explain xkcd - User contributions [en]

2883: Astronaut Guests

2024-06-19T22:37:38Z

172.69.34.18: Changed 88.4% to 78.4% assuming that this is supposed to be based on 100%-21.4%. If this is incorrect assumption, feel free to change it back.

{{comic
| number = 2883
| date = January 19, 2024
| title = Astronaut Guests
| image = astronaut guests 2x.png
| imagesize = 331x391px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = They didn't bring us a gift, but considering the kinetic energy of a bottle of wine at orbital speed, that's probably for the best.
}}

==Explanation==

In this comic, [[Cueball]], [[Megan]], [[Ponytail]], and [[Hairbun]] can all be seen eating dinner together. Presumably, Ponytail and Hairbun were invited over for dinner, as, to impress them, [[Cueball]] misleadingly claims that they previously "had six {{w|astronaut}}s over for dinner." Normally, this would be interpreted as the astronauts being friends with the hosts (which confers social prestige), going inside their house, and eating. As it turns out, the astronauts only briefly passed overhead while in {{w|orbit}}, and, by chance, this happened during dinnertime. This is a pun on the word "over", as the personnel of the {{w|International Space Station}} are overhead when it passes above you; yet they did not go "over ''to'' someone's house" in the sense that English speakers would usually assume.

Cueball may also be considering the property lines to extend up indefinitely (just like in "What If?" article "{{what if|161|Star Ownership}}"), causing the astronauts to [[1475: Technically|technically]] be at their house despite being hundreds of miles away, vertically.

The astronauts in question were presumably occupying the International Space Station, which has an orbital period of between 90 and 93 minutes (depending on its altitude) or 5400 to 5580 seconds.[https://eol.jsc.nasa.gov/Tools/orbitTutorial.htm] If the astronauts were "over" for 7½ milliseconds, that would be somewhere between 1.34x10⁻⁶ and 1.39x10⁻⁶ of an orbit. Earth's circumference (at the equator) being approximately 40,000 kilometres (24,850 miles), the station was apparently "over" for a ground distance of between 53.9 m and 55.7 m (177 to 183 feet). That would imply quite a large property, but may also consider the astronauts' locations within the ISS, which is 109 m (356 feet) long. (The effect of [[1276: Angular Size|angular size]] is small in this case because the ISS's elevation is small compared to the radius of the Earth. The route traced by the ISS in orbit is only slightly larger than its projection at ground level.)

The caption makes Cueball's statement even less impressive, alleging that statements like it are correct in many places. This would make it uninteresting as a {{w|coincidence}}. It can only happen for latitudes of less than 51.64° north or south, which is as far as the orbital inclination of the ISS takes it, leaving almost 21.6% of the Earth's surface never directly "over"ed. Nonetheless, these areas of the globe will be, overall, significantly more sparsely populated than those that are "over"ed, meaning that the claim could be made in much more than 78.4% of places, assuming that by "places" we mean "properties where people are likely to be having dinner".

The title text suggests that Cueball didn't want a gift (a bottle of wine) from the astronauts. The kinetic energy of a 1.2 kg (full) bottle of wine travelling at the linear velocity of the International Space Station (8000 m/s) is on the order of [https://www.wolframalpha.com/input?i=1%2F2*%288km%2Fs%29%5E2*1.2kg 40 megajoules]. The gravitational potential energy of that mass on the Earth's surface (equatorial radius of 6,378 km) is 75.08 MJ, and its gravitational potential energy at an elevation of 408 km is 70.56 MJ, a difference of 4.52 MJ[https://physics.icalculator.com/gravitational-potential-energy-physics-calculator.html], and that would be converted to kinetic energy if it were to fall. For comparison, the kinetic energy of a fully loaded semi-truck (max legal weight 80,000 pounds or ~36 tonnes) at 70mph (110km/h; a typical highway speed limit for passenger cars) is around [https://www.wolframalpha.com/input?i=1%2F2*%28110km%2Fh%29%5E2*80000+pounds 17 megajoules]. A bottle with more than 2½ times the kinetic energy of that would be hard to keep on the table, and would likely do damage to people or things that tried to keep it there. {{Citation needed}} However, this would assume that the bottle somehow survives its descent through the Earth's atmosphere intact, which seems unlikely.

This comic was posted the same day as the American release of a film set on the ISS (conveniently named ''{{w|I.S.S. (film)|I.S.S.}}''), and just a day after the latest flight to the station by a {{w|Axiom Mission 3|Crew Dragon flight}} had temporarily increased the occupants from the normal seven residents to eleven.

==Transcript==
:[Cueball, Megan, Ponytail, and Hairbun are eating around a table. Cueball is leaning on the back of his chair and has his palm out.]
:Cueball: We don't have houseguests often, but we once had six astronauts over for dinner.
:Hairbun: Oh, wow!
:Cueball (muttering): ''…for 7½ milliseconds in mid-August 2012.''

:[Caption below the panel:]
: If you spend enough time looking at orbital records and property lines, you can make this claim in a lot of places.

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category: Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category: Comics featuring Ponytail]]
[[Category: Comics featuring Megan]]
[[Category: Comics featuring Hairbun]]
[[Category: Space]]

2667: First Internet Interaction

2022-09-03T19:03:59Z

172.69.34.18: /* Explanation */ eliminate spurious vertical space

{{comic
| number = 2667
| date = September 2, 2022
| title = First Internet Interaction
| image = first_internet_interaction.png
| titletext = To that stranger on the KOOL Tree House chat room, I gotta hand it to you: You were, ultimately, not wrong.
}}

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

In this comic, [[Cueball]], very likely as an autobiographical representation of [[Randall]], describes to [[Megan]] the first time he interacted with a group of people unknown to him over the internet; in an {{w|AOL|AOL}} chat room for children called the "KOOL Tree House chat room" in 1993, when Randall was about nine years old. He read a discussion about {{w|Green Day}}, asked who they are, and was told that not knowing was a serious problem. As Megan says, judging people for lack of pop culture knowledge has remained typical online behavior.


Green Day is an American rock band formed in the East Bay of California in 1987. In 1993, they were still known merely as an independent punk band, and a year away from releasing their major-label debut album ''{{w|Dookie}}'', their first mainstream success. Anyone, especially a nine year-old, not recognizing the band in 1993 would be perfectly normal. After 1993, Green Day would go on to be a widely popular and influential rock band with many acclaimed albums.

This inital online social interaction was a significant formative experience for Cueball, molding his online behavior ever since, in that it still causes him to consider his correspondents' perspective when communicating. The social dynamics at play are reminiscent of the mathematics of others' perspectives described in [[1053: Ten Thousand]]. Relating the personal experience of an oversized effect from a casual insult is humorous, and the extent to which early experiences affect people can be both ironic and profound.

The title text indicates Randall agrees with the reply to the question, suggesting he believes the band is important culturally (or that he does have a serious problem). Randall probably subsequently became a Green Day fan, or at least acquired more than a passing knowledge of their œuvre, recently mentioning in [[2665: America Songs]] their song "{{w|American Idiot (song)|American Idiot}}".

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
:[Four panels depicting a conversation between Megan and Cueball]

:[First panel, Megan and Cueball talking]
:Cueball: You know,
:Cueball: I remember the first thing anybody ever said to me on the internet.
:Megan: Yeah?

:[Second panel, part-height to accomodate Cueball's narration above and the memory of a scene below that features 'Young Cueball', with a mop-head of hair, knelt atop a chair to use a computer with CRT and keyboard on the desk, cabled down into a floor-standing minitower case below]
:Cueball (narrative): I was in an AOL Kids chat room in 1993.
:Cueball (narrative): People there kept using a name I didn't recognise.
:Cueball (narrative): After a while I asked what it was.
:Young Cueball (via the use of the keyboard): W... H... O...  I... S...  G... R...

:[Third panel, close-up of Cueball's adult head, continuing the framing conversation]
:Cueball: Someone replied.
:Cueball: "If you don't know who Green Day is, you have a serious problem."
:Cueball: And that was it. My first virtual interaction.

:[Fourth panel, continuing the conversation, Megan and Cueball now seen walking rightwards as they speak]
:Megan: In some ways, the Internet has changed surprisingly little in the last 30 years.
:Cueball: Every time I reply to someone, I think
:Cueball: What if this is their Green Day moment?

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]] 


[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]

2667: First Internet Interaction

2022-09-03T19:03:07Z

172.69.34.18: /* Explanation */ comment entire paragraph out, explaining misconception

{{comic
| number = 2667
| date = September 2, 2022
| title = First Internet Interaction
| image = first_internet_interaction.png
| titletext = To that stranger on the KOOL Tree House chat room, I gotta hand it to you: You were, ultimately, not wrong.
}}

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

In this comic, [[Cueball]], very likely as an autobiographical representation of [[Randall]], describes to [[Megan]] the first time he interacted with a group of people unknown to him over the internet; in an {{w|AOL|AOL}} chat room for children called the "KOOL Tree House chat room" in 1993, when Randall was about nine years old. He read a discussion about {{w|Green Day}}, asked who they are, and was told that not knowing was a serious problem. As Megan says, judging people for lack of pop culture knowledge has remained typical online behavior.



Green Day is an American rock band formed in the East Bay of California in 1987. In 1993, they were still known merely as an independent punk band, and a year away from releasing their major-label debut album ''{{w|Dookie}}'', their first mainstream success. Anyone, especially a nine year-old, not recognizing the band in 1993 would be perfectly normal. After 1993, Green Day would go on to be a widely popular and influential rock band with many acclaimed albums.

This inital online social interaction was a significant formative experience for Cueball, molding his online behavior ever since, in that it still causes him to consider his correspondents' perspective when communicating. The social dynamics at play are reminiscent of the mathematics of others' perspectives described in [[1053: Ten Thousand]]. Relating the personal experience of an oversized effect from a casual insult is humorous, and the extent to which early experiences affect people can be both ironic and profound.

The title text indicates Randall agrees with the reply to the question, suggesting he believes the band is important culturally (or that he does have a serious problem). Randall probably subsequently became a Green Day fan, or at least acquired more than a passing knowledge of their œuvre, recently mentioning in [[2665: America Songs]] their song "{{w|American Idiot (song)|American Idiot}}".

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
:[Four panels depicting a conversation between Megan and Cueball]

:[First panel, Megan and Cueball talking]
:Cueball: You know,
:Cueball: I remember the first thing anybody ever said to me on the internet.
:Megan: Yeah?

:[Second panel, part-height to accomodate Cueball's narration above and the memory of a scene below that features 'Young Cueball', with a mop-head of hair, knelt atop a chair to use a computer with CRT and keyboard on the desk, cabled down into a floor-standing minitower case below]
:Cueball (narrative): I was in an AOL Kids chat room in 1993.
:Cueball (narrative): People there kept using a name I didn't recognise.
:Cueball (narrative): After a while I asked what it was.
:Young Cueball (via the use of the keyboard): W... H... O...  I... S...  G... R...

:[Third panel, close-up of Cueball's adult head, continuing the framing conversation]
:Cueball: Someone replied.
:Cueball: "If you don't know who Green Day is, you have a serious problem."
:Cueball: And that was it. My first virtual interaction.

:[Fourth panel, continuing the conversation, Megan and Cueball now seen walking rightwards as they speak]
:Megan: In some ways, the Internet has changed surprisingly little in the last 30 years.
:Cueball: Every time I reply to someone, I think
:Cueball: What if this is their Green Day moment?

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]] 


[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]

Talk:2649: Physics Cost-Saving Tips

2022-08-31T21:58:49Z

172.69.34.18:

I don't recommend trying to make your voice squeeky by breathing He-2. [[User:Barmar|Barmar]] ([[User talk:Barmar|talk]]) 19:57, 22 July 2022 (UTC)
: But breathing a helium-rich mixture in general... so long as it still has sufficient oxygen in it ...I would speak highly of it! [[Special:Contributions/162.158.34.221|162.158.34.221]] 20:27, 22 July 2022 (UTC)

Please link comic 2007. I tried to do so myself but the edit errored.[[Special:Contributions/172.70.86.34|172.70.86.34]] 22:17, 22 July 2022 (UTC)

The vandals are going rather hard today. Can we get the first few semi-protected or something please? [[User:SqueakSquawk4|SqueakSquawk4]] ([[User talk:SqueakSquawk4|talk]]) 22:24, 22 July 2022 (UTC)
:I think I've fixed it. At least, it was fixed when I left this comment. I also don't do much wiki editing on anything, so I hope I actually fixed it and didn't break anything in the process. EDIT: Not sure if editing comments is appropriate, but it's just before 7AM UTC and it seems the vandalism has stopped. I think I had to fix it twice after I originally left this comment [[User:NErDysprosium|NErDysprosium]] ([[User talk:NErDysprosium|talk]]) 06:37, 23 July 2022 (UTC)
::They're back. Semi-protecting may work (though at a cost in useful edits); if any of the major contributors to this site know tricks to track down the physical location of an editing IP, that might open up other approaches. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.230.3|172.70.230.3]] 03:33, 24 July 2022 (UTC)
:::They're going after templates and similar infrastructure pages. Banning the little klanshit's username would be a good first action. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.71.30|172.69.71.30]] 03:40, 24 July 2022 (UTC)

Are the "charges" that free electrons carry implied to be monetary or criminal? [[Special:Contributions/162.158.2.219|162.158.2.219]] 22:27, 22 July 2022 (UTC)
: Fundamental particles have dipole-matic immunity. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.211.88|172.70.211.88]] 01:47, 23 July 2022 (UTC)

Somone needs to rewrite that section on heavy water / enriched uranium... deuterium in heavy water has more neutrons (so fits the comics description), and u235 is actually neither the lower nor upper neutron count for natural uranium so also questionably fits the description. I would but my head hurts after trying to parse it [[Special:Contributions/108.162.221.79|108.162.221.79]] 11:20, 23 July 2022 (UTC)

Is it worth mentioning the L and omega displayed in the first illustration are in conflicting directions (not following the {{w|right hand rule}}…)?[[Special:Contributions/172.70.210.145|172.70.210.145]]
:How sinister! [[Special:Contributions/172.70.91.80|172.70.91.80]] 19:28, 23 July 2022 (UTC)
:Done, including a video proving Randall is right-handed, so that can't be the reason. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.206.163|172.70.206.163]] 07:45, 24 July 2022 (UTC)

I disagree with the calculation of the energy of the ²He filled balloon: ²He -> H + H + 1.25MeV (Wikipedia). One Balloon is approx. 30-40l, i.e. approx 2 moles = 2 Avogadro Number = 1.2e24 Atoms of ²He. This means 1.2e24*1.25MeV = 1.9E24MeV = 3e11J = 71 ton of TNT (@4.2e9J/ ton of TNT (Wikipedia)). That is much less than a kiloton of TNT, but probably above the limit for recreational fireworks. The balloon might pop, too.
: Agreed; corrected. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.211.88|172.70.211.88]] 09:15, 24 July 2022 (UTC)
:: I have done my own calculations, and come to a number of roughly 18 tons of TNT. I have put my calculations on my profile, and linked it. Please comment there if you disagree. Thanks! [[User:SqueakSquawk4|SqueakSquawk4]] ([[User talk:SqueakSquawk4|talk]]) 13:37, 24 July 2022 (UTC)

The statement "This would make the Helium-2 balloon-bomb the most powerful human-made non-nuclear explosion ever" would seem to be inaccurate, given that it is not actually a non-nuclear explosion. Should this be edited? [[Special:Contributions/172.70.110.135|172.70.110.135]] 03:43, 24 July 2022 (UTC)
: Deleted the sentence. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.211.88|172.70.211.88]] 04:43, 24 July 2022 (UTC)

How much yield would a Helium-2 baloon have, anyway? I've seen "Lots", "2 kilotonnes" and "70 tonnes". Does anyone know how to calculate it once and for all, and leave a citation trail?

I just had a small search around, and can't seem to find the decay energy of helium-2. Does anyone even know how to calculate this???} [[User:SqueakSquawk4|SqueakSquawk4]] ([[User talk:SqueakSquawk4|talk]]) 11:24, 24 July 2022 (UTC)
:Scroll up a couple threads. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.34.32|172.69.34.32]] 11:02, 24 July 2022 (UTC)
::I didn't see that. I'm doing my own calculations now anyway. [[User:SqueakSquawk4|SqueakSquawk4]] ([[User talk:SqueakSquawk4|talk]]) 11:24, 24 July 2022 (UTC)
::: I have done my own calculations, and come to a number of roughly 18 tons of TNT. I have put my calculations on my profile, and linked it. Please comment there if you disagree. Thanks! [[User:SqueakSquawk4|SqueakSquawk4]] ([[User talk:SqueakSquawk4|talk]]) 13:37, 24 July 2022 (UTC)
:::: Great! I replied to you there. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.207.8|172.70.207.8]] 14:40, 24 July 2022 (UTC)

Fantastic [https://what-if.xkcd.com/140/ what-if on electrons.] I love the idea that making the moon out of electrons would create a naked singularity with the mass of the universe. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.211.134|172.70.211.134]] 07:47, 26 July 2022 (UTC)
:Dear {{w|simulation hypothesis|Simulation}} Operator(s), please do not try that. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.211.134|172.70.211.134]] 08:45, 28 July 2022 (UTC)

Could the title text potentially be a play on "ordinance" and "ordnance" (the latter of which refers to explosions)?
[[Special:Contributions/172.69.34.18|172.69.34.18]] 21:58, 31 August 2022 (UTC)

2643: Cosmologist Gift

2022-07-11T12:02:01Z

172.69.34.18: /* Explanation */ comma

{{comic
| number = 2643
| date = July 8, 2022
| title = Cosmologist Gift
| image = cosmologist_gift.png
| titletext = These neutrinos were freshly produced by a local source just 8 minutes ago
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by a MUON ON SALE, PACKAGED IN A BOX THAT A CAT MIGHT OR MIGHT NOT HAVE DIED IN- Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

This comic shows a box labeled to indicate that it contains 30,000 fresh {{w|neutrino}}s and four zeptograms of {{w|dark matter}}. The box is intended as an inexpensive gift for a {{w|cosmologist}}. The gift giver didn't put those things in the box—both are simply passing through it, so the "gift" consists of exactly what was in the empty space it occupies. While the caption suggests this would be a good gift for a cosmologist, what they or anyone else would do with such a box is uncertain.

There are about a billion neutrinos per cubic meter throughout space, produced during the {{w|Big Bang}}.[https://physics.mit.edu/news/journal/physicsatmit_14_conrad/] However, the flux of "freshly produced" {{w|solar neutrino}}s at Earth is around 7×1010/cm2/s, yielding about 2.3 million per cubic meter, and implying the box is around 13 liters, about 80% of the volume of a typical {{w|breadbox}}.

Four zeptograms is a minuscule mass, equal to four sextillionths of a gram, the mass of about 200 carbon-12 atoms or around 20 to 23 {{w|amino acid}}s. There is an estimated 0.011 to 0.016 {{w|solar mass}}es of dark matter per cubic {{w|parsec}} local to the solar system,[https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1361-6633/ac24e7/meta] or about 900 zeptograms per cubic meter, suggesting the box is closer to 4 liters. This discrepancy could imply Randall agrees with cosmologists who believe dark matter is partially composed of {{w|primordial black hole}}s,[https://journals.aps.org/prl/abstract/10.1103/PhysRevLett.120.121301][https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S2212686418301250?via%3Dihub][https://news.yale.edu/2021/12/16/black-holes-and-dark-matter-are-they-one-and-same][https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.3847/2041-8205/823/2/L25][https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1475-7516/2010/04/023] instead of being comprised entirely of ubiquitous subatomic particles. A billion neutrinos have a mass of only about 2×10-12 zeptograms, at about 0.1 {{w|electron volt}}s each.

The "local source" mentioned in the title text is a joke about the commercial value of fresh, locally produced items, but the comic means that the neutrinos come from the Sun. It takes solar neutrinos slightly more than 8 minutes to reach Earth once they're emitted, roughly the same time as photons take to make the trip. (This doesn't include the time -- [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radiative_zone approximately 170,000 years] over many [https://news.stanford.edu/pr/97/971219neutrino.html 28 day neutrino cycles] -- that energy takes to get from the core to where photons are emitted at the Sun's surface.) However, as the neutrinos are not slowed down inside the Sun and have been travelling at more than 99.999% of the speed of light, they will have aged by less than two seconds,[https://www.omnicalculator.com/physics/time-dilation] and so are technically even fresher than indicated.

==Transcript==

:[A picture of a box with writing on one side. The box's lid is slightly hanging off the right edge of the box so you can see inside. The inside of the box is black.]

:30,000 neutrinos
:Freshly produced
:Plus 4 zeptograms
:of dark matter

:[Caption below the panel]:
:Cosmologists are easy to shop for because you can just get them a box.

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Astronomy]]

2642: Meta-Alternating Current

2022-07-07T13:18:04Z

172.69.34.18: /* Explanation */ The lack of closing parenthesis was really off-putting.

{{comic
| number = 2642
| date = July 6, 2022
| title = Meta-Alternating Current
| image = meta_alternating_current.png
| titletext = It's always bothered me that you can't cancel out an inverter by putting a second inverter after it.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by a CHAIN OF INVERTERS - Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
This comic replaced [[No One Was Hurt]] as comic 2642 after the former was taken down from [[xkcd]]'s website.

In electronics, {{w|direct current}} is a constant flow of electrons from a power source to something being powered, before doubling back along the circuit. It is commonly used for battery-powered appliances. {{w|Alternating current}}, on the other hand, frequently reverses the flow of electrons, and is commonly used for longer-distance use (such as from the power plant to an outlet).

This comic proposes a humorous interspersion, ''Meta-Alternating Current'', which uses a series of adapters to "alternate" between DC and AC current. This is funny because since typical {{w|power inverter}} efficiency is 90%, and maximum {{w|bridge rectifier}} efficiency is 81.2%, an {{w|extension cord}} made of them would lose about 27% power per such pair. The "extension cord" shown would yield about 11% of its input power.

The title text bemoans that an inverter, which converts direct current to alternating current, does not work in the other direction, as a layman's interpretation of the word "inverter" might appear. Rather, a separate device, a {{w|rectifier}}, also pictured in the comic, must be used for this second conversion.

Common understanding of "inverting" would be to turn upside-down, or reverse the input polarity in the output (something that would be easily done at near-zero inefficiency by just 'crossing' (without connecting between) the wires coupling the inputs and outputs.) Two such cross-overs would indeed restore the original electrical supply. In the conversion from DC to AC it is instead an active circuit that ''periodically'' inverts, and then uninverts, the effective polarity – with a specific frequency, and usually a voltage conversion, to conform to some AC need such as using a car battery to power a standard household device designed and built for use on a mains supply. A rectifier is a nominally passive circuit that accepts either polarity (e.g. at any given moment of an AC phase) and produces a single definite polarity as output, possibly smoothed out by a buffering capacitance or with additional components to attain a given voltage and amperage.

It may in fact be the case that a campsite use of a rectifying device intended for home use (e.g. a standard phone charger that down-converts household AC to a given DC) requires it to be plugged into an inverter itself powered from a battery system (DC to AC), more inefficiently than a single converter (with the correct voltage/amperage re-regulation) might accomplish the task. Further chaining this into more inverters/rectifiers would normally not be considered.

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

Cursed connectors #120

Drawing of a chain of rectifiers and inverters.
There are seven pairs of rectifier/inverter.
The chain starts on the left by a mains plug (type B), followed by the first rectifier. It ends with the last inverter, and a female mains plug (type B socket).

Meta-alternating current extension cord
(alternates between AC and DC)

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Cursed Connectors]]

2641: Mouse Turbines

2022-07-06T20:18:42Z

172.69.34.18: /* Explanation */ Efficacy section

{{comic
| number = 2641
| date = July 4, 2022
| title = Mouse Turbines
| image = mouse_turbines.png
| titletext = It's sad seeing those videos of turbine blade being torn apart in high winds, but it's the only way they can disperse their seeds.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by a RENEWABLE ENERGY RODENT - Elaborate on the title text. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

[[Beret Guy]] and [[Megan]] are walking during the summer, where Beret Guy expresses his appreciation for typical features of a summer day. Though, considering the rest of the comic, Beret Guy could mean there are {{w|Cloud computing|large (or popular) server farms}} [[908: The Cloud|somewhere]] and that the bugs are {{w|Zoom (software)|video chatting}}. He also mentions "wind turbines" put up by field mice, which Megan initially assumes to be referring to {{w|Taraxacum|dandelions}} (similar to the wordplay that Beret Guy utilized in [[1322: Winter]].) However, Beret Guy turns out to be speaking literally, as he picks up what is in fact a tiny {{w|wind turbine}}, says to [https://www.dandelionpress.com/dandelion-blog/2015/4/6/how-to-wish-on-a-dandelion make a wish,] and blows into it. This causes the blades of the turbine to spin rapidly, generating a lot of power for the structure it is connected to, thus causing a field mouse to cheer in excitement.

The comic was published on the 40th anniversary of the film release of {{w|The Secret of NIMH}},[https://twitter.com/DonBluth/status/1543282578173489153] a story featuring field mice and rats who escaped from a lab experiment which left them with a similar intelligence to human beings. The story takes place as the rats strive to achieve self-sufficiency, so that they no longer need to steal power from human-built electrical lines. (The novel this film was based on, {{w|Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH}}, describes the experiments and the rats' struggles in more detail.)

The title text builds on the similarities between small wind turbines and dandelions by claiming that turbines reproduce by dispersing their blades, in the manner of dandelion {{w|seed dispersal}}. Randall's suggestion of turbine seeds conflicts with Beret Guy's assertion that the turbines were built by field mice.

== Efficacy ==

Sadly, the power output per size of wind turbines increases with their size,[https://www.energy.gov/eere/articles/wind-turbines-bigger-better] a limitation not shared by other forms of renewable energy such as {{w|solar panel}}s and {{w|pico hydro}}. According to [https://www.omnicalculator.com/ecology/wind-turbine this calculator], a 10 centimeter radius wind turbine powered by a 5.7 meter/second breath[https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2215098616300830] would produce one watt at just 26% efficiency.

Further frustrating mouse use of wind power, {{w|Wind gradient|windspeed increases logarithmically with height}} above ground. Windspeed is reported as its value 10 meters above ground, where it is 1.5 times faster than at ground level.[https://www.nooutage.com/wind.htm] In the U.S., where Randall lives, average year-round windspeed is about 15 km/h,[https://sciencing.com/average-daily-wind-speed-24011.html] or about 2.8 m/s at ground level, yielding only 0.11 watts from such turbines. However, a typical adult mouse weighs 25 grams,[https://web.jhu.edu/animalcare/procedures/mouse.html] compared to about 81 kilograms for humans in the U.S.,[https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3408371/] so we could estimate that mouse electricity needs would be about 0.03% of people's.{{Dubious}} The average U.S. residential customer uses 1,242 watts of electricity,[https://www.electricchoice.com/blog/electricity-on-average-do-homes/] 0.03% of which is 0.37 watts. Therefore, the three turbines visible in this comic could serve about 89% of a mouse's needs. While this figure does not account for necessary {{w|home energy storage}} efficiency (92.5% for the {{w|Tesla Powerwall}}) overhead, mice usually live much less extravagantly than typical Americans,{{citation needed}} so three turbines per mouse should be sufficient.

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

:[Megan and Beret Guy are walking on grass.]
:Beret Guy: Ahh, summer!
:Beret Guy: The clouds are big, the bugs are zooming,

:[Beret Guy stops walking. There are three small trefoil structures and a tiny building on the grass in front of him.]
:Beret Guy: and the field mice have put up their little wind turbines.

:[Beret Guy picks up one of the turbines. Under the turbine there is a wire attached to the ground.]
:Megan (off-panel): You mean dandelions?
:Beret Guy: No.

:[Beret Guy holds the turbine in front of him.]
:Beret Guy: Make a wish!

:[Beret Guy blows into the turbine blades and makes them spin. The wire transfers electricity towards the ground.]
:''Puff''
:⚡ ⚡ ⚡ ⚡
:Voice at ground level: Yaaay!

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Beret Guy]]
[[Category:Animals]]

2641: Mouse Turbines

2022-07-05T06:29:44Z

172.69.34.18: /* Explanation */ per talk

{{comic
| number = 2641
| date = July 4, 2022
| title = Mouse Turbines
| image = mouse_turbines.png
| titletext = It's sad seeing those videos of turbine blade being torn apart in high winds, but it's the only way they can disperse their seeds.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by a RENEWABLE ENERGY RODENT - Elaborate on the title text. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

[[Beret Guy]] and [[Megan]] are walking during the summer, where Beret Guy expresses his appreciation for typical features of a summer day. He also mentions "wind turbines" put up by field mice, which Megan initially assumes to be referring to dandelions (similar to the wordplay that Beret Guy utilized in [[1322: Winter]].) However, Beret Guy turns out to be speaking literally, as he picks up what is in fact a tiny {{w|wind turbine}}, says to [https://www.dandelionpress.com/dandelion-blog/2015/4/6/how-to-wish-on-a-dandelion make a wish,] and blows into it. This causes the blades of the turbine to spin rapidly, generating a lot of power for the structure it is connected to, thus causing a field mouse to cheer in excitement.

Sadly, the power output per size of wind turbines increases with their size,[https://www.energy.gov/eere/articles/wind-turbines-bigger-better] a limitation not shared by other forms of renewable energy such as {{w|solar panel}}s and {{w|pico hydro}}. According to [https://www.omnicalculator.com/ecology/wind-turbine this calculator], a 10 centimeter radius wind turbine powered by a 5.7 meter/second breath[https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2215098616300830] would produce one watt at just 26% efficiency.

Further frustrating mouse use of wind power, {{w|Wind gradient|windspeed increases logarithmically with height}} above ground. Windspeed is reported as its value 10 meters above ground, where it is 1.5 times faster than at ground level.[https://www.nooutage.com/wind.htm] In the U.S., where Randall lives, average year-round windspeed is about 15 km/h,[https://sciencing.com/average-daily-wind-speed-24011.html] or about 2.8 m/s at ground level, yielding only 0.11 watts from such turbines. However, a typical adult mouse weighs 25 grams,[https://web.jhu.edu/animalcare/procedures/mouse.html] compared to about 81 kilograms for humans in the U.S.,[https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3408371/] so presumably mouse electricity needs would be about 0.03% of people's. The average U.S. residential customer uses 1,242 watts of electricity,[https://www.electricchoice.com/blog/electricity-on-average-do-homes/] 0.03% of which is 0.37 watts. Therefore, three such turbines could be able to serve about 89% of a mouse's needs. While this figure does not account for necessary {{w|home energy storage}} efficiency (92.5% for the {{w|Tesla Powerwall}}) overhead, mice usually live much less extravagantly than typical Americans,{{citation needed}} so three turbines per mouse should be sufficient.

The title text adds to the similarities between wind turbines and dandelions by claiming that turbines reproduce by dispersing their blades, in the manner of dandelion {{w|seed dispersal}}. Randall's suggestion of turbine seeds conflicts with Beret Guy's assertion that the turbines were built by field mice.

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

:[Megan and Beret Guy are walking on grass.]
:Beret Guy: Ahh, summer!
:Beret Guy: The clouds are big, the bugs are zooming,

:[Beret Guy stops walking. There are three small trefoil structures and a tiny building on the grass in front of him.]
:Beret Guy: and the field mice have put up their little wind turbines.

:[Beret Guy picks up one of the turbines. Under the turbine there is a wire attached to the ground.]
:Megan (off-panel): You mean dandelions?
:Beret Guy: No.

:[Beret Guy holds the turbine in front of him.]
:Beret Guy: Make a wish!

:[Beret Guy blows into the turbine blades and makes them spin. The wire transfers electricity towards the ground.]
:''Puff''
:⚡ ⚡ ⚡ ⚡
:Voice at ground level: Yaaay!

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Beret Guy]]

2640: The Universe by Scientific Field

2022-07-02T02:21:41Z

172.69.34.18: /* Explanation */ qualify

{{comic
| number = 2640
| date = July 1, 2022
| title = The Universe by Scientific Field
| image = the_universe_by_scientific_field.png
| titletext = The math and philosophy people also claim everything, but the astronomers argue that the stuff they study really only comprises a small number of paper surfaces.
}}

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

{{w|Astronomy}} is the study of outer space and celestial phenomena. This comic makes a joke that most of the "universe" falls under the study of astronomy. Which makes sense because the "universe" is so vast and large and is not studied by other fields of science.

The volume of the observable universe is 3.566×1080 cubic meters. The volume of Earth is 1.08321×1021 cubic meters.

1.08321×1021 m3 ÷ 3.566×1080 m3 × 100% ≈ 3×10-58%, which is scientific notation for the second of the two percentages, the first being its difference from 100%.

The title text says that mathematicians and philosophers claim that what they study also represents everything. But astronomers counter this by saying that they just study things that are written down, and this comprises just tiny amounts of "paper" on the Earth. This claim by mathematicians also appears in [[435: Purity]].

The information provided by astronomical observations of light, subatomic particles, and gravity's effects represents only a tiny fraction of the scientific properties of the extraterrestrial substances in the volume of space that astronomers study. Moreover, the adjacent fields of optics, physics, chemistry, mathematics, and geometry underpin almost all aspects of astronomy other than nomenclature, so the comic may be seen as biased by proponents of those disciplines. Other objections could conceivably include the fact that almost everyone's subjective life experiences are overwhelmingly more involved with matters best described by fields other than astronomy, even in the case of professional astronomers (who often complain about how little time they can allocate to making actual astronomical observations) although this is to be expected as all but typically a handful of people are terrestrial.

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

:The Universe by Scientific Field

:[A pie chart is shown.]
:Astronomy
:99.9999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999997%
:Other
:0.0000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000003%

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Pie charts]]
[[Category:Science]]
[[Category:Astronomy]]
[[Category:Math]]
[[Category:Philosophy]]

2640: The Universe by Scientific Field

2022-07-02T02:20:13Z

172.69.34.18: /* Explanation */ reorder objections by salience and add caveat

{{comic
| number = 2640
| date = July 1, 2022
| title = The Universe by Scientific Field
| image = the_universe_by_scientific_field.png
| titletext = The math and philosophy people also claim everything, but the astronomers argue that the stuff they study really only comprises a small number of paper surfaces.
}}

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

{{w|Astronomy}} is the study of outer space and celestial phenomena. This comic makes a joke that most of the "universe" falls under the study of astronomy. Which makes sense because the "universe" is so vast and large and is not studied by other fields of science.

The volume of the observable universe is 3.566×1080 cubic meters. The volume of Earth is 1.08321×1021 cubic meters.

1.08321×1021 m3 ÷ 3.566×1080 m3 × 100% ≈ 3×10-58%, which is scientific notation for the second of the two percentages, the first being its difference from 100%.

The title text says that mathematicians and philosophers claim that what they study also represents everything. But astronomers counter this by saying that they just study things that are written down, and this comprises just tiny amounts of "paper" on the Earth. This claim by mathematicians also appears in [[435: Purity]].

The information provided by astronomical observations of light, subatomic particles, and gravity's effects represents only a tiny fraction of the scientific properties of the extraterrestrial substances in the volume of space that astronomers study. Moreover, the adjacent fields of optics, physics, chemistry, mathematics, and geometry underpin almost all aspects of astronomy other than nomenclature, so the comic may be seen as biased by proponents of those disciplines. Other objections could conceivably include the fact that almost everyone's subjective life experiences are overwhelmingly more involved with matters best described by fields other than astronomy, even in the case of professional astronomers (who often complain about how little time they can allocate to making actual astronomical observations) although this is to be expected as all but a handful of people are terrestrial.

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

:The Universe by Scientific Field

:[A pie chart is shown.]
:Astronomy
:99.9999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999997%
:Other
:0.0000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000003%

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Pie charts]]
[[Category:Science]]
[[Category:Astronomy]]
[[Category:Math]]
[[Category:Philosophy]]

1926: Bad Code

2020-09-28T07:28:29Z

172.69.34.18: /* Explanation */ No citation needed for straightforward explanation of privacy walls

{{comic
| number = 1926
| date = December 8, 2017
| title = Bad Code
| image = bad_code.png
| titletext = "Oh my God, why did you scotch-tape a bunch of hammers together?" "It's ok! Nothing depends on this wall being destroyed efficiently."
}}

==Explanation==
This comic is the fourth in the [[:Category:Code Quality|Code Quality]] series:
* [[1513: Code Quality]]
* [[1695: Code Quality 2]]
* [[1833: Code Quality 3]]
* [[1926: Bad Code]]
* [[2138|2138: Wanna See the Code?]]

[[Ponytail]] has caught [[Cueball]] in the act of writing some messy code - code in the form of a spreadsheet formula, which in turn produces another program in a language called {{w|Haskell (programming language)|Haskell}}. Haskell is a {{w|purely functional programming}} language, a concept that has a debatably steep learning curve, which causes it to be somewhat obscure, as referenced in [[1312: Haskell]]. It is explained that ''this'' code will, in turn, {{w|Parser|interpret}} ''more'' source code, specifically code written in {{w|HTML}}. Parsing HTML is notoriously tricky without a dedicated software library for several reasons, including frequent changes to web pages, a nested structure of tags and quotes that frustrates {{w|regular expression}}s, allowing new lines to be started almost anywhere, and different standards that are followed or not followed to varying degrees.

After Cueball excuses his bad code by stating that "nothing depends on this" (meaning that no other projects rely on this code being good to operate properly), Ponytail uses the analogy of breaking a non-load-bearing wall to ridicule Cueball's excuse. A {{w|load-bearing wall}} is a wall that plays a role in supporting the building. Damaging such a wall would threaten the structural integrity of the entire building, and could potentially cause a collapse. In contrast, walls that aren't load-bearing are designed only to separate spaces within the building, and do not contribute to keeping the building up. Damaging or destroying such walls wouldn't endanger the overall structure of the building. However, supporting the building is just ''one'' of the functions which could depend on having an intact wall, and non-load-bearing walls are still there for a purpose. Walls serve many other important purposes, from creating opaque and sound blocking barriers (desirable for privacy purposes, particularly for bedrooms and bathrooms), to containing and protecting water pipes and electrical wiring. Ponytail's analogy suggests that, even though poorly written-code wouldn't cause the entire program to fail, it's still not a good idea.

Immediately after, Ponytail appears to have realized that she's only ''inspired'' Cueball to go ahead and break the wall, instead of swaying him away from writing ugly code. If left unchecked, this will only end in tragedy. [[905: Homeownership|Hilarious, knee-slapping tragedy.]]

This is most likely a continuation of the [[:Category:Code Quality|Code Quality]] series, but it differs slightly. For one thing, all of the previous strips were named "Code Quality <number>", with the exception of the first, which was just named "Code Quality". Also note that, unlike the previous Code Quality strips, Ponytail does not start using similes like "This is like being in a house built by a child using nothing but a hatchet and a picture of a house". It's also the longest explanation of Cueball's code by Cueball himself.

The title text suggests that Cueball's approach to breaking the wall - scotch-taping a bunch of hammers together - is as good as his code, and his excuse is similar.

==Transcript==
:[Cueball is at his desk in a swivel chair, using his computer. Ponytail walks towards him.]
:Ponytail: That's the ugliest mess of code I've ever seen! What on earth are you working on?

:[Cueball swivels his chair to face Ponytail in a frameless panel.]
:Cueball: It's nothing weird this time, I swear.
:Cueball: It just looks bad because it's a spreadsheet formula.

:[Cueball is facing his computer again.]
:Cueball: ...which assembles a Haskell function.
:Ponytail: Uhhh.
:Cueball: ...for parsing HTML.
:Ponytail: ...oh my God.

:[Ponytail is pointing away from the scene.]
:Cueball: It's ok! Nothing depends on this.
:Ponytail: That wall isn't load-bearing. Does that mean we can just throw hammers at it?
:Cueball: ...I mean...
:Ponytail: Wait. Crap.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Ponytail]]
[[Category:Programming]]
[[Category:Computers]]
[[Category:Code Quality]]
[[Category:Cueball Computer Problems]]
[[Category:Spreadsheets]]

Talk:2347: Dependency

2020-08-25T07:38:55Z

172.69.34.18: Explain

I worked for the Linux Foundation on the Core Infrastructure Initiative supporting OpenSSL and other projects. The one that scared me was Expat the XML parser maintained by two people on alternate Sunday afternoons assuming no other distractions. We did get funding for a test suite. Joe Biden was a supporter of LF and CII and was going to host a fund raiser for us at the White House until a perverse result.[[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.222|141.101.98.222]] 22:46, 17 August 2020 (UTC)

:Are you trying to tell me that Biden and Harris weren't for CALEA, DIETYBOUNCE, and similar backdoors just like all the feds? When will they discover how to stop sending money overseas? https://blog.risingstack.com/controlling-node-js-security-risk-npm-dependencies/ [[Special:Contributions/172.69.34.18|172.69.34.18]] 07:37, 25 August 2020 (UTC)

== Relevance of Imagemagick? ==

Could someone perhaps add to the explanation an explanation of how this applies to Imagemagick (as mentioned in the title text)? —[[Special:Contributions/108.162.219.174|108.162.219.174]] 22:58, 17 August 2020 (UTC)
:I don't use it myself, but it is a very versatile standalone utility that does a lot through command-line (batched) processing or can be accessed through actual API interface (I use GIMP tools that way, in automation, when not using it directly as a manual interface, but I understand there's a lot of love out there for IM). There's potentially untold uses for that, hidden in the background of other applications. If it disappeared or changed in just the wrong way, could perhaps half the CAPTCHA dialogues suddenly break? Could a self-driving car company find its vehicles are suddenly blind? We might suddenly have so many fewer Doge memes! (Wow! Much up-to-datedness! So topical!).
: In Randall's (or his characters') world, that is. In our world, I see someone mentioned Leftpad in the Explanation, which probably needs more Explanation (or else wikilinking) but is an interesting thing that actually happened in our world, albeit not ''quite'' armagg3don for society... [[Special:Contributions/162.158.154.131|162.158.154.131]] 23:22, 17 August 2020 (UTC)
: Imagemagick is the de-facto standard for Image processing. Since the 90's engineers were either adding support for new formats to ImageMagick or adding new language bindings for ImageMagick. This resulted in a single library that is available on almost every server and desktop platform and can read and write almost every image format. Using imageMagick is sometimes unwieldly. e.g. on nodeJS it actually spawns a sub-process to run imagemagick. But it is still the de-facto (and the only practical) choice in most cases.--[[User:Deepjoy|Deepjoy]] ([[User talk:Deepjoy|talk]]) 00:24, 18 August 2020 (UTC)
:: I would put emphasis on the "almost every image format" ... there are lot of alternative image libraries, but most only support handful of formats (often just jpeg, png and gif). Meanwhile, I suspect not even Gimp supports as many formats as ImageMagick ... and, of course, Gimp is not really usable as library OR for shelling-out. -- [[User:Hkmaly|Hkmaly]] ([[User talk:Hkmaly|talk]]) 23:43, 18 August 2020 (UTC)
::: The massive reliance on ImageMagick was recognized in 2002 by the developers of {{w|GraphicsMagick}} who needed to guarantee a stable version of ImageMagick and created their own fork. So while almost everyone uses and depends on ImageMagick (or think they are using ImageMagick when they are actually using GM) there is an actively maintained alternative. -- [[Special:Contributions/162.158.159.48|162.158.159.48]] 17:10, 21 August 2020 (UTC)

== from the late 2010s onwards? ==

I'm pretty sure re-use and modularization was a thing long before then. Maybe it got more popular in the 2010s, but it's been around since at least the '70s.
: The ideal of reusable code libraries has been around for nearly ever, but except for some popular Fortran statistics libraries I don't think it achieved widespread achievement until much later, e.g. CPAN. [[User:Barmar|Barmar]] ([[User talk:Barmar|talk]]) 03:25, 18 August 2020 (UTC)p

The timezone database (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tz_database#History) has been around since 1986. libc in various forms has been around as long as C has. Reuse and modularity is a fundamental principle of software engineering, and not an invention of the last few years. I'd just remove any mention of date.
: I think it's relatively recent that you can delete a file from one Web server and everything on the internet breaks. Dependencies are one thing, dependency on live updated resources is new. Because it's rather a bad idea. Incidentally overall... I think today's comic needs to be explained slower. Most people in the world are very unfamiliar with these concepts. Although coronavirus responses have taught a lot of us about "supply chains" that put stuff into shops for us to buy. Robert Carnegie rja.carnegie@excite.com [[Special:Contributions/141.101.69.87|141.101.69.87]] 10:18, 18 August 2020 (UTC)

:: While libc in various forms has been around as long as C has, it was never SINGULAR. Every version of C compiler had it's own version of C library maintained by different people. Even now there are alternatives to GNU libc. The timezone database might be better example. Also, reuse and modularity is fundamental principle, but reusing code maintained by someone else in project with bigger staff than that of such code is relatively recent. -- [[User:Hkmaly|Hkmaly]] ([[User talk:Hkmaly|talk]]) 23:48, 18 August 2020 (UTC)

== This has happened before ==

It may be worth mentioning a case where this actually happened, like https://www.theregister.com/2016/03/23/npm_left_pad_chaos/ [[Special:Contributions/141.101.97.101|141.101.97.101]] 01:03, 18 August 2020 (UTC)
: That was only a problem for those who tried to compile against network versions, instead of having a local copy. One of the dumbest and laziest things you can do as a programmer. Not to mention that you could just copy the code directly into one of your files or just writing your own routine. [[User:SDSpivey|SDSpivey]] ([[User talk:SDSpivey|talk]]) 02:04, 20 August 2020 (UTC)

One particularly big risk that instantly came to mind is the timezone database, which is maintained by volunteers yet underpins basically everything: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tz_database#Maintenance

I remember hearing about this a few years back at a Linux Foundation conference - the NTP daemon was underfunded (as I recall) and the one person maintaining it was struggling to pay bills. Losing NTP breaks an awful lot of things.... [[Special:Contributions/162.158.107.167|162.158.107.167]] 19:48, 18 August 2020 (UTC)

: I see this was [https://www.infoworld.com/article/3144546/time-is-running-out-for-ntp.html problem in 2016] ... I'm not able to find any update on the situation ... -- [[User:Hkmaly|Hkmaly]] ([[User talk:Hkmaly|talk]]) 00:10, 19 August 2020 (UTC)

:: [https://twit.tv/shows/floss-weekly/episodes/350 Nice long interview with Harlan Stenn, author/maintainer of NTP]. [[User:RandalSchwartz|RandalSchwartz]] ([[User talk:RandalSchwartz|talk]]) 05:56, 19 August 2020 (UTC)

: I work with a E100k robot that keeps breaking on account of [[http://atomicparsley.sourceforge.net/ Atomic Parsley]]. Everyone is very amused at this [[User:Kev|Kev]] ([[User talk:Kev|talk]]) 13:32, 20 August 2020 (UTC)

== Some random person in Nebraska ==

Is the reference to a random person in Nebraska totally arbitrary, or is it a reference to someone in particular?

Also, it would be good to have examples of heavily used projects with very small (especially one person) maintainer teams. OpenSSL definitely comes to mind, from what I have read. [[User:Stevage|Stevage]] ([[User talk:Stevage|talk]]) 01:49, 18 August 2020 (UTC)

Nebraska came up in 1667, "Algorithms" as well.[[Special:Contributions/162.158.79.33|162.158.79.33]] 02:22, 18 August 2020 (UTC)
:Nebraska is... Well, I'm sure some Nebraskonians might have a more fully-fleshed out and accurate opinion of its subtleties, depth of culture(s?) and Deity-given geographic artisanship but viewed from further afield it is one of the contenders for "miles and miles of not much going on", or similar, peopled by people that largely live within that promise.
:It may be just a [https://wiki.lspace.org/mediawiki/Power_Cable meme of such a generality], as a brief look at a {{w|List_of_people_from_Nebraska|list of people from Nebraska}} tends to support the hypothesis that the ones who became significant (Astair, Brando, Carson...) probably did so only once they left.
:OTOH, there are (at least) four computing pioneers/developers mentioned among them, creator or authors of significant 'products', and maybe {{w|Sketchpad|one of these}} matches the (intellectual) dependency meme quite well - other than being written in Massachusetts. Or {{w|Blogger_(service)|this one}}, though that might have been LA-baked, maybe?
:I learnt [[1053|some interesting things]] when investigating this issue, just now. Cheers! [[Special:Contributions/108.162.229.142|108.162.229.142]] 09:54, 18 August 2020 (UTC)
:I feel like Nebraska is mentioned just because ot's the.most flyover-sounding flyover state name? Or is it actually home to some well known library maintainer? {{unsigned|162.158.119.199}}
:Another good example might be left-pad. It actually caused a big issue [https://www.theregister.com/2016/03/23/npm_left_pad_chaos/ in 2016] when the developer took it offline and a whole bunch of projects and websites broke. [[User:Numbermaniac|Numbermaniac]] ([[User talk:Numbermaniac|talk]]) 07:41, 22 August 2020 (UTC)

== Microservices reference ==
Microservices reference is not related to this comic, as ImageMagick is monolith application. Also microservices are way of operating and deploying web services, not utility apps.
[[Special:Contributions/162.158.103.177|162.158.103.177]] 07:56, 18 August 2020 (UTC)

:ImageMagick is a library. -- [[User:Hkmaly|Hkmaly]] ([[User talk:Hkmaly|talk]]) 23:50, 18 August 2020 (UTC)

== The Thirty Million Line Problem ==
See [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kZRE7HIO3vk The Thirty Million Line Problem]. Randall's drawing looks like a house of cards on the verge of collapse. In the video, Casey talks about how the lack of a "hardware ISA" causes critical software (like OS'es and browsers) to bloat like crazy (a "hardware ISA" would be a standard for how hardware works, just like the x86 ISA is a standard for how an x86 CPU works, that both AMD and Intel agrees on). Also, he mentions how fragile and broken software is due to this "Thirty Million Line" bloat.
[[Special:Contributions/162.158.107.167|162.158.107.167]] 19:48, 18 August 2020 (UTC)

:Based on [https://www.reddit.com/r/programming/comments/8iyqk9/the_thirty_million_line_problem/ related discussion], that's a VERY bad video: he may have a point, but it takes VERY long time before he gets to it. I'm not going to watch it that long myself. -- [[User:Hkmaly|Hkmaly]] ([[User talk:Hkmaly|talk]]) 00:03, 19 August 2020 (UTC)

:This reminds me of that old joke: If carpenters built buildings the same way programmers made programs, the first woodpecker that came along would destroy civilization.

: I thought the drawing looks more like the [[w:Jenga|Jenga]] game, except the components are not simple rectangles. [[User:Barmar|Barmar]] ([[User talk:Barmar|talk]]) 16:31, 20 August 2020 (UTC)

== "Famous" Left Pad Incident ==
The "famous" left-pad incident in JavaScript's package manager could use some elaboration for those of us for which it isn't. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.107.89|162.158.107.89]] 02:42, 19 August 2020 (UTC)

== Loadsharers ==
There is an initiative by Eric Raymond targeted specifically to mitigate this problem. 
Article: https://www.linuxjournal.com/content/loadsharers-funding-load-bearing-internet-person 
Website: https://esr.gitlab.io/loadsharers/ &emsp; — [[User:Smartchair|Smartchair]] ([[User talk:Smartchair|talk]]) 16:20, 19 August 2020 (UTC)

==NTP==
The [https://www.informationweek.com/it-life/ntp-harlan-stenn-and-an-uncertain-future-readers-react/d/d-id/1319521 Network Time Protocol] is also a great example. --[[User:Slashme|Slashme]] ([[User talk:Slashme|talk]]) 21:50, 19 August 2020 (UTC)

Talk:2347: Dependency

2020-08-25T07:37:12Z

172.69.34.18: Respond

I worked for the Linux Foundation on the Core Infrastructure Initiative supporting OpenSSL and other projects. The one that scared me was Expat the XML parser maintained by two people on alternate Sunday afternoons assuming no other distractions. We did get funding for a test suite. Joe Biden was a supporter of LF and CII and was going to host a fund raiser for us at the White House until a perverse result.[[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.222|141.101.98.222]] 22:46, 17 August 2020 (UTC)

Are you trying to tell me that Biden and Harris weren't for backdoors just like all the feds? When will they discover how to stop sending money overseas? https://blog.risingstack.com/controlling-node-js-security-risk-npm-dependencies/ [[Special:Contributions/172.69.34.18|172.69.34.18]] 07:37, 25 August 2020 (UTC)

== Relevance of Imagemagick? ==

Could someone perhaps add to the explanation an explanation of how this applies to Imagemagick (as mentioned in the title text)? —[[Special:Contributions/108.162.219.174|108.162.219.174]] 22:58, 17 August 2020 (UTC)
:I don't use it myself, but it is a very versatile standalone utility that does a lot through command-line (batched) processing or can be accessed through actual API interface (I use GIMP tools that way, in automation, when not using it directly as a manual interface, but I understand there's a lot of love out there for IM). There's potentially untold uses for that, hidden in the background of other applications. If it disappeared or changed in just the wrong way, could perhaps half the CAPTCHA dialogues suddenly break? Could a self-driving car company find its vehicles are suddenly blind? We might suddenly have so many fewer Doge memes! (Wow! Much up-to-datedness! So topical!).
: In Randall's (or his characters') world, that is. In our world, I see someone mentioned Leftpad in the Explanation, which probably needs more Explanation (or else wikilinking) but is an interesting thing that actually happened in our world, albeit not ''quite'' armagg3don for society... [[Special:Contributions/162.158.154.131|162.158.154.131]] 23:22, 17 August 2020 (UTC)
: Imagemagick is the de-facto standard for Image processing. Since the 90's engineers were either adding support for new formats to ImageMagick or adding new language bindings for ImageMagick. This resulted in a single library that is available on almost every server and desktop platform and can read and write almost every image format. Using imageMagick is sometimes unwieldly. e.g. on nodeJS it actually spawns a sub-process to run imagemagick. But it is still the de-facto (and the only practical) choice in most cases.--[[User:Deepjoy|Deepjoy]] ([[User talk:Deepjoy|talk]]) 00:24, 18 August 2020 (UTC)
:: I would put emphasis on the "almost every image format" ... there are lot of alternative image libraries, but most only support handful of formats (often just jpeg, png and gif). Meanwhile, I suspect not even Gimp supports as many formats as ImageMagick ... and, of course, Gimp is not really usable as library OR for shelling-out. -- [[User:Hkmaly|Hkmaly]] ([[User talk:Hkmaly|talk]]) 23:43, 18 August 2020 (UTC)
::: The massive reliance on ImageMagick was recognized in 2002 by the developers of {{w|GraphicsMagick}} who needed to guarantee a stable version of ImageMagick and created their own fork. So while almost everyone uses and depends on ImageMagick (or think they are using ImageMagick when they are actually using GM) there is an actively maintained alternative. -- [[Special:Contributions/162.158.159.48|162.158.159.48]] 17:10, 21 August 2020 (UTC)

== from the late 2010s onwards? ==

I'm pretty sure re-use and modularization was a thing long before then. Maybe it got more popular in the 2010s, but it's been around since at least the '70s.
: The ideal of reusable code libraries has been around for nearly ever, but except for some popular Fortran statistics libraries I don't think it achieved widespread achievement until much later, e.g. CPAN. [[User:Barmar|Barmar]] ([[User talk:Barmar|talk]]) 03:25, 18 August 2020 (UTC)p

The timezone database (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tz_database#History) has been around since 1986. libc in various forms has been around as long as C has. Reuse and modularity is a fundamental principle of software engineering, and not an invention of the last few years. I'd just remove any mention of date.
: I think it's relatively recent that you can delete a file from one Web server and everything on the internet breaks. Dependencies are one thing, dependency on live updated resources is new. Because it's rather a bad idea. Incidentally overall... I think today's comic needs to be explained slower. Most people in the world are very unfamiliar with these concepts. Although coronavirus responses have taught a lot of us about "supply chains" that put stuff into shops for us to buy. Robert Carnegie rja.carnegie@excite.com [[Special:Contributions/141.101.69.87|141.101.69.87]] 10:18, 18 August 2020 (UTC)

:: While libc in various forms has been around as long as C has, it was never SINGULAR. Every version of C compiler had it's own version of C library maintained by different people. Even now there are alternatives to GNU libc. The timezone database might be better example. Also, reuse and modularity is fundamental principle, but reusing code maintained by someone else in project with bigger staff than that of such code is relatively recent. -- [[User:Hkmaly|Hkmaly]] ([[User talk:Hkmaly|talk]]) 23:48, 18 August 2020 (UTC)

== This has happened before ==

It may be worth mentioning a case where this actually happened, like https://www.theregister.com/2016/03/23/npm_left_pad_chaos/ [[Special:Contributions/141.101.97.101|141.101.97.101]] 01:03, 18 August 2020 (UTC)
: That was only a problem for those who tried to compile against network versions, instead of having a local copy. One of the dumbest and laziest things you can do as a programmer. Not to mention that you could just copy the code directly into one of your files or just writing your own routine. [[User:SDSpivey|SDSpivey]] ([[User talk:SDSpivey|talk]]) 02:04, 20 August 2020 (UTC)

One particularly big risk that instantly came to mind is the timezone database, which is maintained by volunteers yet underpins basically everything: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tz_database#Maintenance

I remember hearing about this a few years back at a Linux Foundation conference - the NTP daemon was underfunded (as I recall) and the one person maintaining it was struggling to pay bills. Losing NTP breaks an awful lot of things.... [[Special:Contributions/162.158.107.167|162.158.107.167]] 19:48, 18 August 2020 (UTC)

: I see this was [https://www.infoworld.com/article/3144546/time-is-running-out-for-ntp.html problem in 2016] ... I'm not able to find any update on the situation ... -- [[User:Hkmaly|Hkmaly]] ([[User talk:Hkmaly|talk]]) 00:10, 19 August 2020 (UTC)

:: [https://twit.tv/shows/floss-weekly/episodes/350 Nice long interview with Harlan Stenn, author/maintainer of NTP]. [[User:RandalSchwartz|RandalSchwartz]] ([[User talk:RandalSchwartz|talk]]) 05:56, 19 August 2020 (UTC)

: I work with a E100k robot that keeps breaking on account of [[http://atomicparsley.sourceforge.net/ Atomic Parsley]]. Everyone is very amused at this [[User:Kev|Kev]] ([[User talk:Kev|talk]]) 13:32, 20 August 2020 (UTC)

== Some random person in Nebraska ==

Is the reference to a random person in Nebraska totally arbitrary, or is it a reference to someone in particular?

Also, it would be good to have examples of heavily used projects with very small (especially one person) maintainer teams. OpenSSL definitely comes to mind, from what I have read. [[User:Stevage|Stevage]] ([[User talk:Stevage|talk]]) 01:49, 18 August 2020 (UTC)

Nebraska came up in 1667, "Algorithms" as well.[[Special:Contributions/162.158.79.33|162.158.79.33]] 02:22, 18 August 2020 (UTC)
:Nebraska is... Well, I'm sure some Nebraskonians might have a more fully-fleshed out and accurate opinion of its subtleties, depth of culture(s?) and Deity-given geographic artisanship but viewed from further afield it is one of the contenders for "miles and miles of not much going on", or similar, peopled by people that largely live within that promise.
:It may be just a [https://wiki.lspace.org/mediawiki/Power_Cable meme of such a generality], as a brief look at a {{w|List_of_people_from_Nebraska|list of people from Nebraska}} tends to support the hypothesis that the ones who became significant (Astair, Brando, Carson...) probably did so only once they left.
:OTOH, there are (at least) four computing pioneers/developers mentioned among them, creator or authors of significant 'products', and maybe {{w|Sketchpad|one of these}} matches the (intellectual) dependency meme quite well - other than being written in Massachusetts. Or {{w|Blogger_(service)|this one}}, though that might have been LA-baked, maybe?
:I learnt [[1053|some interesting things]] when investigating this issue, just now. Cheers! [[Special:Contributions/108.162.229.142|108.162.229.142]] 09:54, 18 August 2020 (UTC)
:I feel like Nebraska is mentioned just because ot's the.most flyover-sounding flyover state name? Or is it actually home to some well known library maintainer? {{unsigned|162.158.119.199}}
:Another good example might be left-pad. It actually caused a big issue [https://www.theregister.com/2016/03/23/npm_left_pad_chaos/ in 2016] when the developer took it offline and a whole bunch of projects and websites broke. [[User:Numbermaniac|Numbermaniac]] ([[User talk:Numbermaniac|talk]]) 07:41, 22 August 2020 (UTC)

== Microservices reference ==
Microservices reference is not related to this comic, as ImageMagick is monolith application. Also microservices are way of operating and deploying web services, not utility apps.
[[Special:Contributions/162.158.103.177|162.158.103.177]] 07:56, 18 August 2020 (UTC)

:ImageMagick is a library. -- [[User:Hkmaly|Hkmaly]] ([[User talk:Hkmaly|talk]]) 23:50, 18 August 2020 (UTC)

== The Thirty Million Line Problem ==
See [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kZRE7HIO3vk The Thirty Million Line Problem]. Randall's drawing looks like a house of cards on the verge of collapse. In the video, Casey talks about how the lack of a "hardware ISA" causes critical software (like OS'es and browsers) to bloat like crazy (a "hardware ISA" would be a standard for how hardware works, just like the x86 ISA is a standard for how an x86 CPU works, that both AMD and Intel agrees on). Also, he mentions how fragile and broken software is due to this "Thirty Million Line" bloat.
[[Special:Contributions/162.158.107.167|162.158.107.167]] 19:48, 18 August 2020 (UTC)

:Based on [https://www.reddit.com/r/programming/comments/8iyqk9/the_thirty_million_line_problem/ related discussion], that's a VERY bad video: he may have a point, but it takes VERY long time before he gets to it. I'm not going to watch it that long myself. -- [[User:Hkmaly|Hkmaly]] ([[User talk:Hkmaly|talk]]) 00:03, 19 August 2020 (UTC)

:This reminds me of that old joke: If carpenters built buildings the same way programmers made programs, the first woodpecker that came along would destroy civilization.

: I thought the drawing looks more like the [[w:Jenga|Jenga]] game, except the components are not simple rectangles. [[User:Barmar|Barmar]] ([[User talk:Barmar|talk]]) 16:31, 20 August 2020 (UTC)

== "Famous" Left Pad Incident ==
The "famous" left-pad incident in JavaScript's package manager could use some elaboration for those of us for which it isn't. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.107.89|162.158.107.89]] 02:42, 19 August 2020 (UTC)

== Loadsharers ==
There is an initiative by Eric Raymond targeted specifically to mitigate this problem. 
Article: https://www.linuxjournal.com/content/loadsharers-funding-load-bearing-internet-person 
Website: https://esr.gitlab.io/loadsharers/ &emsp; — [[User:Smartchair|Smartchair]] ([[User talk:Smartchair|talk]]) 16:20, 19 August 2020 (UTC)

==NTP==
The [https://www.informationweek.com/it-life/ntp-harlan-stenn-and-an-uncertain-future-readers-react/d/d-id/1319521 Network Time Protocol] is also a great example. --[[User:Slashme|Slashme]] ([[User talk:Slashme|talk]]) 21:50, 19 August 2020 (UTC)

2350: Deer Turrets

2020-08-25T01:49:33Z

172.69.34.18: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 2350
| date = August 24, 2020
| title = Deer Turrets
| image = deer_turrets.png
| titletext = When my great grandfather designed the Titanic and it hit an iceberg and sank, he didn't sit around moping. He took those lessons to his next job designing airships, and he made the Hindenburg completely iceberg-proof!
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by a NEIGHBORHOOD DEER (PEW PEW). Please mention here why this explanation isn't complete. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
[[Black Hat]] has built laser turrets that automatically shoot at nearby wireless devices. This could potentially be useful in a military context, but for [[72|reasons unforeseeable]], he's went and strapped them to local deer. Deer are well-defined by their tendency to move around (which [[Cueball]] attempted to exploit for ergonomic reasons in [[1329: Standing]]), typically in areas close to civilization, so attaching wireless-seeking laser robots to them effectively makes them organic killbots. As the last panel reveals, this can be circumvented by disabling wireless access on your devices (airplane mode), though Black Hat doesn't seem particularly concerned with letting people know this, and seems to brush these inventions off as simple mistakes (at least one member of the press isn't convinced, sarcastically asking "was it ''really'' a mistake?" knowing full well that Black Hat's ''real'' plan has gone off without a hitch).

In the second panel Black Hat uses the common idiom "hindsight is {{w|Visual acuity#Expression|20/20}}". This may likely be a pun, as "hind" is an archaic term for a female deer.

The auto-targeting laser turrets may be a reference to attempts by researchers at the University of Washington to create a laser-based battery charging device [https://www.wired.com/story/wireless-charging-with-lasers/]. The device in question is mounted on a turret that locates and aims the beam at a photovoltaic cell attached to the battery. The same technology could theoretically be used with a higher-powered laser, but for the application described in the comic, the targeting mechanism would need to be altered to sense any electronic rather than the accompanying photovoltaic cell.

The title text is humorous because ships in the air do not have to deal with icebergs the way ships in the water would. It's unknown whether Black Hat's great grandfather was comically inept at his job and genuinely thought the Hindenburg should be made iceberg-resistant or whether he was intentionally sabotaging the Hindenburg by redirecting safety considerations from reducing fire hazards to reducing the possibility of being punctured by an iceberg.

The possibility of mounting devices on wild deer was previously referenced in the title text of [[1924: Solar Panels]].

==Transcript==
:[Black Hat is at a podium, addressing a crowd]
:Black Hat: Was it a mistake to build turrets that can track nearby wireless devices and fire powerful lasers in their general direction?
:Black Hat: Sure. I realize that now.

:[Face-front view of Black Hat]
:Black Hat: Was it a mistake to mount those turrets on neighborhood deer, release them, then lose interest in the project and move on?
:Black Hat: Yes. Hindsight is 20/20.

:[Close-up]
:Black Hat: But science is about learning from mistakes
:Black Hat: And not being afraid to make new ones.

:[Side view again]
:Black Hat: Like inviting you here, but not warning you to put your phones in airplane mode.
:Black Hat: Another mistake, but that's okay.
:Off-Panel: ''Gallop gallop''
:Audience member: ''Is it really?!''
:Black Hat: I think it's fine.
:Deer: ''Pew! Pew!''

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category: Comics featuring Black Hat]]
[[Category: Animals]]

Talk:2341: Scientist Tech Help

2020-08-17T23:03:09Z

172.69.34.18: i added date to signature and was maybe annoying trying to make a joke in the date signature

First. [[User:Unpopular Opinions|Goodbye, world!]] ([[User talk:Unpopular Opinions|talk]]) 23:19, 3 August 2020 (UTC)

But more importantly, I added a transcript and added definitions for a Polaroid and Excel. Also, how should I deal with multiple Cueballs in the transcript? [[User:Unpopular Opinions|Goodbye, world!]] ([[User talk:Unpopular Opinions|talk]]) 23:35, 3 August 2020 (UTC)
: I don't think it is 2 Cueballs. I think the one on the right is Cueball and I don't recognise the other one. He is drawn slightly differently, he's got a bit of a butt-head (crack-head?). [[User:Xseo|Xseo]] ([[User talk:Xseo|talk]]) 07:23, 4 August 2020 (UTC)

I know of a team whose data was in the form of images - tens of thousands of them. Somehow during a pre-processing step they lost the exif data for the image files - which held the only digital link between the image file which had names assigned by the cameras like Img237856.png and their science which needed things like date and time of the image..... Fortunately the image itself had the date and time in a banner across the bottom 100 pixels. Managed to read the banner using OCR and tesseract. Not so very far off the thrust of this comic! [[Special:Contributions/162.158.126.134|162.158.126.134]] 00:08, 4 August 2020 (UTC)

I feel old when I know that Polaroid was not a disposable camera; it was an instant camera, meaning that the picture was taken, the film was slowly ejected from the camera body and you held the picture as it developed before your eyes. There were one-time use cameras, or "disposable" cameras, that were made cheaply and the camera was sent in for processing. Yes, probably incomprehensible to one so young to not know what a rotary dial desk phone (or wall phone) was. [[User:Doubting Thomas|Doubting Thomas]] ([[User talk:Doubting Thomas|talk]]) 00:41, 4 August 2020 (UTC)

I think the resentment stems from the ugly truth that such tool is needed in the first place? Is that a possibility? [[Special:Contributions/172.69.134.229|172.69.134.229]] 01:48, 4 August 2020 (UTC)
:Don't the scientists own the data since they collected it on their own equipment?[[User:Nk1406|Nk1406]] ([[User talk:Nk1406|talk]]) 13:51, 4 August 2020 (UTC)

"As you can see from the graphs, we detected significant Gravity Wave events on average once every 30-40 days for the whole two years of the observations, except for ''this'' short period where we seemed to get a consistently low level of background noise hum, that we have yet to fully connect with any of our existing astrophysical theories..." [[Special:Contributions/162.158.154.131|162.158.154.131]] 10:17, 4 August 2020 (UTC)

A serious suggestion: instead of webplotdigitizer, if you want to grab data off a chart image, get the java-based DataThief, https://datathief.org/ . It's fast, very customizable, can handle a certain amount of image distortion, i.e. X and Y axes not perpendicular in the crappy image your uncle sent you. [[User:Cellocgw|Cellocgw]] ([[User talk:Cellocgw|talk]]) 10:42, 4 August 2020 (UTC)

I thought that the title text meant that webplotdigitizer is being recommended in this sintuation, and that past recommendations for similar problems were ignored. They irrationally hold out hope that the software will be used and remembered by the scientists. Operating the software is also not the interesting challenge the tech people were hoping to be presented to them. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.74.155|162.158.74.155]] 18:10, 4 August 2020 (UTC)

Very shortly after this comic published I started seeing several articles about how geneticists recently renamed several genes so they would stop auto-formatting as dates in Excel. I wonder if Randall knew this before he drew the comic, and it was commentary on that, or if by amazing coincidence the world spewed out the perfect example of the scenario he was pointing out after the fact. For example, [https://www.engadget.com/scientists-rename-genes-due-to-excel-151748790.html this Engadget article]. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.63.61|172.69.63.61]] 19:07, 9 August 2020 (UTC)

I have worked in many labs where an exposure is taken, or a photo even, or instruments are analog readouts that must be digitized. I have only used imageJ for this. I realize it says "graphs" (and also that the photos I took were with a digital camera, not poloroid) but there are examples of physical graphs- an old school temp tracer for instance. Or are those all charts? I'm not so pedantic these days, just a dumb labrat. anyway sorry, i don't know how to add comments here sorry for probably screwing something up (unregistered user- hi i'm Gian!)[[Special:Contributions/172.69.34.18|172.69.34.18]] 16:00 hundred hours, 17 August 2020 (I'm using local US west coast time, lol)

Talk:2341: Scientist Tech Help

2020-08-17T23:00:16Z

172.69.34.18: very sorry i don't know how to do this. just adding that there are legit reasons a scientist would need to use a photo to digitize results from an experiment.

First. [[User:Unpopular Opinions|Goodbye, world!]] ([[User talk:Unpopular Opinions|talk]]) 23:19, 3 August 2020 (UTC)

But more importantly, I added a transcript and added definitions for a Polaroid and Excel. Also, how should I deal with multiple Cueballs in the transcript? [[User:Unpopular Opinions|Goodbye, world!]] ([[User talk:Unpopular Opinions|talk]]) 23:35, 3 August 2020 (UTC)
: I don't think it is 2 Cueballs. I think the one on the right is Cueball and I don't recognise the other one. He is drawn slightly differently, he's got a bit of a butt-head (crack-head?). [[User:Xseo|Xseo]] ([[User talk:Xseo|talk]]) 07:23, 4 August 2020 (UTC)

I know of a team whose data was in the form of images - tens of thousands of them. Somehow during a pre-processing step they lost the exif data for the image files - which held the only digital link between the image file which had names assigned by the cameras like Img237856.png and their science which needed things like date and time of the image..... Fortunately the image itself had the date and time in a banner across the bottom 100 pixels. Managed to read the banner using OCR and tesseract. Not so very far off the thrust of this comic! [[Special:Contributions/162.158.126.134|162.158.126.134]] 00:08, 4 August 2020 (UTC)

I feel old when I know that Polaroid was not a disposable camera; it was an instant camera, meaning that the picture was taken, the film was slowly ejected from the camera body and you held the picture as it developed before your eyes. There were one-time use cameras, or "disposable" cameras, that were made cheaply and the camera was sent in for processing. Yes, probably incomprehensible to one so young to not know what a rotary dial desk phone (or wall phone) was. [[User:Doubting Thomas|Doubting Thomas]] ([[User talk:Doubting Thomas|talk]]) 00:41, 4 August 2020 (UTC)

I think the resentment stems from the ugly truth that such tool is needed in the first place? Is that a possibility? [[Special:Contributions/172.69.134.229|172.69.134.229]] 01:48, 4 August 2020 (UTC)
:Don't the scientists own the data since they collected it on their own equipment?[[User:Nk1406|Nk1406]] ([[User talk:Nk1406|talk]]) 13:51, 4 August 2020 (UTC)

"As you can see from the graphs, we detected significant Gravity Wave events on average once every 30-40 days for the whole two years of the observations, except for ''this'' short period where we seemed to get a consistently low level of background noise hum, that we have yet to fully connect with any of our existing astrophysical theories..." [[Special:Contributions/162.158.154.131|162.158.154.131]] 10:17, 4 August 2020 (UTC)

A serious suggestion: instead of webplotdigitizer, if you want to grab data off a chart image, get the java-based DataThief, https://datathief.org/ . It's fast, very customizable, can handle a certain amount of image distortion, i.e. X and Y axes not perpendicular in the crappy image your uncle sent you. [[User:Cellocgw|Cellocgw]] ([[User talk:Cellocgw|talk]]) 10:42, 4 August 2020 (UTC)

I thought that the title text meant that webplotdigitizer is being recommended in this sintuation, and that past recommendations for similar problems were ignored. They irrationally hold out hope that the software will be used and remembered by the scientists. Operating the software is also not the interesting challenge the tech people were hoping to be presented to them. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.74.155|162.158.74.155]] 18:10, 4 August 2020 (UTC)

Very shortly after this comic published I started seeing several articles about how geneticists recently renamed several genes so they would stop auto-formatting as dates in Excel. I wonder if Randall knew this before he drew the comic, and it was commentary on that, or if by amazing coincidence the world spewed out the perfect example of the scenario he was pointing out after the fact. For example, [https://www.engadget.com/scientists-rename-genes-due-to-excel-151748790.html this Engadget article]. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.63.61|172.69.63.61]] 19:07, 9 August 2020 (UTC)

I have worked in many labs where an exposure is taken, or a photo even, or instruments are analog readouts that must be digitized. I have only used imageJ for this. I realize it says "graphs" but there are examples of physical graphs- an old school temp tracer for instance. Or are those all charts? I'm not so pedantic these days, just a dumb labrat. anyway sorry, i don't know how to add comments here sorry for probably screwing something up (unregistered user)[[Special:Contributions/172.69.34.18|172.69.34.18]]

2346: COVID Risk Comfort Zone

2020-08-15T03:35:09Z

172.69.34.18: removed unnecessary sentence referring to the editor

{{comic
| number = 2346
| date = August 14, 2020
| title = COVID Risk Comfort Zone
| image = covid_risk_comfort_zone.png
| titletext = I'm like a vampire, except I'm not crossing that threshold even if you invite me.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by a HAUNTED PLAGUE BOX. Please mention here why this explanation isn't complete. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
This comic depicts a spectrum of ways in which someone (here depicted by Cueball) could refuse to enter someone's house or other enclosed space. The first option is overly technical to the extreme, to the point where they have created a spreadsheet, and effectively reiterate common health advice during the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic. Being overly technical is a common trope among xkcd comics. The second option that is presented is the most reasonable of the three, being an expression of reasonable concern, and a polite refusal to enter. The last option is simplified to the extreme, and successfully insults the owner of the building while still expressing a desire to avoid coming inside. The title text appears to be a continuation of the last panel. In it, someone, presumably Cueball, compares themselves to a vampire, because vampires cannot enter a building without permission. However, the speaker has no interest in coming inside, despite any invitations that they may have.

Other comics mentioning "COVID-19 risk" include [[2330: Acceptable Risk]] and [[2333: COVID Risk Chart]].

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
:<big>Ways to say no when someone tells you to do something outside your COVID risk comfort zone:</big>

:[A comic with three panels is shown.]

:[The first panel is large. There are 2 Cueballs each wearing masks. Inside Cueball appears to be in a doorway that leads into a building. Outside Cueball is showing Inside Cueball a phone.]
:Label: Too Indirect
:Inside Cueball: You have to come inside.
:Outside Cueball: Ok, but... I've been trying to follow the science, and they're really emphasizing the transmission risk in enclosed spaces. I know you're wearing a mask, and I feel '''''so''''' awkward making a scene over a tiny risk. But I'm trying to keep my overall risk acceptably low, which means having simple rules so I don't overthink every minor decision. See, if you look at this spreadsheet-

:[Second panel, smaller. Only the Cueball outside is shown now.]
:Label: Direct
:Outside Cueball: I'm so sorry, but I'm avoiding shared indoor spaces unless it's an emergency.

:[Third panel, even smaller. Only the Cueball outside is shown.]
:Label: Too Direct
:Outside Cueball: I'm not setting foot in your haunted plague box.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:COVID-19]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Multiple Cueballs]]
[[Category:Social interactions]]

2342: Exposure Notification

2020-08-15T00:49:43Z

172.69.34.18: /* Explanation */ real life

{{comic
| number = 2342
| date = August 5, 2020
| title = Exposure Notification
| image = exposure_notification.png
| titletext = I don't see why everyone is so hungry for BAD news, but fine, I'll give in to feedback and add a dark mode.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by a BOT THAT RECENTLY HAD CLOSE CONTACT WITH SOMEONE WHO HAS NOT TESTED POSITIVE FOR COVID. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

During the coronavirus pandemic, many apps were developed to implement {{w|digital contact tracing}}, using proximity detection or location tracking to notify people who had been potentially exposed to COVID-19. People who know they are infected are encouraged to isolate, and it takes time to test and find out if somebody is infected; so most notifications are retrospective, telling the user about past potential exposures.

In this comic, a different type of app has been developed. Instead of notifying someone if they have been exposed to someone with COVID-19, the app produces notifications if they have been exposed to someone who has '''not''' tested positive. (Perhaps it also notifies the user if they have been exposed to a person who has tested positive, but if this is the case, it hasn't happened to the user in question yet.) This is much less useful because most people one would typically encounter would either not be infected, or not be aware of their infection, so almost every interaction will generate a notification, annoying the user. Also, being exposed to someone who has not tested positive is not good news, because it is still possible that the person might have COVID-19; it is simply less bad than being exposed to someone who has tested positive, but still worse than not being exposed to anyone.

Socially and psychologically, modest amounts of people being close to each other normally is a positive behavior. For a typical person, it could be considered a sad sign of our times if you needed an app to tell you whether you did right in social interactions and compliment you. (For [[:Category:Social_interactions|socially awkward people]], on the other hand, this could be a welcome development.)

[[File:GNOME Shell, GNOME Clocks, Evince, gThumb, GNOME Files at version 3.30 (2018-09) in Dark theme.png|thumb|right|The GNOME desktop environment in dark mode]]
In the title text, Randall decides to give in to users requests, and add a mode giving the bad news that you have been exposed to COVID-19. Calling this dark mode is a play on dark referring to less desirable, as well as dark mode, a common user interface option. {{w|Light-on-dark color scheme| Dark mode}} is a common feature in apps which allows users the options to have a user interface that gives off less light. Alternatively, it may just be that the developer is completely misunderstanding the user's actual needs. This would be consistent with creating an app that alerts the way this one did in the first place.

Randall has published similar "useless useful apps" in [[937: TornadoGuard]] (a tornado-alert app that has lots of great features, except it doesn't actually alert the user about tornadoes) and [[2236|2236: Is it Christmas?]] (a web page that correctly identifies most days as "not Christmas", but then fails to identify Christmas Day as Christmas, for a >99% "accuracy").

A week after this comic was posted, a user of the Canadian COVID tracing app [https://gizmodo.com/hey-apple-watch-please-dont-send-me-heart-stopping-no-1844729884 posted an article] about a similar issue: notifications from ''non exposure''.

==Transcript==
:[Cueball standing, holding out his chiming smartphone to review alerts it has received.]
:Alert 1:43 PM
:'''Good news:''' You recently had close contact with someone who has not tested positive for COVID.
:Alert 1:38 PM
:'''Good news:''' You recently had close contact with someone who has not tested positive for COVID.
:Alert 1:36 PM
:'''Good news:''' You recently had close contact with someone who has not tested positive for COVID.
:Alert 1:31 PM
:'''Good news:''' You recently had close contact with someone who has not tested positive for COVID.

:[Caption below the panel:]
:No one likes my new COVID exposure notification app.

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

2339: Pods vs Bubbles

2020-08-15T00:45:23Z

172.69.34.18: /* Explanation */ better wlink

{{comic
| number = 2339
| date = July 29, 2020
| title = Pods vs Bubbles
| image = pods_vs_bubbles.png
| titletext = Canada's travel restrictions on the US are 99% about keeping out COVID and 1% about keeping out people who say 'pod.'
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by a BUBBLE-PERSON, not a POD-PERSON. Please mention here why this explanation isn't complete. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

During the {{w|2019–20 coronavirus outbreak|2020 COVID-19 pandemic}}, various degrees of household self-isolation were often asked of people, depending on location, once it became understood that there was a virus spreading through contact/proximity vectors.

As the initial surge of cases appeared to decline, in places where such drastic restrictions had been implemented and seemingly had prevented ever higher infection rates, many regions decreased the strictness of these measures. For instance, permitting any two households (neither having signs of symptoms) to meet with each other ''and only each other'', or allowing one person in a multi-occupancy residence to invite just one other person to reassociate with. Further relaxation of rules may have occurred since, with the caveat that even one case of COVID-19 discovered in such a co-isolating group of people should be considered a risk factor to every other member (however the local jurisdiction deals with that).

A common term for the larger social unit, not to overlap with any other expanded social unit, is a 'bubble', perhaps to imply that you can only have membership of one bounded bubble at a time (unlike an {{w|Euler diagram}}). The term ‘build your bubble’ was coined by Dr Ingham (University of Otago, New Zealand) as a way of encouraging people with disabilities to create safe ‘bubbles’ with care givers during lockdown. Another common term is 'pod', representing the closed nature of a pod. There is probably as much variation across the world about what podding ''or'' bubbling practically means as there is between any two instances of those podded ''vs.'' those bubbled. Some sports leagues have resumed play in these structures, [https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/29256449/everything-know-nba-22-team-restart-walt-disney-world with the media] [https://nhl.nbcsports.com/2020/07/28/bubble-hockey-begins-nhl-playoff-teams-adjust-to-quarantine/ using the] [https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/30/sports/basketball/sports-bubble-nba-mlb.html bubble terminology], both in the United States and [https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2020/jun/23/ashley-giles-warns-england-players-isolation-bubble-will-be-no-holiday-camp across the wider world], as players and [https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/cricket/53338148 commentators alike] resume some degree even of international competition (so long as they [https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/cricket/53456667 follow the 'bubble' rules]).

Despite the semantic inconsequentialities of the difference, here Cueball clearly expresses a personal preference that he would probably not like being kept in an enforced social situation with someone who uses the other term.

Randall realizes that, despite his tendencies towards strong opinions on semantics, this particular point is one he would have been highly unlikely to say a year ago, and probably would not even have understood what it meant, because he could not have foreseen the COVID-19 pandemic and its widespread impact.

Cueball was shown using a ''literal'' bubble (a {{w|hamster ball}}) in [[2331: Hamster Ball 2]], but evidently got tired of being rolled around by the neighborhood kids.

The title text refers to travel restrictions. Many countries have placed limitations on its citizens' travel, particularly in and out of that country. Canada has mandated 14-day self-isolation on anyone who has returned from out-of-country, and has strictly limited any attempts to leave the country, with the United States being specifically noted as a high-risk tourism destination. Randall jokes that such measures are only 99% meant as COVID-19 precautions, with the remaining 1% being due to the authorities sharing Randall's semantic opinions.



==Transcript==
:[Cueball is walking to the right with Megan. He has his index finger raised dramatically.]
:Cueball: I ''refuse'' to bubble with anyone who calls it a "pod" and not a "bubble".

:[Caption below the panel]:
:This is probably my opinion that would have sounded the most incoherent to me a year ago.

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:COVID-19]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]
[[Category:Language]]

2346: COVID Risk Comfort Zone

2020-08-15T00:43:05Z

172.69.34.18: /* Explanation */ risks

{{comic
| number = 2346
| date = August 14, 2020
| title = COVID Risk Comfort Zone
| image = covid_risk_comfort_zone.png
| titletext = I'm like a vampire, except I'm not crossing that threshold even if you invite me.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by a HAUNTED PLAGUE BOX. Please mention here why this explanation isn't complete. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
This comic depicts a spectrum of ways in which someone (here depicted by Cueball) could refuse to entry someone's house or other enclosed space. The first option is overly technical to the extreme, to the point where they have created a spreadsheet, and effectively reiterate common health advice during the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic. Being overly technical is a common trope among xkcd comics. The second option that is presented is the most reasonable of the three, being an expression of reasonable concern, and a polite refusal to enter. The last option is simplified to the extreme, and successfully insults the owner of the building while still expressing a desire to avoid coming inside. The title text appears to be a continuation of the last panel. In it, someone, presumably Cueball, compares themselves to a vampire, because vampires cannot enter a building without permission. However, the speaker has no interest in coming inside, despite any invitations that they may have.

Other comics mentioning "COVID-19 risk" include [[2330: Acceptable Risk]] and [[2333: COVID Risk Chart]].

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
:<big>Ways to say no when someone tells you to do something outside your COVID risk comfort zone:</big>

:[A comic with three panels is shown.]

:[The first panel is large. There are 2 Cueballs each wearing masks. Inside Cueball appears to be in a doorway that leads into a building. Outside Cueball is showing Inside Cueball a phone.]
:Label: Too Indirect
:Inside Cueball: You have to come inside.
:Outside Cueball: Ok, but... I've been trying to follow the science, and they're really emphasizing the transmission risk in enclosed spaces. I know you're wearing a mask, and I feel '''''so''''' awkward making a scene over a tiny risk. But I'm trying to keep my overall risk acceptably low, which means having simple rules so I don't overthink every minor decision. See, if you look at this spreadsheet-

:[Second panel, smaller. Only the Cueball outside is shown now.]
:Label: Direct
:Outside Cueball: I'm so sorry, but I'm avoiding shared indoor spaces unless it's an emergency.

:[Third panel, even smaller. Only the Cueball outside is shown.]
:Label: Too Direct
:Outside Cueball: I'm not setting foot in your haunted plague box.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:COVID-19]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Multiple Cueballs]]
[[Category:Social interactions]]

2346: COVID Risk Comfort Zone

2020-08-15T00:40:03Z

172.69.34.18: /* Transcript */

{{comic
| number = 2346
| date = August 14, 2020
| title = COVID Risk Comfort Zone
| image = covid_risk_comfort_zone.png
| titletext = I'm like a vampire, except I'm not crossing that threshold even if you invite me.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by a HAUNTED PLAGUE BOX. Please mention here why this explanation isn't complete. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
This comic depicts a spectrum of ways in which someone (here depicted by Cueball) could refuse to entry someone's house or other enclosed space. The first option is overly technical to the extreme, to the point where they have created a spreadsheet, and effectively reiterate common health advice during the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic. Being overly technical is a common trope among xkcd comics. The second option that is presented is the most reasonable of the three, being an expression of reasonable concern, and a polite refusal to enter. The last option is simplified to the extreme, and successfully insults the owner of the building while still expressing a desire to avoid coming inside. The title text appears to be a continuation of the last panel. In it, someone, presumably Cueball, compares themselves to a vampire, because vampires cannot enter a building without permission. However, the speaker has no interest in coming inside, despite any invitations that they may have.

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
:<big>Ways to say no when someone tells you to do something outside your COVID risk comfort zone:</big>

:[A comic with three panels is shown.]

:[The first panel is large. There are 2 Cueballs each wearing masks. Inside Cueball appears to be in a doorway that leads into a building. Outside Cueball is showing Inside Cueball a phone.]
:Label: Too Indirect
:Inside Cueball: You have to come inside.
:Outside Cueball: Ok, but... I've been trying to follow the science, and they're really emphasizing the transmission risk in enclosed spaces. I know you're wearing a mask, and I feel '''''so''''' awkward making a scene over a tiny risk. But I'm trying to keep my overall risk acceptably low, which means having simple rules so I don't overthink every minor decision. See, if you look at this spreadsheet-

:[Second panel, smaller. Only the Cueball outside is shown now.]
:Label: Direct
:Outside Cueball: I'm so sorry, but I'm avoiding shared indoor spaces unless it's an emergency.

:[Third panel, even smaller. Only the Cueball outside is shown.]
:Label: Too Direct
:Outside Cueball: I'm not setting foot in your haunted plague box.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:COVID-19]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Multiple Cueballs]]
[[Category:Social interactions]]

2346: COVID Risk Comfort Zone

2020-08-15T00:39:26Z

172.69.34.18: /* Transcript */ ce

{{comic
| number = 2346
| date = August 14, 2020
| title = COVID Risk Comfort Zone
| image = covid_risk_comfort_zone.png
| titletext = I'm like a vampire, except I'm not crossing that threshold even if you invite me.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by a HAUNTED PLAGUE BOX. Please mention here why this explanation isn't complete. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
This comic depicts a spectrum of ways in which someone (here depicted by Cueball) could refuse to entry someone's house or other enclosed space. The first option is overly technical to the extreme, to the point where they have created a spreadsheet, and effectively reiterate common health advice during the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic. Being overly technical is a common trope among xkcd comics. The second option that is presented is the most reasonable of the three, being an expression of reasonable concern, and a polite refusal to enter. The last option is simplified to the extreme, and successfully insults the owner of the building while still expressing a desire to avoid coming inside. The title text appears to be a continuation of the last panel. In it, someone, presumably Cueball, compares themselves to a vampire, because vampires cannot enter a building without permission. However, the speaker has no interest in coming inside, despite any invitations that they may have.

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
[Heading:]
:Ways to say no when someone tells you to do something outside your COVID risk comfort zone:

:[A comic with three panels is shown.]

:[The first panel is large. There are 2 Cueballs each wearing masks. Inside Cueball appears to be in a doorway that leads into a building. Outside Cueball is showing Inside Cueball a phone.]
:Label: Too Indirect
:Inside Cueball: You have to come inside.
:Outside Cueball: Ok, but... I've been trying to follow the science, and they're really emphasizing the transmission risk in enclosed spaces. I know you're wearing a mask, and I feel '''''so''''' awkward making a scene over a tiny risk. But I'm trying to keep my overall risk acceptably low, which means having simple rules so I don't overthink every minor decision. See, if you look at this spreadsheet-

:[Second panel, smaller. Only the Cueball outside is shown now.]
:Label: Direct
:Outside Cueball: I'm so sorry, but I'm avoiding shared indoor spaces unless it's an emergency.

:[Third panel, even smaller. Only the Cueball outside is shown.]
:Label: Too Direct
:Outside Cueball: I'm not setting foot in your haunted plague box.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:COVID-19]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Multiple Cueballs]]
[[Category:Social interactions]]