explain xkcd - User contributions [en]

3014: Arizona Chess

2024-11-20T15:28:22Z

172.70.38.243:

{{comic
| number = 3014
| date = November 20, 2024
| title = Arizona Chess
| image = arizona_chess_2x.png
| imagesize = 740x315px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = Sometimes, you have to sacrifice pieces to gain the advantage. Sometimes, to advance ... you have to fall back.
}}

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

Arizona doesn't do {{w|daylight saving time}} unlike neighboring US states, so only one clock gains an hour.

[[White Hat]] and [[Cueball]] are playing a game of chess, perhaps at a championship. White Hat is in the advantage, as he has one more pawn than Cueball and has more time on the {{w|chess clock|clock}}. However, Cueball has an unexpected advantage. The building is split over the Arizona border, with White Hat on the Arizona side. As Arizona does not observe daylight saving time, White Hat's time remains normal, but Cueball's time "falls back" one hour, as the game takes place right over daylight saving time. Cueball uses this to get more time in the game. White Hat protests for obvious reasons.

The title text is a pun with the idea of "falling back" strategically from an attack and the term "fall back" used for daylight saving time, from the mnemonic "spring forward, fall back". The time "falls back" for White Hat compared to [[Cueball]], so it is a reference to the comic.

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

:[White Hat and Cueball are sitting across from each other playing chess. The time reads 6:35 for White Hat, and 0:28 for Cueball.]
:White Hat: It’s late, I’m up a pawn, and you’re out of time. It’s over.
:Cueball: Ah, you’re forgetting something.

:[Cueball gestures with one hand above the chessboard. His time now reads 0:19.]
:Cueball: Did you know this building straddles the Arizona border?
:Cueball: It actually runs right through the table. You're on the Arizona side.

:[Cueball raises his hand further to gesture at his time. It beeps and is now blank and white.]
:Cueball: This tournament started Saturday, November 2nd. Now it's almost 2AM on the 3rd.
:Cueball: And there's something you should know about Arizona.
:Chess clock: BEEP

:[White Hat raises his head slightly to look at the timer. Cueball's time now reads 60:07.]
:White Hat: '''''What?!''''' No! That's not how... '''''No!!'''''
:Cueball: Looks like it's daylight '''''slaying''''' time.

{{comic discussion}}

2622: Angular Diameter Turnaround

2022-05-20T21:06:46Z

172.70.38.243: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 2622
| date = May 20, 2022
| title = Angular Diameter Turnaround
| image = angular_diameter_turnaround.png
| titletext = Thank you to Katie Mack for teaching me about this effect, and to Janelle Shane for describing redshifts as 'like galaxies sinking into a pool of dilute blood,' which is how I'll see them from now on.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by a Galaxy-branded phone- Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
This comic references multiple physics and maths concepts, including {{w|Angular diameter}}, {{w|Angular diameter distance}}, {{w|Redshift}}, and {{w|phones|mobile phones}}, although mobile phones are not a core science at this time.

The comic shows the galaxies of the universe as mobile phones, pairing the age we see them at from earth, the degree they are redshifted, and how much of the sky they take up, known as their angular diameter.

Randall's intent appears to be to highlight how just a few very distant galaxies occupy incredibly large proportions of the sky, and are seen as they were at a very young age. Mobile phones have this similarity, of massive presence and early stages of technology.

The large galaxies can be seen dark red in the background, as if the unimaginably ancient child galactic bodies are looming forebodingly behind everything else.

This physical concept has a lot of juxtaposition of things that usually contradict, and Randall has put energy into attempting to highlight that.

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

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Astronomy]]
[[Category:Math]]
[[Category:Physics]]
[[Category:Smartphones]]
[[Category:Comics with color]]
[[Category:Comics featuring real people]]

Talk:2581: Health Stats

2022-02-15T20:10:17Z

172.70.38.243:

Pretty late comic! [[User:GcGYSF(asterisk)P(vertical line)e|GcGYSF(asterisk)P(vertical line)e]] ([[User talk:GcGYSF(asterisk)P(vertical line)e|talk]]) 06:26, 15 February 2022 (UTC)

It's positive feedback, not negative. Negative feedback is when the response is in the opposite direction of the stimulus (e.g. Cueball becoming more relaxed as blood pressure goes up) and often results in an equilibrium state. A vicious circle (positive feedback) by contrast is when the response ends up increasing the stimulus further, as is the case in this comic.[[Special:Contributions/162.158.233.29|162.158.233.29]] 11:19, 15 February 2022 (UTC)
https://www.albert.io/blog/positive-negative-feedback-loops-biology/#:~:text=Positive%20feedback%20occurs%20to%20increase,back%20to%20a%20stable%20state.[[Special:Contributions/172.70.126.221|172.70.126.221]] 11:50, 15 February 2022 (UTC)

I feel Cueball's pain. My employer has a checklist where we are supposed to take our temperature every day before coming to work. My problem is, I run hot. My "normal" temperature is usually 99.6ish, not 98.6ish. I knew this for years prior to the pandemic - I used to be a frequent blood donor and would get turned away about a third of the time because they won't take anyone above 99.5. Even though I knew all this, the paranoia induced by daily monitoring and a value that would be abnormal for others but totally typical for me got so bad that I don't do it. No one is enforcing it at the door - it is basically the honor system, and it was causing me more anxiety than actually solving anything. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.114.69|172.70.114.69]] 18:54, 15 February 2022 (UTC)

I see this as mainly a joke on how consumer devices often provide more precision than is actually needed, and users don't understand that the extra precision is usually not significant. The only reason "normal" human temperature is 98.6F, to the 10th of a degree, is because average temperature was first measured in Celsius then this was convered to Fahrenheit. But 37C was originally rounded off from an average, so it wasn't precise enough to warrant using an extra decimal place in the conversion. [[User:Barmar|Barmar]] ([[User talk:Barmar|talk]]) 19:23, 15 February 2022 (UTC)
:Also a saultory lesson in the misunderstanding of the relationship (i.e. that there really isnt one, at least reliably) between precision and accuracy. Without proper calibration, even moment-to-moment consistency of measurement can be sullied by it being (consistently) wrong, or wrongly read out. Adding more decimals may seem to give a more persuasive estimate, but doesn't do a thing to stop inaccuracy. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.225|141.101.98.225]] 19:51, 15 February 2022 (UTC)

I think we can assume that customer devices have a significant inaccuracy but have build-in time consistency to increase the trust in the device. Thus, I don't think the inconsistency between two measurements can explain the variation. Since the hand is moved around on the comic strip positioning is a more likely cause. --[[Special:Contributions/172.70.38.243|172.70.38.243]] 20:10, 15 February 2022 (UTC)