Editing 1708: Dehydration

Jump to: navigation, search

Warning: You are not logged in. Your IP address will be publicly visible if you make any edits. If you log in or create an account, your edits will be attributed to your username, along with other benefits.

The edit can be undone. Please check the comparison below to verify that this is what you want to do, and then save the changes below to finish undoing the edit.
Latest revision Your text
Line 8: Line 8:
  
 
==Explanation==
 
==Explanation==
This comic plays on the idea that there is little to no consensus in the scientific community with regard to the amount of water a person should drink per day. In the first panel [[White Hat]] presents [[Cueball]] with an innocent and sensible suggestion (although controversial) that people should drink six or more glasses of water per day. In the second panel, more characters join the discussion, an off-panel voice claims the most {{w|Daily_consumption_of_drinking_water|common misconception}} of eight glasses a day, a number which is not supported by scientific research. [[Ponytail]] again goes two higher with ten highlighting the existence of a wide range of so-called 'optimum' liquid consumption 'rule-of-thumb'. Implied here is the variety of health-related books, articles, blogs or other literature published that self-proclaims an optimum drinking formula.
+
This comic plays on the idea that there is little to no consensus in the scientific community with regard to the amount of water a person should drink per day. In the first panel [[White Hat]] presents [[Cueball]] with an innocent and sensible suggestion (although controversial) that people should drink six glasses of water per day. In the second panel, more characters joins the discussion, an off-panel voice claims the most {{w|Drinking_water#Requirements|common misconception}} of eight glasses a day, a number which is not supported by scientific research. [[Ponytail]] again goes two higher with ten highlighting the existence of a wide range of so-called 'optimum' liquid consumption 'rule-of-thumb'. Implied here is the variety of health-related books, articles, blogs or other literature published that self-proclaims an optimum drinking formula.
  
The first sign of absurdity also arises here in the second panel when [[Black Hat]] posits that we need 5 glasses of water every minute. This equates to 7200 glasses of water a day, and using an often cited "[https://www.quora.com/One-glass-of-water-is-how-many-ounces standard]  
+
The first sign of absurdity also arises here in the second panel when [[Black Hat]] posits that we need 5 glasses of water every minute. This equates to 7200 glasses of water a day, and using an often cited "standard definition of a glass"[https://www.quora.com/One-glass-of-water-is-how-many-ounces], [https://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20061002110517AAltamZ], [http://www.sparkpeople.com/ma/How-many-ounces-is-a-glass-of-water?/7/1/27943956] being equal to 8 oz (236 ml), Black Hat is suggesting that we should each drink 1.7 cubic meters (1700 liters) of water a day, not only curing {{w|dehydration}} but also causing {{w|water intoxication}}. This is a typical Black Hat kind of statement that he uses to further emphasizes the absurdity of the problem at hand.
[https://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20061002110517AAltamZ definition] [http://www.sparkpeople.com/ma/How-many-ounces-is-a-glass-of-water?/7/1/27943956 of a glass]" being equal to 8 oz (236 ml), Black Hat is suggesting that we should each drink 1.7 cubic meters (1700 liters) of water a day, curing {{w|dehydration}} but also causing {{w|water intoxication}}. This is a typical Black Hat kind of statement that he uses to further emphasize the absurdity of the problem at hand.
 
  
Some time later [[Megan]], despite having read through all studies on dehydration (or low-grade dehydration in particular), still has not come to a solid conclusion. She becomes dizzy, admitting that she's been so focused on her work, she has ironically {{tvtropes|ForgetsToEat|forgotten to eat or drink}}. Her personal experience with dehydration prompts someone off-panel to get some water, but since she couldn't find any consensus in her research, she asks how many glasses they should bring her. Presumably to avoid the question of "how many glasses" entirely, Cueball finally suggests that she should drink straight from the tap, a (tenuously) sincere suggestion seeing her dehydration and following the good advice to drink when you are thirsty until that state has been absolved. In the title text of [[1744: Metabolism]], released less than 3 months after this one, Cueball mentions how he starts to feel bad if he refrains from drinking, just like Megan here.
+
Some time later [[Megan]], despite having read through all studies on dehydration (or low-grade dehydration in particular), still has not come to a solid conclusion. She becomes dizzy, admitting that she's been so focused on her work, she has ironically [http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/ForgetsToEat forgotten to eat or drink]. Her personal experience with dehydration prompts someone off-panel to get some water, but since she couldn't find any consensus in her research, she asks how many glasses they should bring her. Presumably to avoid the question of "how many glasses" entirely, Cueball finally suggests that she should drink straight from the tap, a (tenuously) sincere suggestion seeing her dehydration and following the good advice to drink when you are thirsty until that state has been absolved. In the title text of [[1744: Metabolism]], released less than 3 months after this one, Cueball mentions how he starts to feel bad if he refrains from drinking, just like Megan here. In that comic it is Cueball that tells White Hat about his "problems".
  
 
The title text contains a mix-up between two often stated intervals; drinking eight glasses of water per day (which makes no sense, see above) and changing the engine oil every {{w|3,000_mile_myth|3000 miles}} (almost 5000 km) which may be a good rule, but not a necessity. Obviously it's impossible to drink 3000 glasses of water, and changing the oil every eight miles (about 13 km) would make driving a car very impractical.
 
The title text contains a mix-up between two often stated intervals; drinking eight glasses of water per day (which makes no sense, see above) and changing the engine oil every {{w|3,000_mile_myth|3000 miles}} (almost 5000 km) which may be a good rule, but not a necessity. Obviously it's impossible to drink 3000 glasses of water, and changing the oil every eight miles (about 13 km) would make driving a car very impractical.
Line 26: Line 25:
 
The only real solid advice I've heard is that if you're thirsty, you should drink some water.
 
The only real solid advice I've heard is that if you're thirsty, you should drink some water.
 
</blockquote>
 
</blockquote>
''How many glasses is "some water"'' remains an open question.
+
''How many glasses is "some water"'' remains an open question...
  
[[Beret Guy]] and Megan are participants of a thought experiment concerning glasses of water and vacuum in the ''[[what if? (blog)|what if?]]'' article ''{{what if|6|Glass Half Empty}}''.
+
[[Beret Guy]] and Megan are participants of a thought experiment concerning glasses of water and vacuum in the [[what if?]] ''{{what if|6|Glass Half Empty}}''.
  
 
And the six glasses of water that this comic began with is also mentioned later in [[1853: Once Per Day]].
 
And the six glasses of water that this comic began with is also mentioned later in [[1853: Once Per Day]].
  
This is a rare example of a normal xkcd comic of few panels manages to use five of the seven [[Template:navbox characters|major characters]] who actually interact. It is the [[:Category:Characters with hats|first comic]] where Black Hat has spoken (or directly interacted) with White Hat. Until this comic, they have only appeared together in complicated/large drawings where there is no interaction between the two. The only other time this has happened is in [[1881: Drone Training]].
+
This comic is a rare example where a normal few panel comic manages to use five of the seven [[Template:navbox characters|major characters]] who actually interact. It is the [[:Category:Characters with Hats|first comic]] where Black Hat has spoken (or directly interacted) with White Hat. They have until this comic only appeared together in complicated/large drawings where the two would not need to interact anyway. The only other time this happens is in[[1881: Drone Training]].
  
 
==Transcript==
 
==Transcript==
Line 60: Line 59:
 
[[Category:Comics featuring Black Hat]]
 
[[Category:Comics featuring Black Hat]]
 
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]
 
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]
[[Category:Scientific research]]
 

Please note that all contributions to explain xkcd may be edited, altered, or removed by other contributors. If you do not want your writing to be edited mercilessly, then do not submit it here.
You are also promising us that you wrote this yourself, or copied it from a public domain or similar free resource (see explain xkcd:Copyrights for details). Do not submit copyrighted work without permission!

To protect the wiki against automated edit spam, we kindly ask you to solve the following CAPTCHA:

Cancel | Editing help (opens in new window)