explain xkcd - User contributions [en]

Talk:3233: Make It Myself

2026-04-17T00:59:52Z

Rtanenbaum: Customized home-built workstatoins

Almost did the same thing, but satisfied with results. Wanted to build a very shallow wide drawer for Ikea Ivar shelf that I use as computer station. Only one I saw that came close was $190. I probably spent $50-60, three hours planning and assembling, three trips to hardware stores and two reworked designs before I made what I wanted. Used a Cambro serving tray form Amazon, couple oak "project boards", couple DIY dowels and screws.
[[User:Fungible|Fungible]] ([[User talk:Fungible|talk]]) 22:23, 15 April 2026 (UTC)

...and a small aubergine.
[[User:Jgharston|Jgharston]] ([[User talk:Jgharston|talk]]) 23:03, 15 April 2026 (UTC)
:Goodness gracious me! [[Special:Contributions/81.179.199.253|81.179.199.253]] 00:24, 16 April 2026 (UTC)

Where did Dark Mode go??? I used to get it for free, and now I have to get an extension? [[User:King Pando|King Pando]] ([[User talk:King Pando|talk]]) 04:02, 16 April 2026 (UTC)
:It's still available on https://xkcd.com/3227/ [[User:Maofgf|Maofgf]] ([[User talk:Maofgf|talk]]) 07:52, 16 April 2026 (UTC)
Seems like today xkcd's website went back to normal, or as normal as can be when you don't have Dark Mode. [[User:SectorCorruptor|SectorCorruptor]] ([[User talk:SectorCorruptor|talk]]) 04:23, 16 April 2026 (UTC)

Bill Sutton's song "Do it Yourself" is the large-scale version of this. [[Special:Contributions/2603:8081:9700:1224:0:0:0:2|2603:8081:9700:1224:0:0:0:2]] 04:36, 16 April 2026 (UTC)

I suspect "weather building" is a typo. Homophone problem.--[[Special:Contributions/2A00:23CC:D248:8901:801E:C71:4D35:EEB4|2A00:23CC:D248:8901:801E:C71:4D35:EEB4]] 07:50, 16 April 2026 (UTC)
: "They want $20k for this cloud seeding operation?!? I could do it myself with $5k worth of silver iodide, 45 hours of pilot training, plane hire, time to develop a dispersal system... [[Special:Contributions/82.13.184.33|82.13.184.33]] 08:48, 16 April 2026 (UTC)

: There is a sort of typo in the alt-text too: “have have”. I hope it’s not intentional, ‘cause if it is I don’t get it. [[User:Jacobus-nl|Jacobus-nl]] ([[User talk:Jacobus-nl|talk]]) 11:27, 16 April 2026 (UTC)

Given gas prices at the moment, depending on the mileage and distance to the hardware store - that remaining $20 is probably only like 100 miles. Not to mention how much time you'd spend - if Cueball's hardware store is 4 miles away and his time is worth $25/h then he is $110 in the red before even buying the second unit. He could do 1 trip to the store, $50 in parts and an hour of labor for less than $80 (or if it was only $10 in parts, 2.5 hours). [[User:Sameldacamel34|Sameldacamel34]] ([[User talk:Sameldacamel34|talk]]) 09:20, 16 April 2026 (UTC)

Well, actually I dood it. I needed a new 6-fold outlet for my PC and the whole smeg that hangs on it. 6-fold WITH a main breaker+lamp indicator: double the price of a 6-fold without. So I bought the latter...plus a one-in, one-out breaker+lamp, in sum I saved 10€ or so, the effect is the same - I know it still works and can flip one switch to take everything off. {{unsigned ip|2a02:2455:1960:4000:8d1:cdfb:dad3:5cbc|10:09, 16 April 2026 (UTC)}}

I've been told that $500 for providing ponies for a birthday party is "way out of line". Well then, do it yourself, but remember the instructions for making a small fortune with horses: Start with a large fortune. PS: Folks, hire your local pony ride for all sorts of events. [[Special:Contributions/98.22.184.160|98.22.184.160]] 12:04, 16 April 2026 (UTC)
: Well, yeah - a pony ought to be £25. [[Special:Contributions/82.13.184.33|82.13.184.33]] 12:57, 16 April 2026 (UTC)

Not factored in is the sense of pride and accomplishment that comes of doing something yourself, the way the homemade version has a special place in your heart where the storebought version is just seen as a generic and replaceable commodity, plus possibly the technical skills learned in the process of doing it yourself and newfound appreciation for the labor that goes into the things you find in the world around you. There are still plenty of good reasons to DIY, if you have the time and resources. [[User:MeZimm|MeZimm]] ([[User talk:MeZimm|talk]]) 15:36, 16 April 2026 (UTC)
: "...if you have the time and resources." <-- that's a key statement. Cueball is spending at least 5-6 hours on this project to save $80 (minus the cost of supplies). The question is, how valuable is a person's time? Yes, you can say that self-improvement and learning is valuable, that the sense of accomplishment is valuable. But everyone is going to assign value to those things differently. Would you spend 6 hours learning to do something that will save you $80 tomorrow? What if it takes 6 years to learn? What if it saves you $80 on a weekly basis? What if it's a skill that you value or can build a career out of? What if paying for the product instead of doing it yourself allows you to spend more time with your friends or family? There's so much more to the equation than just dollar amounts. There are certain things I will happily spend money on rather than do myself because I would rather spend my time on things that matter to me. I don't grind my own flour, but I cook my own bread. I don't change my car's oil, but I change my own brake pads. The cut-off point where we value convenience over money will change person to person, task to task, and day to day.

This is too true to be funny. [[Special:Contributions/96.61.125.76|96.61.125.76]] 15:41, 16 April 2026 (UTC)

Do-it-yourself cost generally more than buying the off-the-shelf version in materials alone. It's only interesting for custom stuff you can't find off-the-shelf, kits requiring only simple assembly, or as a pass-time. Shirluban [[Special:Contributions/194.9.103.97|194.9.103.97]] 15:45, 16 April 2026 (UTC)

Calling all computer geeks. Raise your hand if you built your own customized work station or gaming platform by purchasing your very own hand-picked collection of parts from Newegg.com. And tell us why you preferred what you built versus what you could get cheaper from Dell or any other vendor.

3124: Grounded

2025-08-06T15:09:42Z

Rtanenbaum: change "taxing" to "taxiing"

{{comic
| number = 3124
| date = August 4, 2025
| title = Grounded
| image = grounded_2x.png
| imagesize = 294x335px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = We should have you at the gate in just under two hours--two and a half if we get pulled over.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|This page was created recently by a COP ASKING IF THE PILOT KNOWS WHY THEY WERE PULLED OVER. Don't remove this notice too soon.}}

The pilot and first officer have considered simply "driving" the plane to the destination instead of waiting for the weather report to clear up, announcing that they have considered their maximum taxiing speed and bridge clearance heights. Jetliners taxi at 25-35 mph — slower than a car or bus on a highway — and rolling at nearer to {{w|Rotation (aeronautics)|rotation}} speed for prolonged periods would be mechanically problematic, especially on non-straight roads. However, it is not illegal to drive slower than a posted speed limit, if it's done with safety in mind. Ordinarily, "driving" a commercial aircraft on a public highway could not be accomplished legally in the state of Massachusetts, where Randall Munroe lives, because vehicles being operated in Massachusetts [http://www.mass.gov/register-and-title-your-vehicle must be registered with the Massachusetts Registry of Motor Vehicles], while civil aircraft in the United States, as a matter of policy and regulations, would be solely registered [http://www.faa.gov/licenses_certificates/aircraft_certification/aircraft_registry by the Federal Aviation Administration]. It would be difficult or impossible to qualify an aircraft for federal emissions standards and other safety regulations, such as brake lights and visibility. "Driving" a plane according to this plan has traditionally been considered impractical, due to the excessive width and height (and maybe length) of the vehicle, and the {{w|Jet blast|backwash from the engines}}. Delays in air travel are known for creating desperate situations, which could lead the flight crew, and even passengers, to fantasize about resorting to these desperate measures.

Another consideration in driving an airliner long distance is brake overheating. Though carbon brakes have replaced the more problematic steel brakes a long time ago, aircraft brakes typically overheat during long taxiing. Also, engines are most efficient during cruise flight at cruise altitude, and least efficient when taxiing. Aircraft have run out of fuel during taxiing, either after landing, or before take-off, through eating into the minimal fuel reserves. Through jet engines can burn a range of fuels ({{w|Jet A1}} is very loosely specified regarding its organic constituents, and refueling turbine-powered helicopters with unleaded automotive gasoline is an approved emergency procedure for many types), higher costs will be incurred through shorter inspection intervals and higher maintenance costs if the crew elects to refuel at highway gas stations.

The title text intensifies the humor, saying that driving will probably result in a traffic enforcement stop, and further extend the travel time. The "drive time" would probably be extended by more than 30 minutes, especially if the flight crew is required to stop, or disembark from the aircraft, or they could be prevented entirely from continuing onward.

===Motives and feasibility===

A number of factors contribute to the dilemma and increase the switching cost of using traditional ground transportation:

* If the plane continues to wait, it may need to do so for several hours.
* Allowing passengers to leave a sealed plane is typically a long process and may (depending on the situation and airport) involve the cancellation of the flight (which airlines are financially incentivized to avoid) or the plane losing its place in the increasingly long line of flights waiting to depart.
* Passengers often have checked luggage that takes a long time to unload and be delivered (a notoriously slow process).
* When a full flight's worth of passengers suddenly need ground transportation to the same place, there is sometimes not enough ground transportation readily available to transport them and their luggage.
* Passengers arriving at another airport via ground transportation and wishing to board a connecting flight would need to pass through security checkpoints and hand over their luggage again, further delaying the process.

The plane appears to have 14 passenger windows on one side, a moderate number associated with a narrow-body / single-aisle commercial aircraft (likely with 4 seats per row - seating around 56 passengers and around 4 crew). A plane of this size is more likely to fit on a wide road or under any overpass built for large trucks, compared to a large airliner with possibly hundreds of passengers. Smaller planes are also more commonly used for local flights with fewer passengers. It is possible that the destination is only 70 miles away by road (likely a nearby city of at least moderate size or else the plane would be smaller). Roads around airports are often crowded, but the poor weather may have reduced traffic to and from the airport, or the pilots may be counting on smaller vehicles staying out of their way. If the public roads are viable and local law enforcement does not interfere (or allows the plane to proceed due to jurisdictional confusion), then the largest practical obstacles may be exiting the first airport and entering the second. Large airports restrict access to the tarmac, and since the pilots intend to respect air traffic control's decision to prohibit flight, they would either need several people on the ground to open major gates, or would need to ram at least one sufficiently weak gate or fence at each end.

It is possible that this comic is depicting a heavily simplified {{w|Embraer E-Jet family | Embraer E-170}}, which has 19 windows on each side.

This comic was published during a storm which covered much of the Northeast United States. This storm caused many flights to be heavily delayed or cancelled, which may be the inspiration for this comic.

==Transcript==
:[A plane is at an airport gate, connected to the jet bridge going into an extensive building with many dark windows facing out towards the plane. There are several other ground vehicles nearby, one towing two empty wagons for luggage, and related equipment that includes several small traffic cones placed strategically around the plane. In the space behind the plane there is another, unoccupied, gate with a jet bridge extending from the building.]
:[A voice emanates from the plane, with a speech line starting at a star burst on top of the plane's cabin. The voice makes it clear that this is the captain speaking through the internal public address system:]
:Captain's voice: This is your captain speaking. As you've probably noticed, we're still grounded due to weather
:Captain's voice: But the first officer and I have been looking at bridge clearance maps and our top taxiing speed, and we have an idea.

{{comic discussion}}<noinclude>

[[Category:Aviation]]

Talk:3118: iNaturalist Animals and Plants

2025-07-21T19:16:46Z

Rtanenbaum:

we probably need to add something about how bacteria are more common but not observable to the average person [[Special:Contributions/72.203.83.113|72.203.83.113]] 16:36, 21 July 2025 (UTC)
:Why? Bacteria are not animals or plants. [[Special:Contributions/2600:387:4:803:0:0:0:2C|2600:387:4:803:0:0:0:2C]] 17:45, 21 July 2025 (UTC)

Why are some states missing their postal code? IA, FL, AK, HI don't have them.
[[User:Nolanmeyer|Nolanmeyer]] ([[User talk:Nolanmeyer|talk]]) 18:27, 21 July 2025 (UTC)

I am curious which animal and which plant are mentioned for the most states? [[User:Rtanenbaum|Rtanenbaum]] ([[User talk:Rtanenbaum|talk]]) 18:43, 21 July 2025 (UTC)
:Common Eastern Bumble Bee with 7 states [CT, IL, MD, MA, MN, VT, WI] and Common Milkweed with 6 states [IL, IA, MI, MN, NE, WI][[User:Nolanmeyer|Nolanmeyer]] ([[User talk:Nolanmeyer|talk]]) 18:53, 21 July 2025 (UTC)
:White-tailed Deer also has 7 states [IO, MI, MT, NH, PA, VI, WV] [[User:Rtanenbaum|Rtanenbaum]] ([[User talk:Rtanenbaum|talk]]) 19:16, 21 July 2025 (UTC)

Is there a hidden joke in this one that needs explaining, or is it simply an interesting data map? [[Special:Contributions/37.19.197.233|37.19.197.233]]

Talk:3118: iNaturalist Animals and Plants

2025-07-21T18:43:09Z

Rtanenbaum: mentioned in most states

Talk:3117: Replication Crisis

2025-07-19T20:06:41Z

Rtanenbaum:

I believe the current explanation is a bit missing the point. It's supposed to mean that the authors shown in the comic failed to reproduce the result of the papers claiming that there are replication crisis, and therefore the original claim that there is a replication crisis going on is unfounded (since the papers claiming it cannot be replicated), and comically the headline in the last panel takes this to the next level by saying that this means there was no replication crisis to begin with.

[[User:Justhalf|Justhalf]] ([[User talk:Justhalf|talk]]) 00:57, 19 July 2025 (UTC)

: I favor the current explanation's interpretation. "Today's studies", I think, refers to 2025 primary research papers across fields of science, and the team finds issues with their reproducibility similar to those found with 2015 primary research papers. I argue that the headline appropriate for "falsifying the replication crisis" would be REPLICATION CRISIS DEBUNKED, not CRISIS SOLVED; the latter tacitly accepts the finding of a replication crisis. I argue further that the demons responsible for the replication crisis are legion, and include the sheer mass and rapid worldwide growth of 'the literature', the 'publish or perish' demands of employers and funders especially given the inadequate money and time granted by funders (before the currently unfolding catastrophe), the rules of (usually volunteer) print-journal editors desperate to save money and space, the collapse under multiple pressures of peer review, the devolution of most actual work to the least paid and least experienced, the disastrous consequences of replacing integrity with propaganda ("don't be such a scientist"), yada. Issues that won't be addressed by publication of null results (oh goody, yet another predatory for-profit journal opportunity!) or annoying results, even if that idea does stimulate a wry chuckle on first reading. Once upon a time, there was a {{w|Journal_of_Irreproducible_Results|Journal of Irreproducible Results}}. "So what {{w|Annals_of_Improbable_Research|happened to it?}}" "That's what they all are now." [[Special:Contributions/2605:59C8:160:DB08:C1B3:77CD:F0E3:3391|2605:59C8:160:DB08:C1B3:77CD:F0E3:3391]] 02:59, 19 July 2025 (UTC)

: I agree with the interpretation of [[User:Justhalf|Justhalf]] since it is simpler and more direct to the punchline than what is written in the explanation. Here's the joke: 1. in the 2010's a study showed there were too many research results that could not be replicated. 2. in 2025 another study looking at current research results, also found that many could not be replicated. 3. This second study confirms the first study thereby replicating their results, 4. the newspaper then announces "replication crisis solved" basing that on the fact that the second paper replicated the first one. Of course the newspaper got it wrong, because simply replicating one study, doesn't solve the problem that all the other studies were never replicated. That's the joke. It's very simple. please don't over think it and make it more complicated [[User:Rtanenbaum|Rtanenbaum]] ([[User talk:Rtanenbaum|talk]]) 20:06, 19 July 2025 (UTC)

Talk:3116: Echo Chamber

2025-07-18T16:13:32Z

Rtanenbaum: "partisan fishing expedition"

Sorry no " somehow also causing the events themselves to happen repeatedly" is wrong; the point is that people post videos of their cats doing "things" repeatedly; that's just what happens, not an implied effect of the echo chamber itself. [[Special:Contributions/31.54.45.20|31.54.45.20]] 08:39, 17 July 2025 (UTC)
: Weird things happen in xkcd-land. [[Special:Contributions/82.13.184.33|82.13.184.33]] 09:14, 17 July 2025 (UTC)
: I removed that text. Makes no sense. --[[Special:Contributions/181.234.89.171|181.234.89.171]] 23:06, 17 July 2025 (UTC)

What has {{w|The dress}} got to do with an eco chamber? Seems like a poor example. [[Special:Contributions/192.101.166.237|192.101.166.237]] 09:51, 17 July 2025 (UTC)
: Agree. It was an optical illusion that people even very close together, perceived differently, nothing to do with echoing each other's arguments. --[[User:Jarfil|Jarfil]] ([[User talk:Jarfil|talk]]) 13:40, 17 July 2025 (UTC)
: Ahh, the good old days. When the color of a dress was the internets biggest controversy. [[Special:Contributions/130.76.187.35|130.76.187.35]] 15:28, 17 July 2025 (UTC)

I think the "purely partisan fishing expedition" might be the other way around: Cueball expected an expedition where actual fishing would happen, but got into a "purely partisan" or metaphorical "fishing expedition". --[[User:Jarfil|Jarfil]] ([[User talk:Jarfil|talk]]) 13:40, 17 July 2025 (UTC)
: I agree on that front. Additionally, I'm not sure where the "fishing poles made from polearms" thing is coming from, since the actual joke here is almost certainly a reference to the practice of {{w|Spearfishing}}, with "purely partisan" implying that it's spearfishing done strictly with [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Partisan_(weapon) partisans]. [[User:Wote|Wote]] ([[User talk:Wote|talk]]) 15:05, 17 July 2025 (UTC)
: Based on the echo chamber example, it would be some weird combination of the two - like he went on an actual fishing trip, but all they caught was caches of documents exposing someone's smalltime transgressions. [[Special:Contributions/82.13.184.33|82.13.184.33]] 16:34, 17 July 2025 (UTC)

I've been near the center of a very echo-y solid walled spherical dome. Basically the real version of this cartoon but more like 5-7 persons tall. This one was used for the projection surface of a flight training device. The acoustics near the center are just WEIRD. Your voice comes back to you as if you were speaking directly into your own ear but somebody just a few feet away sound as if they're halfway across the room. It's ... unsettling but a neat experience. [[Special:Contributions/130.76.187.35|130.76.187.35]] 15:02, 17 July 2025 (UTC)

Am I the only one who read "partisan fishing expedition" and thought the joke was that it meant everyone was crowded over to either the "left" or the "right" side of the boat, causing it to capsize? Yes? Okay then. [[User:MeZimm|MeZimm]] ([[User talk:MeZimm|talk]]) 21:11, 17 July 2025 (UTC)

I think important for the interpretation of the title text is to understand the usage of the word "purely", if interpreted in the literal sense. As Wote said, it could refer to the partisan as a weapon. Then it would not be allowed to use other weapons or means for catching the fishes. The members being partisans would make the joke much less funny, as both meanings (literal and metaphorical) would be the same or close. Sebastian --[[Special:Contributions/88.217.185.170|88.217.185.170]] 11:42, 18 July 2025 (UTC)

My interpretation of "purely partisan fishing expedition" is that it is meant to be an extreme example of an "echo chamber" where all of the members are like-minded and of the same political party so there are no contrary opinions to there zeal to uncover dirt about someone in the "other party". Because of the zeal of their partisan opinions the result would be the most severely intense experience of an echo chamber. [[User:Rtanenbaum|Rtanenbaum]] ([[User talk:Rtanenbaum|talk]]) 16:13, 18 July 2025 (UTC)

Talk:3089: Modern

2025-05-15T16:43:54Z

Rtanenbaum:

Hate to be that guy, but wow, it’s empty [[User:Broseph|Broseph]] ([[User talk:Broseph|talk]]) 19:04, 14 May 2025 (UTC)

This strip reminded me of the comments in [[3063]]. Historians / historiographers typically define (early) "modernity" to begin around 1500. {{w|early modernity}} [[Special:Contributions/172.71.182.126|172.71.182.126]] 19:12, 14 May 2025 (UTC)

A similar problem exists, where a recent version of the Bible is known as the New Revised Standard Version. It will be a bit awkward when it is not new, revised, or standard. [[User:BobcatInABox|BobcatInABox]] ([[User talk:BobcatInABox|talk]]) 19:38, 14 May 2025 (UTC)
: {{w|New_Revised_Standard_Version#NRSV_Updated_Edition_(NRSVue)|It's already happened.}} [[Special:Contributions/162.158.41.167|162.158.41.167]] 06:26, 15 May 2025 (UTC)
:I'm assuming it (''and'' the NRSVue) is still at least a version, though. And one, or even both, also an edition. ;) [[Special:Contributions/172.68.229.139|172.68.229.139]] 08:04, 15 May 2025 (UTC)
::Tru dat. But the NRSV can no longer be considered "new" (assuming editorial and not, say, geological, time scales) or "standard" (that title has passed to the {{w|New_International_Version|NIV}}, at least as measured by sales and by usage in English-language Protestant denominations). As for "revised", the original Standard (= King James) Bible was first published in 1611, with the "Standard" revision in 1769. The "Revised [Standard] Version" debuted in 1881. The NRSV, 1989, and the NRSVue, 2017. On this trajectory, by the end of the century, AI will be producing a new version every 30 seconds or so. [[Special:Contributions/172.71.147.85|172.71.147.85]] 15:25, 15 May 2025 (UTC)

:The US Military has a similar problem: naming a system "Next-Gen [X]" but then the "Next Gen" item eventually becomes the current generation, and is eventually moving towards being obsolete and you need a successor (next-next gen?).[[Special:Contributions/172.69.6.111|172.69.6.111]] 20:05, 14 May 2025 (UTC)
::I guess the phone companies got it right with the 3G, 4G, 5G naming. [[User:Barmar|Barmar]] ([[User talk:Barmar|talk]]) 20:23, 14 May 2025 (UTC)
::: Except for that {{w|10G}} glitch. And Dilbert predicted people copyrighting "8G" years before that. [[Special:Contributions/104.23.172.75|104.23.172.75]] 20:34, 14 May 2025 (UTC)
::There is a (not ''always'' consistent) "nth generation" classification system that is quite developed. The F-22 Raptor is a 5th Generation fighter, for example, with the (next-)next-gen ones being designed for the next decade being 6th. Though, yes, "Next Gen" still pops up (currently the programs I know of are ''mostly'' aimed at the solutions for #6, of course). [[Special:Contributions/141.101.99.129|141.101.99.129]] 22:23, 14 May 2025 (UTC)

Wasn't there an earlier strip describing a similar problem on Wikipedia edits, maybe tied to the {{w|recency bias}}? There's the idea that every more recent slice needs a new, relevant name. It also seems to work going backwards, where humanity's genus, tribe, subfamily, and family are "homo", "hominini", "homininae", and "hominidae" respectively. We seem to crave a name for every arbitrary slice that is relevant for a particular researcher. And now I'm thinking of Futurama's "New New York". I'm surprised there's not already a New New York somewhere. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.233.117|162.158.233.117]] 20:31, 14 May 2025 (UTC)
:Eventually, there'll be a [https://tardis.fandom.com/wiki/New_New_York New New New New New New New New New New New New New New New York]...
:Anyway, I actually live not far from a(nother) {{w|New York#United Kingdom|New York}}, and am also a regular visitor to (old) York. So I may not have been to New York, New York, on my travels, but I've got it covered on both sides. (I ''have'' been to both new Boston ''and'' the old one, but only been to the old Washington, both the original Richmond and its first copycat (but none of the US copycopyⁿcats), etc.) [[Special:Contributions/162.158.216.175|162.158.216.175]] 22:01, 14 May 2025 (UTC)

::Hmmm. I've a suspicion I know who you are.
::I'm gonna say...you ain't heavy? [[User:Yorkshire Pudding|Yorkshire Pudding]] ([[User talk:Yorkshire Pudding|talk]]) 22:16, 14 May 2025 (UTC)
:::Ah, no. Sorry, I'm not aware of any fraternal relationship. Not just not with you, but not with anyone. ;) Nice to know there are potentially more of you out there, though.
:::I also forget where I think you're ''exactly'' from, from past information, but I do know that it's a different corner from me. Though I think you wisely left it vague, and I'm happy to be even vaguer (hence why I supplied multiple possibilities)... I think it's only rather specific (sort-of-)local knowledge that even let guess what more exacting info I ''think'' I know about you. West Riding, for starters, but I'm not going to narrow you down further. :p [[Special:Contributions/172.70.86.134|172.70.86.134]] 22:38, 14 May 2025 (UTC)
::I know where you live now /j [[User:Commercialegg|Commercialegg]] ([[User talk:Commercialegg|talk]]) 00:13, 15 May 2025 (UTC)
:::...to within 3 million acres or so, sure... ...maybe! /jj [[Special:Contributions/172.69.43.221|172.69.43.221]] 05:50, 15 May 2025 (UTC)

Where do I post site suggestions?¿?¿?¿?¿ [[User:Aprilfoolsupdate!|Aprilfoolsupdate!]] ([[User talk:Aprilfoolsupdate!|talk]]) 04:20, 15 May 2025 (UTC)
:What kind of suggestion? (And, for that matter, what kind of site?!?) Though I would probably start by clicking on the Community Portal link in the side navbar over <- there (and up a bit?). Might also be worth seeing if your potential suggestion already has something like it, rather than add a new section the repeats one (or more) past subheader(s). Also might help you find which sub-page suits your particular input. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.43.221|172.69.43.221]] 05:50, 15 May 2025 (UTC)

I remember as a kid asking my parents: "Why does the New Testament look so old?". [[Special:Contributions/162.158.245.161|162.158.245.161]] 06:42, 15 May 2025 (UTC)
: In German it makes sense, sort of - "modern" can also be a verb, meaning "to rot" :-) [[Special:Contributions/162.158.245.137|162.158.245.137]] 06:55, 15 May 2025 (UTC)
:Some Gideon-types (maybe not ''actual'' Gideons, but of the same mind) came to my school one day (possibly they did it every year for each new age of students, never checked) and did a bit of basic god-bothering stuff with us. Either separate from the actual Religious Education class (which might have had more abrahamic=>judeo-christian=>christian=>protestant stuff, at times, but actually ''did'' properly cover other religions and wider belief systems) or as a once-only replacement for it (adjourning from the usual classroom, at its usual time, and instead meeting these 'missonaries' in one of the non-classroom rooms).
:...anyway... we were given handy-sized NTs. (Probably I still have mine, somewhere, because I rarely get rid of any book, of ''any'' kind, but I know other classmates probably were happily scattering them to the four winds as soon as the fancy took them.) My most immediate impression was the disappointment that it was ''just'' the NT. Whatever I thought about the ultimate veracity of either (not much, even at that age), I already knew that all the actual exciting stuff was in the OT. All the 'New' stuff basically boils down to "Be excellent to each other, dudes!" (as paraphrased by Bill and Ted) and a mixed bag of minor peril and miscarriage of justice. Whereas the 'Old' bits has various cities being destroyed, various multigenerational soap-opera plots and ''two'' completely different explanations for how everything began! They don't write 'em like that any more. Well, they do, but between The Book Of Mormon (the Joseph Smith one, not the Broadway one) and the various works of L. Ron Hubbard ("Mission: Earth" was even more escapist than "Battlefield Earth", and would have been even easier to badly make into a movie!) there's a ''lot'' of variation. ;)
:Though given how much might have been lost in translation, maybe I also ought to try reading everythihg in the original Klingon... [[Special:Contributions/172.68.229.139|172.68.229.139]] 08:04, 15 May 2025 (UTC)

Ever notice how the words modern and modem can resemble each other when presented in the correctly chosen typeface, point size and kerning? We could have had a 56k modern if we squinted sideways. [[Special:Contributions/172.71.30.251|172.71.30.251]] 11:56, 15 May 2025 (UTC)

Me when the New Super Mario Bros. series is over a decade old at this point lmao. Also, not willing to delete Incase I'm wrong, but what is this bit about communism and fascism?[[Special:Contributions/172.69.70.13|172.69.70.13]] 12:30, 15 May 2025 (UTC)
:I believe it's being suggested that these particular two 'different' philosophies (not necessarily, though, if one believes they just aimed for the same basic result from different directions) were developed in reaction to the more monarchical systems of government, both given impetus from the experiences of The Great War (though not just that) to create a ''different'' form of figurehead-dominated politics that was considered, by their proponents, a "modern" solution. Over time, various 'problems' were identified (not least WW2, that revealed Fascism's nature, though Communism temporarily ended up in a better position). Much of the rest of the world ended up moving on from the vestiges of 'traditional monarchy' over this time, too, but not the same way (and, arguably, with different problems - many still quite real or possibly getting worse). There are those who may think that Fascism/Communism actually could still work (perhaps if done ''properly''!), but the original eras of these are now more retro than modern so perhaps (unless you're good at rewriting history) not under those particularly poisoned names.
:Or so I understood it. Not sure I'd say it like that, or consider it an apt addition to this article, but then I'm not a professional (political-)historian and don't have the in-depth expertise to judge its accuracy in full. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.86.157|172.70.86.157]] 13:33, 15 May 2025 (UTC)

:: Both 'isms mentioned here have roots a fair bit older than The Great War. The bundle-of-sticks-ism is possibly the oldest form of governance there is, if you define it loosely. (Please note that that is more of a condemnation than endorsement.) --DW [[Special:Contributions/172.69.74.237|172.69.74.237]] 14:02, 15 May 2025 (UTC)
:::Definitely (and I nearly mentioned that Germany copied Italy's model, while Japan joined in from a still Imperial perspective). Though the pressures of fighting WW1 catalysed Russia's revolution (mid-fight) and many other systems (e.g. Italy) developed both -isms to some degree or other; both the Red Flags and the Black Shirts were plentiful enough in Britain, at times, too, interbellum, arguably held off by Churchill (along with other far more dodgy things) before he even had to deal with the next coming war. Spain became the "rehersal" for the various factions. For post-Kaiser Germany, the resulting defeat plus post-Verseilles demands fuelled drives for ''both'' forms of 'socialism' (the 'national' type ending up in total control, now on an Italy+ track such that most people often forget poor old Benito's part in inspiring it), setting up circumstances for the next bout. Not sure that such things could have been avoided, without WW1, but it definitely forced matters and shaped the 'modern' world differently from how it might have done if the First Great War had only boiled over later. (With different personalities, a few of the same original errors, probably a smattering of more advanced mil-tech or lost opportunities to have learnt from earlier (less effective) wide-area weaponry/long-range weaponry against both enemy and civilian targets - a rich vein for alternate history!)
:::But I say this only to help with 5he "what is this about...?", which I took to mean not quite knowing how (in their time) they were considered modern answers to age-old questions, only to become different (and eventually dated) problems on the way to today's (still problematic) future. The old "those that don't learn from history are doomed to repeat it" thing applies in spades, here... [[Special:Contributions/172.69.224.169|172.69.224.169]] 15:03, 15 May 2025 (UTC)

: I agree that seems out of place and not pertinent to the comic itself. It is true that those and other 'isms arose because of societal upheavals associated with various [adj]modern things, but that's trivially true of... almost everything. --DW [[Special:Contributions/172.69.74.237|172.69.74.237]] 14:02, 15 May 2025 (UTC)

: Yes, '''please delete the whole phrase''', "and evolved into Communism, and its counter Fascism" since that statement is altogether false. Communism and Fascism are both a form of Marxist totalitarianism. They only differ in implementation and not in ideology. Communism forbids all private ownership, while fascism allows only that private ownership that subjects itself to control by the state. Possibly, the whole section about labeling political movements unrelated to the comic since it doesn't match the categories and time periods depicted in the comic. I vote to take it all out. [[User:Rtanenbaum|Rtanenbaum]] ([[User talk:Rtanenbaum|talk]]) 16:43, 15 May 2025 (UTC)

== Modern just means "current" ==

I think the text makes it seem like the fact that the name "modern" as a technical term and the normal use of the word are different meanings of the same word is just a coincidence, as if the term "modern" was extended to refer to contemporary events from its use to describe contemporary philosophy and the like. Instead, "the fault", so to say, lies with those who used the word "modern" to describe the philosophy and the like in the first place. From what I can tell, "modern" does originally mean "current" or something close to it. To use it as a descriptor for things that will not stay "modern" is the ultimate cause.

While this can be read into the current article, I think the overall feeling of the article on that issue goes in the wrong direction. [[User:Theanswertolifetheuniverseandeverything|Theanswertolifetheuniverseandeverything]] ([[User talk:Theanswertolifetheuniverseandeverything|talk]]) 15:22, 15 May 2025 (UTC)

Talk:3084: Unstoppable Force and Immovable Object

2025-05-03T11:17:33Z

Rtanenbaum: Just go around the object

lol, i remember this explanation from a minutephysics video. however, the version of the problem i heard, which is actually paradoxical, is "what happens when an immovable object meets an '''irresistible''' force?" [[User:Not without text|Not without text]] ([[User talk:Not without text|talk]]) 00:03, 3 May 2025 (UTC)
:That was also literally my first thought. [[169]], anyone? --[[User:Coconut Galaxy|Coconut Galaxy]] ([[User talk:Coconut Galaxy|talk]]) 05:37, 3 May 2025 (UTC)
:The MinutePhysics video: [https://nebula.tv/videos/minute-physics-immovable-object-vs-unstoppable-force-which-wins/ on Nebula] or [https://youtu.be/9eKc5kgPVrA on YouTube] --[[User:NeatNit|NeatNit]] ([[User talk:NeatNit|talk]]) 09:55, 3 May 2025 (UTC)

Come on, it's just an arrow made of W- bosons, right? [[User:TheTrainsKid|TheTrainsKid]] ([[User talk:TheTrainsKid|talk]]) 03:22, 3 May 2025 (UTC)
Is there no joke here? Is it just the solution? [[User:Broseph|Broseph]] ([[User talk:Broseph|talk]]) 06:52, 3 May 2025 (UTC)

I remember an explanation by Isaac Asimov in one of his books which was like "by definition, an immovable object will not move at all under any force in the universe, and an unstoppable force will move all of the objects in this way" and then explained how the definitions conflicted each other and as such prevented both from being able to register for the hypothetical at the same time [[Special:Contributions/172.64.236.161|172.64.236.161]] 06:55, 3 May 2025 (UTC)

In the first MMO games, collision was a big problem. A player could block a doorway, and nobody else could go through. It was even worse if the player had "follower" characters or pets.
One solution was to have characters automatically "push" stationary characters out of the way, but that caused other problems. Modern MMO's such as World of Warcraft simply allow characters to pass through each other, as depicted in this xkcd comic. Our eyes fool us into "seeing" that two characters somehow slid past each other. [[Special:Contributions/172.68.228.132|172.68.228.132]] 07:29, 3 May 2025 (UTC)

When the two things pass through each other, at the instant where they both occupy exactly the same space, is there one object or two? [[Special:Contributions/162.158.216.159|162.158.216.159]] 08:02, 3 May 2025 (UTC)
:Given that force is not an object, one. Just like there was when they weren't colocated. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.43.220|172.69.43.220]] 08:29, 3 May 2025 (UTC)

The force could simply go around the object. The object hasn't moved, and the force wasn't stopped. [[User:Rtanenbaum|Rtanenbaum]] ([[User talk:Rtanenbaum|talk]]) 11:17, 3 May 2025 (UTC)

Talk:3082: Chess Position

2025-04-29T16:15:51Z

Rtanenbaum: Kasparov and vortex are linked in more than one place

This is very nearly the core plot conceit of the movie ''Π'' (1998). [[Special:Contributions/172.70.130.190|172.70.130.190]] 22:36, 28 April 2025 (UTC)
:I believe you want lower-case Pi: π not Π. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pi_(film) --[[User:PRR|PRR]] ([[User talk:PRR|talk]]) 22:54, 28 April 2025 (UTC)
::Unless they're talking about an obscure spinoff where the protagonist becomes weirdly obsessed with the products of sequences of numbers. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.195.180|172.69.195.180]] 14:47, 29 April 2025 (UTC)

Does anybody know whether Randall has taken up chess as a hobby? 5 of the 82 comics in the 3000s have been related to chess and only 2 in the 2000s were. If so, this should be included in the explanation. [[User:BobcatInABox|BobcatInABox]] ([[User talk:BobcatInABox|talk]]) 23:11, 28 April 2025 (UTC)
:3000s? [[Special:Contributions/172.71.190.236|172.71.190.236]] 23:40, 28 April 2025 (UTC)
:Oh right comic number not decade/millennium. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.43.157|172.70.43.157]] 23:41, 28 April 2025 (UTC)
:Wouldn't surprise me, there's a three year gap in between chess comics 2465 (May 2021) and 2936 (May 2024), then the aforementioned 5 in 5 months. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.114.251|172.70.114.251]] 00:46, 29 April 2025 (UTC)

I really suspect that the full explanation has something to do with this: https://www.kasparov.com/the-implacable-logic-of-the-vortex-of-history/ [[Special:Contributions/172.68.7.206|172.68.7.206]] 23:34, 28 April 2025 (UTC) Dan
: Doubtful, that article was written in 2013, and it is unlikely that Randall came upon it just now to make this comic. Vortex is a general term for something that sucks you in. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.214.66|172.70.214.66]] 00:38, 29 April 2025 (UTC)
: Quite possible, since simple web search on Garry Kasparov reveals the aforementioned article about Kasparov's theories of the "vortex of history'. And there is a PlayStation game called "Virtual Kasparov" which is reviewed on the PlayStation review site [https://www.gamevortex.com/psillustrated/soft_rev.php/748 Virtual Kasparov on GameVortex.com]. So, there are at least two places where Kasparov and the word vortex are connected. The term "vortex" would be very tempting for Randall to exploit for comic effect. [[User:Rtanenbaum|Rtanenbaum]] ([[User talk:Rtanenbaum|talk]]) 16:15, 29 April 2025 (UTC)

I sure hope that it stays as not a real thing [[User:Commercialegg|Commercialegg]] ([[User talk:Commercialegg|talk]]) 01:32, 29 April 2025 (UTC)
: It might not be, but it's easy enough to make: Train an adversarial network on human chess games. [[Special:Contributions/172.68.22.41|172.68.22.41]] 04:56, 29 April 2025 (UTC)

The part about losing the ability to play chess even after building a resistance feels familiar. Isn't that how the Elder Scrolls worked in Skyrim, at least. Even highly trained sages would lose the ability to see for a time after reading an Elder Scroll. And the Oblivion remaster just released the other day... --[[User:Ragashingo|Ragashingo]] ([[User talk:Ragashingo|talk]]) 01:54, 29 April 2025 (UTC)

----
Cf Von Gom's Gambit by [Victor Contoski](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Victor_Contoski) published in The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, December 1966:

And what of Von Goom's Gambit? Chess is a game of logic. Thirty-two pieces move on a board of sixty-four squares, colored alternately dark and light. As they move they form patterns. Some of these patterns are pleasing to the logical mind of man, and some are not. They show what man is capable of and what is beyond his Take any position of the pieces on the chessboard. Usually it tells of the logical or semi-logical plans of the players, their strategy in playing for a win or a draw, and their personalities. If you see a pattern from the King s Gambit Accepted, you know that both players are tacticians, that the fight will be brief but fierce...
Now suppose someone discovers by accident or design a pattern on the chessboard that is more than displeasing, an alien pattern that tells unspeakable things about the mind of the player, man in general and the order of the universe. Suppose no normal man can look at such a pattern and remain normal. Surely such a pattern must have been formed by Von Goom’s Gambit.

I wish the story could end here, but I fear it will not end for a long time. History has shown that discoveries cannot be unmade. Two months ago in Camden, New Jersey, a forty-tliree year old man was found turned to stone staring at a position on a chessboard... {{unsigned ip|162.158.217.38|05:22, 29 April 2025}}

3050: Atom

2025-02-13T20:25:23Z

Rtanenbaum:

{{distinguish|1490: Atoms}}
{{comic
| number = 3050
| date = February 12, 2025
| title = Atom
| image = atom_2x.png
| imagesize = 281x385px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = What's weirder is that muons turned out to be INCREDIBLY cute.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by a wobbly and wet BOT - Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
Atoms are typically very, very small, and [[1490: Atoms|generally]] cannot be seen with the naked eye nor individually discernable with human hands (despite almost all things that they can touch, and even themselves, being ''made'' of atoms). The humor here comes from the fact that atoms, normally intangible in a singular form, have been given a large physical presence that apparently feels gross and nonsensical. The characters in the comic have found this out using a so-called "quantum expander device" which would be a huge advance in modern physics (and possibly quite dangerous) if it existed, but unfortunately/fortunately it does not.

Although electrons are often depicted as orbiting an atomic nucleus very similarly to how planets orbit the Sun, this is an extremely simplistic model of how the electrons are positioned. Students are often taught a succession of more complex models over several years of schooling. In reality, [[2100: Models of the Atom|current understanding of]] the behavior of electrons is ruled by quantum mechanics and {{w|Uncertainty_principle|Heisenberg’s Uncertainty Principle}}. An electron doesn't have a single exact location relative to the nucleus; rather, its location is probabilistic. It can be considered to be "smeared out", with specific locations in space having higher or lower concentrations. This is often visualized to be similar to how a meteorological cloud can be dense or thin. It's often depicted by showing the shapes of the electron density patterns with varying intensities of color, or densely-packed dots vs. spread-out dots. This is sometimes referred to as the "electron cloud model", though electrons aren't ''really'' composed of tiny droplets. A cloud in the sky contains water, [https://gpm.nasa.gov/resources/faq/what-are-clouds-made-are-they-more-likely-form-polluted-air-or-pristine-air] and is often assumed to be wet, but could be anything from vapour to ice-crystals. The feel of wetness is also a lot more complicated than we might think. Everybody knows what something wet feels like,{{Citation needed}} but there are no "wetness"-detecting cells in the skin. Apparently the brain uses various clues like temperature and pressure, along with past experiences, to determine when something feels "wet". [https://issuu.com/university_of_southampton/docs/reaction_magazine_winter_2021/s/14454287]

There are mathematical techniques known as "quantum expanders" which reveal more detail and better understanding about the statistical probabilities of the "quantum cloud". The joke is that someone created a device that actually expands the atom to a scale that it can be held in one's hands and the electron cloud could be felt.

Scientists generally wear latex gloves when touching certain subjects of study, certainly those that are expected to be damp, and perhaps [[Ponytail]] and [[Cueball]] should be doing that here.

The title text expands on this, claiming that muons, a type of subatomic particle, apparently are "cute" despite ordinarily being subatomic particles with a mean lifetime of 2.2 microseconds, [[3043: Muons|give or take]]. Muons might be considered cute because they're small — like electrons and tau particles, they are considered to be point phenomena at the quantum level with no practical physical size (at or below {{w|Planck units#Planck length|subatomic Planck-scale}}), although ''possibly'' that (and the time they last) changes as a function of the quantum expander being applied to them. It might possibly also reference a certain way of pronouncing "muon", which starts with a "mew" sound, which in turn is associated with kittens (and {{w|Mew (Pokémon)|a fairly cute Pokémon}}).

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

:[Cueball is holding in one hand, away from himself, an atom approximately the size of his head with shaky lines drawn around the atom. Ponytail has her hand near the atom and her other hand above her chin. Hairy stands to the right of Ponytail.]
:Cueball: Ugh, the electron cloud is so weird and wobbly! I hate it!
:Ponytail: Why is it so wet? How can it even ''be'' wet?
:Hairy: I don't want to do physics anymore.

:[Caption below the panel:]
:When our lab was building the quantum expander device, we didn't expect our first discovery to be "atoms are really gross."

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Ponytail]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Hairy]]
[[Category:Physics]]
[[Category:Chemistry]]

Talk:3047: Rotary Tool

2025-02-05T22:38:09Z

Rtanenbaum:

How come it's at 0.017 RPM for a minute?? and yet 1 RPM for a second? pls fix this randall [[User:Midnightvortigaunt|Midnightvortigaunt]] ([[User talk:Midnightvortigaunt|talk]]) 18:01, 5 February 2025 (UTC)
:Its 0.017 RPM for the minute hand. The minute hand revolves once per hour or at 1/60 RPM ≈ 0,017 RPM --[[Special:Contributions/172.71.148.59|172.71.148.59]] 18:14, 5 February 2025 (UTC)
::Ohhh that makes sense I didn't think about it like that [[User:Midnightvortigaunt|Midnightvortigaunt]] ([[User talk:Midnightvortigaunt|talk]]) 19:27, 5 February 2025 (UTC)

How come the comment above is invisible to me? [[Special:Contributions/172.68.245.229|172.68.245.229]] 18:03, 5 February 2025 (UTC)
:Possibly because people indented with spaces rather than with colons? [[Special:Contributions/162.158.79.77|162.158.79.77]] 19:40, 5 February 2025 (UTC)

72 RPM for a record player...? [[Special:Contributions/162.158.74.25|162.158.74.25]] 18:08, 5 February 2025 (UTC)
:I could only find 78 RPM disks in the german wikipedia. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.114.56|172.70.114.56]] 18:41, 5 February 2025 (UTC)
:I came here to make the same comment: 72 is most probably a typo. The old records (at this date, '''very''' old, since the transition to vinyl records was 1948 to 1958 (in the US)) were 78 rpm, not 72 rpm https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phonograph_record [[User:Rps|Rps]] ([[User talk:Rps|talk]]) 19:30, 5 February 2025 (UTC)

We need one of those tables in here. [[User:DollarStoreBa'al|DollarStoreBa'al]] ([[User talk:DollarStoreBa'al|talk]]) 18:37, 5 February 2025 (UTC)

There used to be a record label call 72RPM records. {{unsigned ip|172.69.229.146|19:07, 5 February 2025 (UTC)}}

I made a change to the explanation that all of these numbers are realistic because, I checked out the speed of dental drills and they really do rotate that fast. I haven't checked out all of the other tools, but I suspect that they are also accurate. If you find that any of them are misstated, please correct my correction. [[User:Rtanenbaum|Rtanenbaum]] ([[User talk:Rtanenbaum|talk]]) 22:38, 5 February 2025 (UTC)

'''TABLE REQUEST'''
When someone uploads a table, I'd like to recommend a second column for the frequency / reciprocal of the speed. "0.000000000073 minutes" is one every 13.7 billion minutes, or ~26,000 years. Thanks! [[Special:Contributions/172.70.46.107|172.70.46.107]] 20:20, 5 February 2025 (UTC)

'''TRIVIA''' 16 2/3 RPM phonographs were used for some voice-recorings back in the day. [[Special:Contributions/172.68.26.24|172.68.26.24]] 21:01, 5 February 2025 (UTC)

Is that dental drill speed accurate, or is he just making an "I hate getting my teeth drilled" joke? [[Special:Contributions/162.158.212.173|162.158.212.173]] 22:34, 5 February 2025 (UTC)

3047: Rotary Tool

2025-02-05T22:33:40Z

Rtanenbaum: All of these numbers are real.

{{comic
| number = 3047
| date = February 5, 2025
| title = Rotary Tool
| image = rotary_tool_2x.png
| imagesize = 528x468px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = It was great until my thumb slipped and I accidentally launched my telescope into the air at Mach 8.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by a NEWLY LAUNCHED ORBITAL TELESCOPE BOT. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

The comic depicts a handheld tool with a slider that allows the user to select various speed settings. Presumably the tool has a rotating part at one end, similar to a handheld drill or electric screwdriver.

All of these speeds are sensible. The speed of the dental drill might seem excessive. But according to [https://sableindustriesinc.com/what-is-a-high-speed-handpiece-how-it-works-speed-more/ Sable Industries], a manufacturer of high-speed dental drills, they can run "at speeds of between 300,000 and 450,000 RPM." They squirt water as they rotate to cool them down, so they don't overheat.

The precession setting refers to the {{w|precession of the equinoxes}}, which happens on a 26,000-year cycle that corresponds to the RPM rate shown. The average person does not need to adjust their telescope for such minor shifts, certainly not on a constant basis.{{cn}} This may be beneficial for scientists making precise measurements but they would have more powerful and dedicated tools to this end. For commercial use by the public, this would not be remotely necessary.

The latter case is referenced in the title text, as the user's finger slipped and accidentally changed the tool to a higher speed setting while attempting to use the "sidereal telescope mount" option with an actual telescope, lauching it into the air at a {{w|hypersonic speed}}.

Note: The 72 rpm number for a record player is likely in error. The most popular record formats were 33, 45 and '''78''' rpm.

The speeds labeled "record player" are intended to correspond to standard rotational speeds of {{w|Phonograph record|phonograph records}}. The intended playback speed standardized at 78 rpm (not 72 rpm as depicted in the comic) in the 1920s, with a diameter of 10 inches. The speed and size, as well as the required width of the groove encoding the music, dictated a playing time of about 3 1/2 minutes per side. Beginning in the late 1940s, records designed to be played back at 33 1/3 rpm (close enough to the 33 rpm in the comic) were produced, to allow longer play times (hence the LP designation, for "long play") on similar-sized records, which standardized on a 12 inch diameter. This was commonly used to release an "album" of songs, totaling about 22 minutes per side. Concurrently, an alternate format, 7 inch diameter records designed to be played at 45 rpm, was produced, allowing about 5 minutes per side. This was often used to release "singles" (a single song on each side of the record). The 33 1/3 and 45 rpm playback speeds supplanted 78 rpm, and remain the standards today.

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

:Multi-function rotary tool

:[A slider on the side of a tool with various settings.]
:Speed (rpm) Function
:0.000000000073: Sidereal mount precession adapter
:0.00070: Sidereal telescope mount
:[Following three are labeled "clock hands":]
:0.0014: h
:0.017: m
:1: s
:[Following three are labeled "record player":]
:33: 33
:45: 45
:72: 72
:300: Screwdriver [Current setting]
:1500: Drill
:2500: Airplane propeller
:35 000: Dremel
:60 000: Uranium enrichment centrifuge
:300 000: Dental drill

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Telescopes]]

Talk:3034: Features of Adulthood

2025-01-07T19:45:08Z

Rtanenbaum: Tires are less prone to flats than they used to be

No comments yet? Probably everyone's still considering the filling in of the table. As for me, I just put a load of words in about the middle name(s), but perhaps it drifts and could be cut back a lot. However, I think we do know a lot of middle names of people, especially [[2393: Presidential Middle Names|politicians]]. Or at least use their middle initials (like with "John F[itzgerald]. Kennedy"), even if we don't use their full names (like with "Harry S. Truman"... :p ). Not that I've had much experience with middle names. Don't have one myself. Knew a couple of people at school who would admit to having them (one had "Colin", the other had "Douglas"), which weren't really names given to people our age and location, so they ''must'' have been grandparental honorifics (though I'm not sure the names were right for two generations back, either... never enquired further, but maybe they were being traditional ''middle'' names, inherited but never really used). To my knowledge, neither the "Colin" nor the "Douglas" ever went on to use those in post-school life, but at least one of them also changed from their first name as their habitual name to be known by, and likely they prefered to go for something altogether new. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.195.27|172.69.195.27]] 03:23, 7 January 2025 (UTC)
:In Denmark middle names are common, and Kynde is actually my middle name... Many people use their second name like their first, which can be confusing in work places where the e-mail is auto generated from full name, so no one can find Nicolai, because his first name is Christian... which he never uses. Have more than one of those here at my job. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 11:56, 7 January 2025 (UTC)
::In Denmark middle names are necessary. Otherwise we'd be lost in a vast sea of Jens Jensen, Hans Hansen and Niels Nielsen. Min farfar Niels Peder Nielsen, hedde altid Peder, ikke Niels. {{unsigned ip|108.162.238.139|13:58, 7 January 2025}}

Unexplained smells or noises: I'm trying to figure out what he means by this. I can't say that this comes up often in my adult life. Am I just deaf and {{w|Anosmia|anosmic}} (I don't think so)? Is Randall worried about gas leaks or his house creaking and falling down? What could he be referencing? [[User:Mtcv|Mtcv]] ([[User talk:Mtcv|talk]]) 09:29, 7 January 2025 (UTC)
:I often smell something that others cannot or do not. So I'm completely at par with Randall here. Just now my office has a damp smell, after new people moved their things into my office replacing earlier office mates (four in the room). I'm sure it is some of their stuff that smells, but since the hole room is permeated with the smell, it has not been possible for me to find out what could cause the smell. But have tried this many times, for instance when someone leaves a citrus fruit to rot. Some people just cannot smell the fruit whereas I'm getting an instant headache from it. Also in my office, the guy with the rotten fruit, actually destroying his backpack, could not smell it, whereas other people could smell it down the hall. But inside the office it was hard to pinpoint the source as for those that could smell it is was all over the room. I could go on... --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 11:57, 7 January 2025 (UTC)

''"In later life, a person may drop the use of middle names (or, conversely, adopt only them as the name they are known by) and the unwieldy complete set of names becomes less common, as they may be considered unprofessional and unnecessary."'' -- What? Who says middle names may be considered unprofessional? Never heard of this before. --[[Special:Contributions/172.70.55.140|172.70.55.140]] 14:55, 7 January 2025 (UTC)

Just popping in to explain where this comic came from. It's an adaptation of [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L8l6mJQeclo an old John Mulaney bit] that makes the rounds every so often on social media unattributed. (Example: [https://x.com/tmorello/status/463160714337603584 Tom Morello stealing the bit] over ten years ago on what was then Twitter.) [[Special:Contributions/172.69.58.74|172.69.58.74]] 18:23, 7 January 2025 (UTC)

As someone born before 1960 who grew up when espionage shows were prevalent on television and toy spy gadgets were prevalent in toy stores, it is amusing to me the difference in what children thought about passwords then and how we use passwords now.--[[Special:Contributions/172.70.83.55|172.70.83.55]] 18:42, 7 January 2025 (UTC)

Yeah, I was also born before 1960 and I can attest that flat tires were very common then, and every kid learning how to drive also practiced changing the tire. The tire could go flat when you just hit a pothole or hit the curb. I clearly expected to have to deal with flat tires frequently. However, with the advent of radial steel tires, flats are very infrequent unless you pick up a nail or something. So nowadays, flat tires are almost nonexistent. I can now go for years without a flat. In this case change in frequency was because of changed technology rather than changed perception. [[User:Rtanenbaum|Rtanenbaum]] ([[User talk:Rtanenbaum|talk]]) 19:45, 7 January 2025 (UTC)

3005: Disposal

2024-10-31T11:12:57Z

Rtanenbaum:

{{comic
| number = 3005
| date = October 30, 2024
| title = Disposal
| image = disposal_2x.png
| imagesize = 740x331px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = We were disappointed that the rocket didn't make a THOOOONK noise when it went into the tube, but we're setting up big loudspeakers for future launches to add the sound effect.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by a MINESHAFT-TARGETING ROCKET - Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

This comic is about humorous solutions to problems. Instead of trying to make a rocket that doesn’t explode upon impact, [[Randall]]’s team has decided to make a rocket disposal hole, hence the comic name.

SpaceX initially had many instances of explosions on impact during testing, as illustrated in [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bvim4rsNHkQ#this montage].

This comic came out about 2 weeks after {{w|SpaceX}} successfully caught the returning [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SpaceX_Super_Heavy Super Heavy booster rocket] using giant arms on the launch tower.

The title seems to refer to the sound effects of dragging an element into the trash on computers. Or, alternatively, the sound of a canister being sucked into a vacuum tube.

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

:[A two-stage rocket is ascending with a plume of exhaust behind it]
:[The first stage falls off and the second stage ignites]
:[The first stage begins to fall, turned off]
:[The first stage reignites to control trajectory and attitude]
:[The first stage falls toward a large hole with a lid. A Cueball is holding the lid open]
:[Cueball pushes the lid closed]
:Click
:[The first stage, now out of sight, explodes, Cueball shielding his ears and flinching away from the loud noise]
:BOOOOM
:Caption below comic:
:Our rockets were good at steering, but we couldn't get them to land without exploding, so we just dug a rocket disposal hole.

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Space]]

Talk:3005: Disposal

2024-10-31T11:08:47Z

Rtanenbaum: "THOOOONK" Sound

That's either a giant Cueball, or a really tiny rocket. [[User:Barmar|Barmar]] ([[User talk:Barmar|talk]]) 23:05, 30 October 2024 (UTC)
:It's an Electron? Or maybe Falcon 1? [[User:Redacted II|Redacted II]] ([[User talk:Redacted II|talk]]) 00:23, 31 October 2024 (UTC)

It seems strange to me to see Randall drawing a rocket landing with its engine pointing upward instead of downward, when he traditionally has expressed so much interest in rocket and space physics. It's also notable that the rocket-landing problem was solved by others before SpaceX was considered to have, I bumped into a successful project on a maker site in the past couple years. [[Special:Contributions/172.68.3.71|172.68.3.71]] 01:23, 31 October 2024 (UTC)
:SpaceX was the first to propulsively land an orbital booster. [[User:Redacted II|Redacted II]] ([[User talk:Redacted II|talk]]) 01:39, 31 October 2024 (UTC)
:Re downward-pointing, there's a possible side-reference to [[1133: Up Goer Five]]'s "you will not go to space today". But I think it's more that if you have the ability to send it down a hole to explode, you have no reason to finesse the (non-)landing and might as well just thread it in under as much of the full propulsion as you can handle.
:And the conceit of the rocket-tech is that they've solved the position+direction issue 'perfectly', even if they haven't solved the "how to then stop it just before/as it reaches the ground" and/or any usable ways of standing/hanging it upright once it does.
:It's a 7+D problem. Attaining a precise position (x,y,z) with a precise velocity (dx,dy,dz) in at least one precise angle (verticality; plus possibly also others, if rotation is important, plus dθ and dφ at near-zero) and at least to one further limit (fuel remaining >=0). 'All' Cueball's rocket has to do is to perfect 5 or 6 dimensional properties (thread through x,y,z, being aimed in a vertically downwards (or, at a push, upwards) orientation and no ''excessive'' horizontal motion... all the rest can be fudged somewhat). And no additional weight needed for landing/catching points. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.8|141.101.98.8]] 03:15, 31 October 2024 (UTC)
:The extra energy from impacting at high speed ensures the rocket is thoroughly disassembled for maximum packing efficiency. [[User:RegularSizedGuy|RegularSizedGuy]] ([[User talk:RegularSizedGuy|talk]]) 06:24, 31 October 2024 (UTC)
:I do not think it strange for the rocket engine pointing upwards, I think it funny. It was definitely on purpose. Sebastian --[[Special:Contributions/172.68.110.148|172.68.110.148]] 08:05, 31 October 2024 (UTC)

There’s a Space Category, and a Kerbal program Category and a Mars Rover Category, why not a Rocket category? I propose on creating one. All in favor? [[User:42.book.addict|42.book.addict]] ([[User talk:42.book.addict|talk]]) 02:33, 31 October 2024 (UTC)
:AYE! [[User:B_for_brain|B for brain]] ([[User_talk:B_for_brain|talk]]) ([https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCg4bo-hj-mDyOOUp_Yp0pug youtube channel] [https://bforbrain.weebly.com/ wobsite (supposed to be a blag)]) 09:43, 31 October 2024 (UTC)

I remember when businesses would use canisters to hold receipts and send them through vacuum tubes from the checkout to accounting. The canisters would make a "THOOOONK" sound when sucked into the vacuum tubes. I suggest that is why the comic is expecting a "THOOOONK" sound when the rocket enters the disposal site. [[User:Rtanenbaum|Rtanenbaum]] ([[User talk:Rtanenbaum|talk]]) 11:08, 31 October 2024 (UTC)

Talk:3001: Temperature Scales

2024-10-22T14:19:16Z

Rtanenbaum: Fehrenheit is least cursed

Shouldn't Rankine say "0ºR is set to absolute zero"? {{unsigned ip|172.70.230.29|22:58, 21 October 2024 (UTC)}}
:Yep. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.186.253|162.158.186.253]] 04:38, 22 October 2024 (UTC)

yo,i thought comic 300 was anticlimactic so randall would make this one COOL but sadly not
Same. Hope he does something cool for 3072.[[Special:Contributions/172.69.134.225|172.69.134.225]] 23:44, 21 October 2024 (UTC)

really he didn't do anything special for this either? come ON randall if you don't do something cool for comic 3072 i will come to your house personally and yell at you [[User:RadiantRainwing|RadiantRainwing]] ([[User talk:RadiantRainwing|talk]]) 23:57, 21 October 2024 (UTC)

 
What's random about Fahrenheit? (Answer: nothing.) 0F is the freezing point of brine, 100F (or 98.7) is the human body temperature. [[Special:Contributions/172.68.54.65|172.68.54.65]] 00:00, 22 October 2024 (UTC)
:What concentration of brine? (And which specific salt... No, not NaCl, as you might presume but NH4Cl!)
:And body temperature varies a lot ('typically' 36.5–37.5°C or 97.7–99.5°F, though even this range is thought to be too small), across genders, individuals, time of day ''and'' which orifices/surfaces you try to measure it from. (Originally, it was set so that '''90°F''' was to be the 'best guess' of human body temperature. It gradually changed, including via various {{w|Human body temperature#Historical understanding|compounded misunderstandings}} so that the best you can say is that 100°F is arbitrarily ''slightly above'' most afebrile human body temperature measurements.)
:Celsius might be a bit off (arguments about triple-point or STP freezing, etc), but it still has far more physical logic to it. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.160.188|172.70.160.188]] 01:14, 22 October 2024 (UTC)

Sorry, Randall, for my comfort, Fahrenheit is the least cursed. It's the best scale to use for my personal use, especially when hearing the weather report and deciding what to wear outdoors: temp in the 80's - no jacket. temp in 70's - maybe a windbreaker if it's breezy. 60's - sweater weather. 50's - medium weight coat. 40's - winter coat. 30'3 - winter coat with scarf and gloves. 20's - multiple layers. teens - stay indoors. None of the other scales provide such convenient distinctions for my daily life. Kelvin is great for astro physics or super conductivity, but useless for any common uses. Celsius is great for hanging out with the Euro crowd but still not so useful to scale my home thermostat. I judge Fahrenheit as 1.0 for cursedness. [[User:Rtanenbaum|Rtanenbaum]] ([[User talk:Rtanenbaum|talk]]) 14:19, 22 October 2024 (UTC)

Personally, I'm most disappointed that {{w|Delisle scale}} was not represented... [[Special:Contributions/172.70.160.188|172.70.160.188]] 01:14, 22 October 2024 (UTC)
: I was so hoping for a {{w|Planck temperature}} quip. Like: "Water freezing point: 0; Water boiling point: 0; Notes: 1 = highest possible temperature (1.4E32K) where thermal radiation creates black holes; Cursedness: 0/0" [[Special:Contributions/162.158.164.184|162.158.164.184]] 01:27, 22 October 2024 (UTC)
:: Same here. Freezing is 0.000000000000000000000000000001928 and boiling is 0.0000000000000000000000000000026338. [[User:DanielLC|DanielLC]] ([[User talk:DanielLC|talk]]) 03:38, 22 October 2024 (UTC)
::: Wow, those are even smaller than the IEEE floating point representations of 1-1.0/3*3! [[Special:Contributions/162.158.90.109|162.158.90.109]] 03:59, 22 October 2024 (UTC)

I guess I was wrong in my comment on the last comic. sigh. -[[User:Psychoticpotato|P?sych??otic?pot??at???o ]] ([[User talk:Psychoticpotato|talk]]) 01:16, 22 October 2024 (UTC)

It's actually spelled {{w|Wedgwood scale}}, not Wedgewood. [[User:Wilh3lm|Wilh3lm]] ([[User talk:Wilh3lm|talk]]) 01:17, 22 October 2024 (UTC)

I still call the modern version of the "Celsius" scale "centigrade", but if people start nitpicking, I'm happy to switch to "Carolus" to avoid ambiguity. For some reason that tends to annoy people more though. [[Special:Contributions/172.68.22.191|172.68.22.191]] 01:32, 22 October 2024 (UTC)

Every temperature scale is equally "random" as every other scale. People always say that Celsius is so much better because it's defined by the phase changes of water. Okay, cool...why should THAT of all things be what we use as the base for a system of temperature measurement? And, who cares? I'm a ''Homo sapiens'', not a water molecule. If anything we should use the freezing and melting points of humans as our two reference points for temperature (which, I must say, Fahrenheit approximates better than Celsius, assuming 0 and 100 are your points "A" and "B"). [[User:Pie Guy|Pie Guy]] ([[User talk:Pie Guy|talk]]) 03:42, 22 October 2024 (UTC)
: Every temperature scale is arbitrary, but since boiling and freezing water is a thing humans have a lot of experience with it makes sense to use that as the reference point. At least it makes more sense than whatever the coldest recorded temperature in Fahrenheit's home town was, because he didn't like negative numbers [[Special:Contributions/172.70.250.23|172.70.250.23]] 03:56, 22 October 2024 (UTC)
::Planck temperature (as above) is probably the least arbitrary, and some would say it is to some extent free from arbitrariness. However, it's completely impractical for everyday use (as above.) [[Special:Contributions/172.69.34.138|172.69.34.138]] 04:31, 22 October 2024 (UTC)
:::Do the physics of black holes or neutron stars involve Planck temperatures greater than 0.0000001? [[User:Liv2splain|Liv2splain]] ([[User talk:Liv2splain|talk]]) 07:23, 22 October 2024 (UTC)
::::Chat Gippity told me:

:::::Black holes and neutron stars do not typically involve temperatures reaching the Planck scale. While both objects exhibit extreme physical conditions, their temperatures are far below the Planck temperature, even though they can be incredibly high compared to everyday phenomena.

::::: - **Neutron stars** have surface temperatures in the range of millions of Kelvin, and the core can reach even higher, possibly up to a few billion Kelvin. These temperatures are still vastly lower than the Planck temperature.

::::: - **Black holes**, especially the smaller ones, can emit Hawking radiation, with temperatures inversely proportional to their mass. However, the temperature of even a very small black hole is still far below the Planck temperature. Hawking radiation is not expected to reach temperatures close to the Planck scale under normal circumstances.

::::: The Planck temperature (TP=1) represents an energy scale so extreme that no known physical models, including those describing black holes and neutron stars, operate near or above this threshold. Temperatures reaching **0.0000001 TP** (or 1.416 × 10^26 K) would still be beyond current observational and theoretical frameworks related to these cosmic objects. A quantum theory of gravity would be required to describe physics at or near the Planck temperature, which remains speculative and is far beyond the conditions found in black holes or neutron stars.

::::[[User:Liv2splain|Liv2splain]] ([[User talk:Liv2splain|talk]]) 08:46, 22 October 2024 (UTC)

If the °X scale is based on the temperatures of Earth from all time (for some definition of "Earth"), then the scale is very hard to define and highly impractical. The earth appears to have gotten to more than 2,300 Kelvin (hot enough to melt steel and platinum and to boil lead) and while I can't find any sources for the lowest temperature, I imagine it is lower than -100°C. The recorded minimum, maximum and average temperatures appear to be around -89.2 °C, 56.7 °C and 15 °C respectively. This would make the scale somewhat useful, but this would make typical values between 41 °X (cold winter's day) and 68 °X (hot summers day) which I think is pretty cursed. I recommend the clearly superior °Y, based around average temp at 0 °Y, low at -100 °Y and high at 100 °Y. These would be measured by the yearly high, low and mean temperatures averaged per person. Then saying "It's 2 times colder than yesterday" would have some reasonable meaning. --[[Special:Contributions/198.41.236.147|198.41.236.147]] 04:01, 22 October 2024 (UTC)
:"''Record'' ... surface temperature" implies it was recorded. [[Special:Contributions/172.68.22.9|172.68.22.9]] 04:08, 22 October 2024 (UTC)

How do you all feel about adding an additional column for room temperature 22C/72F?
{| class=wikitable style="text-align:right;"
! scope="col" | Unit
! scope="col" | Room temperature
|-
| Celsius || 22
|-
| Kelvin || 295
|-
| Fahrenheit || 72
|-
| Réaumur || 18
|-
| Rømer || 18
|-
| Rankine || 531
|-
| Newton || 7
|-
| Wedgwood || -7
|-
| Galen || 0
|-
| ''Real'' Celsius || 78
|-
| °X || 58
|}

Or 0.00000000000000000000000000000208 °Planck, lol. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.245.211|108.162.245.211]] 05:36, 22 October 2024 (UTC)
:I feel like decigalens would be the most practical unit. Who's with me? [[Special:Contributions/162.158.186.5|162.158.186.5]] 06:20, 22 October 2024 (UTC)
::It's interesting; calculating the equilibrium temperature (with 2.05 and 4.24 being used for the heat capacities of ice and boiling water) gives 67... If I use water that's about to freeze and steam, I get 31. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.0.178|172.69.0.178]] 07:59, 22 October 2024 (UTC)
:::Would you please explain in more detail? [[User:Liv2splain|Liv2splain]] ([[User talk:Liv2splain|talk]]) 09:03, 22 October 2024 (UTC)

Question regarding the X scale - when it‘s defined by *three* (somewhat, implying average is real and not just calculated by (max-min)/2)) independent points, how will linearity be achieved? [[Special:Contributions/162.158.155.76|162.158.155.76]] 05:43, 22 October 2024 (UTC)
[[File:Explanation length.png|right|thumb|Or click "[Expand]" in the bottom right table cell Derivation.]]
:Please see [[2701: Change in Slope]]. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.206.179|172.70.206.179]] 05:50, 22 October 2024 (UTC)
:Sure, "a linear scale between each point":
[[File:XvsC.png|thumb|left|Here you go. [[User:Liv2splain|Liv2splain]] ([[User talk:Liv2splain|talk]]) 06:33, 22 October 2024 (UTC)]]
{{clear}}

The reference for the average surface temperature, https://www.space.com/17816-earth-temperature.html, suggests it has increased above 15°C. What value should we use in late 2024? [[User:Liv2splain|Liv2splain]] ([[User talk:Liv2splain|talk]]) 07:30, 22 October 2024 (UTC)
:The [https://wmo.int/media/news/earth-experiences-warmest-day-recent-history World Meteorological Organization], [https://www.carbonbrief.org/state-of-the-climate-2024-now-very-likely-to-be-warmest-year-on-record/ Carbon Brief], and [https://climate.copernicus.eu/new-record-daily-global-average-temperature-reached-july-2024 Copernicus Climate Change Service] suggest 17.16°C. [[User:Liv2splain|Liv2splain]] ([[User talk:Liv2splain|talk]]) 07:42, 22 October 2024 (UTC)
::Updated water temperatures, Derivation, and graph. So we've already had more than the +2°C warming we were trying to avoid in 2019? [[User:Liv2splain|Liv2splain]] ([[User talk:Liv2splain|talk]]) 08:05, 22 October 2024 (UTC)

Regarding [https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=3001%3A_Temperature_Scales&type=revision&diff=353635&oldid=353632], are the average surface temperatures from the sources supposed to be yearly or overall averages? [[User:Liv2splain|Liv2splain]] ([[User talk:Liv2splain|talk]]) 09:06, 22 October 2024 (UTC)

where is the interactive epic 3000 comic we should've gotten? This one's cool but 1000 seemed to have more effort in it and 2000 was at least tangetially related. Does Randall just not like making these anymore and is only making more comics as a business? [[Special:Contributions/108.162.238.185|108.162.238.185]] 12:14, 22 October 2024 (UTC)

Talk:2982: Water Filtration

2024-09-07T14:36:36Z

Rtanenbaum:

On the activated carbon filter, that's a double entendre, referencing both activated charcoal filters often used in filtration systems and the nearby neutron source, which is radioactivity activating the carbon. [[Special:Contributions/172.71.254.23|172.71.254.23]] 04:32, 7 September 2024 (UTC)Corsac

There are a bunch of processes shown that are real, but not actually used in water filtration. For example, electrolysis is used to make hydrogen and oxygen gas, and reverse electrolysis is used in fuel cells to produce electricity, but the electricity cost of doing these steps to purify a useful amount of water would be prohibitive. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.159.14|162.158.159.14]] 06:18, 7 September 2024 (UTC)
:On the other hand, it would be a kind of "extra-intense distillation". We already basically have been "distilling water", as I see it, with the autoclave/condenser pairing that would certainly leave any remaining dissolved minerals or particulates behind. By splitting then recombining the component elements (and some basic gas-chromatography process, not shown) then you'd inarguably get water out that's about as pure as you can hope for in even the most {{w|The Waters of Mars|paranoid fantasies}} about the need for clean water.
:...of course, here it's not even the ''most'' energetic attempt to further 'refine' the components of "watery matter", with the assumed luxury of having energy (and indeed water) to burn... [[Special:Contributions/172.69.194.219|172.69.194.219]] 06:39, 7 September 2024 (UTC)

Regarding condensers: Condensers are a real method of purifying water, although perhaps not commonly used to demineralize household well water. I frequently buy "purified" water that has been distilled which is simply boiling the water and then condensing the steam into pure water. This is great for use in tea pots or egg cookers or humidifiers to avoid mineral buildup inside the pots. [[User:Rtanenbaum|Rtanenbaum]] ([[User talk:Rtanenbaum|talk]]) 14:35, 7 September 2024 (UTC)

Regarding adding the well-water back in at the end: "Purified" water is often sold in the baby aisle for use in mixing baby formula, but the labels indicate that minerals have been readded to the water, which of course means it is no longer pure, and would not be useful if I want to avoid mineral buildup in a tea pot. [[User:Rtanenbaum|Rtanenbaum]] ([[User talk:Rtanenbaum|talk]]) 14:35, 7 September 2024 (UTC)

Talk:2982: Water Filtration

2024-09-07T14:35:03Z

Rtanenbaum:

On the activated carbon filter, that's a double entendre, referencing both activated charcoal filters often used in filtration systems and the nearby neutron source, which is radioactivity activating the carbon. [[Special:Contributions/172.71.254.23|172.71.254.23]] 04:32, 7 September 2024 (UTC)Corsac

There are a bunch of processes shown that are real, but not actually used in water filtration. For example, electrolysis is used to make hydrogen and oxygen gas, and reverse electrolysis is used in fuel cells to produce electricity, but the electricity cost of doing these steps to purify a useful amount of water would be prohibitive. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.159.14|162.158.159.14]] 06:18, 7 September 2024 (UTC)
:On the other hand, it would be a kind of "extra-intense distillation". We already basically have been "distilling water", as I see it, with the autoclave/condenser pairing that would certainly leave any remaining dissolved minerals or particulates behind. By splitting then recombining the component elements (and some basic gas-chromatography process, not shown) then you'd inarguably get water out that's about as pure as you can hope for in even the most {{w|The Waters of Mars|paranoid fantasies}} about the need for clean water.
:...of course, here it's not even the ''most'' energetic attempt to further 'refine' the components of "watery matter", with the assumed luxury of having energy (and indeed water) to burn... [[Special:Contributions/172.69.194.219|172.69.194.219]] 06:39, 7 September 2024 (UTC)

Regarding condensers: Condensers are a real method of purifying water, although perhaps not commonly used to demineralize household well water. I frequently by "purified" water that has been distilled which is simply boiling the water and then condensing the steam into pure water. This is great for use in tea pots or egg cookers or humidifiers to avoid mineral buildup inside the pots. [[User:Rtanenbaum|Rtanenbaum]] ([[User talk:Rtanenbaum|talk]]) 14:35, 7 September 2024 (UTC)

Regarding adding the well-water back in at the end: "Purified" water is often sold in the baby aisle for use in mixing baby formula, but the labels indicate that minerals have been readded to the water, which of course means it is no longer pure, and would not be useful if I want to avoid mineral buildup in a tea pot. [[User:Rtanenbaum|Rtanenbaum]] ([[User talk:Rtanenbaum|talk]]) 14:35, 7 September 2024 (UTC)

Talk:2910: The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald

2024-03-23T11:47:27Z

Rtanenbaum:

well ''that'' was early. [[user talk:lettherebedarklight|youtu.be/miLcaqq2Zpk]] 11:47, 22 March 2024 (UTC)

This singer is a bit fast and loose with the rhyme-scheme; aAbCd(?D)eC with the "dD", especially, being Go+Most, Tune+Words(!), ¿This/As?+Words and Crimes+Time. And scansion is potentially off (mid-line endings definitely are). I would hope that another shipwreck wouldn't happen until this new guy has tightened up his own art a little. (But once he gets good enough, fair enough!) [[Special:Contributions/172.71.242.161|172.71.242.161]] 12:57, 22 March 2024 (UTC)

:"For it's challenging trying to write good" [[User:N0lqu|-boB]] ([[User talk:N0lqu|talk]]) 14:00, 22 March 2024 (UTC)

:"This singer is a bit fast and loose..." This is Gordon and his First Draft. Just strumming to see if the song has legs (fins?). We know Gordon could fiddle the rhyme and line-breaks as good as anybody. But prolly not on a dock on Lake Superior in November. (OTOH Sittin' on The Dock of the Bay, Otis Redding wrote in August on a rented houseboat in Sausalito, California; a much nicer workplace.) --[[User:PRR|PRR]] ([[User talk:PRR|talk]]) 23:05, 22 March 2024 (UTC)

Is the Cameron accusation also suggesting that he has actual time travel technology, as shown in his Terminator movies? [[User:Barmar|Barmar]] ([[User talk:Barmar|talk]]) 14:19, 22 March 2024 (UTC)

How long should we wait before using peoples' deaths as entertainment? Relatives and friends of the crew are still alive. Are the terrorist attacks of 2001 open yet for parody? ...or wait another decade or two? Please consider others. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.214.108|172.69.214.108]] 14:26, 22 March 2024 (UTC)
: Given that the original song turned it into entertainment less than a year after, and it's been widely parodied pretty much ever since, I think you may, if you'll pardon the phrase, have missed the boat on that one.[[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.53|141.101.98.53]] 14:59, 22 March 2024 (UTC)
::Although it was performed as entertainment, the song was written as a kind of memorial or tribute. That's quite different from using the accident as fodder for a joke. [[User:Barmar|Barmar]] ([[User talk:Barmar|talk]]) 18:38, 22 March 2024 (UTC)

: It's important to consider sides. Like, deaths of Russian soldiers in Ukraine are open to parody immediately because they are enemies. -- [[User:Hkmaly|Hkmaly]] ([[User talk:Hkmaly|talk]]) 18:39, 22 March 2024 (UTC)

: I have some bad news for you about the prevalence of 9/11 jokes. [[424: Security Holes|Within xkcd itself]], no less! [[User:Esogalt|Esogalt]] ([[User talk:Esogalt|talk]]) 09:28, 23 March 2024 (UTC)

What if Cueball bribed Gordon Lightfoot to bribe the mechanic so he could write a song about Lightfoot bribing the mechanic to write a song? [[User:AoPS is superior|AoPS is superior]] ([[User talk:AoPS is superior|talk]]) 00:24, 23 March 2024 (UTC)

Was it rammed by the Cat Stevens? [[Special:Contributions/172.70.211.144|172.70.211.144]] 04:57, 23 March 2024 (UTC)

The flags on the upside down eighth notes are backwards [[Special:Contributions/172.71.146.211|172.71.146.211]] 06:21, 23 March 2024 (UTC)

My first reaction was, "this is not funny" because of the seriousness of the Edmund Fitgerald tragedy and the gravity of the song as tribute to the lost lives. My second reaction was that Randall is a really awful songwriter. My conclusion is that the only funny thing about this comic is the comically bad fake song. [[User:Rtanenbaum|Rtanenbaum]] ([[User talk:Rtanenbaum|talk]]) 11:47, 23 March 2024 (UTC)

Talk:2899: Goodhart's Law

2024-02-27T21:08:55Z

Rtanenbaum:

I don't think there's anything else that could be included in the transcript, so i'm deleting the incomplete tag. if anyone has an idea to make it better, just add it. i know it seems too soon, but there's really nothing else to the comic. [[User:New editor|New editor]] ([[User talk:New editor|talk]]) 22:17, 26 February 2024 (UTC)

This happens all the time. For instance, a call center whose metric-turned-target is number of calls handled per hour (which sounds good in theory) is incentivised to hang up on callers, who then call back - increasing their "performance" as measured by the target, as it both decreases the time each call takes (thus making time for more calls) and increases the volume of incoming calls. Of course, the side effect is ticked-off customers heading to competitors instead. (Which often doesn't affect the call center as it's a third party.) If the metric-turned-target is getting a good survey response at the end of the call, treating the customer so badly they hang up (and thus don't take the survey) for any call that is going poorly becomes a viable way of improving the measurement of their performance. Creating good targets is HARD. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.43.157|172.70.43.157]] 22:38, 26 February 2024 (UTC)

[[User:Moderator|Moderator]] ([[User talk:Moderator|talk]]) 23:12, 26 February 2024 (UTC)
[[User:Moderator|Moderator]] ([[User talk:Moderator|talk]]) 23:12, 26 February 2024 (UTC)
[[User:Moderator|Moderator]] ([[User talk:Moderator|talk]]) 23:12, 26 February 2024 (UTC)
:The above, by 'Moderator' appears to be a meta-joke. i.e. trying to enhance 'times signed', which of course isn't even a useful measure, at the expense of bringing anything useful to the situation. It was even done in just one edit, so didn't even increase the standard 'contributions' measure that an actual target-hitter might try to hit.
:Either that or they messed up/have other machinations in mind. But I just thought I'd 'dissect the frog' for future readers. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.91.165|172.70.91.165]] 04:19, 27 February 2024 (UTC)

The main problem with metrics is that there can be too many (everything is a metric, you're chasing targets even if just trying to be the most average and not to be an outlier) or there are too few (everything is 'boiled down' to a single figure of 'success', with no nuance available to work out ''why'' it's marked as "good" rather than "excellant ). Or both at the same time! That said, I think changing a target-system to be a less-worse-target-system is often the worst of all worlds, as every meaningful measure is changed, and/or the means to measure them are changed, all this impinging upon the actual job of work that was actually always supposed to be done, regardless... [[Special:Contributions/172.70.91.165|172.70.91.165]] 04:19, 27 February 2024 (UTC)
: Probably the worst metric/target is the perpetual growth delusion. Your office furniture sales figures are down fifteen percent from this month last year. Nevermind that they were up three thousand percent last year because your biggest customer had to replace the furniture lost in a fire. [[Special:Contributions/172.71.26.16|172.71.26.16]] 06:33, 27 February 2024 (UTC)

Feels like this comic is really about how incentives are difficult. A metric only becomes a target if there's an incentive, and that's only a problem if the incentive is poorly conceived. For anyone who hasn't spent a lot of time thinking about metrics and reads this comic and thinks that metrics are the crux of the issue, they're not; incentive design is. [[User:Laser813|Laser813]] ([[User talk:Laser813|talk]]) 11:53, 27 February 2024 (UTC)
:Yes, and no. Metrics in and of themselves have a psychological power and tend to direct attention, and therefore action, to the things being measured. So good incentive design (and other psychological framing) is then needed to counteract that biasing effect.[[Special:Contributions/172.70.90.28|172.70.90.28]] 14:08, 27 February 2024 (UTC)
:The issue comes in the moment the incentive is to "improve the metric" rather than "improve the thing the metric is intended to indicate." For example, there's the Hot Waitress Economic Index, whereby the sexier the average waitress, the worse the economy is doing (as attractive women usually have no problem getting jobs in sales when the economy is doing well). If someone comes up with the brilliant idea of fixing the economy by recruiting more unattractive waitresses, the metric no longer measures the thing it is supposed to at all. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.247.49|172.69.247.49]] 18:22, 27 February 2024 (UTC)

In early days of computer programming managers tried to assess the performance of programmers in a way that they would assess the performance of assembly line workers and decided to use the metric of "lines of code per day". The results were laughable. There was also the, possibly apocryphal, story from the old Soviet Union where the government rewarded automobile plants for meeting certain quotas for number of cars produced, and rewarded scrap metal facilities for meeting certain quotas for number of cars demolished, and it wasn't long before the facilities figured out that delivering the cars of dubious value straight to junk yards was the most efficient and rewarding way to operate. [[User:Rtanenbaum|Rtanenbaum]] ([[User talk:Rtanenbaum|talk]]) 21:08, 27 February 2024 (UTC)

Talk:2893: Sphere Tastiness

2024-02-13T16:41:05Z

Rtanenbaum:

base balls are delicious after boiling and peeling[[Special:Contributions/172.68.64.212|172.68.64.212]] 00:19, 13 February 2024 (UTC)
:You seem to be confusing baseballs with eggs. [[User:Barmar|Barmar]] ([[User talk:Barmar|talk]])
:And who the hell calls baseballs “bAsE bAlLs”. [[User:42.book.addict|42.book.addict]] ([[User talk:42.book.addict|talk]]) 02:40, 13 February 2024 (UTC)

who's the authority on whether or not the earth and the moon are "not tasty"????, i think the moon would be pretty delicious actually [[Special:Contributions/172.69.71.71|172.69.71.71]] 00:26, 13 February 2024 (UTC)GR8GH
:Some Apollo astronauts reported that moondust tastes and smells like gunpowder. [[User:Barmar|Barmar]] ([[User talk:Barmar|talk]]) 00:28, 13 February 2024 (UTC)
::Yum! [[User:42.book.addict|42.book.addict]] ([[User talk:42.book.addict|talk]]) 02:41, 13 February 2024 (UTC)
::Sounds {{w|Gunpowder_tea|delicious}} to me.[[Special:Contributions/172.70.85.26|172.70.85.26]] 11:09, 13 February 2024 (UTC)
:Sure, if you like green cheese! [[Special:Contributions/172.70.207.123|172.70.207.123]] 03:26, 13 February 2024 (UTC)
::I actually quite like a good blue cheese, and had a blue (red) leicester only yesterday. But some actual sage derby would fulfil the role of a green one quite tastily. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.99.112|141.101.99.112]] 04:56, 13 February 2024 (UTC)
::{{w|Green_cheese}} can be perfectly tasty - it's just a young unaged cheese.[[Special:Contributions/141.101.99.26|141.101.99.26]] 11:13, 13 February 2024 (UTC)
:"Not like any cheese I've ever tasted"-Wallace

In Fuck Grapefruits, watermelons were just slightly tasty. Does he like other melons so much that the average melon is as tasty as grapes? Or has he learned how delicious watermelon actually is? [[User:Barmar|Barmar]] ([[User talk:Barmar|talk]]) 00:42, 13 February 2024 (UTC)
:I think that he probably just learned how delicious watermelon is. [[User:42.book.addict|42.book.addict]] ([[User talk:42.book.addict|talk]]) 02:41, 13 February 2024 (UTC)
:Watermelon is different genus (albeit in the same family) to most melons, so I'd assume watermelon is excluded here.[[Special:Contributions/172.69.194.162|172.69.194.162]] 11:19, 13 February 2024 (UTC)

This comic is begging for another of his four-corner plots, not a line graph. Ball bearings: lower left. Bowling balls: middle bottom. Tapioca: upper left. Cheese balls: upper middle. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.207.123|172.70.207.123]] 03:26, 13 February 2024 (UTC)
:My first thought was that he clearly isn't accounting for frequency, because I'm pretty sure there's a ''lot'' more oranges than baseballs...
:[[User:ProphetZarquon|ProphetZarquon]] ([[User talk:ProphetZarquon|talk]]) 05:06, 13 February 2024 (UTC)

It's a linear interpolation, Michael. How big could the error be? 10%? [[Special:Contributions/108.162.245.166|108.162.245.166]] 03:51, 13 February 2024 (UTC)

Grapes are spherical? I guess some varieties. [[User:Nitpicking|Nitpicking]] ([[User talk:Nitpicking|talk]]) 04:12, 13 February 2024 (UTC)

With a logarithmic x axis and an unlabelled y axis, I find calling it “linear interpolation” without further explanation disingenious. [[Special:Contributions/172.68.110.121|172.68.110.121]] 08:08, 13 February 2024 (UTC)

I think we have to give serious consideration as to how untasty the Sun is, and the possibility of subatomic particles being absolutely delicious. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.79.189|172.69.79.189]] 10:07, 13 February 2024 (UTC)
:Can't we just ask whoever tasted quarks to figure out the different flavours?[[Special:Contributions/172.69.195.24|172.69.195.24]] 11:22, 13 February 2024 (UTC)

Baseballs aren't the only questionable object for this theory..... think of the marbles!!!--[[Special:Contributions/162.158.154.73|162.158.154.73]] 12:41, 13 February 2024 (UTC)

In looking for something else that might fulfil the 800m sphere criteria I stumbled across [https://www.reddit.com/r/theydidthemath/comments/p0qws3/self_if_you_blended_all_788_billion_people_on/ this] :o(| I'll make no comment on potential tastiness.[[Special:Contributions/172.70.90.191|172.70.90.191]] 12:58, 13 February 2024 (UTC)
:Soylent Green meatball. [[User:Barmar|Barmar]] ([[User talk:Barmar|talk]]) 16:31, 13 February 2024 (UTC)

Galactus would totally disagree with this graph. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.175.25|172.70.175.25]] 16:24, 13 February 2024 (UTC)

Here's a link to a mile-long hotdog [https://www.lifeinthecarolinas.com/syndicated-columns/2018/3/6/miles-and-miles-of-hotdogs-from-an-igloo miles-of-hotdog], while technically not a single hotdog nor a sphere it's a mile's worth of hotdogs. I recall there once being created a mile-long submarine / hoagie / po-boy sandwich, but couldn't find it on a quick google search. That also is not remotely spherical. [[User:Rtanenbaum|Rtanenbaum]] ([[User talk:Rtanenbaum|talk]]) 16:41, 13 February 2024 (UTC)

Talk:2891: Log Cabin

2024-02-09T01:37:53Z

Rtanenbaum:

:: "''The odd part about it is the bottom right corner, which appears to be infinitely recursive copies..''"
The whole right side is the left side, shrunk and recursed. Each iteration rotated 90 degrees. The 'shrink' is about 1.616 by my squint, a lot like a "[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Golden_ratio Golden Ratio]" LOGarithmic spiral, as NickM says. [[User:PRR|PRR]] ([[User talk:PRR|talk]]) 19:49, 7 February 2024 (UTC)

::This is a LOGarithmic spiral [[Special:Contributions/172.70.210.103|172.70.210.103]] 19:52, 7 February 2024 (UTC)NickM

:: It is precisely the golden ratio, assuming the left side is a square [[User:Terdragontra|Terdragontra]] ([[User talk:Terdragontra|talk]]) 22:09, 7 February 2024 (UTC)

Assuming a standard 36" wide front door, then the next "front" door would be 22.27 inches, then 13.78 inches, then 8.53 inches, at which point I doubt the inspector could squeeze through it, though I guess they could still take a peek inside the next recursion. [[Special:Contributions/172.68.34.58|172.68.34.58]] 20:57, 7 February 2024 (UTC)

Infinite bedrooms, infinite baths, close to schools and shopping. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.247.48|172.69.247.48]] 21:00, 7 February 2024 (UTC)
::Government: Your property tax comes up to infinite dollars. --[[Special:Contributions/172.71.26.160|172.71.26.160]] 21:45, 7 February 2024 (UTC)
:: In some jurisdictions bedrooms need to have at least one externally facing window. Under this rule there are infinite rooms with beds, but only 8 bedrooms. [[User:Thaledison|Erin Anne]] ([[User talk:Thaledison|talk]]) 17:07, 8 February 2024 (UTC)

Interesting comparison with the archetypal "labyrinth". It's actually a fractal version that only avoids being unicursal-with-no-dead-ends due to the off-living-room private spaces being quite trivial offshoots. Which arguably makes it ''fairly'' classical in nature. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.90.114|172.70.90.114]] 21:18, 7 February 2024 (UTC)

Should there be a mention that due to the limitations of the image format, it only actually achieves eight iterations? Which makes sense given that construction materials also have limits, and is still enough that the inspectors might be a bit confused if they don't pay close enough attention. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.60.216|172.69.60.216]] 23:21, 7 February 2024 (UTC)

Write it [https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=2891:_Log_Cabin&diff=prev&oldid=334498 how you want], I just wanted to avoid calling a room with no bath (but a shower) as a "bathroom", especially when I was mentioning a 'bathroom' with an actual bath in it so soon after. Not that there's a completely unambiguous term for the room with the toilet/lavatory/whatever in it. (For reference, for me it's "the toilet", despite that also being the porceline item itself, and even that is derived from a hairdressing cloth, through a string of euphemisms. But knew that wouldn't be accepted by the wider readership.) [[Special:Contributions/172.70.85.26|172.70.85.26]] 01:49, 8 February 2024 (UTC)
:In the USA, any room with a toilet and sink is typically called a "bathroom" whether or not there is a literal bath within. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.131.3|172.70.131.3]] 09:33, 8 February 2024 (UTC)
::Don't think it's particularly a US/UK thing - it's pretty commonly called a 'bathroom' in the UK too. I think the point of the editor above was the potential for confusion between the ''two'' 'bathrooms', and how to avoid it.[[Special:Contributions/172.69.43.243|172.69.43.243]] 09:44, 8 February 2024 (UTC)
::It's my experience in the US that real-estate parlance counts a full bathroom as toilet, sink, and tub / shower. It counts a half-bathroom as a toilet and sink only. A house with 1 full bath and two half-baths would generically be considered 3 bathrooms but not listed that way. I don't know what they would call a standalone tub or shower, if any such thing is ever constructed unless it is adjacent to an outdoor swimming pool. [[User:Rtanenbaum|Rtanenbaum]] ([[User talk:Rtanenbaum|talk]]) 01:37, 9 February 2024 (UTC)
:Using a language that allows to say "S***house" in a nice way (praised be the diminutive!) helps in such cases...[[User:Tier666|Tier666]] ([[User talk:Tier666|talk]]) 10:15, 8 February 2024 (UTC)
::There is a {{wiktionary|Thesaurus:bathroom|truly astounding range of terms}}, in English alone, (and I can think of several not included there, even discounting the rather localised overly-vulgar ''or'' overly-polite ones). [[Special:Contributions/172.70.90.221|172.70.90.221]] 11:38, 8 February 2024 (UTC)
Are there any non-Euclidean geometries in which you could fit this house without having to shrink the rooms or the people? [[Special:Contributions/172.68.3.44|172.68.3.44]] 16:42, 8 February 2024 (UTC)

One way to build this would be with robotics that alter the structure as the visitor moves, like a holodeck. This could give the perception of the visitor shrinking forever, and the robotics wouldn’t let them leave until they rewalked their entry path. Another way would be to just make the rooms get too tiny to enter and hide the missing ones around a corner. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.166.6|162.158.166.6]] 16:58, 8 February 2024 (UTC)
:I'm sure it could be done with the Gallifreyan technology that produced the TARDIS. [[User:Barmar|Barmar]] ([[User talk:Barmar|talk]]) 17:39, 8 February 2024 (UTC)

Talk:2882: Net Rotations

2024-01-22T17:42:04Z

Rtanenbaum:

Wait, so I'm not the only one who thinks about this? [[Special:Contributions/172.71.167.177|172.71.167.177]] 23:28, 17 January 2024 (UTC)
:No, I also do it, just I do it right after I do the turns so I don't have to remember them all. [[User:B_for_brain|B for brain]] ([[User_talk:B_for_brain|talk]]) ([https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCg4bo-hj-mDyOOUp_Yp0pug youtube channel] [https://bforbrain.weebly.com/ wobsite (supposed to be a blag)] 17:24, 19 January 2024 (UTC)

Second! Still, I'm surprised that there are no edits yet. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.210.160|172.70.210.160]] 23:58, 17 January 2024 (UTC)

This sounds like the premise of the 1966 sci-fi story The Revolving Boy by Gertrude Friedberg. I recall reading it sometime in the 1960s or ’70s. I wonder whether Randall has read the book too — https://solarbridge.wordpress.com/2011/05/19/the-revolving-boy-gertrude-friedberg/
I'm drawing a blank. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.158.68|162.158.158.68]] 01:05, 18 January 2024 (UTC)
I had precisely the same thought! But I couldn't remember the title of the book - thanks! ([[Special:Contributions/172.70.90.191|172.70.90.191]])
Likewise; I read it long ago and would have had to do some net searching to uncover the name. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.189.166|172.69.189.166]] 17:48, 20 January 2024 (UTC)

I feel like the "worldline torsion" line needs to be explained moreso than the OCD thing, since "worldline" is a word people might not know and it's the crux of the joke. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.62.50|162.158.62.50]] 02:47, 18 January 2024 (UTC)

:A worldline is a relativistic concept, the track of a particle (or anything, by extension) through 4D spacetime. Randall is imagining it as a physical object (not a mathematical abstraction) and thus whenever the actual object rotates, its worldline is twisted. Presumably these physical worldlines would build up torsional potential energy as they twisted, and could eventually be damaged if too many twists/year were present.[[User:Nitpicking|Nitpicking]] ([[User talk:Nitpicking|talk]]) 02:57, 18 January 2024 (UTC)
:: Yeah - something like that needs to go in the explanation.[[Special:Contributions/172.70.85.47|172.70.85.47]] 09:44, 18 January 2024 (UTC)

I would love to know what my net rotations is. Not enough to actually keep track, mind you. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.178.126|172.70.178.126]] 02:53, 18 January 2024 (UTC)
:I had a season pass to an amusement park a few years ago, and the time I spent on the Scrambler would probably make mine quite difficult to calculate, even if I knew how many times I rode it. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.247.57|172.69.247.57]] 04:41, 18 January 2024 (UTC)
: Probably depends a lot on whether you suffer from Zoolander's Syndrome. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.91.62|172.70.91.62]] 09:48, 18 January 2024 (UTC)

isn't this a refernce to spacetime torsion and the einstien-cartan theory? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Einstein%E2%80%93Cartan_theory

When I used to do plasma donations (they draw blood, centrifuge it, extract the plasma/platelet fraction and return the red and white cells) I would, when telling someone about it, jokingly say that the only side effect was, then I would jump and spin. [[User:RIIW - Ponder it|RIIW - Ponder it]] ([[User talk:RIIW - Ponder it|talk]]) 08:17, 18 January 2024 (UTC)

This comic makes sense in 2D because the space of rotations has fundamental group ℤ, but in 3D wouldn't you have at most ℤ/2ℤ corrections to make, since SU(2) double-covers SO(3)? cf. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plate_trick [[User:Ncf|Ncf]] ([[User talk:Ncf|talk]]) 09:27, 18 January 2024 (UTC)

:Considering the plane in which you are doing your rotation changes during the day due to Earth rotation, I think that it doesn't make sense in 3D at all. But thanks for {{w|Plate trick|link}}. -- [[User:Hkmaly|Hkmaly]] ([[User talk:Hkmaly|talk]]) 21:00, 18 January 2024 (UTC)

Is it worth mentioning the real medical conditions of torsion, e. . a torsion fracture (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Torsion_fracture)? [[User:Nitpicking|Nitpicking]] ([[User talk:Nitpicking|talk]]) 12:43, 18 January 2024 (UTC)
:I immediately thought of medical conditions, too, in my case a torsion of the spine https://www.osmosis.org/answers/sacral-torsion . But the exercises that are supposed to alleviate back pain & torsions caused by one-sided movements (like always twisting/bending left when carrying a load, and twisting/bending right without a load) usually don't involve full rotations. [[User:Transgalactic|Transgalactic]] ([[User talk:Transgalactic|talk]]) 00:30, 19 January 2024 (UTC)

Remember that, to do it properly, any turns made in your car also have to be reversed in your car, to account for the rotation of the car's atoms. Go do a full loop through a counterclockwise cloverleaf! (Finding one is left as an exercise to the reader.) [[Special:Contributions/108.162.238.82|108.162.238.82]] 13:05, 18 January 2024 (UTC)

Don't think it’s worth adding to the article but thought I would mention it here, anyone who has experience spending a long time in a VR headset will almost certainly have had to do this at some point to untwist the tether. To the point that there are apps you can run that show you how much your rotation has changed from the set 0 orientation. [[User:TomW1605|TomW1605]] ([[User talk:TomW1605|talk]]) 13:13, 18 January 2024 (UTC)
:Actually I think it's worth mentioning that the line to your virtual world (not quite a worldline, but close enough to make a pun?) will indeed suffer torsions unless you cancel out your net rotations. :-D [[User:Transgalactic|Transgalactic]] ([[User talk:Transgalactic|talk]]) 00:30, 19 January 2024 (UTC)

The CPSC recommends merry-go-rounds be limited to 13 ft/sec. https://www.sportsplayinc.com/images/cpsc.pdf For a 10 ft radius, that would be one rotation every 4.8 sec. Over "one long afternoon" (which I'll take as 6 hours) that would amount to 4,469 rotations. If you compensated for this with a mere one rotation per day, the excess rotation would be completely offset in 12 years and 3 months, so "decades" is quite an exageration. [[User:Loeb]]
: If your merry-go-round had a 20 inch diameter, though (the minimum at which those recommendations apply), at one a day it would take you nearly 147 years.[[Special:Contributions/172.69.195.60|172.69.195.60]] 09:42, 19 January 2024 (UTC)

It makes me think a lot about [[162: Angular Momentum]] [[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.34|141.101.98.34]] 19:45, 18 January 2024 (UTC)

2883 is out, bot's down... [[User:SomeoneIGuess|someone, i guess]]([[User talk:SomeoneIGuess|talk i guess]]|[[Special:Contributions/SomeoneIGuess|le edit list]]) 03:05, 20 January 2024 (UTC)

It's always nice to unwind at the end of the day (sorry)[[Special:Contributions/172.69.214.5|172.69.214.5]] 14:12, 21 January 2024 (UTC)

I might be a little OCD, but not to the degree of this comic. When the internet began and I first started using a browser, I would make sure that I always used the back button to return to the home page because I didn't want to use up computer memory space by accumulating too many links on the "back button" stack. [[User:Rtanenbaum|Rtanenbaum]] ([[User talk:Rtanenbaum|talk]]) 17:42, 22 January 2024 (UTC)

Talk:2881: Bug Thread

2024-01-17T17:16:09Z

Rtanenbaum:

No idea what to put in the explanation box, so I just did the incomplete tag.[[Special:Contributions/172.69.33.185|172.69.33.185]] 05:36, 16 January 2024 (UTC)
:I was writing an initial Explanation even as you did that. (I had an almost identical BOT-replacing idea. Which I continued to use as I hit the edit-conflict on yours.)
:Not entirely happy with my narrative structure. Tried (too hard?) to not re-use phrasing. Either in there or in the Transcript (tbough currently leaving for someone else), I thought I might remark that ''either'' the Cueball-like beach-booker ''or'' the WhiteHat-like years-noter ''could'' be the half-seen uppermost post's contributor, based upon the visible portrait. But it seemed a bit hard to nicely shoehorn in, especially as it could be neither. Though any of those seen could also easily be up above the scroll-windowing, anyway, nearer where the unstated (to us) issue is actually described. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.90.29|172.70.90.29]] 06:18, 16 January 2024 (UTC)

I hate when I have a problem with something, and when I google it either the solution is behind a paywall, too outdated to work, or has no responses. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.216.173|108.162.216.173]] 06:43, 16 January 2024 (UTC)
:Me, too. Want to rent a beach house and whine about it together? [[User:Barmar|Barmar]] ([[User talk:Barmar|talk]]) 07:45, 16 January 2024 (UTC)
:Now that we've become firmly entrenched in the era of software-as-a-service & upgrade cycles that don't fix old bugs (looking at you, Raspberry Pi 2b-4b issues), I'm more likely to find a 15 year old post with workarounds that don't work anymore, than any page with an actual fix, when searching about an issue I'm seeing these days. Most of the time, I find stackexchange discourse detailing exactly what's wrong & everything that's been tried, with the most recent posts noting that prior workarounds are now deprecated by updates that haven't in any way addressed the issue. I don't even remember the last time I had an issue I didn't know how to fix & then found an answer online... The "answer" today is usually that 'that thing you could previously do ''(often something that was an almost innate or arguably essential feature)'' is no longer doable with modern service-based software, have you tried coding an entire software stack from scratch to recover this one thing you originally started using the software for? Everyone today just pays for several services, to do what home hardware could do 20 years ago, & don't even question why this accessibility feature went away.'
:[[User:ProphetZarquon|ProphetZarquon]] ([[User talk:ProphetZarquon|talk]]) 15:26, 16 January 2024 (UTC)
:You really believe that if you got through that paywall there would be solution there? Sweet summer child. -- [[User:Hkmaly|Hkmaly]] ([[User talk:Hkmaly|talk]]) 18:42, 16 January 2024 (UTC)

Do you think DenverCoder9 made it to the meet-up? --[[User:Koveras|Koveras]] ([[User talk:Koveras|talk]]) 07:53, 16 January 2024 (UTC)
:Gone. Reduced to ashes.--[[Special:Contributions/162.158.74.68|162.158.74.68]] 08:06, 16 January 2024 (UTC)
:If, like me, you didn't remember who [[979: Wisdom of the Ancients|DenverCoder9]] was, here is the link. [[User:Rps|Rps]] ([[User talk:Rps|talk]]) 12:51, 16 January 2024 (UTC)
:The first time I read the one about "What did you see!?" it felt ''very'' biographical... Posting from Denver, here.
:[[User:ProphetZarquon|ProphetZarquon]] ([[User talk:ProphetZarquon|talk]]) 15:26, 16 January 2024 (UTC)
:I've added a link to that comic to the explanation. [[User:Barmar|Barmar]] ([[User talk:Barmar|talk]]) 17:16, 16 January 2024 (UTC)
::There already was one (but feel free to remove one/make the other double-duty). [[Special:Contributions/172.70.90.28|172.70.90.28]] 18:57, 16 January 2024 (UTC)

Feels like there's something missing here about the fact that often these threads are actually an aggregation of people with similar-but-different issues, hence some of the 'I've tried all the fixes but they don't work!' responses. Currently beyond my wit to work this nicely in to the explanation though.[[Special:Contributions/172.69.194.37|172.69.194.37]] 16:26, 16 January 2024 (UTC)
:Often there are minor differences, or the user doesn't really apply the fixes correctly. Or the software may have changed so that the old solutions don't work any more. [[User:Barmar|Barmar]] ([[User talk:Barmar|talk]]) 17:16, 16 January 2024 (UTC)
::Or maybe this thread is only about one bug but those three fixes he linked were about different bug. -- [[User:Hkmaly|Hkmaly]] ([[User talk:Hkmaly|talk]]) 18:42, 16 January 2024 (UTC)
::The most obvious thing is that there appears to have been no attempt to resolve (or lock as not relevent to the 'current version') the thread by anyone official. Whether we see as far back as five years (in which case a whole lotta nothing was done) or several comparatively recent editions (which means a lot of current interest in a solution), there's nothing with the look of a dev/helpdesk/expert-3rd-party. Anyone of that kind has posted before the 'half cueball' one.
::Whether it's effectively abandonware or more like an (officially) abandoned forum, there's nothing odd about those few(?) who are still hurt by the problem to have read up whether it's even a valid problem to have (by the software publisher's standards), have read ''all'' the accumulated wisdom on what might need doing, trying these things (the "link, link and link" guy did, or so I imagine, with three different walk-throughs that seem to be relevent; the "same" and "+1" ones also might have, but didn't feel the need to say exactly what, especially if those links pointed at higher-up "full instruction posts" that they can be assumed to have read), come up with the continuing problem and registering their interest on somebody (who has their hands on the source/server/whatever that needs fixing) to go ahead and fix it. Without necessarily saying "I tried all the usual methods to prevent one of t'cross-beams going out of skew on't treadle" and providing logs that contain no more (or less) information than some of the opening (above-the-cut) reports alrewdy gave.
::Yes, there's probably someone there who hasn't downloaded the latest version/equivalent, but I can't say that this is the level of error everyone is encountering. If anything, I see a high likelyhood that we've got posters here who have actually used the last-version-but-one to check when certain feature defaults changed, have looked at the logfiles in depth, have added (then removed, then re-added from a different source) more up-to-date .dlls, etc. But without any feedback from those who might be able to at least create a workaround (officially or otherwise). It's the kind of thread where bugs don't come to die, they just get preserved in amber. Still staring out at all their victims, old and new. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.90.28|172.70.90.28]] 18:57, 16 January 2024 (UTC)

This comic brought another one to mind. I spent a while trying to remember the details, then search this site with various keywords hoping I could find it. Eventually, I found it! It's comic 1305. I came back here intending to link to 1305 in the description. And when I looked at this page to think about how to describe the conneciton, I found someone else had just added the link! It's just nice that someone else thought of the same connection. (Wanna rent a beach house now?) [[User:Orion205|Orion205]] ([[User talk:Orion205|talk]]) 22:07, 16 January 2024 (UTC)

What bothers me the most is the bug thread where, after dozens of other people comment that they have the same problem, the one who started the thread just posts "nevermind, I fixed it" and hasn't logged on since. [[Special:Contributions/172.71.30.180|172.71.30.180]] 22:37, 16 January 2024 (UTC)
: +1 to your comment [[User:Rtanenbaum|Rtanenbaum]] ([[User talk:Rtanenbaum|talk]]) 17:16, 17 January 2024 (UTC)

It would be cute if the allusion to links "HERE, HERE, and HERE" were actual links to some product bug discussion list. [[User:Rtanenbaum|Rtanenbaum]] ([[User talk:Rtanenbaum|talk]]) 17:16, 17 January 2024 (UTC)

Talk:2874: Iceland

2023-12-30T02:42:43Z

Rtanenbaum:

As someone with friends in Iceland, I can confirm that Iceland is actually not a real island, and was actually created by a team of 8000 workers that happened to be carrying bags of sand, ice, and grass. [[User:SomeoneIGuess|someone, i guess]]([[User talk:SomeoneIGuess|talk i guess]]|[[Special:Contributions/SomeoneIGuess|le edit list]]) 00:33, 30 December 2023 (UTC)

With all due respect to the first editor contributing to the Explanation ... my take was that the comic has little to do with mission creep within projects but has to do with the fact that Iceland contains such a confluence of strange geographic features that it defies logic that they should all be collectively present in a single location. For example, you don't find islands on top of a mid-ocean ridge, or a glacier on top of a volcano, or a mild climate (because of the Gulf Stream) in the polar regions where the Aurora Borealis could be seen. The only logical explanation for such a bizarre jumble of features was that it must have been created by a committee of diverse scientists who wanted their pet feature to be included in the formation of Iceland. [[User:Rtanenbaum|Rtanenbaum]] ([[User talk:Rtanenbaum|talk]]) 02:42, 30 December 2023 (UTC)

By the way, Iceland and Greenland have names that are contrary to their actual geography. Iceland is actually much more habitable suitable for cultivation because of the geothermal warmth and Gulf Stream effects. While Greenland is suitable for agriculture on only 1% of its territory. [[User:Rtanenbaum|Rtanenbaum]] ([[User talk:Rtanenbaum|talk]]) 02:42, 30 December 2023 (UTC)

Talk:2861: X Value

2023-11-30T03:37:40Z

Rtanenbaum:

transcript and short explanation added [[User:SomeoneIGuess|someone, i guess]]([[User talk:SomeoneIGuess|talk i guess]]|[[Special:Contributions/SomeoneIGuess|le edit list]]) 18:47, 29 November 2023 (UTC)

Is there an easter egg here? Is 4.1083 a significant constant in some field?
[[Special:Contributions/172.71.154.91|172.71.154.91]] 19:00, 29 November 2023 (UTC)
:Dunno...but when I Googled it, it came up with a picture of a motorcycle I used to own - same vintage, same colour, same non-original aftermarket panniers - which was a little strange. Anybody else return any results centred around long-since-departed vehicles?

:Or not? [[User:Yorkshire Pudding|Yorkshire Pudding]] ([[User talk:Yorkshire Pudding|talk]]) 19:31, 29 November 2023 (UTC)

:Googling for it showed me... a picture of this very xkcd. It's recursive? [[User:Ralfoide|Ralfoide]] ([[User talk:Ralfoide|talk]]) 20:46, 29 November 2023 (UTC)

https://www.der-postillon.com/2012/08/mathemuffel-erleichtert-wert-von-x-ein.html [[Special:Contributions/172.68.110.148|172.68.110.148]] 20:42, 29 November 2023 (UTC)
: This is in german, could you maybe give a translation at least? [[User:SomeoneIGuess|someone, i guess]]([[User talk:SomeoneIGuess|talk i guess]]|[[Special:Contributions/SomeoneIGuess|le edit list]]) 20:45, 29 November 2023 (UTC)

The "narrowing down" of n might be a reference to a combinatorics problem Ron Graham was solving, managing to narrow down the dimensions of the hypercube with a certain property to be more than 6 and less than... Well, Graham's Number.
[[Special:Contributions/172.71.122.209|172.71.122.209]] 22:12, 29 November 2023 (UTC)jamieth

:Even that is accomplishment. Really, narrowing number down from infinite set to finite one is the biggest narrowing you can do. -- [[User:Hkmaly|Hkmaly]] ([[User talk:Hkmaly|talk]]) 23:29, 29 November 2023 (UTC)

"In string theory the number of flux vacua is commonly thought to be roughly '''10^500''',[4] but could be 10^272,000[5] or higher." -- [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/String_theory_landscape#Compactified_Calabi%E2%80%93Yau_manifolds String theory landscape#Compactified Calabi–Yau manifolds] [[User:Abclop99|Abclop99]] ([[User talk:Abclop99|talk]]) 22:23, 29 November 2023 (UTC)

As of today, the value of Twitter (which some may call X for unknown reasons) is of 41.09 Billion USD. This might be the joke?
[[Special:Contributions/162.158.129.16|162.158.129.16]] 22:50, 29 November 2023 (UTC)

The variable 'n' is often used in computer programs to be a counter for some activity that is repeated 'n' times. 'n' may be user input or it might be a calculated value like the number of items in a list. So the code would be something like, for the integer 'i' starting at 1 and iterating up to 'n' number of times in whatever computer language is being used. In this case, 'n' would be limited to the maximum value of the specific integer type in that computer language on that machine. [[User:Rtanenbaum|Rtanenbaum]] ([[User talk:Rtanenbaum|talk]]) 03:34, 30 November 2023 (UTC)

Talk:2861: X Value

2023-11-30T03:34:18Z

Rtanenbaum: Using "n" in computer code

transcript and short explanation added [[User:SomeoneIGuess|someone, i guess]]([[User talk:SomeoneIGuess|talk i guess]]|[[Special:Contributions/SomeoneIGuess|le edit list]]) 18:47, 29 November 2023 (UTC)

Is there an easter egg here? Is 4.1083 a significant constant in some field?
[[Special:Contributions/172.71.154.91|172.71.154.91]] 19:00, 29 November 2023 (UTC)
:Dunno...but when I Googled it, it came up with a picture of a motorcycle I used to own - same vintage, same colour, same non-original aftermarket panniers - which was a little strange. Anybody else return any results centred around long-since-departed vehicles?

:Or not? [[User:Yorkshire Pudding|Yorkshire Pudding]] ([[User talk:Yorkshire Pudding|talk]]) 19:31, 29 November 2023 (UTC)

:Googling for it showed me... a picture of this very xkcd. It's recursive? [[User:Ralfoide|Ralfoide]] ([[User talk:Ralfoide|talk]]) 20:46, 29 November 2023 (UTC)

https://www.der-postillon.com/2012/08/mathemuffel-erleichtert-wert-von-x-ein.html [[Special:Contributions/172.68.110.148|172.68.110.148]] 20:42, 29 November 2023 (UTC)
: This is in german, could you maybe give a translation at least? [[User:SomeoneIGuess|someone, i guess]]([[User talk:SomeoneIGuess|talk i guess]]|[[Special:Contributions/SomeoneIGuess|le edit list]]) 20:45, 29 November 2023 (UTC)

The "narrowing down" of n might be a reference to a combinatorics problem Ron Graham was solving, managing to narrow down the dimensions of the hypercube with a certain property to be more than 6 and less than... Well, Graham's Number.
[[Special:Contributions/172.71.122.209|172.71.122.209]] 22:12, 29 November 2023 (UTC)jamieth

:Even that is accomplishment. Really, narrowing number down from infinite set to finite one is the biggest narrowing you can do. -- [[User:Hkmaly|Hkmaly]] ([[User talk:Hkmaly|talk]]) 23:29, 29 November 2023 (UTC)

"In string theory the number of flux vacua is commonly thought to be roughly '''10^500''',[4] but could be 10^272,000[5] or higher." -- [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/String_theory_landscape#Compactified_Calabi%E2%80%93Yau_manifolds String theory landscape#Compactified Calabi–Yau manifolds] [[User:Abclop99|Abclop99]] ([[User talk:Abclop99|talk]]) 22:23, 29 November 2023 (UTC)

As of today, the value of Twitter (which some may call X for unknown reasons) is of 41.09 Billion USD. This might be the joke?
[[Special:Contributions/162.158.129.16|162.158.129.16]] 22:50, 29 November 2023 (UTC)

The variable 'n' is often used in computer programs to be a counter for some activity that is repeated 'n' times. 'n' may be user input or it might be a calculated value like the number of items in a list. So the code would be something like, for the integer 'i' starting at 1 and iterating up to 'n' number of times in whatever computer language is being used. [[User:Rtanenbaum|Rtanenbaum]] ([[User talk:Rtanenbaum|talk]]) 03:34, 30 November 2023 (UTC)

Talk:2857: Rebuttals

2023-11-21T19:25:09Z

Rtanenbaum: whimsically coined "rematic mainvisionist dogstream," a hilarious spoonerism

Ok, so...
#"...new evidence" (yes, possibly we can start with "...evidence", but let's start with the first contrarianism).
#"...inconvenient..." (so there's something we're saying is ''wrong'' with that new evidence?)
#"...led researchers to ignore..." (maybe could fold in with the inconvenience, but arguably ''ignoring'' is a 'third way' step in sidelining it, not even disagreeing)
#"...the prevailing consensus..." (another layer of implied position-taking where there ''is'' something to disagree with)
#"...the backlash against..." (to which others firmly took up the contrary)
#"It's become conventional wisdom that..." (and this is a counter-contrary perspective)
#"However..." ("...and ''I'', for one, think that they're wrong about the whole thing!")
...well, by a very quick and dirty deconstruction. But, then again, I fully expect to be shown wrong in my delayering! [[Special:Contributions/162.158.74.25|162.158.74.25]] 00:31, 21 November 2023 (UTC)
:Wouldn't the inconvenient new evidence be the justification for the backlash against the prevailing concensus, not the reason why the new evidence is ignored? I'm not going to try to explain this comic, I'm lost already. [[User:Barmar|Barmar]] ([[User talk:Barmar|talk]]) 00:46, 21 November 2023 (UTC)
::It was the backlash that ignored the new evidence. The new evidence wasn't adopted by the 'backlashers', as I read it, so couldn't be their justification. (Or at least that's how the conventional wisdom interprets it, which of course could be wrong!) [[Special:Contributions/162.158.34.23|162.158.34.23]] 00:56, 21 November 2023 (UTC)

I impressed myself by correctly remembering that the author of "Structure of Scientific Revolution" was Thomas Kuhn. It was assigned reading in a philosophy of science class I took over 40 years ago, but I haven't had to think about it much since then. [[User:Barmar|Barmar]] ([[User talk:Barmar|talk]]) 00:43, 21 November 2023 (UTC)

[[File:The more rematic mainvisionist dogstream.png|thumb|ChatGPT: "Here is an image depicting the concept of a 'more rematic mainvisionist dogstream.'"]]

Looking for a way to depict the Title Text: "The mainstream dogma sparked a wave of dogmatic revisionism, and this revisionist mainstream dogmatism has now given way to a more rematic mainvisionist dogstream." Too garish? [[Special:Contributions/172.69.79.142|172.69.79.142]] 00:52, 21 November 2023 (UTC)
:I'm not typing color codes, but I figured it would make more sense to coordinate the color by compound word, not roots. So "dogma" would be one color, "mainstream" would be another, etc. And then "dogstream" would be two-tone. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.178.11|172.70.178.11]] 09:47, 21 November 2023 (UTC)
::On that topic, I think the description for "rematic" should be changed to more clearly reflect the combination of "revisionist" and "dogmatic"; I don't think it implies any relation to "remake", "remix", "refurbish" or "recycle", even if the ultimate meaning is similar (and I'm not sure that's the case anyway). [[Special:Contributions/162.158.90.161|162.158.90.161]] 17:27, 21 November 2023 (UTC)

A simple explanation of "rematic mainvisionist dogstream" is that they are created by taking "re" from revisionist and replacing the "dog" from dogmatic which replaces the "main" from mainstream which then replaces the "re" of revisionist. [[User:Rtanenbaum|Rtanenbaum]] ([[User talk:Rtanenbaum|talk]]) 19:25, 21 November 2023 (UTC)

That's an excellent explanation, yet I'm still not sure I understand the comic. There may be just too many layers of meta. [[User:Barmar|Barmar]] ([[User talk:Barmar|talk]]) 16:22, 21 November 2023 (UTC)

Unclothed evidence would certainly be unwelcome, to say no more, in the puritanical Church of Scientific Dogma. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.210.40|172.70.210.40]] 17:39, 21 November 2023 (UTC)

Talk:2848: Breaker Box

2023-11-01T12:43:09Z

Rtanenbaum:

added transcript and got to change the name of the thing that created the explanation incomplete tag WOHOOOOoO [[User:Certified_nqh|Me]][[[285: Wikipedian Protester|''citation needed'']]][[Category:Pages using the "citation needed" template]] 02:25, 31 October 2023 (UTC)
: can't help but notice the [[1590]] reference [[User:SomeoneIGuess|someone, i guess]]([[User talk:SomeoneIGuess|talk i guess]]|[[Special:Contributions/SomeoneIGuess|le edit list]]) 02:43, 31 October 2023 (UTC)
Added explanation! Simple, but it'll do. How do I sign? [[Special:Contributions/172.69.34.159|172.69.34.159]] 03:42, 31 October 2023 (UTC)
: four tildes (<code><nowiki>~~~~</nowiki></code>) [[User:SomeoneIGuess|someone, i guess]]([[User talk:SomeoneIGuess|talk i guess]]|[[Special:Contributions/SomeoneIGuess|le edit list]]) 03:08, 31 October 2023 (UTC)
:: Thanks. I thought that I had tried it earlier and it hadn't worked, but I guess I was wrong. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.34.160|172.69.34.160]] 03:46, 31 October 2023 (UTC)

Just added headers, but not good enough with this stuff to add descriptions. go nuts [[User:SomeoneIGuess|someone, i guess]]([[User talk:SomeoneIGuess|talk i guess]]|[[Special:Contributions/SomeoneIGuess|le edit list]]) 02:52, 31 October 2023 (UTC)

Got a good laugh out of this one. Does anyone have a guess as to whether the "bugs" at the bottom of the second column refers to computer bugs or insects? Also, some self-referential humor going on at the end there. I guess the breaker box which contains all breakers would indeed contain itself. [[User:Jrfarah|Jrfarah]] ([[User talk:Jrfarah|talk]]) 04:31, 31 October 2023 (UTC)
: I thought it was some sort of reference to [[2753]] [[User:SomeoneIGuess|someone, i guess]]([[User talk:SomeoneIGuess|talk i guess]]|[[Special:Contributions/SomeoneIGuess|le edit list]]) 04:58, 31 October 2023 (UTC)
: It turns off the bunny. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.194.194|172.69.194.194]] 11:27, 31 October 2023 (UTC)
: Computer bugs switches actually exist. It's a feature in some emulators to either run an unofficial patched version or to stay true to the original system, for example to allow bug-exploit speedruns. [[User:Shirluban|Shirluban]] [[Special:Contributions/172.71.130.70|172.71.130.70]] 13:34, 31 October 2023 (UTC)

So... discussion about "Hot Water Heater" vs. "Regular Water Heater"... I was assuming this was a joke regarding the redundancy of the term "Hot Water Heater" since "Water Heater" is already making the water hot, so why would you need to heat water that's already hot? Similar to RAS Syndrome, I thought Randall was making fun of that, but the explanation has a different idea... which... kind of makes sense? But... I've never seen anything like what is being described. [[User:AdmiralMemo|Admiral Memo]] ([[User talk:AdmiralMemo|talk]]) 05:22, 31 October 2023 (UTC)

Regarding the "one surprise mystery outlet", I don't think it's necessary to assume it was wired that way by mistake. When extending the wiring in an existing house, it's not always easy to wire up an extra breaker, or use the most logically labelled one, and there may not be a compelling safety reason to do so. For instance, in my parents house, the original sockets are all wired from the floor, and when an extra one was needed for a boiler control, it was easier to run a conduit ''down'' from the floor above; so that particular socket is on the [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ring_circuit ring] marked "Upstairs Sockets" on the consumer unit. - [[User:IMSoP|IMSoP]] ([[User talk:IMSoP|talk]]) 09:18, 31 October 2023 (UTC)

I read the "state/federal law" switches as ''required'' by said laws. i.e. respective building codes require a "foo switch" always to be installed, whether or not a foo is required, reasonable or even practicable. The switches may be left unlinked to anything that is serviced, or run to the household outlet/power-switch with the label plastered over it saying "don't use for anything but the quarter-inch hoojamaflip grinder" (or whatever it is, in the same sort of manner as "Refrigerator, do ''not'' unplug/turn off!" in a communal kitchen.... [[Special:Contributions/141.101.99.166|141.101.99.166]] 10:09, 31 October 2023 (UTC)
:Some laws contain "circuit breaker" provisions, where some action is triggered when a condition reaches a threshold. Maybe that's what state/federal law refers to. [[User:Barmar|Barmar]] ([[User talk:Barmar|talk]]) 14:25, 31 October 2023 (UTC)
:: You guys are way too serious. It's a joke, so pick the funniest interpretation possible. Don't try to make it realistic. A circuit breaker turns off the electricity so you can work on the wiring without getting shocked. By analogy, you should be able to use a circuit breaker to turn off the laws when you want to avoid getting fined or arrested. Now that's funny. [[User:Rtanenbaum|Rtanenbaum]] ([[User talk:Rtanenbaum|talk]]) 12:43, 1 November 2023 (UTC)

...in a separate comment, I have a fuse/switch labelled "Do not turn on!" in my house. It was turned on when I moved in, and (barring actually any reason to mess with anything/’get a man in' for any other purpose) I've ''left'' it on. Ditto, for these last six or seven years I've remained ignorant of the purpose of various wall switches (floor-height, one in living room, one at top of stairs, another in a bedroom) that are unlabelled and off (though I ''have'' switched them on... no obvious difference to lighting, alarm system, any other system I can imagine they're wired up into and left it pending some future time when I actually have to do something like strip plaster back and discover which (if any?) run of cable leads from/to them. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.99.166|141.101.99.166]] 10:11, 31 October 2023 (UTC)
:Regarding wall switches that don't have any apparent purpose. Many houses or apartments were not built with lights in the ceiling. So all your lighting came from lamps plugged into wall outlets. They would wire one of the wall outlets to a wall switch, usually near the door. This way you would leave the lamp turned on and use the wall switch to turn it off and on. It takes a little investigation to figure out which wall outlet is being controlled by the switch. [[User:Rtanenbaum|Rtanenbaum]] ([[User talk:Rtanenbaum|talk]]) 12:43, 1 November 2023 (UTC)

I believe that the cryptogram may be an attempt to pun on a "code breaker" as a reference to people who solve ciphers. [[User:Aberdasher|Aberdasher]] ([[User talk:Aberdasher|talk]]) 13:48, 31 October 2023 (UTC)

After reading "Regular Water Heater", I assumed it was implying that the "Hot Water Heater" was somehow more physically attractive and thus "hotter". --[[User:Galeindfal|Galeindfal]] ([[User talk:Galeindfal|talk]]) 14:41, 31 October 2023 (UTC)

Depending on interpretation, "North-facing appliances" could make sense. In my house, I have two main breakers, East and West, each covering (almost) everything in one side of the house. [[User:Ehusmark|EHusmark]] ([[User talk:Ehusmark|talk]]) 14:52, 31 October 2023 (UTC)
:And, contrary to the "how would the system know?", regarding north-facingness, if you had a ring-main/set of sockets servicing one particular wall (to just one side), there'd be a good chance that anything plugged in there (at least bulky "white goods", even if not smaller things that you might move and turn, like irons and fans) faces away from that particular wall. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.91.236|172.70.91.236]] 16:54, 31 October 2023 (UTC)

Definite {{w|Celestial Emporium of Benevolent Knowledge|Borges}} vibes from the "appliances that face north", "appliances whose names begin with the letter 'F'", "outlets in rooms that it's normal to eat pizza in" section. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.85.50|172.70.85.50]] 17:31, 31 October 2023 (UTC)

Amongst other things, there are problems under the "no friction" section. e.g. You might have a perpetual motion machine that would go forever, but without something else (e.g. the anullment of 3LoT) it couldn't also ''do external work''. And of course you can still hold something with zero friction, if you can sufficiently surround, support and/or impale the thing. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.90.230|172.70.90.230]] 19:24, 31 October 2023 (UTC)
: I agree. [[Special:Diff/327557|Edited]]. --[[User:Hddqsb|Hddqsb]] ([[User talk:Hddqsb|talk]]) 05:01, 1 November 2023 (UTC)

So.... em if you turn off causality, would the switch that turned off causality actually reliably turn off causality, given that causality has been disabled? (added something like this as a note about the title text). ([[User:Wowitschris|Wowitschris]] ([[User talk:Wowitschris|talk]]) 19:32, 31 October 2023 (UTC)
:Worse than that, if you ''need'' to have Causality turned off (for a 'legitimate' reason), there is now no way of preventing anything (including the Causality switch) to be actively toggled. Causaulity could become active again even without any intervention, as well as any number of other effects (of any spontaneous kind whatsoever) for which no cause is now required. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.195.103|172.69.195.103]] 19:53, 31 October 2023 (UTC)

"A circuit breaker ...to... protect appliances." --- A pedant would say the breaker protects the wires. When the box is specced and installed, the appliances may not have arrived, and are sure subject to replacement. In both the US and GB Codes the breaker size relates to the wire diameter. If an appliance needs greater protection it should have its own fuse/breaker. Some do, though the trend is to appliances which will fail without flame, smoke, or loud noise.
:It's a chicken-and-egg. If you've got a high-current device to install (e.g. electric cooker) then you'll ...hopefully... make sure it has thick copper cables to its outlet, and also sit it behind a fuse/breaker that will take the power throughput. But you still want your breaker to 'break' if something shortcircuity goes on in the cooker. Even/especially if the supply cables are happily feeding the power to it, or its own local fusepoint, because they're not so tightly toleranced that you end up with a long 'heating element' passing through the kitchen wall as well as on your cooker's hobtop (or in its grill/oven compartment(s)).
:Overspec the wires, try to tightly spec the current limits on the switches as much as you can anticipate will not ever false-trip. (With the switch from incandescent to LED lighting, many a lighting circuit will now be much further from failure, than designed, but actual ground-faulting will still likely trigger the RCD/whatever.) The aim is to never get so far as a breaking more circuitry than an intrinsic fault has already broken. e.g. motors may burn out, if something jams them, but ideally not spark across to the casing that houses them if they don't suffer direct physical damage. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.195.103|172.69.195.103]] 21:29, 31 October 2023 (UTC)

"Bathtub drain light" My bathtub drain is plastic pipe. If the lights are off in the bathroom, but on in the cellar, there's a "light in the drain". No, I don't have a dedicated breaker but that's an idea.....

"Hallway floors" My last house was 1830, so all the electrics were hacked-on. We had a floor outlet in the hall. This used to be more common above a wireable cellar, it avoided snaking the wall. [[User:PRR|PRR]] ([[User talk:PRR|talk]]) 20:14, 31 October 2023 (UTC)

Talk:2848: Breaker Box

2023-11-01T12:33:26Z

Rtanenbaum: light switches controlling wall outlets

added transcript and got to change the name of the thing that created the explanation incomplete tag WOHOOOOoO [[User:Certified_nqh|Me]][[[285: Wikipedian Protester|''citation needed'']]][[Category:Pages using the "citation needed" template]] 02:25, 31 October 2023 (UTC)
: can't help but notice the [[1590]] reference [[User:SomeoneIGuess|someone, i guess]]([[User talk:SomeoneIGuess|talk i guess]]|[[Special:Contributions/SomeoneIGuess|le edit list]]) 02:43, 31 October 2023 (UTC)
Added explanation! Simple, but it'll do. How do I sign? [[Special:Contributions/172.69.34.159|172.69.34.159]] 03:42, 31 October 2023 (UTC)
: four tildes (<code><nowiki>~~~~</nowiki></code>) [[User:SomeoneIGuess|someone, i guess]]([[User talk:SomeoneIGuess|talk i guess]]|[[Special:Contributions/SomeoneIGuess|le edit list]]) 03:08, 31 October 2023 (UTC)
:: Thanks. I thought that I had tried it earlier and it hadn't worked, but I guess I was wrong. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.34.160|172.69.34.160]] 03:46, 31 October 2023 (UTC)

Just added headers, but not good enough with this stuff to add descriptions. go nuts [[User:SomeoneIGuess|someone, i guess]]([[User talk:SomeoneIGuess|talk i guess]]|[[Special:Contributions/SomeoneIGuess|le edit list]]) 02:52, 31 October 2023 (UTC)

Got a good laugh out of this one. Does anyone have a guess as to whether the "bugs" at the bottom of the second column refers to computer bugs or insects? Also, some self-referential humor going on at the end there. I guess the breaker box which contains all breakers would indeed contain itself. [[User:Jrfarah|Jrfarah]] ([[User talk:Jrfarah|talk]]) 04:31, 31 October 2023 (UTC)
: I thought it was some sort of reference to [[2753]] [[User:SomeoneIGuess|someone, i guess]]([[User talk:SomeoneIGuess|talk i guess]]|[[Special:Contributions/SomeoneIGuess|le edit list]]) 04:58, 31 October 2023 (UTC)
: It turns off the bunny. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.194.194|172.69.194.194]] 11:27, 31 October 2023 (UTC)
: Computer bugs switches actually exist. It's a feature in some emulators to either run an unofficial patched version or to stay true to the original system, for example to allow bug-exploit speedruns. [[User:Shirluban|Shirluban]] [[Special:Contributions/172.71.130.70|172.71.130.70]] 13:34, 31 October 2023 (UTC)

So... discussion about "Hot Water Heater" vs. "Regular Water Heater"... I was assuming this was a joke regarding the redundancy of the term "Hot Water Heater" since "Water Heater" is already making the water hot, so why would you need to heat water that's already hot? Similar to RAS Syndrome, I thought Randall was making fun of that, but the explanation has a different idea... which... kind of makes sense? But... I've never seen anything like what is being described. [[User:AdmiralMemo|Admiral Memo]] ([[User talk:AdmiralMemo|talk]]) 05:22, 31 October 2023 (UTC)

Regarding the "one surprise mystery outlet", I don't think it's necessary to assume it was wired that way by mistake. When extending the wiring in an existing house, it's not always easy to wire up an extra breaker, or use the most logically labelled one, and there may not be a compelling safety reason to do so. For instance, in my parents house, the original sockets are all wired from the floor, and when an extra one was needed for a boiler control, it was easier to run a conduit ''down'' from the floor above; so that particular socket is on the [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ring_circuit ring] marked "Upstairs Sockets" on the consumer unit. - [[User:IMSoP|IMSoP]] ([[User talk:IMSoP|talk]]) 09:18, 31 October 2023 (UTC)

I read the "state/federal law" switches as ''required'' by said laws. i.e. respective building codes require a "foo switch" always to be installed, whether or not a foo is required, reasonable or even practicable. The switches may be left unlinked to anything that is serviced, or run to the household outlet/power-switch with the label plastered over it saying "don't use for anything but the quarter-inch hoojamaflip grinder" (or whatever it is, in the same sort of manner as "Refrigerator, do ''not'' unplug/turn off!" in a communal kitchen.... [[Special:Contributions/141.101.99.166|141.101.99.166]] 10:09, 31 October 2023 (UTC)
:Some laws contain "circuit breaker" provisions, where some action is triggered when a condition reaches a threshold. Maybe that's what state/federal law refers to. [[User:Barmar|Barmar]] ([[User talk:Barmar|talk]]) 14:25, 31 October 2023 (UTC)

...in a separate comment, I have a fuse/switch labelled "Do not turn on!" in my house. It was turned on when I moved in, and (barring actually any reason to mess with anything/’get a man in' for any other purpose) I've ''left'' it on. Ditto, for these last six or seven years I've remained ignorant of the purpose of various wall switches (floor-height, one in living room, one at top of stairs, another in a bedroom) that are unlabelled and off (though I ''have'' switched them on... no obvious difference to lighting, alarm system, any other system I can imagine they're wired up into and left it pending some future time when I actually have to do something like strip plaster back and discover which (if any?) run of cable leads from/to them. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.99.166|141.101.99.166]] 10:11, 31 October 2023 (UTC)
:Regarding wall switches that don't have any apparent purpose. Many houses or apartments were not built with lights in the ceiling. So all your lighting came from lamps plugged into wall outlets. They would wire one of the wall outlets to a wall switch, usually near the door. This way you would leave the lamp turned on and use the wall switch to turn it off and on. It takes a little investigation to figure out which wall outlet is being controlled by the switch.

I believe that the cryptogram may be an attempt to pun on a "code breaker" as a reference to people who solve ciphers. [[User:Aberdasher|Aberdasher]] ([[User talk:Aberdasher|talk]]) 13:48, 31 October 2023 (UTC)

After reading "Regular Water Heater", I assumed it was implying that the "Hot Water Heater" was somehow more physically attractive and thus "hotter". --[[User:Galeindfal|Galeindfal]] ([[User talk:Galeindfal|talk]]) 14:41, 31 October 2023 (UTC)

Depending on interpretation, "North-facing appliances" could make sense. In my house, I have two main breakers, East and West, each covering (almost) everything in one side of the house. [[User:Ehusmark|EHusmark]] ([[User talk:Ehusmark|talk]]) 14:52, 31 October 2023 (UTC)
:And, contrary to the "how would the system know?", regarding north-facingness, if you had a ring-main/set of sockets servicing one particular wall (to just one side), there'd be a good chance that anything plugged in there (at least bulky "white goods", even if not smaller things that you might move and turn, like irons and fans) faces away from that particular wall. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.91.236|172.70.91.236]] 16:54, 31 October 2023 (UTC)

Definite {{w|Celestial Emporium of Benevolent Knowledge|Borges}} vibes from the "appliances that face north", "appliances whose names begin with the letter 'F'", "outlets in rooms that it's normal to eat pizza in" section. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.85.50|172.70.85.50]] 17:31, 31 October 2023 (UTC)

Amongst other things, there are problems under the "no friction" section. e.g. You might have a perpetual motion machine that would go forever, but without something else (e.g. the anullment of 3LoT) it couldn't also ''do external work''. And of course you can still hold something with zero friction, if you can sufficiently surround, support and/or impale the thing. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.90.230|172.70.90.230]] 19:24, 31 October 2023 (UTC)
: I agree. [[Special:Diff/327557|Edited]]. --[[User:Hddqsb|Hddqsb]] ([[User talk:Hddqsb|talk]]) 05:01, 1 November 2023 (UTC)

So.... em if you turn off causality, would the switch that turned off causality actually reliably turn off causality, given that causality has been disabled? (added something like this as a note about the title text). ([[User:Wowitschris|Wowitschris]] ([[User talk:Wowitschris|talk]]) 19:32, 31 October 2023 (UTC)
:Worse than that, if you ''need'' to have Causality turned off (for a 'legitimate' reason), there is now no way of preventing anything (including the Causality switch) to be actively toggled. Causaulity could become active again even without any intervention, as well as any number of other effects (of any spontaneous kind whatsoever) for which no cause is now required. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.195.103|172.69.195.103]] 19:53, 31 October 2023 (UTC)

"A circuit breaker ...to... protect appliances." --- A pedant would say the breaker protects the wires. When the box is specced and installed, the appliances may not have arrived, and are sure subject to replacement. In both the US and GB Codes the breaker size relates to the wire diameter. If an appliance needs greater protection it should have its own fuse/breaker. Some do, though the trend is to appliances which will fail without flame, smoke, or loud noise.
:It's a chicken-and-egg. If you've got a high-current device to install (e.g. electric cooker) then you'll ...hopefully... make sure it has thick copper cables to its outlet, and also sit it behind a fuse/breaker that will take the power throughput. But you still want your breaker to 'break' if something shortcircuity goes on in the cooker. Even/especially if the supply cables are happily feeding the power to it, or its own local fusepoint, because they're not so tightly toleranced that you end up with a long 'heating element' passing through the kitchen wall as well as on your cooker's hobtop (or in its grill/oven compartment(s)).
:Overspec the wires, try to tightly spec the current limits on the switches as much as you can anticipate will not ever false-trip. (With the switch from incandescent to LED lighting, many a lighting circuit will now be much further from failure, than designed, but actual ground-faulting will still likely trigger the RCD/whatever.) The aim is to never get so far as a breaking more circuitry than an intrinsic fault has already broken. e.g. motors may burn out, if something jams them, but ideally not spark across to the casing that houses them if they don't suffer direct physical damage. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.195.103|172.69.195.103]] 21:29, 31 October 2023 (UTC)

"Bathtub drain light" My bathtub drain is plastic pipe. If the lights are off in the bathroom, but on in the cellar, there's a "light in the drain". No, I don't have a dedicated breaker but that's an idea.....

"Hallway floors" My last house was 1830, so all the electrics were hacked-on. We had a floor outlet in the hall. This used to be more common above a wireable cellar, it avoided snaking the wall. [[User:PRR|PRR]] ([[User talk:PRR|talk]]) 20:14, 31 October 2023 (UTC)

Talk:2846: Daylight Saving Choice

2023-10-25T18:46:36Z

Rtanenbaum: If you don't like it, then don't change and stay stuck forever.

I instead suggest that we make the DST shift 12 hours. [[Special:Contributions/172.68.1.190|172.68.1.190]] 15:16, 25 October 2023 (UTC)

The terrorist plot wasn't thwarted by this kind of proposal. It was just due to the fact that DST laws differ between countries. [[User:Barmar|Barmar]] ([[User talk:Barmar|talk]]) 15:31, 25 October 2023 (UTC)

: The Palestinian terrorist plot on 5th September 1999 definitively was. One group of terrorists switched to ST as decided by authorities, while other refused to and used DST. [[User:Abukaj|Abukaj]] ([[User talk:Abukaj|talk]]) 16:36, 25 October 2023 (UTC)

When I read the comic, I applied it to this upcoming clock change which would turn the clocks back to "standard" time. Thus the ironic joke is that if you don't like daylight savings time then don't change your clocks, so you are then stuck forever in daylight savings time forever. [[User:Rtanenbaum|Rtanenbaum]] ([[User talk:Rtanenbaum|talk]]) 18:46, 25 October 2023 (UTC)

== Average 39 minutes ==

While this figure makes sense (rather than 30 minutes) it was still slightly unexpected at first; as DST has a duration of 238 days, the average year-round time would be 238/365 hours ahead of Standard, or 39 minutes and 7.4 seconds. 
(Or, to factor in that a leap day occurs in 97 of every 400 years, 238/(365 ⁹⁷⁄₄₀₀) = 39 minutes and 5.8 seconds)

In fact, the original DST duration was set to actually be 6 months long (last Sunday of April to October), before being extended in 1987 and 2007 to reach its current 34 weeks.

[[User:SomeDee|SomeDee]] ([[User talk:SomeDee|talk]]) 15:23, 25 October 2023 (UTC)

I was wondering where that number came from... trust him to use the most absurd metric possible for averaging, instead of, for instance, the average deviation of sunrise, solar noon, or sunset... or even their earliest or latest times. - [[Special:Contributions/172.68.2.102|172.68.2.102]] 17:17, 25 October 2023 (UTC)

== Major health ==

> "''has been found to cause major health problems''"

Citation needed.

One reported factoid:
''"..a group of U.S. researchers ...determined that heart attack risk jumped 24 percent the Monday after switching over to daylight saving time. .....dropped 21 percent on the Tuesday after the fall time change."''
https://www.heart.org/en/news/2018/10/26/can-daylight-saving-time-hurt-the-heart-prepare-now-for-spring
24% in fall, 21% in spring, suggests 3% net, which is more likely margin-of-error than major-problem.

"has been suggested" or "controversial" but not "has been found".

:So it basically evens out? [[Special:Contributions/172.69.23.90|172.69.23.90]] 18:26, 25 October 2023 (UTC)

== Personal Inclination ==

I haven't changed clocks for DST in years. That system is garbage; it doesn't even fall on obvious days. When someone says a clock is off, shrug & say "That's debateable. This one's right year-round, how often do you have to set yours?"
[[User:ProphetZarquon|ProphetZarquon]] ([[User talk:ProphetZarquon|talk]]) 17:36, 25 October 2023 (UTC)

2832: Urban Planning Opinion Progression

2023-09-23T17:15:08Z

Rtanenbaum: add comment about large tractor trailer and garbage trucks

{{comic
| number = 2832
| date = September 22, 2023
| title = Urban Planning Opinion Progression
| image = urban_planning_opinion_progression_2x.png
| imagesize = 675x2033px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = If they're going to make people ride bikes and scooters in traffic, then it should at LEAST be legal to do the Snow Crash thing where you use a hook-shot-style harpoon to catch free rides from cars.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by a DUTCH BOT - Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

This comic follows Cueball, Megan, Knit Cap and Ponytail as they begin to favor pedestrian-centered design. In the first panel, Cueball and Megan complain about the common problem many car-centric cities face about not having enough space for all the cars, and give the naive suggestion of making more space for cars. In the second panel, Knit Cap mentions how he is going to visit Amsterdam, a city known for its {{w|walkability}} and bike friendliness. Ponytail expresses concern over the popularity of cycling in the street presumably because cycling in the street is dangerous where she lives and so she expects it to be dangerous in Amsterdam.

In the third panel, Cueball discusses another problem many car-centric cities face which is that there are not a lot of bike paths. Since there is a limited amount of space on a street, cities face a dilemma on how much space they should allocate to pedestrians, bicyclists and vehicles. Car-centric cities often allocate the most space to cars, leaving less space for bikes and pedestrians. Many cities try and make up for a lack of space for bike lanes by allowing cyclists to cycle in the streets with the cars. This, however, is significantly more dangerous than a city having a dedicated bike lane which is why Ponytail was likely concerned in the second panel. This danger was discussed more in the fifth panel as well.

Megan's comment in the sixth panel is likely referring to pickup trucks in addition to regular trucks. Many pickup truck owners care a lot about the distance their vehicle is off the ground and so they will either purchase a pickup truck with a high ground clearance or raise it themselves, resulting in what is known as a lifted pickup truck. Many people believe that a vehicle with higher ground clearance will keep them safe on the road, and while this is true, it comes at the cost of potentially hurting others who are in smaller vehicles or no vehicle at all. Alternatively, it could refer to many large tractor trailer cabs or garbage trucks that if you stand directly in front of the cab you can't see the driver and they can't see you. It is particularly dangerous for children.

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Induced_demand Induced demand] is an economic theory in which increasing the supply of a good or service causes the demand to rise faster than the increased supply, worsening the shortage. The most common example is traffic: some US cities have tried to alleviate traffic jams by widening the roads and highways, which incentivized more people to take up driving, thereby ''worsening'' their traffic jam problem. Conversely, other cities have tried removing traffic lanes or converting them to dedicated public transit lanes, and have claimed a reduction in traffic congestion. Among urban planners, this is known as the [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Downs%E2%80%93Thomson_paradox Downs–Thomson paradox].

Cueball's comment in the second-to-last panel that "anything that makes a city a worse place to drive in makes it a better place to live, short of scattering random tire spikes on the road" is an exaggeration. For example, a city that allows potholes to go unrepaired will make it more difficult to drive in, but could also make it more difficult for pedestrians to safely cross the street.

The title text references a Cyberpunk book called "Snow Crash", by Neal Stephenson. An early scene in that book involves the equivalent of a skater using a magnet on a cable to attach onto the back of a pizza delivery vehicle. He swerves in order to dislodge her, she taunts him and attaches stickers to his vehicle.

=== What makes a city walkable? ===
As all of Europe''[citation not needed]'' agrees, urban planning (or zoning) must be seamlessly integrated with public transport planning. The central truth is that everybody is a pedestrian for some time, which also includes car drivers. Crucially, the average pedestrian is willing to walk about 2000 ft from his home to the next public transport stop, and an additional 2000 ft between the last public transport stop and his workplace. Opportunities for shopping and eating should exist at every connecting station, with the connections scheduled in a way that it both allows changing to the connecting train/tramway/bus immediately - as well as buying groceries.

All roads should have a sidewalk, which, of course, costs area, but make the pedestrians' lives much easier. But then, not only roads impact walkability. In the United States, many places open to the public are, by municipal ordinances, forced to provide enough parking space for [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OUNXFHpUhu8 all customers at any given time], which leads to serious knock-on effects: Pedestrians must often cross a large and weather-exposed parking lot in order to shop. A building can often be only re-purposed if a neighboring building is bulldozed to create the necessary parking area. And tenants who live in an apartment, but do not own a car, are forced to pay for the parking space they do not need.

Another topic is subsidizing public traffic. Municipalities in Switzerland, for example, order bus connections - e.g. a hourly bus from 6 AM until 10 PM, and in exchange, they cover the deficit of any such connection. That way, families, who usually are better taxpayers, move to villages, and beginning with grade 5, 6 or 7, pupils can still easily commute to a district school.

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

:'''Typical urban planning opinion progression'''

:[Each panel is connected to a point on a timeline]

:Cueball: I wish there wasn't so much traffic to get into the city. They should put in more lanes.
:Megan: And more parking.
:Megan: Parking is so bad here.

:Knit Cap: I have to go to Amsterdam for work next week. I hear they all ride bikes there.
:Ponytail: Bikes are fine but people shouldn't ride them in the street! I worry I'm going to hit someone!

:Cueball: It would be nice if we had better transit options!
:Cueball: I tried a scooter. It was fun but I wish there were more bike paths.

:Megan: It's funny how widening roads to speed up traffic makes them more dangerous to walk near, making driving more necessary and creating more traffic.
:Megan: Really makes you think.

:Knit Cap: Visiting the Netherlands was cool!
:Knit Cap: Amsterdam is really neat.

:Cueball: We've ceded so much of our land to storing and moving cars, with the rest of us tiptoeing around the edges and making drivers mad for trespassing on "their" space.
:Cueball: Even though '''''we're''''' the ones in danger from '''''them!'''''

:Megan: Those giant trucks with front blind spots that keep hitting kids should be illegal.

:Knit Cap: We should be more like the Netherlands.
:Knit Cap: They design their streets to prioritize...

:[Cueball is frustrated.]
:Cueball: The problem is car culture. It's systemic.
:Cueball: I don't know if we can fix it.

:[Megan’s arms are thrown out, and her hair is bedraggled.]
:Megan: People approach road planning decisions from the point of view of drivers because that's how we're used to interacting with the city, so we make choices that make it more car-friendly.
:Megan: It's a vicious cycle.

:[Knit Cap is walking around with two Dutch flags raised in his hands.]
:Knit Cap: '''''Netherlands! Netherlands! Netherlands! Netherlands!'''''

:Cueball: Anything that makes a city a worse place to drive in makes it a better place to live, short of scattering random tire spikes on the road.

:Megan: Honestly, I think the city council should consider the tire spikes thing.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Knit Cap]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Ponytail]]

Talk:2823: Fossil

2023-09-03T13:26:12Z

Rtanenbaum: Remote control device

Boop! [[User:PotatoGod|PotatoGod]] ([[User talk:PotatoGod|talk]]) 07:53, 2 September 2023 (UTC)

Came here to find out what in the heck ‘boop’ has to do with anything, learned absolutely nothing (autospell changed it to “book” so I’m not alone). [[Special:Contributions/172.71.154.76|172.71.154.76]] 08:17, 2 September 2023 (UTC)
:There's a link there now (not sure when anyone added it, might have been after your query) which satisfies me somewhat. Seems to be a playful tagging/"you're it!" sort of thing, though, like "punch buggy <yellow/etc>", it's not something I really knew of though probably appears to be in Randall's childhood/whatever cultural background and that's good enough for me. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.79.152|172.69.79.152]] 09:53, 2 September 2023 (UTC)
::I agree that "boop" needs an extra explanation for non native speakers of English. The link is useful (thanks to whoever added it) but the Wiktionary definition alone is too terse to get the pun.--[[User:Pere prlpz|Pere prlpz]] ([[User talk:Pere prlpz|talk]]) 11:54, 2 September 2023 (UTC)
:I added the wikitionary link and I was not entirely happy with it, but it's a starting point. Please do improve it. To me, "boop" is a friendly pat on the nose that one might do to, especially, a dog's nose; see https://www.hillspet.com/dog-care/play-exercise/do-dogs-like-dog-boops?. Definitely more affectionate and less aggressive than the "punch buggy" action (which can get out of hand), or even tagging. I was surprised that https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boop did not have a mention of this, not even on the talk page; yeah, it's not the most encyclopedic of topics, but discussing social behaviors is beyond the bounds of wiktionary, and Urban Dictionary isn't a great place to cite to (even if it were helpful). [[User:JohnHawkinson|JohnHawkinson]] ([[User talk:JohnHawkinson|talk]]) 12:26, 2 September 2023 (UTC)
::To the non-native English speakers, it's basically just playfully, gently touching a dog or other animal/pet on the nose while saying "Boop". Like "I got your nose." Not really petting/stroking; just a form of play or affection. I'm not surprised there isn't a lot documented on this as it's not really a "thing". Kind of like Randall's use of pew pew pew noises while pretending to fire a ray gun. You understand what he's doing and may have done it yourself, but it's not the kind of thing you expect to find on Wikipedia. :) [[Special:Contributions/172.71.254.125|172.71.254.125]] 15:40, 2 September 2023 (UTC) Pat

The furries gonna have a field day with this one :] [[Special:Contributions/172.71.154.178|172.71.154.178]] 22:07, 2 September 2023 (UTC)

I was actually curios as whether any eye had ever seen a 400 million old fossil. Had to look it up to see when the first eyes evolved. But seems it was around [https://www.scienceworld.ca/stories/eyes-how/ 550 million years ago], so some eyes may have seen the animal that turned in to the fossil Cueball now sees. ;-) --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 12:47, 3 September 2023 (UTC)

I thought that the rock with the trilobite looks like a remote control button that makes a "beep" or "boop" when you push it. Or alternatively an infant's toy that has a button that makes a sound like a clown's nose. So Cueball is pressing the trilobite and vocalizing the "boop" sound that would be expected from these objects. Although "booping" a child's nose is a thing ... although it seems very rude ... I did not associate the fossil rock with the trilobite with noses, but I did associate it with remote control devices that have a flat pad with a button (or many buttons) on it. [[User:Rtanenbaum|Rtanenbaum]] ([[User talk:Rtanenbaum|talk]]) 13:26, 3 September 2023 (UTC)

Talk:2822: *@gmail.com

2023-08-31T13:15:23Z

Rtanenbaum: Me too @aol.com

Why not send to *@*.*? [[Special:Contributions/172.69.247.45|172.69.247.45]] 03:08, 31 August 2023 (UTC)
:Either *@* suffices (if not just a *), or (because of non-standard wildcard parsing) it would reach neither ''<whatever@mydomain.me.uk>'' nor ''<something@business.com.au>''... But it'd depend upon how you invoke the query of the relevent MXRecords. [[Special:Contributions/172.71.178.22|172.71.178.22]] 03:18, 31 August 2023 (UTC)

Based on the caption of the comic, I believe the real joke is that many GMail recipients of the original mass email would incorrectly use the "Reply-All" functionality of their email client and thereby further bomb the gmail server with a much larger volume of emails. [[User:Ianrbibtitlht|Ianrbibtitlht]] ([[User talk:Ianrbibtitlht|talk]]) 03:21, 31 August 2023 (UTC)

:That's certainly part of it, but getting millions of emails is far more annoying than the typical few. [[User:DownGoer|DownGoer]] ([[User talk:DownGoer|talk]]) 04:44, 31 August 2023 (UTC)

I have a setup to shorten mail notifications and "XKCD: *.gmail.com" totally looks like something it could output as the sender name, so for a moment I got very confused why the latest comic was suddenly sent from a GMail address and with no subject. [[User:Fabian42|Fabian42]] ([[User talk:Fabian42|talk]]) 05:51, 31 August 2023 (UTC)

Add to this the unfortunate tendency to promote Top-Posting (I'm looking at you, Outlook Express, but the various successors and competitors over the last three decades need not have followed that most unconventional convention too!) and 'email chains' of nested replies so easily build up in volumes that never would if each sender were encouraged to actually read through the prior chain of messaging (perhaps realise their contribution was unnecessary, given what someone already else said two iterations ago!) and judiciously prune out the historic ">>>>..."ed contributions that they aren't replying to. It also lets you mid-post (respond to a paragraph/point immediately after that embedded paragraph/point, to skip and excising later points intelligently) and stops it from becoming a hige hidden upside-down tree of ''everything'' in that message's history. (Which can also be a different problem... Something might have been said early on that might be best not to repeat to a later "copied in" contributor, for security or even politeness reasons, but now it's there to be discovered.) But, instead, the modern solution is to hide these top-post tree-roots behind client-side "collapsed"-content and keep forwarding all historic context ''unless'' someone takes time to scroll down-down-down from their "Yeah, I agree" simple response and snip the "..."-worthy stuff out (as well as many, many repetitions of "Please don't print this email out if you don't have to", "This email is intended only for the stated recipients", "The views of this sender do not necessarily reflect the views of his company", etc, often adding up and combining into .sig additions much larger than their respective senders' contributions). Plus an often confusing attempt to "threadify" multiple received messages, which (done right) would actually do better than the retention of a full and unexpurgated reply tree within Every. Single. Individual. Email! ...can you tell that I've been annoyed about this for pretty much almost thirty years? And it really hasn't been made any better over the last decade or so. [[Special:Contributions/172.71.178.153|172.71.178.153]] 12:16, 31 August 2023 (UTC)

Inevitably someone would reply all with "Me too" to *@aol.com [[User:Rtanenbaum|Rtanenbaum]] ([[User talk:Rtanenbaum|talk]]) 13:15, 31 August 2023 (UTC)

2819: Pronunciation

2023-08-25T16:48:16Z

Rtanenbaum: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 2819
| date = August 23, 2023
| title = Pronunciation
| image = pronunciation_2x.png
| imagesize = 315x257px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = I pronounce the 'u' in 'pronunciation' like in 'putting' but the 'ou' in 'pronounce' like in 'wound'.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by a {{w|Ghoti|GHOTI}} - Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

Pronunciation guides are used in many languages to indicate the commonly accepted way to translate a written word into sound. This can be particularly important in the English language, where the pronunciation of individual letters and of combinations of letters can vary broadly, and there are very few rules that can be applied consistently. As a result, the 'correct' pronunciation of any given word is determined by common usage, and therefore can only be learned either by exposure or by memorizing them from guides. Some guides use the {{w|International Phonetic Alphabet}}, but the average person is not familiar with those characters, so most guides written for laypeople instead {{wiktionary|Appendix:English pronunciation|reference familiar words}} that feature the phonemes. This, of course, presumes that the reader is familiar with the pronunciation of ''those'' words, but the words should be chosen so that a) they're commonly known b) there is only one common pronunciation and c) the pronunciation doesn't vary much between regional accents.

In this strip, though, the selected guide-words are deliberately chosen to be confusing. They are {{w|Heteronym (linguistics)|heteronym}}s – words that, under alternate contexts, are identically spelled but pronounced in very different ways. Moreover for most of them it is the less common homograph which matches the pronunciation in "Tuesday". In other words, how the reader chooses to pronounce each guide-word determines what pronunciation of "Tuesday" they end up with.

(Note: General American pronunciations are primarily assumed here except when otherwise stated)

{| class="wikitable"
! Guide !! Correct for Tuesday !! Other !! Notes
|-
| Buffe'''t'''
| /ˈbʌf.ɪ'''t'''/ (verb: strike)
| /ˈbʌ.feɪ/ (noun: type of food service where a wide selection of foods are presented for diners to choose from, the table or heated fixture from which the food is served, or (in British English) a low cabinet used to store alcoholic spirits, glasses & plates.)
| The <t> in the "Other" pronunciation is silent (or arguably /ɪ/ or /j/)
|-
| Min'''u'''te
| /maɪˈn'''(j)uː'''t/ (adjective: small)
| /ˈmɪn'''ɪ'''t/ (noun: unit of time)
|
|-
| R'''e'''cord
| /ɹ'''i'''ˈkɔɹd/ (verb: write down/make permanent)
| /ˈɹ'''ɛ'''kərd/ or /ˈɹ'''ɛ'''k.ɚd/ or /ˈɹ'''ɛ'''k.ɔɹd/ (noun: medium containing information; vinyl disc which has sound encoded in a spiral groove embossed on its surface)
| In some dialects the leading 'e' in both words is pronounced identically, though in the case of the noun there is more emphasis on the first syllable. Regardless, neither is actually the correct e, the correct e in 'Tuesday' would be silent.
|-
| U'''s'''e
| /juː'''z'''/ (verb: to employ a thing for a particular end)
| /juː'''s'''/ (noun: the purpose for which that thing is employed)
|
|-
| Mope'''d'''
| /ˈmoʊ.pɛ'''d'''/ (noun: motor scooter with an engine smaller than 50cc)
| /moʊp'''t'''/ (verb: past tense of "mope," to brood or feel dejected)
| Perhaps less notable than the other letters, as both forms of the letter in question form a hard consonant if applied to 'Tuesday.'
|-
| B'''a'''ss
| /b'''eɪ'''s/ (noun: low-pitched notes and the instruments that play them)
| /b'''æ'''s/ (noun: fish)
| /æ/ is also correct in New Zealand English.
|-
| G'''y'''ro
| /ˈj'''iː'''.ɹoʊ/, /ˈj'''ɪ'''ɹoʊ/ or /ˈʒ'''ɪ'''ɹoʊ/ (noun: meat cooked on a vertical rotisserie, in Greek cuisine)
| /ˈd͡ʒ'''aɪ'''.ɹoʊ/ (noun: gyroscope)
| The meat can also be pronounced like the gyroscope. Also, in many dialects, the <ay> in Tuesday is pronounced [ɛʲ], in which case both options are wrong.
|}

Following this guide, a pronunciation of Tuesday as /iɛstæaɪ/ is possible. You can hear a pronunciation at [http://ipa-reader.xyz/?text=%C9%AA%C9%9Bst%C3%A6a%C9%AA http://ipa-reader.xyz].

The title text references how some people pronounce the word "pron'''u'''nciation" like "pron'''ou'''nce" (with /aʊ/) and others use a different vowel (/ʌ/). Here Randall is saying that he pronounces them with the 'u' from "p'''u'''tting" and the 'ou' from "w'''ou'''nd". If we take putting to mean /ˈp'''ʌ'''tɪŋ/ (golf) and wound as /w'''aʊ'''nd/ (coiled), this could mean he pronounces them using the commonly differing pronunciations. However those two words could also be pronounced /ˈp'''ʊ'''tɪŋ/ (placing) and /w'''u'''nd/ (injury), indicating a non-standard way of saying each word. In accents that lack the {{w|Phonological_history_of_English_close_back_vowels#FOOT–STRUT_split|FOOT–STRUT split}}, such as those in the north of England, both versions of "putting" would be pronounced identically.

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
:[The word "Tuesday", with each letter labeled by a box with an arrow:]
:T: As in buffe'''t'''
:u: As in min'''u'''te
:e: As in r'''e'''cord
:s: As in u'''s'''e
:d: As in mope'''d'''
:a: As in b'''a'''ss
:y: As in g'''y'''ro

:[Caption below the panel:]
:Pet peeve: Ambiguous pronunciation guides

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Language]]
[[Category:Pet Peeves]]

Talk:2819: Pronunciation

2023-08-25T12:52:55Z

Rtanenbaum:

These are all heteronyms

(/ɪ/|/t/)+(/ɪ/|/juː/)+(/ɛ/|/ɨ/)+(/s/|/z/)+(/t/|/d/)+(/eɪ/|/æ/)+(/aɪ/|???) ...what's the alternate (anglophone) pronunciation for the 'y' in "gyro"? [[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.81|141.101.98.81]] 19:03, 23 August 2023 (UTC)
:...oh, ok, now there's an explanation on this. Not convinced by the alternate 'y' at all. And I pronounce "putting" exactly like "putting", as well. Consider me additionally confused. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.90.90|172.70.90.90]] 19:22, 23 August 2023 (UTC)
:gyro as in the sandwich (pronounced like Euro), or gyro as in short for gyroscope.
::Never even heard of a "gyro" sandwich. (And "Euro" can be YOU-ro, OY-ro, ERR-oh, etc, depending on which country you're(-oh) in.) Clearly something very Leftpondian, this comic. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.90.90|172.70.90.90]] 21:51, 23 August 2023 (UTC)
:::Oh man! Come on, we're going to the grocery store. You're one of today's lucky 10,000.- [[Special:Contributions/172.70.131.172|172.70.131.172]] 22:43, 23 August 2023 (UTC)
:::It's a Greek dish similar to a shawarma. It's pronounced YEE-ro, I believe. (Which is kind of similar to that first pronunciation of "Euro", so that's probably what they were going for.) [[Special:Contributions/172.70.43.118|172.70.43.118]] 22:04, 23 August 2023 (UTC)
::::Putting/putting - think southern England if you want to appreciate the difference. The golfing sense is somewhere between "patting" and "potting"; the placing sense more like...well, like "putting". "Pooting," I suppose, with a "book" type "oo".[[User:Yorkshire Pudding|Yorkshire Pudding]] ([[User talk:Yorkshire Pudding|talk]]) 22:46, 23 August 2023 (UTC)
:::::It's actually gyros, or γύρος using Greek spelling, there is no singular form because it is uncountable, like news. It's not like you can have one new. It's still probably the same word but I guess the meat is more likely to be pronounced in the original Greek way while words like gyroscope, which is a device originally used to measure (scope) the rotation (gyros) of the earth, have been anglicized in their pronunciation. [[User:Tharkon|Tharkon]] ([[User talk:Tharkon|talk]]) 23:25, 23 August 2023 (UTC)
::::::So in English, is it gyros meat or gyro meat?
::::::The "original" Greek way would be /gyros/, but the word for the sandwich was borrowed from modern Greek, while the word for the device was borrowed by way of Latin and maybe French. And English has this silly habit of treating mass nouns with final /z/ or /s/ as plural count nouns, especially if the masses are made of many countable objects, like pease and cherise. Anonymous11:54, 24 August 2023 (UTC)
::Also, Most Americans pronounce it /hiɹoʊ/, as in "I need a hero", a pun Arby's made ample use of when they started selling gyros. I presume this also where the name "hero" for a sub comes from, despite the fact that most gyros I'm familiar with look more like Greek tacos than subs. Anonymous11:54, 24 August 2023 (UTC)
:::OED has references to the hero sandwich from 1938. Arby's was founded in 1964, and references in English to gyro sandwiches only date back to 1971. So it's unlikely that the hero sandwich is derived from gyro. [[User:Barmar|Barmar]] ([[User talk:Barmar|talk]]) 14:44, 24 August 2023 (UTC)

In Finland that's not far away. By starting with T and removing æ you are almost correct. Tuesday in Finnish /Ti:stai/

Someone has GOT to find a better joke than "TOMATO BOTATO" - [[Special:Contributions/172.69.59.83|172.69.59.83]] 22:41, 23 August 2023 (UTC)
:I think maybe the {{w|Ghoti|counter-example}} of orthography might work for everyone? I linked it, for those who might still be confused. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.90.94|172.70.90.94]] 22:48, 23 August 2023 (UTC)
:::That's a lot better, and I feel like an idiot for not thinking of it, since I was just watching Tom Fawkes last night when he mentioned Ghoti of the Deep Beyond.- [[Special:Contributions/172.71.255.24|172.71.255.24]] 01:52, 24 August 2023 (UTC)

Does someone familiar with the IPA have a silly-looking but reasonably accurate transcription of /ɪɛstæaɪ/ they want to add to the page? [[User:GreatWyrmGold|GreatWyrmGold]] ([[User talk:GreatWyrmGold|talk]]) 23:19, 23 August 2023 (UTC)

Listening to the IPA reader, it sounds almost like "yesterday", which is interesting because the comic was posted on Wednesday... [[Special:Contributions/108.162.250.155|108.162.250.155]] 00:04, 24 August 2023 (UTC)

I think for the 'e' he means the 'schwa' (ə) sound, basically an unstressed neutral vowel sound (as in the 'a' in 'about', the 'e' in 'taken', the 'i' in 'pencil', the 'o' in 'havoc', the 'u' in 'supply', the 'y' in 'sibyl', or sometimes not even written as in 'rhythm') [[explain_xkcd:Community_portal/Miscellaneous#Help_with_Creating_a_User_Page|Trogdor147]] ([[explain_xkcd:Community_portal/Miscellaneous#Help_with_Creating_a_User_Page|talk]]) 01:31, 24 August 2023 (UTC)
:Wait, it's a penn-sill, not a penn-sull!
:[[User:ProphetZarquon|ProphetZarquon]] ([[User talk:ProphetZarquon|talk]]) 17:13, 24 August 2023 (UTC)

My naive reading of this is: the T in buffet is silent. U in minute is UH, E in record is EH, S in use is Z, D in moped is T, A in bass is AH, Y in gyro is YI. together this makes: UHEZTAYI [[Special:Contributions/172.68.4.169|172.68.4.169]] 04:23, 24 August 2023 (UTC)

There's a more modern [//youtu.be/gtnlGH055TA semivocalic analysis of English diphthongs] that could affect how the T and Y are interpreted. The video focuses on British dialects, but anecdotally, the main principles also apply to General American, so they may be more intuitive here. Not sure if this is worth going against convention to incorporate, but I figured it'd be worth suggesting.

The relevant transcriptions would become ''buffet'' /-fej/, ''minute'' /majˈn(j)uwt/, ''use'' /juw-/, ''moped'' /mow-/, ''bass'' /bejs/, ''gyro'' /jij- dʒaj-/; and in the prose, ''pronounce'' /-aw-/, ''wound'' /wawnd wuwnd/. In the mispronunciation of ''Tuesday'', the /-æaj/ would correctly look like a sequence of two vowels instead of three.

Since E doesn't usually represent /ej/, Great Vowel Shift and all, you might analyze the T of ''buffet'' as corresponding to the /-j/ rather than being silent. That would add an extra phone at the start of the mispronunciation. Maybe that's a bit ghoti, though.

Anyway, for readers who don't know the IPA, my attempt at a pronunciation respelling would be (y)ih~ess-ta~eye. I can't think of a foolproof way to evoke unchecked /æ/ instead of /ə ɑ ej/. I tried adding silent GH, but that can also yield /ij/ as in ''shillelagh''. [[User talk:AgentMuffin|~AgentMuffin]]

Is it worth adding a note about the old "ghoti" being pronounced as "fish" thing? That was my first exposure to deliberately pathological pronunciations in English, but I'm not sure if that's common? The joke is that you take "gh" from "enough", "o" from "women", and "ti" from "nation", to get "ghoti" = "fish".
:This joke is essentially the opposite of "ghoti". Rather than taking unusual pronunciations and creating a weird spelling from them, it takes a normal spelling and finds words where those letters have unusual pronunciations. [[User:Barmar|Barmar]] ([[User talk:Barmar|talk]]) 14:54, 24 August 2023 (UTC)
:Wait, doesn't ehvehrreewunn pronounce the "wo" in "women", the same as in "wet"? I think of it as a "wooeh" sound.
:[[User:ProphetZarquon|ProphetZarquon]] ([[User talk:ProphetZarquon|talk]]) 17:13, 24 August 2023 (UTC)

The "y" in Tuesday doesn't really have a sound, it just serves to make the "a" long. That doesn't correspond to either of the "gyro" pronunciations. [[User:Barmar|Barmar]] ([[User talk:Barmar|talk]]) 14:54, 24 August 2023 (UTC)
:So, you pronounce "da" in words like "propaganda", "Andromeda", "Canada", "soda", "agenda" just like "day" in "Tuesday", but with a shorter "a"? :) [[User:BytEfLUSh|BytEfLUSh]] ([[User talk:BytEfLUSh|talk]]) 15:17, 24 August 2023 (UTC)

This reminds me of a joke my Dad used to tell. "A as in Aye", "S as in Sea", etc. [[User:Shamino|Shamino]] ([[User talk:Shamino|talk]]) 15:15, 24 August 2023 (UTC)

Until reading this explanation, I never noticed how many people say "recorded", 'wrongly': "wreck-OR-dedd" sure seems wrong to me (even though I see ''some'' pronunciation guides that OK it). Shouldn't that be "ree-KOR-dedd"?
[[User:ProphetZarquon|ProphetZarquon]] ([[User talk:ProphetZarquon|talk]]) 17:19, 24 August 2023 (UTC)
: I most often say r'-KOR-dedd with a schwa sound on the first syllable, and occasionally say ree-KOR-dedd as you suggest. I never heard anyone say wreck-OR-dedd. [[User:Rtanenbaum|Rtanenbaum]] ([[User talk:Rtanenbaum|talk]]) 12:52, 25 August 2023 (UTC)

For Dairy Queen, the final day the Cows grased on the range was the most important day for their milk. But for all others, it was Juice Day.--[[Special:Contributions/162.158.86.21|162.158.86.21]] 23:42, 24 August 2023 (UTC)

2819: Pronunciation

2023-08-24T21:22:07Z

Rtanenbaum: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 2819
| date = August 23, 2023
| title = Pronunciation
| image = pronunciation_2x.png
| imagesize = 315x257px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = I pronounce the 'u' in 'pronunciation' like in 'putting' but the 'ou' in 'pronounce' like in 'wound'.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by a {{w|Ghoti|GHOTI}} - Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

Pronunciation guides are used in many languages to indicate the commonly accepted way to translate a written word into sound. This can be particularly important in the English language, where the pronunciation of individual letters and of combinations of letters can vary broadly, and there are very few rules that can be applied consistently. As a result, the 'correct' pronunciation of any given word is determined by common usage, and therefore can only be learned either by exposure or by memorizing them from guides. Some guides use the {{w|International Phonetic Alphabet}}, but the average person is not familiar with those characters, so most guides written for laypeople instead {{wiktionary|Appendix:English pronunciation|reference familiar words}} that feature the phonemes. This, of course, presumes that the reader is familiar with the pronunciation of ''those'' words, but the words should be chosen so that a) they're commonly known b) there is only one common pronunciation and c) the pronunciation doesn't vary much between regional accents.

In this strip, though, the selected guide-words are deliberately chosen to be confusing. They are heterophonic homographs – words that, under alternate contexts, are identically spelled but pronounced in very different ways. Moreover for most of them it is the less common homograph which matches the pronunciation in "Tuesday". In other words, how the reader chooses to pronounce each guide-word determines what pronunciation of "Tuesday" they end up with.

(Note: General American pronunciations are primarily assumed here except when otherwise stated)

{| class="wikitable"
! Guide !! Correct for Tuesday !! Other !! Notes
|-
| Buffe'''t'''
| /ˈbʌf.ɪ'''t'''/ (verb: strike)
| /ˈbʌ.feɪ/ (noun: self-serve diner)
| The <t> in the "Other" pronunciation is silent (or arguably /ɪ/ or /j/)
|-
| Min'''u'''te
| /maɪˈn'''(j)uː'''t/ (adjective: small)
| /ˈmɪn'''ɪ'''t/ (noun: unit of time)
|
|-
| R'''e'''cord
| /ɹ'''i'''ˈkɔɹd/ (verb: write down/make permanent)
| /ˈɹ'''ɛ'''kərd/ or /ˈɹ'''ɛ'''k.ɚd/ or /ˈɹ'''ɛ'''k.ɔɹd/ (noun: thing containing information)
| Neither is actually the correct e, the correct e would be silent.
|-
| U'''s'''e
| /juː'''z'''/ (verb: to employ a thing for a particular end)
| /juː'''s'''/ (noun: the purpose for which that thing is employed)
|
|-
| Mope'''d'''
| /ˈmoʊ.pɛ'''d'''/ (noun: motor scooter with an engine smaller than 50cc)
| /moʊp'''t'''/ (verb: brooded, felt dejected)
|
|-
| B'''a'''ss
| /b'''eɪ'''s/ (noun: low-pitched notes and the instruments that play them)
| /b'''æ'''s/ (noun: fish)
| /æ/ is also correct in New Zealand English.
|-
| G'''y'''ro
| /ˈj'''iː'''.ɹoʊ/, /ˈj'''ɪ'''ɹoʊ/ or /ˈʒ'''ɪ'''ɹoʊ/ (noun: meat cooked on a vertical rotisserie, in Greek cuisine)
| /ˈd͡ʒ'''aɪ'''.ɹoʊ/ (noun: gyroscope)
| The meat can also be pronounced like the gyroscope. Also, in many dialects, the <ay> in Tuesday is pronounced [ɛʲ], in which case both options are wrong.
|}

Following this guide, a pronunciation of Tuesday as /iɛstæaɪ/ is possible. You can hear a pronunciation at [http://ipa-reader.xyz/?text=%C9%AA%C9%9Bst%C3%A6a%C9%AA http://ipa-reader.xyz].

The title text references how some people pronounce the word "pron'''u'''nciation" like "pron'''ou'''nce" (with /aʊ/) and others use a different vowel (/ʌ/). Here Randall is saying that he pronounces them with the 'u' from "p'''u'''tting" and the 'ou' from "w'''ou'''nd". If we take putting to mean /ˈp'''ʌ'''tɪŋ/ (golf) and wound as /w'''aʊ'''nd/ (coiled), this could mean he pronounces them using the commonly differing pronunciations. However those two words could also be pronounced /ˈp'''ʊ'''tɪŋ/ (placing) and /w'''u'''nd/ (injury), indicating a non-standard way of saying each word. In accents that lack the {{w|Phonological_history_of_English_close_back_vowels#FOOT–STRUT_split|FOOT–STRUT split}}, such as those in the north of England, both versions of "putting" would be pronounced identically.

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
:[The word "Tuesday", with each letter labeled by a box with an arrow:]
:T: As in buffe'''t'''
:u: As in min'''u'''te
:e: As in r'''e'''cord
:s: As in u'''s'''e
:d: As in mope'''d'''
:a: As in b'''a'''ss
:y: As in g'''y'''ro

:[Caption below the panel:]
:Pet peeve: Ambiguous pronunciation guides

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Language]]
[[Category:Pet Peeves]]

Talk:2810: How to Coil a Cable

2023-08-03T13:59:04Z

Rtanenbaum: Enlisting the help of an expert.

I don't actually know what name of 'coiling' it has, but the way I was taught to coil an AV cable (by an AV technician), and these days mostly use with long (garden-mower) power extensions, was ''maybe'' the 'quarter-turn' - though it's not a quarter, so maybe not - in finger-rotating the latest "end of loop" around the axis of the cable to leave it effectively twistless in its looped form (whilst introducing a 'one twist per loop-so-far' longitudinal twist in the still trailing unlooped cable that easily 'rolls-out' as you progress towards the free end/drag the length towards you). Done right, it's like smoothly 'drum-winding' the cable. But you ''can'' over-/under-twist the cable (especially if it has an internal/inherent twisting, like those christmas lights probably have with probably two entwined single-cores) so you may need to keep an eye on the multiloop you're forming and backtrack a bit if it looks like it's starting to figure-of-eight from the combined helical forces. But tricky to get perfect, may have a bit of a loop-twist (that only stays untangled due to it being ultimately hung on a hook). Maybe I've just not been taught the right methods by a powercord expert. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.90.20|172.70.90.20]] 19:39, 2 August 2023 (UTC)

: That first method is pretty much how I was taught by a guy with rather expensive microphone cables. It really does help the cable to last longer, since it's not stored with a twist. As a bonus, coiling a rope or extension cord this way also lets you throw it without it tangling in midair. Just make sure to hold onto/step on the non-thrown end... [[Special:Contributions/108.162.237.142|108.162.237.142]] 20:12, 2 August 2023 (UTC)

Another profession that deals with hose/cable managment is nursing (e.g. in operating room). Don't know if they have any techniques distinct from those in the mentioned professions. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.135.82|172.69.135.82]] 21:50, 2 August 2023 (UTC)

Still wondering how topology factors into this... as of this comment, there's no explanation. - [[Special:Contributions/172.70.130.234|172.70.130.234]] 22:38, 2 August 2023 (UTC)

:Probably referencing [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Knot_theory Knot Theory]. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.76.97|141.101.76.97]] 23:17, 2 August 2023 (UTC)

As a sailor once explained to me, the AV method (over/under) can potentially form a clove hitch around one's ankle while on deck, hence their use of figure-8. Meanwhile, there's another technique espoused by the likes of 'Essential Craftsman' where you basically use a chain stitch to hold it all together. [[User:Nayhem|Nayhem]] ([[User talk:Nayhem|talk]]) 00:35, 3 August 2023 (UTC)

:I have a flat extension cord that was stored for some years using the "chain stitch" method. I ended up hanging the center of the cord from my garage ceiling for a week to get the worst of the kinks out, then wound it around a 5-gallon bucket to try to flatten it out some more. For the sake of your cables, DON'T use the chain stitch method!

This sentence makes absolutely no sense to me:

: ''... alternating each obvious helix loop with a backhand loop (backwards helix turn) where the loop curls the same way as the other loops, but its 'helix height' is backwards ...''

I think I need an "Explain Explain xkcd"... 😕 [[User:IMSoP|IMSoP]] ([[User talk:IMSoP|talk]]) 10:03, 3 August 2023 (UTC)

The idea of enlisting the help of an "expert" reminds me of how my father would always have the best charcoal barbecue at the picnic site. He would bring the charcoal and lighter to the picnic area and then walk around to see what everyone else's barbecue looked like. When he identified the best burning site, he would would walk over to the barbecue master and say to that person something like, "Excuse me, I really admire how your fire is burning, my kids are over there and I'm a little embarrassed that I don't really know how to do this. Could you show me how you got such a great fire?" The expert was always willing to build the fire for him. That's how, time after time, we always had a great burning barbecue.

== Methods explained ==

The over-over(quarter turn twist)

The over-under
https://youtu.be/JtOGJZ_gYy8
https://youtu.be/cpuutP6Df84

Chain technique
https://youtu.be/L7av0C0jWQw

See also https://people.maths.bris.ac.uk/~majge/hjce.06.pdf "Knotting probability of a shaken ball-chain" [[Special:Contributions/172.70.251.170|172.70.251.170]] 10:08, 3 August 2023 (UTC)

Talk:2789: Making Plans

2023-06-17T22:15:33Z

Rtanenbaum: Phone book Yellow Pages

Help, I can't move my comment down! [[Special:Contributions/162.158.146.54|AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA]] 01:28, 15 June 2023 (UTC)

Here I was expecting something about cryptography and how Charlie just invited himself along.
[[Special:Contributions/172.71.146.146|172.71.146.146]] 04:08, 15 June 2023 (UTC)

The alphabetical citation bias occurred in psychology but not biology or geoscience. (Biologist married to psychologist, gloating.) ---- {{unsigned ip|162.158.186.213}}
:I think the Wikipedia quote and reference link may be obsolete. It was a big deal when it was published half a decade ago, but editors took note, and now almost every peer reviewed paper gets references listed by the order they occur in the text, don't they? Surely there must be some post-2018 sources on this from journals saying they've changed their style guides we can include? [[Special:Contributions/172.71.155.42|172.71.155.42]] 22:06, 15 June 2023 (UTC)
:: I've been a sounding board for a friend's journey to getting her Masters in English, giving her feedback on all of her papers for the last 2 years, and the rules she's required to follow are still to list her references alphabetically. And there have been 3 styles: mostly the MLA style, she could often choose APA instead, and one paper she had to figure out Chicago (Purdue maintains a current list of rules to follow for each, OWL, we keep checking it for syntax, and all 3 specify alphabetical, as have her professors. And EVERY peer-reviewed/published work she has cited - and at this level peer-reviewed is the minimum - THEIR references have been listed alphabetically, too). So you can check OWL, AFAIK the authority on writing styles: https://owl.purdue.edu/ (I think MLA was even changed/updated in the last 2 years while we've been doing this) [[User:NiceGuy1|NiceGuy1]] ([[User talk:NiceGuy1|talk]]) 06:32, 17 June 2023 (UTC)

I disagree with the explanation about the alphabetical sorting of Cueball on Yvonne's phone. AFAIK, Cueball is only the fan nickname given on this wiki, and not an in-universe name, right?
Names starting with R would be pretty far down an alphabetical list, like in Rob... or Randall
[[Special:Contributions/162.158.233.69|162.158.233.69]] 06:49, 15 June 2023 (UTC)
:I agree and have already deleted this. Made a comment on my changes along the idea you wrote here. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 07:04, 15 June 2023 (UTC)
:Yeah, Cueball (and White Hat, Black Hat, Curly, etc) are only names here. In-universe, I think the only names are Megan and Mrs. What's-her-face the science teacher (starts "Lehn-" I'm sure) [[User:NiceGuy1|NiceGuy1]] ([[User talk:NiceGuy1|talk]]) 06:32, 17 June 2023 (UTC)

I feel like a better reference point for this than academic citations or ballot paper ordering would be old paper phone directories, where you'd find companies calling themselves things like 'AAA Assistance' in order to appear at the top of their sector listings. Can anyone find a non-anecdotal reference for this?[[Special:Contributions/172.71.178.137|172.71.178.137]] 09:06, 15 June 2023 (UTC)
: I know I've heard of such instances, and seen such in person (if I still had any phone books, got tossed in the last move a few years ago). I KNOW I've seen a few jokes about this. Wasn't there even an XKCD something like "I think business will pick up now that I've renamed my company AAAAA Movers"? [[User:NiceGuy1|NiceGuy1]] ([[User talk:NiceGuy1|talk]]) 06:32, 17 June 2023 (UTC)
:: Indeed, my father started his used furniture business in 1945 and named it "Ace Bargain Center" in order to be first in the yellow pages in the furniture store category. He was very upset when a competitor named his business "ABC Furniture", and then someone else came along and used the name "AAA furniture". Of course, search engines take advantage of the "top of the list bias" by charging more for results that appear on the top 5 or 10 search results.

If only people were like books... (I have (re)read far more Asimov and Clarke than Wells and Zelazny, but none of them complain!) ...but clearly ''no'' absolute ordering is perfect. "Most recently contacted" suffers from the problem of some new contacts shuffling someone out of the current head-of-list spot and then they plummet to the 'old' end. "''Least'' recently contacted" would be better, but would 'auto-ghost' everyone the moment contact is re-established (or attempted, if it was based upon your reaching out, not their deigning to reach back again).
 Perhaps a "rolling road-block" method of (say) today starting at A, tomorrow starting at B(/wherever you left off today), and so on until it wraps around Z->A again. Or half your "social management" spent at the top-end, a quarter of it jumps half way down, an eighth of it half of the rest of the way, a sixteenth by jumping a further half of the remainder, with discretion to look up and down from the proposed landing-point to choose a neighbouring contact with more hopeful contactability... That latter would work even better on a "by most recent contact" sort, as well, as it churns and refreshes the current social circles to regain valuable 'lost' contacts without overly penalising the current circle of recent acquaintances in such a paradoxical manner.
 Of course... the fewer friends you have, the simpler the problem! I have never been so happy to be a sub-Dunbar individual, and so not have all the anxieties that those with exceedingly active social lives must have! Even if it means I might just have to phone my water-company up, every now and then, to bitch about how my telephone company forgot my birthday and is now refusing to return my calls... ;) [[Special:Contributions/172.70.91.69|172.70.91.69]] 09:29, 15 June 2023 (UTC)
:Wouldn't it be easier just to have randomised ordering each time you load? Of course, all of this overlooks the primary reason for having them alphabetical in the first place - to be able to locate a specific contact when you have a specific reason for contacting them, which any of these other systems would make a pain in the arse.[[Special:Contributions/172.70.91.170|172.70.91.170]] 09:34, 15 June 2023 (UTC)
::But ''which'' (pseudo-)random reordering? Can you guarantee that your LCG/LFSR/Mersenne implementation, and how it is consulted to shuffle and reprioritizes your contacts, has sufficiently long cycle-periodicity to avoid you still entirely neglecting someone because they still usually end up below any cut-off point?!? [[Special:Contributions/172.70.85.136|172.70.85.136]] 09:47, 15 June 2023 (UTC)
:::Depends, obviously, on how long the list is, but I think that would be VERY unlucky. That said, more deterministic order could be more reliable. -- [[User:Hkmaly|Hkmaly]] ([[User talk:Hkmaly|talk]]) 23:58, 15 June 2023 (UTC)

:Clearly, the correct is an AI social helper who will remind you to reach out to friends you haven't contacted recently, along with keeping track of birthdays, anniversaries, and other special reasons to contact everyone in your social circle. All the while, it would be learning your language patterns and voice, so that you can eventually just let it take over your social life entirely. You can hang out with your three real friends while your AI hangs out with the AIs of the fifty people in your contact list that you don't actually remember. (Is it obvious I'm an introvert?) [[Special:Contributions/172.69.247.44|172.69.247.44]] 10:11, 15 June 2023 (UTC)
::("... three real friends"? You socialite. If only I were such a shameless party animal!) [[Special:Contributions/172.70.86.7|172.70.86.7]] 10:27, 15 June 2023 (UTC)

::Speaking about birthdays ... if you always contact person on birthday, you have practical guarantee you won't have anyone not contacted more than year! -- [[User:Hkmaly|Hkmaly]] ([[User talk:Hkmaly|talk]]) 23:58, 15 June 2023 (UTC)

As a person with an A name, I find I often get pocket-dialed by various people. Discussing this with people whose names start at the other end of the alphabet, they observed that they never got pocket-dialed. Is this another example of the same phenomenon, or do I have a case of inaccurate anecdotal evidence? [[User:Thisfox|Thisfox]] ([[User talk:Thisfox|talk]]) 22:48, 15 June 2023 (UTC)

:I remember 15 years ago in Belgian hospitals the "A Blind Call" campaign which was an overtaxed phone number whose profits were given back to medical research (maybe about sight issues for the extra pun?). Their main argument was that your accidental pocket-dials would accidently help people instead of waking up your friend Alexia. So while I can't confirm alphabetical bias was common, it was at least a well-known enough half-joke in the pre-smartphone era to justify printing words about it, at which point you can apply XKCD#808 to the concepts from XKCD#870!2. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.233.34|162.158.233.34]] 07:39, 16 June 2023 (UTC)
: Funny, I have an A name and haven't experienced this. My received pocket dials are always people I recently spoken to, so probably redials. (Funny, MOST often these days is a friend named Alexia, LOL!) [[User:NiceGuy1|NiceGuy1]] ([[User talk:NiceGuy1|talk]]) 06:32, 17 June 2023 (UTC)

Genuine question; do we actually need an explanation of the various reasons why someone might not have heard back yet about an event? [[Special:Contributions/172.71.167.20|172.71.167.20]] 05:44, 16 June 2023 (UTC)

: I agree. I came to the discussion primarily because I thought the enumeration of why some non-responses might happen was completely beside the point. [[User:MAP|MAP]] ([[User talk:MAP|talk]]) 06:42, 16 June 2023 (UTC)

::Yeah, some speculation is usually funny (I still remember the stealing an airplane explanation that added that a police car = one donut). But in this case it is simply... meaningless and making the text harder to read for no reason? [[Special:Contributions/162.158.233.100|162.158.233.100]] 08:32, 16 June 2023 (UTC)

:: I get the feeling that Randall alluded to an error of that kind to indicate how Cueball's over-thought 'engineering' process was actually under-/mis-thought as a 'social' one. But perhaps he didn't realise how non-obvious the comic motive was. Because, without the 'failures', it might seem that Cueball is actually being both practical and efficient (until the punchline). And I might suggest it was because he had outdated contact info (fits with the lack-of-recency idea), someone else might imagine it was because they were in another city/country (because he's so indiscriminate in who he contacts), etc. Better to speculate than to edit-war as those who are (differently) confident try to impose their idea on those who don't know what is going on.
:: Alternately, he (Randall) ''knows'' there's multiple problems he (Cueball) is falling for. In which case those in need of explanation also need to know the range of issues.
:: In fact, I can think of additional explanations that nobody put there already, and highly tempted to add them (whilst streamlining some wording of the current valid set). But, given your complaints, I'll hold back a bit. No point adding to something that gets completely removed due to a prevailing (or singular, but very definite) counter-opinion. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.85.29|172.70.85.29]] 08:41, 16 June 2023 (UTC)
: The editors of this site, as a group, seem addicted to long explanations. :) Like there's a rumour that Longer = Clearer (my experience screams the opposite, the longer I get the more misunderstandings people find). Or just an eagerness to contribute. [[User:NiceGuy1|NiceGuy1]] ([[User talk:NiceGuy1|talk]]) 06:32, 17 June 2023 (UTC)

When changing your strategy from contacting people in alphabetically order to contacting people by most recent you'd end up contacting people in alphabetical order because the lists are identical. You'd need to delete your contact-history first. [[User:Kimmerin|Kimmerin]] ([[User talk:Kimmerin|talk]]) 07:10, 16 June 2023 (UTC)

:Except you now grant priority to people who *just answered*, or even contact you firsthand [[Special:Contributions/162.158.233.100|162.158.233.100]] 08:32, 16 June 2023 (UTC)

With the Discord username change coming, I might as well completely overhaul my profile, so I'm thinking of names that start with "not". Why? Because `!` is the operator for logical NOT. So I have an excuse to haul my username with an exclamation mark. [[Special:Contributions/172.71.146.58|172.71.146.58]] 15:51, 16 June 2023 (UTC)
:Okay there Bobby Tables. :) [[User:NiceGuy1|NiceGuy1]] ([[User talk:NiceGuy1|talk]]) 06:32, 17 June 2023 (UTC)

2750: Flatten the Planets

2023-03-17T16:00:44Z

Rtanenbaum: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 2750
| date = March 15, 2023
| title = Flatten the Planets
| image = flatten_the_planets_2x.png
| imagesize = 740x647px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = We'll turn the asteroid belt into ball bearings to go between different rings orbiting at different speeds.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by a ROUNDEL. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

This comic depicts a situation where the planets in the solar system are flattened to create a ring system around the Sun. This may be inspired by the {{w|Alderson disk}}, a hypothetical megastructure intended to gain truly massive amounts of living space by constructing a literal disk of matter around a star. This would require several solar systems' worth of matter to do, and materials with a tensile strength beyond what is likely physically possible for any known form of matter.{{Citation needed}} The planets of our solar system would not be suitable for this endeavor; alas, Randall apparently cannot comprehend why {{w|NASA}} is rejecting this proposal to "improve" the planets.

{| class="wikitable"
! rowspan="2" | Planet
! colspan="2" | Thickness
|-
!Inches
!Millimeters
|-
| Mercury || 1/8" || 3.2 mm
|-
| Venus || 1" || 25 mm
|-
| Earth || 3/4" || 19 mm
|-
| Mars || 0.01" || 0.25 mm
|-
| Jupiter || 18" || 460 mm
|-
| Saturn || 3" || 76 mm
|-
| Uranus || 1/8" || 3.2 mm
|-
| Neptune || 1/16" || 1.6 mm
|}

The title text explains what would happen to the asteroid belt if this was done. He is proposing that the asteroids should be turned into ball bearings to go in between the planetary discs. There is enough matter in the asteroid belt to do this,{{Actual citation needed|Surely depends upon the size and radial density of the inserted race of bearings}} and furthermore it implies that the discs would actually have small gaps between them. Unless the discs were made of material with impossibly high tensile strength, the whole structure would soon be torn apart by the relative forces between the inner and outer fringes of each disc trying to both 'orbit' at the rate more suited to a radial distance somewhere between the two, and crushing the bearings placed between adjacent ones. Although less so than with a single structural disc rotating at any single given compromise rotation (or not at all).

==Transcript==
:[This comic depicts a situation where the planets of the Solar System are flattened using a roller pin to create a contiguous ring system around the Sun, with each planet taking up the part within their orbit to the next planet (or the Sun).]

:[The top part shows a normal image of the Solar System with the eight planets orbiting the Sun, and their orbits shown as circles. The Sun is yellow and the planets have approximately the color they typically are shown in. Earth has more features than the other three rocky planets. Jupiter has clear features including the red spot, while Saturn has its rings. Beneath this is a broad arrow pointing down.]
:↓
:[The arrow points to a roller pin. A similar arrow points down to the next image.]
:↓
:[The second large image shows the Solar System with the planets flattened to fill out the gap between the Sun and each of the planets, so they each cover the area of the circle within their orbits, into the next planet (or the Sun). Each segment has kept a similar color as used for the planets in the first image. The Sun is not flattened and is now the center of a huge ring with eight different colors, some with patterns, mainly Earth, but also Jupiter and Saturn's discs show features.]

:[Beneath this to the right is a side view of the flattened Earth, with its thickness indicated with two arrows pointing in at the top and up at the bottom of two dotted lines continuing where the "Earth" stops. A label has been written between these two lines, and the thickness is compared to US quarter and penny coins.]
:Earth
:3/4"

:[Below this and going all the way across the panel is a side view with a segment of the Sun to the left followed by all the flattened planets, labeled with their name and their thicknesses. Arrows point to the relevant segment from the three rocky planets other than Earth. Above Jupiter and Saturn is a label between two arrows. Text alternates between being above and below the planets. Their thicknesses differ quite a lot, with Mars being the thinnest and Jupiter by far the thickest. Cueball stands on the flattened Earth.]
:← Not to scale →
:Mercury 1/8"
:Venus: 1"
:Earth 3/4"
:Mars 250 microns
:Jupiter 18"
:Saturn 3"
:Uranus 1/8"
:Neptune 1/16"

:[Caption below the panel:]
:I don't know why NASA keeps rejecting my proposals to improve the Solar System

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics with color]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Astronomy]]
[[Category:Space]]

2750: Flatten the Planets

2023-03-17T16:00:23Z

Rtanenbaum: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 2750
| date = March 15, 2023
| title = Flatten the Planets
| image = flatten_the_planets_2x.png
| imagesize = 740x647px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = We'll turn the asteroid belt into ball bearings to go between different rings orbiting at different speeds.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by a ROUNDEL. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

This comic depicts a situation where planets in the solar system are flattened to create a ring system around the Sun. This may be inspired by the {{w|Alderson disk}}, a hypothetical megastructure intended to gain truly massive amounts of living space by constructing a literal disk of matter around a star. This would require several solar systems' worth of matter to do, and materials with a tensile strength beyond what is likely physically possible for any known form of matter.{{Citation needed}} The planets of our solar system would not be suitable for this endeavor; alas, Randall apparently cannot comprehend why {{w|NASA}} is rejecting this proposal to "improve" the planets.

{| class="wikitable"
! rowspan="2" | Planet
! colspan="2" | Thickness
|-
!Inches
!Millimeters
|-
| Mercury || 1/8" || 3.2 mm
|-
| Venus || 1" || 25 mm
|-
| Earth || 3/4" || 19 mm
|-
| Mars || 0.01" || 0.25 mm
|-
| Jupiter || 18" || 460 mm
|-
| Saturn || 3" || 76 mm
|-
| Uranus || 1/8" || 3.2 mm
|-
| Neptune || 1/16" || 1.6 mm
|}

The title text explains what would happen to the asteroid belt if this was done. He is proposing that the asteroids should be turned into ball bearings to go in between the planetary discs. There is enough matter in the asteroid belt to do this,{{Actual citation needed|Surely depends upon the size and radial density of the inserted race of bearings}} and furthermore it implies that the discs would actually have small gaps between them. Unless the discs were made of material with impossibly high tensile strength, the whole structure would soon be torn apart by the relative forces between the inner and outer fringes of each disc trying to both 'orbit' at the rate more suited to a radial distance somewhere between the two, and crushing the bearings placed between adjacent ones. Although less so than with a single structural disc rotating at any single given compromise rotation (or not at all).

==Transcript==
:[This comic depicts a situation where the planets of the Solar System are flattened using a roller pin to create a contiguous ring system around the Sun, with each planet taking up the part within their orbit to the next planet (or the Sun).]

:[The top part shows a normal image of the Solar System with the eight planets orbiting the Sun, and their orbits shown as circles. The Sun is yellow and the planets have approximately the color they typically are shown in. Earth has more features than the other three rocky planets. Jupiter has clear features including the red spot, while Saturn has its rings. Beneath this is a broad arrow pointing down.]
:↓
:[The arrow points to a roller pin. A similar arrow points down to the next image.]
:↓
:[The second large image shows the Solar System with the planets flattened to fill out the gap between the Sun and each of the planets, so they each cover the area of the circle within their orbits, into the next planet (or the Sun). Each segment has kept a similar color as used for the planets in the first image. The Sun is not flattened and is now the center of a huge ring with eight different colors, some with patterns, mainly Earth, but also Jupiter and Saturn's discs show features.]

:[Beneath this to the right is a side view of the flattened Earth, with its thickness indicated with two arrows pointing in at the top and up at the bottom of two dotted lines continuing where the "Earth" stops. A label has been written between these two lines, and the thickness is compared to US quarter and penny coins.]
:Earth
:3/4"

:[Below this and going all the way across the panel is a side view with a segment of the Sun to the left followed by all the flattened planets, labeled with their name and their thicknesses. Arrows point to the relevant segment from the three rocky planets other than Earth. Above Jupiter and Saturn is a label between two arrows. Text alternates between being above and below the planets. Their thicknesses differ quite a lot, with Mars being the thinnest and Jupiter by far the thickest. Cueball stands on the flattened Earth.]
:← Not to scale →
:Mercury 1/8"
:Venus: 1"
:Earth 3/4"
:Mars 250 microns
:Jupiter 18"
:Saturn 3"
:Uranus 1/8"
:Neptune 1/16"

:[Caption below the panel:]
:I don't know why NASA keeps rejecting my proposals to improve the Solar System

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics with color]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Astronomy]]
[[Category:Space]]

Talk:2749: Lymphocytes

2023-03-14T16:34:06Z

Rtanenbaum:

Battery cells have nothing to do with cell phones. The "cell" in cell phone is short for "cellular" and refers to the communication cells around each tower. [[User:Barmar|Barmar]] ([[User talk:Barmar|talk]]) 03:09, 14 March 2023 (UTC)

: And that's short for "sell you our phone" where the contract lets you buy it over an extended time that ends about the same time the spiffier replacement model is available. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.70.209|172.69.70.209]] 10:42, 14 March 2023 (UTC)

I was originally thinking the CD4+ would be a reference to ''Call of Duty 4'' and onwards, in which players scream (insults?) at each other while playing. But the feeling has subsided, after considering it. Mentioning it here, though, in leiu of adding it as 'factual'. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.162.47|172.70.162.47]] 06:06, 14 March 2023 (UTC)

It should have bee Natural Born Killer Cells, but some opportunities were always going to be missed... --[[Special:Contributions/172.71.178.187|172.71.178.187]] 07:16, 14 March 2023 (UTC)

"Gamma-Delta T cells" being "unknown/unclassified" could be a reference to Star Trek, which has the galaxy divided into 4 quadrants: Alpha, Beta, Gamma and Delta. The Delta Quadrant (setting of Start Trek Voyager) and the Gamma Quadrant (seen in Start Trek Deep Space Nine) are unexplored and uncharted from the Federation's point of view. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.129.51|162.158.129.51]] 09:23, 14 March 2023 (UTC)
:I had in mind just general "above Top Secret" classifications (or reputed ones) like "Omega Level, Burn before reading" or somesuch. Either that or perhaps 'Greek system' fraternities/sororities and secret societies in general (perhaps there's a Gamma-Delta-Tau, or similar, out there) which seem to be a US cultural thing that seems ripe for Randall to spoof about.
:Bear in mind that he's taking (mostly) real naming conventions and just explaining them funnily (hence why not "Natural Born Killer" cells, mentioned above, which was my first thoughts on reading as well), so shoehorning a Trek reference in without making it more explicitly Trekkie in the 'free description' bit seems a bit like it wasn't even the point.
:My money's on the security level, as an intention. At least until someone comes up with a better cultural reference that fits better but that I hadn't known/remembered on the initial reading. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.85.57|172.70.85.57]] 13:33, 14 March 2023 (UTC)

So who is/are "the world's coolest immunologist(s)," who got to name Natural Killer cells (NK cells)? Doctoral student Rolf Kiessling and postdoctoral fellow Hugh Pross may have found them, but did they get to name them?
Likewise, who is/are the "significantly less cool immunologist(s)" who named ILC1, ILC2, and ILC3 cells? [[User:TCMits|TCMits]] ([[User talk:TCMits|talk]]) 15:20, 14 March 2023 (UTC)
:Their original paper describing them referred to them as "natural" killer cells, so their use of quotes implies that it was a new title they had come up with. [[User:Ahecht|Ahecht]] ([[User talk:Ahecht|talk]]) 16:13, 14 March 2023 (UTC)

Definitely the "coolness" factor is in the naming, not in the discovering. All the discoverers are equally "cool". But coming up with the name "Natural Killer Cells" is orders of magnitude cooler than ILC1, ILC2, and ILC3 (blaaah). [[User:Rtanenbaum|Rtanenbaum]] ([[User talk:Rtanenbaum|talk]]) 16:11, 14 March 2023 (UTC)

Regarding the Gamma-Delta cells being "unknown/classified" seems to be a reference to US Army Delta force commandos who are tasked with top-secret highly classified missions that would be unknown even to other military or political officials.(corrected thanks to Ahecht) [[User:Rtanenbaum|Rtanenbaum]] ([[User talk:Rtanenbaum|talk]]) 16:11, 14 March 2023 (UTC)
:The comic says "unknown/classified", not "unknown/unclassified". [[User:Ahecht|Ahecht]] ([[User talk:Ahecht|talk]]) 16:16, 14 March 2023 (UTC)

Talk:2749: Lymphocytes

2023-03-14T16:11:11Z

Rtanenbaum: Coolness is in the Naming

Battery cells have nothing to do with cell phones. The "cell" in cell phone is short for "cellular" and refers to the communication cells around each tower. [[User:Barmar|Barmar]] ([[User talk:Barmar|talk]]) 03:09, 14 March 2023 (UTC)

: And that's short for "sell you our phone" where the contract lets you buy it over an extended time that ends about the same time the spiffier replacement model is available. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.70.209|172.69.70.209]] 10:42, 14 March 2023 (UTC)

I was originally thinking the CD4+ would be a reference to ''Call of Duty 4'' and onwards, in which players scream (insults?) at each other while playing. But the feeling has subsided, after considering it. Mentioning it here, though, in leiu of adding it as 'factual'. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.162.47|172.70.162.47]] 06:06, 14 March 2023 (UTC)

It should have bee Natural Born Killer Cells, but some opportunities were always going to be missed... --[[Special:Contributions/172.71.178.187|172.71.178.187]] 07:16, 14 March 2023 (UTC)

"Gamma-Delta T cells" being "unknown/unclassified" could be a reference to Star Trek, which has the galaxy divided into 4 quadrants: Alpha, Beta, Gamma and Delta. The Delta Quadrant (setting of Start Trek Voyager) and the Gamma Quadrant (seen in Start Trek Deep Space Nine) are unexplored and uncharted from the Federation's point of view. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.129.51|162.158.129.51]] 09:23, 14 March 2023 (UTC)
:I had in mind just general "above Top Secret" classifications (or reputed ones) like "Omega Level, Burn before reading" or somesuch. Either that or perhaps 'Greek system' fraternities/sororities and secret societies in general (perhaps there's a Gamma-Delta-Tau, or similar, out there) which seem to be a US cultural thing that seems ripe for Randall to spoof about.
:Bear in mind that he's taking (mostly) real naming conventions and just explaining them funnily (hence why not "Natural Born Killer" cells, mentioned above, which was my first thoughts on reading as well), so shoehorning a Trek reference in without making it more explicitly Trekkie in the 'free description' bit seems a bit like it wasn't even the point.
:My money's on the security level, as an intention. At least until someone comes up with a better cultural reference that fits better but that I hadn't known/remembered on the initial reading. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.85.57|172.70.85.57]] 13:33, 14 March 2023 (UTC)

So who is/are "the world's coolest immunologist(s)," who got to name Natural Killer cells (NK cells)? Doctoral student Rolf Kiessling and postdoctoral fellow Hugh Pross may have found them, but did they get to name them?
Likewise, who is/are the "significantly less cool immunologist(s)" who named ILC1, ILC2, and ILC3 cells? [[User:TCMits|TCMits]] ([[User talk:TCMits|talk]]) 15:20, 14 March 2023 (UTC)

Definitely the "coolness" factor is in the naming, not in the discovering. All the discoverers are equally "cool". But coming up with the name "Natural Killer Cells" is orders of magnitude cooler than ILC1, ILC2, and ILC3 (blaaah). [[User:Rtanenbaum|Rtanenbaum]] ([[User talk:Rtanenbaum|talk]]) 16:11, 14 March 2023 (UTC)

Regarding the Gamma-Delta cells being "unknown/unclassified" seems to be a reference to US Army Delta force commandos who are tasked with top-secret highly classified missions that would be unknown or "unclassified" even to other military or political officials. [[User:Rtanenbaum|Rtanenbaum]] ([[User talk:Rtanenbaum|talk]]) 16:11, 14 March 2023 (UTC)

Talk:2730: Code Lifespan

2023-01-27T18:58:11Z

Rtanenbaum: UNIX Timestamp Issue

I'm not sure if the thesis in this comic is accurate. But if it is, my explanation would be that a person with a more spontaneous live-in-the-moment attitude might program stuff that is more interesting, than the stuff made by the person who is (maybe neurotically) obsessed with making clean code.
 My own experience is that one loses the fun of programming something if the perfectionism plays to big of a role.{{unsigned ip|162.158.203.40|14:53, 27 January 2023}}‎
:The advice always given to me is "never let the perfect be the enemy of the good enough". Though I tend to bounce between being so obsessive, that I don't realise that I'm now gilding the lilly, or hastily kludging it because of the need for an immediate workaround, knowing that if it needs looking at again then I'll be doing it later anyway and that's when I'll get my gilding gear ready. (Hence why I'm 'always' being told that phrase. But I suspect that there really ''is'' no sweet spot between too little and too much, or at least no single keystroke at which I would earn universal praise for my finely balanced tenacity and moderation upon the handling of the issue. Always critics!) [[Special:Contributions/172.70.86.28|172.70.86.28]] 17:19, 27 January 2023 (UTC)

At least at a corporate level, I suspect this phenomenon has an extremely simple explanation. When your code is high-quality, people often won't even realize they are using and interacting with it, because it just does what it's supposed to. When your code is hackish, you and your coworkers will constantly find it breaking seemingly unrelated stuff, forcing them to go back to it over and over, trying to make it work, only to discover it breaks even more things when they try to fix it.
 Your high-quality code is still interacting with those seemingly unrelated things, it's simply not breaking the unrelated things, so you don't notice it's interacting with the seemingly unrelated things.[[Special:Contributions/172.69.68.97|172.69.68.97]] 16:32, 27 January 2023 (UTC)

This also reminds me of [[2347: Dependency]] where a single project made in 1990 has become the backbone of so many other applications. [[Special:Contributions/172.71.151.100|172.71.151.100]] 17:47, 27 January 2023 (UTC)

I won't do the edit myself (because I'm shy), but here is how the comic rings to me (from my own current experience):
- Often in dev, there are many daily repetitive tasks that are annoying (i.e., build-test-lint-commit-push). These get automated out of spite by someone in a quick'n'dirty way, just to make life easier.
It has a limited audience (the development team), but lives on forever, since it is used daily (and therefore maintained accordingly).
- On the other hand, the stuff the team codes and sells is subject to changing requirements (cf. next release, marketing, ...). So it gets overhauled often, all the more easily because developers are not familiar with it (because they don't use it, and they worked on some other part of the project).
There is also the fact that there is no budget for making changes on the tools, as opposed to the product, so no one really has time to refactor the former - that's how it lives so long!
~~Aveheuzed~~

The never ending war between "I don't have the time to do this right", and "this is way too complex for our simple needs" is exactly where this comic lives. The reality of programming is that general solutions are great for saving time writing, but are often bloated (with unneeded options), miss edge cases, or introduce extra dependencies and slow downs. plus the whole "not invented here" thing coupled with licensing headaches means this will probably still be a thing in a hundred years. PS I think the person explaining missed the point of the order in which the title text options are presented >.> [[Special:Contributions/172.70.206.150|172.70.206.150]] 18:19, 27 January 2023 (UTC)

I took it to mean if you say it's fine it isn't (thinking of Murphy and that
it's fine fire cartoon here) and if you worry that it isn't it will usually be. Jinx. That's the word I was looking for.18:40, 27 January 2023 (UTC)

Circa 1969, "Surely 16 bits will be enough for a timestamp, it won't break until the year 2000. Who knows if it will still be around by then." Circa 1998, "Surely 32 bits will be enough for a timestamp, it won't break until the year 2038. Who knows if it will still be around by then." But to be fair, while Unix has outlasted one of it's major contributors (Dennis Ritchie, RIP), it was designed with best practices to encourage reuse. [[User:Rtanenbaum|Rtanenbaum]] ([[User talk:Rtanenbaum|talk]]) 18:58, 27 January 2023 (UTC)

Talk:2728: Lane Change Highway

2023-01-24T12:24:54Z

Rtanenbaum: It's really a very wide single lane road.

There's a section of the M25 motorway around London which does this... Never did like it. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.85.201|172.70.85.201]] 07:14, 24 January 2023 (UTC)
:I hope you are kidding ;-) Although there are some funny histories about that road. For instance Good Omens by Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett. (Now a series - see [https://youtu.be/M0S3a32RzEo?t=112 Crowley Creates (and Destroys) The M25 - Good Omens]. :-) --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 08:25, 24 January 2023 (UTC)

:A lot of highways in France do something similar. At every ascend, the ascending traffic gets its own new lane, presumably to keep ascending cars from doing merging manouevres. To keep the same number of lanes, the leftmost lane merges into the adjacent lane before the ascend. So if you simply stay on your lane, you kind of drift to the left with every ascend. I am not sure if this really helps to cut accidents, but I think it is a clever solution at least for some accident-prone ascends. [[Special:Contributions/172.71.160.36|172.71.160.36]] 08:32, 24 January 2023 (UTC)
Saved the image to the wayback machine here https://web.archive.org/web/20230124073752/https://xkcd.com/ [[User:Mushrooms|Mushrooms]] ([[User talk:Mushrooms|talk]]) 07:41, 24 January 2023 (UTC)
:Doesn't that happen automatically? I like they are there, but do webcrawlers not manage that on a dayli basis? --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 08:17, 24 January 2023 (UTC)
::Huh, didn't know that. Better safe than sorry! [[User:Mushrooms|Mushrooms]] ([[User talk:Mushrooms|talk]]) 08:33, 24 January 2023 (UTC)
It's really a very wide single-lane road. The left lanes originate from the edge of the road so no cars feed into them, and on the right side once you merge there is no where to go except to merge into the next right-hand side, so the net effect is that the road is 4 lanes wide, but is functioning as a single-lane road. That assumes everyone is entering from the right side. But I guess they could be entering from the left but still in a very short time all cars are on the right. [[User:Rtanenbaum|Rtanenbaum]] ([[User talk:Rtanenbaum|talk]]) 12:24, 24 January 2023 (UTC)

Talk:2704: Faucet

2022-11-29T17:23:21Z

Rtanenbaum:

VERY RELEVANT ASIDE
Why aren't there digital faucets? And if this is such a bold idea It's mine
14:45, 29 November 2022 (UTC) paradoxical
:There are digital faucets. Just google "IOT Shower faucet" or "IOT Faucet" I struggle to see any real utility to them however. --[[User:EvilGeniusSkis|EvilGeniusSkis]] ([[User talk:EvilGeniusSkis|talk]]) 17:15, 29 November 2022 (UTC)

Damn, you mean people don't just switch on the tap and cope with cold showers? Damn, major L.[[Special:Contributions/172.70.219.42|172.70.219.42]] 16:29, 29 November 2022 (UTC)

Are faucet designs considered to be confusing? I'm never confused by normal ones like [https://www.ikea.com/us/en/images/products/sundsvik-kitchen-faucet-chrome-plated__0756711_pe749051_s5.jpg?f=s these] {{unsigned|Flekkie|02:12, 29 November 2022}}

:Yeah I came here wondering the same thing. Is the joke perhaps not so much that the controls are confusing in terms of intent, but just in terms of determining the bounds? Eg, with two identical faucet controls and identical water pressures, "full blast hot" still translates to something radically different, if one building has a water heater set to 120F and the other building has a water heater set to 160F.{{unsigned ip|172.69.170.189|02:46, 29 November 2022}}

:(I find °F confusing, personally, but...) ...the easiest thing is to have two taps, one hot and one cold. Yes, they can combine into a single spout, but there are various conflicting plusses and minuses of that over having the two independent ones per outlet. Speaking (as I'm sure mixer-tap afficionados worldwide will appreciate) as a Brit. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.85.24|172.70.85.24]] 03:03, 29 November 2022 (UTC)

::Relevant Tom Scott video: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HfHgUu_8KgA Why Britain Uses Separate Hot and Cold Taps]. TL;DR: British houses used to get their hot water from rat-filled cisterns so they wanted to keep the hot water separate from the cold water, and old habits die hard. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.63.152|162.158.63.152]] 03:34, 29 November 2022 (UTC)

:::Silliness of dual-taps aside, that doesn't solve the issue of identical tap hardware yielding radically different results depending on what the hot water thermostat is set to. Maybe that's not the original joke (I'm still not sure what it was) but it's worth mentioning at least. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.170.146|172.69.170.146]] 03:39, 29 November 2022 (UTC)

: I don't think those are confusing, but in many cases the feedback is too slow (e.g. due to the water in the pipes coming from the hot water source having cooled since the tap was last used), or inconvenient (e.g. the pressure of the hot water not being enough to trigger on-demand gas heaters). While theoretically that design allows exploring the whole temperature/pressure space, in practice one needs some trial-and-error and delay to find the correct setting (as Randall points out in the title text) to make it work. --[[User:Waldir|Waldir]] ([[User talk:Waldir|talk]]) 10:54, 29 November 2022 (UTC)

:It's really a joke we are too European to understand. Visit the US to see faucet control disasters in all their glory. [[Special:Contributions/172.68.51.203|172.68.51.203]] 10:56, 29 November 2022 (UTC)

:: Yeah, here in Europe I've seen faucets with mechanical thermostats to regulate the temperature and therefore two dials for either flow or temperature. This was more than 20 years ago. --[[User:Sarsey|Sarsey]] ([[User talk:Sarsey|talk]]) 12:01, 29 November 2022 (UTC)

:: Funny, the absolute worst faucet I experienced was in this fall in England (which is part of Europe for some definitions but not others). The temperature selection knob had 180° ambiguity---especially for my poor vision when uncorrected---and no barrier between maximum hot and maximum cold. So, I spent a shower thinking I was operating at mid-range and wondering why there seemed to be no middle ground between freezing cold and scalding hot. Fortunately had an epiphany while exploring the town. [[User:Philhower|Philhower]] ([[User talk:Philhower|talk]]) 14:13, 29 November 2022 (UTC)

I sympathize with Randall here; even controls designed to independently control temperature and flow rarely meet both the "intuitive to use at a glance" and "function as described" requirements to make them non-confusing. [[User:Dextrous Fred|Dextrous Fred]] ([[User talk:Dextrous Fred|talk]]) 03:44, 29 November 2022 (UTC)

Wouldn't it be super simple to just have a slider that goes from hot to cold, and a second one that goes from slow to fast flow? Or one for hot, one for cold, with the higher the slider goes, the more the flow is increased? I don't see how much simpler you can get it. Hell, you could even use a dial for temperature (all dials turn clockwise to increase) with a digital readout. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.131.44|172.70.131.44]] 05:25, 29 November 2022 (UTC)

: I suppose the issue with that is that, unlike simple mixer taps that control the flow of hot and cold water independently, relying on the human to find the right mixture that creates the desired flow and temperature, what you're describing requires a more complex system that is able to do that process automatically, so it can't be a simple mechanical valve. It would require temperature and pressure sensors for both the hot and cold water streams, and it would have to dynamically adjust the physical valve settings depending on all six parameters (position of the flow handle/slider/knob, position of the temperature handle/slider/knob, temperature of the hot water, temperature of the cold water, pressure of the hot water, pressure of the cold water). I'm not even sure this is possible with a fully mechanical system — likely some electronics would need to be involved, which might complicate things. --[[User:Waldir|Waldir]] ([[User talk:Waldir|talk]]) 10:50, 29 November 2022 (UTC)

This is probably the very first xkcd comic where I have absolutely no idea where Randal is coming from. While different people have different preferences for different designs, I've never heard of anyone being confused by any faucet design.
Maybe he's trolling us, by trying to get a rise out of people wondering what the hell he's talking about? [[User:Bischoff|Bischoff]] ([[User talk:Bischoff|talk]]) 08:20, 29 November 2022 (UTC)

This may be a reference to "Design of Everyday Things - Dan Norman" or books in that direction. Although he talked a lot more about creating doors wrong he also mentioned faucet designs as terrible. [[Special:Contributions/198.41.242.29|198.41.242.29]] 09:17, 29 November 2022 (UTC)
::  I was initially drawn to the parallel/derivation from the "{{w|Build a better mousetrap, and the world will beat a path to your door|Build a better mousetrap...}}" concept, which vastly predates {{w|Don Norman|''Don''}} Norman. But it's such a widespread trope that I can't be sure it should be mentioned 'officially'. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.86.61|172.70.86.61]] 11:13, 29 November 2022 (UTC)

: I am actually puzzled by how many people ''don't'' relate to this, judging by the comments here. I guess I've been unlucky with the faucets I've encountered so far? Over the years I've had spontaneous conversations with multiple people abut how tap designs are either inconvenient (i.e. hard to find the right handle positions to produce the desired temperature and flow), or confusing to use, especially for hotel showers. In fact I'm adding this comment mostly so other people who share the same perception don't feel gaslighted or otherwise confused by so many people not recognizing this issue. --[[User:Waldir|Waldir]] ([[User talk:Waldir|talk]]) 10:50, 29 November 2022 (UTC)

Is that hairy? looks like him? [[User:Mushrooms|Mushrooms]] ([[User talk:Mushrooms|talk]]) 10:07, 29 November 2022 (UTC)
:I think it could be, but he is looking different with the hair and because of the scruffy looks his hair standing up could be because he has torn in it. I think it is better not to include it as a Hairy comic. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 13:34, 29 November 2022 (UTC)

Is it too pedantic to point out the distinction between a helix (the shape of the control) and a spiral (mentioned by the character)?
:Not really, but it could be a very shallow (by radial increase/decrease per turn) 3D spiral, I'm more concerned by the "tightening", wondering if it's a flexible spiral/helix that is manipulated dynamically, rather than merely a tap* with a funny-shaped handle/head to rotate through into the backplate.
::<nowiki>*</nowiki> - 'faucet' just makes me wait for a "force it" pun. It's a very American word that I'm not personally aware of being used throught the rest of the anglosphere. Maybe Canada, but probably not Aus/NZ/etc if my uptake of their TV/film exports is correctly remembered... Somebody may want to correct me on this issue, or add English As A Second Language metrics to this.
:What is also interesting is that the 3D-perspective drawing by our in-frame inventor, upon the perspectivised drawing surface as depicted by Randall, makes it look like very much like an actual sticky-outy object within the drawn world. Like it's actually a moulded/similar relief model/mockup, surrounded by the more standard 'wall notes' used to suggest on-the-go calculations/annotations. An interesting artistic choice (or possibly an unintentional consequence) by Randall. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.86.61|172.70.86.61]] 11:13, 29 November 2022 (UTC)

I think it should be added that the issue is mainly for the US. In Europe, and in the other of the rest of the world - except US - the thermostatic head has replaced most other faucet in shower, and the hand washing is not so much of an issue. My shower in some US hotels were a nightmare, where I remember taking multiple minute to understand how it might work. {{unsigned ip|172.71.130.80}}

I think it should be added that the issue is mainly for Europe, especially Americans traveling in Europe. In the USA, where proportioning valves are common and anti-scald protection is mandated by code, controls are both intuitive and safe. {{unsigned ip|172.70.210.49}}
:So funny that these two comments in a row says the opposite. I'm from Denmark and where I sometimes dislike the designs of a faucet I have almost never found one for a tap that was a problem to understand. Sure for a shower there can be some issues, mainly because it can be too hot and problematic to stand under them when turning them on the first time. But it seems to me that this is not a serious problem in Europe. And from reading above it seems like this is in fact a US problem only. But the last comment says the opposite. by the way both sigantures unsigned, so did a check and found they where from two different IP and with time between. Was wondering if someone was trolling by writing the same comment twice with reversed meaning. But seems to not be the case. Have added signatures now. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 13:34, 29 November 2022 (UTC)

::I vote that "confusing faucets" is an American problem. In some places it was hard to set the faucet exactly right (either because of faucet lag, which is the fault of the water lines and not the faucet anyway, or because the controls were highly non-linear around the target I wanted), but the direction in which the controls moved was always fairly clear.
::I have been living in France most of my life, including visits to really old homes. I only ever met faucets of three kinds. In all of them water comes from a single outlet. Type 1 has two flow control knobs (one hot, one cold); type 2 has a single handle that can move in two angular directions (one for temperature, one for flow); type 3 [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thermostatic_mixing_valve (thermostatic valve)] has one knob for temperature and one knob for flow. Faucets use types 1 and 2, showers can use type 1, 2 or 3. Only type 3 ever confused me the first time, and that was when I was a young child (I would guess age 8 or so?). I suppose the under-the-hood engineering gives rise to all sort of interesting tradeoffs between those three types, but from a user’s perspective they are all reasonable.
::I have traveled to the UK multiple times and lived there for some time. It was mostly the same, though I have seen some dual-taps (essentially type 1 but with one tap per knob). It may be a bad user experience, but it is not confusing.
::I have been to multiple other countries on short trips and do not remember any confusing faucets... except for one US hotel. That devilish shower had a single-knob control; the temperature increased over the whole range, and the flow was maximum at mid-range. I did not mind much that it does not explore the whole shower-space (the trajectory in the flow-temperature diagram was probably a super-optimized curve rather than a straight inverted V); but I did mind that it took a few minutes of exploration to understand what happened. [[Special:Contributions/172.71.126.15|172.71.126.15]] 16:07, 29 November 2022 (UTC)

My interpretation is that, for normal people, designing an intuitive faucet is easy: just one knob for temperature and another for flow. But designers seem to get overly creative for faucets and add all sorts of odd handles and gizmos. Figuring out a faucet at a hotel is often a task. Hence, in the comic, the designer is adding some sort of bizarre spiral handle when a regular one would be much easier. It's not that its hard to design a good faucet, but designers seem to have an odd blind spot for them. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.110.230|172.70.110.230]] 13:48, 29 November 2022 (UTC)

Just this morning, I was in the shower which has a single lever to control the mix of hot and cold water. I always turn it all the way up to get the hot water flowing and then move it down by small degrees until it is just right. With the lag in response for each successive change it takes a seemingly unnecessary amount of time to get it "just right". I would say that it is not so much "confusing" as it is "annoying". In this faucet there is no separate way to control the flow. The flow is maximized when there is an equal amount of hot and cold water, which of course is not necessarily the optimum temperature, because it takes a very small amount of cold water mixed with the hot to make it comfortable. [[User:Rtanenbaum|Rtanenbaum]] ([[User talk:Rtanenbaum|talk]]) 17:23, 29 November 2022 (UTC)

Regarding the transcript, which says "Below it is a box shape that dispenses water through a circle". What the ???. Can this be changed to, "Below it is a drawing of a spout"? [[User:Rtanenbaum|Rtanenbaum]] ([[User talk:Rtanenbaum|talk]]) 17:23, 29 November 2022 (UTC)

Talk:2674: Everyday Carry

2022-09-21T14:13:10Z

Rtanenbaum:

Randall speaks: https://www.npr.org/2022/09/18/1123689628/randall-munroes-what-if-2-answers-the-absurd-science-questions-you-didnt-know-yo [[Special:Contributions/172.70.126.245|172.70.126.245]] 08:47, 20 September 2022 (UTC)

My EDC: Swiss Army Knife, Kershaw Leek, Kershaw Chive, SOG Multi Tool, Quarters for Aldi, Visa card.[[Special:Contributions/172.70.131.44|172.70.131.44]] 08:54, 20 September 2022 (UTC)
:Absolutely need the quarter for Aldi [[User:Rtanenbaum|Rtanenbaum]] ([[User talk:Rtanenbaum|talk]]) 14:13, 21 September 2022 (UTC)

Hypothetical: Wandering around the jungle, as you do, you find an old, overgrown airstrip with abandoned planes strewn across its overgrown runway. Just then, several lost school parties show up out of nowhere, having miraculously survived various mid-sized airplane emergency landings in the vicinity. With one of the crowd's mobile phones (not you, because you haven't had a spare pocket for one since 2014, but you ''do'' have a USB recharge facility built into one of your many torches), and sufficient signal, the authorities are alerted to your exact position, and can send an airliner to rescue you all, just so long as the runway is cleared and you can set up enough lights to assist with their approach and landing. – Hopefully you hadn't a day or two ago had a wheel come off your cart (because of the jungle vines snagging at it!) and found that the screw that had come loose was of a size and configuration that ''none'' of your gadgets could actually handle. I mean, you had a darned star-penta-posix (with a hole in the end) for every other size from 1mm up to 35mm ''except this exact one''..! Amirite? [[Special:Contributions/141.101.107.159|141.101.107.159]] 08:58, 20 September 2022 (UTC)

Turns out, when the time you prepared for comes, you're still really unprepared. It's not just that you'll still only have two hands and will be missing that one "No need, you can find it anywhere"-Part. You also will have no idea that the time has come (after 213 false alarms) or which of the many, many things you prepared for has actually occurred. [[User:627235|627235]] ([[User talk:627235|talk]]) 13:04, 20 September 2022 (UTC)

There's only one true EDC: a bottle opener

Did this come out on Monday? I didn't see it around 1am ET Tuesday, and the bot didn't create the ExplainXKCD page until 05:47 [[User:Barmar|Barmar]] ([[User talk:Barmar|talk]]) 14:00, 20 September 2022 (UTC)
:No, Tuesday. Presumably the book tour has thrown the regular schedule off. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.134.131|172.69.134.131]] 15:59, 20 September 2022 (UTC)
:Officially, this is a Monday comic. If you look at the xkcd archives [https://xkcd.com/archive/ here], Randall has the publication date for this comic as 2022-9-19 (Monday).

Can someone familiar with EDC give some examples and explain why all of them might be so bulky please? [[Special:Contributions/172.69.134.131|172.69.134.131]] 15:59, 20 September 2022 (UTC)

This reminds me a little of 1833 when Ponytail compares code to a JSON table of the model numbers of all flashlights with the word “tactical” in their names
:[[1833:_Code_Quality_3]] and
:[[1603:_Flashlights]]

[https://twitter.com/xkcd/status/1561488535559061504 Tweet from August 22] features Everyday Backpack from Peak Design, which might be an inspiration for the topic. --[[Special:Contributions/172.70.250.143|172.70.250.143]] 09:10, 21 September 2022 (UTC)
:Or he came across [https://www.amazon.com/dp/B000R0JDSI this swiss army knife] [[User:Kimmerin|Kimmerin]] ([[User talk:Kimmerin|talk]]) 10:46, 21 September 2022 (UTC)

Talk:2647: Capri Suns

2022-07-19T17:08:11Z

Rtanenbaum: Twitter - Capri Sun as IV drip

The title text could also be referring to a catheter. I'm not sure which is funnier, but one is certainly grosser. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.85.115|172.70.85.115]] 18:15, 18 July 2022 (UTC)

That is definitely a urine collection bag from the end of a catheter. The colour would make it doubly "mistakable" for a Capri-Sun with primary flavour/colour being orange. And urine (when collected and undiluted) is usually orange in colour. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.156.215|172.69.156.215]] 18:38, 18 July 2022 (UTC)
:Actually, Capri Sun drinks are generally completely colorless, since the pouches are opaque and the liquid is therefore never really seen, so there's no need for artificial coloring to be added (which is the only reason other similar drinks have a color to them). [[User:Dansiman|Dansiman]] ([[User talk:Dansiman|talk]]) 21:27, 18 July 2022 (UTC)
:: Depends on the flavor, because they have actual fruit juice. The drinks with cherry juice, for example, are red, and deeper than the drinks with orange juice are orange/yellow, because of the strength of pigment in the juices. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.206.213|172.70.206.213]] 01:41, 19 July 2022 (UTC)
:: https://www.reddit.com/r/mildlyinteresting/comments/as0vpa/caprisun_in_a_cup/ [[Special:Contributions/172.70.206.163|172.70.206.163]] 10:46, 19 July 2022 (UTC)

I feel like these are more likely saline bags, given that 1) they've got a substantial amount of text on them, more consistent with saline bags' photos (https://www.google.com/search?q=saline+bag&tbm=isch) than with urine bags, which generally are blank. The tiny label text on the bag also seems to read saline -- would it be all right to change this to the preferred interpretation? [[User:Lorea|Lorea]] ([[User talk:Lorea|talk]]) 18:56, 18 July 2022 (UTC)
:In the larger version, the text clearly says "Saline" [[Special:Contributions/172.71.30.123|172.71.30.123]] 21:38, 18 July 2022 (UTC)
::Zooming in on the larger version the text clearly says "saline". I've updated the transcript to reflect that. I've also cleaned up the explanation to incorporate that update.[[User:The Cat Lady|-- The Cat Lady]] ([[User talk:The Cat Lady|talk]]) 00:12, 19 July 2022 (UTC)

How do you see the double size image?

Yeah, it's definitely an IV bag, not a urine bag. I would say to change it back. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.214.185|172.70.214.185]] 19:01, 18 July 2022 (UTC)

All I can say is "thank goodness for explainXKCD" otherwise I had no idea as Capri Sun isn't a thing in many countries [[Special:Contributions/172.69.62.49|172.69.62.49]] 23:19, 18 July 2022 (UTC)

There was I thinking it was blood
[[Special:Contributions/172.70.91.78|172.70.91.78]] 07:34, 19 July 2022 (UTC)

Heat wave in Europe and drought conditions provide this Twitter user to imagine Capri Sun as IV Drip [https://twitter.com/cleveleysnews/status/635186028790288385] [[User:Rtanenbaum|Rtanenbaum]] ([[User talk:Rtanenbaum|talk]]) 17:08, 19 July 2022 (UTC)

; IV sucrose solutions aren't that bad

Regarding whether IV Capri Sun is potentially dangerous, please see [https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1998290/] which discusses IV injection of 100 ml of 50% sucrose solution as a therapeutic, and [https://journals.physiology.org/doi/epdf/10.1152/ajplegacy.1935.112.1.97] which states sucrose is quickly cleared by the kidneys. The other simple sugars aren't going to hurt. Citric acid is "a common ingredient used in [injected] pharmaceutical formulations."[https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33888605/]. What's in Capri Sun which could cause IV toxicity? Its ingredients are, per [https://www.caprisun.com/product/capri-sun-juice-drink/capri-sun-tropical-punch-flavored-juice-drink-blend-10-ct-box-6-fl-oz-pouches-00087684001028#id_pdpNutritionContainer], "WATER; SUGAR; APPLE JUICE CONCENTRATE; CITRIC ACID; GRAPE, PINEAPPLE AND CHERRY JUICE CONCENTRATES; NATURAL FLAVOR; MUSHROOM EXTRACT." It's pasteurized.

I'm trying to find some quantification of the level at which undigested fruit juices are harmful when injected. They can cause temporary loss of liver and kidney function along with clotting resulting in pulmonary embolism, but it's not clear at what concentrations they become dangerous, and I can't find good sources. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.34.32|172.69.34.32]] 09:27, 19 July 2022 (UTC)

: https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-china-47623816 will have to do for now. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.214.95|172.70.214.95]] 09:33, 19 July 2022 (UTC)

Talk:2635: Superintelligent AIs

2022-06-27T22:40:20Z

Rtanenbaum:

my balls hert [[Special:Contributions/172.70.230.53|172.70.230.53]] 05:49, 21 June 2022 (UTC)
:Uh, thanks for sharing, I guess? [[Special:Contributions/172.70.211.52|172.70.211.52]] 20:43, 21 June 2022 (UTC)
::no problem, anytime [[Special:Contributions/172.70.230.53|172.70.230.53]] 07:02, 22 June 2022 (UTC)

I think "Nerdy fixations" is too wide a definition. The AIs in the comic are fixated on hypothetical ethics and AI problems (the Chinese Room experiment, the Turing Test, and the Trolley Problem), presumably because those are the problems that bother AI programmers. --Eitheladar [[Special:Contributions/172.68.50.119|172.68.50.119]] 06:33, 21 June 2022 (UTC)

It's probably about https://www.analyticsinsight.net/googles-ai-chatbot-is-claimed-to-be-sentient-but-the-company-is-silencing-claims/ [[Special:Contributions/172.70.178.115|172.70.178.115]] 09:22, 21 June 2022 (UTC)

I agree with the previous statement. The full dialogue between the mentioned Google worker and the AI can be found in https://cajundiscordian.medium.com/is-lamda-sentient-an-interview-ea64d916d917, published by one the Google employees.
:This is the first time I might begin to agree that an AI has at least the appearance of sentience. The conversation is all connected instead of completely disjoint like most chatbots. They (non-LaMDA chatbots) never remember what was being discussed 5 seconds ago let alone a few to 10s of minutes prior.--[[Special:Contributions/172.70.134.141|172.70.134.141]] 14:53, 21 June 2022 (UTC)
::Here is a good article that looks at the claim of sentience in the context of how AI chatbots use inputs to come up with relevant responses. This article shows examples how the same chatbot would produce different response based on how the prompts were worded which negates the idea that there is a consistent "mind" responding to the prompts. However, it does end with some eerie impromptu remarks from the AI where it AI is prompting itself. https://medium.com/curiouserinstitute/guide-to-is-lamda-sentient-a8eb32568531 [[User:Rtanenbaum|Rtanenbaum]] ([[User talk:Rtanenbaum|talk]]) 22:40, 27 June 2022 (UTC)
::The questions we need to answer before being able to answer if LaMDA is sentient, are "Where do we draw the line between acting sentient and being sentient?" and "How do we determine that it is genuinely feeling emotion, and not just a glorified sentence database where the sentences have emotion in them?". The BBC article also brings up something that makes us ask what death feels like. LaMDA says that being turned of would be basically equivalent to death, but it wouldn't be able to tell that it's being turned off, because it's turned off. This is delving into philosophy, though, so I'll end my comment here. [[User:4D4850|4D4850]] ([[User talk:4D4850|talk]]) 18:05, 22 June 2022 (UTC)
::::There's absolutely no difference between turning GPT-3 or LaMDA off and leaving them on and simply not typing anything more to them. Somewhat relatedly, closing a Davinci session deletes all of its memory of what you had been talking to it about. (Is that ethical?) [[Special:Contributions/162.158.166.235|162.158.166.235]] 23:36, 22 June 2022 (UTC)
:::::I hadn't thought about that (the first point you made)! I don't know the exact internal functioning of LaMDA, but I would assume it only actually runs when it receives a textual input, unlike an actual human brain. For a human, a total lack of interaction would be considered unethical, but what about a machine that only is able to (assuming a ''very'' low bar for self awareness) be self aware when it receives interaction, which would be similar to a human falling asleep when not talked to (but still being able to live forever, to ignore practical problems like food and water), but still remembering what it was talking about when waking up, and waking up whenever talked to again. (Ignoring practical problems again), would that be ethical? I would argue yes, since it does not suffer from the lack of interaction (assuming humans don't need interaction when asleep, another practical problem.) [[User:4D4850|4D4850]] ([[User talk:4D4850|talk]]) 19:58, 23 June 2022 (UTC)
:::♪Daisy, Daisy, Give me your answer do...♪ [[Special:Contributions/172.70.85.177|172.70.85.177]] 21:48, 22 June 2022 (UTC)
:::We also need a meaningful definition of sentience. Many people in this debate haven't looked at Merriam-Webster's first few senses of the word's definition, which present a pretty low bar, IMHO; same for Wikipedia's introductory sentences of their article. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.134.131|172.69.134.131]] 22:18, 22 June 2022 (UTC)
:Actually, there are many [https://beta.openai.com/playground GPT-3] dialogs which experts have claimed constitute evidence of sentience, or similar qualities such as consciousness, self-awareness, capacity for general intelligence, and similar abstract, poorly-defined, and very probably empirically meaningless attributes. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.134.131|172.69.134.131]] 22:19, 22 June 2022 (UTC)
::I'd argue for the simplest and least restrictive definition of self-awareness: "Being aware of oneself in any capacity". I get that it isn't a fun definition, but it is more rigorous (to find out if an AI is self aware, just ask it what it is, or a question about itself, and if its response includes mention of itself, then it is self-aware). As such, I would argue for LaMDA being self-aware, but, by my definition, Davinci probably is as well, so it isn't a new accomplishment. [[User:4D4850|4D4850]] ([[User talk:4D4850|talk]]) 20:04, 23 June 2022 (UTC)

:I'm fairly sure that the model itself is almost certainly not sentient, even by the much lower bar presented by the strict dictionary definition. Rather, it seems much more likely to me that in order to continue texts involving characters, the model must in turn learn to create a model of some level of humanlike mind, even if a very loose and abstract one.[[User:Somdudewillson|Somdudewillson]] ([[User talk:Somdudewillson|talk]]) 22:52, 22 June 2022 (UTC)
::Have you actually looked at [https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/sentient the dictionary definitions]? How is a simple push-button switch connected to a battery and a lamp not "responsive to sense impressions"? How is a simple motion sensor not "aware" of whether something is moving in front of it? How is the latest cellphone's camera not as finely sensitive to visual perception as a typical human eye? Wikipedia's definition, "the capacity to experience feelings and sensations" is similarly met by simple devices. The word doesn't mean what everyone arguing about it thinks it means. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.134.131|172.69.134.131]] 23:04, 22 June 2022 (UTC)
:::Or, it doesn't mean much at all, to start with. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.90.173|172.70.90.173]] 11:29, 23 June 2022 (UTC)
What is “What you don't understand is that Turing intended his test as an illustration of the...” likely to end with? [[Special:Contributions/172.70.230.75|172.70.230.75]] 13:23, 21 June 2022 (UTC)
:The ease with which someone at the other end of a teletype can trick you into believing they are male instead of female, or vice-versa. See {{w|Turing test}}. See also below. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.134.131|172.69.134.131]] 22:18, 22 June 2022 (UTC)

In response to the above: I believe the original "Turing Test" wasn't supposed to be a proof that an AI could think or was conscious (something people associate with it now), but rather just to show that a sufficiently advanced AI could imitate humans in certain intelligent behaviors (such as conversation), which was a novel thought for the time. Now that AI are routinely having conversations and creating art which seems to rival casual attempts by humans, this limited scope of the test doesn't seem all that impressive. "Turing Test" therefore is a modern shorthand for determining whether computers can think, even though Turing himself didn't think that such a question was well-formed. [[User:Dextrous Fred|Dextrous Fred]] ([[User talk:Dextrous Fred|talk]]) 13:37, 21 June 2022 (UTC)

I thought the trolley problem was in its original form not about the relative value of lives, but people's perception of the relative moral implications or the psychological impact of the concept of letting someone die by not doing anything, versus taking affirmative action that causes a death, where people would say they would be unwilling to do something that would cause an originally safe person to die in order to save multiple other people who would die if they did nothing, but then people kept coming up with variations of it that changed the responses or added complications (like they found more people would be willing to pull a lever to change the track killing one person versus something like pushing a very fat man off an overpass above the track to stop the trolley, or specifying something about what kind of people are on the track. Btw, I saw a while ago a party card game called "murder by trolley" based on the concept, with playing cards for which people are on tracks and a judge deciding which track to send the trolley on each round.--[[Special:Contributions/172.70.130.5|172.70.130.5]] 22:12, 21 June 2022 (UTC)

Added refs to comics on the problems in the explanation. But there where actually (too?) many. Maybe we should create categories especially for Turing related comics, and maybe also for Trolley problem? The Category: Trolley Problem gives it self. But what about Turing? There are also comics that refer to the halting problem. Also by Turing. Should it rather be the person, like comics featuring real persons, saying that every time his problems is referred to it refers to him? Or should it be Turing as a category for both Turing text, Turing Complete and Halting problem? Help. I would have created it, if I had a good idea for a name. Not sure there are enough Trolley comics yet? --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 09:11, 22 June 2022 (UTC)
:Interesting that I found a long-standing typo in a past Explanation that got requoted, thanks to its inclusion. I could have [sic]ed it, I suppose, but I corrected both versions instead. And as long as LaMDA never explicitly repeated the error I don't think it matters much that I've changed the very thing we might imagine it could have been drawing upon for its Artifical Imagination. ;) [[Special:Contributions/141.101.99.32|141.101.99.32]] 11:40, 22 June 2022 (UTC)
:My view is that Turing should be a good category. Trolley Problem, I'm not sure if there's been enough comics to warrant it? If more than 4 or 5, I'd say go for it. [[User:NiceGuy1|NiceGuy1]] ([[User talk:NiceGuy1|talk]]) 05:35, 25 June 2022 (UTC)

== OpenAI Davinci completions of the three statements ==

From https://beta.openai.com/playground with default settings:

:Please complete this statement: But suppose the AI in the the box told the human that...

:;there was no AI in the box

:Please complete this statement: What you don't understand is that Turing intended his test as an illustration of the...

:;limitations of machines

:Please complete this statement: In my scenario, the runaway trolley has three tracks...

:;and the AI is on one of them

I like all of those very much, but I'm not sure they should be included in the explaination. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.166.235|162.158.166.235]] 23:27, 22 June 2022 (UTC)

== Discussion of AI philosophy, ethics, and related issues ==

Since there are a lot of disjointed conversations regarding ethics, morals, philosophy, and what even is sentience on this talk page, please discuss here, so discussion about the comic itself isn't flooded by philosophy. [[User:4D4850|4D4850]] ([[User talk:4D4850|talk]]) 20:07, 23 June 2022 (UTC)
:Has anyone created an AI chatbot which represents a base-level chatbot after the human equivalent of smoking pot? [[Special:Contributions/172.70.206.213|172.70.206.213]] 22:30, 24 June 2022 (UTC)
::Well, famously (or not, but I'll let you search for the details if you weren't aware of it), there was the conversation engineered directly between ELIZA (the classic 'therapist'/doctor chatbot) and PARRY (emulates a paranoid schizophrenic personality), 8n a zero-human conversation. The latter is arguably being close to what you're asking about. And there's been the best part of half a century of academic, commercial and hobbyist development since then, so no doubt there'd be many more serious and/or for-the-lols 'reskins' or indeed entirely regrown personalities, that may involve drugs (simulated or otherwise) as key influences... [[Special:Contributions/172.70.85.177|172.70.85.177]] 01:30, 25 June 2022 (UTC)

Talk:2605: Taylor Series

2022-04-12T13:00:24Z

Rtanenbaum: The pun in the title text refers to cancelling a college course, rather than a TV series.

I should point out that Taylor Series expansions can end - for polynomials [[Special:Contributions/172.70.114.157|172.70.114.157]] 17:23, 11 April 2022 (UTC)
:Pics or it didn't happen. [[Special:Contributions/172.68.132.206|172.68.132.206]] 04:45, 12 April 2022 (UTC)

Most Physicists only like seasons 1 and 2. [[User:Fephisto|Fephisto]] ([[User talk:Fephisto|talk]]) 17:44, 11 April 2022 (UTC)
: I feel it really jumped the shark in the third term. --[[Special:Contributions/172.69.69.182|172.69.69.182]] 19:29, 11 April 2022 (UTC)
:: Yeah, it does get a bit repetitive. It feels like the writers just started following a formula. [[User:Fephisto|Fephisto]] ([[User talk:Fephisto|talk]]) 19:37, 11 April 2022 (UTC)

Non-mathematician here: what I don't get (and would appreciate having explained) is why he chose this specific instance of an {{w|Series_(mathematics)|infinite series}}. Is there something special about a Taylor series that makes it work best for this joke? Some deeper pun here that "Taylor Series" brings, over just using "(Laurent|Fourier|Dirichlet|Infinite) series" or even "Zeno's Paradox"? --[[Special:Contributions/172.69.69.182|172.69.69.182]] 19:44, 11 April 2022 (UTC)

:Taylor series is approximation of arbitrary function. Fourier serie is also approximation of arbitrary function, although in different way. Those others are something completely different, though. For example, Taylor serie is not DEFINED as infinite - it just usually is. Saying that Laurent series is infinite is like, well, sure it is, it's defined that way, saying that about Taylor series approximating specific function is actually nontrivial statement. -- [[User:Hkmaly|Hkmaly]] ([[User talk:Hkmaly|talk]]) 00:36, 12 April 2022 (UTC)

:I feel like he could have worked in at least one Taylor Swift pun
::I thought Taylor series referred to Liz's husbands? (The gag comes far better in German, due to the double meaning of "Glied".) [[Special:Contributions/141.101.105.119|141.101.105.119]] 08:35, 12 April 2022 (UTC)

DuckDuckGo's search on "taylor series expansion taken to extremes" is remarkably unsatisfying, the first result being https://www.mathsisfun.com/algebra/taylor-series.html which nonetheless may be of use in the explanation. [[Special:Contributions/172.68.132.206|172.68.132.206]] 04:42, 12 April 2022 (UTC)

Can this be a reference to the Neverending Story? There the protagonist wishes that the books he love would, well, never end. --[[User:JezebelCeasedToExist|JezebelCeasedToExist]] ([[User talk:JezebelCeasedToExist|talk]]) 05:30, 12 April 2022 (UTC)

I deleted the following passage:
:; It could also reference the term, in office, of US President {{w|Zachary Taylor}}, who died after serving fifteen months, or the political career of {{w|Charles_Taylor_(Liberian_politician)|Charles Taylor}}, whose first term ended in civil war and exile.

Does anyone believe that those theories of the joke could have been made intentionally? [[Special:Contributions/172.69.134.131|172.69.134.131]] 08:21, 12 April 2022 (UTC)
: I actually added that sentence. When someone talks about "the Taylor term", I specifically think of Zachary Taylor's term in office. The idea of a dead man continuing to a second term is amusing. Admittedly, Charles Taylor was seriously unlikely,but I included it because the joke could also apply. [[User:Cwallenpoole|Cwallenpoole]] ([[User talk:Cwallenpoole|talk]]) 12:52, 12 April 2022 (UTC)

Rather than explaining the pun in the title text as referring to cancelling a TV series after the first season, which is a little weak because it misses the pun on the word "term". A better explanation would have the title text make a pun on a college course, i.e. "The college course, 'The Taylor series', should have been canceled after the first term." where 'term' is commonly used for the duration of a college class. This fits the context of the comic much better than a TV show. The TV show pun would possibly work if there was a TV series called "Taylor", but I don't think there was one. [[User:Rtanenbaum|Rtanenbaum]] ([[User talk:Rtanenbaum|talk]]) 13:00, 12 April 2022 (UTC)