https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/api.php?action=feedcontributions&user=108.162.237.28&feedformat=atomexplain xkcd - User contributions [en]2024-03-19T14:02:04ZUser contributionsMediaWiki 1.30.0https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=1731:_Wrong&diff=2053291731: Wrong2021-01-26T01:07:01Z<p>108.162.237.28: /* Explanation */ It was already obvious before.</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 />
All matter that we encounter in everyday life is normal matter and not {{w|Antimatter|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}}, which are fundamental particles (meaning not made of other particles). Quarks come in six different "{{w|Flavour (particle physics)|flavours}}" (up, down, top, bottom, charm, and strange), with protons and neutrons being made of up and down quarks. Each flavour also has a corresponding {{w|Antiparticle|antiparticle}}, an antiquark, which would make up antiprotons and antineutrons.<br />
<br />
[[White Hat]] and [[Megan]] appear to be discussing the topics of 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 make 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, which are all not antiquarks. He is likely making the mistake of mixing up the "up" and "down" flavours of quarks (which can be seen as complementary flavours of quarks) and mistaking them to be mutual antiparticles. He continues to elaborate on his idea by mentioning neutrons, which are made of two down quarks and an up 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 artefact of perturbation theory.)<br />
<br />
When Megan (accurately) doubts his claim, White Hat takes out his smartphone to look it up, in order to show Megan that he is correct. However, upon researching online, he realizes that he was, in fact, '''wrong''' (hence the title of the comic). Not wanting to admit being incorrect or yield his position in the discussion, he convinces himself that he wasn't actually wrong, as depicted by his mentally erasing the realization that he was wrong. Instead, he completely changes the topic to try and re-frame it so that he is not wrong. In this case, he circles back and criticizes the entire scientific concept of "particles", which can be seen as an attempt at {{w|straw man}} on his part. Presumably, he will go on to explain how humans are not made of particles and quarks, but of waves.<br />
<br />
It is rather common to be unwilling to admit fault (the whole topic of this comic) and to instead try to maintain an air of 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 one Megan is not well versed in (inferred by the fact that she was not quite sure about the anti-quarks). So he may be raising the topic because he believes she will not understand it sufficiently to refute his correctness. Megan, however, recognizes exactly what he is trying to do, and can only sigh in response to his failed efforts. In {{w|Quantum field theory|QFT}} particles are often described as {{w|Resonance (particle physics)|resonances}} or {{w|excited state|excited states}} of the underlying physical field, in the same way as photons may be thought of as excitations in the electromagnetic field; in this way White Hat appears to be dismissing his earlier errors by implying that particles are merely an effect of something more complex, of which he can demonstrate his knowledge. Furthermore, in quantum field theory quarks do not exist in the conventional sense.<br />
<br />
In the title text, White Hat just remembers another thing he's right about. This demonstrates even more clearly that he is not interested in a discussion on the merits of a topic, but instead is seeking only recognition and validation for being right. 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>108.162.237.28https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=842:_Mark&diff=205327842: Mark2021-01-26T01:00:00Z<p>108.162.237.28: /* Explanation */ Noted that the mark should not have lasted for so long</p>
<hr />
<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 842<br />
| date = January 3, 2011<br />
| title = Mark<br />
| image = mark.png<br />
| titletext = I'm a solipsistic conspiracy theorist. I'm sure I must be up to something, and I will not stop until I find out what.<br />
}}<br />
<br />
==Explanation==<br />
In this comic, [[Science Girl]] asks [[Cueball]] about a mark on his arm. He apparently believes he is part of a secret society, so secret that he doesn't know anything about the society. His belief in the existence of the society, and that he is a part of it, stem from one contact with an 'agent'. Most people would immediately dismiss the idea of such a secret society, especially with no evidence of its existence, and no knowledge of the goals or even whether it is inherently good or evil. <br />
<br />
Six years after being 'chosen', Cueball finds the scrap of paper with an address on it, and the can of {{w|kerosene}}. Both of these events are not unlikely, and easily explained as simple coincidences, but Cueball somehow sees this as a command that he must burn down the house. Cueball shows that he is willing to put other people's lives at risk, destroy property and possessions, and face the possibility of prison, all because of one event six years prior.<br />
<br />
Cueball's belief in the society, his delusional linking of the address and kerosene, and his actions in burning down the house, show how badly he wants to be part of something bigger, and to find meaning in the "Chaos of Life". <br />
<br />
The punchline refers to an old grade school/middle school prank (Urban Dictionary: [http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=pen15+club pen 15 club], [http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=pen15 Pen 15].) You'd typically walk up to an unsuspecting schoolmate and ask them if he wants to join the Pen Fifteen Club. You'd tell them that to join, you merely have to write the club name on them. You'd then write "PEN15" on their hand or arm, and everyone would laugh at them because it looks like "PENIS". (In a common variant, it is simply called the Pen Club, 15 is the victim's "member number", and the pranksters write "PEN13" and "PEN14" on themselves.) In this case, [[Cueball]] fell victim to this prank as a child without ever figuring out the joke, and the ink somehow never got washed off by showers or baths or removed by shedding skin. In reality, it would be unlikely for such a mark to last for so long.<br />
<br />
As for the title text, {{w|solipsism}} is the philosophical idea that only your own mind is sure to exist while other minds can't be really known and so those other minds are not proved to be real. In this context it might mean that the only one who can conspire would be you, hiding the truth from yourself.<br />
<br />
==Transcript==<br />
:[Cueball and Science Girl are talking.]<br />
:Science Girl: What's that on your arm?<br />
:Cueball: The mark of a secret society.<br />
<br />
:Science Girl: If it's secret, why tell me-<br />
:Cueball: Because I know nothing. I can't betray them because I don't know who they are. I was chosen by an agent 20 years ago. That was my first and last direct contact.<br />
:Cueball: It's safer that way.<br />
<br />
:Six years later I found a piece of paper in the street with an address on it. The next day I found a can of kerosene in my garage that I'm sure I never bought.<br />
:[The panel represents these actions by highlighting the mentioned objects in a world of gray.]<br />
<br />
:I didn't know whose house it was. I just knew that I'd been given my orders. And I carried them out.<br />
:[A dark figure holding the kerosene is silhouetted against a flame.]<br />
<br />
:Cueball: I don't know who or what we're fighting.<br />
:Cueball: Maybe we're the bad guys. <br />
:Cueball: It doesn't matter to me.<br />
<br />
:Cueball: It's enough to know that there are forces working beneath the chaos of life, and I'm a ''part'' of them.<br />
<br />
:Cueball: That whatever this "Pen Fifteen" club is,<br />
:Cueball: I'm ''in'' it.<br />
<br />
{{comic discussion}}<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]<br />
[[Category:Comics with color]]<br />
[[Category:Penis]]<br />
[[Category:Philosophy]]<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Science Girl]]</div>108.162.237.28https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=2416:_Trash_Compactor_Party&diff=2053252416: Trash Compactor Party2021-01-26T00:55:45Z<p>108.162.237.28: /* Explanation */ Added to the explanation</p>
<hr />
<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 2416<br />
| date = January 26, 2021<br />
| title = Trash Compactor Party<br />
| image = trash_compactor_party.png<br />
| titletext = What an incredible smell you've discovered.<br />
}}<br />
<br />
==Explanation==<br />
{{incomplete|Created by a FORMER SOCIAL-DISTANCER. Please mention here why this explanation isn't complete. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}<br />
Randall has gotten tired of social distancing and wants to do the exact opposite when he can. The exact opposite of social distancing would be being crushed together by some sort of compactor. Needless to say, although it would presumably not carry a risk of COVID-19, this would not be a good idea because the participants would be crushed to death. Also, the normal operators of the trash compactor would get angry if they find out, but this might be a positive, as they would stop the trash compactor (likely to the participants' dismay), which would save the participants' lives (and then likely call the police).<br />
<br />
Cueball and Megan are trying to push the walls of the trash compactor back in order to prevent it from crushing them to death. Not only are they not strong enough to make a significant difference, but it is pointless, as if they want to be close together, they should not be pushing it back, and if they want to survive, they can simply walk out from between the walls of the crash compactor. However, [[162: Angular Momentum|maybe they want to make this moment free of social distancing last as long as possible]].<br />
<br />
It should be noted that even after the majority of the population has been vaccinated against COVID-19, other potentially fatal respiratory illnesses, such as influenza, will still be circulating, so social distancing will still be a good idea, just not as imperative.<br />
<br />
==Transcript==<br />
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}<br />
<br />
{{comic discussion}}<br />
<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Science Girl]]<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring White Hat]]<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Ponytail]]<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]<br />
[[Category:COVID-19]]</div>108.162.237.28https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=2416:_Trash_Compactor_Party&diff=2053242416: Trash Compactor Party2021-01-26T00:50:12Z<p>108.162.237.28: /* Transcript */ Added some categories</p>
<hr />
<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 2416<br />
| date = January 26, 2021<br />
| title = Trash Compactor Party<br />
| image = trash_compactor_party.png<br />
| titletext = What an incredible smell you've discovered.<br />
}}<br />
<br />
==Explanation==<br />
{{incomplete|Created by a FORMER SOCIAL-DISTANCER. Please mention here why this explanation isn't complete. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}<br />
Randall has gotten tired of social distancing and wants to do the exact opposite when he can. The exact opposite of social distancing would be being crushed together by some sort of compactor. Needless to say, although it would presumably not carry a risk of COVID-19, this would not be a good idea because the participants would be crushed to death. Also, the normal operators of the trash compactor would get angry if they find out, but this might be a positive, as they would stop the trash compactor (likely to the participants' dismay), which would save the participants' lives (and then likely call the police).<br />
<br />
==Transcript==<br />
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}<br />
<br />
{{comic discussion}}<br />
<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Science Girl]]<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring White Hat]]<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Ponytail]]<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]<br />
[[Category:COVID-19]]</div>108.162.237.28https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=2416:_Trash_Compactor_Party&diff=2053232416: Trash Compactor Party2021-01-26T00:47:35Z<p>108.162.237.28: /* Explanation */ Started the explanation</p>
<hr />
<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 2416<br />
| date = January 26, 2021<br />
| title = Trash Compactor Party<br />
| image = trash_compactor_party.png<br />
| titletext = What an incredible smell you've discovered.<br />
}}<br />
<br />
==Explanation==<br />
{{incomplete|Created by a FORMER SOCIAL-DISTANCER. Please mention here why this explanation isn't complete. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}<br />
Randall has gotten tired of social distancing and wants to do the exact opposite when he can. The exact opposite of social distancing would be being crushed together by some sort of compactor. Needless to say, although it would presumably not carry a risk of COVID-19, this would not be a good idea because the participants would be crushed to death. Also, the normal operators of the trash compactor would get angry if they find out, but this might be a positive, as they would stop the trash compactor (likely to the participants' dismay), which would save the participants' lives (and then likely call the police).<br />
<br />
==Transcript==<br />
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}<br />
<br />
{{comic discussion}}</div>108.162.237.28https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=Talk:2414:_Solar_System_Compression_Artifacts&diff=205188Talk:2414: Solar System Compression Artifacts2021-01-22T16:52:56Z<p>108.162.237.28: edit to previous comment</p>
<hr />
<div><!--Please sign your posts with ~~~~ and don't delete this text. New comments should be added at the bottom.--><br />
"([Compression artefacts] may become literally unnoticeable because hexadecimal color values are discrete[...]" - disagree. Artefacts exist ''because'' of a discrete nature. Either of the RGB(/HSV/whatever) granularity, the lower the colour depth, or of the method used to get around the overheads of storing literal 24+ bits of colour-depth across a given image size. TrueColo(u)r should escape ''perceived'' colour-banding, but any image editor knows (or relies upon) that any flood-fill/by-colour-selection used with an absolute drift range away from the datum spot less than that across a gradient spills away from it can highlight 'hidden' edges between (say) <span style="color:#789ABC">#789ABC</span> and <span style="color:#789BBC">#789BBC</span>. What we have here is low bit-depth (grey-shade or equal-RGB, apparently 4-bit(/each), counting the 16 bands thanks to the mach-banding) non-dithered band-shading of a possibly nuanced (fractal?) shade fall-off. Possibly a 2D slice through 3D (or more, e.g. if animated) of voxelated (or hypervoxelated) stored values, which use up a ''lot'' of space in the Universe Simulator. Perhaps there's also something like Discrete Cosine Transform compression for easier block/chunk storage, retrieval and/or generation-on-demand (with detailed deltas for complex overlaying features such as Voyager). Because the Creator/Programmer of the universe has limited storage/processor cycles! [[Special:Contributions/141.101.105.122|141.101.105.122]] 01:39, 21 January 2021 (UTC)<br />
:tl;dr?<span> β [[User:Sqrt-1|The <b>π¦πΎπΏπ-π</b>]] <sup>[[User talk:Sqrt-1|<span style="color: blue">talk</span>]] [[Special:Contributions/Sqrt-1|<span style="color: blue">stalk</span>]]</sup></span> 13:16, 21 January 2021 (UTC)<br />
::TLDR is this Tom Scott video on the topic: https://youtu.be/h9j89L8eQQk. Short version: the difference between blacks #010101 and #020202 (a doubling of brightness) is more noticeable than the difference between whites #FEFEFE and #FDFDFD (a 0.00001% change in brightness). If your picture is dark, and especially if it is compressed, you will often get ugly bands of different shades of black. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.237.28|108.162.237.28]] 16:50, 22 January 2021 (UTC)<br />
I would suggest that more emphasis needs to be placed on 'dynamic range' and 'undetectable' in this explanation. Particularly noticeable in streaming video codecs, you often can't decipher any information in dark scenes/regions. So the joke is that the map beyond here is empty, mostly because it is too far down in the dynamic range of our lossy observations. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.219.80|108.162.219.80]] 17:36, 21 January 2021 (UTC)<br />
:Re "...stretches out over maybe a dozen such low-res pixels/AUs, which is equivalent to slightly more than the radius of Saturn's orbit or the entire diameter of Jupiter's!", this assumes that Jupiter and Voyager are the same distance from the imaginary "camera". I can completely cover the moon with my thumb, but that does not imply that they are similar in size, because my thumb is closer to my eye. ''(Unsigned!)''<br />
::I presume that this is the 'data' version of our system, straight from the 'cosmic computer' behind reality, viewed orthographically like a Minecraft map. But it matters not. The text quoted clearly gives scale context (on the justifiable presumption that the low-res grid is a 1AU-sized display of solar particle distribution) that "the range of the map the Voyager covers is like the size of these orbits". Just like "the area of the sky my thumb obscures is roughly a Moon-width". [[Special:Contributions/141.101.104.241|141.101.104.241]] 01:18, 22 January 2021 (UTC)<br />
:Re: "The Voyager image (and track) is overlaid at finer resolution", if it not unheard-of for a compression algorithm to render, say, 32x32 pixel blocks as if they were single, larger pixels if their immediate neighbors are almost the same shade, while rendering small, detailed, and high contrast portions of the image at a higher resolution. No "overlay" required. ''(Still unsigned!)''<br />
::Within an area of finer details, artefacts ''would'' be seen as the "meh, this is just one block" attitude is changed to incorperate detail of interest within a sub-block. There's no sign of fringe-artefacts (other than normal XKCS antialiasing of lines against background). I'd say it was a "solar wind" low-detail layer over which is incorporated a "Voyager" standard-detail layer with transparency, not a single layer of subject-aware tunable blockwise compression. (It might have come out differently if the composition was saved in an actual lossy-compression, by Randall, rather than .png, but for different reasons. Bit that's a meta-discussion issue, not nerd-sniping.) [[Special:Contributions/141.101.104.241|141.101.104.241]] 01:18, 22 January 2021 (UTC)<br />
This doesn't just happen in old images. I still see this frequently when watching movies, even new ones, where what should be a smooth gradation of tones shows steps. The other obvious defect is poor sprite handling, which causes artifacts like someone's facial features not moving with their head movements.<br />
I'm not sure dithering would be a useful way to dispel the banding, since dithering would increase the compressed data size because you no longer have large areas of all-the-same-pixel-value.<br />
The banding could also be an artifact of the decompression. If you consider that a format like JPEG uses something like Fourier transforms it seems it should be able to represent a gradation easily and the stepped banding with difficulty, so I might be tempted to blame the banding on the decompression code.[[Special:Contributions/108.162.241.70|108.162.241.70]] 13:46, 22 January 2021 (UTC)<br />
<br />
== Source of Voyager 1 ==<br />
<br />
Given Voyager 1's distance and age now, wouldn't it be more appropriate to change the opening explanatory sentence to "Voyager 1 is a space probe launched from Earth in 1977."<br />
The only sentient creatures who may still care about its origins in the United States are probably also from the United States. The next sentient beings to encounter Voyager 1 will have no understanding of what the United States is or was.</div>108.162.237.28https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=Talk:2414:_Solar_System_Compression_Artifacts&diff=205187Talk:2414: Solar System Compression Artifacts2021-01-22T16:50:41Z<p>108.162.237.28: explaining dark color banding</p>
<hr />
<div><!--Please sign your posts with ~~~~ and don't delete this text. New comments should be added at the bottom.--><br />
"([Compression artefacts] may become literally unnoticeable because hexadecimal color values are discrete[...]" - disagree. Artefacts exist ''because'' of a discrete nature. Either of the RGB(/HSV/whatever) granularity, the lower the colour depth, or of the method used to get around the overheads of storing literal 24+ bits of colour-depth across a given image size. TrueColo(u)r should escape ''perceived'' colour-banding, but any image editor knows (or relies upon) that any flood-fill/by-colour-selection used with an absolute drift range away from the datum spot less than that across a gradient spills away from it can highlight 'hidden' edges between (say) <span style="color:#789ABC">#789ABC</span> and <span style="color:#789BBC">#789BBC</span>. What we have here is low bit-depth (grey-shade or equal-RGB, apparently 4-bit(/each), counting the 16 bands thanks to the mach-banding) non-dithered band-shading of a possibly nuanced (fractal?) shade fall-off. Possibly a 2D slice through 3D (or more, e.g. if animated) of voxelated (or hypervoxelated) stored values, which use up a ''lot'' of space in the Universe Simulator. Perhaps there's also something like Discrete Cosine Transform compression for easier block/chunk storage, retrieval and/or generation-on-demand (with detailed deltas for complex overlaying features such as Voyager). Because the Creator/Programmer of the universe has limited storage/processor cycles! [[Special:Contributions/141.101.105.122|141.101.105.122]] 01:39, 21 January 2021 (UTC)<br />
:tl;dr?<span> β [[User:Sqrt-1|The <b>π¦πΎπΏπ-π</b>]] <sup>[[User talk:Sqrt-1|<span style="color: blue">talk</span>]] [[Special:Contributions/Sqrt-1|<span style="color: blue">stalk</span>]]</sup></span> 13:16, 21 January 2021 (UTC)<br />
::TLDR is this Tom Scott video on the topic: https://youtu.be/h9j89L8eQQk. Short version: the difference between blacks #010101 and #020202 is more noticeable than the difference between whites #FEFEFE and #FDFDFD. If your picture is dark, and especially if it is compressed, you will often get ugly bands of different shades of black. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.237.28|108.162.237.28]] 16:50, 22 January 2021 (UTC)<br />
I would suggest that more emphasis needs to be placed on 'dynamic range' and 'undetectable' in this explanation. Particularly noticeable in streaming video codecs, you often can't decipher any information in dark scenes/regions. So the joke is that the map beyond here is empty, mostly because it is too far down in the dynamic range of our lossy observations. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.219.80|108.162.219.80]] 17:36, 21 January 2021 (UTC)<br />
:Re "...stretches out over maybe a dozen such low-res pixels/AUs, which is equivalent to slightly more than the radius of Saturn's orbit or the entire diameter of Jupiter's!", this assumes that Jupiter and Voyager are the same distance from the imaginary "camera". I can completely cover the moon with my thumb, but that does not imply that they are similar in size, because my thumb is closer to my eye. ''(Unsigned!)''<br />
::I presume that this is the 'data' version of our system, straight from the 'cosmic computer' behind reality, viewed orthographically like a Minecraft map. But it matters not. The text quoted clearly gives scale context (on the justifiable presumption that the low-res grid is a 1AU-sized display of solar particle distribution) that "the range of the map the Voyager covers is like the size of these orbits". Just like "the area of the sky my thumb obscures is roughly a Moon-width". [[Special:Contributions/141.101.104.241|141.101.104.241]] 01:18, 22 January 2021 (UTC)<br />
:Re: "The Voyager image (and track) is overlaid at finer resolution", if it not unheard-of for a compression algorithm to render, say, 32x32 pixel blocks as if they were single, larger pixels if their immediate neighbors are almost the same shade, while rendering small, detailed, and high contrast portions of the image at a higher resolution. No "overlay" required. ''(Still unsigned!)''<br />
::Within an area of finer details, artefacts ''would'' be seen as the "meh, this is just one block" attitude is changed to incorperate detail of interest within a sub-block. There's no sign of fringe-artefacts (other than normal XKCS antialiasing of lines against background). I'd say it was a "solar wind" low-detail layer over which is incorporated a "Voyager" standard-detail layer with transparency, not a single layer of subject-aware tunable blockwise compression. (It might have come out differently if the composition was saved in an actual lossy-compression, by Randall, rather than .png, but for different reasons. Bit that's a meta-discussion issue, not nerd-sniping.) [[Special:Contributions/141.101.104.241|141.101.104.241]] 01:18, 22 January 2021 (UTC)<br />
This doesn't just happen in old images. I still see this frequently when watching movies, even new ones, where what should be a smooth gradation of tones shows steps. The other obvious defect is poor sprite handling, which causes artifacts like someone's facial features not moving with their head movements.<br />
I'm not sure dithering would be a useful way to dispel the banding, since dithering would increase the compressed data size because you no longer have large areas of all-the-same-pixel-value.<br />
The banding could also be an artifact of the decompression. If you consider that a format like JPEG uses something like Fourier transforms it seems it should be able to represent a gradation easily and the stepped banding with difficulty, so I might be tempted to blame the banding on the decompression code.[[Special:Contributions/108.162.241.70|108.162.241.70]] 13:46, 22 January 2021 (UTC)<br />
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== Source of Voyager 1 ==<br />
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Given Voyager 1's distance and age now, wouldn't it be more appropriate to change the opening explanatory sentence to "Voyager 1 is a space probe launched from Earth in 1977."<br />
The only sentient creatures who may still care about its origins in the United States are probably also from the United States. The next sentient beings to encounter Voyager 1 will have no understanding of what the United States is or was.</div>108.162.237.28https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=2041:_Frontiers&diff=1622602041: Frontiers2018-09-03T23:57:11Z<p>108.162.237.28: /* Explanation */</p>
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<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 2041<br />
| date = September 3, 2018<br />
| title = Frontiers<br />
| image = frontiers.png<br />
| titletext = Star Trek V is a small part of the space frontier, but it's been a while since that movie came out so I assume we've finished exploring it by now.<br />
}}<br />
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==Explanation==<br />
{{incomplete|Created by HUMAN ACHIEVEMENT - Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}<br />
This comic refers to what we still call the "final frontiers" of human discovery: outer space, the oceans, the human mind, and Alaska [source: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alaska:_The_Last_Frontier] These places/regions have been only partially explored, or in Alaska's case, because it's called The Last Frontier.<br />
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The title text refers to the title of ''Star Trek V'', titled ''{{w|Star Trek V: The Final Frontier}}''. Randall (mis)interprets this title as Star Trek V the movie as one of the final frontiers, but since the film was released in 1989, he states that this frontier has probably been explored already. The phrase, "the final frontier," is used in the opening narration for the original ''Star Trek'' TV series:<br />
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''Space: the final frontier. These are the voyages of the starship Enterprise. Its five-year mission: to explore strange new worlds. To seek out new life and new civilizations. To boldly go where no man has gone before!''<br />
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==Transcript==<br />
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}<br />
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{{comic discussion}}</div>108.162.237.28https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=Talk:1939:_2016_Election_Map&diff=150629Talk:1939: 2016 Election Map2018-01-08T21:54:51Z<p>108.162.237.28: </p>
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<div><!--Please sign your posts with ~~~~ and don't delete this text. New comments should be added at the bottom.--><br />
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;Why now?<br />
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So why are we getting this map now instead of a year ago? Has something significant to this area just happened in the U.S.A.? (I am a Canadian so might well have missed something.)<br />
[[Special:Contributions/108.162.216.154|108.162.216.154]] 16:42, 8 January 2018 (UTC)<br />
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I'm from the midwest in the US and I'm really confused as well... I also don't find anything particularly funny or poignant in this. So yeah, color me confused in the US. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.75.76|162.158.75.76]] 16:52, 8 January 2018 (UTC) Sam<br />
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I think the idea is that this map, while interesting as an object, still sort of fails as a map - it doesn't provide the sort of easily digestible information that a map of this variety is supposed to show. Conceptually, I don't think it's that different than #1138 (Heatmap) - the map more or less shows population density and fails to easily communicate party alignment. As to why it's showing up in the first year of 2018, my best guess is that mid-term elections are this year...? [[Special:Contributions/172.69.69.238|172.69.69.238]]<br />
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My friend I showed the comic to thinks it could be a general political commentary on the uselessness of these kinds of maps. 1. the map is a year old: useless. 2. there are no numbers: useless. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.75.76|162.158.75.76]] 17:04, 8 January 2018 (UTC) Sam.<br />
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I'm wondering if it has to do with the fact that [https://www.nytimes.com/2018/01/03/us/politics/trump-voter-fraud-commission.html Trump just disbanded the commission on voter fraud]. I think I heard somewhere that this commission was to "prove why Trump should have won the popular vote". I think the map relates to the whole popular vote versus electoral college discussion.--[[Special:Contributions/108.162.216.172|108.162.216.172]] 17:17, 8 January 2018 (UTC)<br />
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I think it might be claiming Trump only won because very many people failed to vote? Either that, or as already mentioned, it's about how useless these maps can be. [[User:Jacky720|That's right, Jacky720 just signed this]] ([[User talk:Jacky720|talk]] | [[Special:Contributions/Jacky720|contribs]]) 17:20, 8 January 2018 (UTC)<br />
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The point of the map is that the standard choropleth map for the 2016 election shows the vast majority of us area voting for Donald Trump. (shown on this link http://brilliantmaps.com/2016-county-election-map/) The comic is criticizing the visual accuracy of chloropleth maps in giving a strong understanding of election results (as the majority of voters voted for Hillary). ---- {{unsigned| Widea}}<br />
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If this map is really so correct (as stated in the caption) then it has been a huge job to collect the data so precisely and calculate how to split voters across borders when not fitting. This says to me that this is a very big issue for Randall. Of course he has made it clear many times that he is [[1756: I'm With Her|against Trumps election]] and more or less [[1756:_I'm_With_Her#Sad_comics|anything he does]]... I believe there is a lot to learn from this map as opposed to those he mentions in the title text --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 19:33, 8 January 2018 (UTC)<br />
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If this map is correct, then there are 252 Trump guys on it and 263 Clinton guys on it, a difference of 11 guys. I don't know how many "other" guys are on it. Just in case someone would like to know. [[Special:Contributions/198.41.230.4|198.41.230.4]] 20:13, 8 January 2018 (UTC)<br />
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One thing that the map does clearly show is that voters of Clinton were clustered in heavily urbanized regions (New England to Delmarva, Miami region, Chicago region, Houston and Austin, and coastal California in particular). Those same Clinton clusters are also home to the most third-party voters. Meanwhile, Trump voters were spread out more evenly and in isolated pockets, and there are very few third-party voters living out in the boonies.<br />
I think the takeaway is that Democratic voters are underrepresented because they are grouped so closely together, and those same populations are also prone to giving rise to anti-two-party sentiment. These two factors combined work against liberalist movements in the United States. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.74.225|162.158.74.225]] 20:23, 8 January 2018 (UTC)<br />
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I never realized until now just how few people live in Michigan's Upper Peninsula. --[[Special:Contributions/108.162.241.46|108.162.241.46]] 20:25, 8 January 2018 (UTC)<br />
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The claim about Trump being "obsessed" with how red the map appears seems to just be added to be inflammatory. As far as I know, he just gloated about the map a bit on Twitter on the days following his election. He definitely hasn't kept sharing red maps one year later like Randall, and I think we don't consider Randall obsessed. I'm removing it, and I'd rather this not be added back without a source that clearly shows such an obsession. [01000101] [[Special:Contributions/172.68.25.112|172.68.25.112]] 21:13, 8 January 2018 (UTC)<br />
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I count 31 "Green" folks, in addition to whoever counted the red and blues. That means our total is 546 little stick figures. I'm not sure why he picked that number, but it could be the correct number of folks to stick one on the small states of Alaska, Hawiaii, Wyoming, and the Dakotas. He also took the unusual step of counting VOTES instead of population. It'd be fun to have a version with non-voters on it. <br />
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I think Randall has always been a map enthusiast. I read this as an alternative map. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.237.28|108.162.237.28]] 21:54, 8 January 2018 (UTC)</div>108.162.237.28https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=1293:_Job_Interview&diff=1374871293: Job Interview2017-03-17T21:17:32Z<p>108.162.237.28: /* Explanation */</p>
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<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 1293<br />
| date = November 20, 2013<br />
| title = Job Interview<br />
| image = job_interview.png<br />
| titletext = When you talk about the job experience you'll give me, why do you pronounce 'job' with a long 'o'?<br />
}}<br />
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==Explanation==<br />
Following on from [[1032: Networking|his attempts at networking]], [[Beret Guy]], the oddball of the xkcd cast, conducts an interview for a programmer position at his mysteriously successful company.<br />
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Much like most of Beret Guy's interactions with people, Beret Guy is cheerful and upbeat, yet indicates that he has at best a scrambled understanding of how people in this situation normally act. Because of this, the job interview becomes increasingly bizarre, starting with Beret Guy's assertion that the company headquarters is a "real building [he] found", implying that the building's reality (and/or his right to occupy it) might be in question. He says his company makes phone accessories, but then adds, "like apps and stickers," two wildly different products in terms of both production and profitability. He is strangely vague about both the position ("someone to write on our computers") and the salary ("a bunch of paychecks"). Then he mentions ghosts, which is either a powerful disincentive from joining the company, yet another sign that Beret Guy is mentally unsound, or both.<br />
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The strip finishes with Beret Guy plugging a cord into an electrical outlet clumsily labeled "Soup," which then, implausibly, actually starts dispensing soup. Most businesses do not function like this.{{Citation needed}} However, this is a typical behaviour of Beret Guy - see a similar example in: [[1395: Power Cord]].<br />
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The title text makes reference to the biblical story of {{w|Job (biblical figure)|Job}} (pronounced with a long O to rhyme with globe), who was put through many horrendous ordeals to test his faith in God. This suggests that the interviewee will be taking on not a "job experience" but rather a "Job experience" (i.e. the job will be a horrendous ordeal).<br />
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Other job interviews were portrayed in [[125: Marketing Interview]], [[1088: Five Years]], [[1094: Interview]], and [[1545: Strengths and Weaknesses]].<br />
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==Transcript==<br />
:[Beret Guy walks in, followed by a...'prospective hire'.]<br />
:Beret Guy: Welcome to our company! We're headquartered here, in this real building I found!<br />
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:[Both people sit down at a table. The 'hire' has a tray with food and a beverage. Beret Guy has a bowl. In the adjacent wall, there is a power outlet with a paper label taped to it marked "Soup". A small roll of wire sits next to Beret Guy's chair.]<br />
:'Hire': What do you.. ''do''?<br />
:Beret Guy: We make stuff for phones! Like apps and stickers!<br />
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:[Beret Guy grabs the roll of wire.]<br />
:Beret Guy: We want to hire you to write on our computers. We can offer you a bunch of paychecks! <small>There are ghosts here.</small><br />
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:[Beret Guy unrolls the wire and plugs it into the wall.]<br />
:'Hire': ...Are you sure this is a company?<br />
:Beret Guy: I hope so!<br />
<br />
:[Soup (or something one can only hope is soup) streams out of the plugged-in wire into Beret Guy's bowl.]<br />
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{{comic discussion}}<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Hairy]]<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Beret Guy]]<br />
[[Category:Strange powers of Beret Guy]]<br />
[[Category:Beret Guy's Business]]<br />
[[Category:Religion]]<br />
[[Category:Job interviews]]<br />
[[Category:Food]]</div>108.162.237.28