explain xkcd - User contributions [en]

Talk:2294: Coronavirus Charts

2020-04-17T00:19:20Z

172.69.34.104: r

It must be because there aren't any numbers along the axes [[Special:Contributions/172.69.34.104|172.69.34.104]] 23:53, 15 April 2020 (UTC)

I want to know if this is a random sketch with silly labels, or if Randall looked up actual data to plot it. It seems to be a combination of 4 metrics which might be reported somewhere (search popularity, death rate, total reported cases, and number of tests performed). I suspect there aren't many countries/regions for which all 4 are available, but it's conceivable that someone's published enough stats to draw this crazy plot. ¬[[User:Angel|Angel]] ([[User talk:Angel|talk]]) 01:39, 16 April 2020 (UTC)
:What would negative results in a google search be? How do you make them a graph axis? I think its just random labels on graphs. --[[User:Lupo|Lupo]] ([[User talk:Lupo|talk]]) 05:12, 16 April 2020 (UTC)
::It doesn't say negative test results for a google search. It's the number of people who've tested negative for the disease, divided by the number of people who've searched google for it. I'm moderately surprised that nobody's yet started a list of links to various data soources that could be used to plot this graph. Does Google provide per-country search frequencies? ¬[[User:Angel|Angel]] ([[User talk:Angel|talk]]) 09:34, 16 April 2020 (UTC)
:::[https://trends.google.com/trends/explore/GEO_MAP/1587034200?hl=en-US&tz=420&date=today+3-m&q=covid&sni=3 Google Trends] is always normalized so that the data returned is in [0, 100], and denormalizing out of relative values back to raw numbers is almost impossible. The best you can do is get a unitless proportion by comparing to a second search term chosen as one which doesn't vary much over time. [[Special:Contributions/172.68.142.203|172.68.142.203]] 10:54, 16 April 2020 (UTC)
::::From the docs, looks like that data is simply scaled. "A value of 50 means that the term is half as popular [as its most popular day]". Using that 0-100 number as if it were an actual number of people should give the same graph, just with the units on the X-axis offset by some value. Positioning the graphs relative to each other would be harder, as the "Interest by region" chart doesn't follow the same rules; we're lacking good data for the ratio between one country and another. [[User:Angel|Angel]] ([[User talk:Angel|talk]]) 13:48, 16 April 2020 (UTC)

Is the y-axis ''(death_today + cases_aweekago)/capita'' or ''death_today + (cases_aweekago/capita)''? This would hugely effect the weighting of the two terms. (Parentheses in second interpretation are for clarity only, I know they change nothing mathematically.) [[Special:Contributions/172.69.54.9|172.69.54.9]] 09:03, 16 April 2020 (UTC)
:Perhaps it is intentionally ambiguous to support the main point about bad charts. [[Special:Contributions/172.68.142.203|172.68.142.203]] 10:54, 16 April 2020 (UTC)
:I assumed the latter; but the page here seems to assume the former. Either way, one of the results will dwarf the other. [[User:Angel|Angel]] ([[User talk:Angel|talk]]) 13:48, 16 April 2020 (UTC)

The 19th COVID19 comic... :-) almost in a row. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 12:40, 16 April 2020 (UTC)

I tried my hand at graphing the data for the United States, in this spreadsheet here: [https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1W1ttxu9Dths5uOLOzk7VHd78hXG0EgeMkW5TCtdgtqw/edit?usp=sharing]. If anybody is motivated enough to add data from other countries, go ahead. As it is, this data doesn't really look anything like what Randall graphed, making me think that he just made up the lines. [[Special:Contributions/172.68.174.82|172.68.174.82]] 16:42, 16 April 2020 (UTC)
:[https://imgur.com/a/hHc1j7S OH NO!] [[Special:Contributions/172.68.143.96|172.68.143.96]] 18:43, 16 April 2020 (UTC)
:: Well, since the x axis doesn't graph time, there's no reason for the trend lines to be functions of x— he just chose to draw them that way. Both x and y are independent functions of t. [[Special:Contributions/172.68.174.70|172.68.174.70]] 19:11, 16 April 2020 (UTC)

I suddenly wondered if the graph means negative test results to date; or the new ones returned today. Same for the Google results, I guess. The Y-axis explicitly says it's talking about the total number of cases and today's death count, but the X-axis doesn't say for either of its values. And then that gave me the idea that "total" on the Y axis might actually mean "worldwide". So now I'm reading the Y-axis label as being (today's deaths in $country)+(worldwide infection count/population of $country). Maybe that makes the graph more useful. [[User:Angel|Angel]] ([[User talk:Angel|talk]]) 22:36, 16 April 2020 (UTC)

So did this comic not come out on 4/15 or is that just me? It seemed like all of yesterday was still the Conway Memorial comic. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.63.167|172.69.63.167]] 22:48, 16 April 2020 (UTC) Acolyte
:i thought so too! is this the first time in ages that randall missed a day? maybe someone wants to add this to a trivia section. [[User:Gir|-- //gir.st/]] ([[User talk:Gir|talk]]) 23:01, 16 April 2020 (UTC)
::I saw this comic on 4/15 (late in the afternoon/early evening PDT). According to Randall [https://xkcd.com/archive/ here], it was posted on 4/15. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.34.104|172.69.34.104]] 00:19, 17 April 2020 (UTC)

I've removed the remark that logarithmic scale axes "would not have evenly spaced ticks as shown", as it is incorrect. when the marks are 10, 100, 1000, ... the marks are evenly spaced. [[User:Gir|-- //gir.st/]] ([[User talk:Gir|talk]]) 23:00, 16 April 2020 (UTC)

For those of you interested in the difficulties experienced by epidemiology under the embarrassment of riches allowed by contemporary big data, please see [https://cmmid.github.io/topics/covid19/severity/global_cfr_estimates.html this working draft on the sufficiency of testing.] [[Special:Contributions/172.69.22.146|172.69.22.146]] 23:59, 16 April 2020 (UTC)

2294: Coronavirus Charts

2020-04-16T00:11:07Z

172.69.34.104: wed comic

{{comic
| number = 2294
| date = April 15, 2020
| title = Coronavirus Charts
| image = coronavirus_charts.png
| titletext = Adding data for South Korea but with their cases scaled to match the population of Japan and the land area of Australia, and vice versa.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by a poorly constructed graph. Please mention here why this explanation isn't complete. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
During the current outbreak of COVID-19, there have been many graphs used by health officials and others to show trends in infection and death rates.

This graph, however, while sharing similarities with actual data and graphs is completely useless. This is due to the bizarre data-points being used, as well as the unhelpful graph axes. The caption of the comic notes as much, perhaps indicating that this comic is intended to satirize the useful, but exceptionally detailed graphs that are currently in use.

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

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:COVID-19]]
[[Category:Charts]]
[[Category:Line graphs]]

Talk:2294: Coronavirus Charts

2020-04-15T23:53:46Z

172.69.34.104: Comment

Talk:2292: Thermometer

2020-04-11T10:29:37Z

172.69.34.104:

First non-Covid post other than April fools?[[Special:Contributions/162.158.107.167|162.158.107.167]]
23:04, 10 April 2020 (UTC)
:Since a fever is a common symptom of Covid-19, I'd say this is as much about Covid-19 as all the previous comics on the topic. [[User:Ianrbibtitlht|Ianrbibtitlht]] ([[User talk:Ianrbibtitlht|talk]]) 02:59, 11 April 2020 (UTC)
::I'd disagree. Fevers aren't inherently related to COVID-19, and while it's certainly easy to draw a connection based on current events, at no point is the connection made explicit. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.34.104|172.69.34.104]] 10:29, 11 April 2020 (UTC)

A common practice in schools and the like prior to quarantine was temperature taking upon arrival. So it's like that this comic continues that to the home setting. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.78.112|162.158.78.112]] 23:19, 10 April 2020 (UTC)

A pessimist would guess that this means someone in Randall's household has a fever. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.219.52|108.162.219.52]] 23:26, 10 April 2020 (UTC)

> The Physician Ducks[[Special:Contributions/172.69.62.94|172.69.62.94]] 23:32, 10 April 2020 (UTC)

Personally I'd welcome a home thermometer marked off in Kelvin, avois all the "twice as cold" sort of confusion you can get with an arbitrary zero as used in Celsius and Fahrenheit. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.34.210|162.158.34.210]] 23:21, 10 April 2020 (UTC)

I might have enjoyed a "Degrees of Kevin Bacon" joke in this comic somewhere. :-) [[Special:Contributions/172.69.68.143|172.69.68.143]] 23:42, 10 April 2020 (UTC)

Double-plus-dissapointed we didn't get the Delisle measure referenced at all... [[Special:Contributions/162.158.34.202|162.158.34.202]] 01:17, 11 April 2020 (UTC) ...and now added. It would be better in any Trivia section, but we don't have one so hoping it's no more out of place in the explanation as Fahrenheit. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.34.202|162.158.34.202]] 02:02, 11 April 2020 (UTC) ...''aaaand'' someone removed it (as pure trivia, of course), fair enough. Anticipated. Anyone still interested in what I put just needs to check this IP, at about this timestamp, in Page History, though, so not going to argue the point. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.34.202|162.158.34.202]] 02:08, 11 April 2020 (UTC)

No temperature scale is defined using melting or boiling points of water anymore. Since 2019 Kelvin is defined via the Boltzmann constant, and all other temperature scales have been (re-)defined relative to the Kelvin scale for quite a while. --[[Special:Contributions/172.69.63.103|172.69.63.103]] 01:24, 11 April 2020 (UTC)

Randall forgot the Réaumur scale.[[Special:Contributions/162.158.123.97|162.158.123.97]] 03:00, 11 April 2020 (UTC)

I'm not sure why some people seem to look for any opportunity to take a dig at the US, but I removed the line in the explanation about US-based readers not being familiar with the Celsius temperature scale. I'm sure most Americans are familiar with it but prefer the Fahrenheit scale instead. I don't understand why anyone holds that against us. [[User:Ianrbibtitlht|Ianrbibtitlht]] ([[User talk:Ianrbibtitlht|talk]]) 03:04, 11 April 2020 (UTC)
:Hey, let's assume good faith. Chances are, some rando just genuinely had no idea how that kind of stuff works here. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.34.104|172.69.34.104]] 10:22, 11 April 2020 (UTC)

Regarding USA Fahrenheit and non-USA Celsius preference, I was in Niagra Falls a few years back, listening to a Canadian station on the radio (ok, more than a few years ago...) and the DJ gave a weather report, saying “The current temperature is 25 degrees, that’s 77 on the understandable scale.” [[Special:Contributions/173.245.54.201|173.245.54.201]] 04:22, 11 April 2020 (UTC)

I guess if you wanted to use the Newton scale you'd need to have Newton's original "degrees of heat" measuring device. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.250.67|108.162.250.67]] 04:31, 11 April 2020 (UTC)

Nitpicking alert : the correct writing is "kelvin", not "Kelvin".

Talk:2292: Thermometer

2020-04-11T10:22:51Z

172.69.34.104:

First non-Covid post other than April fools?[[Special:Contributions/162.158.107.167|162.158.107.167]]
23:04, 10 April 2020 (UTC)
:Since a fever is a common symptom of Covid-19, I'd say this is as much about Covid-19 as all the previous comics on the topic. [[User:Ianrbibtitlht|Ianrbibtitlht]] ([[User talk:Ianrbibtitlht|talk]]) 02:59, 11 April 2020 (UTC)

A common practice in schools and the like prior to quarantine was temperature taking upon arrival. So it's like that this comic continues that to the home setting. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.78.112|162.158.78.112]] 23:19, 10 April 2020 (UTC)

A pessimist would guess that this means someone in Randall's household has a fever. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.219.52|108.162.219.52]] 23:26, 10 April 2020 (UTC)

> The Physician Ducks[[Special:Contributions/172.69.62.94|172.69.62.94]] 23:32, 10 April 2020 (UTC)

Personally I'd welcome a home thermometer marked off in Kelvin, avois all the "twice as cold" sort of confusion you can get with an arbitrary zero as used in Celsius and Fahrenheit. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.34.210|162.158.34.210]] 23:21, 10 April 2020 (UTC)

I might have enjoyed a "Degrees of Kevin Bacon" joke in this comic somewhere. :-) [[Special:Contributions/172.69.68.143|172.69.68.143]] 23:42, 10 April 2020 (UTC)

Double-plus-dissapointed we didn't get the Delisle measure referenced at all... [[Special:Contributions/162.158.34.202|162.158.34.202]] 01:17, 11 April 2020 (UTC) ...and now added. It would be better in any Trivia section, but we don't have one so hoping it's no more out of place in the explanation as Fahrenheit. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.34.202|162.158.34.202]] 02:02, 11 April 2020 (UTC) ...''aaaand'' someone removed it (as pure trivia, of course), fair enough. Anticipated. Anyone still interested in what I put just needs to check this IP, at about this timestamp, in Page History, though, so not going to argue the point. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.34.202|162.158.34.202]] 02:08, 11 April 2020 (UTC)

No temperature scale is defined using melting or boiling points of water anymore. Since 2019 Kelvin is defined via the Boltzmann constant, and all other temperature scales have been (re-)defined relative to the Kelvin scale for quite a while. --[[Special:Contributions/172.69.63.103|172.69.63.103]] 01:24, 11 April 2020 (UTC)

Randall forgot the Réaumur scale.[[Special:Contributions/162.158.123.97|162.158.123.97]] 03:00, 11 April 2020 (UTC)

I'm not sure why some people seem to look for any opportunity to take a dig at the US, but I removed the line in the explanation about US-based readers not being familiar with the Celsius temperature scale. I'm sure most Americans are familiar with it but prefer the Fahrenheit scale instead. I don't understand why anyone holds that against us. [[User:Ianrbibtitlht|Ianrbibtitlht]] ([[User talk:Ianrbibtitlht|talk]]) 03:04, 11 April 2020 (UTC)
:Hey, let's assume good faith. Chances are, some rando just genuinely had no idea how that kind of stuff works here. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.34.104|172.69.34.104]] 10:22, 11 April 2020 (UTC)

Regarding USA Fahrenheit and non-USA Celsius preference, I was in Niagra Falls a few years back, listening to a Canadian station on the radio (ok, more than a few years ago...) and the DJ gave a weather report, saying “The current temperature is 25 degrees, that’s 77 on the understandable scale.” [[Special:Contributions/173.245.54.201|173.245.54.201]] 04:22, 11 April 2020 (UTC)

I guess if you wanted to use the Newton scale you'd need to have Newton's original "degrees of heat" measuring device. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.250.67|108.162.250.67]] 04:31, 11 April 2020 (UTC)

Nitpicking alert : the correct writing is "kelvin", not "Kelvin".

2291: New Sports System

2020-04-09T05:47:37Z

172.69.34.104: /* Transcript */ ce

{{comic
| number = 2291
| date = April 8, 2020
| title = New Sports System
| image = new_sports_system.png
| titletext = Under my system, boxing and football suffered, pair figure skating still worked but had to adapt by dropping some moves, and pro wrestling was actually completely unaffected.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by a VIRTUAL BALL. Please mention here why this explanation isn't complete. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
This comic is the 16th comic in a row (not counting the [[2288: Collector's Edition|April Fools' comic]]) in a [[:Category:COVID-19|series of comics]] related to the {{w|2019–20 coronavirus outbreak|2020 pandemic}} of the {{w|coronavirus}} {{w|SARS-CoV-2}}, which causes {{w|COVID-19}}.

As communities have been ordered to stay indoors to avoid spreading the virus, this has also affected sports leagues around the world, with many of them suspending their seasons, or cancelling them outright. (see {{w|Impact of the 2019–20 coronavirus pandemic on sports|this Wikipedia article}} for a full list of sports or sporting events impacted) Some leagues have instead promoted e-sports, such as the [https://www.latimes.com/sports/clippers/story/2020-04-06/patrick-beverley-favorite-to-win-nba-2k-players-tournament NBA holding an ''NBA 2K20'' tournament between active NBA players].

[[Randall]], in this comic, proposes a "new sports system" of "virtual sports", in which players play with a virtual ball in separate arenas, and are guided by online viewers. This obviously proves to be challenging, as the ball is virtual and thus the players do not know how to interact with it properly. Playing in separate arenas would solve the problem of spreading the virus, as the players do not have any direct interactions with each other.

This would be a similar system to the {{w|Twitch Plays Pokémon}} experiment from February 2014 on Twitch, in which Twitch viewers "played" Pokémon video games in a crowdsourced manner.

In the title text, Randall claims that boxing and football (unclear if American football or international football) proved to be difficult, with {{w|Pair skating|pairs figure skating}} still possible, and {{w|professional wrestling}} being unaffected. Boxing and any types of football would be difficult to play in these situations, without knowing where the other players are located. Pairs figure skating would be possible, excepting "throwing" moves or "lifts", as typically pairs figure skaters skate in unison, replicating the same moves.

Humorously, Randall claims that professional wrestling will be unaffected by his new system. This is in reference to the "open secret" that the matches have predetermined outcomes and are more "entertainment" than actual competition.

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
:[Single wide frame representing a basketball court with a basketball goal at each end. There are seven players running around the court, with a virtual ball in the bottom right corner (indicated by being drawn as a dashed circle). Nine off-screen voices of "online viewers" are yelling instructions to the players. A caption is below the frame running nearly the full width of the frame.]

:Viewer One: No!
:Viewer Two: It's on the–
:Viewer Three: Look out!
:Viewer Four: No!
:Viewer Five: He's right there. Don’t run into–
:Viewer Six: Go left!
:Viewer Seven: Riiight!
:Viewer Eight: Left!
:Viewer Nine: Stop dunking and find the ball!

:[Caption below the panel:]
:No one liked my new sports system, in which each player is in a separate arena sharing a single virtual ball that they can't see while online viewers yell instructions, but it was fun to watch while it lasted.

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:COVID-19]]
[[Category:Sport]]
[[Category:Basketball]]
[[Category:American football]]
[[Category:Multiple Cueballs]]

2291: New Sports System

2020-04-09T05:47:16Z

172.69.34.104: /* Transcript */ better formatting

{{comic
| number = 2291
| date = April 8, 2020
| title = New Sports System
| image = new_sports_system.png
| titletext = Under my system, boxing and football suffered, pair figure skating still worked but had to adapt by dropping some moves, and pro wrestling was actually completely unaffected.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by a VIRTUAL BALL. Please mention here why this explanation isn't complete. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
This comic is the 16th comic in a row (not counting the [[2288: Collector's Edition|April Fools' comic]]) in a [[:Category:COVID-19|series of comics]] related to the {{w|2019–20 coronavirus outbreak|2020 pandemic}} of the {{w|coronavirus}} {{w|SARS-CoV-2}}, which causes {{w|COVID-19}}.

As communities have been ordered to stay indoors to avoid spreading the virus, this has also affected sports leagues around the world, with many of them suspending their seasons, or cancelling them outright. (see {{w|Impact of the 2019–20 coronavirus pandemic on sports|this Wikipedia article}} for a full list of sports or sporting events impacted) Some leagues have instead promoted e-sports, such as the [https://www.latimes.com/sports/clippers/story/2020-04-06/patrick-beverley-favorite-to-win-nba-2k-players-tournament NBA holding an ''NBA 2K20'' tournament between active NBA players].

[[Randall]], in this comic, proposes a "new sports system" of "virtual sports", in which players play with a virtual ball in separate arenas, and are guided by online viewers. This obviously proves to be challenging, as the ball is virtual and thus the players do not know how to interact with it properly. Playing in separate arenas would solve the problem of spreading the virus, as the players do not have any direct interactions with each other.

This would be a similar system to the {{w|Twitch Plays Pokémon}} experiment from February 2014 on Twitch, in which Twitch viewers "played" Pokémon video games in a crowdsourced manner.

In the title text, Randall claims that boxing and football (unclear if American football or international football) proved to be difficult, with {{w|Pair skating|pairs figure skating}} still possible, and {{w|professional wrestling}} being unaffected. Boxing and any types of football would be difficult to play in these situations, without knowing where the other players are located. Pairs figure skating would be possible, excepting "throwing" moves or "lifts", as typically pairs figure skaters skate in unison, replicating the same moves.

Humorously, Randall claims that professional wrestling will be unaffected by his new system. This is in reference to the "open secret" that the matches have predetermined outcomes and are more "entertainment" than actual competition.

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
:[Single wide frame representing a basketball court with a basketball goal at each end. There are seven players running around the court, with a virtual ball in the bottom right corner (indicated by being drawn as a dashed circle). Nine off-screen voices of "online viewers" are yelling instructions to the players. A caption is below the frame running nearly the full width of the frame.]

:Viewer One: No!
:Viewer Two: It's on the–
:Viewer Three: Look out!
:Viewer Four: No!
:Viewer Five: He's right there. Don’t run into–
:Viewer Six: Go left!
:Viewer Seven: Riiight!
:Viewer Eight: Left!
:Viewer Nine: Stop dunking and find the ball!

[Caption below the panel:]
:No one liked my new sports system, in which each player is in a separate arena sharing a single virtual ball that they can't see while online viewers yell instructions, but it was fun to watch while it lasted.

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:COVID-19]]
[[Category:Sport]]
[[Category:Basketball]]
[[Category:American football]]
[[Category:Multiple Cueballs]]