explain xkcd - User contributions [en]

Talk:2410: Apple Growers

2021-01-12T06:00:32Z

172.69.63.173:

I think this is the first strip to refer to Trump by name. Can anyone confirm that? [[User:Captain Video|Captain Video]] ([[User talk:Captain Video|talk]]) 05:32, 12 January 2021 (UTC)

: Negatory. [[2137: Text Entry]] is one I remember. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.63.173|172.69.63.173]] 06:00, 12 January 2021 (UTC)

Talk:2339: Pods vs Bubbles

2020-07-29T15:31:46Z

172.69.63.173:

What's a "pod"? Incoherent comic. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.63.173|172.69.63.173]] 15:31, 29 July 2020 (UTC)

Talk:2303: Error Types

2020-05-08T23:13:45Z

172.69.63.173:

As of the time of this post, the title text is "Type IIII error: Mistaking tally marks for Roman neumerals". Is "neumerals" a typo, or is there a joke in there that I'm missing? [[User:Cosmogoblin|Cosmogoblin]] ([[User talk:Cosmogoblin|talk]]) 22:52, 6 May 2020 (UTC)
:Looks like a typo to me. Randall's patrons should have caught this for him!
:[[User:ProphetZarquon|ProphetZarquon]] ([[User talk:ProphetZarquon|talk]]) 23:07, 6 May 2020 (UTC)

::That particular mistake is actually just called a type error.
::[[Special:Contributions/162.158.62.221|162.158.62.221]] 23:12, 6 May 2020 (UTC)
:::Or, surely, a Type-0. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.159.82|162.158.159.82]] 01:09, 7 May 2020 (UTC)
::::I am Type-O and as a Type-O Negative, I'm VERY popular at the blood bank! (Universal Donor) [[Special:Contributions/108.162.216.48|108.162.216.48]] 01:25, 7 May 2020 (UTC)
::::: Actually, that's an over-simplification. Type-O-neg is only universal for whole blood donations, and only truly universal for whole blood if you are also CMV-negative. For plasma donations, Type-AB (both -pos and -neg) are universal donors. For platelets, only Type-AB-pos is universal donor. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.74.81|162.158.74.81]] 16:11, 7 May 2020 (UTC)
::I was hoping it could be bent to be a tribute to John von Neumann. [[Special:Contributions/172.68.189.223|172.68.189.223]] 05:00, 7 May 2020 (UTC)
::Looks like same type of typo he made at word "blag": [[https://explainxkcd.com/148/ Intentional.]] [[Special:Contributions/172.69.54.189|172.69.54.189]] 08:04, 7 May 2020 (UTC)
:: Perhaps a reference to {{w|Neume|Neumes}}? [[Special:Contributions/162.158.158.211|162.158.158.211]] 09:47, 7 May 2020 (UTC)

[[Special:Contributions/108.162.216.48|108.162.216.48]] 01:24, 7 May 2020 (UTC)
The explanation builds on definitions of terms in statistics. That's fine, but there are also non-statistical usages, just for example whether someone has now (or had before) the COVID-19 virus. A false positive is a test result which incorrectly indicates that a particular condition or attribute is present, and a false negative is a test result which incorrectly indicates that a particular condition or attribute is absent. A particular test is useful when its incidence of Type I and II errors is low. Types III and IV in that context would be given by poorly designed tests which, even if they give correct results, do it for unsupportable reasons and are therefore unreliable for future results. Types V, VI, VII, and VIII are necessary fillers in the sequence, once you decide that calling The Rise of Skywalker a mistake has to be error type IX simply because it's the ninth film in the series. [[User:JohnB|JohnB]] ([[User talk:JohnB|talk]]) 00:54, 7 May 2020 (UTC)

I could convince myself that the errors are a reference to each Star Wars movie. Definitely a stretch but I'd believe it. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.106.24|162.158.106.24]] 02:00, 7 May 2020 (UTC)

Surely an Error of the Third Kind is when an Alien gets lost and lands on Earth. [[User:Arachrah|Arachrah]] ([[User talk:Arachrah|talk]]) 11:28, 7 May 2020 (UTC)

Can we please stop categorizing every comic about scientific research and methods as COVID-19 related? This is getting quite silly.[[Special:Contributions/162.158.187.201|162.158.187.201]] 14:31, 7 May 2020 (UTC)
:While some members of the public this year are hearing about false positive and false negative for the first time in connection with SARS-COV2 and swab testing, usually in some counterfactual argument that getting tested now increases the probability that you got infected last week or something - I don't see that coronavirus needs to be mentioned in an explanation of the comic, given that it's xkcd and science happens here all the time. If this script ran in Arlo & Janis then a justification like that would be required... although today (May 7th) they're discussing Pavlov's dogs... is there a web page that explains Arlo & Janis? Robert Carnegie rja.carnegie@gmail.com [[Special:Contributions/162.158.158.225|162.158.158.225]] 01:26, 8 May 2020 (UTC)

I spent some time musing about whether the Skywalker saga could be taken as an exemplar of each of the types (e.g. the hypothesis for #1 is that Anakin Skywalker could bring balance to the Force, and the experiment was assigning him a tutor), but it's a stretch. I do like the idea that #9 is the epitome of errordom.16:07, 7 May 2020 (UTC)
:I suspect that people who like Episode IX would disagree, but I haven't found evidence that they even exist, so I can't say for sure. [[User:GreatWyrmGold|GreatWyrmGold]] ([[User talk:GreatWyrmGold|talk]]) 22:02, 7 May 2020 (UTC)

I'm not sure where this would fit in, but a correct answer that is viewed by the experimenter as being incorrect because of a misunderstanding, so that he changes the recording of the measurement, resulting in an incorrect measurement that he view as correct. This happened in a college classroom exercise involving Reynolds numbers. Above a certain value of Reynold's number, laminar flow will change to turbulent flow. However, that number is not where the change occurs but where laminar flow becomes unstable. One student changed all the measurements to indicate that the flow changed to turbulent almost immediately. I wondered what could have sped up the transition, thinking of things like loud noises and vibrations affecting the apparatus. The student immediately and loudly yelled that he "hadn't changed the numbers", with the vehemence indicating that he had actually changed the numbers. One problem with analog meters was that some people staring at the meters actually thought that the needle moved when it actually hadn't. Digital meters with automatic logging tended to get rid of this problem. 17:17, 7 May 2020 (UTC)
: Everyone knows that of all the Reynolds numbers, only two actually matter. Burt and Debbie. (You're gonna say Ryan as well, I suppose...) [[Special:Contributions/162.158.159.82|162.158.159.82]] 00:12, 8 May 2020 (UTC)

Wikipedia on Roman Numerals says: at some early time the Romans started to use the shorter forms IV and IX. But originally their numbers included 4 as IIII and 9 as VIIII. I wasn't sure if the Roman Empire used IV and IX at all, and I still am not sure, but if the change came early, so called, then I guess so. I wonder if there's a particular issue of stone cracking if you try to carve IIII on it, or it takes longer. Robert Carnegie rja.carnegie@gmail.com [[Special:Contributions/162.158.159.74|162.158.159.74]] 01:36, 8 May 2020 (UTC)

IIII is a clock error.[[Special:Contributions/172.69.63.173|172.69.63.173]] 23:13, 8 May 2020 (UTC)

Talk:2302: 2020 Google Trends

2020-05-08T23:12:07Z

172.69.63.173:

The graph for US searches for those terms for the past year from Google Trends can be seen here: https://trends.google.com/trends/explore?date=2019-05-05%202020-05-04&geo=US&q=sewing%20machine,webcam,andrew%20cuomo,flour,pangolin
: OK, now I want to see a Google Trends graph ''for the above exact search''! [[User:John.Adriaan|John.Adriaan]] ([[User talk:John.Adriaan|talk]]) 01:00, 5 May 2020 (UTC)
: Here is the searches but done by topic instead of exact search (its generally recommended to do it this way) https://trends.google.com/trends/explore?date=2019-05-05%202020-05-04&geo=US&q=%2Fm%2F0llzx,%2Fm%2F0mynm,%2Fm%2F02pjpd,%2Fm%2F0fkw3,%2Fm%2F0dh5j
Anyone have any idea about the September spike and December bump in webcam searches? [[Special:Contributions/162.158.74.93|162.158.74.93]] 22:49, 4 May 2020 (UTC)

The September spike seems to be due to https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hurricane_Dorian. This can be traced down by google trends when narrowing down the date range and looking at the top search phrases that hint at the Bahamas. 22:52, 4 May 2020 (UTC)
--- The hurricane theory seems to agree with a similar spike in mid 2018, days before hurricane Florence https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hurricane_Florence as seen in https://trends.google.com/trends/explore?date=2018-08-01%202018-10-01&geo=US&q=webcam. I'd hope webcams would last more than a year...

I agree. There's a spike for webcams every September since 2017, along with a small spike aligning with Hurricane Matthew in 2016 and a spike in October 2018 with Hurricane Michael. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.78.104|162.158.78.104]] 00:03, 5 May 2020 (UTC)

Why is the webcam search profile so different for worldwide vs. US? [[Special:Contributions/172.68.132.229|172.68.132.229]] 23:36, 4 May 2020 (UTC)

Is there a possibility that some of the September Spike in webcams is a (later in years than I'd expect, and surely quashed a bit by smartphones) sudden demand for Family Time with newly departed higher-education students? A modern equivalent remnant of the old September Madness that was at first boosted and then rendered moot by The Eternal September..? (But if it ''is'' hurricane season that drives it, and I'm not sure it would be, the fact that (for example) "In Hertford, Hereford, and ''(not-New)'' Hampshire, hurricanes hardly ever happen" might explain why it isn't a worldwide driver.) [[Special:Contributions/141.101.107.164|141.101.107.164]] 01:47, 5 May 2020 (UTC)

RE: All the webcam speculation: There is a spike not due to people buying a webcam, but watching a webcam of the storm surge hitting. Keep in mind that "BEST WEBCAM TO TALK WITH GRANDCHILDREN" and "HURRICANE XYZ WEATHER WEBCAM" both contain the indicated search terms. I'm interpreting the comments above as the first scenario here, instead of the latter. [[User:OhFFS|OhFFS]] ([[User talk:OhFFS|talk]]) 15:04, 5 May 2020 (UTC)

GOOMHR! (damn, haven't wrote/read that in quite a while) - I was just checking random Google Trends few days ago and wondered what would people from the past think of it. Some examples (both positive and negative trends here): [https://trends.google.com/trends/explore?date=today%205-y&q=tickets,how%20to%20cook,disneyland,delivery,paper] (I especially like the "how to cook" one with its predictive spikes for the past few years). Those are better viewed one by one, instead on a single graph, though. [[User:BytEfLUSh|BytEfLUSh]] ([[User talk:BytEfLUSh|talk]]) 01:55, 5 May 2020 (UTC)

:Also: Why not a paper pangolin, or at least a paper chef's hat? [https://trends.google.com/trends/explore?geo=US&q=paper] =) [[User:BytEfLUSh|BytEfLUSh]] ([[User talk:BytEfLUSh|talk]]) 03:44, 5 May 2020 (UTC)

:Sorry for spamming, but this is too much fun: [https://trends.google.com/trends/explore?geo=US&q=tickets,zoom,china,delivery,paper] [https://trends.google.com/trends/explore?geo=US&q=hotel,new%20york,online,crossing,toilet] [[User:BytEfLUSh|BytEfLUSh]] ([[User talk:BytEfLUSh|talk]]) 04:29, 5 May 2020 (UTC)

Technically there are a few people every year that are indeed from past years: Those that woke up from a long coma. [[User:Fabian42|Fabian42]] ([[User talk:Fabian42|talk]]) 09:27, 5 May 2020 (UTC)
:A non-coma version can be read in https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-52332899 (not from a 2019 perspective; saw the start early this year, but did not realise it hadn't petered out into the expected obscurity). Didn't the Germany/similar version of Big Brother also have to deliberately break the news to the participants? Forgot to look that up, too. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.159.82|162.158.159.82]] 13:37, 5 May 2020 (UTC)

Should the explanation include some reason/event why the peaks begin when they do? Like "Sewing Machine" begins pretty late and I think that corresponds to the CDC changing from telling people "If you're not a healthcare worker, don't bother with masks just keep your distance from people" to "if you have to go out, wear a mask to minimize your chance of spreading the virus". The early rise of flour could be the combined effect of people who are stuck at home doing more baking, and the panic buying clearing out the grocery store shelves. Pangolin rose early and slowly, but dropped off before the end of march; speculation on exactly how the virus started in Wuhan would be more interesting before the virus is in your country, so as it spread the search interest changed over to topics that impact a person directly more than speculation.[[Special:Contributions/162.158.187.187|162.158.187.187]] 12:53, 5 May 2020 (UTC)

IIII is a clock error.[[Special:Contributions/172.69.63.173|172.69.63.173]] 23:12, 8 May 2020 (UTC)