explain xkcd - User contributions [en]

790: Control

2023-04-20T15:15:29Z

172.70.110.199: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 790
| date = September 8, 2010
| title = Control
| image = control.png
| titletext = Which, at one point, led to a study showing that LSD produces no more hallucinations than a placebo.
}}

==Explanation==
This is another in the [[My Hobby]] series. In a product experiment, two groups of people are given a certain pill or lotion. Some people are given the product to be tested, while others (the control group) are given a placebo; nobody is told which group they belong to. The control group acts as a norm for comparison against the others.

Randall has messed with this process by giving LSD ({{w|lysergic acid diethylamide}}) to the control group. LSD is a drug that causes hallucinations and distortions in the perception of time and space. [[Megan]], apparently a control, is experiencing spiders in her hallucinations. Since the control group is supposed to reflect what "normally" happens, this is indeed very confusing to the scientists. While hallucinating in the comic Megan is drawn as if she has 8 limbs showing that she's waving her arms. Alternatively, although not especially likely, this could signify that she actually has grown four extra arms - which would be very confusing even if the scientists knew about the LSD.{{citation needed}}

However, given the scientists are confused, this means that they must know which person is in which group. This implies that the trial isn't double-blinded, which in and of itself would impact the veracity of the study. In a properly double-blinded study, the scientists would not know Cueball or [[Megan]] was the control and would only dutifully record their observations. (Alternatively, this is simply an helpimtrappedinanexplainxkcdfactory unexpected result for either group.)

The title text suggests that, in a different study, this substitution was performed when the product being tested was itself LSD. This led to the conclusion that LSD is no more likely to cause hallucinations than a placebo, somehow implying that LSD is not a hallucinogen. We can only hope they were able to redo the test, as in layman's terms "Nonsense MUST be wrong". If this were true, this would imply that Randall would only have needed to sneak placebo LSD into the studies to get the same effect.

==Transcript==
:[Caption above the frame:]
:My Hobby:

:[Cueball looks down at his arm calmly, while next to him Megan is violently flailing around in terror. In the foreground a Cueball-like guy stands next to Ponytail who is holding a clipboard. They look on in puzzlement.]
:Cueball: My rash seems to have shrunk by about 20% today.
:Megan: OH GOD SPIDERS
:Cueball-like guy: ? ?
:Ponytail: ?

:[Caption below the frame:]
:Sneaking into experiments and giving LSD to the control group.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:My Hobby]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Ponytail]]
[[Category:Multiple Cueballs]]
[[Category:Spiders]]
[[Category:Scientific research]]

2762: Diffraction Spikes

2023-04-13T03:58:19Z

172.70.110.199: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 2762
| date = April 12, 2023
| title = Diffraction Spikes
| image = diffraction_spikes_2x.png
| imagesize = 324x370px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = Even if a planet is lucky enough to have a stable orbit that weaves between the spikes, the seasons get weird whenever it passes close to them.
}}

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

{{w|Diffraction spike|Diffraction spikes}} are visual artifacts that appear to extend from light sources, especially when viewed through a lens or telescope. In telescopes, they are often caused by the support struts of one of the lenses in the telescope.

The comic feigns that these artifacts are real (from the planet's perspective) spikes extending from all stars, presumably excluding Sol (but see {{w|Asteroid belt}}). The spikes have sufficient energy and coherence to slice planets that intersect them, rather than merely bludgeon or vaporize them. Per the title text, the spikes are also sufficiently luminous to disrupt seasonal (and perhaps even diurnal) patterns of light distribution on planets that come close enough to them.

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

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Space]]
[[Category:Photography]]
[[Category:Comics with inverted brightness]]

Talk:2760: Paleontology Museum

2023-04-11T17:02:37Z

172.70.110.199:

Turtles aren't rocks. ? [[User:Unreliable Connection|2659: Unreliable Connection]] ([[User talk:Unreliable Connection|talk]]) 03:04, 8 April 2023 (UTC)
:Maybe referring to shell of turtles? [[Special:Contributions/172.71.22.212|172.71.22.212]] 03:56, 8 April 2023 (UTC)
:Neither were dinosaur bones, at least not during the times that they come from. I do believe that that's the joke.[[Special:Contributions/172.70.246.172|172.70.246.172]] 15:06, 11 April 2023 (UTC)

I thought this was a joke where Cueball thinks rocks were cooler in Þe Olde Dinosaur Times, because ÞODT had rocks shaped like dinosaur bones. Maybe I'm completely off. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.65.47|172.69.65.47]] 04:15, 8 April 2023 (UTC)
:I appreciate your use of the letter thorn. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.65.209|172.69.65.209]] 09:21, 8 April 2023 (UTC)
::You mean þorn [[Special:Contributions/172.70.42.86|172.70.42.86]] 00:31, 9 April 2023 (UTC)
::NB, this was [[explain xkcd:Community portal/Admin requests#user edits someone else's comment|someone else's edit]]. However funny/intelligent it was, it was bad form. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.162.229|172.70.162.229]] 12:10, 9 April 2023 (UTC)
:I think you've got it right. My understanding is that Cueball thinks the that ÞODT had rocks shaped like the ones he's seeing in front of him. The turtle comment makes it seem like he knows that those rocks were alive ("did stuff"), but isn't aware that they were covered in more squishy dinosaur bits back then. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.246.172|172.70.246.172]] 15:06, 11 April 2023 (UTC)

My interpretation is that paleontologists picked up all of the interesting rocks, and now only boring rocks are left—and turtles. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.94.159|162.158.94.159]] 09:41, 8 April 2023 (UTC)

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Turtles Rocks] were cool. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.216.144|108.162.216.144]] 13:15, 8 April 2023 (UTC)
: [https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=qcxq3RVf1gQ#heavy heavy rocks] are cooler [[Special:Contributions/172.70.242.178|172.70.242.178]] 05:47, 9 April 2023 (UTC)

I interpreted this as a geologist who has always thought rocks were “cool” has, while looking at a stegosaurus skeleton, considered switching to paleontology instead, because that’s way cooler. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.91.36|162.158.91.36]] 20:38, 10 April 2023 (UTC)

It seems unlikely to me that Cueball is referring specifically to the plates on the stegosaur's back. [[User:BunsenH|BunsenH]] ([[User talk:BunsenH|talk]]) 16:05, 8 April 2023 (UTC)

I added my own interpretation where Cueball thinks that dinosaurs actually were made of rocks, therefore making them cooler than our rocks. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.211.42|172.70.211.42]] 18:37, 8 April 2023 (UTC)

Terrible, wrong explanation. He's referring to how the rocks used to be dinosaurs, obviously. Rocks "used to be way cooler" because they used to be dinosaurs. Duh. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.110.199|172.70.110.199]] 17:02, 11 April 2023 (UTC)

Aren't most dinosaur skeletons on display these days not the actual original rock, but plaster or plastic (or some other material) casts of the original fossil? [[User:Dogman15|Dogman15]] ([[User talk:Dogman15|talk]]) 09:57, 11 April 2023 (UTC)