2144: Adjusting a Chair

2019-05-01T23:49:03Z

162.158.150.120: /* Explanation */ statistical -> mechanical degrees of freedom

{{comic
| number = 2144
| date = May 1, 2019
| title = Adjusting a Chair
| image = adjusting_a_chair.png
| titletext = When I was looking at the box, I should have thought more about what "360 degrees of freedom" meant.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by a HUMAN WHO HAS DIFFICULTY ADJUSTING CHAIRS. First edit. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
This comic shows [[Cueball]]'s attempts to adjust a swivelling chair. As many people have experienced, these chairs can be quite difficult to raise, lower, or manoeuvre if one does not know how. This comically culminates in a massive chair with a big central seat and several other chairs branching off of it as Cueball continues trying to adjust it.

Each step gets farther away from what real-life office chairs could do. In sequence, Cueball finds his chair:

1. Being able to recline the seat back. Most chairs do have this ability, which one can use for sitting comfort or perhaps to take a nap.

2. Being able to raise or lower the seat. Most chairs have this ability, but the comic departs from real chairs in two ways. First, it's much higher than any real chair. Second, he can raise the height while sitting on it; under normal design, pressing the raise/lower lever while sitting on the chair is how one ''lowers'' the seat, using one's own weight to depress the spring or hydraulic piston.

3. Being able to have the seat inflate. Although this could be useful (e.g. to help people who need to use extra seat cushions because of hemorrhoids or coccyx injury), it is not a typical office chair capability. However, in addition to simply inflating, Cueball's chair appears to actually make the seat longer and wider. This doesn't seem to have a lot of useful application in office chairs.

4. Putting out branches and growing extra seats and backs. Chairs definitely cannot do this in real life {{Citation needed}} and use cases are doubtful.

The title text makes a joke on a common claim on such chairs, that the chair offers 360 degrees of freedom. This is a double entendre depending on if "360 degrees" or "360" is interpreted as an object. However, here it means there are 360 mechanical {{w|Degrees of freedom (mechanics)|degrees of freedom}}, which is the number of independent parameters that define the configuration of an object; in other words, the chair has 360 different levers and options.

An alternate explanation is that although this normally refers to the chair's ability to rotate 360 degrees around the swivel, the chair in the comic has, literally, 360 different {{w|Degrees of freedom (mechanics)|degrees of freedom}}, i.e. axes on which to rotate or extend the chair.

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
:[Cueball is shown adjusting a chair.]
:Caption: Adjusting a chair:
:[Cueball presses a button on the bottom of his chair.]
:Chair: CLUNK
:[The seat back of the chair swings backward.]
:[Cueball presses another button.]
:Chair: HISS
:[The chair extends to several times its previous height.]
:[Another button]
:Chair: POOF
:[The seat has expanded greatly.]
:Caption: Two hours later:
:[Cueball attempts to press yet another button on his now-massive chair. It now has 5 bases, two full chairs branching from underneath the seat, two poles coming up from the seat, each with a new seat and two back-to-back seat backs. Yet another seat is supported by a thin rod connecting the two top seats.]
{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]

Talk:2134: Too Much Talking

2019-04-09T13:03:53Z

162.158.150.120: comment

I'd put something here, but I'm tired of typing. [[User:N0lqu|-boB]] ([[User talk:N0lqu|talk]]) 19:25, 8 April 2019 (UTC)

This feels very different from how Randall usually portrays his characters (being too afraid to speak at all at parties or so stressed about introducing themselves right that they miss the other person's name). I wonder if this is the effect of the alcohol or just a different person altogether. --[[User:Maple42|Maple42]] ([[User talk:Maple42|talk]]) 19:28, 8 April 2019 (UTC)
:Could also be that character over-correcting, a la xkcd 1796. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.106.48|162.158.106.48]] 20:45, 8 April 2019 (UTC)

Possibly just my flawed interpretation, but it seems like this is possibly a depiction of Randall having arguments online. It doesn't seem like his normal irl-party-characterization (this actually reads a little Beret-Guy-esque; also reminds me a bit of Politifact). Cueball has gotten into a few online debates and left the platform, only to return very soon. The title text is referring to Cueball coming up with "good opinions" and then making his own post for them out of nowhere. What do you guys think? [[Special:Contributions/162.158.107.97|162.158.107.97]] 21:50, 8 April 2019 (UTC)

I get absolutely no sense that Cueball is intoxicated at all. I'm not sure where that would come from, other than being at a party; of course, not every party has alcohol and not everybody drinks when they do. [[User:Ianrbibtitlht|Ianrbibtitlht]] ([[User talk:Ianrbibtitlht|talk]]) 22:04, 8 April 2019 (UTC)
:Removed from the explanation. Seems more like the other Social interactions comics, rather than Cueball being drunk. [[User:Herobrine|Herobrine]] ([[User talk:Herobrine|talk]]) 06:25, 9 April 2019 (UTC)

At least from my personal experience, it’s hard to get me talking, a la the rest of xkcd, and when I do, this comic happens. [[User:Netherin5|“That Guy from the Netherlands”]] ([[User talk:Netherin5|talk]]) 12:31, 9 April 2019 (UTC)

I would write something, but I'm afraid that it would be wrong and I'd be judged. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.150.120|162.158.150.120]] 13:03, 9 April 2019 (UTC)

explain xkcd - User contributions [en]

2144: Adjusting a Chair

Talk:2134: Too Much Talking