explain xkcd - User contributions [en]

2466: In Your Classroom

2021-06-02T20:57:31Z

172.69.70.15:

{{comic
| number = 2466
| date = May 21, 2021
| title = In Your Classroom
| image = in_your_classroom.png
| titletext = Ontology is way off to the left and geography is way off to the right.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by a QUASAR IN YOUR CLASSROOM. The table is still a work in progress. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
[[Randall]] has created a thought experiment and corresponding chart about school courses. The idea is, "the subject of the class appears in the classroom" and the chart compares how dangerous and how unusual that would be.

In the title text two points that are off the chart to the left and right are also mentioned. See details about all the subjects in the [[#Table of subjects|table]] below.

Note that Randall uses similar diagrams in each of [[388: Fuck Grapefruit]], [[1242: Scary Names]] and [[1501: Mysteries]], which also contain different items. They also have extra points mentioned in the title text. In the first two comics the points are also off the chart, whereas for the last the description of the point is too long to fit on the chart. Extra info outside the chart is also used in the title text of [[1785: Wifi]], but this is a line graph.

==Table of subjects==
{| class="wikitable"
|+Breakdown of Subjects
|-
!Course Topic
!Weirdness
!Badness
!Explanation
|-

!scope=row|Atmospheric Physics
|0%
|0%
|Absent very strange and unprecedented circumstances, every classroom has an atmosphere, and this is very good, because humans cannot survive without one.
|-

!scope=row|Ethics
|25%
|0%
|Ethical thinking and behavior are widely considered good and should normally be present in education, but are sadly not universal.
|-

!scope=row|Education
|0%
|10%
|Learning usually goes on in classrooms, so education as a concept is both being learned about and present in the form of learning itself.
|-

!scope=row|Bibliography
|25%
|7%
|Bibliography is the study of books, and books are normally present in classrooms, particularly bibliography classrooms.
|-

!scope=row|Human Physiology
|0%
|20%
|This comic assumes that there are humans learning in the classroom, which was true at the time this comic was published, although in many places at the time the comic was published, many classrooms were closed due to COVID-19 restrictions.
|-

!scope=row|Public Speaking
|25%
|15%
|Some classes require students to present things in front of the class, which is likely a requirement in a public speaking class. Thus, public speaking itself would be present in the class.
Some classes also have a teacher talking or presenting to the students from the front of the class, another form of public speaking.
|-

!scope=row|Architecture
|0%
|30%
|All buildings can be considered architecture, and most classes take place in buildings. This comic also refers to a class''room'', which is a room, and therefore considered architecture.
|-

!scope=row|Library Science
|25%
|25%
|Library science is concerned with the organization of knowledge, and is useful for finding information. Many classes require research papers that require the use of books and other sources of information to complete them. This would be even more appropriate for a class actually taught in the school library.
|-

!scope=row|Furniture Design
|0%
|40%
|Most rooms have furniture,{{Citation needed}} so this would probably be present in a classroom.
|-

!scope=row|Culinary Arts
|40%
|30%
|Most studies of culinary arts include the teacher and/or students preparing food using the tools and/or techniques that have been taught, so it would be fairly normal for food to be a result of classroom activities. How ''good'' it is, however, can be a mixed bag, especially for student cooking attempts.
|-

!scope=row|Ergonomics
|5%
|45%
|Ergonomic equipment and workspaces promote comfort and efficiency, while non-ergonomic ones may be unpleasant, unhealthy, or even immediately dangerous.
|-

!scope=row|Botany
|40%
|40%
|The near-neutral position of Botany (aka Plant Biology) suggests that the most likely reason for plants to be present would be something like a potted plant, which is not uncommon, and usually not unpleasant, but not very noteworthy. There are other potential reasons for plants to be present, but those are generally less likely.
|-

!scope=row|20th Century Authors
|65%
|10%
|Literature classes would benefit greatly from an open discussion or interview with the author himself. Sadly such things are rare, but not unheard of, putting it slightly on the "weird" side of the spectrum. Well-known authors of the 20th century have an increased likelihood of being retired or dead by 2021, but there are more authors of the 20th century who are well-established enough to be studied.
|-

!scope=row|Exobiology
|100%
|0%
|Exobiology is the study of extraterrestrial life. This would mean that an alien life-form was in the classroom. This is extremely weird but very good for people to investigate and research the alien.
|-

!scope=row|21st Century Authors
|60%
|20%
|21st century authors have the advantage (over 19th and 20th century authors) of typically being alive and active at the time this comic was published. However, most authors who were primarily active in the 21st century are still developing their body of work, and/or still awaiting the judgment of history. The better availability of such authors, as compared to 20th century author probably explains the slightly lower "weirdness" score, while the limited body of truly prominent authors probably explains the lower "goodness" score.
|-

!scope=row|19th Century Authors
|100%
|15%
|No author who was active in the 19th century was alive at the writing of this comic{{Citation needed}}, hence, having one of them show up in class would be extremely weird. The opportunity to interact with such a person would be utterly unique, meaning that it scores pretty high on the "goodness" metric, though interestingly not as high as a 20th century author. Possibly, the potential 'badness' of having a zombie or other reanimated being show up in your class is weighed against the advantage of having a historical figure there in person.
|-

!scope=row|Paleontology
|100%
|25%
|Paleontology is the study of the history of life on Earth as based on fossils. In geology classes, it would be normal to have some fossils in the classroom. However, fossils are not usually found in other classrooms, and especially below the college level. Randall is also probably implying the weirdness of finding a live ''Jurassic Park''-style dinosaur.
|-

!scope=row|Robotics
|55%
|30%
|A course on robotics would often be expected to have some form of working models of the robots being discussed.
|-

!scope=row|Martian Soil Chemistry
|100%
|35%
|Martian soil only reaches Earth in small amounts, so it would be unusual to find a meaningful amount anywhere, except Mars.
|-

!scope=row|Tourism
|75%
|40%
|Tourists coming into an active classroom would be quite unusual. It could refer to the students leaving to become tourists in another location.
|-

!scope=row|Child Psychology
|60%
|45%
|Children are rarely students in classrooms enough to teach child psychology. In order for child psychology to be on display, presumably someone would have to have brought a child (either for a demonstration, or for some other reason), which is slightly weird, but not unheard of. This is considered slightly 'good', presumably because it would give students some opportunity for firsthand observation, and because most people like, or at least tolerate, children.
|-

!scope=row|Entomology
|15%
|55%
|Entomology is the study of insects. Insects getting into a classroom is a very common event, even putting aside the possibility of someone bringing insects specifically to study. Most insects that might get in are relatively benign, but some (such as mosquitoes) might sting or bite, and many people simply don't like insects, even when they're not harmful, pushing this slightly into 'bad' territory.
|-

!scope=row|Occupational Therapy
|10%
|62%
|Injury, illness or mental health problem that hinder your participation in life/school. Many students who have significant physical injuries and conditions that require occupational therapy would generally not engage in those activities during a class, although volunteers may be brought in as a demonstration of a particular health problem or method of treatment.
|-

!scope=row|Hydraulic Engineering
|40%
|62%
|Likely in the form of flooding or plumbing problems.
|-

!scope=row|Pest Control
|25%
|70%
|This is not dissimilar to entymology, but pest control tends to involve larger infestations, as opposed to individual insects, and also includes non-insect animals, such as rats. Such events in classroom are not as common as individual insects getting in (especially in a well-maintained building), but are far from unheard of, and risk many negative effects, from bug bites to structural damage, and may require evacuation and fumigation to deal with.
|-

!scope=row|Foodborne Illness
|15%
|80%
|Sometimes students in a culinary arts class do not properly observe hygiene standards and the food they present would lead to illness in those that consume the food. Thankfully, this is rare if the teacher is paying enough attention to proceedings. Students could also be ill from food eaten outside of class.
|-

!scope=row|Criminal Law
|45%
|85%
|This might happen if a crime occurs in the class.
|-

!scope=row|Physiology of Stress
|0%
|90%
|Stress in a classroom, even stress that's bad enough to manifest itself in physical symptoms, is all too common. Stress that bad is very harmful, and a student realizing that they were manifesting the symptoms they're studying should take it as a warning sign.
|-

!scope=row|Oncology
|25%
|100%
|Oncology is the medical practice of treating cancer. For someone in a classroom full of students to have cancer is, unfortunately, not an uncommon event, putting it on the 'normal' side of the scale. While not abnormal, it's clearly very bad.
|-

!scope=row|Ornithology
|60%
|55%
|Ornithology is the study of birds. A bird getting into a classroom would be somewhat strange, but there are circumstances under which it would happen. In most cases, that's not especially dangerous, but it would be disruptive, and introduce the possibility of the bird making a mess, and possibly getting hurt (or even hurting others), which makes it slightly bad.
|-

!scope=row|Animation
|100%
|56%
|Examples of animated works might be displayed to the students in an animation class. It would be weird for animated characters to appear physically in the classroom instead of being projected on screens. Possibly a reference to the video game ''Bendy and the Ink Machine'': when the animated characters spontaneously appeared in the animation studio, it was very weird and very bad.
|-

!scope=row|Petroleum Geology
|65%
|60%
|Crude oil coming up through the floor of the classroom would be ''very'' weird. Any potential for hands-on learning experience would be limited, and quickly outweighed by classes being disrupted entirely (be it damage to the building, or oil companies trying to negotiate for the land).
|-

!scope=row|Highway Engineering
|75%
|65%
|A highway being built through an active classroom would be very unusual and not that safe.
|-

!scope=row|Toxicology
|55%
|75%
|Most likely, a toxic substance is present in the room. This is not very weird if the room is in a building that has asbestos-containing insulation (typically associated with buildings constructed before the 1990s, although it has not been specifically outlawed in the United States due to industrial lobbying) or lead paint (which was fully outlawed in 1978, so any paint must have been applied prior to that date). However, toxic substances are unsafe for humans{{Citation needed}}.
|-

!scope=row|Hematology
|75%
|70%
|Hematology is the study of blood. Given that there should be blood in each of the students present{{Citation needed}}, we should probably assume Randall means "large quantities of blood outside of one's body", which would indeed be both bad and weird.
|-

!scope=row|Hostage Negotiation
|70%
|85%
|Reasons as to why there would be hostage negotiations taking place at a school have horrifying implications for the students and teacher.
|-

!scope=row|History of Siege Warfare
|100%
|80%
|This would be an exceptionally strange event. Given that the topic is 'history', having it show up implies that either historical figures have the classroom under siege (possibly through time travel or reanimation) or at least that the besiegers are using traditional weapons and methods in their attack. In either case, it would be a very weird event, and also very bad.
|-

!scope=row|Trauma Surgery
|55%
|95%
|An injury severe enough to require trauma surgery would be rare in a classroom, but there are circumstanced under which it could realistically happen. Such an injury would be, by it's very nature, a very bad thing.
|-

!scope=row|Volcanology
|75%
|95%
|Having a live volcano in one's classroom is both very dangerous and very weird {{Citation needed}}. Volcanoes mature over very long time frames, but even the earliest stages are highly disruptive and potentially deadly, as seen in the [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Par%C3%ADcutin#Formation 1943 eruption of Paricutín] and the [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2018_lower_Puna_eruption#Eruption 2018 flank eruption of Kilauea]. Note this also applies to [[1611: Baking Soda and Vinegar | baking soda and vinegar volcanoes that are offshoots of much larger vinegar hotspots]].
|-

!scope=row|Quasar Astronomy
|75%
|100%
|Quasars are distant astronomical objects that release large amounts of energy. Not only would the power of a quasar destroy the classroom (as well as the rest of Earth,) quasars are too large to fit inside any known classroom. For example, [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ULAS_J1342%2B0928 ULAS J1342+0928] has a mass of 8*10^8 solar masses. This means the event horizon of the black hole is almost 16 AU in radius, and this size does not include the accretion disk.
|-

!scope=row|Ontology (Title Text)
|<0%
|?
|Ontology is the philosophical study of existence and being. Since there must be ''something'' learning in the classroom, it is unsurprising that ontology is a normal subject to appear in the classroom.
|-

!scope=row|Geography (Title Text)
|>100%
|?
|Geographers study the lands, features, inhabitants, and phenomena of the Earth. While each classroom classroom contains a small portion of the Earth's surface (normally not enough of it to be interesting to geographers), having the ''entire Earth'' appear inside a classroom would likely demand explanation. In particular, if this is an ordinary classroom (i.e. located ''on'' the Earth), the planet's simultaneous appearance within its walls would both defy our current understanding of spacetime, and risk [[1515: Basketball Earth | disastrous consequences at the hands of curious students.]]

|}

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

:[Caption above scatter plot with labeled axes]
:Caption: The thing you study just showed up in your classroom! That's...
:Upper y-axis label: Good
:Lower y-axis label: Bad
:Upper x-axis label: Normal
:Lower x-axis label: Weird

:[First quadrant (left to right, top to bottom):]
:20th century authors
:Exobiology
:21st century authors
:19th century authors
:Robotics
:Paleontology
:Martian soil chemistry
:Child psychology
:Tourism
:[Second quadrant]
:Atmospheric physics
:Ethics
:Education
:Bibliography
:Human physiology
:Public speaking
:Architecture
:Library science
:Furniture design
:Culinary arts
:Ergonomics
:Botany
:[Third quadrant]
:Entomology
:Occupational therapy
:Hydraulic engineering
:Pest control
:Foodborne illness
:Criminal law
:Physiology of stress
:Oncology
:[Fourth quadrant]
:Ornithology
:Animation
:Petroleum geology
:Highway engineering
:Toxicology
:Hematology
:Hostage negotiation
:History of siege warfare
:Trauma surgery
:Volcanology
:Quasar astronomy

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Charts]]
[[Category:Rankings]]
[[Category:Food]]
[[Category:Cancer]]
[[Category:Animals]]
[[Category:Geology]]
[[Category:Astronomy]]
[[Category:Volcanoes]]

572: Together

2021-05-06T20:12:42Z

172.69.70.15: /* Explanation */ can't believe 212 wasn't mentioned before.

{{comic
| number =572
| date =April 22, 2009
| title =Together
| image =together.png
| titletext =This scavenger hunt is getting boring. Let's go work on the treehouse!
}}

==Explanation==
[[Cueball]] and [[Megan]] are seen running together hand in hand. Behind them, two others (who look like Cueball and Megan as well) are standing next to a box in an open field of grass.

Together, Cueball and Megan fall in love, get married, and retire in old age to a porch swing, Cueball now wearing a sailor cap and Megan with hair worn just like [[Hairbun]].

Suddenly, without a word, old Cueball using his cane, leaves old Megan on the porch, even though she shouts out for him to come back. He then returns to his two friends at the box from the first panel, they are now also much older and are still standing beside the box. Old Cueball picks up a sheet of paper and checks off "Happiness", the third point checked off on a list entitled "Scavenger Hunt," where the other items include these two above that are checked off: Indian-Head Penny and Snake Skin, as well as the two items below that, are not yet checked off: Four-Leaf Clover and Shark Tooth. At least one more unchecked point is on the list, but it is covered by a speech bubble.

So finding happiness was just one item in what is presumably the longest-running {{w|scavenger hunt}} of all-time, considering Cueball grew significantly old during the hunt (the duration is as much as 70 years since Cueball is now having to use a cane). The comic ends with Cueball asking, "What's next?"

The list indicates this is a hunt for somewhat rare items. The US {{w|Indian Head cent}} (penny) was produced from 1859 to 1909, making it somewhat rare. But this they have managed. (It may have been easier to find when the scavenger hunt started, depending on when that was; for instance, if the last panel takes place in the 2000s, and 70 years have gone by, then the treasure hunt started in the 1930s, when these pennies were still fairly common.) Also, the snake skin has been managed which may be a little easier to find if you live in areas with snakes as they shed their skin by molting. So finding such a skin would be the objective to find here.

A {{w|four leaf clover}} is a rare variation of the common three-leaf clover. A shark tooth is not easy to obtain unless you live near a beach with souvenir shops.

The title, ''Together'', of the comic is probably a reference to the saying that you find happiness ''together'' with your loved one. Cueball could have taken many different paths to find happiness, together or separate, but he chose togetherness as a way to find happiness, which is a common theme in love stories. But happiness is not something a person finds, it is an experience, hence the need to accumulate enough experiences to determine beyond doubt that happiness was truly found. This is why he had to wait until old age before he could go back to his friends.

Note that Megan is never seen together with Cueball's friends, and especially since she is not invited to go back to them to check the happiness point off, there there is no reason to assume that she was in on the game from the beginning. She was just a means to an end, which makes Cueball's actions rather cruel and questionable.

The title text indicates that after all this time, the players may abandon the game due to being bored with it. It is typical for children to tire of a game before it is finished; except here, Cueball spent nearly a lifetime on just one part of this game! Building a treehouse is another example of a common childhood activity. Naturally, the intended mental image of a bunch of old men and women building a treehouse and playing in it like six-year-olds is another punchline. However, as mentioned in [[212: Brain]], the fantasy of constructing the perfect treehouse seems to nevertheless hold a permanent place in Randall's heart (or brain) regardless of how old he gets or how immature the ambition may seem. The idea of adults having a fort in the woods was also mentioned, rather darkly, in the title text of [[219: Blanket Fort]].

Three of the old people look very similar to three of those standing in line in [[586: Mission to Culture]]. And much later in [[1910: Sky Spotters]] the two birdwatchers looks very much like the old version of Cueball and Megan. Giving an old person a sailor cap was also used in [[2213: How Old]].

==Transcript==
:[Cueball and Megan are running in a field, holding hands. They are running away from another pair which also looks like Cueball and Megan. This pair stands in the background, next to a small box. There may be something lying on top of the box, but it is difficult to see clearly. The sun is shining above them.]

:[Cueball and Megan are in a boat on a lake, very romantic. Cueball is speaking to Megan, illustrated with a heart.]
:Cueball: ♡

:[Cueball and Megan sit together on a bench on a beach, watching the sunset.]

:[Cueball and Megan stand in front of an altar under a wedding arch, with confetti falling around them. He is wearing a butterfly and she a veil.]

:[Cueball and Megan, now old and wrinkled, sit together holding hands on their porch at the top of a small stair outside their house. He has a sailor cap on and Megan now wears her hair in a bun. Although the woman looks like Hairbun, and the old man is wearing a sailor cap, we can assume this is still Megan and Cueball given the juxtaposition of the preceding panel.]

:[The same setting is depicted but seen from the side of the house. Cueball begins walking away from Megan using his cane. He has descended from the stair. Finally, Megan speaks, and unusually there is a speech bubble, with an extra smaller bubble hanging on to it for the second sentence.]
:Megan: Dear? Where are you-
:Megan: Come back!

:[Cueball approaches an old couple, presumably the kids from the first panel now turned old. They seem tired, looking down all the time. The man only has hair around his neck and also a cane. The woman has long thinning hair. The box from the first panel is between Cueball and the other two. On top of it lies a piece of paper]

:[Same picture except that Cueball is now standing still and has picked up the paper from the box and writes on it with a pen. Again there is a speech bubble.]
:Cueball: Okay,

:[The paper is shown. It is a scavenger hunt list with at least six items. The three first items have been checked off. The last item is blocked by the speech bubble, but can be seen to be there from the check box.]
:Scavenger
:<u>hunt:</u>
:☒ Indian-head penny
:☒ Snake skin
:☒ Happiness
:☐ Four-leaf clover
:☐ Shark tooth
:☐ [covered by speech bubble]
:Cueball (off-panel): What's next?

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]
[[Category:Multiple Cueballs]]
[[Category:Romance]]
[[Category:Wedding]]

Talk:2328: Space Basketball

2020-07-04T05:23:37Z

172.69.70.15: Added a comment.

I'd just like to point out that this assumes cueball's odds of sinking a basket remain at 30% after hundreds/thousands of shots. One would think he would improve with practice.
[[Special:Contributions/162.158.62.75|162.158.62.75]] 23:53, 3 July 2020 (UTC)Duban
: Randall expresses as much in the title text. --[[User:NotaBene|NotaBene]] ([[User talk:NotaBene|talk]]) 00:00, 4 July 2020 (UTC)
: The psychological factor is another problem. The pressure of having reached a large number of shots will change how a person performs. Considering how sensitive the overall probability is to small variations in the success rate, this could have a dramatic effect, even if the overall free throw percentage doesn't change. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.70.15|172.69.70.15]] 05:23, 4 July 2020 (UTC)

Cueball's odds of 30 consecutive baskets are 0.3^30 = 2.06*10^-16. Earth is hit by about 6100 meteors per year, and a basketball hoop has a radius of 9 inches. Using that it will be hit about once every 5.09*10^11 years. In order for it to be even, Cueball would have to do approximately one trial every 55 minutes. Since he'll start over each time he misses, it works out to once attempt every 38.6 minutes. [[User:DanielLC|DanielLC]] ([[User talk:DanielLC|talk]]) 00:36, 4 July 2020 (UTC)

(?Almost) no-one in recorded history has been killed by a meteor, so the estimate of 1 in 250,000 is based on a very small chance of a very large number of people dying from something like a "Dinosaur Killer" object, which would not fit through the hoop.

Ok. Area of hoop: 0.166 square meters. Area of earth: 510 million square kilometers, or about 3x10^15 hoops. The Planetary Science Institute thinks 500 meteorites per year; Cosmos magazine think 6100 per year (which will essentially all be small enough to go through the hoop). So we get 5x10^11 or 6x10^12 years for space to score. If Cueball had to do multiple sets of 30 throws and wait until one of those sets was all successes he'd take 5x10^15 attempts, so 1000 or 10,000 attempts per year for a fair game. Which seems ok.

On the other hand, suppose that any 30 consecutive success counts. In that case the waiting time is shorter, but not much shorter. [This](https://math.stackexchange.com/questions/893941/distribution-of-maximum-run-length-of-independent-multinomial-trials) suggests the average time for any 30 consecutive is the same as the average time for batches of 29 when you need to get all 29 in a batch. So the difference is smaller than uncertainties/approximations we're already ignoring

Since almost all meteors are incinerated and reduced to dust upon contact with the earth's atmosphere, it stands to reason that there may already be a (teeny-weeny bit of a) meteor already passing through the hoop. [[User:RAGBRAIvet|RAGBRAIvet]] ([[User talk:RAGBRAIvet|talk]]) 02:40, 4 July 2020 (UTC)