https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/api.php?action=feedcontributions&user=198.41.235.59&feedformat=atomexplain xkcd - User contributions [en]2024-03-28T13:21:09ZUser contributionsMediaWiki 1.30.0https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=829:_Arsenic-Based_Life&diff=113945829: Arsenic-Based Life2016-03-04T13:55:37Z<p>198.41.235.59: /* Explanation */ Minor Edit: deleted an unnecessary "it".</p>
<hr />
<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 829<br />
| date = December 3, 2010<br />
| title = Arsenic-Based Life<br />
| image = arsenic_based_life.png<br />
| titletext = According to a new paper published in the journal Science, reporters are unable to thrive in an arsenic-rich environment.<br />
}}<br />
<br />
==Explanation==<br />
{{w|Arsenic}} is a chemical element which is known to be poisonous to humans and most other life forms. In 2010 {{w|NASA}} announced the discovery of bacteria {{w|GFAJ-1}} and claimed it to be able to sustain itself when starved of phosphorus, by substituting arsenic for a small percentage of its phosphorus. Like most other scientists [[Randall]] did not believe in this{{<br />
Citation needed}}, and indeed it was disproved in 2012. <ref>Tobias J. Erb; Patrick Kiefer; Bodo Hattendorf; Detlef Gunter; Julia Vorholt (July 8, 2012). "GFAJ-1 Is an Arsenate-Resistant, Phosphate-Dependent Organism". Science 337 (6093): 467–70. doi:10.1126/science.1218455. PMID 22773139. Retrieved 2012-07-10.</ref><br />
<br />
Three scientists, a so far unknown curly dark haired girl with a ponytail, [[Megan]] and [[Cueball]], are worried that the press conference announcing their bacteria discovery may be seen as unexciting, especially with the reporters hoping for news of life on {{w|Saturn}}'s largest moon, {{w|Titan (moon)|Titan}}. The researchers decide to try and make the event more exciting, but admit that they don't know how to throw a good party. This is probably a dig at scientists, who are often portrayed as being somewhat socially inept. As a result they turn to the internet for advice, and come up with a plan to serve cocktails and {{w|Hors d'oeuvre|hors d'œuvres}} to fit the theme of the event. <br />
<br />
The final panel shows the results of their plans, with the reporters dead (including apart from several other Cueball-like guys also the normal version of [[Ponytail]]) or dying, while the researcher Cueball stands with a tray of drinks and curly ponytail was ready to deliver the news. It becomes clear that in order to fit the theme the researchers have laced the food and drinks with arsenic. This is another joke on the perception that scientist may be extremely clever within their field, but sometimes lack common sense.<br />
<br />
The words "hors d'oerves" at the comic are just a misspelling by Randall for "hors d'oeuvres" (in French ''"hors d'œuvre"'' both singular and plural). The English pronunciation of these words is awr-DURVZ /ɔrˈdɜrvz/, with the R '''before''' the V, not after, which explains the mistake.<ref>http://www.thefreedictionary.com/hors+d%27oeuvre</ref> As opposed to the original French pronunciation, where the v and r keep the same order.<ref>http://fr.m.wiktionary.org/wiki/%C5%93uvre</ref><br />
<br />
The girl with the curly ponytail in this comic is different from the character commonly referred to as [[Ponytail]], the real Ponytail, on the other hand, is actually found amongst the dying reporters in the final panel.<br />
<br />
==Transcript==<br />
:[Three people, a curly dark haired girl with a ponytail, Megan and Cueball, stand looking at a laptop screen, which is sitting on a desk. The ponytail girl is pointing at the screen. There is no speak line down to her, but from her posture it must be assumed she does the talking written above the three]<br />
:Ponytailed girl: Our arsenic-based DNA discovery is cool, but these reporters are expecting life on Titan! Our press conference will be such a letdown!<br />
<br />
:[The ponytailed girl turns around to face Megan, zooming in so Cueball is not in the frame.]<br />
:Ponytailed girl: Okay, we need to make it more exciting for them. How do you make an event entertaining?<br />
:Megan: Dunno, I suck at parties. Music, I guess?<br />
<br />
:[The ponytailed girl turns back around and leans over to start typing on the computer, while the other two look on. Megan puts her hand to her chin.]<br />
:Ponytailed girl: WikiHow says you can "serve cocktails and hors d'œrves that fit the theme of your event."<br />
:Megan: Easy enough!<br />
<br />
:[The ponytailed girl stands at a podium behind a lectern ready to deliver the news while Cueball stands amongst the audience with a tray with three drinks glasses. A fourth glass lies at foot of the lectern on the podium. Two Cueball-like guys in the audience is lying dead on the floor, one of them having fallen backwards in his chair, a third Cueball-like guy is still standing but has his hands up to his throat as he is suffocating and finally Ponytail is slumped over in her seat with her head on her chest. One empty chair is still standing.]<br />
<br />
==References==<br />
<references/><br />
<br />
{{comic discussion}}<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Ponytail]]<br />
[[Category:Multiple Cueballs]]<br />
[[Category:Physics]]<br />
[[Category:Biology]]<br />
[[Category:Public speaking]]</div>198.41.235.59https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=349:_Success&diff=110001349: Success2016-01-26T02:17:07Z<p>198.41.235.59: /* Transcript */ added a missing comma. This does appear in the actual comic image.</p>
<hr />
<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 349<br />
| date = November 26, 2007<br />
| title = Success<br />
| image = success.png<br />
| titletext = 40% of OpenBSD installs lead to shark attacks. It's their only standing security issue.<br />
}}<br />
<br />
==Explanation==<br />
This comic refers to a common experience in which attempts to improve or change something can get you into even worse trouble, and where just getting back to the state at which you started becomes an arduous or even impossible task. Here, this idea is taken to a ridiculously (and amusingly) extreme level, where the attempt to install an operating system snowballs into ever more complicated problems, resulting in Cueball and Megan somehow literally getting themselves in deep water.<br />
<br />
The OS they are trying to install is {{w|OpenBSD}}, an {{w|open source}} {{w|Unix}} {{w|operating system}} which, like some other Unix variants, is notoriously difficult to install and configure correctly, especially on home desktops with less common hardware profiles, and especially compared with the more popular Windows operating system.<br />
<br />
The title text is a reference to OpenBSD's premium on security. For a time, their slogan was "Five years without a remote [security] hole in the default install!" This was eventually changed to "Only two remote holes in the default install, in a heck of a long time!" That their only standing security issue would be shark attacks is effectively an acknowledgement that any attempts to install the OS will only lead to getting stranded in the middle of the ocean.<br />
<br />
This comic was referenced later in [[1350: Lorenz]]. Trying to install BSD was also referenced in [[518: Flow Charts]].<br />
<br />
This comic follows a similar storyline to [[530: I'm An Idiot]] and [[1518: Typical Morning Routine]], as Cueball and [[Hairy]] respectively in these comics, encounters an issue and attempts proceedingly more absurd solutions to the issue. <br />
<br />
==Transcript==<br />
:As a project wears on, standards for success slip lower and lower.<br />
<br />
:0 hours<br />
::[Megan looking at Cueball working on the computer.]<br />
::Cueball: Okay, I should be able to dual-boot BSD soon.<br />
<br />
:6 hours<br />
::[Cueball on the floor fiddling with the open tower in front of him.]<br />
::Cueball: I'll be happy if I can get the system working like it was when I started.<br />
<br />
:10 hours<br />
::[Cueball standing in front of the computer which now has a laptop plugged into the tower.]<br />
::Cueball: Well, the desktop's a lost cause, but I think I can fix the problems the laptop's developed.<br />
<br />
:24 hours<br />
::[Cueball and Megan swimming in the sea, island and beach seen in the distance.]<br />
::Cueball: If we're lucky, the sharks will stay away until we reach shallow water.<br />
::Megan: If we make it back alive, you're never upgrading anything again.<br />
<br />
{{comic discussion}}<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]<br />
[[Category:Computers]]<br />
[[Category:Sharks]]<br />
[[Category:BSD]]</div>198.41.235.59https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=899:_Number_Line&diff=106985899: Number Line2015-12-14T20:02:25Z<p>198.41.235.59: /* Explanation */</p>
<hr />
<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 899<br />
| date = May 16, 2011<br />
| title = Number Line<br />
| image = number line.png<br />
| titletext = The Wikipedia page List of Numbers opens with "This list is incomplete; you can help by expanding it."<br />
}}<br />
<br />
== Explanation ==<br />
<br />
Once again, Randall seems to be just messing around, this time with a number line.<br />
<br />
*'''Negative numbers''' have the same magnitude as positive numbers but can only be used to represent the removal of that same magnitude (hence the term "difference" being used for subtraction).<br />
<br />
*'''0.<span style="text-decoration: overline;">99</span>'''.... is {{w|0.999...|equal to 1}} because there is no number between 0.<span style="text-decoration: overline;">99</span>.... and 1. 1 - '''0.0000000372''' is 1 bit less than the IEEE 754 32-bit floating-point representation of 1.<br />
<br />
*The '''{{w|golden ratio}}''' or "phi" is the number (1 + sqrt(5)) / 2, about 1.61803. It has many interesting mathematical properties, mostly relating to geometry, and has occasional appearances in nature, such as spirals formed by the seeds in sunflowers. It is also subject to many less credible claims, such as the belief that phi appears in {{w|Parthenon}} (a well-disputed claim) or that rectangles proportioned after phi are more aesthetically pleasing.<br />
<br />
* The approximate range from 2.1 to 2.3 is marked as '''The Forbidden Region'''. Why Randall marked this range as forbidden is really anyone's guess; it seems to be an entirely arbitrary designation.<br />
<br />
*'''{{w|e (mathematical constant)|e}}''' (Euler's number) is 2.71828... and '''π''' (pi) is 3.14159265...<br />
<br />
*'''2.9299372''' is a President's Day reference. It is the average of e and pi just as the American Presidents' Day is always observed on the 3rd Monday of February (between {{w|George Washington}} and {{w|Abraham Lincoln}}'s birthdays). Washington and Lincoln were the 1st and 16th Presidents of the USA, respectively. Each has a celebrated place in American history.<br />
<br />
*'''{{w|Gird}}''' is a purely fictional number. (The glyph that Randall uses seems to resemble an older shape of the digit 4, such as seen on [http://www.bl.uk/learning/images/mappinghist/large2296.html archaic maps].). Canon and orthodox are references to organised religions. Gird could be a reference to any or all of:<br />
**[http://www.strangehorizons.com/2000/20001120/secret_number.shtml Bleem] - a fictional integer between 3 and 4<br />
**iCarly's [http://icarly.wikia.com/wiki/Derf Derf] - a fictional integer between 5 and 6<br />
**George Carlin's [http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=bleen Bleen] - a fictional integer between 6 and 7<br />
**[http://www.scp-wiki.net/scp-033 SCP-033] - a fictional number that causes freaky things to happen<br />
**Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal's [http://www.smbc-comics.com/index.php?id=3913 Sorf] - a fictional integer between 2 and 3<br />
<br />
*'''Site of the Battle of 4.108''' is another map joke, implying that 4.108 is an actual location, where an eponymous battle was previously fought. It may be a reference (or homage) to the {{w|Battle of Wolf 359}}, a famous military conflict in the fictional universe of Star Trek.<br />
<br />
*An '''Unexplored''' region obscures the line approximately ranging all values from from 4.5 to 6.7. In the days when the Earth was still being mapped out, territories that had yet to be properly explored and charted were labelled in a similar manner. The placement of the '''Unexplored''' region on the number line indicates that all numbers in that range, including the integers 5 and 6, are completely unknown. This is, of course, patently ridiculous, and the humor seems to derive solely from how nonsensical and unbelievable it is.<br />
<br />
*It is often the case in the media that "It has been 7 years..." or "In the last 7 years..." etc. It is made to seem like a believable statistic but cannot always be true. Alternatively, it is intended as an absurd joke that the number 7 is just "not to be believed".<br />
<br />
*'''8''' is not the largest even prime, nor is it a prime at all. The largest (and only) even prime is 2. A joke intended for those who clearly know that the claim is false.<br />
<br />
*The last entry seems to be a reference to certain fields of {{w|pure mathematics}}, which focuses less on performing calculations with numbers and more on understanding structures that may be described using logic. It finishes off the tone of the comic that seems to be shaping the number line terms of what is commonly useful to certain areas of applied mathematics, rather than a complete, accurate version of the number line.<br />
<br />
The title text is a literalism joke, implying that Wikipedia would like its "{{w|List of numbers}}" page to include every number from negative infinity to infinity. It could also be a reference to {{w|Gödel's incompleteness theorems}}, which [[Randall]] has used as comic fodder before in [[468: Fetishes]]. Gödel's theorems roughly assert that a number theory could never be fully complete. The equivalent for a list of numbers is {{w|Cantor's diagonal argument}}, which is a proof that any list of real numbers can never be complete even if the list is infinitely long. Either way, any "true" Wikipedia article named "List of numbers" would perforce forever be incomplete, no matter how much it was expanded. Both Gödel's incompleteness theorems and Cantor's diagonal argument feature prominently in {{w|Gödel, Escher, Bach}} by {{w|Douglas Hofstadter}}, to whom Randall devoted later comic [[917: Hofstadter]].<br />
<br />
== Transcript ==<br />
:[Number line ranging from -1 to 10.]<br />
:[Arrow pointing left, towards negative numbers] Negative "imitator" numbers (do not use)<br />
:[Line right before the number one] 0.99... (actually 0.0000000372 less than 1)<br />
:[Line at the golden ratio.] Φ - Parthenon; sunflowers; golden ratio; wait, come back, I have facts!<br />
:[Line at a region between two and 2.2] forbidden region<br />
:[Line at Euler's number.] e<br />
:[Line a bit before 3] 2.9299372 (e and pi, observed)<br />
:[Line at π.] π<br />
:[Line at 3.5 with a ribbon as the numeral] Gird - accepted as canon by orthodox mathematicians <br />
:[Line a bit after 4.] site of battle of 4.108<br />
:[Blob between 4.5 and 6.5 labeled unexplored.]<br />
:[Line at seven.] Number indicating a factoid is made up ("every 7 years...", "science says there are 7...", etc)<br />
:[Line at eight.] Largest even prime<br />
:[Line at 8.75.] If you encounter a number higher than this, you"re not doing real math<br />
<br />
{{comic discussion}}<br />
[[Category:Math]]<br />
[[Category:Wikipedia]]</div>198.41.235.59https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=570:_New_Car&diff=103951570: New Car2015-10-25T05:44:29Z<p>198.41.235.59: /* Explanation */</p>
<hr />
<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 570<br />
| date = April 17, 2009<br />
| title = New Car<br />
| image = new_car.png<br />
| titletext = Somewhere out there is a company that has actually figured out how to enlarge penises, and it's helpless to reach potential customers.<br />
}}<br />
<br />
==Explanation==<br />
[[Cueball]] is sitting in a nice sports car, and his (Cueball-like) friend asks where he has it from. It turns out it was bought as a prize supposed to be delivered to the 100,000,000th visitor to his company's website. But the user did not react to the notice on the page about the prize, '''even though it was flashing'''.<br />
<br />
A well-known type of Internet scam tries to trick the reader into thinking that they've won a prize, often in the form of an annoying flashy ad banner (e.g. "'''You're our <span style="color: green;">100,000,000th</span> visitor!!! Click [[Special:Random|here]] to claim a <span style="color: red;">FREE</span> Ferrari!'''"). A typical {{w|clickbait}}.<br />
<br />
Cueball actually really did have a fancy car to give out, but the winner didn't claim it, believing it to be a scam. It is a bit like {{w|The Boy Who Cried Wolf|the boy who cried wolf}} — given enough lies, the truth will eventually look like a lie.<br />
<br />
The title text refers to another type of scam, advertising fake "{{w|Penis enlargement|male enhancement}}" drugs. [[Randall]] suggests that if such a drug really did exist, it would be very difficult to advertise effectively, since most people would assume it was a scam. Additionally there may be implied a relation (intersection) between people having sports cars and people needing penis enlargements: Big cars to compensate feelings of inferiority.<br />
<br />
==Transcript==<br />
:[A Cueball-like guy is standing behind, a sports car where Cueball sits turned toward him.]<br />
:Friend: When'd you get the car?<br />
<br />
:[Zoom-in on Cueball in the car.]<br />
:Cueball: It's the darndest thing. We bought it as a prize for the 100,000,000<sup>th</sup> visitor to our website.<br />
<br />
:[Zoom-in on the friend.]<br />
:Friend: And they didn't want it?<br />
:Cueball (off-screen): Apparently.<br />
<br />
:[Pan to where both the friend and Cueball in the car can be seen, but not the front of the car.]<br />
:Friend: Maybe they didn't see the notice.<br />
:Cueball: It was flashing and everything!<br />
:Friend: How bizarre.<br />
<br />
{{comic discussion}}<br />
<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]<br />
[[Category:Multiple Cueballs]]</div>198.41.235.59https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=Talk:558:_1000_Times&diff=103950Talk:558: 1000 Times2015-10-25T05:07:55Z<p>198.41.235.59: </p>
<hr />
<div>Most honest:<br />
Bailout - 1.7 x 10^11<br />
Bonuses - 1.65 x 10^8<br />
[[User:BruceJohnJennerLawso|BruceJohnJennerLawso]] ([[User talk:BruceJohnJennerLawso|talk]]) 23:39, 17 November 2013 (UTC)<br />
:so what WERE the boni for?<br />
For bringing money into the company (from the government) according to those executives' contracts<br />
<br />
[[User:Weatherlawyer| I used Google News BEFORE it was clickbait]] ([[User talk:Weatherlawyer|talk]]) 16:54, 30 January 2015 (UTC)</div>198.41.235.59https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=Talk:1593:_Play-By-Play&diff=103701Talk:1593: Play-By-Play2015-10-21T06:41:16Z<p>198.41.235.59: /* Simple Words */</p>
<hr />
<div>First!<br />
Sorry. On a more serious note, is "how rude" a reference to the ugly guy on the first Star Wars? I'm sleepy and can't think well. [[User:Mikemk|Mikemk]] ([[User talk:Mikemk|talk]]) 05:41, 21 October 2015 (UTC)<br />
:I strongly doubt it, since this is a completely unrelated topic to Star Wars [[Special:Contributions/162.158.38.231|162.158.38.231]] 06:07, 21 October 2015 (UTC)<br />
:Also, the comic doesn't even include the phrase "how rude"... [[Special:Contributions/108.162.250.161|108.162.250.161]] 06:11, 21 October 2015 (UTC)<br />
<br />
== Simple Words ==<br />
<br />
Could someone check if this is an instance of Randall Munroe doing a comic using only the 1000 most commonly used words? It looks like it might be.<br />
<br />
Nope! Lots of difficult words like "Wow" and "shelves" and "teammates"<br />
<br />
== Surreal ==<br />
<br />
I do not see this as surreal at all. His description is spot on, assuming that he knows nothing about the game.--[[Special:Contributions/141.101.79.73|141.101.79.73]] 06:32, 21 October 2015 (UTC)</div>198.41.235.59https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=Talk:1526:_Placebo_Blocker&diff=103700Talk:1526: Placebo Blocker2015-10-21T06:39:54Z<p>198.41.235.59: </p>
<hr />
<div>;Placebome<br />
<br />
The title of the referenced paper introduces the 'Placebome', the collection of genes which lead to the placebo effect. This is an absolutely ridiculous word, and would be worthy of Jonathan Eisen's [http://phylogenomics.blogspot.ch/search/label/Worst%20New%20Omics%20Word%20Award Worst New Omics Word Award]. [[User:Quantum7|Quantum7]] ([[User talk:Quantum7|talk]]) 08:31, 18 May 2015 (UTC)<br />
<br />
;Title text bottle<br />
<br />
It seems more plausible to me that the "they" and "same bottle" in the title text refer to the sugar pills for headache. The title text would then be an organic continuation of the immediately preceding dialogue. [[User:Angew|Angew]] ([[User talk:Angew|talk]]) 09:01, 18 May 2015 (UTC)<br />
:Agreed. Take two sugar pils. The second will boost the effect of the first. It could work if you believe it.--[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 12:14, 18 May 2015 (UTC)<br />
:: Agreed, updated. -- [[User:Phyzome|Phyzome]] ([[User talk:Phyzome|talk]]) 13:47, 18 May 2015 (UTC)<br />
<br />
I'm confused about why this explanation is a stub. Personally, I think it explains the comic well, but I'll refrain from removing the incomplete tag in case most people think that the explanation isn't adequate. [[User:Caeleste Alarum|Caeleste Alarum]] ([[User talk:Caeleste Alarum|talk]]) 15:21, 18 May 2015 (UTC)<br />
<br />
Wouldn't you find a malady that can be treated via placebo, like a headache, give control group A a headache pill, control group B a placebo and tell them it was a headache pill and give the test group a placebo blocker as the placebo and tell them it is a headache pill?<br />
<br />
A placebo blocker would be really useful in medical testing to find out which medicines are actually effective and which are simply producing a stronger placebo effect through a noticeable side effect.<br />
[[Special:Contributions/173.245.48.125|173.245.48.125]] 15:46, 18 May 2015 (UTC)<br />
<br />
;How to do it.<br />
<br />
Compound two sets of placebos. The control set is just sugar pills. The other set would be the blocker. Unless the active dose is massive, it'd also be partially a sugar pill already.<br />
<br />
Present both as a possible treatment for some malady.<br />
<br />
Each group would then only get one pill, and be ignorant that there was potentially a placebo blocker in their dose.<br />
[[Special:Contributions/108.162.238.160|108.162.238.160]] 17:09, 18 May 2015 (UTC)<br />
<br />
<br />
I would guess that there would have to be at least 6 groups. Groups 1 and 2 would be the traditional experiment with a drug and a placebo, groups 3, 4, 5, and 6 are given two pills one of which they told is a drug, the other is a placebo blocker which may prevent the first drug from helping you. groups 3 and 4 are given the real placebo blocker, groups 5 and 6 are given another placebo. This would be an interesting experiment in that you could test the psychological effects of telling someone who took a real drug that "it may not work." [[Special:Contributions/108.162.238.188|108.162.238.188]] 18:36, 18 May 2015 (UTC) Veggiet<br />
<br />
I think we've entirely overlooked the idea of using a control group that doesn't know what the word placebo means. With such a control group, one could not tell them any lies at all "I've invented this new drug called placebo that will cure your rheumatism".[[User:Seebert|Seebert]] ([[User talk:Seebert|talk]]) 18:57, 18 May 2015 (UTC)<br />
<br />
:Why do you have to include the world placebo? Any new made up name like turgidax or pragmanol or frogans or vulpix or bligdrine will work. What is wrong with saying to the patient in the control group,"You are testing a pill of bligdrine." The patient may or may not know what placebo is, but they will certainly be not aware of bligdrine. [[Special:Contributions/173.245.48.163|173.245.48.163]] 20:21, 18 May 2015 (UTC)BK201<br />
<br />
I once removed the last paragraph regarding speculations on the title text as of what could happen if there were two different pills in the bottle. But it is to me clear that there is just sugar pills, as is already explained above. And thus this paragraph is overkill. But it was inserted again after I deleted it. I vote for it to be deleted, but will let someone else do this, as not to make it a personal edit war... --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 16:05, 19 May 2015 (UTC)<br />
<br />
Here's an experiment done all the way back in 1978: Levine, J.D., Gordon, N.C., and Fields, H.L. (1978). The mechanism of placebo analgesia. Lancet 2: 654-657.<br />
Summary: The researchers recruited volunteers who were undergoing tooth extraction. After surgery, one group received morphine-based drugs (most, but not all, reported pain relief). Others received placebo (about a third reported pain relief). Others yet were given placebo AND naloxone, a drug that blocks the action of opioids (none reported pain relief). The researchers concluded that administration of placebo caused the release of endogenous opioids in some patients, and naloxone worked as a placebo blocker. More recent research with functional brain imaging has confirmed that opioids and placebos activate the same brain regions (Petrovic, P., Kalso, E., Petersson, K.M., and Ingvar, M. (2002). Placebo and opioid analgesia imaging--A shared neuronal network. Science 295: 1737-1740).[[User:CLSI|CLSI]] ([[User talk:CLSI|talk]]) 17:07, 19 May 2015 (UTC)<br />
<br />
;How to run the experiment<br />
<br />
I am going to comment out (but not delete yet) the explanation for how it is "actually quite simple" to test the placebo blocker. I feel that the experiment is flawed in that testing the two drugs simultaneously would potentially impact the results in respect to either one.<br />
<br />
The experiment suggests: Group 1 would receive the new drug and a placebo pill; group 2 would receive the new drug and a Placebo Blocker; group 3 would receive two identical placebo pills; and group 4 would receive one placebo pill and one Placebo Blocker.<br />
<br />
However, we still don't truly know how placebos work. Are the people in this study told what the second pill is for (a placebo blocker?) maybe that knowledge will negate the placebo entirely. For example, what if in a simple double-blind test of Drug A, the placebo group had the same results as the drug group. However, Drug B (the blocker) doesn't work. In the proposed experiment of both Drug A and Drug B, between Group 1 and Group 3, what if the placebo effect works on Placebo B, and so the placebo effect Placebo A had in the simple experiment is negated. Thus Drug A appears to be effective even though its not better than a placebo.<br />
<br />
The bottom line is that it's not that easy to design an experiment to test two variables at once. [[User:TheHYPO|TheHYPO]] ([[User talk:TheHYPO|talk]]) 16:07, 25 May 2015 (UTC)<br />
<br />
;Headache<br />
The sentence "My head hurts" doesn't mean a headache, but Cueball takes this too literally. It's more like a reaction on some stupid experiments witch hurt my head. --[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 20:53, 8 June 2015 (UTC)<br />
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I've just gone through the article, fixing grammar. I'm happy that spelling and grammar is good now. However I've also updated the explanation quite a bit; hopefully people agree it's an improvement, but I know a lot of people have taken an interest in this article. Edit or roll back if you like! [[User:Cosmogoblin|Cosmogoblin]] ([[User talk:Cosmogoblin|talk]]) 23:32, 14 July 2015 (UTC) P.S. In explaining the placebo, the placebo blocker, the placebo blocker placebo ... '''my''' head started to hurt too! (Could we have a "''placebo-blocker-placebo blocker''"? Or would that be taking things too far?)<br />
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If I'm thinking about it correctly, then a "placebo-blocker-placebo blocker" would be the same thing as a simple placebo-blocker. The only difference is that while giving them the sugar pill, instead of telling them "this pill will get rid of your headache," you'd be saying "this pill will get rid of your placebo effect." So if the blocker worked, then the patient would NOT be fooled ie they would NOT be convinced that the fake blocker works, which is kind of pointless because you DID end up giving them the blocker afterwards! Ok I agree my head hurts</div>198.41.235.59