explain xkcd - User contributions [en]

Talk:2526: TSP vs TBSP

2021-10-08T17:12:17Z

162.158.74.150:

The title text refers to lyrics in the Alanis Morissette song Ironic -MonteCarloe [[Special:Contributions/172.70.126.211|172.70.126.211]] 16:59, 8 October 2021 (UTC)

I wonder why Randall used 1024^4 instead of 2^40. -MonteCarlo [[Special:Contributions/162.158.74.150|162.158.74.150]] 17:10, 8 October 2021 (UTC)

Talk:2526: TSP vs TBSP

2021-10-08T17:10:05Z

162.158.74.150:

The title text refers to lyrics in the Alanis Morissette song Ironic -MonteCarloe [[Special:Contributions/172.70.126.211|172.70.126.211]] 16:59, 8 October 2021 (UTC)
I wonder why Randall used 1024^4 instead of 2^40. -MonteCarlo [[Special:Contributions/162.158.74.150|162.158.74.150]] 17:10, 8 October 2021 (UTC)

Talk:2503: Memo Spike Connector

2021-08-18T18:54:36Z

162.158.74.150:

Just made my first ever wiki edit! There was no text yet so I filled in some basic info. I guarantee what I wrote will be removed though :( . Oh well, I tried! [[User:Zman350x|Zman350x]] ([[User talk:Zman350x|talk]]) 15:20, 16 August 2021 (UTC)
:Your first edit inspired me to my own first edit. Maybe at the end there will be a good article made entirely by noobs. :) [[Special:Contributions/172.68.110.115|172.68.110.115]] 16:33, 16 August 2021 (UTC)
::Seems like some parts of your edits have survived, to what seems close to a final version now. Any start on an explanation is difficult so cool that you are now on the editing team ;-) I make a lot of edits, but is not typically the one that makes the actual explanation, more keeping the format and making small improvements --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 07:20, 17 August 2021 (UTC)
:: :o --[[Special:Contributions/172.69.22.229|172.69.22.229]] 10:55, 17 August 2021 (UTC)

In restaurants these are not used for orders for the kitchen. Those are usually put on an order wheel or ticket holder, which have clips that the order can easily pulled out of. The spike is at the checkout counter, and it's used after the bill is paid. [[User:Barmar|Barmar]] ([[User talk:Barmar|talk]]) 19:57, 16 August 2021 (UTC)

Do we want to mention the vampire taps in both the article and trivia? Cause that's how it currently is. [[User:Zman350x|Zman350x]] ([[User talk:Zman350x|talk]]) 21:27, 16 August 2021 (UTC)
:No. Have removed trivia. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 07:20, 17 August 2021 (UTC)

My first comment too! Where it says... "The implication is that any cable can be connected to any other cable as a form of universal adapter/splitter/combiner"... That's not the title text joke. It's that a device like an iPad could also be impaled on the spike, making electrical connection to its innards. It says nothing about cable to cable connections. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.246.18|108.162.246.18]] 21:47, 16 August 2021 (UTC)
:Didn't see this comment until I intervened, under the same impression, but I totally agree. Looked like an orphan comment intended for the pre-titletext 'explanation'. Still valid, and rather than move it I expanded it to fit better where it is. Doubt it'll be the 'final' version, though. (Anecdotal explanation of my thinking: If I put my tablet down on my opened laptop, it'll sometimes 'agitate' the laptop trackpad. Technically I could probably get the tablet to control this inbuilt mouse deliberately through whatever ¿field-effect? is interacting with the ¿capacitative? finger-sensor. I am imagining something like this (only more puncturing!) is what is 'promised' if I impale two otherwise incompatible devices on the same spike. But also lets one connect otherwise incompatible cables to further cables/devices. Like I don't have an ethernet dongle that works with the tablet, but spike them both and I'd be laughing.... Right?) [[Special:Contributions/172.69.54.202|172.69.54.202]] 03:14, 17 August 2021 (UTC)
::The title text is also about old types of cables and not just smartphones and tablet. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 07:20, 17 August 2021 (UTC)

This explanation does not answer the one question I came here to find the answer to, namely why it is named “memo spike.” [[Special:Contributions/108.162.219.79|108.162.219.79]] 03:19, 17 August 2021 (UTC)
:Some (not me, but that's because I've never used one in anger, maybe) seem to call the non-connector thing that the connector is based around a "memo spike". Apparently one can impale successive memos (in a memo-heavy administration job?) upon the spike and then later thread a chord (or treasury tag?) through the holes to perpetuate their 'spiked collection' status. It's possible there are other names (like: thumb-tack <=> drawing pin), but this is how Randall identifies it. Better than "that thing you spike paper onto - but now with ''power!!!111oneoneone''", etc... 'Though YMMV. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.76.253|141.101.76.253]] 03:56, 17 August 2021 (UTC)

The detail on the free cable end is more clearly visible in the [https://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/memo_spike_connector_2x.png double-sized image version], suggesting that it isn't just a coax. [[User:BunsenH|BunsenH]] ([[User talk:BunsenH|talk]]) 04:28, 17 August 2021 (UTC)
:It is actually the x2 version that is now showed per default on the xkcd page, and thus it is that one that should be used here on xkcd.. ie. the one you are presented with on xkcd. Have uploaded that version to explain now. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 07:20, 17 August 2021 (UTC)
::"It is actually the x2 version that is now showed per default on the xkcd page" - you're wrong about that. The x2 is an optional image if the markup-linked code decides it wants to make it the embedded image. Maybe that becomes default in your case, but don't assume it's true for everyone, all the time. (You can break the explainxkcd page rendering for people, like me, if you force a typical x2 image into here, even when xkcs original is sane ''and'' allows deliberate zooming.)
::My suggestion in this case/similar is to clip the detail from the x2 to highlight the feature and embed this exact bit in the explanation, if you want to make sure everyone sees the high-res version of that bit in particular. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.105.137|141.101.105.137]] 13:41, 17 August 2021 (UTC)
::I have added an imagesize parameter, so it renders with the 'standard' size while keeping the detail from the 2x version when viewing the file's page. [[User:Theusaf|theusaf]] ([[User talk:Theusaf|talk]]) 16:32, 17 August 2021 (UTC)

Possibly a reference to the 1987 movie RoboCop; the titular character had a similar looking data spike used to interface with OCP computers. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.130.225|172.70.130.225]] 19:16, 17 August 2021 (UTC)
:Similar looking? It's a spike, which is action-relevent at another point in the movie (or maybe franchise, if I'm thinking of some sequel/requel scene). But not (if I'm not missing anything by my dotty memory) a thing with a round base that acts to vampire-tap cables. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.111.170|162.158.111.170]] 02:23, 18 August 2021 (UTC)
:: [https://i.stack.imgur.com/KdpTF.png This here] looks pretty much like the comic to me and it is a data connector. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.74.150|162.158.74.150]] 18:54, 18 August 2021 (UTC)

It would be interesting to get a list of cable types for which this could actually work in some circumstances.
Also how would the device deal with multiple cables being impaled on it as in the picture? How would the information be separated? [[Special:Contributions/162.158.91.244|162.158.91.244]] 07:42, 18 August 2021 (UTC)
:Even with one cable, it would need to be a majority-insulating spike with a myriad of pin-prick conductive patches arrayed (like a ring-barelled audio+ connector, but radially distinct also) each ready to leach one and ony one bit of bare copper (though a wire may/should touch multiple spike-patches) without bridging to another.
:All these would need bundling into the base - or maybe with very clever in-spike isolation/relaying conductor paths - for any currents to be assessed and sorted and build up a logical picture of whhat the few contact-patches that are contacting wire are actually contacting (perhaps moment to moment, as movements of the impaled cable happen).
:For 'passive' wires in the bundle, maybe tentative pulses can detect the altered capacitance/impedance they give the patch-spots, then (from clues based upon any active signals) a complex and careful handshaking attempt would need to auto-negotiate which kind of auto-negotiating might be expected by the device(s) at the other end(s) of the cable.
:Hopefully enough connections exist to operate any particular carrier-cable correctly (single-pair +/-, or ground/pos/sig+/sig-, or DA+/DA-/DB+/DC-/DC+/DB-/DD+/DD-, or whatever), and with enough current capacity without cross-conductor signal-lraking (either physically or inductively). Adding a second cable (which may jostle the first, requiring hot/on-the-fly reinterpretation of its patch-mapping and capabilities therefrom) just repeats the process with previously untouched patch-contacts.
:...and if you can get that working. You're welcome to the patent. A similarly dynamic 'induction/inducer clamp' version might be my own prefered choice, but probably also difficult to get working well (for different reasons). [[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.253|141.101.98.253]] 12:30, 18 August 2021 (UTC)

Talk:2502: Every Data Table

2021-08-16T19:11:29Z

162.158.74.150:

When we all rely on a BOT, we don't know how to do simple things like create new comic explanation pages manually anymore. 8-) <br>
I really hope he's right about 2022... [[User:Orion205|Orion205]] ([[User talk:Orion205|talk]]) 00:23, 14 August 2021 (UTC)
:The DgbrtBOT... Why's it broken?? --[[Special:Contributions/198.41.238.117|198.41.238.117]] 04:22, 14 August 2021 (UTC)
::It looks likely it was being run on a computer by the author, and the computer hiccuped. Nobody has notified the author, who doesn't come here much anymore. The bot is also linked from its page for others to run it. [[User:Baffo32|Baffo32]] ([[User talk:Baffo32|talk]]) 09:39, 14 August 2021 (UTC)

;Asterix and Obelix
Fun fact: comic strip characters Asterix and Obelix were named after these symbols [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Asterix_characters]. Frank [[Special:Contributions/162.158.88.121|162.158.88.121]] 10:12, 14 August 2021 (UTC)

;New Normal
I personally am getting very tired of anyone expecting CoViD '19 to be "over" or anxious to "get back to normal". With '19, Delta, Gamma, & Lambda, all making the rounds (& those are just the lineage names; each already has dozens of minor variants, as coronavirus carries over minor variations from ''each host''), & dogs, cats, & deer all showing signs of community-wide infection as well, it seems pretty obvious even to a non epidemiologist, that we've long since reached a state of effectively ubiquitous exposure. Couple this with air quality in increasing decline across multiple factors (rapidly climbing CO2, increasing rates of emissions of microparticulate, the only-just-beginning-&-already-most-of-the-dust-we-breathe breakdown of plastic microfibers, rare volatiles, take your pick, levels of each are accelerating precipitously) & we should all just collectively ''expect'' everyone "at risk" of respiratory illness to be suffering or dying on increasingly regular basis, until we all collectively change our lifestyles considerably more than we have so far. Heck, if we continue trying to get "back to normal" we may all die off entirely ''much'' sooner than even most of our concerned "experts" seem to think, because of the sheer number of contributing factors compounding each other at unprecedented rates of increase. In my view (seemed obvious since last August) CoViD itself is clearly here to stay, & even with booster shots, we should expect dangerous new variants to crop up. We live in an increasingly dense society (& that isn't a euphemism referring to effects of CO2 buildup) & higher density means more disease exposure; so we will all need to take steps to minimize these exposure risks & ''keep that up forever'' (or at least until population density or travel wane dramatically). We might even have to stop living like the future is disposable.
[[User:ProphetZarquon|ProphetZarquon]] ([[User talk:ProphetZarquon|talk]]) 17:12, 14 August 2021 (UTC)
: Yes, my reaction to 2022 in this comic was, "I appreciate his optimism, but I don't think it's actually warranted, and I think it's the double dagger symbol that comes next." I do hope we'll ultimately ease into a bit of a smoother and somewhat less oppressive (new) 'normal' than 2020~21 represent, but even in that scenario 2021 definitely seems a bit too soon to expect the current aberrations to reach an end. Regarding lifestyle changes, more than that I think it's largely voting patterns that would need to change (in countries where that applies), since many of the changes needed require large-scale collective coordination (i.e. infrastructure, commercial/industrial regulation, etc. etc.), in other words government level action, rather than just lifestyle changes at the individual level, even if universally applied. But I agree, a willingness to change lifestyles may be required for those kinds of voting patterns to occur. Of course a large span of human history was permeated by a lot of suffering, conflict, and death that probably most of us can't relate to today. On the other hand though, nowadays there's 7B of us and counting to experience the full joys of everything you're describing =/. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.246.50|108.162.246.50]] 20:06, 14 August 2021 (UTC)
: Did you seriously implied covid is made dangerous by global warming? Despite climbing CO2, the air quality - meaning, how good it is for people - is getting BETTER thanks to factory emissions being regulated compared to previous century. At least in Europe and US, it may still be bad in China, Beijing's smog is legendary. Of course, that's not related to Covid, which does seem to be here to stay and the best we can hope in is that thanks to combination of vaccine and mutations it gets closer to flu in dangerousness (which would still means tens of thousands of deaths every year, in EU or US). -- [[User:Hkmaly|Hkmaly]] ([[User talk:Hkmaly|talk]]) 01:10, 15 August 2021 (UTC)
:: The observed raise of atmospheric CO2 concentration may cause various changes in climate dynamics, but has no direct effect on human respiration and health. Sitting in a poorly ventilated room causes much, much higher rise (just because you're exhaling CO2), even causing mild, but passing, somatic effects (headaches etc.) -- [[Special:Contributions/141.101.96.29|141.101.96.29]] 08:13, 16 August 2021 (UTC)

I'm thinking the next best option after the asterisk and dagger would probably be the section sign (§) — [[User:RAGBRAIvet|RAGBRAIvet]] ([[User talk:RAGBRAIvet|talk]]) 23:04, 15 August 2021 (UTC) 22:23, 14 August 2021 (UTC)

Is there a triangle symbol? That seems like it would be the best, if 2022 was mainly Delta
:It's likely Delta will be connected to THIS year (2021) and next year will have another variant as dominant. There might even be enough time left in this year to replace Lambda as well, or maybe Lambda will be connected with winter 2021/22 and we get another for summer 2022. -- [[User:Hkmaly|Hkmaly]] ([[User talk:Hkmaly|talk]]) 01:10, 15 August 2021 (UTC)
:I just want to say out loud (sic!) what I've been thinking for a while now... People will definitely be uncomfortable with the situation once they have to identify something as the Omega Strain... For a number of reasons. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.213|141.101.98.213]] 11:34, 15 August 2021 (UTC)

2022 should have the ‡-symbol, double dagger - Checkmate!

The star and dagger could also be read as star and cross as seen on some tomb stones. They are used to denote birth and death. This could explain the comment about not being sure what the next symbol would be.
See example here https://www.serafinum.de/media/image/product/8219/lg/zeitloser-granit-grabstein-in-schwarz-einzelgrab-philium~2.jpg
[[User:Ray|Ray]] ([[User talk:Ray|talk]]) 08:36, 16 August 2021 (UTC)

In genealogical records, such as family trees, the dagger is used to indicate the death, or the unnatural death, of a person. Similarly, in biology, it is used to note the extinction of a species, genus, etc... Species that are possibly extinct are indicated with an asterisk and finally double asterisks indicate taxa believed to be extinct in the wild but known to be extant in cultivation.

The title text says "I'm hoping 2022 is relatively normal ..."
Soylent Green is set in 2022. The movie shows pollution, global warming, riots, a sharp divide between rich and poor, ... and a tasty new food product. Totally fictional, ummm, kind of, sort of. Oh never mind. How do I buy a ticket for a Mars rocket? [[Special:Contributions/162.158.74.150|162.158.74.150]] 19:11, 16 August 2021 (UTC)

== TeX footnote symbols ==

I think the picture is an excerpt of a scientific paper, so those symbols are the footnote symbols used to explain the anomalies. Here's the list:
<code>
1 asterisk *

2 dagger †

3 double dagger ‡

4 section symbol §

5 paragraph ¶

6 parallel lines ‖

7 two asterisks **

8 two daggers ††

9 two double daggers ‡‡
</code>

As a result, all Randall has to do is this:
<code>
\usepackage[symbol]{footmisc}

\renewcommand{\thefootnote}{\fnsymbol{footnote}}

\footnote[num]{text}
</code>

where num=year-2019.

--[[User:I.|I.]] ([[User talk:I.|talk]]) 16:11, 16 August 2021 (UTC)