explain xkcd - User contributions [en]

25: Barrel - Part 4

2025-07-27T21:58:09Z

2001:4450:8178:2200:B82B:A40:C75:26E4:

{{comic
| number = 25
| date = October 31, 2005
| title = Barrel - Part 4
| ognumber = 26
| ogtitle = Monday's Drawing
| oglink = https://web.archive.org/web/20060529063505/http://xkcd-drawings.livejournal.com/?skip=20#:~:text=2%3A42%20pm-,Monday%27s%20Drawing,-(11%20Comments
| ogprev = 37
| ognext = 26
| image = barrel_part_4.jpg
| titletext = \:(<br><br>''<div class="plainlinks">[https://web.archive.org/web/20060529063505/http://xkcd-drawings.livejournal.com/?skip=20#:~:text=2%3A42%20pm-,Monday%27s%20Drawing,-(11%20Comments Original caption]:'' By the way, here are all the barrel comics on a single (easily linked) page:<br>http://www.xkcd.com/barrel.html<br>I cheated, and went back and lightened the gridlines in #2. It was just bothering me. I'll try not to do that much. But as I'm not destroying anyone's childhood, I don't feel like I'm really pulling a George Lucas.<br>I mean, I'm not destroying more than one childhood.<br>Oops.</div>
}}

This was the twenty-sixth comic [[LiveJournal|originally posted to LiveJournal]]. The previous one was [[37: Hyphen]], and the next one was [[26: Fourier]].

==Explanation==
In the first three comics of the [[:Category:The Boy and his Barrel|The Boy and his Barrel series]], [[Barrel Boy]] explored the ocean in a barrel and then encountered a whirlpool, all with a reaction of innocent wonder. Here, the empty barrel floating adrift, the title text, and a previous announcement by Randall that this would be the conclusion of the series, imply that the boy's encounter with the whirlpool separated him from the barrel, and he may have died.

This is the fifth in a six-part series of comics whose parts were randomly published during the first several dozen strips. The series features [[Barrel Boy]], a character that is different from what would quickly become the xkcd [[stick figure]] style. The full series can be found [[:Category:The Boy and his Barrel|here]]. After Randall released the full [http://liveweb.archive.org/web/20070207052159/http://www.xkcd.com/barrel.html The Boy and his Barrel] story on the site, it became clear that the original comic [[20: Ferret]] was also part of the series. The comics are listed in the order chosen by Randall:

* [[1: Barrel - Part 1]]
* [[20: Ferret]]
* [[11: Barrel - Part 2]]
* [[22: Barrel - Part 3]]
* [[25: Barrel - Part 4]]
* [[31: Barrel - Part 5]]

There was no original caption on LiveJournal for this comic. However, just three hours and four minutes after posting it, Randall made a new post, titled [https://web.archive.org/web/20060529063505/http://xkcd-drawings.livejournal.com/?skip=20#:~:text=5%3A46%20pm-,Barrel%20series,-By%20the%20way Barrel series], which is available above the Explanation on this page. In the first part of the post, he advertises the new page he created for "all the barrel comics", implying this was supposed to be the end of the The Boy and his Barrel series (the link is now defunct, but there's an [https://web.archive.org/web/20070207052159/http://www.xkcd.com/barrel.html archived version]). In the [[37: Hyphen|caption of the previous comic]], he also said "Tune in Monday for the conclusion to the story of the boy and his barrel". However, this would turn out to not be the last comic in the series, as [[31: Barrel - Part 5]] and [[20: Ferret]] would be included later likely to give an unplanned good ending to the story.

In the second part of the post, he jokingly implies that Barrel Boy passed away, which will be found to be incorrect in the actual last comic in the series. It's possible he changed his mind in the meantime and wanted to give the series a happy ending. The reference to George Lucas is in response to the {{w|changes in Star Wars re-releases}} that were not widely liked by long-term fans of the original movies, as they covered a general revamping and upgrading of the visuals, [https://nofilmschool.com/Jabba-The-Hutt-Returned-to-Star-Wars additional scenes], and even reinterpretations of {{w|Han shot first|existing scenes}}. In his post, he says he believes the change he made to [[11: Barrel - Part 2]] aren't as controversial.

== Transcript ==
:[The barrel is shown on a grid paper background, floating sideways and empty in a choppy sea.]

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Posted on LiveJournal| 26]]
[[Category:First day on xkcd.com]]
[[Category:Checkered paper]]
[[Category:The Boy and his Barrel|05]]
[[Category:Comics sharing name|Barrel 05]]

3092: Baker's Units

2025-07-27T21:42:51Z

2001:4450:8178:2200:B82B:A40:C75:26E4:

{{comic
| number = 3092
| date = May 21, 2025
| title = Baker's Units
| image = bakers_units_2x.png
| imagesize = 349x310px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = 169 is a baker's gross.
}}

==Explanation==
A '{{w|Dozen#Baker's dozen|baker's dozen}}' is an expression referring to 13 units, as opposed to the normal 'dozen', meaning 12. This stems from a tradition in medieval times whereby salespeople would include 13 items when selling a 'dozen'. This was due to them having to pay penalties (in some regions, {{w|Ducking stool|draconian}} ones) when customers were [https://www.english-heritage.org.uk/visit/inspire-me/obscure-medieval-laws/ sold too little bread], which could easily be done unintentionally with items like loaves of bread which would vary slightly in weight. To avoid the customer complaints and the penalty, bakers added a safety margin of one extra loaf that allowed them to still serve the correct weight of bread.

[[Randall]] proceeds to apply this principle to other things involving the number 12. That is, "simply" applying a count of 13 of a thing, or adding one to the most prominent quantity.

; Baker's foot

: Imperial feet are 12 inches long, so a 'baker's foot' would be 13 inches long.

; Baker's noon

: Noon is 12 o'clock (also 12:00 in {{w|24-hour clock}} notation). A 'baker's noon' would be 1 o'clock PM (13:00 in 24-hour notation). Local noon has often been a vital piece of information for those who need to know when the working daylight is half-way through, or specifically for noting the {{w|Solar time|local solar maximum}} for astronomical or navigation purposes, whilst 1 PM does not usually merit any note beyond that of any other hour — except during daylight saving time, when baker's noon may be closer to local noon than 12 o'clock. In some locations, bakeries that operate on sundays close their business around noon - the baker's noon would be an inconvenience instead of a safety margin for these businesses.

; Baker's dodecahedron

: A {{w|dodecahedron}} is a solid shape having 12 faces ("dodeca" = "twelve"). The best-known kind is the regular dodecahedron, a {{w|Platonic solid}} whose faces are regular pentagons (the shape that most {{w|Dice#Polyhedral dice|d12}}s take the form of), but there are others such as the {{w|rhombic dodecahedron}} and {{w|Pyritohedron#Pyritohedron|pyritohedron}}. A 'baker's dodecahedron' would have thirteen faces, making it, in fact, a tridecahedron, typically a form with some combination of triangles, quadrilaterals, pentagons and/or hexagons. One way of forming a tridecahedron is to truncate one vertex of a dodecahedron, essentially "replacing" it with an additional small face. Tridecahedrons are not Platonic solids, and their use in dice-based games (though not impossible) would result in an unbalanced skew of possibilities, as well as one extra result (perhaps zero or thirteen) that a gaming system might not be designed to anticipate.

; Baker's New Year's Eve

: Under the {{w|Gregorian calendar}}, years have 12 months and, in most Western traditions, New Year's Eve is celebrated on the last day of the 12th of these. Therefore a baker would celebrate 'baker's New Year's Eve' at the end of an extra 13th month, on January 31 (possibly implying that their New Year would shift by one month each year, relative to everyone else's calendars). There are proposed calendars that have 13 months in every year, such as the {{w|International Fixed Calendar}}.

; Baker's octave

: In {{w|12 equal temperament|12-tone music systems}}, octaves contain 12 half-steps, also known as semitones. (A half-step is the distance between adjacent notes, such as F and F#.) A 'baker’s octave' would have 13 semitones, corresponding to a minor ninth, and would cause problems in musical composition as baker's octaves are dissonant instead of consonant. However, Randall's musical notation actually shows a ''major'' ninth, with ''fourteen'' semitones. If he wanted thirteen semitones, Randall could have used D♭ instead of D, or drawn a bass clef instead of a treble clef. Another way would have been to shift two notes up to make the pair E and F, or one note down to make it B and C, as these pairs are actually 13 semitones apart. Alternatively, he could keep the difference between the octave notes the same (preserving the ratio of 2:1), but split it into 13 semitones making notes slightly less than a standard semitone apart, requiring a complete overhaul of notation.

; Baker's jury

: Trial juries in the Anglo-Saxon law tradition ({{w|Common Law}}) consist of 12 peers. The 'baker’s jury' would have 13 peers. This might be considered to make little practical difference, though it does mean that in situations where a jury is allowed to present a majority verdict instead of requiring unanimity, the odd number of jurors would prevent exact ties. (Note that {{w|Trial by jury in Scotland|Scottish juries}}, start with the expectation of there being 15 jurors, and may well end up reduced to 13 or even 12.)

; Baker's EU flag

: The {{w|Flag of Europe}} has 12 stars forming a circle (symbolising the togetherness and union of its peoples).
: In the United States, 13 stars in a circle is associated with the {{w|Betsy Ross flag}}, the first U.S. flag, in which each star represented a state. But, unlike {{w|Flag of the United States#Historical progression of designs|the current and various historical US flags}}, the EU's stars do not represent member states. The flag was first adopted by the Council of Europe in 1955, when it already had 13 members, and currently there are over 40.
: The European Communities adopted the Flag of Europe in 1986, before the EC, turned into the European Union, which is currently 27 member states. A 13th star could potentially be added to make a 'baker's EU flag' without major alteration of the symbology.

; Baker's magnesium

: Magnesium is element number 12, with 12 protons (and, typically, 12 neutrons) in its nucleus. Aluminum is element number 13, signifying one extra proton (although also having ''two'' extra neutrons, in a typical atom). This is perhaps more importantly, for our purposes, reflected in the two elements' configuration of electrons that dictate their relatively different chemistries and behaviour in various solutions, compounds, alloys, etc, through {{w|Valence (chemistry)|valence}} and availability of bond-types. 'Baker's magnesium' actually has more applications than standard magnesium in baking; such as {{w|sodium aluminium phosphate}}, used in some baking powders, and {{w|aluminum foil}} (often called tinfoil), sometimes used to protect pans or baked goods during baking, but it does not have as much actual nutritional value and is not quite so obviously a direct replacement/upgrade to its non-Baker 'original' as most of the other examples.

; Baker's gross

: In the title text, 144 (12x12) is a gross. Thus, 169 (13x13) would be a 'baker's gross', an addition of not just one but 25 units.

==Transcript==
:<u>Baker's units</u>
:[A formation comprising 13 small circular items] - Baker's dozen
:[A ruler divided into 13 parts] - Baker's foot
:1:00 PM - Baker's noon
:[A polyhedron with 13 faces] - Baker's dodecahedron
:January 31st - Baker's New Year's Eve
:[Two notes on a staff 14 half-steps apart] - Baker's octave
:[13 people standing in a row] - Baker's jury
:[A flag with 13 stars forming a circle] - Baker's EU flag
:Aluminum - Baker's magnesium

{{comic discussion}}<noinclude>
[[Category:Food]]
[[Category:Music]]
[[Category:Chemistry]]
[[Category:Math]]
[[Category:Time]]

3117: Replication Crisis

2025-07-27T21:19:47Z

2001:4450:8178:2200:B82B:A40:C75:26E4: /* Transcript */

{{comic
| number = 3117
| date = July 18, 2025
| title = Replication Crisis
| image = replication_crisis_2x.png
| imagesize = 367x492px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = Maybe encouraging the publication of null results isn't enough--maybe we need a journal devoted to publishing results the study authors find personally annoying.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|There's an {{acn}} that needs sourcing in the 1st paragraph.}}The {{w|replication crisis}} in science refers to the existence of a large number of published scientific results that others are unable to reproduce. One aspect of the scientific method is the replication of results, so the failure to replicate some results casts doubt on the validity of the results and scientific knowledge built on them. Research into the replication crisis itself has been done,{{Actual citation needed}} with a number of studies being redone and the results compared with the original studies. In this comic, a research team is looking to see if the situation has improved and end up "reproducing" the same results of the early reproduction crisis papers.

The joke is about reproducing a paper about being unable to reproduce papers, while both papers show there is general issue with reproducibility, in this narrow case the scientists were able to reproduce an earlier result, hence the "solved" newspaper headline.

There is a further possible jab: the replication crisis has indeed been "solved", in that the paper authors have shown that the same problems crop up even when scientists are aware of the issue. The "solution" is that the problems persist whether or not the scientists are aware of the replication crisis, so one could simply do science as if the crisis did not happen. This would be not so much a 'solution' as a counsel of despair. [[1574: Trouble for Science]] explores an issue similar to this comic's.

The title text refers to one previously suggested remedy when the replication crisis was first being dealt with — encouraging the publication of null results to counteract {{w|publication bias}}. However, because there is still a replication crisis it didn't solve the problem. The joke is that researchers, being human, are often tempted not to publish results if, for example, the results are not what they were expecting, opposed to a hypothesis they've spoken in favor of, likely to hurt their careers or embarrass them, confusing or difficult for them to explain, or aesthetically or in some other way displeasing to the researcher or their funder. Similarly to these actual efforts to counteract publication bias, this proposed measure extends this idea, albeit in a way that might sound silly.

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript|Don't remove this notice too soon.}}

: [Megan, Ponytail, and Cueball are standing at a lectern. Ponytail is talking into the microphone.]
: Ponytail: In the early 2010s, researchers found that many major scientific results couldn't be reproduced.

: [Ponytail turns slightly to look around the room.]
: Ponytail: Over a decade into the replication crisis, we wanted to see if today's studies have become more robust.

: Ponytail: Unfortunately, our replication analysis has found exactly the same problems that those 2010s researchers did.

: [This panel shows a newspaper, with title "NEWS" surrounded by flourishes. There is a photo of the panel #2. The headline reads: "REPLICATION CRISIS SOLVED".]

{{comic discussion}}<noinclude>
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Ponytail]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Scientific research]]