explain xkcd - User contributions [en]

691: MicroSD

2023-06-29T11:27:34Z

Nirdavo: /* Explanation */ Corrected volume for floppy (25cm³ instead of 2.5 cm³)

{{comic
| number = 691
| date = January 20, 2010
| title = MicroSD
| image = microsd.png
| titletext = That card holds a refrigerator carton's worth of floppy discs, and a soda can full of those cards could hold the entire iTunes store's music library. Mmmm.
}}

==Explanation==
{{w|Secure_Digital|microSD}} is one format of the Secure Digital memory card format, used in digital cameras, cell phones, and other devices. It is very small, only 15×11×1 mm, but can hold large amounts of data. The {{w|US dime}} in contrast has a diameter of 17.91 mm. When this comic was published in January 2010 the maximum capacity for microSD cards was 16GB. The current maximum capacity is 1TB (as of January 2023).

The main character in the comic (on the right) thinks about all the ideas that could be expressed by the data in the microSD card, or in a library. He feels not just reverent and intimidated, but sexually aroused by the thought. As he begins to touch it, his friend is disgusted by what might happen if he uses the card as some kind of sex toy, and does not want to help him locate the card if it gets "lost" inside a body cavity.

The title text seems to be the main character thinking about how much data the card holds, in terms of {{w|floppy disks}} and the {{w|iTunes}} music library, and feeling aroused by these thoughts.

Randall's claims in the title text do check out. A high-density floppy disk with a FAT format holds about 1.4 MB of data, and has dimensions of 90×94×3 mm, for a volume of about 25 cm³. A refrigerator carton is the large cardboard box that fridges are delivered in. A typical refrigerator carton may be 1800×700×700 mm, a volume of about 0.9 m³. So a fridge carton could hold about thirty-five thousand 90 mm floppies, or roughly 50GB. This is comparable to the storage on a single microSD card. A soda can (500 ml = 500 cm³) could hold three thousand microSD cards or store 50TB of data (4500TB today). The iTunes store claimed to hold thirty-five million songs in Summer 2016, and allowing for about 2MB per song gives 70 TB of music. But the library would have been smaller in Spring of 2014 when the comic was created. As of January 2023, Apple Music had about 100 million songs, with much larger average file sizes of around 6 MB. That amounts to about 600 TB total, which is still far less than the 3000 TB that could fit in a soda can of microSD cards at the time. So Randall's claim seems to be correct.

There is a what if [http://what-if.xkcd.com/31/ blog entry] related to this topic.

==Transcript==
:[Cueball and a friend approach a table.]
:Cueball: Hey, what's up?
:Friend: Shhhhh.
:Cueball: Hrm?
:Friend: There's a microSD card on your table.

:[A 16GB microSD card sits next to an assortment of coins for size reference.]
:Cueball (out of panel): So?
:Friend (out of panel): I dunno, high storage densities freak me out. A whole aisle of library shelves on something smaller than a dime.

:[The two people stand near the table, the friend peering at the coins and card on the table.]
:Friend: Libraries are unnerving enough-millions of ideas surrounding you, towering over you. These cards fill me with that same reverence, that same intimidation.

:[Cueball stands alone.]
:Friend (out of panel): ...that same faint arousal. Maybe I'll just touch it.
:Cueball: If you lose that card I'm <u>NOT</u> helping you find it.

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Multiple Cueballs]]

Talk:645: RPS

2023-06-20T08:15:38Z

Nirdavo:

I know exactly what RPN is but I have no idea what a Polish Sausage is, nor what the "postfixins" joke is about (is a fixin a thing? I've never heard of them). If someone could explain these presumably American terms I'd appreciate it. [[Special:Contributions/82.6.250.231|82.6.250.231]] 14:34, 17 September 2013 (UTC)
:Read the explanation, everything is there.--[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 15:45, 17 September 2013 (UTC)
:No it isn't. Anon, the US refers to Kielbasa as Polish Sausage, and "fixins" are condiments such as mustard and chopped onions. I'll update the explanation. [[User:Yomikoma|Yomikoma]] ([[User talk:Yomikoma|talk]]) 17:55, 17 September 2013 (UTC)
::I didn't know that. Thanks for your help. Further investigations at [http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=fixins&defid=5919829 urbandictionary] gave me this: "A Southern (USA) word for the supplemental food...". It does belong only to the south of the US.--[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 19:13, 17 September 2013 (UTC)

I think we should explain the "comic today's you confuses here click if" thing. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.215.79|108.162.215.79]] 12:27, 29 July 2014 (UTC)

I think RPS is Rock Paper Scissors.
[[User:Pickaxe24|Pickaxe24]] ([[User talk:Pickaxe24|talk]]) 01:36, 12 January 2017 (UTC)
:Disagree, I see no relation to Rock Paper Scissors. RPS most likely simply means Reverse Polish Sausage. [[Special:Contributions/198.41.242.88|198.41.242.88]] 08:34, 18 April 2017 (UTC)

The phrase "fixins" may originate in the South, but I would not say that it "belongs" to them, as I have heard it used by people from several Western states. I cannot say how prevalent it is outside of there, but I would venture to say that it is a common American colloquialism used by at least the South and West. {{unsigned|Highlander}}
:I don't know about like the Great Plains region, If that's what you mean by West, but up here in the Pacific Northwest, I've never heard fixins. Only ever in connection with the Southern dialect.[[Special:Contributions/199.27.133.75|199.27.133.75]] 18:18, 26 November 2014 (UTC)
:I'm from Colorado: I don't know if it's common, but I have certainly heard it (and seen it on menus). [[User:L-Space Traveler|L-Space Traveler]] ([[User talk:L-Space Traveler|talk]]) 23:51, 22 October 2022 (UTC)

There is also a level of amusement for the American English speaker owing to confusion on first reading, because "postfix" has its stress (vocal emphasis) on the first syllable, as does "fixins". So when combined, it's not clear how to parse the whole "word". --[[User:Bedunkel|BD]] ([[User talk:Bedunkel|talk]]) 04:24, 21 November 2014 (UTC)
:I personally read it along the lines of 'post ,fix ins; that is, with strong emphasis on post and a minor emphasis on fix. Dunno about anyone else. [[Special:Contributions/199.27.133.75|199.27.133.75]] 18:18, 26 November 2014 (UTC)

Didn't Yoda speak in Reverse Polish? [[User:Brenda|Brenda]] ([[User talk:Brenda|talk]]) 10:12, 12 June 2018 (UTC)
:No, Yoda spoke in Japanese grammar. Which is not surprising, as the Jedi are (loosely) based on samurai. [[User:Nirdavo|Nirdavo]] ([[User talk:Nirdavo|talk]]) 08:15, 20 June 2023 (UTC)

Talk:571: Can't Sleep

2023-05-30T11:40:13Z

Nirdavo:

The odometer analogy needs more explanation because of the difference between signed vs. unsigned integers. This assumes the analogy should stay here. --[[User:Smartin|Smartin]] ([[User talk:Smartin|talk]]) 05:02, 4 January 2013 (UTC)

I replaced the phrase "integral number" with "integer", because "integral" is an overloaded term in math, while "integer" always means a signed whole number, and is introduced in grade school arithmetic.
--[[User:MisterSpike|MisterSpike]] ([[User talk:MisterSpike|talk]]) 15:39, 19 August 2013 (UTC)

While semi relevent, I don't think it is necessary to have an explanation of variable naming convention in the title text explanation. Definately note that sheepCount is a variable, but to go into detail on naming convention I think it just bloats the paragraph.. --[[User:Pudder|Pudder]] ([[User talk:Pudder|talk]]) 08:09, 29 September 2014 (UTC)
:Since I did not know about it I found it relevant - else I might have questioned the funny capitalisation. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 18:12, 14 October 2014 (UTC)
:I agree with Kynde... the purpose of explainxkcd is to explain things in the comic that seem obvious/everyday to people with particular knowledge in the areas covered by Randall's joke, but which are not obvious to those whose areas of knowledge do not overlap with Randall in that particular way, so this is exactly the sort of thing that may need an explanation. One of the hardest things in pedagogy seems to be getting an understanding of what it is that other people aren't going to understand. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.249.155|108.162.249.155]] 01:42, 9 March 2016 (UTC)

If androids indeed are going to dream of electric sheep, please declare sheepCount as long long unsigned. Signed overflow is undefined and value isn't going to be negative either way. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.203.25|162.158.203.25]] 18:00, 20 December 2020 (UTC)
:The original comic had it that way. Though cool trivia.

I feel the explanation is missing something. When the integer overflow happens Cueball seems genuinely surprised and confused - he actually sits up in spite of him trying to sleep. It also looks like that in the second and following panels he is starting to "hear" the sheep bleating. And 64K sheep in a stampede are LOUD! And in the last panel, he holds his pillow over his head in a futile attempt to block out the sheep continuing to bleat. [[User:Nirdavo|Nirdavo]] ([[User talk:Nirdavo|talk]]) 11:40, 30 May 2023 (UTC)