explain xkcd - User contributions [en]

1650: Baby

2016-03-04T18:35:29Z

198.41.235.221: /* Explanation */ fix comma splice

{{comic
| number = 1650
| date = March 2, 2016
| title = Baby
| image = baby.png
| titletext = Does it get taller first and then widen, or does it reach full width before getting taller, or alternate, or what?
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Could need a better flow for the main explanation. Maybe there are also some better explanations or just alternative explanation for the items in the table.}}
[[Cueball]] (representing [[Randall]]) is uncomfortable about talking with couples who have just had a baby (here another Cueball-like guy and [[Megan]] with what appears to be a newborn baby). Because he never knows what to say, he has many strange thoughts and/or reasonable questions, that shouldn't be mentioned in front of happy parents showing off their precious baby for the first time. (See [[#Table|the table]] below for his thoughts.)

Cueball's thoughts of what he didn't say includes the awkward ''You sure did make that'', the plain strange ''What brand is it?'', and interesting musing about science, which has nothing to do with this baby, ''So do they learn words...'', and even rating someone's baby: ''★★★★☆ Great baby''! Some of the thoughts are quite true, like ''It doesn't really look like you since you're not a baby.''

In the end he manages to make a comment about how cool the baby is, and immediately regrets this, as he just realized that he might have hurt the parents' feelings. Given the other possibilities he discarded before delivering his verdict, it could have been much worse.

Another reading of the final statement is not that he might have hurt the parents' feelings (after all, having a cool baby would be a good thing!) it's more that Cueball has squandered the chance to say something meaningful and instead has come out with something quite inane.

In the title text he continues his thoughts again, going in the scientific direction with a question regarding how a child grows. Does it get tall first and then put on weight? (i.e. widen). This is a valid question which has no general answer. (See more in the table below). But he is not serious, as he also wonders if the child ''reach full width before getting taller''.

Randall was 31 at the time of the release of this comic. As far as this page and Wikipedia informs, at the time of writing, he has no children, although he is married. However, given his age, it is highly likely that many of his friends are having babies during these years, so he will probably often get into the depicted situation. Therefore, it is highly likely that the comic is based on his own experience, and that it is indeed Randall depicted as the thinking Cueball.

Having problems with small talk is a recurring theme in xkcd (see [[222: Small Talk]]), even something as simple as talking about the weather can be a problem (see [[1324: Weather]]). This comic is the third in less than a month were Cueball has issues with this; the first two were [[1640: Super Bowl Context]] and [[1643: Degrees]].

There have previously been "plural" version of this comic called [[441: Babies]], here Cueball also manages to say something better left unsaid, even if it was about his own baby.

===Table===
*In the table is a list of all the different sentences Cueball can think of or actually speaks in this comic:
{| class="wikitable"
|-
|+ Cueballs thoughts, including final statement and the title text.
|-
! scope="col" | Sentence
! scope="col" | Explanation
|-
| Wow, it's getting so big! Unlike most babies, which stay the same size forever.
| The first part of the sentence is quite a normal response, if it is not the first time the person sees the baby. But the second part can be interpreted as sarcastic, as newborn babies are supposed to grow fast, and it would be strange/bad if the baby had not grown considerably if it had been some months since last time. This also shows how inane the normal statement is, though people often feel inclined to say it anyway.
|-
| Hi! I'm talking to a baby!
| People often talk to the baby, rather than the parents. This makes no sense for Cueball, as the baby doesn't understand him. Should he mention this?
|-
| What brand is it?
| Typically a question one would ask about a new car, article of clothing, electronics, or other inanimate object, not a baby. Alternatively, the "{{w|brand}}" could also figuratively refer to the baby's sex. Usually it may be OK to ask what sex the baby is, though the normal question would be ''Is it a boy or a girl.''
|-
| Wow, definitely much smaller than a regular person!
| As all babies are... Typically a real response would be ''Wow, they are so small''.
|-
| You sure did make that.
| A typical comment would be ''he sure looks like you''. (See the comment that it doesn't look like you.) Such a sentence basically means you can see that it is clear that these two people did in fact make this baby. But making a baby requires sex, so when he puts it like that he actually refers to the sex part, which may be uncomfortable for many people.
|-
| ★★★★☆ Great baby.
| It is custom to praise parents for their lovely baby, but do not ever rate it with stars! In [[1608: Hoverboard]] Megan [http://xkcd.com/1608/1019:-1073+s.png rates a sea], something also not usually done. (At least she gives fewer stars than Cueball does for the baby). According to [[1098: Star Ratings]] this means the baby is OK.
|-
| It doesn't really look like you since you're not a baby.
| A common comment is ''He totally looks like you''. What people mean is that they can see features in the face (he has his fathers nose but his mothers eyes). But of course given that the parents are adults they of course no longer look like a baby. Often it could be speculated that people just say this because they wish to see the similarities and to please the parents (hopefully).
|-
| So do they learn words one at a time alphabetically or can you pick the order or what?
| Here Cueball displays interest in the process of learning to speak a language as a baby. Very interesting subject, but since this is a very small baby not something first time parents for instance would have thought about yet. Learning one word at a time seems reasonable, but the last two suggestions that they learn alphabetically or in a specific order the parents chooses is plain silly.
|-
| I hope it does a good job.
| A baby actually does nothing that can be described as a ''job'', so this statement is not meaningful.
If it were about the future of the baby, it would be a socially very inadequate comment to care only about the possible usefulness of the baby, than to anticipate the joy of the parents about the child's person.
|-
| Wow, that's a really cool baby!
| This is what Cueball actually ends up saying. He thinks immediately that this was a silly thing to day and thinks ''Dammit'' (see title text of this comic: [[559: No Pun Intended]]).
|-
| Title text: Does it get taller first and then widen, or does it reach full width before getting taller, or alternate, or what?
| It is not possible to generalize about how {{w|Child_development#Physical_growth|children grow}}, but of course it doesn't reach full width before getting taller! But it's mostly true that kids do alternate between putting on weight and using that weight to get taller. So they'll might get chubbier during a period of time, but then suddenly they will lose the fat as they grow taller and becomes thin again. If they don't eat much, they may stay small. If you feed them a diet with lots of sugar, they may stay fat even during growth spurts. But not necessarily as each kid is different. The question is thus very interesting, but again not something to discuss as an anecdote the first time you have the chance to comment on a newborn baby.
|}

==Transcript==
:[Cueball is standing in front of a family consisting a Cueball-like guy holding a newborn baby, with spiky hair, in a blanket and Megan. Cueball is thinking lots of thoughts about what to say to the couple upon seeing their baby for the first time. There is thus a huge thinking bubble in the top of the panel above the characters. Everything in this bubble has been crossed out like taking a pencil and drawing lines on top of the text, but it can still be read. After using all this time thinking, Cueball finally decides what to say, only to immediately regret this as can be seen in a small thought bubble below his spoken line, which is between the huge and the small bubble.]
:Cueball (thoughts that are crossed out): 
::Wow, it's getting so big! Unlike most babies, which stay the same size forever.
::Hi! I'm talking to a baby!
::What brand is it?
::Wow, definitely much smaller than a regular person!
::You sure did make that.
::★★★★☆ Great baby.
::It doesn't really look like you since you're not a baby.
::So do they learn words one at a time alphabetically or can you pick the order or what?
::I hope it does a good job.
:Cueball: Wow, that's a really cool baby!
:Cueball (thinking): Dammit.

:[Caption below the panel:]
:I can never figure out what to say about babies.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]
[[Category:Multiple Cueballs]]
[[Category:Comics sharing name|Baby 2]]

1572: xkcd Survey

2016-02-25T04:58:41Z

198.41.235.221: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 1572
| date = September 2, 2015
| title = xkcd Survey
| image = xkcd_survey.png
| titletext = The xkcd Survey: Big Data for a Big Planet
}}
*The comic links to [http://goo.gl/forms/B5RaBeZ6nw The xkcd survey] on Google.

{{incomplete|This comic cannot be complete until Randall releases the raw and/or analysed data. The analysis needs to be mentioned here. Until then, this comic needs to be marked incomplete.}}

==Explanation==
As the comic image states, it links to a survey created with [https://www.google.com/forms/about/ Google Forms], containing a series of questions. The questions range from mundane typical survey questions such as “Do you have any food allergies?”, to rather strange, such as “Fill this text box with random letters by randomly mashing keys on your keyboard.” (See [[1530: Keyboard Mash]]).

The stated goal of the survey is to “create an interesting and unusual data set for people to play with”. A strange data set is a ripe opportunity for a sampling of readers. It's also supposed to be “a search for weird correlations” – presumably the goal is to be able to say things like “people who have been skydiving are (more/less) likely than average to dislike cilantro”. (See also [[882: Significant]] about finding presumably-spurious correlations between unrelated data.)

This explanation will undoubtedly expand when the data comes in.

{{w|Image_map#Client-side_image_map|HTML image maps}} is a technique for marking up areas of an image on a web page, such that each area can be a link without the whole image being a link. [[Randall]] could have used this type of image map to make only the “Click here to take the survey” button be a link, and none of the rest of the image. But he cannot get the hang of it (or knowing his skills, does not wish to take the time to learn it). Not getting the hang of HTML image maps was also referenced on [http://imgs.xkcd.com/store/tour-news.png the banner for his book tour] from [http://web.archive.org/web/20140901023821/http://xkcd.com/ September 2014]

The title text is a joke off of {{w|Big Data}}, which is a name for analysis of a set of data that includes a huge amount of information. He also says "for a big planet" because the Earth is big.{{Citation needed}}

The survey is closed, and the questions replaced with the text: "The xkcd survey is now closed. Thank you for all your answers! Response data is being collected and will be posted soon." As of 24 February 2016, the same caption is still there, with no indication of exactly how soon the data is intended to be posted. (Apparently, Randall crashed google forms, so the data is taking a long time to be retrieved [https://www.reddit.com/r/xkcd/comments/40mhve/what_ever_happened_to_the_survey_we_took/ (see this reddit thread)] - much like his breaking of [http://what-if.xkcd.com/imgs/a/62/balloon_wolfram.png/ Wolfram Alpha]] during answering a reader's question on [[What If]])

==The Survey==
The Survey started off with the following statement:

<nowiki>This is an anonymous survey. After it's done, a database of everyone's responses will be posted.
There's no specific reason for any of the questions. The goal is to create an interesting and unusual data set for people to play with. This is obviously not going to be a real random sample of people, but in the interest of getting cooler data, if you're sharing this with friends, try sending it to some people who wouldn't normally see this kind of thing!

WARNING: This survey is anonymous, but your answers WILL BE MADE PUBLIC. Depending what you write, it's possible that someone may be able to identify you by looking at your responses. None of these questions should ask about anything too private, but don't write anything that you don't want people to see. If you're not comfortable answering a question, just skip it.</nowiki>

'''Note:''' The order of the possible answers (the list of possibilities) was random, and changed every time the page is reloaded. So do not try to fix the order here below...

===Plane===
*Have you ever been in a plane?
**No
**Yes

===Skydiving===
*Have you ever been {{w|Parachuting|skydiving}}?
**No, but I might someday
**Yes
**No

===The Dress===
*When you first saw {{w|The dress (viral phenomenon)|The Dress}}, what color was it? — (Also see [[1492: Dress Color]] and the [[Blag]] ENTRY [http://blog.xkcd.com/2010/05/03/color-survey-results/ Color Survey Results]).
**White and gold
**A color combination not listed here
**I don't remember
**Blue and black
**What dress?

===Popular food===
*What's a really popular food that you don't like?
**''Text box''

===Floaters===
*When you look at a blue sky, do you see those swirly {{w|floater|floaters}} in your vision?
**Yes, constantly
**I'm not sure what things you mean
**Yes, occasionally
**No

===Running out of gas===
*Have you ever had a car run out of gas while you were driving it?
**Yes
**No

===Animals===
*Name the first five animals you can think of
**''Multi line text box''

===Weather===
*What's the weather like where you are right now?
**''Text box''

===Activities===
*Which of these can you do reasonably well?
*(Check all that apply)
**{{w|slam dunk|Dunk}} a basketball — A "slam dunk" or simply "dunk" is the act of jumping up and putting the ball through the net with a lot of force
**Tie a {{w|sheet bend}} or {{w|bowline}} — A sheet bend is a knot that joins two ropes together; A bowline is a knot used to form a fixed loop at the end of a rope
**Roller skate
**[http://www.huffingtonpost.com/news/high-heel-race/ Run in high heels]
**Drive a stick shift — See {{w|Manual transmission}} of a car
**Solve a {{w|Rubik's cube}}
**Dive headfirst off a diving board — See {{w|Springboard}} and {{w|Diving platform}}
**Ice skate
**{{w|Skateboarding|Skateboard}}
**Walk on {{w|stilts}} — Stilts are poles, posts or pillars used to allow a person to walk at a height above the ground
**Ski
**Cut vegetables with a knife
**Swim
**Ride a horse
**{{w|Unicycle}}
**Change the oil on a car
**Do a back {{w|Handspring (gymnastics)|handspring}} — A handspring is an exercise in gymnastics in which you jump through the air landing on your hands, then again landing on your feet
**Juggle — {{w|Toss juggling}} (the most recognizable form of juggling) consists in throwing objects into the air and catching them.

===Spelling===
*What word can you never seem to spell on the first try?
**''Text box''

===Condiments===
*Do you eat {{w|condiments}} directly out of the fridge as a snack?
**No
**Yes

===Thermostat===
*When you adjust a thermostat that was set by someone else, it's usually because you want the room to be...
**Cooler
**Warmer

===Clothing===
*What color is the shirt/dress/upper-body-clothing you're wearing right now, if any?
**''Text box''

===Colds===
*Do you get {{w|Common cold|colds}} often?
**No
**Yes

===Number===
*Pick a number from 1 to 100
**''Text box''

===Spelling===
*On a scale of 1 to 10, how good at spelling are you? (Note that the question does not specify which end of the scale is good or bad.)
**''Tick off list with numbers from 1 to 10.''

===Myers-Briggs===
*Do you know your {{w|Myers–Briggs_Type_Indicator|Myers-Briggs type}}?
**No
**Yes

===Astrology===
*Do you know your {{w|astrological sign}}?
**No
**Yes

===Siblings===
*How many older siblings do you have?
**''Text box''
*How many younger siblings do you have?
**''Text box''
*How many twin/etc siblings do you have?
**''Text box''

===Sleepiness===
*Do you feel sleepy a lot?
**Yes
**No

===Movie star===
*Name a movie star
**''Text box''

===Time in sun===
*Do you spend a lot of time in the sun?
**Yes
**No

===Broccoli===
*Does {{w|broccoli}} taste bitter to you?
**Yes
**No
**I've never had it

===Wakefulness===
*Do you regularly stay awake much later than you meant to?
**Yes
**No

===Keyboard mashing===
*Fill this text box with gibberish by mashing random keyboard keys (See [[1530: Keyboard Mash]]).
**''Broad multi-line text box''

===Driving===
*On a scale of 1 to 5, where 1 is terrible and 3 is average, how good a driver do you think you are?
**''Tick off list with numbers from 1 to 5.''

===Allergies===
*Do you have any food allergies?
**No
**Yes

===Thunder===
*Have you heard thunder or seen lightning in the past year? — (The title-text of [[831: Weather Radar]] mentions the belief that thunderstorms seemed more common when one was a kid. Since the survey also asks for age this question is likely a test of that belief.)
**Yes
**No

===Flavor preference===
*Which do you prefer? (It seems to be missing the ''neither'' option...)
**Chocolate
**Vanilla

===Number (reprise)===
*Pick another number from 1 to 100 (Supposedly is should not be the same as in the first pick a number box).
**''Text box''

===Internet===
*When you think about stuff on the internet, where do you picture it being physically located? Even if you know it's not really how things work, is there a place you imagine websites and social media posts sitting before you look at them? If so, where is it?
**''Broad multi-line text box''

===Roll tongue===
*Can you {{w|Tongue rolling|roll your tongue}}?
**Yes
**No
**What?

===Toes===
*Can you pick things up with your toes?
**No
**Yes

===Age===
*How old are you?
**''Text box''

===Walls===
*What color are the walls around you right now?
**''Text box''

===Cell phone===
*What kind of cell phone do you have?
**{{w|iPhone}}
**{{w|Android (operating system)|Android}}
**Other smartphone
**Non-smartphone
**I don't have a cell phone

===Eating===
*What's the last thing you ate?
**''Text box''

===Difficult words===
*Which of these words do you know the meaning of?
*Some of these words don’t appear in any of the following dictionaries: the Oxford English Dictionary, the New Oxford American Dictionary, Wiktionary, or Dictionary.com. These words were probably made up by Randall. Perhaps the goal is to make people feel like they have a weak vocabulary because they don’t know many of the words, until they try look up the meanings and realize they have been tricked.
*More likely, the inclusion of fictitious words is a validity check. Hidden tests of the validity of responses is a part of good questionnaire design. For example, long lists of questions with "Agree-Disagree" responses will often have one or more items which are "reverse-coded" (phrased in a direction opposite to the rest of the questions): if a respondent provides a response which contradicts the pattern presented by the rest of the responses, this casts doubt on the validity of the other responses - suggesting that the respondent is not actually reading the questions properly. In the instance of Randall's survey, claiming to know the meaning of fictitious words would cast doubt on the respondent's claims of a knowing the meaning of the other words in the list.
*In addition, these false claims by respondents may themselves then be used as a source of data: for example, an analysis of the data could find that males (and/or skydivers) are more likely than females to over-represent their actual level of knowledge.
*[http://dictionary.reference.com/ Dictionary.com] has an index of difficulty (measured in pixels, with class name <code>difficulty-indicator</code>). We add it at the right of the words that have it. N/A means that a word isn't present in Dictionary.com, or that it doesn't have an index.
**Slickle – Not in any standard dictionary. However, it [http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Slickle is in] the crowd-sourced in Urban Dictionary, as well as a suggested planet name in [[1253: Exoplanet Names]]
**[https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/rife Rife] – [http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/rife 117]
**[https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/soliloquy Soliloquy] – [http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/soliloquy 150]
**Fination – not in any dictionary. Appears infrequently in Victorian texts (e.g., [http://books.google.com/books?id=ghNOAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA245&dq=Fination 1889], [http://books.google.com/books?id=nwlCAQAAMAAJ&pg=PA214&dq=Fination 1839])
**[https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/stipple Stipple] – [http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/stipple 144]
**[https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/peristeronic Peristeronic] – [http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/peristeronic N/A]. Randall used it and defined it for readers in [[798: Adjectives]].
**[https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/modicum Modicum] – [http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/modicum 120]
**Trephony – Not available in reference dictionaries. An obsolete spelling of "{{w|Trephine}}" (especially when used as a verb for the process of {{w|Trepanning|trephination}}). Initially a transliteration of Greek [http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.04.0057:entry=tru/panon τρυπάω] for the same.
**Tribution – A regular construction from [https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/tribute#Verb Tribute (verb)] using "-tion" to transform into a noun. Using this regular formation, the term would mean the act of tribute, but no examples of actual use are available. It is worth noting that the use of "tribute" as a verb is generally considered obsolete and the few forms that persist in use relate primarily to the tributary and distibutary river systems
**[https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/phoropter Phoropter] – [http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/phoropter N/A] 1.An instrument used in eye examinations to determine an individual's prescription, the patient looking through various lenses at a chart on the other side.
**Unitory – Not available in reference dictionaries. An obsolete spelling of "Unitary," chiefly British. While long obsolete in normal usage, it persisted longer in mathematics that it did elsewhere (particularly for "Unitory Method" and "Unitory Matrixes"). Example of use: [https://books.google.com/books?id=Wl1BAQAAMAAJ&pg=RA5-PA27&lpg=RA5-PA27&dq=unitory+method&source=bl&ots=rfRKJXAJqV&sig=Wsr_gV7xG6Airah9Lx1M0hi-7Zc&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0CDsQ6AEwBmoVChMInd_R9qTbxwIVChU-Ch36IAh_#v=onepage&q=unitory%20method&f=false (1)]
**[https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/amiable Amiable] – [http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/amiable 123]
**[https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/salient Salient] – [http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/salient 69]
**[https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/regolith Regolith] – [http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/regolith 162]
**[https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/lithe Lithe] – [http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/lithe 105]
**Revergent – technical word from {{w|fern}} biology, referring to the edges of fern leaves which curl back on themselves (see [http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2FBF00985044 Schölch, 2000])
**[https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/hubris Hubris] – [http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/hubris 117]
**[https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/fleek Fleek] – [http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/fleek N/A]
**Cadine – A rare loan-word for [https://fr.wiktionary.org/wiki/cadine a sultan's wife or a noble ottoman woman] which comes to English through the French. Examples of Use: [https://books.google.com/books?id=4yz-Y-_OOO0C&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q=cadine&f=false (1)]. Also the name of an [https://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cadine italian city].
**[https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/apricity Apricity] – Not available in reference dictionaries. An obsolete word for the sun's heat in winter (e.g., [http://books.google.com/books?id=CFBGAAAAYAAJ&pg=PT76&dq=apricity Bailey 1775]). According to the What If? book (page 80), this is Randall's single favourite word in the English language.

===cat===
*Please type "cat" here:
**''Text box''

===Dreams===
*Do you usually remember your dreams?
**No
**Yes

===Text editors===
*Do you have strong opinions about text editors? (See {{w|Editor war}})
**Yes
**No

===Emoji===
*How do you feel about {{w|emoji}}?
**Negative 😠 (Unicode 1f620 - Angry face)
**Positive 😊 (Unicode 263a - Smiling face)
**Neutral 😐 (Unicode 1F610 - Neutral face)

===Snow===
*Does it ever snow where you live?
**No
**Yes

===Taste of food===
*Do you strongly dislike the taste or texture of any of these things?
**Eggs
**Chocolate ice cream
**Beer
**White wine
**{{w|Carbonation}} (or Fizz)
**Red wine
**{{w|Cilantro}}
**Coffee
**Tomatoes
**Yogurt

===Beverages===
*Which of these do you regularly drink?
**Caffeinated soda (e.g. Coca-Cola, Dr. Pepper)
**Noncaffeinated soda
**Coffee
**Fruit juice
**Milk
**Beer
**Wine
**Tea
**{{w|Maple syrup}}
**Water

===Random words===
*Type five random words
**''Broad multi-line text box''

===Flying===
*Are you nervous about flying?
**Yes
**No
**A little

===Favorite number===
*On a scale of 1 to 5, which number is your favorite?
**''Tick off list with numbers from 1 to 5.''

===Sandwich===
*Which of these would you consider a {{w|sandwich}}?
*(Check all that apply)
**{{w|Taco}}
**{{w|Quesadilla}}
**{{w|Submarine sandwich|Sub/Hoagie}}
**{{w|Cheesesteak}}
**{{w|Hamburger}}
**{{w|Open-faced sandwich}}
**{{w|Calzone}}

===Animal affinity===
*Which of these describes you?
*(Check all that apply)
**Dog person
**Cat person
**Half-cat half-person
**Part of a subterranean race of dog people
**Literally named "Catherine Person"

===Sense of direction===
*Would you say you have a good sense of direction?
**Yes
**No

===Socks or underwear===
*Have you ever thrown out all your different pairs of socks/underwear, bought a bunch of replacements that were all one kind, and then told all your friends how great it was and how they should do it too?
**Yes
**No
**I did the throwing out thing, but didn't talk to everyone about it
**No, but I'm totally doing that now

==Transcript==
:[A simple comic with text only. The ''click here'' part is inside a black frame.]
:Introducing
:'''The xkcd Survey'''
:A search for weird correlations
:Note: This survey is anonymous, but
: all responses will be posted publicly 
:so people can play with the data.
:'''Click here to'''
:'''take the survey'''
:Or click here, or here.
:The whole comic is a link,
:because I still haven't gotten
:the hang of HTML imagemaps.

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Comics with color]]

Talk:247: Factoring the Time

2016-02-22T02:10:53Z

198.41.235.221:

I used to find the prime factors of the remaining distance until the next turn. It starts off difficult (for me) at 99 miles, etc. When it gets down to 30 miles, it gets easier. Then, at 9.9 miles, I have a tenth the time to factor 99 again, and it gets easier as the numbers get smaller. This is actually a pretty good way to pass the time while driving. {{unsigned ip|108.162.219.202}}

Paying attention to your driving might be a benefit. To yourself and others. Just sayin'.[[User:Jakee308|Jakee308]] ([[User talk:Jakee308|talk]]) 20:00, 24 April 2015 (UTC)

I wonder how much time Randall spent trying to find a time that is not prime but the time + 1200 would be. {{unsigned|Flewk}}
:Took me about 5 minutes with a script after getting a list of primes from the internet: 1:19; 1:21; 2:09; 2:47; 2:53; 2:59; 3:23; 3:43; 4:07; 4:13; 4:27; 4:37; 5:33; 5:53; 5:59; 6:11; 6:23; 7:07; 7:13; 7:31; 7:49; 8:03; 8:17; 9:13; 9:31; 9:43; 10:03; 10:07; 10:37; 10:43; 11:11; 11:33; 11:39; 11:41; 11:47; 11:57 (also the technical cases of: 12:03; 12:05; 12:07; 12:11; 12:19; 12:41; 12:43; 12:47; 12:53) . --[[Special:Contributions/173.245.52.27|173.245.52.27]] 06:18, 20 January 2016 (UTC)

You know, in the state of Massachusetts, which is where Randall said he lives in the book ''What If?'', mile markers on the highway are placed every '''''0.2 miles''''', so he would get only twelve seconds per marker if he's trying to do each and every one (less if he's slightly speeding like everyone else does when there's no traffic). [[Special:Contributions/198.41.235.221|198.41.235.221]] 02:09, 22 February 2016 (UTC)

Talk:247: Factoring the Time

2016-02-22T02:09:40Z

198.41.235.221:

I used to find the prime factors of the remaining distance until the next turn. It starts off difficult (for me) at 99 miles, etc. When it gets down to 30 miles, it gets easier. Then, at 9.9 miles, I have a tenth the time to factor 99 again, and it gets easier as the numbers get smaller. This is actually a pretty good way to pass the time while driving. {{unsigned ip|108.162.219.202}}

Paying attention to your driving might be a benefit. To yourself and others. Just sayin'.[[User:Jakee308|Jakee308]] ([[User talk:Jakee308|talk]]) 20:00, 24 April 2015 (UTC)

I wonder how much time Randall spent trying to find a time that is not prime but the time + 1200 would be. {{unsigned|Flewk}}
:Took me about 5 minutes with a script after getting a list of primes from the internet: 1:19; 1:21; 2:09; 2:47; 2:53; 2:59; 3:23; 3:43; 4:07; 4:13; 4:27; 4:37; 5:33; 5:53; 5:59; 6:11; 6:23; 7:07; 7:13; 7:31; 7:49; 8:03; 8:17; 9:13; 9:31; 9:43; 10:03; 10:07; 10:37; 10:43; 11:11; 11:33; 11:39; 11:41; 11:47; 11:57 (also the technical cases of: 12:03; 12:05; 12:07; 12:11; 12:19; 12:41; 12:43; 12:47; 12:53) . --[[Special:Contributions/173.245.52.27|173.245.52.27]] 06:18, 20 January 2016 (UTC)

You know, in the state of Massachusetts, which is where Randall said he lives in the book ''What If?'', mile markers on the highway are placed every ''0.2 miles'', so he would get only twelve seconds per marker if he's trying to do each and every one (less if he's slightly speeding like everyone else does when there's no traffic). [[Special:Contributions/198.41.235.221|198.41.235.221]] 02:09, 22 February 2016 (UTC)

1638: Backslashes

2016-02-05T21:48:36Z

198.41.235.221: /* Entries in the list */ fixing comma splice and related issues

{{comic
| number = 1638
| date = February 3, 2016
| title = Backslashes
| image = backslashes.png
| titletext = I searched my .bash_history for the line with the highest ratio of special characters to regular alphanumeric characters, and the winner was: cat out.txt | grep -o "\\\[[(].*\\\[\])][^)\]]*$" ... I have no memory of this and no idea what I was trying to do, but I sure hope it worked.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Need rewriting of the entries in the list and a thorough analysis of the title text}}

Most {{w|Formal language|formal languages}} use the concept of a {{w|String literal|string}}, which is just a text between some delimiters, usually quotes. For example, "Hello, world" is a string. The text being represented is "Hello, world" without the quotes, however the quotes are also written to mark the beginning and end of the string. This is a problem when the text itself contains a quote, as in "This is a "quoted" string". The quotes around the word "quoted" are intended to be part of the text, but the {{w|Lexical analysis|language processor}} will likely confuse it for the end of the string.

To avoid this problem, an {{w|Escape character|escape character}} (usually a backslash) is prepended to non-string-terminating quotes. So, the previous text would be written as "This is a \"quoted\" string". The language processor will substitute every occurrence of \" with only the quote character, and the string terminates at the quote character which does not immediately follow a backslash. However, the problem now is that the intended text might contain a backslash itself. For example, the text "C:\" will now be interpreted as an unterminated string containing a quote character. To avoid this, literal backslashes also are escaped with a second backslash, i.e. instead of "C:\" we write "C:\\", where the language processor interprets \\ as one single backslash and the quote terminates the string.

This doubling of backslashes happens in most programming and scripting languages, but also in other syntactic constructs such as {{w|Regular expression|regular expressions}}. So, when several of these languages are used in conjunction, backslashes pile up exponentially (each layer has to double the number of slashes). A reasonable example would be a {{w|PHP}} script in a web server which writes {{w|JavaScript}} code to be run in the client. If the JavaScript code has to output a smiley for scratching one's head (i.e. <code>r:-\</code> ), it would look like this:
document.write ("r:-\\");
However, since this JavaScript code is to be written through a PHP script, the PHP code would be:
echo "document.write (\"r:-\\\\\");";
where:
* The word <code>echo</code> is the PHP command for writing something
* The first quote starts the string
* The <code>document.write (</code> (including the open parenthesis) is written literally
* The <code>\"</code> following that is a literal quote to be written
* The <code>r:-</code> is written literally
* The first two slashes produce one single slash
* The next two slashes produce another single slash
* The next <code>\"</code> produces a literal quote character
* The close parenthesis and the semicolon are to be written literally
* The next quote finishes the string.
* The final semicolon terminates the <code>echo</code> command

So, the presented scenario has escalated from a simple <code>r:-\</code> smiley to no less than five backslashes in a row without stepping out of the most common operations. If we go a bit further and try to write a {{w|Java (programming language)|Java}} program that outputs our PHP script, we'd have:
System.out.println ("echo \"document.write (\\\"r:-\\\\\\\\\\\");\";";
Here, we have 11 backslashes in a row: the first 10 produce the 5 we need in our PHP script, and the last one is for escaping the quote character.

This kind of backslash explosion is known as {{w|Leaning toothpick syndrome}}, and can happen in many situations. The one in the title text is about a {{w|Bash (Unix shell)|bash}} command (which uses the backslash to escape arguments) invoking the {{w|grep}} utility which searches for text following a pattern specified by means of a regular expression (which also uses the backslash to escape special characters). This leads to 3 backslashes in a row in the command, which could easily become 7 backslashes in a row if the text being searched for also contains a backslash. Even advanced users who completely understand the concept often have a hard time figuring out exactly how many backslashes are required in a given situation. It is hopelessly frustrating to carefully calculate exactly the number of backslashes and then noticing that there's a mistake so the whole thing doesn't work. At a point, it becomes easier to just keep throwing backslashes in until things work than trying to reason what the correct number is.

=== Entries in the list ===
The first four entries with 1-4 backslashes make sense: a "real backslash" is when the program is told to find one of these using two backslashes. If you need to find such a double "real backslash" you would need a third, hence the first ''real'' is written in italic. And if you want to write a regular expression to find a backslash, and you're working in a language like Java, you need four backslashes--the regular expression itself would require two backslashes, each of which would need to be expressed as doubled backslashes in the string literal. (The use of four backslashes is specifically mentioned in the documentation for the Python regular expression library [https://docs.python.org/2/library/re.html https://docs.python.org/2/library/re.html].)

Using 5-7 backslashes continues the trend, first with five a reference to {{w|Elder}} which has many meanings. It has become known through fantasy media; examples are the {{w|Elder Gods}} of the Cthulhu Mythos, various 'Elder' magical items and beings in the {{w|Dungeons and Dragons}} mythologies, and the {{w|Elder Days}}, which are the first Ages of {{w|Middle-earth}} in {{w|The Silmarillion}}, the more-or-less prequel to {{w|The Lord of the Rings}}. More recently it has been used in the {{w|Harry Potter}} universe with the {{w| Magical_objects_in_Harry_Potter#Deathly_Hallows|Elder wand}} made from {{w|Sambucus|Elder wood}}.

Using 6 backslashes will cause them to escape the computer and enter your brain and using 7 backslashes makes it ''so real it {{w|Transcendence (philosophy)|transcends}} {{w|Spacetime|time and space}}.''

The list gives names for all numbers of backslashes from 1 up to 8, but then the last entry has 11 slashes followed by "..." to indicate they continue forever. This is: ''The true name of {{w|Baal (demon)|Ba'al}}, the {{w|Soul eater (folklore)|Soul-Eater}}''. This indicates that if you continue misusing backslashes like this you will end up devoured by a demon, for instance {{w|Beelzebub}}, for being so thoughtless... Ba'al has been [[1419: On the Phone|mentioned]] [[1246: Pale Blue Dot|before]] in {{xkcd}}.

=== Title text ===
It's unclear whether the regular expression in the title text is valid or not. A long discussion about the validity of the expression has occurred here on explainxkcd.com. The fact that many editors of the site, often themselves extremely technically qualified (citation needed for any evidence of this), can't determine whether the expression is valid or not adds a meta layer to the joke of the comic. This is probably an example of [[356: Nerd Sniping|nerd sniping]] (oh, the irony!!!).

==Transcript==
:[A list of the names of different numbers of backslashes. After each "item" there is a gray line to the text describing each item. As the text is aligned above each other, the lines becomes shorter as the sequence of backslashes becomes longer until there is just a line with the length of a single hyphen for the last item. There are 1 to 8 backslashes and then 11 plus "..." in the last entry.]
:\------------ Backslash
:\\----------- Real backslash
:\\\---------- ''Real'' real backslash
:\\\\---------- Actual backslash, for real this time
:\\\\\--------- Elder backslash
:\\\\\\-------- Backslash which escapes the screen and enters your brain
:\\\\\\\------- Backslash so real it transcends time and space
:\\\\\\\\------ Backslash to end all other text
:\\\\\\\\\\\...- The true name of Ba'al, the Soul-Eater

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Regex]]
[[Category:Programming]]

1637: Salt Mine

2016-02-05T21:46:21Z

198.41.235.221: /* Explanation */ language edit

{{comic
| number = 1637
| date = February 1, 2016
| title = Salt Mine
| image = salt_mine.png
| titletext = This one is a little bland. Pass the saltshaker?
}}

==Explanation==
[[Ponytail]] has built a {{w|particle detector}} (an expensive device used in experimental {{w|particle physics}}) in a {{w|salt mine}}. [[Hair Bun Girl]] assumes that this is to block out {{w|cosmic rays}}, as is the case with the real life {{w|Irvine-Michigan-Brookhaven (detector)|Irvine-Michigan-Brookhaven}} (IMB) detector, started in {{w|Lake Erie}} in 1979, or the {{w|Enriched_Xenon_Observatory|Enriched Xenon Observatory}} (EXO), placed in the {{w|Waste_Isolation_Pilot_Plant|Waste Isolation Pilot Plant}} (WIPP) salt mine in 2007.

The IMB detector was initially used to search for {{w|proton decay}} in very pure water kept in the mine, and it was thus important to keep out cosmic rays that would create the same type of signal as a decaying proton. Although the IMB became famous for detecting {{w|neutrinos}} from {{w|supernova 1987a}} (which pass through virtually all materials, salt or lead etc with only the smallest fraction of them interacting), it never observed a single proton decay out of the 1031 protons present in the water of the detector. If it had detected even a single positive observation it would have contributed to the ratification of the {{w|Grand Unified Theory}}, which predicts that protons eventually decay. At the time of this comic the lower limits for proton half-life from {{w|Proton_decay#Experimental_evidence|experimental evidence}} is of the order 1034 year.

Ponytail affirms Hair Bun Girl's assumption; however, based on the wording of her response, it is clear that Ponytail and her colleagues, [[Cueball]] and [[Megan]], have an ulterior motive of using the mine to get access to an enormous supply of {{w|salt}} for eating. This is absurd, since salt is already plentifully available in grocery stores, the cost of the particle detector far exceeds the value of the salt and their intake appears to be ''far'' beyond any medically-advised healthy limit (and likely to be sickening in other regards). However, while fruit and vegetables you grow in your own garden can rarely compete in price with the cheap super market prices, there is something special about just taking an apple from your own tree. Maybe the same applies when you can just pick up the salt from your own mine...

In the comic, when Ponytail says "Yes, That's definitely why" it could refer to the large expectations that such detectors had promised when first devised and created. In the comic, Cueball and Megan are shown as possible employees of the particle detector, but are instead shown eating salt with salt, which could be a humorous reference to the lack of proton decay results. However, it is more likely to refer to the fact that when queried about the reason for building the detector (apparently to gain access to large quantities of salt), Ponytail is quick to leap on Hair Bun Girl's more scientific-sounding explanation, in an attempt to save face and appear professional.

The title text is intended to be absurd. Salt is normally used to add flavor to otherwise {{w|Bland diet|bland foods}}. However, the "bland" food that the speaker is eating is itself a chunk of salt, and they wish to season their salt with yet more salt. An alternative interpretation could be that Randall is referring to the comical quality of this particular comic as "bland," therefore creating a joke more akin to a pun.

==Transcript==
:[Hair Bun Girl (with glasses), Ponytail, Megan and Cueball are in a salt mine. Hair Bun Girl and Ponytail talk in front of what appears to be a control console for a particle detector with a chair on each side. To the right Megan and Cueball are eating salt in large amounts straight of the rocks in the mine. They are eating so fast that salt spills from their hands and falls to the ground.]
:Hair Bun Girl: So you've built this particle detector in a salt mine to block out cosmic rays?
:Ponytail: Yes.
:Ponytail: That is definitely why.
:Cueball and Megan [eating salt]: Homf nomf nomf

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Hair Bun Girl]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Ponytail]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Physics]]
[[Category:Science]]

1627: Woosh

2016-01-10T18:14:52Z

198.41.235.221: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 1627
| date = January 8, 2016
| title = Woosh
| image = woosh.png
| titletext = It also occasionally replies with 'Comment of the year', 'Are you for real', and 'I'm taking a screenshot so I can remember this moment forever'.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Very hasty draft. More needed on the alternative title text suggestions.}}
Replying to a comment with "woosh" generally indicates that there was a joke, and the commenter failed to recognize it — "woosh" is an {{W|onomatopoeia}} for the joke metaphorically "flying over their head". A bot replying to comments with "woosh" at random would be very confusing, as people would search for the nonexistent joke they missed. This is similar to [[559: No Pun Intended]].

"Comment of the year," just like the original bot reply, could be taken two ways but both would likely cause confusion. Either the reader takes the "CotY" at face value, implying that the original comment is extremely significant, or as a sarcastic quip, which would give it basically the same meaning as "woosh".

"Are you for real" implies that the commenter (the bot) doesn't believe that the original commenter is serious. (It could also imply that the person to whom the bot is replying to is a famous celebrity, and the commenter wants to know if the person who posted the original comment is a real celebrity and not fake, but this seems unlikely given the context.)

"I'm taking a screenshot so I can remember this moment forever" adds an implied air of extreme importance, hilarity or significance to a comment (again, possibly sarcastically). People who read it might assume that there is a hidden joke or meaning somewhere inside the original comment.

==Transcript==
:[Online comment thread with text placed next to user pictures in three different levels. The first comment on the first level, the second on the second level and the last four on the same third level. Except for the second comment which is made by a person whose picture is a white silhouette of a human head and shoulders on black background, all the other comments are made by the same person with a picture of a guy with short black hair on white background. Below the pictures and below the text there are some unreadable information (indicated by wiggly lines) for the users name and time stamp etc. of the comments.]

:Hairy guy: This video looks fake to me.
::White silhouette : Woosh
:::Hairy guy: Huh? Everyone's acting like it's real!
:::Hairy guy: If it's a joke lots of people aren't getting it.
:::Hairy guy: What am I missing?!!
:::Hairy guy: Answer me

:[Caption below the frame:]
:Nothing creates more confusion than my bot that replies to random Internet comments with "Woosh".

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Computers]]
[[Category:Language]]
[[Category:Social networking]]