explain xkcd - User contributions [en]

1729: Migrating Geese

2025-02-21T14:38:50Z

172.68.34.22: Geese don't come in swarms, they come in gaggles.

{{comic
| number = 1729
| date = September 5, 2016
| title = Migrating Geese
| image = migrating_geese.png
| titletext = "Hey guys! I have a great idea for a migration!" "Dammit, Kevin."
}}

==Explanation==
{{w|Bird migration|Migrating}} refers to the changing of a habitat, which happens every year with birds like {{w|geese}} that travel long distances to avoid cold seasons and get back to the food in the summer time. When geese fly to their new habitat, they tend to fly in a very clear {{w|V formation}}. The V formation improves the efficiency of flying birds, particularly over long migratory routes. All the birds except the first fly in the upwash from one of the wingtip vortices of the bird ahead. The upwash assists each bird except for the "leading" one in supporting its own weight in flight, saving them up to 20% of the energy needed.

It should be noted that geese do have family structures with adult geese in "alpha" positions, but not a strict ranking order. An individual's position in formation flights is coincidental and constantly changing, so that the goose at the point of the formation can pull back and rest in the V wings while others "lead" the gaggle. Popular earlier beliefs about an "alpha goose" heading a formation for the entire flight is a myth, easily disproved by watching geese formations in flight.

This comic shows such a formation with 20 geese, with several geese and areas in the V formation labeled, giving different roles to the geese and assigning these areas a new meaning. See the [[#Table of labels|table below]].

Apart from a "twin engine" goose in the bottom right arm of the V the only part of the formation that would not normally be seen is Kevin, who flies off at a 45-degree angle. In that direction there is no aerodynamic help from the other birds, and in the title text the rest of the geese also exclaim, "Dammit, Kevin" when he (again?) tells them that he has a great new idea for a migration (maybe referring to the new direction). This is either a reference to the fact that migrating birds manage to consistently arrive in the same general area every year, or to the way that vacations are sometimes suggested (by humans): "I thought of an idea for a vacation..." This was only the second time the name Kevin was used in xkcd for a fictive person, see more in [[1795:_All_You_Can_Eat#Kevin|this trivia]].

===Table of labels===
{| class="wikitable"
!Name
!Explanation
|-
|Head Goose
(4th in line to the British throne)
|Supposedly, this goose is in line to become the newest monarch of the United Kingdom after the deaths of the three (humans) who were ahead of it at the time of the comic’s publication ({{w|Charles III|Charles, Prince of Wales}}; {{w|William, Prince of Wales|William, Duke of Cambridge}}; {{w|Prince George of Wales|Prince George of Cambridge}}[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Succession_to_the_British_throne]). In actuality the fourth in line to the British throne was then {{w|Princess Charlotte of Wales|Princess Charlotte of Cambridge}}. As of the death of {{w|Elizabeth II|the Queen}}, in 2022, she gained one place and the new fourth in line became {{w|Prince Louis of Wales}} (her younger brother).
In North America, the best-known goose migration is that of {{w|Canada goose|Canada geese}} to the US east coast. Canada used to be part of the {{w|British Empire}} and remains a member of the {{w|Commonwealth of Nations}}, so a "Canadian" goose would be well situated to stand within the succession (excepting, of course, for the fact that it's a goose). As the main rules of {{w|succession to the British throne}} are being Protestant and directly related to {{w|Sophia of Hanover}}, who died in 1714, the line of succession is long. [http://www.wargs.com/essays/succession/2011.html Very long.] Though there probably aren't any geese in that list (even Catholic ones), the head goose being deemed the fourth in line (or the fourth in line being deemed a head goose) may be mocking the concept of the line of succession and/or any perception of the arbitrary nature of its membership.
|-
|Quarterback
|A {{w|quarterback}} is a position in {{w|American football}}, usually placed in the second row of an American football formation, just like the associated goose. On nearly every non-kicking play, the quarterback is the player who stands behind the center and receives the ball to start the play. In modern American football, the quarterback is usually considered the leader of the team, and is often responsible for calling the play.
|-
|Comptroller
|A {{w|comptroller}} is a position in many corporations and some governments. An officer of this title is responsible for the oversight of financial operations and ensuring that accounting is conducted accurately.
|-
|Migration abort goose
|This might be a reference to launch abort capsules used in rockets to safely land astronauts in the case of a critical stage failure. Or it could be operated like an abort button aborting the entire migration for all geese.
|-
|Twin-Engine Model
|This goose has two tails offset on each side of the center of the goose, instead of one tail in the middle like the rest. The "tails" also extend beyond the wings, which makes it look like a Twin-Engine aircraft, which has two motors: one on each wing instead of one in the nose. Later Randall made no less than eight plane/birds combination like this in [[1824: Identification Chart]].
|-
|CIA Informant
|A person, usually a criminal, that surreptitiously provides information to the {{w|Central Intelligence Agency}} (CIA), a foreign intelligence agency of the United States federal government. If these geese are from Canada, the CIA might have inserted an informant to be kept up to date on their activities. However, it is unlikely that the CIA would have great interest in the migratory patterns of geese.{{Citation needed}} This is also potentially a reference to the {{w|Birds aren't Real}} satirical conspiracy theory.
|-
|Backups
|These are geese that are not used in the formation so they can replace other geese in their positions in case they have problems performing their task. This may also be a pun/joke about technology/data "migrations" where backups should be taken liberally due to risk of data loss.
|-
|Shock Front
| A shock front is the front boundary of a {{w|shock wave}} created by either a {{w|sonic boom}} or another explosion in a fluid/gas. It can also refer to the shock wave itself. A V-shaped shock-wave called a '{{w|Bow shock (aerodynamics)|bow shock}}', similar in appearance to the V-shaped goose formation, is generated by a supersonic object. Since geese fly subsonically in normal circumstances {{Citation needed}}, they do not generate a shock wave. But of course, this set of geese may be somewhat different considering the involvement of CIA and stealth technology.
|-
|Missing Valence Geese
|In Chemistry, {{w|Valence (chemistry)|valence}} electrons are the electrons in the outermost "layer" which change places when chemical reactions happen. As there is an optimal number of electrons in a layer, if there are missing valence electrons, atoms which can fill in these gaps tend to react with the atoms having the missing electrons. In case of "electron sharing" (aka covalent bond) molecules result from such an encounter. The comic suggests a second geese formation that has proper "valence geese" in the appropriate position could bond (=merge) with this one into a larger formation. A normal geese V formation like the one in the comic has one side longer than the other and this is possibly Randall's explanation for the phenomenon.
In reality, geese do form V-shaped flocks, since the rear geese can profit aerodynamically from the vortices created by the front geese, and that way the overall flock requires less energy. So there is actually some evolutionary sense for additional geese to fill the "valence holes". It is thus a little weird that there are two backup geese close to these valence vacancies, as they should then have filled them up...
|-
|Stealth cargo being escorted
|The formation is forming a protective surrounding around an empty space in the middle which in a military formation could contain protected cargo. As there is no cargo visible in the geese formation, it is titled "{{w|Stealth technology|stealth}}". This would be a nice [[:Category:Conspiracy theory|conspiracy theory]] to spread.
|-
|Kevin
|An obnoxious blowhard who insists on trying new, poorly thought-out ideas, completely ignorant no one else in the group wants to try it out with him. "Kevin" is an internet meme (especially in Europe) where it's the stereotypical name of the village idiot. Kevin is usually urged to stop talking, ironically congratulated, etc. It’s due to the fact that this name was given [https://www.quora.com/Why-does-the-name-Kevin-have-so-many-negative-connotations-in-modern-Germany-Is-it-really-because-of-Kevin-Costner mainly in low socioeconomic class] (so Kevins will probably have poor education) and possibly because it was [https://translate.google.fr/translate?sl=fr&tl=en&js=y&prev=_t&hl=en&ie=UTF-8&u=http%3A%2F%2Fprenoms.doctissimo.fr%2Ftop-prenoms-annee-1991.html&edit-text=&act=url way too common around the ’90s].

Around the time of this comic's release Kevin was a "go-to name" for [[Randall]], seen in [[1719: Superzoom]] as well as What-If #83 as a placeholder name for the comet 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko.

The name may also be a reference to the intelligent and playful bird [http://disney.wikia.com/wiki/Kevin Kevin], from the Disney/Pixar movie {{w|Up (movie)|Up}}, or [https://youtu.be/OyqdoxTEmdg Kevin] from {{w|South Park}}. “Dammit, Kevin” may be a reference to the meme [https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/moon-moon Moon Moon], a mentally-challenged wolf whose pack (along with other animals) responds to his strange actions with “God dammit, Moon Moon”.
|}

==Transcript==
:[Caption above the panel:]
:Understanding Migration of Geese

:[20 geese are shown flying in a typical migratory V-formation. As they are shown in silhouette it is not possible to determine if they are seen from above or from below. They are flying toward the top of the image with the first goose close to the top in the middle of the image. There is one head goose, and then there are 7 geese in the left arms and 9 geese in the right arm. Behind the left arm there are two stragglers that are not in line with the others, but closer to the middle than those above and not as close to each other as the rest but still flying in the same direction. Finally there is one goose at the bottom right corner flying at a 45 degree angle away from the other to the right. The first goose is flapping its wing, which is also the case with six other geese, no. 4 and 6 in the left and 3, 5 and 6 in the right arm as well as the middle of the two in the rear towards the middle. The rest are soaring with straight wings and all of these look the same except no. 7 in the right arm which has two tails, which both goes ahead of the wings, making it look like a plane with two engines. The head goose and 5 of the 9 geese in the right arm as well as the one bottom right are labelled with and arrow pointing to them from the label. The front goose has the label in front to the left, the other have it in front to the right, except the second last in the arm which has the label inside the V and one flying away which has the label right above it. The two behind and right of the left arm have one label behind them with two arrows from the label pointing at both geese. There is a thick curvy line in front of geese no. 3 to 5 in the left arm. In front of that line is a thinner broken line. In front of this is a label written with the same curvature. There are two areas surrounded by dotted lines. The first one is behind the last of the left arms geese, extending in the same direction for a distance of about two geese. It has a label above and left with and arrow pointing to it. The other area is in the middle of the V forming a loose triangular structure with a label inside.]
:Head goose: Head goose (4th in line to the British throne)
:Right no. 1: Quarterback
:Right no. 3: Comptroller
:Right no. 5: Migration abort goose
:Right no. 7: Twin-engine model
:Right no. 8: CIA informant
:Bottom right corner: Kevin
:Behind center: Backups
:In front of left no. 3-5: Shock front
:Empty area behind left arm: Missing valence geese
:Empty area in center: Stealth cargo being escorted

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Animals]]
[[Category:American football]]
[[Category:Aviation]]

1979: History

2018-04-11T15:22:45Z

172.68.34.22: /* Transcript */ 'Man. The' instead of 'Man the'

{{comic
| number = 1979
| date = April 11, 2018
| title = History
| image = history.png
| titletext = HISTORIANS: We've decided to trim the past down to make things more manageable. Using BCE/CE, would you rather we lose the odd-numbered or even-numbered years?
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by an HISTORIAN. Needs to be expanded. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

This comic quotes a [https://www.newspapers.com/clip/19134214/httpswwwxkcdcom1979/|a lengthy section of the Bloomington Daily Pantagraph's September 30, 1881 issue]. The tragic event referenced throughout is the {{w|Assassination of James A. Garfield|assassination of President James A. Garfield}}. Interestingly, the article is about how closely studied the incident will or will not be in the future. Garfield's assassination is rarely more than a quick note in a history class, leaving only the "dry and tedious" historians to comb through the details.

The punchline comes from not how insignificant this assassination has come to be viewed, but from Megan and Cueball being baffled by the sheer scope of information contained in the past.

The title text indicates that there is more information about the past than can be researched by the manpower of available historians at this time. For whatever reason, be it lack of funding to carry out research or lack of interested people becoming historians, the facetious solution is to just ignore events of either even or odd numbered years. This would essentially halve the amount of data to go through and the amount of time to go through it, but it would be at the detriment of our understanding of all of the context of said events.

==Transcript==
:[In a small panel top left, Cueball walks up to Megan who is sitting on an office chair holding a tablet showing a screen full of (to the reader) unreadable text.]
:Megan: I read this article in an old newspaper, and I can't stop thinking about it.

:[Below is a large panel twice as wide as the first, and much longer. It contains the newspaper clip that Megan talks about. Three sections of the text is in normal black font, the rest is in gray font:]
:'''The public events of the last three months are of the class which will go into its permanent history. We have been living in an atmosphere of history which will be immortally preserved.''' Even the brief series of important dates to be collated for the use of the schoolboys of centuries hence will contain the day of the assassination, and the day of the death of President Garfield. 

:The intermediate events co-related, like the defeat of Roscoe Conkling, will be of great interest, but will scarcely be likely to stand prominently out from the page of history written in 1881. To us who have been the witnesses, so to speak, of the tragic incidents of the times, it seems entirely probable that future generations will eagerly scan every feature of the recent bereavement which the nation has suffered. 

:'''How accurately will future generations know the immense volume of grief and sorrow which has rolled over the land? Will those who come after us ever be able to understand the extent of our loss?''' Is there anything in the first century of our history—even the death of the great Lincoln—which can be used as a parallel? 

:Perhaps a careful reading of the daily papers of the present period may give some future antiquarian a fine idea of the feelings of the nation during the past summer. '''But these journals are so large, so full of detail, that we imagine the coming American will never find time to read the record.''' He must depend on a brief statement, meagerly compiled by sonic dry and tedious historian. 

:::-The Bloomington Daily Pantagraph 
::: September 30,th 1881 

:[The third and final panel is the same size as the first, below and to the right. It contains a zoom in on Cueball and Megan talking.]
:Cueball: Man. The past is so '''''big. '''''
:Megan: How do historians even cope?
:Cueball: I have no idea.
:Megan: I honestly have enough trouble just with the present.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]

Talk:The Rise of Open Access

2018-02-07T19:03:47Z

172.68.34.22:

Hi, if anyone can start working on this, that would be great. It needs more information and to check my math.[[User:Dontknow|Dontknow]] ([[User talk:Dontknow|talk]]) 23:30, 17 April 2017 (UTC)

Oh, and if you can encourage other users to work on extra comics, that would be great. [[User:Dontknow|Dontknow]] ([[User talk:Dontknow|talk]]) 16:23, 18 April 2017 (UTC)

This reminds me of sand castle.

Talk:524: Party

2018-02-07T18:44:43Z

172.68.34.22:

''Yo, dawg, I heard you like to be rickrolled, so I rolled Rick into a rickroll so you could be Rick rickrolled rolled!'' [[User:Thokling|Thokling]] ([[User talk:Thokling|talk]]) 09:27, 25 September 2013 (UTC)

Is it me, or is having Astley put on a pair of sunglasses to deliver a dry punchline reminiscent of CSI: Miami, where Horatio Caine gets in a clever one-liner at the end of the opening tag, almost always while donning sunglasses? [[User:GeniusBooks|GeniusBooks]] ([[User talk:GeniusBooks|talk]])
:I can't imagine it would be anything else at this point. -Pennpenn [[Special:Contributions/108.162.250.162|108.162.250.162]] 04:59, 30 June 2015 (UTC)
::That makes the most sense. [[User:Flewk|flewk]] ([[User talk:Flewk|talk]]) 01:37, 4 January 2016 (UTC)
Wait. Wait. That's Danish? I always thought it was Megan. {{unsigned ip|141.101.104.189}}
:It can't be Danish. Danish has rightfully told Black Hat, "I'm better at it [psychological manipulation and devastation] than you." She would have twisted into a means of doing something similar to Black Hat.{{unsigned ip|172.68.143.150}}
:True, her reaction would have been very different. Megan, being generic, seems to fit. [[User:Dontknow|Dontknow]] ([[User talk:Dontknow|talk]]) 00:01, 18 April 2017 (UTC)
I really don't think that's Danish...

1923: Felsius

2017-12-01T17:38:14Z

172.68.34.22: Fix typo of "epsilon" in TitleText

{{comic
| number = 1923
| date = December 1, 2017
| title = Felsius
| image = felsius.png
| titletext = The symbol for degrees Felsius is an average of the Euro symbol (€) and the Greek lunate epsilon (ϵ).
}}

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

Just like in [[1292: Pi vs. Tau]] [[Randall]] tries to unify two measurement systems by averaging both values, assumably with little success.

There are several {{w|Scale_of_temperature|temperature scales}} actively used in different parts of the world of for different purposes, including {{w|Celsius}} and {{w|Fahrenheit}}, but e.g. also {{w|Kelvin}} and {{w|Rankine_scale|Rankine}}.

The debate on whether to use Fahrenheit or Celcius is, just like the one between {{w|Imperial_units|imperial and metric units}}, one that is mostly restricted to the US. Most other countries have already switched from Fahrentheit to Celcius or have always used Celcius. In scientific circles, even in the US, only Celcius (and Kelvin) are used.

The conversion factors between Celsius and Fahrenheit are:
:°C = (°F − 32) * 5 / 9
:°F = °C * 9 / 5 + 32

which indeed make the average value of °C and °F:
:°ϵ = °C * 7 / 5 + 16 = (°F * 7 - 80) / 9

[[Randall]] choose to name his new unit of temperature Felsius (a {{w|portmanteau}} of Fahrenheit and Celsius).

The title text states that the symbol he chose to represent this unit also is the average of two other symbols. Visually, it is assumed to be a combination of Celsius and Fahrenheit (a C with a crossbar), but it is actually the unrelated symbols for the euro and the Greek lunate epsilon.

In doing all this, Randall has fallen into the trap of creating a new temperature scale/standard: see [[927|927: Standards]].

=== Table of Given Conversions & Additional ===
{| class="wikitable"
!°ϵ!!°C!!°F!!Note
|-
| style="text-align:right;" |156.0
| style="text-align:right;" |100.0
| style="text-align:right;" |212.0
||Pure water boils at sea level
|-
| style="text-align:right;" |92.0
| style="text-align:right;" |54.3
| style="text-align:right;" |129.7
||World heat record
|-
| style="text-align:right;" |68.0
| style="text-align:right;" |37.1
| style="text-align:right;" |98.9
||Body temperature (varies)
|-
| style="text-align:right;" |47.0
| style="text-align:right;" |22.1
| style="text-align:right;" |71.9
||Room temperature (varies)
|-
| style="text-align:right;" |16.0
| style="text-align:right;" |0.0
| style="text-align:right;" |32.0
||Water freezes (and melts); 0°C reference
|-
| style="text-align:right;" |0.0
| style="text-align:right;" |-11.4
| style="text-align:right;" |11.4
||0°ϵ reference
|-
| style="text-align:right;" |-9.0
| style="text-align:right;" |-17.9
| style="text-align:right;" |-0.1
||0°F reference
|-
| style="text-align:right;" |-40.0
| style="text-align:right;" |-40.0
| style="text-align:right;" |-40.0
||Equivalence point
|}

==Transcript==
:[A thermometer is shown, with various labels]
:92°ϵ world heat record
:68°ϵ body temperature
:47°ϵ room temperature
:16°ϵ water freezes
:–9°ϵ 0°F
:°ϵ=7×°C/5+16=(7×°F–80)/9
:Caption: Since the Celsius vs Fahrenheit debate has proven surprisingly hard to resolve, as a compromise I've started using Felsius (°ϵ), the average of the two.

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Math]]
[[Category:Compromise]]

Talk:761: DFS

2017-06-16T02:58:08Z

172.68.34.22:

Simple addition:
first frame says 'BFF dating control'?

I'm curious about the half-cut-off options in each panel. The first looks like '[something] eating contest,' the second looks like 'tracheal [something],' and the third looks like 'coral snake.' [[User:Alanbbent|Alanbbent]] ([[User talk:Alanbbent|talk]]) 23:49, 22 November 2013 (UTC)
:I think you may be right about the snake, but the others I am not so sure. However, I can't help out with better suggestions... [[Special:Contributions/108.162.219.58|108.162.219.58]] 23:53, 23 January 2014 (UTC)
:I think the eating contest one says "bee eating contest".[[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.185|141.101.98.185]] 07:43, 17 November 2014 (UTC)
:For what it's worth, I was reading "bee dating contest". [[Special:Contributions/141.101.103.210|141.101.103.210]] 21:19, 10 September 2015 (UTC)
:I saw "bee dating context" [[Special:Contributions/173.245.54.20|173.245.54.20]] 02:23, 7 November 2015 (UTC)

Inland Taipan, also known as the Fierce Snake. Dude, wikipedia might tell you this one is shy, but its still a taipan - don't be going and getting relaxed around taipans. If its in Australia and its a snake, its a fair bet you don't want touch it. [[User:Plm-qaz snr|Plm-qaz snr]] ([[User talk:Plm-qaz snr|talk]]) 12:43, 13 August 2014 (UTC) [Australia]

Ironically, I've never seen any xkcd character quite as dressed as Hairy in this strip... [[User:Mumiemonstret|Mumiemonstret]] ([[User talk:Mumiemonstret|talk]]) 14:09, 3 November 2014 (UTC)

Megan isn't "wearing nothing at all"! She is wearing a purse, which in fashion is also accessory. And that is practical for a date. {{unsigned ip|162.158.91.219}}

1829: Geochronology

2017-04-27T17:56:36Z

172.68.34.22: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 1829
| date = April 26, 2017
| title = Geochronology
| image = geochronology.png
| titletext = 'The mountains near here formed when the ... Newfoundland ... microplate collided with, uhh ... Labrador.' 'Ok, now you're definitely just naming dogs.' 'Wait, no, that's actually almost correct.'
}}

==Explanation==
[[Ponytail]] is describing the origin of some rock formations to [[Megan]] and [[Cueball]]. She apparently forgot the names of the {{w|Plate tectonics|microplates}} and the {{w|Geologic time scale|age}} when the {{w|subduction}} occurred, so she substituties them with names of {{w|Dog breed|dog breeds}} ({{w|Dalmatian (dog)|Dalmatian}}, {{w|Laika (dog breed)|Laika}} and {{w|Pomeranian (dog)|Pomeranian}}) to seem knowledgeable and impress her audience.

Although no microplates or geological ages with these names exist, this is not obvious for people outside of the field, as dog breeds are often named after geographic regions. For example {{w|Dalmatia}} is the name of a region in {{w|Croatia}}, and a microplate named after it could exist (possibly as a fragment of the former {{w|Adriatic Plate}}). Likewise, a Laika Plate ''could'' be named after the {{w|Shepherd Islands|Laika Island}} in {{w|Vanuatu}} (although the dog's name is the Russian word лайка, literally meaning "barker", and unrelated to the island, probably referring to the first dog in space on Sputnik 2). Geological ages are often named after place where the first rocks dating from the age were found e.g. the {{w|Devonian}} is named after the {{w|England|English}} county of {{w|Devon}}, while the {{w|Permian}} is named after the {{w|Russia|Russian}} city of {{w|Perm}}. Thus, a Pomeranian Age named after {{w|Pomerania}}, a region on the {{w|Baltic Sea}} split between {{w|Poland}} and {{w|Germany}}, might reasonably exist.

So the comic concludes in the caption with one of Randall's many [[:Category:Tips|tips]], this time a geology tip, about how it is possible to pretend to be more knowledgeable regarding geology by just inserting dog breeds names instead of real names as no one remembers the names of all the microplates.

The title text continues the situation until Ponytail starts to run out of dog breeds. Her audience catches on... until one of them chimes in that her "explanation" did name two real geological features: the dog breeds {{w|Labrador Retriever|Labrador}} and {{w|Newfoundland (dog)|Newfoundland}} are named after the two Canadian regions {{w|Labrador}} and {{w|Newfoundland}} respectively. Geologically, Labrador is the easternmost section of the {{w|Canadian Shield}}, the ancient core of the {{w|North America|North American}} continent. In contrast, Newfoundland (especially western Newfoundland) was formed from {{w|terrane|terranes}}, the remnants of a series of plates that collided with - and subducted beneath - North America. Some geologists have assigned the name "Newfoundland Plate" to one of these former microplates that Newfoundland now comprises. However, the title text explanation is not likely to be entirely accurate, because the most significant mountains in Newfoundland are the {{w|Long Range Mountains}}, which are the northernmost of the {{w|Appalachian Mountains}}, created when {{w|Africa}} and North America collided to form {{w|Pangaea}}; no mountain range is identified as being the result of the collision of the Newfoundland Plate with North America.

Subduction was featured in a previous comic [[1388: Subduction License]].

==Transcript==
:[Ponytail is gesturing toward some rock formations in a grass field while addressing Megan and Cueball who are looking down at the rocks, Cueball with a hand to his chin.]
:Ponytail: This bedrock likely formed as the Dalmatian microplate subducted under East Laika during the Upper Pomeranian.
:Cueball: Ah, yes.

:[Caption below the panel:]
:Geology Tip: There are so many microplates and ages that no one remembers them all, so in a pinch you can bluff with dog breeds.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Ponytail]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]
[[Category:Tips]]
[[Category:Science]]
[[Category:Geography]]
[[Category:Animals]]

1781: Artifacts

2017-01-06T22:25:05Z

172.68.34.22: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 1781
| date = January 4, 2017
| title = Artifacts
| image = artifacts.png
| titletext = I didn't even realize you could HAVE a data set made up entirely of outliers.
}}

==Explanation==
The comic shows [[Cueball]] presenting data that was probably gathered in research. It's not clear what type of data it is, but one spike has been highlighted on the graph, despite this spike being apparently no larger than the noise in the data (and is much smaller than the central peak). Cueball seems to have made some kind of mistake in either the statistics or the measurement of the undefined subject of his research, thus his data results in many outliers. The word artifact is a wordplay with two meanings. It is either an {{w|Artifact_(archaeology)|archaeological artifact}} (such as the {{w|Holy Grail}} as in ''{{w|Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade}}'') or a fault in your experiment, where you (usually accidentally) influence the measurement with your equipment or unanticipated environmental factors. These are called {{w|Artifact_(error)|error artifacts}}.

{{w|Indiana Jones}} is (often humorously) [http://www.nbcnews.com/id/24595365/ns/technology_and_science-science/t/indiana-jones-would-make-bad-archaeologist/#.WG1XuflViig cited] as being a bad {{w|archaeologist}}. He often destroys the area he is looking for artifacts in, despite the context in which they were found being as or more important, archaeologically, than the artifacts themselves. He does not appear to make any records, carries the artifacts around without any thought for their ancient and fragile nature, and most often ends up losing the artifacts altogether.

An example of an error artifact is the measurement of the force between two charged metal spheres ({{w|Coulomb force}}), where the potential of unearthed nearby objects influences the measurement, thus causing an artifact. Artifacts have been mentioned before in xkcd, as in [[1453: fMRI]], where getting into the MRI machine induced unintended effects, such as thoughts of claustrophobia.

The title text refers to the entire data set being "outliers." In statistics, an outlier is an observation point that is distant from other observations. One way to have a data set composed entirely of outliers would be a data set with N points, in a 1/2 N-dimensional space, where each point is zero for every dimension except one, unique to itself. The 1/2 is because there would also be a -1 point.[http://math.stackexchange.com/questions/1302395/n-points-can-be-equidistant-from-each-other-only-in-dimensions-ge-n-1] All these points are equidistant from each other.

We could also infer that the accusation is a jab at the fact that the data points are all over the place; a good example of such chaotic data can be see in [[1725: Linear Regression]].

Randall is also applying one of his hobbies in this comic by using the word "data" in singular form. See [[1429: Data]]. This had already caused discussion in the [[Talk:1781: Artifacts|comments of this comic]] only a few hours after it came on-line.

==Transcript==
:[Cueball is standing on a podium pointing at his presentation which includes a large line graph in the center part. There is plenty of text on the presentation, but none of it is readable. The central part of the line is raised high above the left and right part. The point where the line drops towards right is highlighted with a circle, with a double arrow above it pointing to a caption. There is also text next to the circle to the right. Above the graph there are three smaller panels with drawings. There is one caption above these, and also one above the large graph. Below the graph there are two smaller panels with curves, each panel has it's own caption. Cueball addresses an unseen audience, and one from the audience interrupts him.]
:Cueball: The data clearly proves that-
:Offscreen voice: Are you Indiana Jones?
:Offscreen voice: Because you've got a lot of artifacts there, and I'm pretty sure you didn't handle them right.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Public speaking]]
[[Category:Line graphs]]
[[Category:Charts]]