's scheme to rule the world. [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GBkT19uH2RQ]

There have so far been several similar comics with such [[:Category:Scatter plots|scatter plots]]. See for instance [[388: Fuck Grapefruit]], [[1242: Scary Names]], [[1468: Worrying]], [[1501: Mysteries]] and [[1701: Speed and Danger]].

The title text is related to the Molasses Storage entry at the bottom left of the chart, and references the {{w|Great Molasses Flood}}, also known as the Great Boston Molasses Flood. It occurred on January 15, 1919 in the North End neighborhood of {{w|Boston}}, {{w|Massachusetts}} (the state in which [[Randall]] lives). A large {{w|molasses}} storage tank burst and a wave of molasses rushed through the streets at an estimated 35 mph (56 km/h), killing 21 and injuring 150. The joke in the title text is that in 2031 (14 years after the release of this comic) the {{w|Canadian Space Agency}} has an even more serious disaster, which will be known as the orbital {{w|maple syrup}} delivery disaster. The title text claims that this disaster then became the deadliest {{w|confectionery}} containment accident, thus killing more than 21 people...

==Table==
{| class="wikitable sortable"
! Risk of Breaking Free !! Risk of Supervillain !! Research field !! Research Risks !! Comments
|-
| data-sort-value="1" | very low || data-sort-value="6" | very high || Prosthetics || Cyborgs || A large number of villains in media have had augmentative and non-augmentative prosthetics for various reasons.
|-
| data-sort-value="2" | low || data-sort-value="5" | high || Neuroscience || Mind Control ||
|-
| data-sort-value="1" | very low || data-sort-value="5" | high || Laser Optics || Something like {{w|Laser Weapon System}}. Or a powerful laser could be used to [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DoQwKe0lggw cut the hero in two] as in {{w|Goldfinger}}. || See {{w|Directed-energy weapon}}.
|-
| data-sort-value="3" | medium low || data-sort-value="5" | high || Pharmacology || Poisons ||
|-
| data-sort-value="2" | low || data-sort-value="5" | high || Materials Science || New materials used for villainous purposes || Adamantium, Vibranium, Kyrptonite, etc.
|-
| data-sort-value="2" | low || data-sort-value="4" | medium high || Sociology || Sociological research may help in becoming a tyrant and then lead nation to war. ||
|-
| data-sort-value="1" | very low || data-sort-value="4" | medium high || History || Ministry of Truth, using methods of previous successful dictators and learning form the errors of unsuccessful attempted dictators || History is mere data and records, which does not "break free". A particular ''subject'' of history, however, can be of use to a supervillain.
|-
| data-sort-value="3" | medium low || data-sort-value="4" | medium high || Psychology || Ministry of Truth, Hannibal Lecter ||
|-
| data-sort-value="5" | high || data-sort-value="6" | very high || Robotics || Villains: Robot minions. Escape: robots gaining sentience and killing everything, or nanobots going rogue and devouring everything in their path. ||
|-
| data-sort-value="5" | high || data-sort-value="6" | very high || Genetic Engineering || Villains: Modify troops to make super powered minions. Escape: Modified life could cause havoc || See {{w|Gene drive}}
|-
| data-sort-value="4" | medium high || data-sort-value="5" | high || Chemistry || Explosives ||
|-
| data-sort-value="6" | very high || data-sort-value="5" | high || Microbiology || Lethal diseases || See for instance {{w|12 Monkeys}}
|-
| data-sort-value="1" | very low || data-sort-value="3" | medium low || Geology || Golems, Earthquake machines || Study of rocks. Scores below average on the supervillain scale despite Lex Luthor's plan in the 1978 ''Superman'' movie hinging on setting off the San Andreas Fault.
|-
| data-sort-value="1" | very low || data-sort-value="3" | medium low || Linguistics || 1984 Newspeak ||
|-
| data-sort-value="2" | low || data-sort-value="2" | low || Paleontology || Reviving dinosaurs and other such prehistoric creatures. || Study of fossils
|-
| data-sort-value="1" | very low || data-sort-value="1" | very low || Astronomy || Asteroid impact ||
|-
| data-sort-value="3" | medium low || data-sort-value="1" | very low || Molasses Storage || Breaking free chance is medium low as molasses did "escape" at least once in history. || See {{w|Great Molasses Flood}}, as referenced in the title text
|-
| data-sort-value="1" | very low || data-sort-value="1" | very low || Dentistry || Torture/Interrogation (see for instance [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marathon_Man_(film) Marathon Man] ||
|-
| data-sort-value="4" | medium high || data-sort-value="3" | medium low || Botany || Audrey II, Triffids || Study of plants
|-
| data-sort-value="5" | high || data-sort-value="3" | medium low || Entomology || Insects are small and can often escape through even small cracks, and are known for carrying diseases. They could also mutate into terrifying threats - see for example the movie {{w|Empire_of_the_Ants_(film)}}|| Study of insects
|-
| data-sort-value="4" | medium high || data-sort-value="2" | low || Mycology || Fungi cannot move, but their spores could easily spread, therefore, escape probability has been deemed medium high. However the risk of mycology being used for evil has raised strongly with the release of Star Trek Discovery.|| {{w|Mycology}} is the study of {{w|fungi}}.
|-
| data-sort-value="6" | very high || data-sort-value="2" | low || Marine Biology || Sharknado, Jaws. Villains may keep a tank of sharks in order to dispose of opposition. ||
|-
| data-sort-value="4" | medium high || data-sort-value="1" | very low || Ornithology || Flying is a useful escape mechanism. Villains may sometimes keep a bird of prey as a pet. || Study of birds.
|-
|}

==Transcript==
:[A chart with two crossing lines with double arrows. Each arrow is labeled:]
:Y axis top: High
:Y axis bottom: Low
:X axis left: Low
:X axis right: High

:[Near each of the "high" ends of the two axis there is a label written in gray, with a line pointing to the relevant axis:]
:Y axis: Risk of your research being used by a supervillain for world domination
:X axis: Risk of the thing you're studying breaking free from your facility and threatening the local population

:[The following points are on the charts upper left quadrant (in reading order):]
:Prosthetics
:Neuroscience
:Laser Optics
:Pharmacology
:Materials Science
:Sociology
:History
:Psychology

:[The following points are on the charts upper right quadrant (in reading order):]
:Robotics
:Genetic Engineering
:Chemistry
:Microbiology

:[The following points are on the charts lower left quadrant (in reading order):]
:Geology
:Linguistics
:Paleontology
:Astronomy
:Molasses Storage
:Dentistry

:[The following points are on the charts lower right quadrant (in reading order):]
:Botany
:Entomology
:Mycology
:Marine Biology
:Ornithology

==Trivia==
* The comic initially had the erroneous spelling "Entymology" (possibly a mistaken mix-up between etymology and entomology, similar to [[1012: Wrong Superhero]]). This was later changed to the correct "Entomology".
* The SSL-Certificate of xkcd expired while this comic was online, causing a non-reachability of the site.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Scatter plots]]
[[Category:Rankings]]
[[Category:Science]]
[[Category:Astronomy]]
[[Category:Chemistry]]
[[Category:Robots]]
[[Category:Physics]]
[[Category:Animals]]
[[Category:Space]]

Talk:1866: Russell's Teapot

2017-07-21T17:37:26Z

172.68.141.142:

In this case, nesting the teapot in a catapult/cannon which is launched by another catapult/cannon might perhaps be sufficient to get past NASA regulations. (Catapults/cannons only launching the payload and not themselves...) --[[User:Nialpxe|Nialpxe]], 2017. [[User_talk:Nialpxe|(Arguments welcome)]]
:But make sure it is a moblie cannon, otherwise it would not quilify as a launch '''vehicle'''. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.89.19|162.158.89.19]] 11:32, 21 July 2017 (UTC)
::I immediately thought "railgun". And the payload can still be a rocket; once it's not touching the ground it's accelerating, not launching. (Also Russell failed to account for female barbers. Honestly, people!) {{unsigned ip|108.162.241.4}}
::: One such company did exist, Quicklaunch had the idea of launching via a space gun. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quicklaunch

Only if you assume that females who are barbers don't shave their legs, armpits, or their various lady parts. This only further confuses the paradox. {{unsigned|Mjm87}}

When I first saw this comic I immediately thought of the Utah Teapot, it's a model used in computer graphics because it's simple and has both convex and concave surfaces. Both teapots, I would assume, (I've only just heard of Russel's Teapot so I could be wrong) are well known to different parts of the nerd community?

Talk:1838: Machine Learning

2017-05-17T22:43:42Z

172.68.141.142:

Appearently, there is the issue of people "training" intelligent systems out of their gut feeling: Let's say for example a system should determine whether or not a person should be promoted to fill a currently vacant business position. If the system is taught by the humans currently in charge of that very decision, and it weakens the people the humnas would decline and stenghtens the one they wouldn't, all these people might do is feeding the machine their own irrational biases. Then, down the road, some candidate may be declined because "computer says so".
One could argue that this, if it happens, is just bad usage and no inherent issue of machine learning itself, so I'm not sure if this thought can be connected to the comic. In my head, it's close to "stirring the pile until the answers look right". What do you people think?
[[Special:Contributions/162.158.88.2|162.158.88.2]] 05:39, 17 May 2017 (UTC)

It's a good point but I don't think it's relevant to the comic. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.107.252|141.101.107.252]] 13:55, 17 May 2017 (UTC)

Up the creek *with* a paddle. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.111.121|162.158.111.121]] 07:52, 17 May 2017 (UTC)

It's a compost pile! Stir it and keep it moist until something useful comes out.
[[Special:Contributions/162.158.75.64|162.158.75.64]] 11:40, 17 May 2017 (UTC)
]

Actually I doin't think the paddle has anything to do with canoes - paddles like that are often used when stirring large quantities. In Louisiana its called a crawfish or gumbo paddle

I think the entire paragraph that goes "One of the most popular paradigms of..." needs to be cleaned up to make it human readable. [[User:Nialpxe|Nialpxe]] ([[User talk:Nialpxe|talk]]) 12:09, 17 May 2017 (UTC)

The comment that SVMs would be a better paradigm, rather than neural networks, is kind of wrong. Anyone who's worked with neural networks knows they're still essentially a linear algebra problem, just with nonlinear activation functions. Play around with tensorflow (it's fun and educational!) and you'll find most of the linear algebra isn't abstracted away as it might be in Keras, SkLearn or Caret (R). That being said, interpretability is absolutely a problem with these complex models. This is as much because the world doesn't like conforming to the nice modernist notion of a sensible theory (ie. one that can be reduced to a nice linear relationship), but even things like L1 regularisation often leave you wondering "but how does it all fit together?". On the other hand, while methods like SVMs still have a bit of machine learning magic in resolving how its hyperplane divides the hyperspace (ie. the value is derived empirically, not theoretically), the results are typically human interpretable, for a given definition of interpretable. It's no y= wx + b, but it's definitely possible. Same same for most methods short of very deep neural nets with millions of parameters. Most machine learning experts I've met have a pretty good idea what is going on in the simpler models, such as CARTs, SVMs, boosted models etc. The only reason neural nets are blackbox-y is that there's a huge amount going on inside them, and it's too much effort to do more than analyse outputs! [[Special:Contributions/172.68.141.142|172.68.141.142]] 22:43, 17 May 2017 (UTC)

Does anyone else think the topic may have been influenced by Google's recently (May 17) featured article about machine learning?[[https://www.google.com/intl/en/about/main/gender-equality-films/]]
--[[Special:Contributions/162.158.79.35|162.158.79.35]] 12:17, 17 May 2017 (UTC)

Maybe one day bots will learn to create entire explanations for xkcd. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.99.179|141.101.99.179]] 12:38, 17 May 2017 (UTC)
:Good, then maybe we won't have over-thought explanations anymore.