explain xkcd - User contributions [en]

Talk:2802: Fireflies

2023-07-15T02:20:38Z

172.69.22.175: https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2022/07/02/fireflies-possible-extinction-across-us/7795410001/

I can't remember another XKCD which has gray-scale figures. -- [[User:Dtgriscom|Dtgriscom]] ([[User talk:Dtgriscom|talk]]) 01:46, 15 July 2023 (UTC)

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2022/07/02/fireflies-possible-extinction-across-us/7795410001/ very sad. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.22.175|172.69.22.175]] 02:20, 15 July 2023 (UTC)

2782: Wikipedia Article Titles

2023-05-30T08:22:05Z

172.69.22.175: /* Explanation */ ce

{{comic
| number = 2782
| date = May 29, 2023
| title = Wikipedia Article Titles
| image = wikipedia_article_titles_2x.png
| imagesize = 402x439px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = I would never stoop to vandalism, but I'm not above discreetly deleting the occasional 'this article contains excessive amounts of detail' tag.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by MERYL STREEP'S SECOND SEAGULL. This article does not yet have too much detail. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
This comic is a chart reflecting where various Wikipedia articles (real or imagined) might rank in how effectively they would act as {{w|clickbait}} for [[Randall]].

{{w|Meryl Streep}} is a famous and widely acclaimed American actress. [[Randall]] apparently has little interest in reading about her, comparatively speaking, leaving that article on the first tick of eleven on the chart, with more interest the further down the chart.

Randall appears to have slightly more interest in reading about seagulls, on the next tick, which on Wikipedia redirect to the {{w|Gull}} article, because "seagull" is a common colloquial synonym. Two more ticks down from "seagull" on Randall's scale indicating his increasing interest level, he suggests that a hypothetical Wikipedia link to "Meryl Streep (seagull)", which according to {{w|Wikipedia:Article titles#Precision|Wikipedia article title conventions}} would likely refer to a notable seagull also named Meryl Streep, would be more interesting to him. Streep was a lead actress in a 2001 {{w|Delacorte Theatre}} production of {{w|Anton Chekhov}}'s play, ''{{w|The Seagull}}''. See [https://playbill.com/article/the-seagull-opens-its-wings-in-central-park-aug-12-com-98105 The Seagull Opens its Wings in Central Park].

A further three ticks beyond on Randall's interestingness scale is a hypothetical link to an article about a "Meryl Streep Seagull incident", which while possibly not conforming to current {{w|Wikipedia:Article titles#Descriptive title|Wikipedia's requirements for sufficiently descriptive article titles}}, might refer to a notable event which occurred during the production of the 2001 play. According to an [https://www.salon.com/2001/08/27/seagull/ August 27, 2001 article in ''Salon''], "a 40-ish man was found dead in the bushes from a single gunshot wound near the Delacorte Theater in Central Park, just yards away from where [Streep's co-star] {{w|Philip Seymour Hoffman}} offs himself with a single gunshot wound every night as Konstantin Gavrilovich in Anton Chekhov's ''The Seagull.''" However, there is no hint of any direct connection between Streep and the deceased, so absent any clear evidence of such reported in {{w|Wikipedia:Reliable sources#News organizations|reliable news sources}}, it is extremely unlikely that Wikipedia editors would create or allow an article with a title suggesting there may be, as that would violate their {{w|Wikipedia:Biographies of living persons|Biographies of Living Persons policy}}.

Alternatively, such an article could be about an incident in which a seagull notably caused Meryl Streep problems, a time when Meryl Streep notably caused problems for a seagull, or both.

The final imagined Wikipedia page is a {{w|Wikipedia:Disambiguation|disambiguation page}}, depicted as four tick further down and thus even more likely to be quickly clicked. Disambiguation pages are only necessary when there are multiple notable articles of sufficiently similar names which must be listed with clarifying details to avoid confusion. In this case, it may indicate that other variations of the aforementioned situations occurred in multiple incidents. However, the titles of disambiguation pages rarely appear in links, as you usually reach them as a result of a search for an ambiguous term such as "{{w|go}}". Note that disambiguation pages are not articles.

The title text suggests that Randall is an {{w|Deletionism and inclusionism in Wikipedia|inclusionist wikipedian}}, and as such is not above occasionally deleting editorial message boxes claiming that their article contains too much detail.

==Transcript==
:[A chart is shown with a vertical axis with eleven evenly spaced ticks. There is now arrow on the line but a divided arrow is to the left of the axis pointing down. In the division there is a label. There are five ticks that have labels. Above the chart there is a title in two lines with the top line in larger font:]
:<big>Hypothetical Wikipedia Article Titles</big>
:Ranked by how quickly I would click on them
:Arrow label: More quickly
:1st tick: Meryl Streep
:2nd tick: Seagull
:4th tick: Meryl Streep (seagull)
:7th tick: Meryl Streep seagull incident
:11th tick: Meryl Streep seagull incident (disambiguation)

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring real people]]
[[Category:Charts]]
[[Category:Rankings]]
[[Category:Wikipedia]]
[[Category:Clickbait]]
[[Category:Animals]]

2782: Wikipedia Article Titles

2023-05-29T18:18:17Z

172.69.22.175: /* Explanation */ clarify

{{comic
| number = 2782
| date = May 29, 2023
| title = Wikipedia Article Titles
| image = wikipedia_article_titles_2x.png
| imagesize = 402x439px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = I would never stoop to vandalism, but I'm not above discreetly deleting the occasional 'this article contains excessive amounts of detail' tag.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by MERYL STREEP'S SECOND SEAGULL. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

{{w|Meryl Streep}} is a famous and widely acclaimed American actress. [[Randall]] apparently has little interest in reading about her. He appears to have slightly more interest in reading about seagulls, which on Wikipedia redirect to the {{w|Gull}} article, because "seagull" is a common colloquial synonym. Two more units down from "seagull" on Randall's scale indicating his increasing interest level, he suggests that a hypothetical Wikipedia link to "Meryl Streep (seagull)", which according to [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Article_titles#Precision Wikipedia article title conventions] refers to a notable seagull named Meryl Streep, would be more interesting to him.

Streep was a lead actress in a 2001 {{w|Delacorte Theatre}} production of {{w|Anton Chekhov}}'s play, ''{{w|The Seagull}}''.[https://playbill.com/article/the-seagull-opens-its-wings-in-central-park-aug-12-com-98105] A further three units beyond is a hypothetical link to an article about a "Meryl Streep Seagull incident", which while probably not conforming to [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Article_titles#Descriptive_title Wikipedia's requirements for sufficiently descriptive article titles], might refer to a notable event which occurred during the production of the 2001 play. According to an [https://www.salon.com/2001/08/27/seagull/ August 27, 2001 article in ''Salon''], "a 40-ish man was found dead in the bushes from a single gunshot wound near the Delacorte Theater in Central Park, just yards away from where Philip Seymour Hoffman offs himself with a single gunshot wound every night as Konstantin Gavrilovich in Anton Chekhov's ''The Seagull.''" However, there is no hint of any direct connection between Streep and the deceased, and absent any clear evidence reported in [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Reliable_sources#News_organizations reliable news sources] indicating that there is, it is extremely unlikely that Wikipedia editors would create or allow an article with a title suggesting there may be, as that would violate their [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Biographies_of_living_persons Biographies of living persons policy.]

Alternatively, such an article could be about an incident in which a seagull notably caused Meryl Streep problems, a time when Meryl Streep notably caused problems for a seagull, both, or other variations occurring in multiple incidents, as the final imagined Wikipedia page is a {{w|Wikipedia:Disambiguation|disambiguation page}} on such topics, depicted as four units even more likely to be more quickly clicked. Disambiguation pages are only necessary when there are multiple notable articles of sufficiently similar names which must be listed with clarifying details to avoid confusion. However, the titles of disambiguation pages rarely appear in links, as you usually reach them as a result of a search for an ambiguous term such as "{{w|go}}".

The title text suggests that Randall is a Wikipedia {{w|Deletionism and inclusionism in Wikipedia|inclusionist}}, and as such is not above occasionally deleting editorial message boxes claiming that their article contains too much detail.

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
:[Chart title:] Hypothetical Wikipedia article titles
:[Chart subtitle:] Ranked by how quickly I would click on them

:[A vertical axis with eleven evenly spaced positions marked along it, without units or magnitudes]
:[An abbreviated arrow to the left of the axis indicates that downwards is:] More quickly
:[Alongside the topmost tick mark:] Meryl Streep
:[Alongside 2nd tick mark:] Seagull
:[Alongside 4th tick mark:] Meryl Streep (seagull)
:[Alongside 7th tick mark:] Meryl Streep seagull incident
:[Alongside 11th, and final visible, tick mark:] Meryl Streep seagull incident (disambiguation)

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Wikipedia]]
[[Category:Charts]]
[[Category:Comics featuring real people]]
[[Category:Animals]]

1130: Poll Watching

2023-05-19T00:57:38Z

172.69.22.175: /* Explanation */ Nate Silver was fired from 538

{{comic
| number = 1130
| date = November 5, 2012
| title = Poll Watching
| image = poll_watching.png
| titletext = The choices we make Tuesday could have MASSIVE and PERMANENT effects on the charts on Nate Silver's blog!
}}

==Explanation==
This is a comic about the {{w|United States presidential election, 2012|2012 U.S. presidential election}}, as it was posted the day before the election on November 6, 2012 ("this Tuesday"). It is the third comic on the subject, the previous two being [[1122: Electoral Precedent]] and [[1127: Congress]]. And the next comic [[1131: Math]] continues the issue raised in this one.

In the comic, [[Cueball]] is glued to his laptop reading media coverage of the election. The offscreen character remarks that Cueball should take a break, suggesting that Cueball has been reading media coverage for quite a while.

Cueball is so caught up in media coverage that he is speculating on the effect that incumbent President {{w|Barak Obama|Obama}} winning the election (and the resulting news coverage) could have on challenger {{w|Mitt Romney}}'s campaign. The joke is that the end-goal of Romney's campaign is to win the election. If Obama wins, the campaigning is already over, regardless of media coverage. Cueball is simply so invested that he overanalyzes potential scenarios and fails to see the big picture.

Specifically, he has become so concerned with following the polls that he's lost sight of their purpose as a predictive tool. After the election is over, polling becomes trivial since the result they are intended to forecast is already known (and so in reality will not be conducted at all). This is possibly intended as a rebuke to those {{w|pundits}} (''talking heads'') who seemingly care more about (or whose jobs are contingent on caring more about) the "game" of analyzing and predicting the politics of the race rather than caring about the actual policies the candidates are likely to pursue after coming into office.

The title text repeats this theme with {{w|Nate Silver}}, an American statistician, {{w|psephologist}}, and writer (among other things). He had a political blog called {{w|FiveThirtyEight}} which was originally written under a pseudonym. The Blog and its associated website primarily discuss tracking polls in respect to elections. Thus, the choices made on Tuesday (election day) ''will'' have massive and permanent effects on FiveThirtyEight's charts, which will obviously change to reflect the actual votes cast — but all the charts will have become trivial since the purpose of the blog is to predict the results. This is a parody of the bold statements often made during campaigns, such as that the choices made on election day could have massive and permanent effects on such things as your health care, the economy, your job, etc.

Polls and pundits are also referenced in the next comic, [[1131: Math]], published the day after the election.

==Transcript==
:[Cueball kneels on his desk chair, hunched over a laptop]
:Cueball: This Tuesday will be huge!
:Cueball: If Obama wins the election, it could generate news coverage ''devastating'' to Romney's position in the tracking polls!
:Offscreen character: ... Maybe you should take a break.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Nate Silver]]
[[Category:Politics]]
[[Category:Elections]]

2520: Symbols

2021-09-25T14:34:19Z

172.69.22.175: /* Explanation */ micrometer update to reference IR detectors

{{comic
| number = 2520
| date = September 24, 2021
| title = Symbols
| image = symbols.png
| titletext = "röntgen" and "rem" are 20th-century physics terms that mean "no trespassing."
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by VERY EXPENSIVE EQUIPMENT - Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon. Bare-bones explanation is in, but needs much more detail.}}

This comic refers to elements of (mostly mathematical or engineering) notation commonly used in various fields of math and science. Each piece of notation is presented as "symbolizing" not what it specifically means, but a typical ''context'' in which it might be encountered. Many of the individual descriptions look like verbiage that might be found on informational or warnings signs or placards, although typically with a silly edge.

*d/dx: An undergrad is working very hard
d/dx is the symbol for a single-variable {{w|Derivative|derivative}}. This is a mathematical operation that, while difficult, is one of the most basic operations in calculus and consequently well within the reach of an undergraduate student, particularly in science. Thus, an equation with this operation would be one that would cause an undergraduate student to work very hard.

*∂/∂x: A grad student is working very hard
The replacement of the standard "d" letters with the curly letters "∂" denotes the partial derivative, which generalizes the ordinary derivative to multi-variable calculus. Problems with partial derivatives, especially partial differential equations, can be extremely challenging—appropriate for hard graduate-level work.

*ħ: Oh wow, this is apparently a quantum thing
ħ (pronounced "h-bar") is a symbol used for (the reduced) {{w|Planck's constant}}, a universal, fundamental constant in quantum physics. ħ is equal to the energy of a photon divided by its frequency, and angular momentum in quantum mechanical systems is measured in quantized integer or half-integer units of ħ.

*Re: Someone needs to do a lot of tedious numerical work; hopefully it's not you
The {{w|Reynolds number}} (which is actually usually denoted by "Re," not "Re" as it appears in the comic) is the most important dimensionless group in fluid mechanics. Named for Osborne Reynolds, Re characterizes the relative sizes of inertial and viscous effects in a moving fluid. Large values of Re are indicative of turbulent flow, which cannot usually be solved for analytically, and so numerical modelling is necessary. Accurate numerical studies of high-Reynolds-number flows are notoriously difficult to create and program.

*(Ta4 – Tb4): You are at risk of skin burns
The {{w|Stefan-Boltzmann law}} says that a perfectly absorbing ("black body") source emits electromagnetic radiation with a power per unit area of σT4, where σ is a known constant and T is the absolute temperature. The quantity (Ta4 – Tb4) thus appears in any calculation of purely radiative energy transfer between two bodies, one at temperature Ta and the other at Tb. When radiative transfer is large enough to be the most important form of heat interchange, it is normally also large enough to sear the skin with thermal or ultraviolet burns.

*NA: You are probably about to make an incredibly dangerous arithmetic error
NA, or {{w|Avogadro's number}}, is the number of molecules in a mole of a substance—roughly the number of protons and neutrons in 1 gram of matter. This is an enormous number, approximately 6.02 × 1023. Adding up molecular weights and converting between grams and moles of several substances is a lot of arithmetic on a scale where intuition won't help you catch mistakes. Working with NA, it is easy to make errors of one or more factors of ten without noticing. If this kind of error is made in the calculation of the stoichiometrically correct amount of a reagent in a chemical reaction, it is possible to accidentally create dangerous amounts of unwanted chemical products.

*µm: Careful, that equipment is expensive
{{w|Micrometre}}s are a very small unit of distance. Micrometers is commonly used to measure wavelengths in the infrared, and infrared detectors are very expensive, compared with visible wavelength counterparts.

*mK: Careful, that equipment is very expensive
Kelvin is a temperature scale proportional to Celsius, but taking absolute zero as its zero point instead of the freezing point of water. {{w|Millikelvin}}s (1/1000 of a Kelvin) are used for high precision temperature work. Frequently this is used in processes of cooling temperatures to near absolute zero - such as superconductors or other quantum effects that occur when atoms are almost still. This is suggesting that the symbol appears on a sensitive experimental system probing quantum mechanical behavior that would likely only exist in an advanced laboratory. Any equipment that works down a mK temperatures is likely to be very expensive.

*nm: Don't shine that in your eye
{{w|Nanometer}}s are most frequently seen in the listed wavelengths for lasers. Pointing a visible or infrared laser at someone's eye is notoriously dangerous; the tightly-focused coherent light can cause permanent damage very quickly.

*eV: Definitely don't shine that in your eye
{{w|Electron volt}} energies are typical of moderate-energy particle beams, produced by accelerating electrons (or protons) over macroscopic voltages. These particle beams can be {{w|Anatoli Bugorski|even more damaging}} to soft tissues than optical-wavelength lasers.

*mSv: You are about to get into an Internet argument
The {{w|millisievert}} is a unit of radiation dose absorbed. It is actually a very small dosage, but the joke refers to Internet trolls debating the effects of low-dose radiation sources, such as 5G wireless networks. Randall's comment may also be referring to [https://xkcd.com/radiation/ this chart].

*mg/kg: Go wash your hands
This unit measures the dose of a drug or other chemical in milligrams per kilogram of body mass. If the appropriate dose - or worse, the lethal dose - is measured in mg/kg (parts per million), then the substance may be quite toxic.

*µg/kg: Go get in the chemical shower
A unit 1000 times smaller than mg/kg. If a dosage is measured in micrograms per kilogram (parts per billion), any accident probably requires whole-body decontamination procedures.

*π or τ: Whatever answer you get will be wrong by a factor of exactly two
π is defined as the ratio of a circle's circumference to its diameter, while τ is defined as 2π (the ratio of the circumference to the radius). {{w|pi|π}} has been used as the primary constant for describing the circumference and area of circles for millennia, but proponents of {{w|Turn (angle)|τ}} claim that τ is actually more natural in most contexts, since it makes working in radians more straightforward. The joke here is that whichever constant you use, it will probably be the wrong one (off by a factor of two, one way or the other) for the formula you are trying to use.

The title text refers to two non-SI units of radiation measurement, {{w|Roentgen (unit)|röntgen}} and {{w|Roentgen equivalent man|rem}}. In the mid-20th century when they were in use, the dangers of radiation weren't as well understood as today, so an area with radiation that was noteworthy back then is probably dangerous,{{citation needed}} hence the no trespassing part.

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

;d/dx
:An undergrad is working very hard
;∂/∂x
:A grad student is working very hard
;ħ
:Oh wow, this is apparently a quantum thing
;Re
:Someone needs to do a lot of tedious numerical work; hopefully it's not you
;(Ta4 - Tb4)
:You are at risk of skin burns
;NA
:You are probably about to make an incredibly dangerous arithmetic error
;µm
:Careful, that equipment is expensive
;mK
:Careful, that equipment is very expensive
;nm
:Don't shine that in your eye
;eV
:Definitely don't shine that in your eye
;mSv
:You are about to get into an internet argument
;mg/kg
:Go wash your hands
;µg/kg
:Go get in the chemical shower
;π or τ
:Whatever answer you get will be wrong by a factor of exactly two

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category: Math]]
[[Category: Physics]]
[[Category: Chemistry]]
[[Category: Biology]]