2918: Tick Marks

2024-04-11T12:55:45Z

172.70.127.7: /* Transcript */

{{comic
| number = 2918
| date = April 10, 2024
| title = Tick Marks
| image = tick_marks_2x.png
| imagesize = 292x276px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = If you're really savvy, you can hide an entire set of illicit transactions by timing them to draw what looks like a graph inset.
}}

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

This comic provides the reader with a suggestion on how to "conceal activity" that is going to be graphed over time; by timing bursts of activity with the ticks on the time axis. This is assuming that the scale of the time axis is known, and that the "bottom" of the graph coincides with the line on which the ticks are drawn, rather than the "peak" of the largest tick.

Theoretically, the graphed "activity" would be concealed behind the ticks, meaning anyone reading the graph would perceive activity as having ceased at the deadline, even though it had continued in time-axis-tick-sized bursts afterwards.

==Transcript==
:[A graph with two axes is shown. Each axis has tick marks with every fourth mark a bit longer than those in between. The Y-axis is labeled with text rotated 90 degrees clockwise. There is no label on the X-axis. The graph is a jagged curve with three clear peaks; the area beneath the curve is shaded in light gray. After the third and highest peak the curve drops to zero. At the point of decline, a dotted line goes up to a label above the last peak. To the right of this dotted line, the X-axis and the ticks on it are clearly thicker than the axis and the ticks to the left.]
:Y-axis: Activity
:Label: Deadline

:[Caption beneath the panel:]
:If you need to conceal activity, try timing it to hide behind the tick marks on the graph axis.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Line graphs]]

Talk:2850: Doctor's Office

2023-11-04T15:58:14Z

172.70.127.7:

Why wouldn't Randal post this on a Monday instead of a Friday?[[Special:Contributions/162.158.166.65|162.158.166.65]] 22:05, 3 November 2023 (UTC)

added transccccccccc [[User:Certified_nqh|Me]][[[285: Wikipedian Protester|''citation needed'']]][[Category:Pages using the "citation needed" template]] 22:06, 3 November 2023 (UTC)

Should [[699: Trimester]] be mentioned in the explanation anywhere?--[[Special:Contributions/172.69.58.190|172.69.58.190]] 02:11, 4 November 2023 (UTC)
:eh. probably. [[User:Certified_nqh|Me]][[[285: Wikipedian Protester|''citation needed'']]][[Category:Pages using the "citation needed" template]] 02:15, 4 November 2023 (UTC)

Here before fans inevitably figure out which crossword number it is [[User:SomeoneIGuess|someone, i guess]]([[User talk:SomeoneIGuess|talk i guess]]|[[Special:Contributions/SomeoneIGuess|le edit list]]) 02:45, 4 November 2023 (UTC)

What terms, exactly, are malapropisms in the second panel? Did someone misuse a fancy word and nobody else bother to check it's meaning, or is there something I'm missing? [[User:DL Draco Rex|DL Draco Rex]] ([[User talk:DL Draco Rex|talk]]) 04:10, 4 November 2023 (UTC)
:You are correct. A "malaprop" is susing a word that sounds similar to the correct word. Beret Guy is just misunderstanding.[[User:Nitpicking|Nitpicking]] ([[User talk:Nitpicking|talk]]) 11:42, 4 November 2023 (UTC)

Rearranged the section about other similar comics, and added 1471 [Gut Fauna]. 699 [Trimester] is the only one explicitly confirmed to be an impostor. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.22.223|172.69.22.223]] 07:09, 4 November 2023 (UTC)

Although I'm really very good at US/UK English differences, "doctor's office" always wrongfoots me. As doctors have surgeries, not offices, it adds to the overall feel of "not really a proper doctor" in the comic. [[User:Yorkshire Pudding|Yorkshire Pudding]] ([[User talk:Yorkshire Pudding|talk]]) 13:53, 4 November 2023 (UTC)
:I know what you mean. And much of the US healthcare structure also seems to only work very well for those for whom it works at the expense of not working at all for most of the rest. I'd almost not be surprised to find a 'pop-up' surgery like this for either those ready and eager to pay or completely without the means and desperate (the latter might not have the MRI scanner at hand...).
:For all the problems with the UK healthcare systems (and the gods know that there are indeed some), I can't see Beret Guy's system working here, at the same level of hypothetical. (Same with policing matters.) [[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.33|141.101.98.33]] 14:10, 4 November 2023 (UTC)
::Just imagine how Americans feel when we read about members of Parliament holding [https://www.parliament.uk/site-information/glossary/surgeries/ surgeries] for their constituents. Very confusing. --[[Special:Contributions/172.70.127.7|172.70.127.7]] 15:58, 4 November 2023 (UTC)

explain xkcd - User contributions [en]

2918: Tick Marks

Talk:2850: Doctor's Office