explain xkcd - User contributions [en]

2209: Fresh Pears

2019-09-30T20:15:54Z

172.68.47.114: /* Transcript */ add categories

{{comic
| number = 2209
| date = September 30, 2019
| title = Fresh Pears
| image = fresh_pears.png
| titletext = I want to sell apples but I'm still working on getting the machine to do the cutting and grafting.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by a VENDING MACHINE. Please mention here why this explanation isn't complete. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
Megan tries to purchase fresh pears from a vending machine. She asks Beret guy, presumably the creator of said machine why it's not working. He explains that it just takes a while to work. To the left we see the machine dispensing a seed into the dirt. Above it is a robotic arm and a hopper for collecting and dispensing the ripened pears. The term "a while" is ambiguous, but in the context of waiting for a vending machine to dispense food, it's usually assumed to be a matter of seconds. Beret Guy, in his usually surrealist approach, seems to consider it reasonable to wait at a machine years for a tree to sprout, grow to maturity and begin bearing fruit. While such a pear would indeed be "fresh", it's implausible that anyone would accept that kind of lag time in buying a pear, particularly considering that any number of factors could interfere with the production of pears in the meantime.

The title text refers to the increased difficult in cultivating desirable apples, as compared to other fruits. Apples cannot be reliably produced from seeds, seedlings often don't survive, and even when they do, they don't generally reflect the characteristics of the parent plant. As a result, apple orchards are created by grafting tissue from desirable trees onto suitable rootstock. This process is more complex and labor-intensive than simply planting seeds. The joke, then, is that the next planned version of the machine would not only require the user to wait years, but would also involve as-yet unavailable technology to automatically perform the grafting process as to create an apple tree that produces desirable fruit.

==Transcript==
[Megan rattles a machine that is supposed to dispense fresh pears]
:Machine: [Plants a pear seed]
:Megan: I put in my quarters. Is the machine broken?
:Beret Guy: It just takes a while to work.

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Comics featuring Beret Guy]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]

2208: Drone Fishing

2019-09-27T17:03:23Z

172.68.47.114: /* Explanation */ ce; title text

{{comic
| number = 2208
| date = September 27, 2019
| title = Drone Fishing
| image = drone_fishing.png
| titletext = Today's consumers who order their drones off the internet don't know the joy of going out in nature and returning with a drone that you caught yourself, whose angry owners you fought off with your own two hands.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by a LINE-CAUGHT DRONE. Please mention here why this explanation isn't complete. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
Another comic in the [[:Category:My Hobby|My Hobby]] series, this comic is a parody of the traditional activity of fishing for fish. Typically, a person who is fishing will sit as Cueball does in this comic, by some body of water and wait for a fish to bite their cast line. However, this comic is not about ''normal'' fishing. Here, fishing in water is replaced by flying a kite with fishhooks attached over some drone enthusiasts in hopes of snagging their drones. This is quite likely illegal, especially if Cueball were to "reel" the caught drone in.

The title text parodies a common line about fishing, about the "joy of going out in nature", catching fish, and the struggle of reeling in large fish. However, instead of being about fishing, Randall has replaced the line to be about catching drones, and fighting off their owners.

==Transcript==
[Cueball, seated outside with a tackle box and two drones on the ground next to him, is flying a kite that has several lines dangling below the kite string, each line having a number of hooks. Several drones are in the air nearby, with Hairbun and another Cueball holding drone controllers standing a ways away.]

[Caption below the panel:]

My Hobby: Drone Fishing

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:My Hobby]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Hairbun]]
[[Category: Multiple Cueballs]]

2208: Drone Fishing

2019-09-27T16:58:42Z

172.68.47.114: /* Transcript */ copyedit

{{comic
| number = 2208
| date = September 27, 2019
| title = Drone Fishing
| image = drone_fishing.png
| titletext = Today's consumers who order their drones off the internet don't know the joy of going out in nature and returning with a drone that you caught yourself, whose angry owners you fought off with your own two hands.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by a LINE-CAUGHT DRONE. Please mention here why this explanation isn't complete. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
This comic is a parody of the traditional activity of fishing for fish. Typically, a person who is fishing will sit as Cueball does in this comic, by some body of water and wait for a fish to bite their cast line. However, this comic is not about ''normal'' fishing. Here, fishing in water is replaced by flying a kite with fishhooks attached over some drone enthusiasts in hopes of snagging their drones. This quite likely illegal, especially if Cueball were to "reel" the caught drone in.

==Transcript==
[Cueball, seated outside with a tackle box and two drones on the ground next to him, is flying a kite that has several lines dangling below the kite string, each line having a number of hooks. Several drones are in the air nearby, with Hairbun and another Cueball holding drone controllers standing a ways away.]

[Caption below the panel:]

My Hobby: Drone Fishing

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:My Hobby]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Hairbun]]
[[Category: Multiple Cueballs]]

Talk:2110: Error Bars

2019-09-24T16:56:15Z

172.68.47.114: Added a comment referencing the old meme, "Yo Dawg, I heard you like X, so I put some X on your X" and linked to one created for this comic

I put in a little thing about fractals and Cantor sets, seemed relevant. [[User:Netherin5|Netherin5]] ([[User talk:Netherin5|talk]]) 17:32, 11 February 2019 (UTC)
: Fractals seem more relevant than the Cantor set, since the Cantor set is the limit as you infinitely subtract stuff from a finite interval, whereas this is adding (more like a geometric series).[[Special:Contributions/172.68.174.64|172.68.174.64]] 23:25, 12 February 2019 (UTC)

Would the series have a limit or would it continue on until the error bars go from infinity to +infinity?
It will have limit. Becouse it will every time be 5% of prevous errors it will lower over time. --172.68.154.40
https://repl.it/repls/AppropriateMatureConferences for demonstration --172.68.154.40
: Yes and no. The point is in fact that for calculating one sigma you need at least two points. It means that sigmas is always one less then points. And sigma on sigmas is less in mumber by one more. So you can't have recursion sigmas depth more then number of point minus one (you have to start with two). Comics is wrong in this one: it has four points and four levels (on graph), but it can have only 3.

Perhaps you should review [https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/1153:_Proof Zeno's paradoxes] [[User:PotatoGod|PotatoGod]] ([[User talk:PotatoGod|talk]]) 02:11, 12 February 2019 (UTC)

That's not my understanding of "propagating error". I understand that phrase to mean that you're taking a measured value (that has uncertainty) and plugging it into a formula / using it calculate another value. Because of the way this works, the (absolute & relative) error on the newly calculated value is likely to be larger or smaller than the error in the original value (the overall size of the error bars changes). Randall's joke is that, instead of calculating the new error bars, he calculates error bars on the ends of his existing bars. I also agree with Netherin5 that there's a clear fractal reference here.
[[Special:Contributions/162.158.79.113|162.158.79.113]] 17:45, 11 February 2019 (UTC) hagmanti
: I noticed this error too, and tried to correct it, but it sounds like you understand it better than I. Feel free to edit the article itself! [[Special:Contributions/162.158.78.178|162.158.78.178]] 23:38, 11 February 2019 (UTC)

A question too, does the CI tend towards negative infinity, zero, or one? Edit: Today I learned what CI means. [[User:Netherin5|Netherin5]] ([[User talk:Netherin5|talk]]) 18:01, 11 February 2019 (UTC)

He has confidence intervals in confidence intervals alone; despite this, you see, he lacks confidence in...he. [[User:GreatWyrmGold|GreatWyrmGold]] ([[User talk:GreatWyrmGold|talk]]) 20:48, 11 February 2019 (UTC)

Just to pair with the alt-text: ...))))))))))). [[Special:Contributions/108.162.242.19|108.162.242.19]] 02:31, 13 February 2019 (UTC)
https://explainxkcd.com/859/ relevant --172.68.154.64

Good explanations but if I understand the comic correctly, the article does not really get to the point. It is indeed true that different modelling assumptions will give different confidence intervals, but a more mundane and more important source of uncertainty is statistical error (e.g., sampling error). CIs are typically used to convey the uncertainty around a point estimate (e.g., a mean) which has been computed from a random sample. If you take another random sample from the same population (e.g., perform an exact replication of an experiment), you will get a different mean, but also a different CI. See Cumming's dance of p-values and CIs for an illustration: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5OL1RqHrZQ8, or a talk I gave that covers a larger range of statistics: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UKX9iN0p5_A. In my talk I explain why it doesn't make sense to report inferential statistics (p-values, CIs, etc) with many significant digits, because you could have easily obtained very different p-values or CIs. The belief that inferential statistics are "stable" across replications is a very common misconception that can easily lead of erroneous inferences. So if you care about your statistical analyses being interpreted correctly, it is tempting to show the uncertainty around all the inferential statistics you report, including CI limits, as Monroe is suggesting. Like any statistics, CI limits are a function of the data and thus have a sampling distribution (https://statmodeling.stat.columbia.edu/2016/08/05/the-p-value-is-a-random-variable/). Thus you can estimate the standard deviation of this sampling distribution, and this gives you the standard error of the confidence limit. There is one inaccuracy in the comic (I think): you can't define CIs on CI limits, because there is no true population value of CI limits. However you can compute standard errors of CI limits, or alternatively prediction intervals, and then compute standard errors and prediction intervals again and again, recursively. If my explanation makes any sense I can try to summarize it and incorporate it in the article. [[User:Dragice|Dragice]] ([[User talk:Dragice|talk]]) 10:47, 13 February 2019 (UTC)

I doubt this was intended but what was brought to my mind -- and then what I couldn't get out of my head until I created one specifically for this comic -- was this old meme: [https://imgflip.com/i/3bffam Yo Dawg, I heard you like error bars...]. Thought it worth contributing! :) [[Special:Contributions/172.68.47.114|172.68.47.114]] 16:56, 24 September 2019 (UTC)Brian

Talk:1910: Sky Spotters

2017-11-02T18:15:12Z

172.68.47.114:

Stargazers are not dangerous - they ignore anything closer than moon. -- [[User:Hkmaly|Hkmaly]] ([[User talk:Hkmaly|talk]]) 00:54, 2 November 2017 (UTC)
:To many current administrations, pointing out provable facts can be *very* dangerous.
:[[Special:Contributions/162.158.75.190|162.158.75.190]] 04:16, 2 November 2017 (UTC)

The solution for the committee in the third panel might be to disguise their drones as birds which are very common for the time and place in which the drones are operating. --[[Special:Contributions/162.158.75.112|162.158.75.112]] 15:14, 2 November 2017 (UTC)

:The real solution is to attach surveillance cameras to birds. --[[Special:Contributions/108.162.216.40|108.162.216.40]] 15:29, 2 November 2017 (UTC)

Just paint it the color of the sk-oh wait. [[Special:Contributions/172.68.47.114|172.68.47.114]] 18:15, 2 November 2017 (UTC)

1907: Immune System

2017-10-25T18:17:20Z

172.68.47.114: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 1907
| date = October 25, 2017
| title = Immune System
| image = immune_system.png
| titletext = It also helps with negotiation. "Look, if it were up to me, *I'd* accept your offer, but my swarm of autonomous killer cells literally can't be reasoned with. It's out of my hands!"
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by a BOT - Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

Immune systems are cool. Randall is comparing white blood cells, the core of the human immune system, to an autonomous microscopic defensive swarm that will do anything to protect its host. He also points out that the host has no ability to restrain it, and does not know its power. All of this is technically accurate, at least for most people{{Citation needed}}.

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
:[Ponytail is standing in front of a boardroom, holding a stick up to the board. Cueball, Megan and Hairbun are in the audience, sitting at a long table; an extra, unoccupied chair is in the front.]
:Ponytail: My body hosts an autonomous microscopic defensive swarm that will do anything to protect me.
:Ponytail: I have no ability to restrain it and I don't know my own power.
:Ponytail: So listen up.
:Ponytail: Sales grew by 4% this quarter...

:[Caption below the panel:]
:Business protip: You can strengthen any presentation by opening with a reminder about how cool immune systems are.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Ponytail]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Hairbun]]

1907: Immune System

2017-10-25T18:12:53Z

172.68.47.114: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 1907
| date = October 25, 2017
| title = Immune System
| image = immune_system.png
| titletext = It also helps with negotiation. "Look, if it were up to me, *I'd* accept your offer, but my swarm of autonomous killer cells literally can't be reasoned with. It's out of my hands!"
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by a BOT - Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

Immune systems are cool. Randall is comparing white blood cells, the core of the human immune system, to an autonomous microscopic defensive swarm that will do anything to protect its host. He also points out that the host has no ability to restrain it, and does not know its power. All of this is technically accurate, at least for most people. {{Citation needed}}

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
:[Ponytail is standing in front of a boardroom, holding a stick up to the board. Cueball, Megan and Hairbun are in the audience, sitting at a long table; an extra, unoccupied chair is in the front.]
:Ponytail: My body hosts an autonomous microscopic defensive swarm that will do anything to protect me.
:Ponytail: I have no ability to restrain it and I don't know my own power.
:Ponytail: So listen up.
:Ponytail: Sales grew by 4% this quarter...

:[Caption below the panel:]
:Business protip: You can strengthen any presentation by opening with a reminder about how cool immune systems are.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Ponytail]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Hairbun]]

1907: Immune System

2017-10-25T18:11:45Z

172.68.47.114: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 1907
| date = October 25, 2017
| title = Immune System
| image = immune_system.png
| titletext = It also helps with negotiation. "Look, if it were up to me, *I'd* accept your offer, but my swarm of autonomous killer cells literally can't be reasoned with. It's out of my hands!"
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by a BOT - Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

Immune systems are cool. Randall is comparing white blood cells, the core of the human immune system, to an autonomous microscopic defensive swarm that will do anything to protect its host. He also points out that the host has no ability to restrain it, and does not know its power. All of this is technically accurate, at least for most people. {{citation needed}}

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
:[Ponytail is standing in front of a boardroom, holding a stick up to the board. Cueball, Megan and Hairbun are in the audience, sitting at a long table; an extra, unoccupied chair is in the front.]
:Ponytail: My body hosts an autonomous microscopic defensive swarm that will do anything to protect me.
:Ponytail: I have no ability to restrain it and I don't know my own power.
:Ponytail: So listen up.
:Ponytail: Sales grew by 4% this quarter...

:[Caption below the panel:]
:Business protip: You can strengthen any presentation by opening with a reminder about how cool immune systems are.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Ponytail]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Hairbun]]

1907: Immune System

2017-10-25T18:10:11Z

172.68.47.114:

{{comic
| number = 1907
| date = October 25, 2017
| title = Immune System
| image = immune_system.png
| titletext = It also helps with negotiation. "Look, if it were up to me, *I'd* accept your offer, but my swarm of autonomous killer cells literally can't be reasoned with. It's out of my hands!"
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by a BOT - Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

Immune systems are cool. Randall is comparing white blood cells, the core of the human immune system, to an autonomous microscopic defensive swarm that will do anything to protect its host. He also points out that the host has no ability to restrain it, and does not know its power. All of this is technically accurate, at least for most people.

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
:[Ponytail is standing in front of a boardroom, holding a stick up to the board. Cueball, Megan and Hairbun are in the audience, sitting at a long table; an extra, unoccupied chair is in the front.]
:Ponytail: My body hosts an autonomous microscopic defensive swarm that will do anything to protect me.
:Ponytail: I have no ability to restrain it and I don't know my own power.
:Ponytail: So listen up.
:Ponytail: Sales grew by 4% this quarter...

:[Caption below the panel:]
:Business protip: You can strengthen any presentation by opening with a reminder about how cool immune systems are.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Ponytail]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Hairbun]]

1907: Immune System

2017-10-25T18:07:11Z

172.68.47.114:

{{comic
| number = 1907
| date = October 25, 2017
| title = Immune System
| image = immune_system.png
| titletext = It also helps with negotiation. "Look, if it were up to me, *I'd* accept your offer, but my swarm of autonomous killer cells literally can't be reasoned with. It's out of my hands!"
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by a BOT - Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

Immune systems are cool. Randall is comparing white blood cells, the core of the human immune system, to an autonomous microscopic defensive swarm that will do anything to protect its host. He also points out that the host has no ability to restrain it, and does not know its power. All of this is technically accurate, at least for most people.

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
:[Ponytail is standing in front of a boardroom, holding a stick up to the board, with Cueball, Megan and Hairbun in the audience.]
:Ponytail: My body hosts an autonomous microscopic defensive swarm that will do anything to protect me.
:Ponytail: I have no ability to restrain it and I don't know my own power.
:Ponytail: So listen up.
:Ponytail: Sales grew by 4% this quarter...

:[Caption below the panel:]
:Business protip: You can strengthen any presentation by opening with a reminder about how cool immune systems are.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Ponytail]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Hairbun]]

Talk:1907: Immune System

2017-10-25T18:06:05Z

172.68.47.114:

Actually, there are many "biologics" -- drugs that suppress the various facets of the immune system to treat diseases like Rheumatoid Arthritis (R.A.). Examples include Enbrel and Remicade. --[[User:Pondy|Pondy]] ([[User talk:Pondy|talk]]) 16:55, 25 October 2017 (UTC)

We have to add a [citation needed] here. [[Special:Contributions/172.68.47.114|172.68.47.114]] 18:06, 25 October 2017 (UTC)

1906: Making Progress

2017-10-23T16:03:35Z

172.68.47.114: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 1906
| date = October 23, 2017
| title = Making Progress
| image = making_progress.png
| titletext = I started off with countless problems. But now I know, thanks to COUNT(), that I have "#REF! ERROR: Circular dependency detected" problems.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by a BOT - Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
Megan has made progress. While she started the day with lots of problems, she has sorted those problems out in a spreadsheet. This will allow her to sort out all her problems and fix them quicker.

Title text is a possible pun on "dependency."

==Transcript==
:[Megan is looking at a computer.]
:Megan: I started the day with lots of problems.
:Megan: But now, after hours and hours of work,
:Megan: I have lots of problems in a spreadsheet.
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

{{comic discussion}}