Talk:1608: Hoverboard

2015-11-25T01:27:38Z

199.27.129.167:

Here are all the secret passages marked I could find: http://imgur.com/a/fKE1Q --[[Special:Contributions/162.158.91.220|162.158.91.220]] 00:50, 25 November 2015 (UTC)

Well, this will be the next incomplete explanation for a while. -[[Special:Contributions/162.158.90.165|162.158.90.165]] 21:58, 24 November 2015 (UTC)

Yes, one thing to note is how to get the hell out of the cave near the volcano [[Special:Contributions/108.162.249.159|108.162.249.159]] 22:38, 24 November 2015 (UTC)

The image is made up of small images with addresses of the form http://xkcd.com/1608/XXXX:-YYYY+s.png (although not every coordinate inside the bounds has an image associated). A script could probably dump out all the images and paste them together. --[[Special:Contributions/108.162.216.6|108.162.216.6]] 22:46, 24 November 2015 (UTC)

West -- Under Lava Pools -- Elon Musk's Secret Volcano Base (not as enjoyable as you might expect).

The Starship out east contains, among other things, Darth Vader, apparently explaining Steven Universe to a subordinate. (Steven and the Crystal Gems can be found a the west end of the ship, near an ice cream cooler.) The same ship contains an elaborate homage to the original Prince of Persia.

There, have at thee an image! [[User:Arch-TK|Arch-TK]] ([[User talk:Arch-TK|talk]]) 22:58, 24 November 2015 (UTC)

There are 168 coins spread throughout the map according to the source code [[Special:Contributions/173.245.54.53|173.245.54.53]] 23:03, 24 November 2015 (UTC)

When using a device, instead of saying "use arrow keys to move", it says "tilt to move, tap to jump". It's also a lot harder to control.

It's actually 169 coins (t.length). --[[Special:Contributions/188.114.111.129|188.114.111.129]] 23:22, 24 November 2015 (UTC)

I got 153 coins!! :D There's two starships, one's a star destroyer with an expansive maze dropping regular torpedoes on the other. May be noteworthy that there are various references to Star Wars and Steven Universe throughout. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.221.13|108.162.221.13]] 23:27, 24 November 2015 (UTC)

The second starship is the TantiveIV, Leia's ship at the beginning of episode 4. Note directly below the Tantive, the terrain seems to be sand dunes. Also there are two more space ships by the volcano; an X-wing at a gas station and an Apollo Command Module.

https://xkcd.com/1608/tigl.js - Looks like there's an easier to read version of the code there. Maybe that'll help someone with extracting all the images.

I've got all the images downloaded. Zipping/uploading now. Should I post a link here when complete or what's the best way to share these? I'm also working on setting up a zoomable map. [[Special:Contributions/173.245.54.53|173.245.54.53]] 23:57, 24 November 2015 (UTC)

The collision detection is glitchy. I keep landing/bumping against platforms I'm far away from. Is getting stuck against walls normal? --[[Special:Contributions/199.27.130.234|199.27.130.234]] 00:01, 25 November 2015 (UTC)

Tiles are located here in a zip: https://up1.ca/#Gi51KPFyPRELe0T1D6q9Mw All I did was iterate over http://xkcd.com/1608/X:-Y+s.png from X=[916...1116] and Y=[916...1116]. I'm working on putting a zoomable map together. If anyone has interest in helping we could hop on IRC? [[User:Jcox|Jcox]] ([[User talk:Jcox|talk]]) 00:15, 25 November 2015 (UTC)

I've written a zsh script to iterate over all possible tiles (does anyone know the height limits? the source only gives the left and right limits) and glue them together into one giant file. I'll upload the results as soon as it's finished. [[User:Arch-TK|Arch-TK]] ([[User talk:Arch-TK|talk]]) 00:17, 25 November 2015 (UTC)

I don't think it's limited vertically at all. I found a zoomable map on the reddit topic http://codepen.io/KyleDavidE/full/605dc87b614ff6b2bd716f4c6f640203/ (by kyledavide) [[User:Miraries|Miraries]] ([[User talk:Miraries|talk]]) 00:21, 25 November 2015 (UTC)Miraries

Here's a zoomed out map of all the game area: https://i.imgur.com/rNU9ZgN.png. From ''luke_in_the_sky'' at Reddit [https://www.reddit.com/r/xkcd/comments/3u4sy1/xkcd_1608_hoverboard/cxc1245]. --[[Special:Contributions/188.114.111.129|188.114.111.129]] 00:35, 25 November 2015 (UTC)

Alright, the full png of the entire map is almost finished, I should have used white tiles as blank tiles but I guess I can fix that up in gimp, and I'm not sure how to account for the 1 pixel overlap with just imagemagick convert. The last step is to merge allthe layer images into one giant image, wish my laptop the best of luck! [[User:Arch-TK|Arch-TK]] ([[User talk:Arch-TK|talk]]) 01:00, 25 November 2015 (UTC)

Someone beat you to it, but keep on it: that one doesn't have right limit tiles. https://www.reddit.com/r/xkcd/comments/3u4sy1/xkcd_1608_hoverboard/cxc0p8x --[[Special:Contributions/188.114.111.129|188.114.111.129]] 01:19, 25 November 2015 (UTC)

Perhaps we can change the screenshot at the top to this? It's a quickly hacked overview of the entire map: http://imgur.com/Mz9arHz [[Special:Contributions/199.27.129.167|199.27.129.167]] 01:27, 25 November 2015 (UTC)

1594: Human Subjects

2015-10-23T09:45:42Z

199.27.129.167: /* Explanation */ No, the first panel is the "Your human subjects are awful" panel.

{{comic
| number = 1594
| date = October 23, 2015
| title = Human Subjects
| image = human_subjects.png
| titletext = After meeting with a few of the subjects, the IRB actually recommended that you stop stressing out so much about safety guidelines.
}}

==Explanation==
This strip plays on certain experiments involving {{w|Human subject research|human subjects}}. [[Ponytail]] is questioning the reliability of [[Megan]]'s experimental results, given that her human subjects appear to be extremely unusual and highly sociopathic.

In the second panel, she mentions that several {{w|Treatment and control groups|control group}} members – that is, ordinary people not subject to any experimental conditions – had been arrested for arson. This is "troubling", as the control group would not be expected to have such a high rate of incidence, while if the trend had occurred in the experimental group the drug could be identified as the cause of the arson, due to unexpected {{w|side effect}}s. The implication is that her subjects are not representative of the general population, but appear to have been selected from some aberrant subpopulation, such as a prison or mental institution. Or she could have recruited them through an announcement only sociopaths{{Citation needed|reason=Is an arsonist defined as a sociopath?}} could find interesting. [[790|However, this can be because of Cueball sneaking into the experiment and giving LSD to the control group.]]

The third panel alludes to the {{w|prisoner's dilemma}}, in which two subjects must independently decide whether to "collaborate" or "defect" – the latter giving them a personal reward at the expense of punishing the other subject. The rewards tier are selected so that best outcome is if both subject "collaborate". Each subject must decide based on their perceived risk to reward ratio - but for that they need to know what are rewards. If the subjects are defecting without being offered rewards, they must be sociopaths.{{Citation needed|reason=Is a masochist the same as a sociopath?}}

The last panel mentions the {{w|Milgram experiment}}, in which subjects are encouraged by disguised experimenters to provide shocks to unseen human subjects. In this case, however, electric shocks had no role in the experiment, and the subjects must have smuggled the necessary equipment in, for the express purpose of hurting people unknown to them – truly sociopathic behaviour.{{Citation needed|reason=Is there an agreed upon definition of 'truly sociopathic behaviour', and is this it?}}

The title text refers to safety procedures normally required by {{w|institutional review board}}s, which are centralised groups within universities that ensure that experiments are ethical and safe. The joke is that for an IRB to recommend dispensing with safety procedures, the human subjects must really, ''really'' deserve bad treatment. They could also worry that explaining safety rules to these subject may give them even uglier ideas.

There is no explanation given as to why one researcher is running experiments across the diverse disciplines of pharmaceuticals, psychology and cosmetics.

==Transcript==
[Ponytail and Megan sit at a desk.]

Ponytail: We're concerned that some of your results may be tainted by the fact that your human subjects are ''awful''.

Megan: What do you mean?

[Ponytail picks up a sheet of paper.]

Ponytail: Several participants in your drug trial were arrested for arson.

Megan: Side effects can be unpredictable.

Ponytail: They were in the control group.

Ponytail: In your prisoner's dilemma study, 80% of the participants chose to betray their partners ''before'' the experimenter had a chance to tell them about the reward.

Megan (off-panel): Definitely troubling.

[Ponytail shows Megan another sheet of paper.]

Ponytail: In one experiment, your subjects repeatedly gave electric shocks to a stranger in another room.

Megan: That's a famous psychological-

Ponytail: This was a study of moisturizing creams!

Megan: Yes, we're not sure how they snuck in all that equipment.

{{comic discussion}}

explain xkcd - User contributions [en]

Talk:1608: Hoverboard

1594: Human Subjects