explain xkcd - User contributions [en]

warning

2020-04-16T11:15:10Z

162.158.255.216:

For a long time (at least since [https://web.archive.org/web/20060408214700/http://www.xkcd.com/ April 2006]) [[xkcd]] had a warning below the comics, beneath Randall's list of ''Comics I Enjoy'' (and later above the [[footnote]]), which said:

:Warning: this comic occasionally contains strong language (which may be unsuitable for children), unusual humor (which may be unsuitable for adults), and advanced mathematics (which may be unsuitable for liberal-arts majors).

The [https://web.archive.org/web/20160912181546/https://xkcd.com/ last day it was on the page] was September 12, 2016 when [[1732: Earth Temperature Timeline]] was released.

Four hours later that day the page [https://web.archive.org/web/20160912204204/http://xkcd.com/ looked like this] with no footnote or warning.

It was maybe due to the [[1732#Popularity_of_comic|popularity of the comic]] that this warning was removed [[footnote#Removal_of_original_footnote|along with the footnote]] to not scare new fans away.

When a [[footnote#Current_footnote|new footnote]] appeared this warning did not reappear.

The warning thus lasted almost 10 and a half years. Many xkcd fans will likely be sad to see that it has disappeared.

See [[Design of xkcd.com]].

[[Category:Meta]]

warning

2020-04-16T11:14:45Z

162.158.255.216:

For a long time (at least since [https://web.archive.org/web/20060408214700/http://www.xkcd.com/ April 2006]) [[xkcd]] had a warning below the comics, beneath Randall's list of ''Comics I Enjoy'' (and later above the [[footnote]]), which said:

' :Warning: this comic occasionally contains strong language (which may be unsuitable for children), unusual humor (which may be unsuitable for adults), and advanced mathematics (which may be unsuitable for liberal-arts majors).'

The [https://web.archive.org/web/20160912181546/https://xkcd.com/ last day it was on the page] was September 12, 2016 when [[1732: Earth Temperature Timeline]] was released.

Four hours later that day the page [https://web.archive.org/web/20160912204204/http://xkcd.com/ looked like this] with no footnote or warning.

It was maybe due to the [[1732#Popularity_of_comic|popularity of the comic]] that this warning was removed [[footnote#Removal_of_original_footnote|along with the footnote]] to not scare new fans away.

When a [[footnote#Current_footnote|new footnote]] appeared this warning did not reappear.

The warning thus lasted almost 10 and a half years. Many xkcd fans will likely be sad to see that it has disappeared.

See [[Design of xkcd.com]].

[[Category:Meta]]

warning

2020-04-16T11:14:21Z

162.158.255.216:

For a long time (at least since [https://web.archive.org/web/20060408214700/http://www.xkcd.com/ April 2006]) [[xkcd]] had a warning below the comics, beneath Randall's list of ''Comics I Enjoy'' (and later above the [[footnote]]), which said:

':Warning: this comic occasionally contains strong language (which may be unsuitable for children), unusual humor (which may be unsuitable for adults), and advanced mathematics (which may be unsuitable for liberal-arts majors).'

The [https://web.archive.org/web/20160912181546/https://xkcd.com/ last day it was on the page] was September 12, 2016 when [[1732: Earth Temperature Timeline]] was released.

Four hours later that day the page [https://web.archive.org/web/20160912204204/http://xkcd.com/ looked like this] with no footnote or warning.

It was maybe due to the [[1732#Popularity_of_comic|popularity of the comic]] that this warning was removed [[footnote#Removal_of_original_footnote|along with the footnote]] to not scare new fans away.

When a [[footnote#Current_footnote|new footnote]] appeared this warning did not reappear.

The warning thus lasted almost 10 and a half years. Many xkcd fans will likely be sad to see that it has disappeared.

See [[Design of xkcd.com]].

[[Category:Meta]]

2292: Thermometer

2020-04-13T20:43:13Z

162.158.255.216: /* Explanation */ updated a US-centric sentence

{{comic
| number = 2292
| date = April 10, 2020
| title = Thermometer
| image = thermometer.png
| titletext = I hate how many times you have to press it to get to the system normal people use, degrees Rømer.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by a ROGUE RADIAN. Please mention here why this explanation isn't complete. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
This comic expresses frustration at the multitude of {{w|temperature}} scales. [[Randall]], as a former engineer, has strong opinions about units, as unit conversion is often a gripe for many engineers. (In a special preface in the UK edition of Randall's book ''What If'', he mentions that one does not appreciate the metric system unless they have had to go through a bunch of scientific papers using really unusual units like "kilocubic feet per second" or "acre-feet".) As elevated body temperature is a symptom of {{w|COVID-19}}, the comic is additionally the 17th in a row concerning the virus.

[[Cueball]] is holding what appears to be a medical thermometer, implying that he's trying to check his {{w|Human body temperature|body temperature}}. He mentions that the thermometer is in Celsius, and asks how to change it. Many thermometers sold in the United States have settings for both Fahrenheit and Celsius, with an option to change between the two. Americans are almost always more familiar with body temperatures in Fahrenheit, so Cueball presumably expects to change to that scale. However, he finds that the thermometer provides measurements in a series of scales that are increasingly unhelpful. Human body temperature in Celsius is 37 °C.

*Degrees {{w|Celsius}} are used in most of the world. The Celsius scale sets 0 degrees to water's freezing point and 100 degrees to water's boiling point. Few Americans have a clear idea of what normal and elevated ranges of human body temperature are in Celsius.
*{{w|Kelvin}} is a unit often used in scientific fields. It is calibrated on the same scale as degrees Celsius, but 0 K is set at {{w|absolute zero}} or -273.15 °C. This is used in scientific or engineering contexts requiring an thermodynamically absolute temperature, such as {{w|Charles's law}}, but almost never in a medical context, making the report of little use.
*The {{w|Rankine scale}} is another absolute scale, with its zero set at absolute zero, but degrees identical to degrees Fahrenheit. While this scale is still occasionally used in some industrial and scientific settings (being more convenient for absolute temperatures in a system including Fahrenheit), it's essentially never used in medicine, and most people have never heard of it.
*Thermodynamically, temperature is the average translational {{w|kinetic energy}} of a group of particles. ''Translational'' kinetic energy means it doesn’t include rotational and vibrational kinetic energy. The relation between a gas’s kinetic energy E and its temperature T is
::<math>E=\frac32 k_B T,</math>
:where kB is the {{w|Boltzmann constant}}, 1.380649×10<sup>−23</sup> J⋅K<sup>-1</sup>. So if this thermometer told you a translational kinetic energy measurement in joules, you could get the measured temperature in the Kelvin scale by dividing by the Boltzmann constant and multiplying by 2/3.

Using these last three units for home temperature gauging would be ridiculous, as Kelvin and Rankine measurements of body temperature are unfamiliar to the average user and even those familiar with them would need to do calculations to translate normal body temperature. Kinetic energy is obscure enough that only physicists, engineers and thermodynamicists, a relative handful of the potential buyers, would likely know what it refers to. Those that do could make use of the value printed on the thermometer, but such would add a great deal of unnecessary complexity to what should be a simple and intuitive task.

In the last frame Cueball calls the thermometer the worst. It seems to lack {{w|Fahrenheit}} entirely, frustrating its American consumer base, including Cueball. From a nerd's perspective this would be an extraordinary device, offering even exotic temperature scales. However, a "normal person" would find this thermometer terribly difficult to use for everyday purposes when set on any of the non-Celsius scales, like checking their body temperature or the temperature of food. As an item of consumer electronics, especially one sold in the United States, it would be almost completely useless.

Deliberately lacking Fahrenheit is a jab against the {{w|Imperial system of units}}, and against the similar but distinct system of {{w|United States customary units}}. Although Imperial units and local traditional units are still used for various limited purposes (and/or by older generations) in different countries, most of the world has switched to using the metric system for most purposes going forward, with the US being relatively unusual in the extent to which it still routinely defaults to the US customary units in daily life. Many proponents of the metric system have long pushed for the US to change over, arguing that Imperial and US customary units (and degrees Fahrenheit, specifically) are archaic and obsolete. [[Randall]] has dealt with this conflict in [[1643|other strips]]; as a physics major, he's partial to the metric system, and finds it frustrating to maintain multiple different scales (which is the basis of the conflict in this strip). On the other hand, he recognizes certain intuitive advantages to Imperial and US customary measurements, and recognizes that the forces of social inertia in US society make change difficult.

The title text references an archaic temperature unit, {{w|Rømer scale|Rømer}}, first proposed in 1701. Unlike the other measurements mentioned in this strip, the Rømer scale is no longer used in any context, and only people interested in the history of temperature scales have any idea that it even exists. This is the ultimate form of obscure and outdated temperature measurements.

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
:[Cueball stands in the center of the panel holding a thermometer.]
:Cueball: This thermometer is in Celsius. How do you change it?
:Off-panel voice: Long press the button.

:[Cueball presses the button, and the thermometer beeps]
:''Press''
:''Beep''
:Thermometer: Units: Kelvin
:Cueball: No...

:[Cueball presses the button, and the thermometer beeps]
:''Press''
:''Beep''
:Thermometer: Units: Degrees Rankine
:Cueball: What.

:[Cueball presses the button, and the thermometer beeps]
:''Press''
:''Beep''
:Thermometer: Units: Average Translational Kinetic Energy
:Cueball: This is the worst thermometer.
:Off-panel voice: Boltzmann's constant is on the side if you need it.

==Trivia==

In [[1643: Degrees]], Cueball struggles with which temperature unit to use, and ultimately tells his friend the temperature in {{w|radian}}s, which is not a valid temperature scale.

In [[1923: Felsius]], Randall proposes a combined Fahrenheit/Celsius temperature scale called Felsius.

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:COVID-19]]
[[Category:Science]]
[[Category:Physics]]

Talk:2288: Collector's Edition

2020-04-03T07:18:25Z

162.158.255.216:

... is this going to be like [[1190: Time]]? [[Special:Contributions/162.158.74.63|162.158.74.63]] 04:08, 3 April 2020 (UTC)
: I hope so, otherwise I don't get the joke [[User:Forresthopkinsa|Forresthopkinsa]] ([[User talk:Forresthopkinsa|talk]]) 04:15, 3 April 2020 (UTC)
: The page just went down for me so maybe what we've seen isn't what it's supposed to be? [[User:Avi m|avis_magpie]] ([[User talk:Avi m|talk]]) 04:20, 3 April 2020 (UTC)
Looks like the whole comic was just taken down. [[User:Parzivail|Parzivail]] ([[User talk:Parzivail|talk]]) 04:27, 3 April 2020 (UTC)
: Can confirm - the most recent comic is Pathogen again [[Special:Contributions/162.158.187.207|162.158.187.207]] 04:26, 3 April 2020 (UTC)
It is still up on the mobile website, but only if you directly go to comic page https://m.xkcd.com/2288 [[Special:Contributions/172.69.22.146|172.69.22.146]] 05:10, 3 April 2020 (UTC)
: Perhaps this is a collector's edition because it was only up for a limited amount of time? {{unsigned ip|108.162.219.60|05:12, 3 April 2020}}
:: That was my immediate assumption. The title text says, "I'm sure you can find some suitable worldbuilding material if you scavenge through the archives." And I was viewing the comic by using the Internet Archive's Wayback Machine — which, wouldn't you know it, captured the page exactly once before it went down. Between that and the title "Collector's Edition", I can't help thinking that the comic was actually intended to be viewed this way. Though for what reason, and what intended meaning, I couldn't tell you. …And jeez, in the time it took me to type this, the comic is back, but changed! Oy vey. [[User:NoriMori|NoriMori]] ([[User talk:NoriMori|talk]]) 06:42, 3 April 2020 (UTC)

Maybe it's called collectors edition, because it was only available quite limited and to an unusual time? But that logic doesn't fit with the title text. --[[User:Lupo|Lupo]] ([[User talk:Lupo|talk]]) 05:14, 3 April 2020 (UTC)
:I doubt that could be caused by "technical difficulties". [[Special:Contributions/172.69.34.186|172.69.34.186]] 06:14, 3 April 2020 (UTC)

It looks like it went back up about 5 minutes age. I can't figure out if it's possible to do more than pan right now though. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.215.120|108.162.215.120]] 06:39, 3 April 2020 (UTC)
:Yeah I see the same thing, looks like they're just testing it live. What a shame :(--[[Special:Contributions/108.162.215.242|108.162.215.242]] 06:47, 3 April 2020 (UTC)
::what makes you assume that this is testing right now? however it doesn't seem to be very interactive apart from panning through it, and that it seems to chagne over time (the moon from [[1300]] wasn't there a few minutes ago, was it? --[[User:Lupo|Lupo]] ([[User talk:Lupo|talk]]) 06:49, 3 April 2020 (UTC)

:It's a giant pan similar to [https://xkcd.com/1110], although it's mostly empty, with some content at [https://xkcd.com/2288/#-361,-161]
. The title reads that you can find world building material, if you scavenge through the archives. I assume, more content will be unlocked as you read through past comics. [[User:Goatfryed|Goatfryed]] ([[User talk:Goatfryed|talk]]) 06:52, 3 April 2020 (UTC)
::That would mean it is individual? That everyone gets their own picture? --[[User:Lupo|Lupo]] ([[User talk:Lupo|talk]]) 07:03, 3 April 2020 (UTC) Edit: I can kinda rule that out. I get the same picture on my phone and my work laptop, the work laptop is in a different country via vpn, and doesn't share any logins/advertisement ID's apart from explain xkcd with my phone... --[[User:Lupo|Lupo]] ([[User talk:Lupo|talk]]) 07:05, 3 April 2020 (UTC)

Yeah, it definitely changes. The orange swimming pool just showed up now. Also, at the bottom of the page, it says something about "backpack", and what appears to be a reference to some other xkcd comic. For example, "Hint: why waste time say few word when lot word do trick", which I think refers to Up Goer Five. But I have no idea what to do with that info. [[Special:Contributions/172.68.141.190|172.68.141.190]] 06:55, 3 April 2020 (UTC)
:and the content seems to be related to previous comics and what-ifs... but still no clue what to do apart from exploring the page. --[[User:Lupo|Lupo]] ([[User talk:Lupo|talk]]) 06:57, 3 April 2020 (UTC)

So I just stumbled upon this and it seems to be exactly as other commentors have theorised: as you read previous comics more stuff gets added to the page. There seems to be some kind of backpack mechanic where you collect items from previous ones somehow, but, perhaps because I've already read all previous comics, that didn't seem to work for me. Instead I just had to click the link above the backpack, which opened the comic in a new tab, and it had a bunch of stuff there. We may need to co-ordinate to figure out if different people end up with different sets of items, and to ensure we have all of them, but I think other than that it should be just a cut and dry thing of making a table with every item in it. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.34.202|162.158.34.202]] 07:12, 3 April 2020 (UTC)
:Hang on, mine just changed: before there was only 1 pool on the left, now there are two. I only went back to pathogens and then forwards agin. This may be harder than I thought, I'm going to start keeping a screenshot log of actions vs. results. [[User:Benkor42|Benkor42]] ([[User talk:Benkor42|talk]]) 07:17, 3 April 2020 (UTC)
:You may need to try xkcd.com instead of www.xkcd.com - there seems to be an issue with the latter at the moment. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.255.216|162.158.255.216]] 07:18, 3 April 2020 (UTC)