explain xkcd - User contributions [en]

1574: Trouble for Science

2015-09-07T14:44:59Z

108.162.219.224: /* Explanation */ Flame goes up

{{comic
| number = 1574
| date = September 7, 2015
| title = Trouble for Science
| image = trouble_for_science.png
| titletext = Careful mathematical analysis demonstrates small-scale irregularities in Gaussian distribution
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|More details in each artcile, espceially the one about antibodies and rodents.}}

The title of five scientific articles are shown:

;Many commercial antibody-based immunoassays are unreliable
This sentence is true. See Kebaneilwe Lebani, [http://espace.library.uq.edu.au/view/UQ:352531 Antibody Discovery for Development of a Serotyping Dengue Virus NS1 Capture Assay], 2014. In this PhD thesis, 11 references are given.

;Problems with the p-value as an indicator of significance
p-value is the probability that an event is observed just by chance. If p-value is under a treshold level (''α'', usually <5%, or <1% for being more conservative) one can assume that the event observed "exists".
The value used for ''α'' has been proposed by [http://web.lru.dk/sites/lru.dk/files/lru/docs/kap9/kapitel_9_126_On_the_origins.pdf Fisher] and is completely arbitrary.

The use of p-values as a measure of statistical significance is frequently criticized, for example in [http://wiki.bio.dtu.dk/~agpe/papers/pval_notuseful.pdf Hubbard and Lindsay]. Randal has demonstrated this problem in the past in [[882: Significant]].
;Overfeeding of laboratory rodents compromises animal models

[http://tpx.sagepub.com/content/24/6/757.full.pdf Keenan et al.] makes this case.

;Replication study fails to reproduce many published results
A [https://explorable.com/replication-study Replication Study] is a study designed to replicate the results of a previous study by using the same methods for a different set of subjects and experimenters. It aims to recreate the results to gain confidence in the results of the previous study as well as ensuring that the findings of the previous study are transferable to other similar areas of study.

Randall is probably referring to this recent study: http://www.nature.com/news/over-half-of-psychology-studies-fail-reproducibility-test-1.18248

;Controlled trials show Bunsen burners make things colder
This is a joke. There is probably some methodological error if putting something over the Bunsen burner flame (which is between 1000K and 2000K) makes it colder. Unless of course that thing is already much hotter than the flame (more than 2000 Kelvin).

Title text:

;Careful mathematical analysis demonstrates small-scale irregularities in Gaussian distribution

This is another joke, as gaussian samples are only approximated by the gaussian distribution. The quality of the approximation grows with the size of the sample, but will never be exact, meaning it will show "irregularities" on a "small scale".

==Transcript==
:[Five panels, each with the top part of a scientific article, where only the title is readable. Below is the list of authors and subheading and text in unreadable wiggles.]

:Many Commercial Antibody-Based Immunoassays Are Unreliable

:Problems With the p-Value as an Indicator of Significance

:Overfeeding of Laboratory Rodents Compromises Animal Models

:Replication Study Fails to Reproduce Many Published Results

:Controlled Trials Show Bunsen Burners Make Things Colder

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Science]]
[[Category:Biology]]
[[Category:Chemistry]]
[[Category:Math]]
[[Category:Physics]]

1387: Clumsy Foreshadowing

2015-01-03T23:58:50Z

108.162.219.224: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 1387
| date = June 27, 2014
| title = Clumsy Foreshadowing
| image = clumsy_foreshadowing.png
| titletext = '... hosts were unexpectedly fired from ABC's 'The View' today. ABC will likely announce new...'
}}

==Explanation==
Many action/thriller movies, during the first few minutes, have a background [http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/ChekhovsNews news] [http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/CoincidentalBroadcast report] that foreshadows the onset of some kind of danger, such as shark attacks, nuclear warfare etc.

[[Randall]] suggests taking the same approach to random news stories from real life, in order to make them more ominous.

In this case we see three random headings from news stories, which could all be made even more interesting if the setting is correct.

The first of the three stories mentioned above the frame ''[http://www.northkoreannews.net/index.php/sid/223255811/scat/08aysdf7tga9s7f7/ht/Angry-North-Korea-threatens-war-if-US-shows-film-mocking-its-leader North Korea threatens U.S. over upcoming movie]'' comes from {{w|North Korea|North Korea's}} official {{w|Korean Central News Agency}} who a few days before this comic was released threatened the US with war over the {{w|Seth Rogen}} movie {{w|The Interview (2014 film)|The Interview}}, promising "stern" and "merciless" retaliation if the film is released. The threat generated some hype for the at-the-time unreleased movie. No one, however, really took North Korea's threat seriously, but if you put this into such a news report at the beginning of a film, this could be a film about a film leading to a new war with North Korea. (Note: In late 2014 North Korea was accused of carrying out a devastating cyber attack on Sony Pictures, the studio responsible for the film. These accusations were widely believed initially, though independent analysysts have since cast doubt. This news report would likely have been seen in a film about the real life attack or film that features a similar fictional attack for its plot. This is an example of an xkcd comic coming true.)

The second one is about ''[http://dailydigestnews.com/2014/06/north-atlantic-ocean-great-white-shark-population-booms/ Shark populations booming off east coast]''. The news in the link is from a week before this comic was released, and is about the preservation of the {{w|Great white shark|Great white sharks}}. Not that terrifying, especially since sharks are way less dangerous than people tend to fear, in part due to movies like {{w|Jaws (film)|Jaws}}. However, if you put this headline into a news report running in the background, as when [[Cueball]] leaves the house with a bathing towel in the main frame of the comic, then it suddenly become a very ominous story, that will not bode well for Cueball and his friends.

The last of the three stories is about ''[http://www.orbcomm.com/networks/og2-launch SpaceX to attempt new rocket launch today]''. {{w|SpaceX}} is a space transport services company and on March 13, 2014 they reported a launch date for their first {{w|Orbcomm_satellites#Orbcomm-OG2|OG2}} mission containing 6 satellites on a dedicated {{w|Falcon 9}} rocket. This date was April 30, 2014 as can be read at the bottom of the news link, which is the news list for this OG2 mission. The launch continued to be postponed several times, and the last date given before this comic was released was June the 24th, three days before this comic was released. This launch was canceled on the 23rd and the day before this comic was released it was yet again postponed, this time until July the 14th (almost three weeks, after the previous four proposed launch dates had been the 20th, 21st, 22nd and 24th of June). So at this point in time, any news regarding SpaceX attempting to launch a rocket, will not generate much fuss, as they are most likely postponing again, but if you put the news bite into the start of a movie, then the launch would probably stay on schedule - but would then go horribly wrong, setting the action packed story in progress.

The title text news ''[http://nypost.com/2014/06/26/sherri-shepherd-jenny-mccarthy-leave-the-view/ hosts were unexpectedly fired from ABC's 'The View' today]'' references {{w|American Broadcasting Company|ABC's}} ''{{w|The View (U.S. TV series)|The View}}'' where two of the co-hosts, {{w|Sherri Shepherd}} and {{w|Jenny McCarthy}}, were simultaneously reporting leaving the program (fired or resigned? - sources vary), the day before this comic appeared. Sherri after seven years, Jenny after less than one year as co-host. According to the news link above there were "no word on who will be replacing the hosts, but the network says they will have a team together when the show launches its new season this fall." Again a not very interesting news story. The title text though continues the news by saying: ''ABC will likely announce new...'' The humorous suggestion is that the news about ''The View'' will go on to foreshadow some looming disaster, a comically unlikely premise for an action/thriller movie.

==Transcript==
:[Heading and text above the comics only panel:]
:'''Today's News'''
:North Korea threatens U.S. over upcoming movie
:Shark populations booming off east coast
:SpaceX to attempt new rocket launch today
:[Arrow pointing down towards the comics only panel.]

:[Cueball, holding a towel, walks past a TV with a news report shown on-screen.]
:Cueball: Bye! See you tonight!
:Offscreen person: Have a good day!
:TV: ''Researchers are reporting record numbers of sharks...''

:To make news stories seem way more ominous, imagine you're hearing them from a background TV in a movie as the main character leaves.

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

1460: SMFW

2014-12-15T12:18:40Z

108.162.219.224:

{{comic
| number = 1460
| date = December 15, 2014
| title = SMFW
| image = smfw.png
| titletext = wtfw it's like smho tbfh, imdb.
}}

==Explanation==

{{incomplete|Little to no peer revision.}}

On various forums on the Internet, people will use acronyms for common phrases as opposed to the common phrases themselves (e.g. "LOL" as opposed to "laughing out loud"). As the comic suggests, SMFW is a plausible acronym, but does not have any potential phrases to represent. The acronym itself is eerily close to a number of other acronyms commonly used, including: "SFW" (meaning "safe (or suitable) for work", denoting that something does not have suggestive content), "MFW" (meaning "my face when...", setting up for a user's reaction to something: possibly the intended replacement for the caption at the bottom of the comic), "SMH" (meaning "shaking my head", used to indicate dismay, "SMF" (meaning "so much fun") and "NSFW" (meaning "not safe for work", the opposite of "SFW"). Because "SMFW" is so similar to these other acronyms, for some it would intuitively feel like "SMFW" has its own meaning. One possible interpretation would be '"So much fun when" an acronym ''almost'' makes sense.'

The title text contains more examples of imaginary acronyms of similar nature:

* "WTFW" is a combination of "WTF" ("What the fuck?") and "TFW" ("That feel when...", used in a similar nature to "MFW"), and possibly "FTW" ("For The Win")
* "SMHO" is a combination of "SMH" ("shake my head") and "IMHO" ("In my humble opinion...")
* "TBFH" is a combination of "TBF" ("to be fair") and "TBH" ("to be honest"), also similar to "BOFH" ("Bastard Operator From Hell")
* "IMDB" is, of course, [http://www.imdb.com/ the Internet Movie Database], but also resembles abbreviations such as "IMHO" ("in my humble opinion") and "IDK" ("I don't know")

Below are possible examples of potential representations for each acronym, according to [http://www.urbandictionary.com/ Urban Dictionary]:

SMFW is an acronym for "Smoke more fucking weed".

WTFW is an acronym for "What the fuck, what?".

SMHO is an acronym for "Shaking my head off".

TBFH is an acronym for "To be fucking honest".

Knowing Randall, the sentence is not supposed to make sense, but there are some mildly-plausible translations (if one discounts IMDB, which is only there to make an already obnoxious sentence completely absurd). One way would be "What the fuck, what? It's like shaking my head off, to be fucking honest."

==Transcript==

[Cueball is sitting at a desk, crouched over a laptop]

SMFW an acronym ''almost'' makes sense

{{comic discussion}}

Talk:1439: Rack Unit

2014-10-27T11:50:23Z

108.162.219.224:

Bzzzzz [[Special:Contributions/108.162.250.202|108.162.250.202]] 04:52, 27 October 2014 (UTC)

Air Bud has had multiple mentions in his comics, but I don't know all of them. I also think it was mentioned in one of the What-If's. I'll do a quick Google search to see if I can get at least one of them. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.237.161|108.162.237.161]] 06:55, 27 October 2014 (UTC)
:Mouse-over text in the final image. http://what-if.xkcd.com/111/ Still searching. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.237.161|108.162.237.161]] 06:58, 27 October 2014 (UTC)
:http://xkcd.com/115/ [[Special:Contributions/108.162.237.161|108.162.237.161]] 07:00, 27 October 2014 (UTC)

This comic may be a reference to the highly hyped lack-rack https://wiki.eth0.nl/index.php/LackRack --[[User:Belibem|Belibem]] ([[User talk:Belibem|talk]]) 09:43, 27 October 2014 (UTC)

It's unlikely that this was intentional, but this comic is almost the same as this panel from MSPA: http://www.mspaintadventures.com/?s=6&p=003976 [[Special:Contributions/108.162.219.224|108.162.219.224]] 11:50, 27 October 2014 (UTC)

1307: Buzzfeed Christmas

2013-12-24T01:15:08Z

108.162.219.224: Modified transcript

{{comic
| number = 1307
| date = December 22, 2013
| title = Buzzfeed Christmas
| image = buzzfeed christmas.png
| titletext = The 6 Weirdest Objects The Buzzfeed Writers Are Throwing Out Their Windows At Us
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|This is a new comic}}

Christmas caroling is a tradition in which groups of singers travel from house to house, singing {{w|Christmas_carol|carols}}.

These carolers are in front of the [http://www.buzzfeed.com/ BuzzFeed] offices singing the {{w|The_Twelve_Days_of_Christmas_(song)|The Twelve Days of Christmas}}, which contains:

: On the twelfth day of Christmas, my true love gave to me.
: 12 Drummers drumming
: 11 Pipers piping
: 10 Lords a-leaping
: 9 Ladies dancing
: 8 Maids a-milking
: 7 Swans a-swimming
: 6 Geese a-laying
: 5 Gold rings
: 4 Calling birds
: 3 French hens
: 2 Turtle doves
: And a partridge in a pear tree.

The carolers changed the lyrics to match the headlines of the topics published by BuzzFeed, which usually contain a number and a superlative (for example, ''13 Worst Plane Crashes of the Decade'').

This method of writing headlines is used by several other news sites, because it is known to generate a lot of visits (and ad revenue). [[Randall]] has touched on this subject before in [[1283: Headlines]].

Carolers are usually rewarded with a gift, but the BuzzFeed writers probably didn't appreciate the song, because they threw weird stuff at them (which the carolers used in their 7th verse).

==Transcript==
:[Carolers singing.]
:Carolers: 12 Best drummers of ''all time''
:Carolers: 11 Pipers whose jaw-dropping good piping will make you cry
:Carolers: You won't ''believe'' what these 10 lords leap over
:[Comic caption]
:Carolers outside the Buzzfeed offices perform "12 Weird things I ''actually got'' for Christmas"

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Christmas]]
[[Category:Music]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Ponytail]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Hairy]]