https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/api.php?action=feedcontributions&feedformat=atom&user=Yosho27explain xkcd - User contributions [en]2026-04-14T16:51:30ZUser contributionsMediaWiki 1.30.0https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=2048:_Curve-Fitting&diff=1629732048: Curve-Fitting2018-09-20T14:45:53Z<p>Yosho27: /* Transcript */</p>
<hr />
<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 2048<br />
| date = September 19, 2018<br />
| title = Curve-Fitting<br />
| image = curve_fitting.png<br />
| titletext = Cauchy-Lorentz: "Something alarmingly mathematical is happening, and you should probably pause to Google my name and check what field I originally worked in."<br />
}}<br />
<br />
==Explanation==<br />
{{incomplete|Please edit the explanation below and only mention here why it isn't complete. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}<br />
<br />
An illustration of several plots of the same data with curves fitted to the points, paired with conclusions that you might draw about the person who made them. <br />
<br />
When modeling a phenomenon statistically, it is common to search for trends, and fitted curves can help reveal these trends. Much of the work of a data scientist or statistician is knowing which fitting method to use for the data in question. Here we see various hypothetical scientists or statisticians each applying their own interpretations, and the comic mocks each of them for their various personal biases or other assorted excuses.<br />
<br />
In general, the researcher will specify the form of an equation for the line to be drawn, and an algorithm will produce the actual line.<br />
<br />
This comic is similar to [[977: Map Projections]] which also uses a scientific method not commonly thought about by the general public to determine specific characteristics of one's personality and approach to science.<br />
<br />
Regressions have been the subject of several previous comics. [[1725: Linear Regression]] was about linear regressions on uncorrelated or poorly correlated data. [[1007: Sustainable]] and [[1204: Detail]] depict linear regressions on data that was actually logistic, leading to bizarre extrapolations. [[605: Extrapolating]] shows a line extrapolating from just two data points.<br />
<br />
===Linear===<br />
<math>f(x) = mx + b</math> <p>Linear regression is the most basic form of regression; it tries to find the straight line that best approximates the data.</p><p>As it's the simplest, most widely taught form of regression, and in general derivable function are locally well approximated by a straight line, it's usually the first and most trivial attempt of fit.</p><br />
===Quadratic===<br />
<math>f(x) = ax^2 + bx + c</math> <p>Quadratic fit (i.e. fitting a parabola through the data) is the lowest grade polynomial that can be used to fit data through a curved line; if the data exhibits clearly "curved" behavior (or if the experimenter feels that its growth should be more than linear), a parabola is often the first stab at fitting the data.</p><br />
===Logarithmic===<br />
<math>f(x) = a*\log_b(x) + c</math> <p>A logarithmic curve is typical of a phenomenon whose growth gets slower and slower as time passes (indeed, its derivative - i.e. its growth rate - is <math>\propto \frac{1}{x} \rightarrow 0</math> for <math>x \rightarrow +\infty</math>), but still grows without bound rather than approaching a horizontal asymptote. (If it did approach a horizontal asymptote, then one of the other models subtracted from a constant would probably be better, e.g. <math>f(x) = a - \frac{b}{x}</math> or <math>f(x) = a - b^{-cx}</math>.) If the experimenter wants to find confirmation of this fact, they may try to fit a logarithmic curve.</p><br />
<p>Comment: either you use a or you use the base b of the logarithm, but not both. They are redundant. The model has only two parameters</p><br />
<br />
===Exponential===<br />
<math>f(x) = a*b^x + c</math> <p>An exponential curve, on the contrary, is typical of a phenomenon whose growth gets rapidly faster and faster - a common case is a process that generates stuff that contributes to the process itself, think bacteria growth or compound interest.</p><br />
*The logarithmic and exponential interpretations could very easily be fudged or engineered by a researcher with an agenda (such as by taking a misleading subset or even outright lying about the regression), which the comic mocks by juxtaposing them side-by-side on the same set of data.<br />
===LOESS===<br />
<math>w(x) = (1-|d|^3)^3</math> (notice: this is just the function used for the weights, not the actually fitted curve formula, as it's a piecewise polynomial) <p>A {{w|Local regression|LOESS fit}} doesn't use a single formula to fit all the data, but approximates data points locally using different polynomials for each "zone" (weighting differently data points as they get further from it) and patching them together</p><p>As it has much more degrees of freedom compared to a single polynomial, it generally "fits better" to any data set, although it is generally impossible to derive any strong, "clean" mathematical correlation from it - it is just a nice smooth line that approximates well the data points, with a good degree of rejection from outliers.</p><br />
<br />
===Linear, No Slope===<br />
<math>f(x) = c</math> <p>Apparently, the person making this line figured out pretty early on that their data analysis was turning into a scatter plot, and wanted to escape their personal stigma of scatter plots by drawing an obviously false regression line on top of it. Alternatively, they were hoping the data would be flat, and are trying to pretend that there's no real trend to the data by drawing a horizontal trend line.</p><br />
===Logistic===<br />
<math>f(x) = L / (1 + e^{-k(x-b)})</math> <p>A logistic curve provides a smooth, S-shaped transition curve between two flat intervals; indeed the caption says that the experimenter just wants to find a mathematically-respectable way to link two flat lines.</p><br />
===Confidence Interval===<br />
Not a type of curve fitting, but a method of depicting the predictive power of a curve. <p>Providing a confidence interval over the graph shows the uncertainty of the acquired data, thus acknowledging the uncertain results of the experiment, and showing the will not to "cheat" with "easy" regression curves.</p><br />
===Piecewise===<br />
Mapping different curves to different segments of the data. This is a legitimate strategy, but the different segments should be meaningful, such as if they were pulled from different populations.<br />
<br />
This kind of fit would arise naturally in a study based on a regression discontinuity design. For instance, if students who score below a certain cutoff must take remedial classes, the line for outcomes of those below the cutoff would reasonably be separate from the one for outcomes above the cutoff; the distance between the end of the two lines could be considered the effect of the treatment, under certain assumptions. This kind of study design is used to investigate causal theories, where mere correlation in observational data is not enough to prove anything. Thus, the associated text would be appropriate; �there is a theory, and data that might prove the theory is hard to find.<br />
===Connecting lines===<br />
Not useful whatsoever, but it looks nice!<br />
It can be caused by overfitting to the data set or not using curve-fitting tools correctly.<br />
===Ad-Hoc Filter===<br />
Drawing a bunch of different lines by hand, keeping in only the data points perceived as "good". Also not useful.<br />
===House of Cards===<br />
Not a real method, but a common consequence of mis-application of statistical methods: a curve can be generated that fits the data extremely well, but immediately becomes absurd as soon as one glances outside the training data sample range, and your analysis comes crashing down "like a house of cards". This is a type of ''overfitting''. In other words, the model may do quite well for (approximately) {{w|Interpolation|interpolating}} between values in the sample range, but not extend at all well to {{w|Extrapolation|extrapolating}} values outside that range.<br />
''Note:'' Exact polynomial fitting, a fit which gives the unique (n-1)-th degree polynomial through n points, often display this kind of behaviour. Also a potential reference to the TV show, House of Cards ("WAIT NO, NO, DON'T EXTEND IT!").<br />
<br />
===Cauchy-Lorentz===<br />
{{w|Cauchy_distribution|Cauchy-Lorentz}} is a continuous probability distribution which does not have an expected value or a defined variance. This means that the law of large numbers does not hold and that estimating e.g. the sample mean will diverge (be all over the place) the more data points you have. Hence very troublesome (mathematically alarming). <br />
<br />
Since so many different models can fit this data set at first glance, Randall may be making a point about how if a data set is sufficiently messy, you can read any trend you want into it, and the trend that is chosen may say more about the researcher than about the data. This is a similar sentiment to [[1725: Linear Regression]], which also pokes fun at dubious trend lines on scatterplots.<br />
<br />
==Transcript==<br />
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}<br />
:'''Curve-Fitting Methods'''<br />
:and the messages they send<br />
<br />
:[In a single frame twelve scatter plots with unlabeled x- and y-axes are shown. Each plot consists of the same data-set of approximately thirty points located all over the plot but slightly more distributed around the diagonal. Every plot shows in red a different fitting method which is labeled on top in gray.]<br />
<br />
:[The first plot shows a line starting at the left bottom above the x-axis rising towards the points to the right.]<br />
:Linear<br />
:"Hey, I did a regression."<br />
<br />
:[The second plot shows a curve falling slightly down and then rising up to the right.]<br />
:Quadratic<br />
:"I wanted a curved line, so I made one with Math."<br />
<br />
:[At the third plot the curve starts near the left bottom and increases more and more less to the right.]<br />
:Logarithmic<br />
:"Look, it's tapering off!"<br />
<br />
:[The fourth plot shows a curve starting near the left bottom and increases more and more steeper to the right.]<br />
:Exponential<br />
:"Look, it's growing uncontrollably!"<br />
<br />
:[The fifth plot uses a fitting to match many points. It starts at the left bottom, increases, then decreases, then rapidly increasing again, and finally reaching a plateau.]<br />
:LOESS<br />
:"I'm sophisticated, not like those bumbling polynomial people."<br />
<br />
:[The sixth plot simply shows a line above but parallel to the x-axis.]<br />
:Linear, no slope<br />
:"I'm making a scatter plot but I don't want to."<br />
<br />
:[At plot #7 starts at a plateau above the x-axis, then increases, and finally reaches a higher plateau.]<br />
:Logistic<br />
:"I need to connect these two lines, but my first idea didn't have enough Math."<br />
<br />
:[Plot #8 shows two red lines embedding most points and the area between is painted as a red shadow.]<br />
:Confidence interval<br />
:"Listen, science is hard. But I'm a serious person doing my best."<br />
<br />
:[Plot #9 shows two not connected lines, one at the lower left half, and one higher at the right. Both have smaller curved lines in light red above and below.]<br />
:Piecewise<br />
:"I have a theory, and this is the only data I could find."<br />
<br />
:[The plot at the left bottom shows a line connecting all points from left to right, resulting in a curve going many times up and down.]<br />
:Connecting lines<br />
:"I clicked 'Smooth Lines' in Excel."<br />
<br />
:[The next to last plot shows a echelon form, connecting a few real and some imaginary points.]<br />
:Ad-Hoc filter<br />
:"I had an idea for how to clean up the data. What do you think?"<br />
<br />
:[The last plot shows a wave with increasing peak values.]<br />
:House of Cards<br />
:"As you can see, this model smoothly fits the- ''wait no no don't extend it AAAAAA!!''"<br />
<br />
<br />
==Trivia==<br />
This is the comic 2048, or 2^11. In addition to being the name of a popular app referenced in [[1344: Digits]], this is an extremely round number in binary (100,000,000,000). [[1000: 1000 Comics]] pointed out that comic 1024 would be a round number, but there were not any comics noting 2048.<br />
<br />
<br />
{{comic discussion}}<br />
<br />
[[Category:Comics with color]]<br />
[[Category:Scatter plots]]<br />
[[Category:Math]]<br />
[[Category:Science]]</div>Yosho27https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=2048:_Curve-Fitting&diff=1629572048: Curve-Fitting2018-09-19T22:05:25Z<p>Yosho27: /* Explanation */</p>
<hr />
<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 2048<br />
| date = September 19, 2018<br />
| title = Curve-Fitting<br />
| image = curve_fitting.png<br />
| titletext = Cauchy-Lorentz: "Something alarmingly mathematical is happening, and you should probably pause to Google my name and check what field I originally worked in."<br />
}}<br />
<br />
==Explanation==<br />
{{incomplete|Please edit the explanation below and only mention here why it isn't complete. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}<br />
<br />
An illustration of several plots of the same data with curves fitted to the points, paired with conclusions that you might draw about the person who made them. <br />
<br />
When modeling a phenomenon statistically, it is common to search for trends, and fitted curves can help reveal these trends. Much of the work of a data scientist or statistician is knowing which fitting method to use for the data in question. Here we see various hypothetical scientists or statisticians each applying their own interpretations, and the comic mocks each of them for their various personal biases or other assorted excuses.<br />
<br />
In general, the researcher will specify the form of an equation for the line to be drawn, and an algorithm will produce the actual line.<br />
<br />
This comic is similar to [[977: Map Projections]] which also uses a scientific method not commonly thought about by the general public to determine specific characteristics of one's personality and approach to science.<br />
<br />
Regressions have been the subject of several previous comics. [[1725: Linear Regression]] was about linear regressions on uncorrelated or poorly correlated data. [[1007: Sustainable]] and [[1204: Detail]] depict linear regressions on data that was actually logistic, leading to bizarre extrapolations. [[605: Extrapolating]] shows a line extrapolating from just two data points.<br />
<br />
===Linear===<br />
<math>f(x) = mx + b</math> <p>Linear regression is the most basic form of regression; it tries to find the straight line that best approximates the data.</p><p>As it's the simplest, most widely taught form of regression, and in general derivable function are locally well approximated by a straight line, it's usually the first and most trivial attempt of fit.</p><br />
===Quadratic===<br />
<math>f(x) = ax^2 + bx + c</math> <p>Quadratic fit (i.e. fitting a parabola through the data) is the lowest grade polynomial that can be used to fit data through a curved line; if the data exhibits clearly "curved" behavior (or if the experimenter feels that its growth should be more than linear), a parabola is often the first stab at fitting the data.</p><br />
===Logarithmic===<br />
<math>f(x) = a*\log_b(x) + c</math> <p>A logarithmic curve is typical of a phenomenon whose growth gets slower and slower as time passes (indeed, its derivative - i.e. its growth rate - is <math>\propto \frac{1}{x} \rightarrow 0</math> for <math>x \rightarrow +\infty</math>), but still grows without bound rather than approaching a horizontal asymptote. (If it did approach a horizontal asymptote, then one of the other models subtracted from a constant would probably be better, e.g. <math>f(x) = a - \frac{b}{x}</math> or <math>f(x) = a - b^{-cx}</math>.) If the experimenter wants to find confirmation of this fact, they may try to fit a logarithmic curve.</p><br />
<br />
===Exponential===<br />
<math>f(x) = a*b^x + c</math> <p>An exponential curve, on the contrary, is typical of a phenomenon whose growth gets rapidly faster and faster - a common case is a process that generates stuff that contributes to the process itself, think bacteria growth or compound interest.</p><br />
*The logarithmic and exponential interpretations could very easily be fudged or engineered by a researcher with an agenda (such as by taking a misleading subset or even outright lying about the regression), which the comic mocks by juxtaposing them side-by-side on the same set of data.<br />
===LOESS===<br />
<math>w(x) = (1-|d|^3)^3</math> (notice: this is just the function used for the weights, not the actually fitted curve formula, as it's a piecewise polynomial) <p>A {{w|Local regression|LOESS fit}} doesn't use a single formula to fit all the data, but approximates data points locally using different polynomials for each "zone" (weighting differently data points as they get further from it) and patching them together</p><p>As it has much more degrees of freedom compared to a single polynomial, it generally "fits better" to any data set, although it is generally impossible to derive any strong, "clean" mathematical correlation from it - it is just a nice smooth line that approximates well the data points, with a good degree of rejection from outliers.</p><br />
<br />
===Linear, No Slope===<br />
<math>f(x) = c</math> <p>Apparently, the person making this line figured out pretty early on that their data analysis was turning into a scatter plot, and wanted to escape their personal stigma of scatter plots by drawing an obviously false regression line on top of it. Alternatively, they were hoping the data would be flat, and are trying to pretend that there's no real trend to the data by drawing a horizontal trend line.</p><br />
===Logistic===<br />
<math>f(x) = L / (1 + e^{-k(x-b)})</math> <p>A logistic curve provides a smooth, S-shaped transition curve between two flat intervals; indeed the caption says that the experimenter just wants to find a mathematically-respectable way to link two flat lines.</p><br />
===Confidence Interval===<br />
Not a type of curve fitting, but a method of depicting the predictive power of a curve. <p>Providing a confidence interval over the graph shows the uncertainty of the acquired data, thus acknowledging the uncertain results of the experiment, and showing the will not to "cheat" with "easy" regression curves.</p><br />
===Piecewise===<br />
Mapping different curves to different segments of the data. This is a legitimate strategy, but the different segments should be meaningful, such as if they were pulled from different populations. <br />
===Connecting lines===<br />
Not useful whatsoever, but it looks nice!<br />
===Ad-Hoc Filter===<br />
Drawing a bunch of different lines by hand, keeping in only the data points perceived as "good". Also not useful.<br />
===House of Cards===<br />
Not a real method, but a common consequence of mis-application of statistical methods: a curve can be generated that fits the data extremely well, but immediately becomes absurd as soon as one glances outside the training data sample range, and your analysis comes crashing down "like a house of cards". This is a type of ''overfitting''.<br />
===Cauchy-Lorentz===<br />
{{w|Cauchy_distribution|Cauchy-Lorentz}} is a continuous probability distribution which does not have an expected value or a defined variance. This means that the law of large numbers does not hold and that estimating e.g. the sample mean will diverge (be all over the place) the more data points you have. Hence very troublesome (mathematically alarming). <br />
<br />
Since so many different models can fit this data set at first glance, Randall may be making a point about how if a data set is sufficiently messy, you can read any trend you want into it, and the trend that is chosen may say more about the researcher than about the data. This is a similar sentiment to [[1725: Linear Regression]], which also pokes fun at dubious trend lines on scatterplots.<br />
<br />
==Transcript==<br />
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}<br />
:'''Curve-Fitting Methods'''<br />
:and the messages they send<br />
<br />
:[In a single frame twelve scatter plots with unlabeled x- and y-axes are shown. Each plot consists of the same data-set of approximately thirty points located all over the plot but slightly more distributed around the diagonal. Every plot shows in red a different fitting method which is labeled on top in gray.]<br />
<br />
:[The first plot shows a line starting at the left bottom above the x-axis rising towards the points to the right.]<br />
:Linear<br />
:"Hey, I did a regression."<br />
<br />
:[The second plot shows a curve falling slightly down and then rising up to the right.]<br />
:Quadratic<br />
:"I wanted a curved line, so I made one with Math."<br />
<br />
:[At the third plot the curve starts near the left bottom and increases more and more less to the right.]<br />
:Logarithmic<br />
:"Look, it's tapering off!"<br />
<br />
:[The fourth plot shows a curve starting near the left bottom and increases more and more steeper to the right.]<br />
:Exponential<br />
:"Look, it's growing uncontrollably!"<br />
<br />
:[The fifth plot uses a fitting to match many points. It starts at the left bottom, increases, then decreases, then rapidly increasing again, and finally reaching a plateau.]<br />
:LOESS<br />
:"I'm sophisticated, not like those bumbling polynomial people."<br />
<br />
:[The sixth plot simply shows a line above but parallel to the x-axis.]<br />
:Linear, no slope<br />
:"I'm making a scatter plot but I don't want to."<br />
<br />
:[At plot #7 starts at a plateau above the x-axis, then increases, and finally reaches a higher plateau.]<br />
:Logistic<br />
:"I need to connect these two lines, but my first idea didn't have enough Math."<br />
<br />
:[Plot #8 shows two red lines embedding most points and the area between is painted as a red shadow.]<br />
:Confidence interval<br />
:"Listen, science is hard. But I'm a serious person doing my best."<br />
<br />
:[Plot #9 shows two not connected lines, one at the lower left half, and one higher at the right. Both have smaller curved lines in light red above and below.]<br />
:Piecewise<br />
:"I have a theory, and this is the only data I could find."<br />
<br />
:[The plot at the left bottom shows a line connecting all points from left to right, resulting in a curve going many times up and down.]<br />
:Connecting lines<br />
:"I clicked 'Smooth Lines' in Excel."<br />
<br />
:[The next to last plot shows a echelon form, connecting a few real and some imaginary points.]<br />
:Ad-Hoc filter<br />
:"I had an idea for how to clean up the data. What do you think?"<br />
<br />
:[The last plot shows a wave with increasing peak values.]<br />
:House of Cards<br />
:"As you can see, this model smoothly fits the- ''wait no no don't extend it AAAAAA!!''"<br />
<br />
{{comic discussion}}<br />
<br />
[[Category:Comics with color]]<br />
[[Category:Scatter plots]]<br />
[[Category:Math]]<br />
[[Category:Science]]</div>Yosho27https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=2048:_Curve-Fitting&diff=1629562048: Curve-Fitting2018-09-19T22:04:45Z<p>Yosho27: </p>
<hr />
<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 2048<br />
| date = September 19, 2018<br />
| title = Curve-Fitting<br />
| image = curve_fitting.png<br />
| titletext = Cauchy-Lorentz: "Something alarmingly mathematical is happening, and you should probably pause to Google my name and check what field I originally worked in."<br />
}}<br />
<br />
==Explanation==<br />
{{incomplete|Please edit the explanation below and only mention here why it isn't complete. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}<br />
<br />
An illustration of several plots of the same data with curves fitted to the points, paired with conclusions that you might draw about the person who made them. <br />
<br />
When modeling a phenomenon statistically, it is common to search for trends, and fitted curves can help reveal these trends. Much of the work of a data scientist or statistician is knowing which fitting method to use for the data in question. Here we see various hypothetical scientists or statisticians each applying their own interpretations, and the comic mocks each of them for their various personal biases or other assorted excuses.<br />
<br />
In general, the researcher will specify the form of an equation for the line to be drawn, and an algorithm will produce the actual line.<br />
<br />
This comic is similar to [[977: Map Projections]] which also uses a scientific method not commonly thought about by the general public to determine specific characteristics of one's personality and approach to science.<br />
<br />
Regressions have been the subject of several previous comics. [[1725: Linear Regressions]] was about linear regressions on uncorrelated or poorly correlated data. [[1007: Sustainable]]and [[1204: Detail]] depict linear regressions on data that was actually logistic, leading to bizarre extrapolations. [[605: Extrapolating]] shows a line extrapolating from just two data points.<br />
<br />
===Linear===<br />
<math>f(x) = mx + b</math> <p>Linear regression is the most basic form of regression; it tries to find the straight line that best approximates the data.</p><p>As it's the simplest, most widely taught form of regression, and in general derivable function are locally well approximated by a straight line, it's usually the first and most trivial attempt of fit.</p><br />
===Quadratic===<br />
<math>f(x) = ax^2 + bx + c</math> <p>Quadratic fit (i.e. fitting a parabola through the data) is the lowest grade polynomial that can be used to fit data through a curved line; if the data exhibits clearly "curved" behavior (or if the experimenter feels that its growth should be more than linear), a parabola is often the first stab at fitting the data.</p><br />
===Logarithmic===<br />
<math>f(x) = a*\log_b(x) + c</math> <p>A logarithmic curve is typical of a phenomenon whose growth gets slower and slower as time passes (indeed, its derivative - i.e. its growth rate - is <math>\propto \frac{1}{x} \rightarrow 0</math> for <math>x \rightarrow +\infty</math>), but still grows without bound rather than approaching a horizontal asymptote. (If it did approach a horizontal asymptote, then one of the other models subtracted from a constant would probably be better, e.g. <math>f(x) = a - \frac{b}{x}</math> or <math>f(x) = a - b^{-cx}</math>.) If the experimenter wants to find confirmation of this fact, they may try to fit a logarithmic curve.</p><br />
<br />
===Exponential===<br />
<math>f(x) = a*b^x + c</math> <p>An exponential curve, on the contrary, is typical of a phenomenon whose growth gets rapidly faster and faster - a common case is a process that generates stuff that contributes to the process itself, think bacteria growth or compound interest.</p><br />
*The logarithmic and exponential interpretations could very easily be fudged or engineered by a researcher with an agenda (such as by taking a misleading subset or even outright lying about the regression), which the comic mocks by juxtaposing them side-by-side on the same set of data.<br />
===LOESS===<br />
<math>w(x) = (1-|d|^3)^3</math> (notice: this is just the function used for the weights, not the actually fitted curve formula, as it's a piecewise polynomial) <p>A {{w|Local regression|LOESS fit}} doesn't use a single formula to fit all the data, but approximates data points locally using different polynomials for each "zone" (weighting differently data points as they get further from it) and patching them together</p><p>As it has much more degrees of freedom compared to a single polynomial, it generally "fits better" to any data set, although it is generally impossible to derive any strong, "clean" mathematical correlation from it - it is just a nice smooth line that approximates well the data points, with a good degree of rejection from outliers.</p><br />
<br />
===Linear, No Slope===<br />
<math>f(x) = c</math> <p>Apparently, the person making this line figured out pretty early on that their data analysis was turning into a scatter plot, and wanted to escape their personal stigma of scatter plots by drawing an obviously false regression line on top of it. Alternatively, they were hoping the data would be flat, and are trying to pretend that there's no real trend to the data by drawing a horizontal trend line.</p><br />
===Logistic===<br />
<math>f(x) = L / (1 + e^{-k(x-b)})</math> <p>A logistic curve provides a smooth, S-shaped transition curve between two flat intervals; indeed the caption says that the experimenter just wants to find a mathematically-respectable way to link two flat lines.</p><br />
===Confidence Interval===<br />
Not a type of curve fitting, but a method of depicting the predictive power of a curve. <p>Providing a confidence interval over the graph shows the uncertainty of the acquired data, thus acknowledging the uncertain results of the experiment, and showing the will not to "cheat" with "easy" regression curves.</p><br />
===Piecewise===<br />
Mapping different curves to different segments of the data. This is a legitimate strategy, but the different segments should be meaningful, such as if they were pulled from different populations. <br />
===Connecting lines===<br />
Not useful whatsoever, but it looks nice!<br />
===Ad-Hoc Filter===<br />
Drawing a bunch of different lines by hand, keeping in only the data points perceived as "good". Also not useful.<br />
===House of Cards===<br />
Not a real method, but a common consequence of mis-application of statistical methods: a curve can be generated that fits the data extremely well, but immediately becomes absurd as soon as one glances outside the training data sample range, and your analysis comes crashing down "like a house of cards". This is a type of ''overfitting''.<br />
===Cauchy-Lorentz===<br />
{{w|Cauchy_distribution|Cauchy-Lorentz}} is a continuous probability distribution which does not have an expected value or a defined variance. This means that the law of large numbers does not hold and that estimating e.g. the sample mean will diverge (be all over the place) the more data points you have. Hence very troublesome (mathematically alarming). <br />
<br />
Since so many different models can fit this data set at first glance, Randall may be making a point about how if a data set is sufficiently messy, you can read any trend you want into it, and the trend that is chosen may say more about the researcher than about the data. This is a similar sentiment to [[1725: Linear Regression]], which also pokes fun at dubious trend lines on scatterplots.<br />
<br />
==Transcript==<br />
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}<br />
:'''Curve-Fitting Methods'''<br />
:and the messages they send<br />
<br />
:[In a single frame twelve scatter plots with unlabeled x- and y-axes are shown. Each plot consists of the same data-set of approximately thirty points located all over the plot but slightly more distributed around the diagonal. Every plot shows in red a different fitting method which is labeled on top in gray.]<br />
<br />
:[The first plot shows a line starting at the left bottom above the x-axis rising towards the points to the right.]<br />
:Linear<br />
:"Hey, I did a regression."<br />
<br />
:[The second plot shows a curve falling slightly down and then rising up to the right.]<br />
:Quadratic<br />
:"I wanted a curved line, so I made one with Math."<br />
<br />
:[At the third plot the curve starts near the left bottom and increases more and more less to the right.]<br />
:Logarithmic<br />
:"Look, it's tapering off!"<br />
<br />
:[The fourth plot shows a curve starting near the left bottom and increases more and more steeper to the right.]<br />
:Exponential<br />
:"Look, it's growing uncontrollably!"<br />
<br />
:[The fifth plot uses a fitting to match many points. It starts at the left bottom, increases, then decreases, then rapidly increasing again, and finally reaching a plateau.]<br />
:LOESS<br />
:"I'm sophisticated, not like those bumbling polynomial people."<br />
<br />
:[The sixth plot simply shows a line above but parallel to the x-axis.]<br />
:Linear, no slope<br />
:"I'm making a scatter plot but I don't want to."<br />
<br />
:[At plot #7 starts at a plateau above the x-axis, then increases, and finally reaches a higher plateau.]<br />
:Logistic<br />
:"I need to connect these two lines, but my first idea didn't have enough Math."<br />
<br />
:[Plot #8 shows two red lines embedding most points and the area between is painted as a red shadow.]<br />
:Confidence interval<br />
:"Listen, science is hard. But I'm a serious person doing my best."<br />
<br />
:[Plot #9 shows two not connected lines, one at the lower left half, and one higher at the right. Both have smaller curved lines in light red above and below.]<br />
:Piecewise<br />
:"I have a theory, and this is the only data I could find."<br />
<br />
:[The plot at the left bottom shows a line connecting all points from left to right, resulting in a curve going many times up and down.]<br />
:Connecting lines<br />
:"I clicked 'Smooth Lines' in Excel."<br />
<br />
:[The next to last plot shows a echelon form, connecting a few real and some imaginary points.]<br />
:Ad-Hoc filter<br />
:"I had an idea for how to clean up the data. What do you think?"<br />
<br />
:[The last plot shows a wave with increasing peak values.]<br />
:House of Cards<br />
:"As you can see, this model smoothly fits the- ''wait no no don't extend it AAAAAA!!''"<br />
<br />
{{comic discussion}}<br />
<br />
[[Category:Comics with color]]<br />
[[Category:Scatter plots]]<br />
[[Category:Math]]<br />
[[Category:Science]]</div>Yosho27https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=2035:_Dark_Matter_Candidates&diff=1615422035: Dark Matter Candidates2018-08-20T13:05:13Z<p>Yosho27: </p>
<hr />
<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 2035<br />
| date = August 20, 2018<br />
| title = Dark Matter Candidates<br />
| image = dark_matter_candidates.png<br />
| titletext = My theory is that dark matter is actually just a thin patina of grime covering the whole universe, and we don't notice it because we haven't thoroughly cleaned the place in eons.<br />
}}<br />
<br />
==Explanation==<br />
{{incomplete|Every section needs to be filled and explained. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}<br />
This comic gives a set of possibilities of what dark matter could possibly be. In cosmology, {{w|Dark_matter| dark matter}} is an unknown type of matter thought to account for 85% of the total matter in the universe. The joke in this comic is that the range of the mass of the possible particles and objects stretch over 81 powers of ten. Randall filled the gap between small candidate particles and large candidate objects with highly absurd suggestions.<br />
<br />
'''{{w|Axion|Axion}}'''<br />
<br />
An hypothetical elementary particle that might be a component of dark matter.<br />
<br />
<br />
'''{{w|Sterile_neutrino|Sterile neutrino}}'''<br />
<br />
An hypothetical particle interacting only via gravity. It's an actual candidate for dark matter.<br />
<br />
<br />
'''{{w|Electron|Electrons}} painted with space {{w|camouflage|camouflage}}'''<br />
<br />
<br />
'''{{w|Neutralino|Neutralino}}'''<br />
<br />
A hypothetical particle from {{w|Supersymmetry|Supersymmetry}}. It's an actual candidate for dark matter.<br />
<br />
<br />
'''{{w|Q-ball|Q-ball}}'''<br />
<br />
In theoretical physics, a Q-ball is a stable group of particles. It's an actual candidate for dark matter.<br />
<br />
In billiards, a cue ball is the white (or yellow) ball hit with the cue in normal play.<br />
<br />
<br />
'''{{w|Pollen|Pollen}}'''<br />
A joke candidate, though people with seasonal allergies may suspect that the universe genuinely is made up entirely of pollen in the springtime. <br />
<br />
<br />
'''{{w|Ceratopogonidae|No-See-Ums}}'''<br />
<br />
Also called Ceratopogonidae, a family of small flies (1–4 mm long) who can pass through most window screens.<br />
<br />
<br />
'''{{w|Pool (cue sports)|8-balls}}'''<br />
<br />
In billiards, the 8-ball is a black ball numbered 8. It's a pun with Q-ball/cue ball.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
'''Space {{w|Cow|Cows}}'''<br />
<br />
<br />
'''{{w|Obelisk|Obelisks}}, {{w|2001: A Space Odyssey (film)|Monoliths}}, {{w|Pyramid power|Pyramids}}'''<br />
<br />
While those human constructions are huge on a human scale, they're negligible at universe-scale.<br />
They often show up in fiction and pseudo-scientific literature as alien artifacts generating immense unknown power out of nowhere.<br />
<br />
<br />
'''Black Holes ruled out by:'''<br />
* Gamma Rays<br />
** If dark matter were black holes of this size, the black holes would be evaporating in bursts of hawking radiation, and we'd see a buzz of gamma rays from every direction.<br />
* GRB lensing<br />
* Neutron Star Data<br />
* Mirco lensing<br />
* Solar System Stability<br />
* Buzzkill Astronomers<br />
<br />
<br />
'''Maybe those orbit lines on space diagrams are real and very heavy'''<br />
<br />
Any diagram of our solar system (or any solar system) will show lines representing the path the planet takes around its sun. Since planets orbit in ellipses, there will be an ellipse for every planet. This lines don't show real objects, though. Astronomers just draw them on pictures of the solar system to show where the planets move. If you draw a line on a map to give someone directions, that line isn't an object in real life; it's just on the map. If these lines were real, they would be huge (Earth's would be 940 million km long (2*pi*AU) and Neptune's would be 28 BILLION kilometers long). If they were also very dense, they would have a huge mass and could possibly account for the missing 85% of the mass in the universe. But they would also constantly be impaling the inner four planets, including the Earth, which would be a problem. Overall, not a very likely candidate. [[User:Yosho27|Yosho27]] ([[User talk:Yosho27|talk]]) 13:04, 20 August 2018 (UTC)<br />
<br />
==Transcript==<br />
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}<br />
Dark matter candidates:<br />
<br />
[A list of candidates on a scale. The scale unit starts with energy and ends with mass:]<br />
{| class="wikitable"<br />
!style="width:10%"|Start<br />
!style="width:10%"|End<br />
!style="width:55%"|Candidate<br />
|-<br />
|< µeV<br />
|10 meV<br />
|Axion<br />
|-<br />
|eV<br />
|10 KeV<br />
|Sterile neutrino<br />
|-<br />
|MeV<br />
|MeV<br />
|Electrons painted with space camouflage<br />
|-<br />
|10 GeV<br />
|10 TeV<br />
|Neutralino<br />
|-<br />
|100 TeV<br />
|10^-17 kg<br />
|Q-ball<br />
|-<br />
|ng<br />
|100 ng<br />
|Pollen<br />
|-<br />
|mg<br />
|mg<br />
|No-See-Ums<br />
|-<br />
|10^-1 g<br />
|10^-1 g<br />
|Bees<br />
|-<br />
|10 g<br />
|100 g<br />
|8-balls<br />
|-<br />
|100 kg<br />
|TON<br />
|Space Cows<br />
|-<br />
|TON<br />
|10^9 kg<br />
|Obelisks, Monoliths, Pyramids<br />
|-<br />
|10^9 kg<br />
|10^33 kg<br />
|Black Holes ruled out by:<br />
* Gamma Rays<br />
* GRB lensing<br />
* Neutron Star Data<br />
* Mirco lensing<br />
* Solar System Stability<br />
* Buzzkill Astronomers<br />
|-<br />
|10^33 kg<br />
|> 10^36 kg<br />
|Maybe those oribt lines on space diagrams are real and very heavy<br />
|}<br />
<br />
{{comic discussion}}</div>Yosho27https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=2035:_Dark_Matter_Candidates&diff=1615412035: Dark Matter Candidates2018-08-20T13:04:46Z<p>Yosho27: </p>
<hr />
<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 2035<br />
| date = August 20, 2018<br />
| title = Dark Matter Candidates<br />
| image = dark_matter_candidates.png<br />
| titletext = My theory is that dark matter is actually just a thin patina of grime covering the whole universe, and we don't notice it because we haven't thoroughly cleaned the place in eons.<br />
}}<br />
<br />
==Explanation==<br />
{{incomplete|Every section needs to be filled and explained. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}<br />
This comic gives a set of possibilities of what dark matter could possibly be. In cosmology, {{w|Dark_matter| dark matter}} is an unknown type of matter thought to account for 85% of the total matter in the universe. The joke in this comic is that the range of the mass of the possible particles and objects stretch over 81 powers of ten. Randall filled the gap between small candidate particles and large candidate objects with highly absurd suggestions.<br />
<br />
'''{{w|Axion|Axion}}'''<br />
<br />
An hypothetical elementary particle that might be a component of dark matter.<br />
<br />
<br />
'''{{w|Sterile_neutrino|Sterile neutrino}}'''<br />
<br />
An hypothetical particle interacting only via gravity. It's an actual candidate for dark matter.<br />
<br />
<br />
'''{{w|Electron|Electrons}} painted with space {{w|camouflage|camouflage}}'''<br />
<br />
<br />
'''{{w|Neutralino|Neutralino}}'''<br />
<br />
A hypothetical particle from {{w|Supersymmetry|Supersymmetry}}. It's an actual candidate for dark matter.<br />
<br />
<br />
'''{{w|Q-ball|Q-ball}}'''<br />
<br />
In theoretical physics, a Q-ball is a stable group of particles. It's an actual candidate for dark matter.<br />
<br />
In billiards, a cue ball is the white (or yellow) ball hit with the cue in normal play.<br />
<br />
<br />
'''{{w|Pollen|Pollen}}'''<br />
A joke candidate, though people with seasonal allergies may suspect that the universe genuinely is made up entirely of pollen in the springtime. <br />
<br />
<br />
'''{{w|Ceratopogonidae|No-See-Ums}}'''<br />
<br />
Also called Ceratopogonidae, a family of small flies (1–4 mm long) who can pass through most window screens.<br />
<br />
<br />
'''{{w|Pool (cue sports)|8-balls}}'''<br />
<br />
In billiards, the 8-ball is a black ball numbered 8. It's a pun with Q-ball/cue ball.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
'''Space {{w|Cow|Cows}}'''<br />
<br />
<br />
'''{{w|Obelisk|Obelisks}}, {{w|2001: A Space Odyssey (film)|Monoliths}}, {{w|Pyramid power|Pyramids}}'''<br />
<br />
While those human constructions are huge on a human scale, they're negligible at universe-scale.<br />
They often show up in fiction and pseudo-scientific literature as alien artifacts generating immense unknown power out of nowhere.<br />
<br />
<br />
'''Black Holes ruled out by:'''<br />
* Gamma Rays<br />
** If dark matter were black holes of this size, the black holes would be evaporating in bursts of hawking radiation, and we'd see a buzz of gamma rays from every direction.<br />
* GRB lensing<br />
* Neutron Star Data<br />
* Mirco lensing<br />
* Solar System Stability<br />
* Buzzkill Astronomers<br />
<br />
<br />
'''Maybe those orbit lines on space diagrams are real and very heavy'''<br />
Any diagram of our solar system (or any solar system) will show lines representing the path the planet takes around its sun. Since planets orbit in ellipses, there will be an ellipse for every planet. This lines don't show real objects, though. Astronomers just draw them on pictures of the solar system to show where the planets move. If you draw a line on a map to give someone directions, that line isn't an object in real life; it's just on the map. If these lines were real, they would be huge (Earth's would be 940 million km long (2*pi*AU) and Neptune's would be 28 BILLION kilometers long). If they were also very dense, they would have a huge mass and could possibly account for the missing 85% of the mass in the universe. But they would also constantly be impaling the inner four planets, including the Earth, which would be a problem. Overall, not a very likely candidate. [[User:Yosho27|Yosho27]] ([[User talk:Yosho27|talk]]) 13:04, 20 August 2018 (UTC)<br />
<br />
==Transcript==<br />
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}<br />
Dark matter candidates:<br />
<br />
[A list of candidates on a scale. The scale unit starts with energy and ends with mass:]<br />
{| class="wikitable"<br />
!style="width:10%"|Start<br />
!style="width:10%"|End<br />
!style="width:55%"|Candidate<br />
|-<br />
|< µeV<br />
|10 meV<br />
|Axion<br />
|-<br />
|eV<br />
|10 KeV<br />
|Sterile neutrino<br />
|-<br />
|MeV<br />
|MeV<br />
|Electrons painted with space camouflage<br />
|-<br />
|10 GeV<br />
|10 TeV<br />
|Neutralino<br />
|-<br />
|100 TeV<br />
|10^-17 kg<br />
|Q-ball<br />
|-<br />
|ng<br />
|100 ng<br />
|Pollen<br />
|-<br />
|mg<br />
|mg<br />
|No-See-Ums<br />
|-<br />
|10^-1 g<br />
|10^-1 g<br />
|Bees<br />
|-<br />
|10 g<br />
|100 g<br />
|8-balls<br />
|-<br />
|100 kg<br />
|TON<br />
|Space Cows<br />
|-<br />
|TON<br />
|10^9 kg<br />
|Obelisks, Monoliths, Pyramids<br />
|-<br />
|10^9 kg<br />
|10^33 kg<br />
|Black Holes ruled out by:<br />
* Gamma Rays<br />
* GRB lensing<br />
* Neutron Star Data<br />
* Mirco lensing<br />
* Solar System Stability<br />
* Buzzkill Astronomers<br />
|-<br />
|10^33 kg<br />
|> 10^36 kg<br />
|Maybe those oribt lines on space diagrams are real and very heavy<br />
|}<br />
<br />
{{comic discussion}}</div>Yosho27https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=Talk:2035:_Dark_Matter_Candidates&diff=161539Talk:2035: Dark Matter Candidates2018-08-20T12:53:48Z<p>Yosho27: </p>
<hr />
<div>"thin patina of grime covering the whole universe" is a reference to the "International prototype kilogram" and the necessity to keep it dust-free to preserve its reference status. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.229.100|108.162.229.100]] 11:14, 20 August 2018 (UTC)<br />
:I think it's just referring to how your room or furniture can get super dirty and completely covered in dust, but you don't really notice it getting dirty because it happens so gradually. But once you actually get around to cleaning your room and you remove all the dust you realize how insanely filthy your room was, now that you can compare it to clean. Since there hasn't been a massive universe cleaning within human history, we wouldn't really be able to tell if the universe was coated in dirt because we wouldn't remember what it looks like clean. [[User:Yosho27|Yosho27]] ([[User talk:Yosho27|talk]]) 12:53, 20 August 2018 (UTC)</div>Yosho27https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=Talk:2035:_Dark_Matter_Candidates&diff=161538Talk:2035: Dark Matter Candidates2018-08-20T12:51:52Z<p>Yosho27: </p>
<hr />
<div>"thin patina of grime covering the whole universe" is a reference to the "International prototype kilogram" and the necessity to keep it dust-free to preserve its reference status. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.229.100|108.162.229.100]] 11:14, 20 August 2018 (UTC)<br />
I think it's just referring to how your room or furniture can get super dirty and completely covered in dust, but you don't really notice it getting dirty because it happens so gradually. But once you actually get around to cleaning your room and you remove all the dust you realize how insanely filthy your room was, now that you can compare it to clean. Since there hasn't been a massive universal cleaning within human history, we wouldn't really be able to tell if the universe was coated in dirt because we wouldn't remember what it looks like clean.</div>Yosho27https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=1969:_Not_Available&diff=1545251969: Not Available2018-03-19T15:41:25Z<p>Yosho27: /* Explanation */</p>
<hr />
<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 1969<br />
| date = 19 March, 2018<br />
| title = Not Available<br />
| image = not_available.png<br />
| titletext = If my country ever picks a new national flag, this is on my shortlist for designs to argue for, but I think in the end I'll go with the green puzzle piece or broken image thumbnail.<br />
}}<br />
<br />
==Explanation==<br />
{{incomplete|Actually not created by a bot this time. Fix the wikipedia links... add links to other xkcd comics on the topic of nation flags. Explain green puzzle piece/broken image in title text. Don't remove this tag too soon.}}<br />
<br />
A very common, yet frustrating issue on the internet is finding a broken link (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Link_rot), taking you to an "Error 404" page. The purpose of the page is to tell the user that the content they were looking for has been either moved, or deleted. Randall suggested replacing the standard "page not found" text, to "This content is not available in your country". This could fool the user into thinking the media they are looking for is actually there, but it is region locked (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Regional_lockout). Now if the person is really determined, they could try using a VPN and/or TOR to try and access the content from another country. This wouldn't work, because it isn't actually region locked, it is just an error 404 page, wasting even more time, most likely frustrating the user a great deal in the process.<br />
<br />
The title text suggest setting the picture as a national flag. This would be very ironic, as it would suggest that the countries flag itself, something that is used to represent the country across the globe, is region locked.<br />
The country in the title text likely does not refer to the United States, but rather to the new country featured in [[1815: Flag]]. The first flag of this country included a phone notification bar, so changing it to a "page not found" icon would continue with a trend of technology imagery.<br />
<br />
==Transcript==<br />
{{incomplete transcript}}<br />
<br />
{{comic discussion}}</div>Yosho27https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=Talk:1786:_Trash&diff=133745Talk:1786: Trash2017-01-16T07:26:28Z<p>Yosho27: </p>
<hr />
<div><!--Please sign your posts with ~~~~--><br />
I put in an explanation, but I'm on a mobile device, so someone will need to fix all the spacing, and necessary links, and probably fix a bunch of other stuff too. [[User:Yosho27|Yosho27]] ([[User talk:Yosho27|talk]]) 07:26, 16 January 2017 (UTC)</div>Yosho27https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=1786:_Trash&diff=1337441786: Trash2017-01-16T07:23:48Z<p>Yosho27: /* Explanation */</p>
<hr />
<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 1786<br />
| date = January 16, 2017<br />
| title = Trash<br />
| image = trash.png<br />
| titletext = Plus, time's all weird in there, so most of it probably broke down and decomposed hundreds of years ago. Which reminds me, I've been meaning to get in touch with Yucca Mountain to see if they're interested in a partnership.<br />
}}<br />
<br />
==Explanation==<br />
{{incomplete|Created by a human with slightly more intelligence than a BOT- Please change this comment when editing this page.}}<br />
<br />
<br />
Black hat is, once again, thoroughly confusing a house guest/room mate. (Shown previously in The Cloud and others). This time, when enquired about a chute extruding from his wardrobe, he explains that it is a trash chute into another dimension, Narnia. this is a reference to The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe and the other Narnia books by C. s. Lewis. In the books, the characters use a portal that they find in a wardrobe (and later other places) to travel to a magical dimension called Narnia, where time passes differently from on Earth. Apparently, Black Hat has gotten his hands on the titular wardrobe and is using it to dispose of trash. There are many problems with this. First, the portal only works some times, so the rest of the time the wardrobe would just fill with trash. Also, Narnia is considered magical, so it may seem sacrilegious to be throwing trash there.<br />
The cat he refers to its Aslan, a Magical lion that inhabits and watches over Narnia. He would probably be really pissed that someone is throwing trash there. He would probably try to stop this by any means necessary, even if that means coming up through a trash chute into another dimension. But, because lions are a type of cat (feline), apparently he can be repelled with an ordinary spray bottle, usually used on small house cats. <br />
The system would dispose of trash very efficiently because time passes much faster on Narnia than on earth (previously mentioned in five minute comics: part 3). Because of this, within just a few Earth minutes, the trash could completely decompose. Yucca Mountain is a large landfill. Black hat wants to use his method to help them dispose of some of their trash, likely for a profit for black hat.<br />
<br />
==Transcript==<br />
{{incomplete transcript}}<br />
<br />
{{comic discussion}}</div>Yosho27https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=1786:_Trash&diff=1337431786: Trash2017-01-16T07:23:06Z<p>Yosho27: </p>
<hr />
<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 1786<br />
| date = January 16, 2017<br />
| title = Trash<br />
| image = trash.png<br />
| titletext = Plus, time's all weird in there, so most of it probably broke down and decomposed hundreds of years ago. Which reminds me, I've been meaning to get in touch with Yucca Mountain to see if they're interested in a partnership.<br />
}}<br />
<br />
==Explanation==<br />
{{incomplete|Created by a human with slightly more intelligence than a BOT- Please change this comment when editing this page.}}<br />
<br />
<br />
Black hat is, once again, thoroughly confusing a house guest/room mate. (Shown previously in The Cloud and others). This time, when enquired about a chute extruding from his wardrobe, he explains that it is a trash chute into another dimension, Narnia. this is a reference to The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe and the other Narnia books by C. s. Lewis. In the books, the characters use a portal that they find in a wardrobe (and later other places) to travel to a magical dimension called Narnia, where time passes differently from on Earth. Apparently, Black Hat has gotten his hands on the titular wardrobe and is using it to dispose of trash. There are many problems with this. First, the portal only works some times, so the rest of the time the wardrobe would just fill with trash. Also, Narnia is considered magical, so it may seem sacrilegious to be throwing trash there.<br />
The cat he refers to its Aslan, a Magical lion that inhabits and watches over Narnia. He would probably be really pissed that someone is throwing trash there. He would probably try to stop this by any means necessary, even if that means coming up through a trash chute into another dimension. But, because lions are a type of cat (feline), apparently he can be repelled with an ordinary spray bottle, usually used on small house cats. <br />
The system would dispose of trash very efficiently because time passes much faster on Narnia than on earth (previously mentioned in five minute comics: part 3). Because of this, within just a few Earth minutes, the trash could completely decompose. Yucca Mountain is a large landfill. Black hat wants to use his method to help them dispose of some of their trash, likely for a profit for black hat. <br />
==Transcript==<br />
{{incomplete transcript}}<br />
<br />
{{comic discussion}}</div>Yosho27https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=Talk:782:_Desecration&diff=133511Talk:782: Desecration2017-01-09T14:03:52Z<p>Yosho27: </p>
<hr />
<div>Oh god, I thought the tombstones were just there for decoration! I didn't think there'd actually be ''people'' buried under them! '''[[User:Davidy22|<u>{{Color|#707|David}}<font color=#070 size=3>y</font></u><font color=#508 size=4>²²</font>]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 02:33, 24 April 2013 (UTC)<br />
<br />
(Personally I think the real explanation is something of a "Hot Apple Pie may be hot!" nature. While they apparently have no problem with unburrying indian bones from the ground, the realisation that they were in an ''indian burial ground'' (surprise, surprise!) causes them concern. Just like the (semi-mythical?) people who don't realise hot things are... hot. [[Special:Contributions/178.98.77.240|178.98.77.240]] 00:20, 4 May 2013 (UTC) )<br />
<br />
Is it too unsafe to assume that because the standard, typically drawn stick figure is referred to as Rob, that the character in most of these strips is named Rob and not Cueball? As I understand it, Cueball was made up on this site and not by Randall. --[[Special:Contributions/98.203.241.55|98.203.241.55]] 22:12, 22 May 2013 (UTC)<br />
: Rob Cueball?<br />
: And 11 years after the first mention of "Rob", we finally have our answer [[1783: Emails]]<br />
<br />
[[User:Weatherlawyer| I used Google News BEFORE it was clickbait]] ([[User talk:Weatherlawyer|talk]]) 17:15, 26 January 2015 (UTC)<br />
<br />
I think this is a truth in fiction so to speak. In many story lines there's moments where, "You remember that time we broke all those spiritual laws? Well it appears that [G]od(s) is angry." A secular example, anyone thinking to themselves, "Seriously officer, I only had three or four drinks, and I had to get home." "Well, now you are DUI." *gasp* "Really?!??! Oh no!" [[User:Cflare|Cflare]] ([[User talk:Cflare|talk]]) 17:58, 7 August 2014 (UTC)<br />
<br />
Another interesting thing here is that Cueball instantly understands the association between curses and desecrating Indian burial grounds despite being stupid enough not to know A. you shouldn't mess with burial places and whatnot in the first place, and B. that the site of buried Indians is, by definition, and Indian burial ground. [[Special:Contributions/173.245.52.92|173.245.52.92]] 03:21, 20 May 2015 (UTC)<br />
<br />
I actually heard Rob's voice as the narmy "Oh my God!!!!" quote from Trolls 2.[[Special:Contributions/108.162.219.144|108.162.219.144]] 18:30, 4 June 2015 (UTC)</div>Yosho27https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=Talk:1783:_Emails&diff=133510Talk:1783: Emails2017-01-09T14:00:13Z<p>Yosho27: </p>
<hr />
<div><!--Please sign your posts with ~~~~--><br />
Added the starting point of the explanation. Please add onto my work. --[[User:JayRulesXKCD|'''JayRules''XKCD''' ]]<sup>[[User talk:JayRulesXKCD|what's up?]]</sup> 12:14, 9 January 2017 (UTC)<br />
<br />
(BTW, Rob, if the offer's still on the table, I'll go with you to WALL-E if Cueball's not around. 😉 ) --[[User:JayRulesXKCD|'''JayRules''XKCD''' ]]<sup>[[User talk:JayRulesXKCD|what's up?]]</sup> 12:15, 21 June 2008 (UTC)<br />
<br />
Dammit, another Time Ghost! [[Special:Contributions/162.158.222.10|162.158.222.10]] 13:41, 9 January 2017 (UTC)<br />
<br />
Another thing to point out: for a long time (since [[276: Fixed Width]]) there has been a little side debate of "should a single cueball be referred to as Rob?" (and should a single ponytail be referred to as Joanne). The title text of [[1783: Emails]] I think officially confirms that we should not. [[User:Yosho27|Yosho27]] ([[User talk:Yosho27|talk]]) 14:00, 9 January 2017 (UTC)</div>Yosho27https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=1779:_2017&diff=1331101779: 20172016-12-30T23:52:42Z<p>Yosho27: /* Explanation */</p>
<hr />
<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 1779<br />
| date = December 30, 2016<br />
| title = 2017<br />
| image = 2017.png<br />
| titletext = Things are looking good for the eclipse--Nate Silver says Earth will almost definitely still have a moon in August.<br />
}}<br />
<br />
==Explanation==<br />
{{incomplete|First draft of an explanation,}}<br />
<br />
[[Randall]] shares some of his thoughts about 2016, a year that many people eagerly await the end of because of its increased turmoil (terrorist attacks, controversial political events in numerous countries, and, in the United States, the deaths of an unusually large number of well-known and beloved celebrities). It is also known that Randall is a {{w|Hillary Clinton}} supporter (as shown in the [[1756: I'm With Her]] comic), so an additional reading of that tile could be that we are headed into 2017 "without" a Hillary Clinton presidency.<br />
<br />
Instead of simply condemning 2016 as a terrible year and expecting 2017 to be significantly better, [[Cueball]] and [[Megan]] observe that much of what made 2016 bad is the effect that it will have upon future years rather than the actual events themselves (for instance, a divisive {{w|U.S. presidential election}} has caused significant controversy in 2016, but he will actually take office and begin to affect the world — either for good or for bad — in 2017). However, Randall also offers a glimpse of hope in the last few panels by observing that, just as all of the bad things in 2016 were unexpected, good things in 2017 that are unexpected are equally likely to happen. As such, he argues that we should hold on to our hope even though things seem difficult right now.<br />
<br />
As the conversation unfolds, Megan and Cueball encounter an uprooted tree and cross it like a balance beam. This is a visual metaphor; the dead tree represents the end of the old year, while the crossing represents the transition into the new year. This is similar to the magical toboggan from {w|{Calvin and Hobbes}} that serves as a metaphor for their conversations, mentioned in [[529: Sledding Discussion]] and [[409: Electric Skateboard]].<br />
<br />
The last panel may also serve as a reminder that the world continues to spin on despite all of the turmoil. This is true both literally, as the {{w|solar eclipse|eclipse}} Randall is excited about is caused by the orbits of several celestial bodies lining up just right (the sun, Earth, and moon), but also figuratively, as he notes that prime-numbered years have typically been good ones, and so illustrates the positive attitude that people can choose to take in order to see all that which is good and to spread a little bit more cheerfulness. Randall have had six prime years since his birth, 1987, 1993, 1997, 1999, 2003 and 2011. This could also be a pun referencing the saying "being in his prime years".<br />
<br />
Randall previously mentioned his excitement for the 2017 eclipse exactly three years earlier in [[1302: Year in Review]], where Megan complains about 2013 not having an eclipse nor aurora, and hopes they don't cancel the 2017 eclipse.<br />
<br />
The title text is a reference to Nate Silver who is well-known (in the United States) as an election predictor on Five Thirty Eight. His model allowed for a higher chance that Donald Trump would win the presidency compared to other similar models — though the fact that he still favored a Clinton win may be contributing to getting humor from the idea that he may be "wrong" again, and the Moon could possibly vanish in 2017, making the year definitely worse than 2016. This is accentuated by the qualifier "almost definitely", which is of humorously low confidence for presenting a fact as certain as the Moon not somehow disappearing within the next year.<br />
<br />
==Transcript==<br />
<br />
[Cueball and Megan walking outdoors]<br />
<br />
:Cueball: Can't wait for this stupid year to be over.<br />
<br />
[The two approach a fallen tree]<br />
<br />
:Megan: I can. This year made the future scarier. So much of why 2016 was bad was because of the things it sent us into 2017 without.<br />
<br />
[Megan has hopped up onto the tree trunk and begins to walk along it]<br />
<br />
:Cueball: You gotta have hope, though.<br />
:Megan: You say that, but you also said all this awful stuff couldn't happen, and it did. You're as clueless as the rest of us.<br />
<br />
[Cueball also walks along the tree trunk as Megan stops and turns to look at him]<br />
<br />
:Cueball: Well, if we're wrong about which bad things can happen, it's got to make us at least a ''little'' less sure about which good things can't.<br />
<br />
[Closeup of Megan hopping down from the tree]<br />
<br />
:Megan: I guess.<br />
<br />
[A distant shot of Megan and Cueball walking along again]<br />
<br />
:Cueball: Plus, 2017 has a cool eclipse in it.<br />
:Megan: Ooh, yeah!<br />
:Cueball: And it's prime. Prime years have always been good for me.<br />
:Megan: Sure, I'll take it.<br />
<br />
{{comic discussion}}<br />
[[Category:New Year]]<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]</div>Yosho27https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=1753:_Thumb_War&diff=1296361753: Thumb War2016-10-31T14:17:34Z<p>Yosho27: /* Explanation */</p>
<hr />
<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 1753<br />
| date = October 31, 2016<br />
| title = Thumb War<br />
| image = thumb_war.png<br />
| titletext = "Seventeen, eighteen, nineteen, twenty--" / "Can't we just read Pat the Bunny?"<br />
}}<br />
<br />
==Explanation==<br />
{{incomplete|Created by a not very good editor. First draft.}}<br />
<br />
A thumb war is a common game for children, in which two players hold hands and attempt to pin each other's thumb down. The game is often started with both players chanting "one, two three, four, I declare a thumb war, five, six, seven, eight, try to keep your thumb straight", referencing the goal of the game. Black Hat chants a modified version, though, clearly making poor Hairy uncomfortable. His version becomes a political commentary about proliferation of weapons and the United Nations (U.N.) reluctance to intervene. A finger gun is made by holding one's thumb and finger in the shape of a gun, fitting with the anolog of a thumb war. <br />
Black Hat continues to make Hairy uncomfortable as an adult, such as in "I'm so random".<br />
In the title text, Hairy adds another verse, requesting to do something more appropriate for children, reading a picture book.<br />
<br />
==Transcript==<br />
[A young Hairy and a Black Hat are sitting across to each other]<br />
<br />
:Black hat: One, two, three, four, I declare a thumb war.<br />
:Black hat: Five, six, seven, eight, finger guns proliferate.<br />
:Black hat: Nine, ten, eleven, twelve, digits can't protect themselves.<br />
:Black hat: Thirteen, fourteen, fifteen, sixteen, thumb U.N. won't intervene.<br />
:Hairy: I don't want to play with you anymore.<br />
<br />
{{comic discussion}}</div>Yosho27https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=1753:_Thumb_War&diff=1296351753: Thumb War2016-10-31T14:15:11Z<p>Yosho27: /* Explanation */</p>
<hr />
<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 1753<br />
| date = October 31, 2016<br />
| title = Thumb War<br />
| image = thumb_war.png<br />
| titletext = "Seventeen, eighteen, nineteen, twenty--" / "Can't we just read Pat the Bunny?"<br />
}}<br />
<br />
==Explanation==<br />
{{incomplete|Created by a not very good editor. First draft.}}<br />
<br />
A thumb war is a common game for children, in which two players hold hands and attempt to pin each other's thumb down. The game is often started with both players chanting "one, two three, four, I declare a thumb war, five, six, seven, eight, try to keep your thumb straight", referencing the goal of the game. Black Hat chants a modified version, though, clearly making poor Hairy uncomfortable. His version becomes a political commentary about proliferation of weapons and the United Nations (U.N.) reluctance to intervene. A finger gun is made by holding one's thumb and finger in the shape of a gun, fitting with the anolog of a thumb war. Black Hat continues to make Hairy uncomfortable as an adult, such as in "I'm so random".<br />
<br />
==Transcript==<br />
[A young Hairy and a Black Hat are sitting across to each other]<br />
<br />
:Black hat: One, two, three, four, I declare a thumb war.<br />
:Black hat: Five, six, seven, eight, finger guns proliferate.<br />
:Black hat: Nine, ten, eleven, twelve, digits can't protect themselves.<br />
:Black hat: Thirteen, fourteen, fifteen, sixteen, thumb U.N. won't intervene.<br />
:Hairy: I don't want to play with you anymore.<br />
<br />
{{comic discussion}}</div>Yosho27https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=1753:_Thumb_War&diff=1296341753: Thumb War2016-10-31T14:14:11Z<p>Yosho27: </p>
<hr />
<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 1753<br />
| date = October 31, 2016<br />
| title = Thumb War<br />
| image = thumb_war.png<br />
| titletext = "Seventeen, eighteen, nineteen, twenty--" / "Can't we just read Pat the Bunny?"<br />
}}<br />
<br />
==Explanation==<br />
{{incomplete|Created by a BOT - Please change this comment when editing this page.}}<br />
<br />
A thumb war is a common game for children, in which two players hold hands and attempt to pin each other's thumb down. The game is often started with both players chanting "one, two three, four, I declare a thumb war, five, six, seven, eight, try to keep your thumb straight", referencing the goal of the game. Black Hat chants a modified version, though, clearly making poor Hairy uncomfortable. His version becomes a political commentary about proliferation of weapons and the United Nations (U.N.) reluctance to intervene. A finger gun is made by holding one's thumb and finger in the shape of a gun, fitting with the anolog of a thumb war. Black Hat continues to make Hairy uncomfortable as an adult, such as in "I'm so random".<br />
<br />
==Transcript==<br />
[A young Hairy and a Black Hat are sitting across to each other]<br />
<br />
:Black hat: One, two, three, four, I declare a thumb war.<br />
:Black hat: Five, six, seven, eight, finger guns proliferate.<br />
:Black hat: Nine, ten, eleven, twelve, digits can't protect themselves.<br />
:Black hat: Thirteen, fourteen, fifteen, sixteen, thumb U.N. won't intervene.<br />
:Hairy: I don't want to play with you anymore.<br />
<br />
{{comic discussion}}</div>Yosho27https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=1227:_The_Pace_of_Modern_Life&diff=1283571227: The Pace of Modern Life2016-10-07T13:07:18Z<p>Yosho27: /* Explanation */</p>
<hr />
<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 1227<br />
| date = June 19, 2013<br />
| title = The Pace of Modern Life<br />
| image = the pace of modern life.png<br />
| titletext = 'Unfortunately, the notion of marriage which prevails ... at the present time ... regards the institution as simply a convenient arrangement or formal contract ... This disregard of the sanctity of marriage and contempt for its restrictions is one of the most alarming tendencies of the present age.' --John Harvey Kellogg, Ladies' guide in health and disease (1883)<br />
}}<br />
<br />
==Explanation==<br />
The debate as to whether or not the pace of modern life is detrimental to society, culture, and the human experience in general has been going on for longer than we may realize. Presently, the debate has focused on technology such as smartphones, tablets, and other portable electronics; however, many of the same arguments were made against newspapers, magazines, telegraphs, telephones, and even written correspondence 100 years ago.<br />
<br />
People often tend to think of older times as better. The people complaining compare their present time to the time they lived in before, that is, a couple of decades ago, and this has been happening for over a century (at least). This comic makes a point that the older times people refer to, were also criticized in exactly the same fashion. Since the same criticism is applied to each generation by the generation before that one, every generation thinks that the one they were born in is the good one. This is presentism as explained by Randall in [[24: Godel, Escher, Kurt Halsey]]. <br />
<br />
The comic begins and ends with very similar arguments, perhaps emphasizing how these debates cycle and repeat over time. The comic does not directly state whether these opinions and criticisms were justified or simple fallacies. There is a desire to consider our present existence as good and reasonable and that society has been improving over time. The difficulty lies in considering the possibility that each generation was perhaps correct in their criticism.<br />
<br />
On reading all of these quotes, one may find these quotes redundant and tiresome to read. Readers may find themselves skimming the text and skipping several quotes once they get the overall idea. This could be a self-referential point demonstrating that the writing style of older times was less convenient than the oft-criticized brief modern style.<br />
<br />
Some parts of all that long texts are in bold, others not. Here is the summary for only this bold text, picturing just our ''Modern World'':<br />
<br />
:The art of letter-writing is fast dying out. We fire off a multitude of rapid and short notes, instead of sitting down to have a good talk over a real sheet of paper.<br />
:In olden times it was different. Men now live think and work at express speed. Sulkily read as they travel leaving them no time to talk with the friend who may share the compartment with them.<br />
:The age of leisure is dead, and the art of conversation is dying. A craving for literary nips. There never was an age in which so many people were able to write badly.<br />
:The art of pure line engraving is dying out. We live at too fast a rate nothing is left to the imagination and human faculty dwindle away amid the million inventions that have been introduced to render its exercise unnecessary.<br />
:Thirty pages is now too much. Fifteen pages further condensed a summary of the summary.<br />
:Those who are dipping into so many subjects and gathering information in a summary and superficial form lose the habit of settling down to great works.<br />
:Hurried reading can never be good reading. Mental and nervous degeneration among a growing class of people, a brain incapable of normal working in a large measure due to the hurry and excitement of modern life, almost instantaneous communication between remote points of the globe.<br />
:Teach the children how to play instead of shutting them in badly ventilated schoolrooms, increased demand made by the conditions of modern life upon the brain.<br />
:We talk across a continent, telegraph across an ocean, we take even our pleasures sadly and make a task of our play.<br />
:The managers of sensational newspapers create perverted tastes and develop vicious tendencies.<br />
:To take sufficient time for our meals seems frequently impossible, may I be permitted to say a word in favour of a very worthy and valuable old friend of mine, Mr. Long walk? I am afraid that this good gentleman is in danger of getting neglected, if not forgotten.<br />
:People talk as they ride bicycles–at a rush–without pausing to consider their surroundings the profession of letters is so little understood, tendency among the children of today to rebel against restraint. Our modern family gathering, silent, each individual with his head buried in his favourite magazine, deal openly with situations which no person would have dared to mention in general society forty years ago.<br />
:A hundred years ago it took so long and cost so much to send a letter that it seemed worth while to put some time and thought into writing it. A brief letter to-day may be followed by another next week–a "line" now by another to-morrow.<br />
<br />
The style of the comic is very similar to that of [[1311: 2014]], which was released a year and a half earlier.<br />
<br />
The title text shows that the meaning of the institute of marriage debate has likewise been going on for quite some time.<br />
<br />
==Transcript==<br />
:'''The art of letter-writing is fast dying out.''' When a letter cost nine pence, it seemed but fair to try to make it worth nine pence ... Now, however, we think we are too busy for such old-fashioned correspondence. '''We fire off a multitude of rapid and short notes, instead of sitting down to have a good talk over a real sheet of paper.'''<br />
::''The Sunday Magazine''<br />
:::1871<br />
<br />
:It is, unfortunately, one of the chief characteristics of modern business to be always in a hurry. '''In olden times it was different.'''<br />
::''The Medical Record''<br />
:::1884<br />
<br />
:With the advent of cheap newspapers and superior means of locomotion... The dreamy quiet old days are over... '''For men now live think and work at express speed.''' They have their ''Mercury'' or ''Post'' laid on their breakfast table in the early morning, and if they are too hurried to snatch from it the news during that meal, they carry it off, to be '''sulkily read as they travel ... leaving them no time to talk with the friend who may share the compartment with them'''... The hurry and bustle of modern life ... lacks the quiet and repose of the period when our forefathers, the day's work done, took their ease...<br />
::William Smith, Morley: ''Ancient and Modern''<br />
:::1886<br />
<br />
:Conversation is said to be a lost art ... Good talk presupposes leisure, both for preparation and enjoyment. '''The age of leisure is dead, and the art of conversation is dying.'''<br />
::''Frank Leslie's popular Monthly'', Volume 29<br />
:::1890<br />
<br />
:Intellectual laziness and the hurry of the age have produced '''a craving for literary nips.''' The torpid brain ... has grown too weak for sustained thought.<br />
:'''There never was an age in which so many people were able to write badly.'''<br />
::Israel Zangwill, ''The Bachelors' Club''<br />
:::1891<br />
<br />
:'''The art of pure line engraving is dying out. We live at too fast a rate to allow for the preparation of such plates as our fathers appreciated.''' If a picture catches the public fancy, the public must have an etched or a photogravured copy of it within a month or two of its appearance, the days when engravers were wont to spend two or three years over a single plate are for ever gone.<br />
::''Journal of the Institute of Jamaica'', Volume 1<br />
:::1892<br />
<br />
:So much is exhibited to the eye that '''nothing is left to the imagination'''. It sometimes seems almost possible that the modern world might be choked by its own riches, '''and human faculty dwindle away amid the million inventions that have been introduced to render its exercise unnecessary.'''<br />
:The articles in the ''Quarterlies'' extend to thirty or more pages, but '''thirty pages is now too much''' so we witness a further condensing process and, we have the ''Fortnightly'' and the ''Contemporary'' which reduce thirty pages to '''fifteen pages''' so that you may read a larger number of articles in a shorter time and in a shorter form. As if this last condensing process were not enough the condensed articles of these periodicals are '''further condensed''' by the daily papers, which will give you a '''summary of the summary''' of all that has been written about everything.<br />
:'''Those who are dipping into so many subjects and gathering information in a summary and superficial form lose the habit of settling down to great works.'''<br />
:Ephemeral literature is driving out the great classics of the present and the past ... '''hurried reading can never be good reading.'''<br />
::G. J. Goschen, ''First Annual Address to the Students'', Toynbee Hall. London<br />
:::1894<br />
<br />
:The existence of '''mental and nervous degeneration among a growing class of people''', especially in large cities, is an obvious phenomenon ... the mania for stimulants ... diseases of the mind are almost as numerous as the diseases of the body... This intellectual condition is characterized by '''a brain incapable of normal working ... in a large measure due to the hurry and excitement of modern life''', with its facilities for rapid locomotion and '''almost instantaneous communication between remote points of the globe'''...<br />
::''The Churchman'', Volume 71<br />
:::1895<br />
<br />
:If we '''teach the children how to play''' and encourage them in their sports ... '''instead of shutting them in badly ventilated schoolrooms''', the next generation will be more joyous and will be healthier than the present one.<br />
::''Public Opinion: A Comprehensive Summary of the Press Throughout the World'', Volume 18<br />
:::1895<br />
<br />
:The cause of the ... increase in nervous disease is '''increased demand made by the conditions of modern life upon the brain'''. Everything is done in a hurry. '''We talk across a continent, telegraph across an ocean''', take a trip to Chicago for an hour's talk... '''We take even our pleasures sadly and make a task of our play''' ... what wonder if the pressure is almost more than our nerves can bear.<br />
::G. Shrady (from P.C. Knapp)<br />
::"Are nervous diseases increasing?" ''Medical Record''<br />
:::1896<br />
<br />
:'''The managers of sensational newspapers''' ... do not try to educate their readers and make them better, but tend to '''create perverted tastes and develop vicious tendencies.''' The owners of these papers seem to have but one purpose, and that is to increase their circulation.<br />
::''Medical Brief'', Volume 26<br />
:::1898<br />
<br />
:'''To take sufficient time for our meals seems frequently impossible''' on account of the demands on our time made by our business... We act on the apparent belief that all of our business is so pressing that we must jump on the quickest car home, eat our dinner in the most hurried way, make the closest connection for a car returning ...<br />
::Louis John Rettger. ''Studies in Advanced Physiology''<br />
:::1898<br />
<br />
:In these days of increasing rapid artificial locomotion, '''may I be permitted to say a word in favour of a very worthy and valuable old friend of mine, Mr. Long Walk?'''<br />
:'''I am afraid that this good gentleman is in danger of getting neglected, if not forgotten.''' We live in days of water trips and land trips, excursions by sea, road and rail-bicycles and tricycles, tram cars and motor cars .... but in my humble opinion, good honest walking exercise for health beats all other kinds of locomotion into a cocked hat.<br />
::T. Thatcher, "A plea for a long walk",<br />
::''The Publishers Circular''<br />
:::1902<br />
<br />
:The art of conversation is almost a lost one. '''People talk as they ride bicycles&ndash;at a rush&ndash;without pausing to consider their surroundings''' ... what has been generally understood as cultured society is rapidly deteriorating into baseness and voluntary ignorance. '''The profession of letters is so little understood''', and so far from being seriously appreciated, that ... Newspapers are full, not of thoughtful honestly expressed public opinion on the affairs of the nation, but of vapid personalities interesting to none save gossips and busy bodies.<br />
::Marie Corelli,<br />
::''Free opinions, freely expressed''<br />
:::1905<br />
<br />
:There is a great '''tendency among the children of today to rebel against restraint''', not only that placed upon them by the will of the parent. But against any restraint or limitation of what they consider their rights ... this fact has filled well minded people with great apprehensions for the future.<br />
::Rev. Henry Hussmann,<br />
::''The authority of parents''<br />
:::1906<br />
<br />
:'''Our modern family gathering, silent''' around the fire, '''each individual with his head buried in his favourite magazine''', is the somewhat natural outcome of the banishment of colloquy from the school ...<br />
::''The Journal of Education'', Volume 29<br />
:::1907<br />
<br />
:Plays in theatres at the present time present spectacles and '''deal openly with situations which no person would have dared to mention in general society forty years ago'''... The current representations of '''nude men and women in the daily journals''' and the illustrated magazines would have excluded such periodicals from all respectable families two decades ago... Those who have been divorced ... forty and fifty years ago lost at once and irrevocably their standing in society, while to-day they continue in all their social relationships, hardly changed...<br />
::Editorial, ''The Watchman'', Boston<br />
:::1908<br />
<br />
:We write millions more letters than did our grandfathers, but the increase in volume has brought with it an automatic artificial machine-like ring ... an examination of a file of old letters reveals not only a remarkable grasp of details. But a '''fitness and courtliness too often totally lacking''' in the mechanical curt cut and dried letters of to-day.<br />
::Forrest Crissey, ''Handbook of Modern Business Correspondence''<br />
:::1908<br />
<br />
:'''A hundred years ago it took so long and cost so much to send a letter that it seemed worth while to put some time and thought into writing it.''' Now the quickness and the cheapness of the post seem to justify the feeling that '''a brief letter to-day may be followed by another next week&ndash;a "line" now by another to-morrow.'''<br />
::Percy Holmes Boynton, ''Principles of Composition''<br />
:::1915<br />
<br />
{{comic discussion}}<br />
<br />
[[Category:Language]]</div>Yosho27https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=1311:_2014&diff=1283561311: 20142016-10-07T12:59:43Z<p>Yosho27: /* Explanation */</p>
<hr />
<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 1311<br />
| date = January 1, 2014<br />
| title = 2014<br />
| before = [[#Explanation|↓ Skip to explanation ↓]]<br />
| image = 2014.png<br />
| titletext = Some future reader, who may see the term, without knowing the history of it, may imagine that it had reference to some antiquated bridge of the immortal Poet, thrown across the silver Avon, to facilitate his escape after some marauding excursion in a neighbouring park; and in some Gentleman's Magazine of the next century, it is not impossible, but that future antiquaries may occupy page after page in discussing so interesting a matter. We think it right, therefore, to put it on record in the Oriental Herald that the 'Shakesperian Rope Bridges' are of much less classic origin; that Mr Colin Shakespear, who, besides his dignity as Postmaster, now signs himself 'Superintendent General of Shakesperian Rope Bridges', is a person of much less genius than the Bard of Avon. --The Oriental Herald, 1825<br />
}}<br />
<br />
==Explanation==<br />
This [[:Category:New Year|New Year comic]] is to commemorate the {{w|New Year}} by giving us a view of the coming year (2014) from the past. The comic includes many quotes from the 1800s and early 1900s that speak to a time close to 2014. Many of them are for the twenty-first century in general, and only three mention a year that would be 2014 exactly. All but one of them is a prediction, yet some of these are quotes from fictional literature, and therefore are not true predictions. Words are in boldface to highlight the relevant content in the quote. The grey or non-bold text is non-essential to the point Randall is interested in, and only to be used to understand the context of the quote.<br />
<br />
The title text refers to a certain British officer, Mr. Colin Shakespeare, who experimented and promoted the use of rope suspension bridges in India.[http://books.google.com/books?id=aZRPAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA367] The reference to "The Bard of Avon" is a reference to {{w|William Shakespeare|Shakespeare (the playwright)}}, as {{w|River Avon (Warwickshire)|Avon}} is the river on which {{w|Stratford upon Avon}} is set, and is where the playwright was born and spent his youth. The author of this quote under the guise of eliminating the potential confusion that might result after decades or centuries have washed away the context, ironically and possibly vindictively, makes a point to note that the bridge is not named after the playwright, but Mr. Colin Shakespeare, whom he considers considerably less intelligent. This topic was previously covered in [[771: Period Speech]]. <br />
<br />
Two years before, another New Years comic with just the new years number as the title was released: [[998: 2012]]. But actually the content of this comic is more related to the comic coming out just before the 2012 comic: [[997: Wait Wait]], which is also a New Year comic, that took a look at what could happen in 2012, just as this one does for 2014... In 2016 another comic, with only the new year as the name theme, occurred again [[1624: 2016]]. For some reason this only seems to happen in the even years.<br />
<br />
The style of the comic is very similar to that of [[1227: The Pace of Modern Life]], which was released a year and a half later.<br />
<br />
===Additional information===<br />
<br />
{| class="wikitable"<br />
|-<br />
! Quote<br />
! Author or publisher<br />
! Year<br />
! Years realized<br />
! Description<br />
|-<br />
| "It's desirable '''every thing printed should be preserved,''' for we '''cannot now tell how useful it may become''' two centuries hence." <br />
| Christopher Baldwin<br />
| 1834<br />
| Not a prediction<br />
| A good idea. Now, with Google Books, this can be done in an easier manner. Many books printed between that time and the widespread usage of higher-quality wood-pulp paper in the early 1990s are either no longer known to exist, are heavily damaged (mostly through deterioration — see {{w|slow fire}}) or are very scarce.<br />
|-<br />
| "I predict that a century hence the '''Canadian people''' will be '''the noblest specimens of humanity on the face of the earth'''"<br />
| Rev John Bredin<br />
| 1863<br />
| Not realized<br />
| Notably, there is a common joke nowadays that Canadians are always calm, mellow, polite peoples, even when insulting others. The rest of the quote goes as follows: ''"all that was good in the Celt, the Saxon, the Gaul and other races, combining to form neither English, Irish, nor Welsh, but Canadians, who would take their place among the churches of Christendom and the nations of the earth."'' This religious prediction probably wasn't believed even by its author. It's only a harangue.<br />
|-<br />
| "In the twenty-first century '''mankind will subsist entirely upon jellies.'''"<br />
| The Book Lover<br />
| 1903<br />
| Not realized<br />
| Concentrates, which are gelatin like, form a large part of our food sources. Absurd if taken literally, but if he's talking about processed foods in general then he's not too far from the mark.<br />
|-<br />
| "The twenty-first century baby is destined to be rocked and cradled by electricity, warmed and coddled by electricity, perhaps fathered and mothered by electricity. '''Probably the only thing he will be left to do unaided will be to make love.'''"<br />
| Mrs John Lane, The Fortnightly<br />
| 1905<br />
| 1960s - 1980s<br />
| The process of child-''rearing'' is still a human task by and large, with the exception of artificial insemination, and Viagra, Cialis, vibrators, and other kinkier toys. Probably meant as an exaggeration when it was first said, but it is still valid to some degree. <br />
|-<br />
| "To-day, in the city of New York, sixty-six different tongues are spoken. '''A century hence, there will probably be only one.'''"<br />
| The American Historical Magazine<br />
| 1907<br />
| Not realized<br />
| The number of languages spoken in New York City is believed to be greater than 100; some estimate as many as 800 languages are spoken there. The U.S. Census Bureau reports that in the greater New York metropolitan area, almost 7 million people speak a language other than English at home, including over 3.5 million who speak Spanish, 2 million who speak other Indo-European languages, 1 million who speak Asian or Pacific Island languages, and 300,000 who speak other languages. Also, New York City is the location of the headquarters of the United Nations, with diplomats from nearly every country in the world, and several official languages.<br />
|-<br />
| "I often think '''what interesting history we are making for the student of the twenty-first century.'''"<br />
| William Carey Jones<br />
| 1908<br />
| 1900's to now<br />
| Referring to the events that led to {{w|World War I}}. In 1908, {{w|Bosnian crisis|Austria-Hungary annexed Bosnia and Herzegovina}}. This led to the {{w|Assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria|Sarajevo Assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria}} in 1914 that is considered the starting event of the World War.<br />
|-<br />
| "China may be a '''great shoe market''' a decade or a century from now."<br />
| Boot and Shoe Recorder<br />
| 1914<br />
| 1970's to now<br />
| While it is true that China is a good shoe market, this quote can be viewed as vastly underestimating the potential of China. To be fair it says "a decade or a century from now" and it was not a great market until China and Nixon broke down trade barriers, which is well after 1924.<br />
|-<br />
| "'''We cannot settle the problem,''' and I venture the prophecy that perhaps '''a century from now this same question may be brought before some future society and discussed very much as it is tonight.'''<br />
| Dr. Barton C. Hirst (on abortion)<br />
| 1914<br />
| 2014<br />
| Abortion is still heavily debated<br />
|-<br />
| "By the twenty-first century '''we shall all be telepaths.'''" <br />
| Gumbril, A character in Aldous Huxley's novel Antic Hay<br />
| 1923<br />
| Not realized<br />
| [http://books.google.com/books?id=pdXj2SZ1mT8C&pg=PA205]: "And it's my firm belief," said Gumbril Senior, adding notes to his epic, "that they [the birds] make use of some sort of telepathy, some kind of direct mind-to-mind communication between themselves. You can't watch them without coming to that conclusion." [...] "It's a faculty," Gumbril Senior went on, "we all possess, I believe. All we animals." [...] "By the twenty-first century, I believe, we shall all be telepaths. Meanwhile, these delightful birds have forestalled us."<br />
|-<br />
| "The physician of the twenty-first century… may even criticize the language of the times, and may find that '''some of our words have become as offensive to him as the term "lunatic" has become offensive to us.'''"<br />
| Dr. C. Macfie Cambell<br />
| 1924<br />
| 1950's to now<br />
| The word "lunatic" is still considered derogatory and because of that it would never be used in a clinical sense. He correctly predicts the trajectory of terms like "{{w|mentally retarded}}", itself adopted by his day to replace earlier terms for the intellectually disabled, such as "moron" and "imbecile", which had become pejorative. Soon enough the word "retard" joined them in that regard, and it now has largely been abandoned as a medical term.<br />
|-<br />
| "Historians of the twenty-first century will look back with well-placed scorn on the '''shallow-minded days''' of the early twentieth century '''when football games and petting parties were considered the most important elements of a college education.'''" <br />
| Mary Eileen Ahern, Library Bureau<br />
| 1926<br />
| Not realized<br />
| While media still encourages such images, and does not look down upon them.<br />
|-<br />
| "'''In the year A.D. 2014''' journalists will be writing on the centenary of the great war — '''that is, if there has not been a greater war.'''"<br />
| F.J.M, The Journalist<br />
| 1934<br />
| 2014<br />
| July 28, 2014 marks 100 years since the beginning of {{w|World War I}} (more than 9 million combatants were killed). As the author of this quote foreshadows, there was a greater war, {{w|World War II}} (around 25 million soldiers were killed). Journalists will definitely write articles of this war on its anniversary, but as the quote correctly predicts it is no longer popularly called '''The Great War''' as World War II had a larger scope, easily identifiable heroes and villains, and was therefore a '''"greater war"'''.<br />
|}<br />
<br />
==Transcript==<br />
:(This is a series of quotes from various people of various timeframes. Each quote is followed by the author, the document of publication if applicable, and the year.)<br />
<br />
:'''Notes from the past'''<br />
<br />
:It's desirable '''every thing printed should be preserved,''' for we '''cannot now tell how useful it may become''' two centuries hence.<br />
::Christopher Baldwin<br />
:::'''1834'''<br />
<br />
:I predict that a century hence the '''Canadian people''' will be '''the noblest specimens of humanity on the face of the earth'''<br />
::Rev. John Bredin<br />
:::'''1863'''<br />
<br />
:In the twenty-first century '''mankind will subsist entirely upon jellies.'''<br />
::''The Booklover''<br />
:::'''1903'''<br />
<br />
:The twenty-first century baby is destined to be rocked and cradled by electricity, warmed and coddled by electricity, perhaps fathered and mothered by electricity. '''Probably the only thing he will be left to do unaided will be to make love.'''<br />
::Mrs. John Lane, ''The fortnightly''<br />
:::'''1905'''<br />
<br />
:To-day, in the city of New York, sixty-six different tongues are spoken. '''A century hence, there will probably be only one.'''<br />
::''The American Historical Magazine''<br />
:::'''1907'''<br />
<br />
:I often think '''what interesting history we are making for the student of the twenty-first century.'''<br />
::Willian Carey Jones<br />
:::'''1908'''<br />
<br />
:China may be a '''great shoe market''' a decade or a century from now.<br />
::''Boot and Shoe Recorder''<br />
:::'''1914'''<br />
<br />
:'''We cannot settle the problem,''' and I venture the prophecy that perhaps '''a century from now this same question may be brought before some future society and discussed very much as it is tonight.'''<br />
::Dr. Barton C. Hirst on the subject of '''abortion'''<br />
:::'''1914'''<br />
<br />
:By the twenty-first century I believe '''we shall all be telepaths.'''<br />
::Gumbriel, character in ''Antic Hay''<br />
:::'''1923'''<br />
<br />
:The physician of the twenty-first century… may even criticize the language of the times, and may find that '''some of our words have become as offensive to him as the term "lunatic" has become offensive to us.'''<br />
::Dr. C. Macfie Campbell<br />
:::'''1924'''<br />
<br />
:Historians of the twenty-first century will look back with well-placed scorn on the '''shallow-minded days''' of the early twentieth century '''when football games and petting parties were considered the most important elements of a college education.'''<br />
::Mary Eileen Ahern, ''Library Bureau''<br />
:::'''1926'''<br />
<br />
:'''In the year A.D. 2014''' journalists will be writing on the centenary of the great war — '''that is, if there has not been a greater war.'''<br />
::F.J.M, ''The Journalist''<br />
:::'''1934'''<br />
<br />
{{comic discussion}}<br />
<br />
[[Category:New Year]]<br />
[[Category:Language]]<br />
[[Category:Politics]]<br />
[[Category:American football]]<br />
[[Category:Comics sharing name|2014]]</div>Yosho27https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=1731:_Wrong&diff=1269291731: Wrong2016-09-14T12:32:14Z<p>Yosho27: /* Trivia */</p>
<hr />
<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 1731<br />
| date = September 9, 2016<br />
| title = Wrong<br />
| image = wrong.png<br />
| titletext = Hang on, I just remembered another thing I'm right about. See...<br />
}}<br />
<br />
==Explanation==<br />
{{incomplete|More on White Hat's new theory from the last panel. The abstraction of the particle idea not explained.}}<br />
<br />
All objects on Earth are matter, meaning they are made of {{w|Atom|atoms}}, which are specifically '''not''' made up of {{w|antimatter}}. Atoms, while once (when they were named) believed to be the smallest unit of matter, are now known to be made up of {{w|Proton|protons}}, {{w|Neutron|neutrons}} and {{w|Electron|electrons}}. Protons and neutrons are in turn made up of {{w|Quark|quarks}}. Quarks come in six different "{{w|Flavour (particle physics)|flavors}}" (up, down, top, bottom, charm, and strange), with protons and neutrons being made of the first two types. Each quark also has a corresponding {{w|Antiparticle|antiparticle}}, antiquark, which would make up antiprotons and antineutrons.<br />
<br />
[[White Hat]] and [[Megan]] appear to be discussing the topics of {{w|Antimatter|antimatter}} and subatomic particles. White Hat makes the assertion that we (referring to people and objects) are made partially of antimatter, because, as he claims, a proton (one of the particles which makes up all matter) is made of two quarks and an antiquark. In fact, protons are made up of two up quarks and a down quark. He is making the simple mistake of mixing up the difference between flavors of quarks with the difference between particles and antiparticles. He continues to elaborate on his idea by mentioning neutrons, which are made of two down quarks and an up quark, but, by his reasoning, they would be made of two antiquarks and a quark.<br />
<br />
(White Hat may have incorrectly remembered that, while the valence quarks in a proton are all matter, quantum field theory says that protons also contain an indefinite number of "virtual" anti-quarks, quarks, and gluons. See this video ''[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LraNu_78sCwv What are Quarks?]'' about this. His final comment could be referring to the ontological debate over whether virtual particles are in some sense real or only an artifact of perturbation theory.)<br />
<br />
When Megan (accurately) doubts this claim, White Hat takes out his smartphone to look it up, in order to show Megan that he is correct. However, upon seeing results (from Wikipedia or another site), he realizes that he was in fact '''wrong''' (hence the title). Not wanting to be incorrect or give up his position in the discussion, he convinces himself that he wasn't actually wrong, (he mentally deletes the realization that he was wrong as shown in the next panel) and instead completely changes the topic (...) to try and re-frame it so he may in some convoluted way not be completely wrong. <br />
<br />
It is rather common to not admit fault, the whole topic of this comic, and instead trying to maintain an air on infallibility and intelligence. Some people are just too prideful to admit that they are inherently fallible; White Hat is one of those people, as depicted in several of his earlier appearances (see [[#Trivia|trivia section]]). [[Randall]] uses this comic to criticize people who are unable to put aside their ego and re-assess what they know in the face of empirical data; such thinking flies directly against scientific rigor (adding an extra layer of irony to the situation, since White Hat and Megan are discussing a ''scientific'' topic). This method had already been called ''wrong'' in [[803: Airfoil]].<br />
<br />
White Hat's new topic, where he can be right, includes the {{w|Quantum field theory}}, a very complicated field, which it is likely that Megan do not know so much about (inferred by the fact that she was not quite sure about the anti-quarks). So he could maybe tell her something she could not refute, and then claim to be right. Megan, however, recognizes exactly what he is trying to do, and can only sigh in response to his failed efforts. In QFT, particles are often described as {{w|Resonance (particle physics)|resonances}}.<br />
<br />
In the title text, White Hat just remembers another thing he's right about. This shows that he is not interested in a discussion but only in being right, and he proceeds to prove his point by explaining this other topic (hinted to at the end of the title text). This bears some similarity to [[386: Duty Calls]], in which [[Cueball]] stays up late correcting someone on the Internet.<br />
<br />
==Transcript==<br />
:[White Hat is walking beside Megan, index finger extended]<br />
:White Hat: Really, we're all made of antimatter. A proton consists of two quarks and an antiquark.<br />
:Megan: ...I don't think that's right.<br />
<br />
:[White Hat stops to take out his smartphone tapping on it. Megan stops and turns towards him.]<br />
:White Hat: Sure it is. Neutrons are, too.<br />
:Megan: Do you mean "up" and "down" quarks? I think antiquarks are a different thing.<br />
:White Hat: No, let me show you...<br />
:Tap <br />
:Tap<br />
<br />
:[Zooming in on White Hat's head, while he is holding his phone up looking at it. He is thinking as shown with a bubbly thought bubble.]<br />
:White Hat (thinking): I'm...wrong?<br />
<br />
:[White Hat has lowered the phone. He is still thinking the same but the text has been scribbled out.]<br />
:White Hat (thinking): I'm...wrong?<br />
<br />
:[White Hat purges the thought from his mind]<br />
:White Hat (thinking): ...<br />
<br />
:[Similar setting as in the first panel, but in a full row wide panel, and White Hat is still holding his smartphone]<br />
:White Hat: Really, the whole idea of "particles" is inaccurate. These are abstractions arising from quantum field theory, but what most people don't realize is...<br />
:Megan: <small>*Sigh*</small><br />
<br />
==Trivia==<br />
*This comic could be seen as a follow up to [[1605: DNA]]. Going back through the last White Hat appearances it turns out that DNA, 13 White Hat comics back, is actually the last where White Hat has been the fall guy. For instance he has the opposite role in [[1640: Super Bowl Context]], and he is not "the stupid guy" in the comics between that and this one, but often just another guy than Cueball. Further back in [[1255: Columbus]] he was again the fall guy, and again it reminds a bit about this comic. Actually Megan even begins that comic with a *sigh* like she finished this one.<br />
*Quarks are also referenced in [[1418: Horse]], [[1621: Fixion]] and the first time they were mentioned, in [[474: Turn-On]], all six flavors were also mentioned.<br />
*Antimatter is also referenced in [[683: Science Montage]], [[826: Guest Week: Zach Weiner (SMBC)]] and [[1621: Fixion]] as well as being the subject of the [[what if?]] ''{{what if|114|Antimatter}}''. It was also mentioned in another ''what if?'': ''{{what if|79|Lake Tea}}''. <br />
*A similar thought process where earlier thoughts are scribbled out was used by Cueball in [[1650: Baby]], but for different reasons.<br />
<br />
{{comic discussion}}<br />
<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring White Hat]]<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]<br />
[[Category:Physics]]<br />
[[Category:Smartphones]]</div>Yosho27https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=Talk:1731:_Wrong&diff=126443Talk:1731: Wrong2016-09-09T13:15:33Z<p>Yosho27: </p>
<hr />
<div><!--Please sign your posts with ~~~~--><br />
<br />
I wrote up a first explanation of the comic. Someone else also added in a sentence, which nicely merged in to the explanation. Still needs revision and links to articles, as well as an explanation of the title text [[Special:Contributions/172.68.35.81|172.68.35.81]] 04:38, 9 September 2016 (UTC)<br />
<br />
Uh... what do you mean by "just a few sentences to kick this off"??? I don't know how to fix this because I don't understand what you mean. [[User:JayRulesXKCD|JayRulesXKCD]] ([[User talk:JayRulesXKCD|talk]]) 7:52, 9 September 2016 (EDT)<br />
: Oh, sorry. While I was writing up an explanation, KangaroOS put in the sentence "Some people are just too prideful to admit that they are inherently fallible. White Hat is one of those people." and put in that tag. When I went to save it, it told me I had to merge our revisions, which worked fine, but I just forgot to merge the tags. [[User:Yosho27|Yosho27]] ([[User talk:Yosho27|talk]]) 13:01, 9 September 2016 (UTC)<br />
: Also, if anyone's looking at the article history "172.68.35.81" and "Yosho27" are both me (I signed in halfway through) [[User:Yosho27|Yosho27]] ([[User talk:Yosho27|talk]]) 13:12, 9 September 2016 (UTC)<br />
<br />
mansplaining much? --[[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.84|141.101.98.84]] 11:55, 9 September 2016 (UTC)<br />
: I don't think so. [[User:Elektrizikekswerk|Elektrizikekswerk]] ([[User talk:Elektrizikekswerk|talk]]) 12:29, 9 September 2016 (UTC)</div>Yosho27https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=Talk:1731:_Wrong&diff=126442Talk:1731: Wrong2016-09-09T13:12:42Z<p>Yosho27: </p>
<hr />
<div><!--Please sign your posts with ~~~~--><br />
<br />
I wrote up a first explanation of the comic. Someone else also added in a sentence, which nicely merged in to the explanation. Still needs revision and links to articles, as well as an explanation of the title text [[Special:Contributions/172.68.35.81|172.68.35.81]] 04:38, 9 September 2016 (UTC)<br />
<br />
Uh... what do you mean by "just a few sentences to kick this off"??? I don't know how to fix this because I don't understand what you mean. [[User:JayRulesXKCD|JayRulesXKCD]] ([[User talk:JayRulesXKCD|talk]]) 7:52, 9 September 2016 (EDT)<br />
: Oh, sorry. While I was writing up an explanation, KangaroOS put in the sentence "Some people are just too prideful to admit that they are inherently fallible. White Hat is one of those people." and put in that tag. When I went to save it, it told me I had to merge our revisions, which worked fine, but I just forgot to merge the tags. [[Special:Contributions/172.68.35.81|172.68.35.81]] 13:01, 9 September 2016 (UTC)<br />
: Also, if anyone's looking at the article history "172.68.35.81" and "Yosho27" are both me (I signed in halfway through) [[User:Yosho27|Yosho27]] ([[User talk:Yosho27|talk]]) 13:12, 9 September 2016 (UTC)<br />
<br />
mansplaining much? --[[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.84|141.101.98.84]] 11:55, 9 September 2016 (UTC)<br />
: I don't think so. [[User:Elektrizikekswerk|Elektrizikekswerk]] ([[User talk:Elektrizikekswerk|talk]]) 12:29, 9 September 2016 (UTC)</div>Yosho27https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=Talk:1731:_Wrong&diff=126441Talk:1731: Wrong2016-09-09T13:12:09Z<p>Yosho27: </p>
<hr />
<div><!--Please sign your posts with ~~~~--><br />
<br />
I wrote up a first explanation of the comic. Someone else also added in a sentence, which nicely merged in to the explanation. Still needs revision and links to articles, as well as an explanation of the title text [[Special:Contributions/172.68.35.81|172.68.35.81]] 04:38, 9 September 2016 (UTC)<br />
<br />
Uh... what do you mean by "just a few sentences to kick this off"??? I don't know how to fix this because I don't understand what you mean. [[User:JayRulesXKCD|JayRulesXKCD]] ([[User talk:JayRulesXKCD|talk]]) 7:52, 9 September 2016 (EDT)<br />
: Oh, sorry. While I was writing up an explanation, KangaroOS put in the sentence "Some people are just too prideful to admit that they are inherently fallible. White Hat is one of those people." and put in that tag. When I went to save it, it told me I had to merge our revisions, which worked fine, but I just forgot to merge the tags. [[Special:Contributions/172.68.35.81|172.68.35.81]] 13:01, 9 September 2016 (UTC)<br />
: Also, if anyone's looking at the article history "172.68.35.81" and "Yosho27" are both me (I signed in halfway through)<br />
<br />
mansplaining much? --[[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.84|141.101.98.84]] 11:55, 9 September 2016 (UTC)<br />
: I don't think so. [[User:Elektrizikekswerk|Elektrizikekswerk]] ([[User talk:Elektrizikekswerk|talk]]) 12:29, 9 September 2016 (UTC)</div>Yosho27https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=1731:_Wrong&diff=1264401731: Wrong2016-09-09T13:07:44Z<p>Yosho27: /* Explanation */</p>
<hr />
<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 1731<br />
| date = September 9, 2016<br />
| title = Wrong<br />
| image = wrong.png<br />
| titletext = Hang on, I just remembered another thing I'm right about. See...<br />
}}<br />
<br />
==Explanation==<br />
{{incomplete|Needs explanation of title text.}}<br />
<br />
All objects on Earth are matter, meaning they are made of {{w|Atom|atoms}}. Atoms, while in the past were believed to be the smallest unit of matter, are now known to be made up of {{w|Proton|protons}}, {{w|Neutron|neutrons}} and {{w|Electron|electrons}}. Protons and neutrons are in turn made up of {{w|Quark|quarks}}. Quarks come in six different "{{w|Flavour (particle physics)|flavors}}" (up, down, top, bottom, charm, and strange), with protons and neutrons being made of the first two types. Each quark also has a corresponding {{w|Antiparticle|antiparticle}}, antiquark, which would make up antiprotons and antineutrons.<br />
<br />
White Hat and Megan appear to be discussing the topics of {{w|Antimatter|antimatter}} and subatomic particles. White Hat makes the assertion that we (referring to people and objects) are made partially of antimatter, because, as he claims, a proton (one of the particles which makes up all matter) is made of two quarks and an antiquark. In fact, protons are made up of two up quarks and a down quark. He is making the simple mistake of mixing up the difference between flavors of quarks with the difference between particles and antiparticles. He continues to elaborate on his idea by mentioning neutrons, which are made of two down quarks and an up quark, but, by his reasoning, they would be made of two antiquarks and and a quark.<br />
<br />
When Megan (accurately) doubts this claim, White Hat takes out his phone to look it up, in order to show Megan that he is correct. However, upon seeing results (from Wikipedia or another site), he realizes that he was in fact incorrect. Not wanting to be incorrect or give up his position in the discussion, he convinces himself that he wasn't actually wrong, and instead completely changes the topic to try and reframe it so he may in some convoluted way not be completely wrong. It is rather common to not admit fault, and instead trying to maintain an air on infallibility and intelligence. Some people are just too prideful to admit that they are inherently fallible. White Hat is one of those people.<br />
<br />
Megan, however, recognizes exactly what he is trying to do, and can only sigh in response to his failed efforts.<br />
<br />
Quarks are also mentioned in ''[[474: Turn-On]]'' and antimatter is mentioned in various ''[[what if?]]'' articles.<br />
<br />
==Transcript==<br />
{{incomplete transcript}}<br />
<br />
:[White Hat and Megan are walking.]<br />
:White Hat: Really, we're all made of antimatter. A proton consists of two quarks and an antiquark.<br />
:Megan: ...I don't think that's right.<br />
:White Hat: Sure it is. Neutrons are, too.<br />
:Megan: Do you mean "up" and "down" quarks? I think antiquarks are a different thing.<br />
:White Hat: No, let me show you...<br />
<br />
:[White Hat takes out a cell phone.]<br />
:Cell Phone: tap tap<br />
:White Hat [thinking]: I'm...wrong?<br />
:["I'm...wrong?" is scribbled out]<br />
:White Hat [thinking]: ...<br />
<br />
:White Hat: Really, the whole idea of "particles" is inaccurate. These are abstractions arising quantum field theory, but what most people don't realize is...<br />
:Megan: *sigh*<br />
<br />
{{comic discussion}}</div>Yosho27https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=Talk:1731:_Wrong&diff=126439Talk:1731: Wrong2016-09-09T13:02:07Z<p>Yosho27: </p>
<hr />
<div><!--Please sign your posts with ~~~~--><br />
<br />
I wrote up a first explanation of the comic. Someone else also added in a sentence, which nicely merged in to the explanation. Still needs revision and links to articles, as well as an explanation of the title text [[Special:Contributions/172.68.35.81|172.68.35.81]] 04:38, 9 September 2016 (UTC)<br />
<br />
Uh... what do you mean by "just a few sentences to kick this off"??? I don't know how to fix this because I don't understand what you mean. [[User:JayRulesXKCD|JayRulesXKCD]] ([[User talk:JayRulesXKCD|talk]]) 7:52, 9 September 2016 (EDT)<br />
: Oh, sorry. While I was writing up an explanation, KangaroOS put in the sentence "Some people are just too prideful to admit that they are inherently fallible. White Hat is one of those people." and put in that tag. When I went to save it, it told me I had to merge our revisions, which worked fine, but I just forgot to merge the tags. [[Special:Contributions/172.68.35.81|172.68.35.81]] 13:01, 9 September 2016 (UTC)<br />
<br />
mansplaining much? --[[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.84|141.101.98.84]] 11:55, 9 September 2016 (UTC)<br />
: I don't think so. [[User:Elektrizikekswerk|Elektrizikekswerk]] ([[User talk:Elektrizikekswerk|talk]]) 12:29, 9 September 2016 (UTC)</div>Yosho27https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=Talk:1731:_Wrong&diff=126438Talk:1731: Wrong2016-09-09T13:01:15Z<p>Yosho27: </p>
<hr />
<div><!--Please sign your posts with ~~~~--><br />
<br />
I wrote up a first explanation of the comic. Someone else also added in a sentence, which nicely merged in to the explanation. Still needs revision and links to articles, as well as an explanation of the title text [[Special:Contributions/172.68.35.81|172.68.35.81]] 04:38, 9 September 2016 (UTC)<br />
<br />
Uh... what do you mean by "just a few sentences to kick this off"??? I don't know how to fix this because I don't understand what you mean. [[User:JayRulesXKCD|JayRulesXKCD]] ([[User talk:JayRulesXKCD|talk]]) 7:52, 9 September 2016 (EDT)<br />
: Oh, sorry. While I was writing up an explanation, KangaroOS put in the sentence "Some people are just too prideful to admit that they are inherently fallible. White Hat is one of those people." and put in that tag. When I went to save it, it told me I had to merge our revisions, which worked fine, but I just forgot to merge the tags. [[User:Yosho27|Yosho27]] ([[User talk:Yosho27|talk]]) 13:01, 9 September 2016 (UTC)<br />
<br />
mansplaining much? --[[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.84|141.101.98.84]] 11:55, 9 September 2016 (UTC)<br />
: I don't think so. [[User:Elektrizikekswerk|Elektrizikekswerk]] ([[User talk:Elektrizikekswerk|talk]]) 12:29, 9 September 2016 (UTC)</div>Yosho27