explain xkcd - User contributions [en]

Talk:2894: Research Account

2024-02-15T00:09:40Z

141.101.98.228: Misedited the sense out of that invitation.

wasn't there a whatif that caused Randal to temporally loose the access to Wolfram Alpha?
[[Special:Contributions/172.70.175.26|172.70.175.26]] 19:40, 14 February 2024 (UTC)

Although Cueball is often considered to be Randall's alter ego in the comics, when writing explanations we refer to the character. [[User:Barmar|Barmar]] ([[User talk:Barmar|talk]]) 20:16, 14 February 2024 (UTC)

I wanted to add something to the explanation saying that he's overthinking, and it probably doesn't matter what you write in the justification, since it's unlikely that anyone actually reads them. But I don't actually know this. If anyone knows what goes on behind the scenes at research institutions, add something. [[User:Barmar|Barmar]] ([[User talk:Barmar|talk]]) 20:23, 14 February 2024 (UTC)
:That's my impression (it's very like an account-creation process, supplying free-text to be reviewed at leisure only after attaching the user to a UID with no more verification other than "click on this emailed link to confirm this is your contact details", rather than an application which can be denied or blackballed). But I don't delve into (or control) particularly privileged data-sources where it could be far more strict (yet not so much that it can't be handled by an easy to access web-form), so would also be interested in hearing the facts-of-life from beyond the more open-data side of things. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.194.60|172.69.194.60]] 22:32, 14 February 2024 (UTC)
:I suspect the "Institution" dropdown might be used for some marketing statistics. No one has time to go through all the free-form inputs, although AI may change that. [[User:Barmar|Barmar]] ([[User talk:Barmar|talk]]) 22:58, 14 February 2024 (UTC)

2893: Sphere Tastiness

2024-02-13T02:55:58Z

141.101.98.228: /* Explanation */ Ok, someone clearly did want this one, not that one...

{{comic
| number = 2893
| date = February 12, 2024
| title = Sphere Tastiness
| image = sphere_tastiness_2x.png
| imagesize = 388x392px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = Baseballs do present a challenge to this theory, but I'm convinced we just haven't found the right seasoning.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by a STRANGELY TASTY MOON MADE OF CHEESE - Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

This comic takes the tastiness of four spheres: {{w|melons}}, {{w|grapes}}, {{w|Earth|Earth}}, and {{w|Moon|the Moon}}. Melons and grapes are very tasty to most people, but the Earth and Moon are [https://news.uchicago.edu/explainer/formation-earth-and-moon-explained made of rocks and metals], which are not very tasty. It is unknown what the line would be like if [[Randall]] included [[Fuck Grapefruit|grapefruits]].

The comic takes these four data points and makes a linear regression with them, which is unlikely to be accurate, given that there are only four points and that they come in very close pairs, making it basically two. Randall interpolates from this line that there must be a medium-sized sphere that "tastes okay". However, since this line is unlikely to be very useful, given the severe lack of data points, this mediumly tasty sphere probably doesn’t exist. Also, it should be noted that edible things are not manufactured in 800-meter (½-mile) spheres, as that may be hard to prepare and consume. The 800 meter wide sphere could also be a small asteroid or other celestial object, but would not be very tasty, as they are made of of rocks and metals, just like the Earth and the Moon. If this is true, then Randall’s extrapolations on the graph would probably be incorrect.

The title text points out that baseballs seem to refute this theory, since they're not usually depicted as tasty, but they're between the sizes of grapes and melons. However, it suggests that if the right seasoning were found, they would be as tasty. Baseballs are balls used in the sport baseball,{{Citation needed}} usually made out of a combination of a rubber or cork centre wrapped in yarn, and covered either by either horsehide, cowside or a synthetic leather. Although most baseballs may not be immediately lethal to consume, baseballs are not likely to be very delicious to eat by the sheer nature of the taste of the materials that make up it, something that any seasoning is unlikely to be able to mask (at least in reasonable quantities).

More fruit opinions can be found at [[388: Fuck Grapefruit]].

This is the second comic in a row to feature fruit, graphs and predictions, after [[2892: Banana Prices]], and continues the theme of a logarithmic axial scale to facilitate plotting a linear feature (here being interpolated between known data, rather than extrapolated beyond it).

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
:[Graph with Y axis using an arrow indicating tastiness from "Not Tasty" to "Tasty" and X axis labeled "Sphere Diameter (meters)" with a logarithmic scale running from 10-5 to around 108 (with 10-3, 100, 103 and 106 labeled).]

:[The graph contains two points points for "Grapes" and "Melons" at the "Tasty" end of the Y axis, between 10-2 and 10-1 meters, and two points for "The Earth" and "The Moon" at the "Not Tasty" end, both around 107 meters. A straight dashed line shows a linear interpolation between the points. There's a circle with a question mark about halfway between them.]

:[Caption below the panel:]
:My research suggests the existence of an 800-meter sphere that tastes okay.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Charts]]
[[Category:Food]]
[[Category:Astronomy]]
[[Category:Baseball]]

Talk:1321: Cold

2014-01-24T14:52:02Z

141.101.98.228:

I really hate when articles on science get a POV tag. Science isn't politics (hint: evolution and gravity aren't POV either). Related to the comic, I just had a similar rant on Facebook in the last week or two where I linked to [http://www.skepticalscience.com/print.php?r=54 this article] when someone said it was too cold for Global Warming. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.237.64|108.162.237.64]] 12:24, 24 January 2014 (UTC)

I really hate it when people think the global warming scam is science, when it really is nothing more than politics masquerading as science. The IPCC has been proven to be a bunch of liars, and really there's nothing left but a bunch of whining left-wing lunatics who are desperately clinging to their hope of continuing to use this lie to raise energy prices/taxes. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.219.17|108.162.219.17]] 12:55, 24 January 2014 (UTC)
:Well you're wrong, and apparently delusionally paranoid about what the political left wants, but the bigger question is why is this in a wiki discussion page? [[Special:Contributions/108.162.249.117|108.162.249.117]] 13:21, 24 January 2014 (UTC)

Although it doesn't directly mention it, this is partly related to people's confusion over the difference between 'weather' and 'climate' - the former being what the conditions are at a given moment in time, and the latter referring to long-term trends.[[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.228|141.101.98.228]] 14:52, 24 January 2014 (UTC)

Talk:644: Surgery

2013-12-18T10:59:07Z

141.101.98.228: Created page with "Anyone who wants to see more about this kind of implant technology would be advised to have a look at the works of Kevin Warwick of Reading University in the UK (There must be..."

Anyone who wants to see more about this kind of implant technology would be advised to have a look at the works of Kevin Warwick of Reading University in the UK (There must be others as well).

Talk:413: New Pet

2013-12-05T11:57:35Z

141.101.98.228:

Is anyone else tempted to do this for real? Because I certainly am. [[Special:Contributions/130.160.145.185|130.160.145.185]] 23:24, 9 March 2013 (UTC)

Even more possible now with the newer, smaller raspberry Pi computers. Someone PLEASE do it.

401: Large Hadron Collider

2013-12-04T09:35:53Z

141.101.98.228: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 401
| date = March 26, 2008
| title = Large Hadron Collider
| image = large_hadron_collider.png
| titletext = When charged particles of more than 5 TeV pass through a bubble chamber, they leave a trail of candy.
}}

==Explanation==
The {{w|Large Hadron Collider}} (LHC) is the world's largest particle accelerator, used in physics research, and particularly for finding the {{w|Higgs Boson}}. The Higgs Boson is a particle which gives other particles their mass and until its first discovery in 2012, tentatively confirmed to exist in March 2013, it was the last particle of the {{w|Standard Model}} of Physics not to have been experimentally confirmed.

At the time of this comic's writing, the LHC was nearing completion, and the comic imagines technicians working at the LHC and not having any visual confirmation of what happens. Since they can't see the Higgs Boson, they can only wait for the theorists to determine what actually happened. The comic jokes that the bored technicians try frying pigeons with the proton stream and instead end up giving helicopters cancer which is impossible. This is because the stream is contained within the LHC, and non-organic entities can't get cancer. However, the proton stream may cause considerable damage to pigeons as the U-70 synchrotron did to {{w|Anatoli Bugorski }} in 1978.

At that time there was also a big concern by some people that the LHC could produce {{w|Micro black hole|microscopic black holes}}. However, {{w|Cosmic ray|cosmic rays}} regularly strike Earth's atmosphere with particles at higher energies; thus, if the proposed doomsday scenario were possible it should have already happened. Many jokes where published like this video [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=INodNZY5ytE "LHC End of The World Black Hole"].

The title text makes another joke about the effects of highly charged particles, claiming that when they pass through a {{w|bubble chamber}} (an older particle detection device) they leave a trail of candy.

==Transcript==
:The Large Hadron Collider, CERN...
:Megan: Okay, moment of truth. "click"
:Large Hadron Collider: "VVVVVRRMMMMM"
:Cueball: Do you see the Higgs Boson?
:Megan: Nope.
:Cueball: Huh.
:Megan: Well, then.
:Cueball: Until the theorists get back to us, wanna try hitting pigeons with the proton stream?
:Megan: Already on it. Cool! I just gave a helicopter cancer.

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]
[[Category:Physics]]

1290: Syllable Planning

2013-11-19T14:02:15Z

141.101.98.228: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 1290
| date = November 13, 2013
| title = Syllable Planning
| image = syllable_planning.png
| titletext = You absolute-fucking-... shit.
}}

==Explanation==
[[Cueball]] wants to say ''ri-fucking-diculous'', but he inserts the ''fucking'' too late in the word. Now, he has to say ''ridicu-fucking-lous'', which sounds ridiculous.

Alternate interpretation: He has inserted the ''fucking'' too late. Now what he hears himself about to say (with the "l" sound ambiguous) is ''ridicul-fucking-us''; but ''"fucking us"'' seems a bit awkward to drop into the conversation.

This is an example of {{w|tmesis}}, the breaking up of a word to include another within it, and more specifically of {{w|expletive infixation}}. Normally, for rhythmic reasons the included word is inserted before the {{w|Stress (linguistics)|stressed}} syllable (''ri'''dic'''ulous'' becoming ''ri-fucking-'''dic'''ulous'') which is what Cueball messed up. (However in some cases it is also possible to break the word after a prefix instead, so for some words there are two ways to do it e.g. {{w|wikt:unbefuckinglievable|''unbe-fucking-lievable''}} or {{w|wikt:unfuckingbelievable|''un-fucking-believable''}}; this is probably because ''unbelievable'' is {{w|commons:File:En-us-unbelievable.ogg|pretty much pronounced flatly}}, even when said in a heated tone, unlike words like ''ridiculous'', where the stressed syllable is quite evident when the word is said angrily.)

The [[title text]] introduces a further example, with speaker inserting the ''fucking'' too late into the word ''absolutely''—which would have resulted in ''absolute-fucking-ly''—but leaving the word unfinished when they realize their mistake. The more usual tmesis here would be {{w|wikt:absofuckinglutely|''abso-fucking-lutely''}}.

==Transcript==
:Cueball: Man, that is '''''RIDICU'''''—fucking—... ...Hang on, I inserted "fucking" too late and now there's just one awkward syllable left. Can I back up?
:[Cueball is standing next to Megan.]

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]
[[Category:Language]]

1292: Pi vs. Tau

2013-11-18T15:08:46Z

141.101.98.228: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 1292
| date = November 17, 2013
| title = Pi vs. Tau
| image = pi vs tau.png
| titletext = Conveniently approximated as e+2, Pau is commonly known as the Devil's Ratio (because in the octal expansion, '666' appears four times in the first 200 digits while no other run of 3+ digits appears more than once.)
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete}}

This is yet another of Randall's compromise comics. A few mathematicians argue as to whether to use pi, which is the ratio between a circle's diameter and its circumference, or tau, which is the ratio between a circle's radius and its circumference. Randall is suggesting using pau, which is a portmanteau between pi and tau, and is a number situated halfway between pi and tau. This number would be effectively useless, as there are currently no commonly used formulas that involve 1.5 pi or 0.75 tau.

Some consider pi has being the wrong convention in favor of tau (see the [http://tauday.com/tau-manifesto Tau Manifesto]). Some consider proponents of tau to be foolish and remain loyal to pi (see the [http://www.thepimanifesto.com Pi Manifesto]). Occasionally, the argument is that the food, pi(e), is the whole thing, not half and have made a [http://www.piday.org/ day about it]. Others say on tau day you get twice as much pi(e).

The inspiration for pi is wrong is found [http://www.math.utah.edu/~palais/pi.html here].

The trivial nature of the argument is made plain in this comic. Regardless of which convention is used, the fundamental mathematics will remain unaltered

The title text for the comic is also incorrect. The first 200 digits of 'pau' in octal are:
<pre>
4.5545743763144164432362345144750501224254715730156503147633545270030431677126116550546747570313312523403514716576464333172731124310201076447270723624573721640220437652155065544220143116155742515634462
</pre>
The sequence '666' does not occur at all. Both '2362' and '4376' occur twice, while both '362' and '431' occur three times. 39 other 3 digit sequences occur twice.

The "Devil's Ratio" may be an allusion to the "[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tritone Devil's Interval]", aka the "Devil's Chord" or 'Diabolus in Musica' ('The Devil in music'), which is the name sometimes given to the harmony between a root note and its tritone/augmented fourth/diminished fifth. This note is situated halfway between octaves, and is named for its dissonant quality. It is possibly a cross-reference between this and the "[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Golden_ratio Golden Ratio]".

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript}}
:(π, 'Pi', crossed out) (1.5 π, 'Pau') (2 π, 'Tau', also crossed out)
:A compromise solution to the Pi/Tau dispute
{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Comics with color]]
[[Category:Math]]

Talk:1290: Syllable Planning

2013-11-14T13:34:30Z

141.101.98.228:

I remember my father telling me when I was a teenager about a scholarly paper that described this exact topic, namely the rules governing where 'fucking' can be injected into multi-syllable words. I still remember discussing the options for "fantastic" and "government". Decades later I had a dream about words like "uninstallable" (which can either mean something that can be uninstalled or something that can't be uninstalled), and discovering that someone had written a paper about that very subject (http://www.hum.au.dk/engelsk/engsv/papers/vikn08b.pdf). [[Special:Contributions/199.27.128.127|199.27.128.127]] 06:00, 13 November 2013 (UTC) Toby Ovod-Everett
: Think you mean "... can be uninstalled or .... can't be installed". --[[Special:Contributions/173.245.51.227|173.245.51.227]] 06:42, 13 November 2013 (UTC)
Surely the question is which words benefit from the effing emphasis? Fan-effing-tastic is a natural, but with 'government' I wouldn't try...I'd just say 'effing government (what a bunch of wankers, bastards, mongrels, etc)'.[[User:Anff59|Anff59]] ([[User talk:Anff59|talk]]) 07:37, 13 November 2013 (UTC)

This immediately made me think about "Legen -wait for it- dary", one of the key phrases that 'Barney' uses in {{w|How I Met Your Mother}}. [[User:Kaa-ching|Kaa-ching]] ([[User talk:Kaa-ching|talk]]) 08:31, 13 November 2013 (UTC)

In case you want to go hunting for papers, it's actually got a name in linguistics: "fucking insertion". Not a good Google word unfortunately. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.231.30|108.162.231.30]] 08:42, 13 November 2013 (UTC)

:The correct linguistical term is {{w|tmesis}}. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.208|141.101.98.208]] 09:58, 13 November 2013 (UTC)
::Darnit. Ninjaed. (With a note that this also includes phrasal infixings.) [[Special:Contributions/141.101.99.210|141.101.99.210]] 10:04, 13 November 2013 (UTC)

http://home.uchicago.edu/~vfriedm/Articles/020Friedman79.pdf for some good insight on the differences between Russian and American swearing. Including inserting fucking in between syllables.
--[[Special:Contributions/199.27.128.183|199.27.128.183]] 08:59, 13 November 2013 (UTC)

I think the title text is referring to the word absolutely, which would mean he left only one syllable again. It just seems nonsensical to think that he was saying absolute and not absolutely. --[[Special:Contributions/108.162.238.5|108.162.238.5]] 11:01, 13 November 2013 (UTC)
:Agreed, don't think anyone would ever make a tmesis out of the word 'absolute' as opposed to 'absolutely'. I've changed the explanation accordingly.[[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.228|141.101.98.228]] 12:58, 13 November 2013 (UTC)

It's generally pointless to argue as to what a "standard" pronunciation is, but I question how flatly "unbelievable" is pronounced in the general American population, as opposed to the robotic-voiced-pronunciation-aid-audio-file population. Especially when pronounced heatedly, there tends to be distinct stress placed on either the first or the third syllable - a regional difference or subtle denotative difference, maybe. I think the existence of both un-fucking-believable and unbe-fucking-lievable is simply a matter of one following the "insert between prefix and root" rule and the other following the "insert before stressed (in this case third) syllable" rule, rather than being because 'unbelievable' is somehow an abnormally flattened word. --[[Special:Contributions/173.245.54.58|173.245.54.58]] 16:40, 13 November 2013 (UTC)

So, is it time to lift the Incomplete tag? [[Special:Contributions/199.27.128.66|199.27.128.66]] 09:05, 14 November 2013 (UTC)

"This mistake, and realization of it, creates a humorous alternate meaning by saying "You absolute fucking shit!" - Uh, does it? Think that might be over-reaching for an interpretation there...[[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.228|141.101.98.228]] 13:34, 14 November 2013 (UTC)

Talk:1290: Syllable Planning

2013-11-13T12:58:38Z

141.101.98.228:

1290: Syllable Planning

2013-11-13T12:57:36Z

141.101.98.228: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 1290
| date = November 13, 2013
| title = Syllable Planning
| image = syllable_planning.png
| titletext = You absolute-fucking-... shit.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete}}
[[Cueball]] wants to say "ri-fucking-diculous", but he inserts the "fucking" too late in the word. Now, he has to say "ridicu-fucking-lous", which sounds ridiculous.

This is an example of {{w|tmesis}}, the breaking up of a word to include another within it. Normally, for rhythmic reasons the included word is inserted before the {{w|Stress (linguistics)|stressed}} syllable (ri'''dic'''ulous becoming ri-fucking-'''dic'''ulous) which is what Cueball messed up. (However in some cases it is also possible to break the word after a prefix instead, so for some words there are two ways to do it e.g. unbe-fucking-'''liev'''able or un-fucking-believable.)

The [[title text]] introduces a further example, with speaker inserting the "fucking" too late into the word "absolutely" - which would have resulted in "absolute-fucking-ly" - but leaving the word unfinished when they realise their mistake. The more usual tmesis here would be "abso-fucking-lutely".

==Transcript==
:Cueball: Man, that is '''''RIDICU'''''—fucking—... ...Hang on, I inserted "fucking" too late and now there's just one awkward syllable left. Can I back up?
:[Cueball is standing next to Megan.]

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]
[[Category:Language]]

1290: Syllable Planning

2013-11-13T12:56:47Z

141.101.98.228: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 1290
| date = November 13, 2013
| title = Syllable Planning
| image = syllable_planning.png
| titletext = You absolute-fucking-... shit.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete}}
[[Cueball]] wants to say "ri-fucking-diculous", but he inserts the "fucking" too late in the word. Now, he has to say "ridicu-fucking-lous", which sounds ridiculous.

This is an example of {{w|tmesis}}, the breaking up of a word to include another within it. Normally, for rhythmic reasons the included word is inserted before the {{w|Stress (linguistics)|stressed}} syllable (ri'''dic'''ulous becoming ri-fucking-'''dic'''ulous) which is what Cueball messed up. (However in some cases it is also possible to break the word after a prefix instead, so for some words there are two ways to do it e.g. unbe-fucking-'''liev'''able or un-fucking-believable.)

The [[title text]] introduces a further example, with speaker inserting the "fucking" too late into the word "absolutely" - which would have resulted in "absolute-fucking-ly" - and then realising their mistake. The more usual tmesis here would be "abso-fucking-lutely".

==Transcript==
:Cueball: Man, that is '''''RIDICU'''''—fucking—... ...Hang on, I inserted "fucking" too late and now there's just one awkward syllable left. Can I back up?
:[Cueball is standing next to Megan.]

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]
[[Category:Language]]