925: Cell Phones

2026-06-20T23:34:19Z

2.103.204.172: Undo revision 414961 by YZ100 (talk) Yeah, I think you are wrong. The raw data given is not being extended beyond what is(/was) available at the time, and no conclusion is voiced about where it might go.

{{comic
| number = 925
| date = July 15, 2011
| title = Cell Phones
| image = cell_phones.png
| titletext = He holds the laptop like that on purpose, to make you cringe.
}}

==Explanation==
This comic is a good explanation of the correlation/causation fallacy, where one party states two unrelated events and posits that they must have influenced each other.

After hearing about the "Cell Phones Don't Cause Cancer" study, which refutes a claim made by the ''{{w|World Health Organization}}'' (just Google the debate or {{w|Mobile phone radiation and health|check out Wikipedia's article on it}}, the comic doesn't focus much on it), [[Black Hat]] plots "Total Cancer Incidence" per 100,000 and "Cell Phone Users" per 100 on the same graph. The graph in frame 3 shows an exponential rise in cancer in the 70's and 80's, followed by an exponential rise in cell phone usage in the 2000's. Black Hat reverses the correlation/causation fallacy, and comically comes to the conclusion that ''cancer'' causes ''cell phones''.

The comic highlights a well-known fallacy known as ''{{w|post hoc ergo propter hoc}}'', often shortened to simply ''post hoc.'' The Latin translates to "after this, therefore because of this,” (the simpler "after this" therefore implies “because of this”; ''post hoc'', as it were!) referring to the common mistake that because two events happen in chronological order, the former event must have caused the latter event. The fallacy is often the root cause of many superstitions (e.g., a person noticing they wore a special bracelet before getting a good test score thinking the bracelet was the source of their good fortune), but it often crosses into more serious areas of thinking. In this case, the scientific research community, which often prides itself on its intellectual aptitude, is gently mocked for being nonetheless prone to such poor reasoning all too often. The different possibilities are generally known as causation, when one thing is proven to cause another, or correlation, when changes in one thing are aligned with changes in another, but there is no proof that they are directly related.

The title text refers to the way Black Hat holds the laptop in panel 2. Being that Cueball (and Randall, for that matter) are quite into computers, the potential damage to a laptop screen either from the weight of its lower body or the pressure of the user's fingers on the LCD screen is enough to make him squirm in discomfort. The risk of dropping the computer is also present. Both the fallacy and the way Black Hat is holding his laptop contribute to the "problems" that Cueball mentions.

==Transcript==
:[Cueball holds a cellphone. Black Hat is sitting at a desk with a laptop.]
:Cueball: Another huge study found no evidence that cell phones cause cancer. What was the W.H.O. thinking?
:Black Hat: I think they just got it backward.

:[Black Hat turns towards Cueball in an unframed panel, holding the laptop with one hand by the upper edge of the screen. Cueball is not visible.]
:Cueball: Huh?
:Black Hat: Well, take a look.

:[There is a plot of total cancer incidence and cell phone users. Cancer rises from 1970 to 1990, then stays relatively steady. Cell phone use rises from roughly 1984, and steeply after 1990, to the present.]

:Cueball: You're not... There are ''so'' many problems with that.
:Black Hat: Just to be safe, until I see more data I'm going to assume cancer causes cell phones.

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Black Hat]]
[[Category:Comics with color]]
[[Category:Line graphs]]
[[Category:Math]]
[[Category:Statistics]]
[[Category:Cancer]]
[[Category:Scientific research]]
[[Category:Phones]]

Talk:1172: Workflow

2026-06-20T22:28:14Z

2.103.204.172: Undo revision 414956 by SteveTheNoob (talk) This unsigned comment was later readded. This time with a (sort of) signature, which I am also improving, 'free of charge'.

It's not a bug, it's a feature! '''[[User:Davidy22|Davidy22]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 05:42, 11 February 2013 (UTC)

What? The explanation makes no sense. Where did the user reconfiguring his CPU to overheat upon pressing control come from?[[Special:Contributions/67.5.239.109|67.5.239.109]] 06:27, 11 February 2013 (UTC) Edit: I was referring to the actual explanation which has since been edited, not the comic itself. I understood that, but the explanation was quoting stuff that wasn't in the comic.[[Special:Contributions/70.199.230.162|70.199.230.162]] 18:35, 12 February 2013 (UTC)
:It's not 'from' anything. It's just an extreme and humorously far-fetched example of how a user might put a bug to use. He used the bug so he wouldn't have to reach for his actual control button, a 'horrifying' hack which works for him. [[Special:Contributions/24.105.141.150|24.105.141.150]] 17:21, 12 February 2013 (UTC)

No idea where this coming from, but reminds me [https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=656433 this bug] and [http://dmcritchie.mvps.org/firefox/firefox-problems.htm#fx7 this reaction to it]. Firefox is good example in general: about:config was obviously CREATED to make much more settings available that is sane to put in configuration windows. On the other hand, this problem is old, so the comix is probably about some other, more recent problem, possibly in completely different software. -- [[User:Hkmaly|Hkmaly]] ([[User talk:Hkmaly|talk]]) 09:39, 11 February 2013 (UTC)

I'm constantly running stuff like Folding@Home, but I usually underclock my components to conserve power and lengthen the lifespan. However, I created a macro that overclocks my GPU at the press of a button, and I use it to act as a heater for my room whenever I get cold. It works. Those children could follow my example. [[Special:Contributions/70.31.159.230|70.31.159.230]] 15:05, 11 February 2013 (UTC)

I think this is a jab at Windows 8, only an upside-down one - since the comic is about a lone protester as opposed to the general dissatisfaction with Tile World. Also: Let's wire the computer components (and a heat sink) into an office chair. Would sell like crazy in the North.

I think it would be nice to include in the explanation, for people unfamiliar with Emacs, that most macros require you to type Control something. It's common to remap Ctrl to the Caps Lock position so that it's easier and faster to reach. [[Special:Contributions/189.123.138.144|189.123.138.144]] 17:32, 15 February 2013 (UTC)

I've learned long ago to never assume that my personal expectations will help everybody. To never ignore feedback from your core users (who else would stick around and use such a buggy system?). And that if you taking other's choice away to save them from themselves, try to give a quick alternative, such as a hint on how to modify the script to look for prolonged space-bar commands and engage control button (perhaps that user is disabled?) - [[User:E-inspired|E-inspired]] ([[User talk:E-inspired|talk]]) 23:53, 27 February 2013 (UTC)

It's quite possible that this is a reference to [https://gcc.gnu.org/bugzilla/show_bug.cgi?id=30475 this], which is a relatively famous bug that got an incredibly angry reaction. [[Special:Contributions/199.27.128.230|199.27.128.230]] 19:29, 3 March 2015 (UTC)

Perfect example: [https://devblogs.microsoft.com/oldnewthing/20071214-00/?p=24163 The compatibility constraints of your side effects: Beeping] [[User:Solomon|Solomon]] ([[User talk:Solomon|talk]]) 03:53, 19 December 2021 (UTC)

;Horrifying

Doesn't the admin rather mean, that it's horrifying that the user's workaround does not work anymore, and not, that he considers the workaround itself horrible?
--[[Special:Contributions/188.109.179.0|188.109.179.0]] 10:43, 13 August 2013 (UTC)
:No for sure he finds it horrifying that some user would use an error that could overheat the system as a way to "press" ctrl key. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 14:33, 29 April 2015 (UTC)

"std::cin no longer overheats the CPU when you hold down spacebar" [http://blogs.msdn.com/b/vcblog/archive/2013/06/28/c-11-14-stl-features-fixes-and-breaking-changes-in-vs-2013.aspx from here]. I chuckled when I was reading this. Maybe there are references buried in the comments, too. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.254.128|108.162.254.128]] 21:11, 25 May 2015 (UTC)
:It does. A user called JB said "Although please can you implement an option to reinstate the cpu heating when space bar is pressed feature though, as I have code that relies on this feature."
even better one of the MS devs replied "JB: That's horrifying." about half way through one of their replies {{unsigned ip|108.162.250.158}}

Can we point out that Hyrum named the law after himself, and references this comic at the end of his explanation of the effect, and now this site's explanation references that page? I wonder when the citogenesis cycle will be completed?...
(As an aside, how do you combine an ellipsis and a question mark? "...?", "..?", "?...", or "?..!@#$%^&*()_+'"'?nothisisstillinsidethequotes,itjustcontainsadoublequoteinit...?"?) --[[User:UnbiasedBrigade|UnbiasedBrigade]] ([[User talk:UnbiasedBrigade|talk]]) 11:53, 18 January 2024 (UTC)
: I often use "..?"..! [[Special:Contributions/172.70.85.24|172.70.85.24]] 14:04, 18 January 2024 (UTC)

I used to think this was an exaggeration, but recently I've been playing a game and the massive lag during certain non-story and non-interactive scenes actually helps because during those scenes I'll go study or do other small tasks. [[User:SteveTheNoob|SteveTheNoob]] ([[User talk:SteveTheNoob|talk]]) 20:32, 20 June 2026 (UTC)

==Tone==
Current revision says this: "A similar effect may be caused by other improvements, particularly those which involve changes in the user interface."

However, the changes in question are precisely those ''not'' universally agreed to be improvements. While some cases like the one in the comic are ridiculous, others are emphatically not and are in fact near-universally agreed to be dumb. As such, referring to the general case as "improvements" is not really viable.

I'd have edited to "changes" myself, but that'd create a repeated word so it's kind of clunky. Does anyone have any suggestions for more neutral terms? [[User:Magic9mushroom|Magic9mushroom]] ([[User talk:Magic9mushroom|talk]]) 13:02, 18 August 2020 (UTC)
:Done. [[User:L-Space Traveler|L-Space Traveler]] ([[User talk:L-Space Traveler|talk]]) 13:30, 19 December 2022 (UTC)

explain xkcd - User contributions [en]

925: Cell Phones

Talk:1172: Workflow