explain xkcd - User contributions [en]

Talk:2847: Dendrochronology

2023-10-28T19:41:24Z

172.68.34.39:

Hello wonderful person. IYKYK

Is the set of bones supposed to signify something? Human perhaps? I see vertebrae. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.46.30|172.70.46.30]] 13:27, 28 October 2023 (UTC)

: The bones depicted appear to represent a subset of "generalized vertebrate animal", including arm, leg, and jaw bones in addition to the vertebrae. Humans are cited as prey species, but the bones in this specimen are far too small to be human. If a typical tree ring is 2 mm wide, the 1635 CE ring would have to be 40 mm wide to accommodate a 20 mm diameter human femur with free space, as shown. The ring is ca. 12 mm wide. This tree ate smaller vertebrates. Of course, different tree species likely had different prey ranges, as with carnivorous animals. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.206.220|172.70.206.220]] 16:15, 28 October 2023 (UTC)

So this tree was cut down in late 1642? [[Special:Contributions/172.70.42.182|172.70.42.182]] 13:37, 28 October 2023 (UTC)

: Its year of death was indeed 1642 CE per dendrochronology. As for being cut down ... given the dense layer of calcium phosphate in the sapwood, and the saws available in the mid-1600s, the question "how?" [https://www.dude-n-dude.com/2023/10/27/amoebas-lorica-dendrochr-ohno-logy/ is nontrivial]. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.206.220|172.70.206.220]] 16:15, 28 October 2023 (UTC)

So is the year 1635 a reference to some real event, or just totally random? [[Special:Contributions/162.158.230.26|162.158.230.26]] 17:57, 28 October 2023 (UTC)
:If it was totally random it would have been 4AD! [[Special:Contributions/141.101.99.5|141.101.99.5]] 18:23, 28 October 2023 (UTC)
:at first I thought maybe the {{w|Carrington Event}} (similar but smaller EM storm as Miyake events), but that was 1859. The only vaguely related thing I saw for 1635 was the first recorded US hurricane... you might say I'm Stumped (and if that's the meta joke here, insert Capt Kirk "Khan!" clip here, with the subtitle "Monroe!") - [[Special:Contributions/172.68.34.39|172.68.34.39]] 19:41, 28 October 2023 (UTC)

Talk:2823: Fossil

2023-09-06T18:12:43Z

172.68.34.39: can_do_interaction:bp_bump! is.can.has.cheeseburger?

Boop! [[User:PotatoGod|PotatoGod]] ([[User talk:PotatoGod|talk]]) 07:53, 2 September 2023 (UTC)

Came here to find out what in the heck ‘boop’ has to do with anything, learned absolutely nothing (autospell changed it to “book” so I’m not alone). [[Special:Contributions/172.71.154.76|172.71.154.76]] 08:17, 2 September 2023 (UTC)
:There's a link there now (not sure when anyone added it, might have been after your query) which satisfies me somewhat. Seems to be a playful tagging/"you're it!" sort of thing, though, like "punch buggy <yellow/etc>", it's not something I really knew of though probably appears to be in Randall's childhood/whatever cultural background and that's good enough for me. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.79.152|172.69.79.152]] 09:53, 2 September 2023 (UTC)
::I agree that "boop" needs an extra explanation for non native speakers of English. The link is useful (thanks to whoever added it) but the Wiktionary definition alone is too terse to get the pun.--[[User:Pere prlpz|Pere prlpz]] ([[User talk:Pere prlpz|talk]]) 11:54, 2 September 2023 (UTC)
:::Wait wait wait.... It's a <i>pun</i>? [[Special:Contributions/172.70.147.191|172.70.147.191]] 00:35, 5 September 2023 (UTC)
:I added the wikitionary link and I was not entirely happy with it, but it's a starting point. Please do improve it. To me, "boop" is a friendly pat on the nose that one might do to, especially, a dog's nose; see https://www.hillspet.com/dog-care/play-exercise/do-dogs-like-dog-boops?. Definitely more affectionate and less aggressive than the "punch buggy" action (which can get out of hand), or even tagging. I was surprised that https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boop did not have a mention of this, not even on the talk page; yeah, it's not the most encyclopedic of topics, but discussing social behaviors is beyond the bounds of wiktionary, and Urban Dictionary isn't a great place to cite to (even if it were helpful). [[User:JohnHawkinson|JohnHawkinson]] ([[User talk:JohnHawkinson|talk]]) 12:26, 2 September 2023 (UTC)
::To the non-native English speakers, it's basically just playfully, gently touching a dog or other animal/pet on the nose while saying "Boop". Like "I got your nose." Not really petting/stroking; just a form of play or affection. I'm not surprised there isn't a lot documented on this as it's not really a "thing". Kind of like Randall's use of pew pew pew noises while pretending to fire a ray gun. You understand what he's doing and may have done it yourself, but it's not the kind of thing you expect to find on Wikipedia. :) [[Special:Contributions/172.71.254.125|172.71.254.125]] 15:40, 2 September 2023 (UTC) Pat
:"Boop" can also be a great training tool: Dogs love to poke us with their noses, so a lot of them can readily be trained to come put their nose in your hand when you hold it palm out & say "Boop"! Adorable & handy. [[User:ProphetZarquon|ProphetZarquon]] ([[User talk:ProphetZarquon|talk]]) 03:03, 4 September 2023 (UTC)
::Huh, and here I was thinking that it must be something people did to annoy animals, cats in particular don't enjoy being poked in the nostril. I am somewhat mystified by this entire thing. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.226.104|108.162.226.104]] 22:08, 4 September 2023 (UTC)
:::Oh doing it ''to'' a cat is ''definitely'' a surefire way to tick them off; though I've known quite a few male cats so affectionate as to boop their face against any hand extended near enough to them. When ''they'' boop ''us'', it's a sign of affection, when ''we'' boop ''them'', the response depends greatly on the boopee's demeanor & mood. [[User:ProphetZarquon|ProphetZarquon]] ([[User talk:ProphetZarquon|talk]]) 04:24, 6 September 2023 (UTC)
::::That (a cat-boop, but by another name) is even integrated into Dwarf Fortress code, as can be seen in its Raws (i.e. entity configuration files). 'Show' the details at the bottom of [https://dwarffortresswiki.org/index.php/Cat this wiki page] and look right at the bottom for the [CAN_DO_INTERACTION:BP_BUMP] definition structure. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.90.83|172.70.90.83]] 08:40, 6 September 2023 (UTC)
:::::I'm often amused by the phrasing used in code: The fact that terms like "is.can.has.cheeseburger:" can ever be syntactically apropos, makes it feel like the whole structural methodology was developed by a committee of lolcats.
::::: [[Special:Contributions/172.68.34.39|172.68.34.39]] 18:12, 6 September 2023 (UTC)
: Try searching "boop", "nose boop" or similar on TikTok and you'll know what it's about. [[User:Elektrizikekswerk|Elektrizikekswerk]] ([[User talk:Elektrizikekswerk|talk]]) 15:22, 5 September 2023 (UTC)

The furries gonna have a field day with this one :] [[Special:Contributions/172.71.154.178|172.71.154.178]] 22:07, 2 September 2023 (UTC)

I was actually curios as whether any eye had ever seen a 400 million old fossil. Had to look it up to see when the first eyes evolved. But seems it was around [https://www.scienceworld.ca/stories/eyes-how/ 550 million years ago], so some eyes may have seen the animal that turned in to the fossil Cueball now sees. ;-) --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 12:47, 3 September 2023 (UTC)
: "... see an animal that no one has laid eyes on..." strongly implies that the "no one" means "no human being". Which doesn't really make sense in this context. -- [[User:Dtgriscom|Dtgriscom]] ([[User talk:Dtgriscom|talk]]) 02:15, 4 September 2023 (UTC)

I thought that the rock with the trilobite looks like a remote control button that makes a "beep" or "boop" when you push it. Or alternatively an infant's toy that has a button that makes a sound like a clown's nose. So Cueball is pressing the trilobite and vocalizing the "boop" sound that would be expected from these objects. Although "booping" a child's nose is a thing ... although it seems very rude ... I did not associate the fossil rock with the trilobite with noses, but I did associate it with remote control devices that have a flat pad with a button (or many buttons) on it. [[User:Rtanenbaum|Rtanenbaum]] ([[User talk:Rtanenbaum|talk]]) 13:26, 3 September 2023 (UTC)

Here is an example picture of a trilobite which has two large eyes and a centre area which might be booped. The fossil is 3D meaning it is not flat.
[[File:trilobite.jpg|300px]]
In contrast a fossil fish will often be flat, almost 2D, and show only one eye. Many people in North America do not like to see the head of a fish and so the head of a fossil fish can also seem odd.
[[User:Punchcard|Punchcard]] ([[User talk:Punchcard|talk]]) 22:07, 3 September 2023 (UTC)

Can someone provide a pronunciation guide, preferrably a phonetic representation, of the word fossiliferous ? Anyone except native speakers of English who are also paleonthology enthousiasts will likely be unsure whether to pronounce it as "fossi-LI-ferous" or "fossili-FE-rous". [[User:Blagae|Blagae]] ([[User talk:Blagae|talk]]) 12:15, 4 September 2023 (UTC)
:I'm not a palæontologist, who might know differently, but as an English speaker (one of a multitude of potentially different Englishes) I'd say fossi-LI-ferous, as I would carbo-NI-ferous or splen-DI-ferous, it seeming to be the general pattern for {{wiktionary|Rhymes:English/ɪfəɹəs|that type of word}}.
:But emphasis would so easily change, at need. "That limestone is not only CARBONiferous, but particularly FOSSILiferous, too!" would be a rhetoric stress. (Though the number of times people mis-stress things... It's not "The cousins came to the party. Not only Jack JONES, but Pete JONES too...", which sounds weird to me when one should stress JACK and PETE, both of them 'merely' Joneses. So often do I hear this sort of thing done wrongly, it makes me wonder if actually I'm wrong about it all!)
:Does that help? Noting that wiktionary gives /splɛnˈdɪfəɹəs/, with the ˈ in it where I'd generally agree, but that isn't included as an -iferous rhymer and certainly fossiliferous doesn't have a full IPA, with or without the ˈ point. And someone with a full classicist education might well have other ideas anyway (also yer average Leftpondian, especially Randall, but differently so again). [[Special:Contributions/172.71.178.156|172.71.178.156]] 16:43, 4 September 2023 (UTC)

2788: Musical Scales

2023-06-13T20:40:41Z

172.68.34.39: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 2788
| date = June 12, 2023
| title = Musical Scales
| image = musical_scales_2x.png
| imagesize = 326x222px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = In the Hall of the Mountain King was accidentally composed on log/log paper.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by a SEMI-LOG MOUNTAIN, Editted by an anonymous user who would like to go by the name HALRANDIR, thankyouverymuch, and another user who made edits while HALRANDIR made edits and didn't change this tag. Further tweaked by a LOGARITHMIC JELLYFISH- Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

In {{w|Musical_notation#Modern_staff_notation|standard Western musical notation}}, the horizontal position of a note indicates its relative temporal position in the piece, and the vertical position of a note denotes  its pitch; but the pitch is really a logarithm of the note's frequency (every octave/seven named notes/12 half steps equals a doubling of frequency), so it's a semi-log plot of sorts. The comic thus explores what a notation would look like if the horizontal axis behaved this way instead. Likewise, the vertical axis has been rendered linearly by frequency, with the normally equally-set lines on a normal musical staff stretching to compensate for the increasing jumps between pitches.

[[File:SimpleGifts.png|thumb|The nonstandard music notation depicted in the comic is the opening five measures of "{{w|Simple Gifts}}" ([https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/16/Simple_Gifts_-_Pendyrus_Choir-cory_Band.ogg listen.])]]

[[Randall]] may have mistakenly assumed that the lines of a music stave represent a linear increase in pitch and thus an exponential increase in frequency. He has thus mapped them onto a logarithmic scale by doubling the space between each successive line of the stave - one space between the bottom two lines, then two spaces, then four, then eight. In fact, the lines and the spaces between them correspond to notes in the C Major scale, which have unequal gaps between them. It is also possible that he is aware of this small inaccuracy and chose to ignore it in the name of humor.

The title text purports to explain how {{w|In the Hall of the Mountain King}}, which progressively increases in tempo/speed and intensity from an initially subtle start into a rapid hustle towards a series of crescendos at the end, was written on {{w|Log–log plot|log-log paper}}, that features nonlinear expansion in ''both'' its axes (in order to render various exponential graphs linear, often for the purposes of ease of understanding). Rather than these features being a deliberate composition decision, this says that they're only the result of how it was written down, or thenceforth read.

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

:[The sheet music for "Simple Gifts" on a distorted staff.]
:[Caption below the panel]:
:When transcribing music, remember to put ''frequency'' on a log scale and ''time'' on a linear one, not the other way around.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Music]]