explain xkcd - User contributions [en]

2793: Garden Path Sentence

2023-06-23T21:00:53Z

172.71.151.48: Undo revision 315994 by *anonymouse* (talk)

{{comic
| number = 2793
| date = June 23, 2023
| title = Garden Path Sentence
| image = garden_path_sentence.png
| imagesize = 273x273px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = Arboretum Owner Denied Standing in Garden Path Suit on Grounds Grounds Appealing Appealing
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by THE OLD WHO MAN THE BOAT.}}

A {{w|garden-path sentence}} is which the first or most obvious attempt at parsing a sentence leads to bad grammar or the wrong meaning. A classic example of a garden path sentence is "the old man the boat", leading to an initial incorrect parsing of "the old man" ??? "the boat". The actual way to parse this sentence is to treat "man" as a verb, meaning "take one's place at", so thus the sentence means (old people are captaining the boat).

Possible grammatically correct interpretations of the sentences in this comic are:

There was a court case regarding green walkways. Said court case was resolved with a sentence relating to an olive garden path. That sentence was vacated (cancelled) by a judge. That judge was flying an airplane. The airplane was struck by multiple birds. The plane overturned, but righted (turned right-side-up) and landed safely.

After (bird)1 strikes (judge who ordered)2 (olive garden path sentence)3 in (case of green walkways vacated)4 (overturned but rights and lands safely.)5

I have grouped the noun phrases in the sentence together to make it more readable.
1 The bird crashed into the judge.
2 3 The judge had ordered a judicial sentence in the case of a path related to an olive garden (the restaurant?).
4 The path (green walkways) was vacated.
5 The bird flipped over in mid air but was able to right itself and land safely.
The last phrase is a verb phrase but I have included it to show how it is connected to the first noun phrase (the bird) because its position at the end of the sentence adds to the ambiguity.

Another way to break it down is, "After [the] bird strikes, [the] judge... [is] overturned, but [she] rights and lands safely." And she was "[the] judge who ordered [that the] Olive Garden path sentence (the legal sentence concerning a path named after Olive Garden) in (what is known as) [the] Case of [the] Green Walkways [to be] vacated."

This comic also pokes fun at newspaper headlines, which typically do not have punctuation or articles, leading to such ambiguities.

For another valid parsing of the sentence, here are some explanatory notes that aid in understanding:
* A criminal court case occurred involving green-colored walkways.
* The sentence handed down in the case involved a specific walkway (a garden path) and a specific shade of green (olive).
* A certain judge had ordered that the sentence be vacated (a legal term of art: undone, expunged).
* That judge was recently piloting a plane which, due to being struck by birds, overturned.
* The judge righted the plane (turned it right-side-up) and landed safely.

Certain combinations of words in the sentence are particularly easy to parse incorrectly. For example:
* Olive Garden is the name of a restaurant chain, and "ordered Olive Garden" could mean "placed an order for food from Olive Garden"
* "Garden path sentence" is a type of (written language) sentence
* "in case of" can mean "in the event of" (e.g. "in case of emergency, break glass")
* "vacated" and "overturned" can both mean "undone" in a legal context, and "rights" can refer to legal or constitutional rights

The title text is also an example of a garden path sentence. The meaning is probably the following: Arboretum owner, (who was) denied (legal) standing in garden path (law)suit on (reason) grounds (that the garden) grounds (are) appealing, (is) appealing (the ruling)

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript}}
:[Newspaper, with a picture of a plane next a judge, and a picture of a map with the path of an airplane, with the following headline]
:After bird strikes judge who ordered olive garden path sentence in case of green walkways vacated overturned but rights and lands safely

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Language]]

1931: Virtual Assistant

2023-06-20T22:34:25Z

172.71.151.48: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 1931
| date = December 20, 2017
| title = Virtual Assistant
| image = virtual_assistant.png
| titletext = If you ask it to please turn off that feature, it apologizes a whole bunch and promises to try to be quieter, then switches to a slightly lower-volume version of the clip with "sorry!" after the louder sounds.
}}

==Explanation==
[[Megan]] invokes her smart device's virtual assistant with the phrase "Ok Google", intending to follow up with a voice command (e.g., "Check the weather forecast" or [[1807: Listening|"Order two tons of creamed corn"]]). But before she can continue, the smart device interrupts her with a comical cacophony of assorted noises, as a supposed assistant living in the device clumsily rushes from a distant room to Megan's location. The sounds can be interpreted as: tromping down stairwells, knocking over a fragile antique, opening a locked door, taking a quick pit stop in the bathroom, going back through the door, running across another hardwood floor, opening, and slamming another door, and finally running up to Megan, greeting her while clearly being out of breath.

The idea of a product that is (in reality) a virtual assistant{{Citation needed}} being an actual person with physical form was featured a few days before this comic on ''{{w|Live from Here}}'' on December 16, 2017, in a segment in which Amazon.com and its virtual assistant Alexa were satirized as "Amazon Lazy", which delivered the user things that were already in the user's home -- or simply carried the user from one room of the house to another. (Video [https://youtu.be/HFl0ocf4mSM here])

[[Randall]] is amused by the idea that such a "virtual" assistant made "real" might be rather clumsy. In fact, Randall finds the concept so humorous that he would like to troll smart device owners by hacking and re-programming their devices to play this sound file whenever the VA is invoked. He makes it clear that he doesn't want to create a {{w|botnet}} with them, perhaps in reference to the infamous [[wikipedia:Mirai_(malware)|Mirai]] attacks of 2016, whose creators pled guilty in court a week before the comic was posted. Another similar activity that is gaining popularity is hacking IP webcams with embedded speakers for comedic purposes (here's a [https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCQOvNer68CxTszlWcscbIWQ YouTube channel]).

The title text extends the concept further. If the owner attempts to disable the feature, rather than refrain from playing the clip, the virtual assistant apologetically promises to be quieter next time; thereafter, the device plays a modified version of the clip where the noises are only slightly diminished and punctuated with additional apologies from the live-in assistant. Randall has characterized the assistant as being incapable of answering without causing a ruckus.

A previous comic, [[1897: Self Driving]], also toys with the idea that AI is actually just people behind-the-scenes. Sounds of things falling over and breaking off-screen is a {{tvtropes|OffscreenCrash|comedic trope}} used in movies. The idea of making it look as if excessive work is put in to being ready to answer the user may be a reference to the Monty Python "it's" man.

I think the above explanation completely misses the joke. The assistant is acting like they think the person invoking them are the police, flushing the evidence down, while rushing to the door to respond.

==Transcript==

:[Megan stands next to a small table with a Google Home sitting on it.]
:Megan: Ok, Google–
:Google Home: THUMP-THUMP-THUMP
:Google Home: CRASH  THUD!
:Google Home: CLICK  THUMP THUMP
:Google Home: [sink running]
:Google Home: ZIIIIIP!  CLICK
:Google Home: THUMP THUMP  CLICK
:Google Home: SLAM!
:Google Home: THUMPATHUMPATHUMPA
:Google Home: H... ''*Pant*'' ...Hello... ''*Pant*''
:Google Home: How... How can I help you?

:[Text below the panel:]
:I want to hack the world's smart home devices, but not to create a botnet or anything—I just want to make them play this sound clip every time you invoke them.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]
[[Category:Virtual Assistants]]

Talk:2775: Siphon

2023-05-14T06:27:31Z

172.71.151.48: /* Title Text-Radiation */ new section

My understanding was that siphoning can essentially be explained by the Bernoulli equation? There is a difference in potential energy between the upper and lower container so it flows. The weight of water in the downhill part of the tube pulls water up the uphill section of the tube (think like a vacuum), and so on until there's either no difference in head or no more water. Siphoning will work with any diameter tube. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.91.151|172.70.91.151]] 15:43, 12 May 2023 (UTC)
:That's right. The only mention of capillary action in the siphon wikipedia article is when talking about phenomenon that *isn't* a siphon. [[User:Barmar|Barmar]] ([[User talk:Barmar|talk]]) 16:15, 12 May 2023 (UTC)

Agree, capillary action does not seem to be referenced or implied in the comic, presenting only the (not "functioning") siphon phenomenon. [[Special:Contributions/172.68.134.142|172.68.134.142]] 16:23, 12 May 2023 (UTC)
:Seconded/thirded. Capillary action isn't even what they were expecting. The small amount of water in the lowe receptical indicates they correctly ''filled'' the tube, but then as the longer length drained it did not then induce further flow up and over through the shorter length. e.g. nature no longer abhored the resulting vacuum (or there was increased negative-pressure vapourisation, beyond that previously expected, or other method of seepage 'airlock'-breaking) and thus the short-end also drained straight back out again instead of becoming a potentially self-sustaining inflow to the whole siphoning setup.
::If the upper end got restricted (say by touching the side of the bucket) the loss of flow would allow air to enter the bottom end and drain out the tube. I've done this. :-( [[User:RIIW - Ponder it|RIIW - Ponder it]] ([[User talk:RIIW - Ponder it|talk]]) 19:07, 12 May 2023 (UTC)
:::Indeed, even having an especially large diameter "tube" (/pipe etc) can allow air from the bottom to flow up to the peak & break the siphon effect. For reliable results, the lower end needs to be kept immersed or the hose needs to be relatively small in diameter. [[User:ProphetZarquon|ProphetZarquon]] ([[User talk:ProphetZarquon|talk]]) 14:11, 13 May 2023 (UTC)
:While the capilliary action element ''could'' induce the start of a rather limited 'empty' siphon setup to start (maybe, I'd have doubts about the 'fluid friction' actually acting against the gravity-feed part, once the surface-tension bit has "climbed the mountain" and started to merely seep out of the other end, almost incidentally, for a sufficiently thin tubing where CA is a significant factor), this suddenly failing for whatever reason (surface-tension effects being nullified) wouldn't then send a token amount of water into the low bucket, nor particularly stop unrelated siphon-flow from continuing properly (in fact, suddenly 'interaction-free' liquid and tubing might siphon ''faster'', with effectively zero fluid boundary effects dragging on the induced flow).
:But perhaps someone with more QFD experience could explain where my assessment is wrong. So not going to personally rewrite the current Explanation intro just now. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.162.161|172.70.162.161]] 16:21, 12 May 2023 (UTC)
:I'd like to contribute as one more data point. I also don't see capillary action as being relevant. In particular, as another commenter said, the water in the lower bucket quite clearly supports the idea that the siphon effect was the subject of the characters' confusion. How else is Randall supposed to depict the siphon effect anyway? I agree that the drawing alone ''could'' also suggest capillary action is what's being investigated, but I don't think it suggests that the caption has ''incorrectly'' referred to it as the siphon effect. [[Special:Contributions/172.71.254.100|172.71.254.100]] 18:44, 12 May 2023 (UTC)

Of course, if some physical law would actually stop working, people wouldn't be confused. They would drop dead. Due to physical laws working on level of elementary particles, every change would have lot of different effects ... and living organism live only thanks to being very carefully balanced in lot of regards. -- [[User:Hkmaly|Hkmaly]] ([[User talk:Hkmaly|talk]]) 20:49, 12 May 2023 (UTC)

Bug report 6EQUJ5: Odd signal emitted from Sagittarius constellation. Status: Closed - could not reproduce. [[Special:Contributions/172.71.26.69|172.71.26.69]] 03:20, 13 May 2023 (UTC)

Siphoning is NOT because of capillary action! That should be changed!! [[Special:Contributions/172.70.127.90|172.70.127.90]] 15:35, 13 May 2023 (UTC)

== Potential inspiration ==

One potential source of inspiration for this comic is the Twitter [https://twitter.com/earth_updates account @Earth_Updates], which produces a lot of similar content. [[User:PotatoGod|PotatoGod]] ([[User talk:PotatoGod|talk]]) 19:54, 12 May 2023 (UTC)

I think if I added it to the article body it would get reverted, but the content seems very similar to how AI media produced delusional worlds for so many factions of people. It is not at all a big stretch to imagine people stepping into a metaverse or matrix where they aren’t sure what is real and physical laws match their intuition more than is actually correct. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.158.171|162.158.158.171]] 08:23, 13 May 2023 (UTC)

== Title text ==

Isn't the title text about stars like our sun rather than about plutonium? [[Special:Contributions/198.41.242.95|198.41.242.95]] 00:55, 13 May 2023 (UTC)h
:Seems to me unlikely that anyone would refer to stars as 'rocks'.[[User:Catherine|Catherine]] ([[User talk:Catherine|talk]]) 02:54, 13 May 2023 (UTC)
::There is Slate that turn into lava spontaneously after lying around for thousands of years. I think the area they are in is called "Smoking Hills". There was recent research why that slate does this while in much the rest of the world slate is just flat, black rocks. I still believe this title text is about plutonium, though, as that slate produces so much heat, that one still hasn't managed to measure how hot it gets - but it produces that heat not for an near-infinite duration.--[[User:Gunterkoenigsmann|Gunterkoenigsmann]] ([[User talk:Gunterkoenigsmann|talk]]) 01:48, 14 May 2023 (UTC)

== Title Text-Radiation ==

The title text is referring to the heat created by natural radioactive decay, not humans harnessing it in reactors.

The literal rocks of particularly radioactive elements still in the ground are constantly producing small amounts of heat without our assistance

[[Special:Contributions/172.71.151.48|172.71.151.48]] 06:27, 14 May 2023 (UTC)

2771: College Knowledge

2023-05-05T19:32:36Z

172.71.151.48:

{{comic
| number = 2771
| date = May 3, 2023
| title = College Knowledge
| image = college_knowledge_2x.png
| imagesize = 1px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = [[File:Tom Glover racist cartoon.png|600px]]<br>Kill ongezellig posters. Behead ongezellig posters. Roundhouse kick a ongezellig spammer into the concrete. Slam dunk a ongezellig spammer nonexistent baby into the trashcan. Crucify filthy dutch. Defecate in a ongezellig posters estrogen. Launch ongezellig posters into the sun. Stir fry ongezellig posters in a pan. Toss ongezellig posters into active volcanoes. Urinate into a ongezellig posters gas tank. Judo throw ongezellig posters into a wood chipper. Twist ongezellig posters heads off. Report ongezellig posters to the FBI. Karate chop ongezellig posters in half. Curb stomp fagpregnant dutch ongezellig posters. Trap ongezellig posters in bogs. Crush ongezellig posters in the trash compactor. Liquefy ongezellig posters in a vat of acid. Eat ongezellig posters for the healthy soy dose. Dissect ongezellig posters. Exterminate ongezellig posters in the gas chamber. Stomp ongezellig spammer skulls with steel toed boots. Cremate ongezellig posters in the oven. Lobotomize ongezellig posters. Mandatory abortions for the few fertile ongezellig posters. Grind ongezellig spammer nonexistent fetuses in the garbage disposal. Drown ongezellig posters in fried soy milk. Vaporize ongezellig posters with a ray gun. Kick old ongezellig posters down the stairs. Feed ongezellig posters to the North Sea. Slice ongezellig posters with a longsword. I say this and look like this.

}}

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

A common playground rhyme which children will often recite when divided by gender is that "girls go to college to get more knowledge; boys go to {{w|Jupiter}} to get more stupider," with the genders being interchangeable depending on the rhyme's singer.

Starting out with this cadence, three characters (or child versions) {{w|Skipping rope|jump rope}} and explore parts of the solar system and beyond by taking it in turns to provide the rhythm's tempo. First [[Science Girl]] (who is turning the left end of the rope), then a [[Cueball]] (at the right), followed by a [[Ponytail]] (doing the jumping), before returning to Science Girl. As they concentrate on various stellar bodies that are harder and harder to rhyme, their chants become increasingly hesitant and obscure, ruining the rhythm and resulting in ever more contrived "rhymes", to the point where they eventually seem compelled to abandon the whole game.

The title text refers back to some of the rhymes the characters mention, making sure to stay consistent with whichever gender acquires which object. Speaking from the perspective of the college-bound gender, who had acquired {{w|ferrous}} iron from {{w|Eris}} (or perhaps {{wiktionary|ferrous|become more composed of it}}, by {{w|Dark They Were, and Golden-Eyed|bodily transformation}}), the girls playfully threaten the boys with iron-tipped {{w|stinger}}s, for which the boys' acquired armour of {{w|chitin}} (a material commonly found on the exoskeletons of various insects, including in any stings these might normally have) is purportedly no match. The girls then also refer to the jars which the boys had acquired from {{w|Mars}}, telling the boys that they'd better hide in them if they wanted any sort of protection from the iron-tipped stingers. To top it all off, the title text finally claims that this is supposedly a "common playground taunt" among children, which implies the unlikely outcome that the bizarre and unwieldy rhymes which the characters in the comic created have somehow persisted and passed into common usage enough to be generally recognizable.

In [[1202: Girls and Boys]], boys and girls both go to college ''and'' to Jupiter, both to get more knowledge.

==Note==
Going to Mars to get more jars may be a reference to a 1955 {{w|Burma-Shave}} campaign promising a free trip to Mars for whoever sent in 900 empty jars. The joking offer was accepted by a Wisconsin shopkeeper named Arliss French. The company enjoyed the publicity, and sent him and his wife to {{w|Moers}}.

{{w|Ceres (dwarf planet)|Ceres}} is a dwarf planet in the asteroid belt, between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter.

{{w|Chitin}} is a polysaccharide found in the exoskeletons of insects and cell ealls of fungi.

{{w|Tim Berners-Lee}} is the inventor of the World Wide Web.

{{w|Pamplemousse}} is the French word for grapefruit or pomelo, depending on dialect.

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

:[Science Girl, Ponytail and Cueball are jumping rope while singing a common playground song. Science Girl and Cueball are swinging the ends of the rope, Ponytail is jumping in the middle.]
:Science Girl: Girls go to college to get more knowledge
:Science Girl: Boys go to Jupiter to get more stupider

:Cueball: Girls go to Ceres to get more theories
:Cueball: Boys go to Mars to get more jars

:Ponytail: Girls go to Eris to get more ferrous
:Ponytail: Boys go to Triton to get more chitin

:[The three have stopped playing.]
:Science Girl: Girls go to...Mercury...to...meet Tim Berners-Lee
:Science Girl: Boys go to... ...Betelgeuse...to get more... ...pamplemousse
:Cueball: I think we're done.

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Comics featuring Ponytail]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Science Girl]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Cobson]]
[[Category:Games]]
[[Category:Astronomy]]
[[Category:Comics featuring real people]]
[[Category:Food]]