explain xkcd - User contributions [en]

Talk:2837: Odyssey

2023-10-06T11:15:28Z

172.70.90.2:

oh boy! first comment + no explanation! did i sign this correctly? [[Special:Contributions/162.158.186.23|162.158.186.23]] 21:37, 4 October 2023 (UTC)
: yes 162.158.186.23, yes you did.

added transcript, probably could be done better but i don't have the time right now to look at formatting guides [[User:Certified_nqh|Me]][[[285: Wikipedian Protester|''citation needed'']]][[Category:Pages using the "citation needed" template]] 22:03, 4 October 2023 (UTC)
: ok maybe i ''did'' but someone can make it better [[User:Certified_nqh|Me]][[[285: Wikipedian Protester|''citation needed'']]][[Category:Pages using the "citation needed" template]] 22:16, 4 October 2023 (UTC)
:: messed with transcript more, it has divs now [[User:Certified_nqh|Me]][[[285: Wikipedian Protester|''citation needed'']]][[Category:Pages using the "citation needed" template]] 03:19, 5 October 2023 (UTC)
::: im removing the divs [[User:Certified_nqh|Me]][[[285: Wikipedian Protester|''citation needed'']]][[Category:Pages using the "citation needed" template]] 14:28, 5 October 2023 (UTC)

In Emily Wilson's translation of the Odyssey (paperback edition), she writes that Odysseus says, "My name is Noman. / My family and friends call me Noman" (9.366-367). So given that the comic is about Emily Wilson's translation, shouldn't the title text say, "Noman was home," not "Nobody was home"? [[User:AoPS is superior|AoPS is superior]] ([[User talk:AoPS is superior|talk]]) 22:35, 4 October 2023 (UTC)
:It would depend upon how the original fit within the language. "Οὖτις" ('Outis') is "no one"/"nobody"/"not somebody" rather than "no man" ("man" is "ᾰ̓νήρ", roughly 'aner' and led towards "andras" in less ancient Greek, but I don't right now know how to inflect the "ou" prefix for "no"). Wilson's translation is probably borrowing the general "might be a name"ness and combining it with modern "Norman"-like names to go beyond the literal and give it 'ear-feel'.
:The trouble with that is the Macbeth/Witch-King thing whereby "no man" (of woman born, in the case of the former) is said to be able to defeat them, only for a caesarian-delivered individual to get the chance to overcome the resulting hubris in the former case and a tag-team of hobbit and woman (and arguments about which was most important!) in the latter. "No man" has baggage. (With getting hit by an exploding sundial also maybe another unforzeen Achilles' Heel for such fate-determined individuals!)
:Yes, possibly by letting these specific translations be canon, I could see it being inportant to stick to ''their'' term but... there's so much detail and the rest of the multivolume works probably differ (if you're being exact) from the rest of the paradoic reference here. So not sure it's worth worrying about this. ;) Any more than we don't describe people as having a "swollen foot complex". ;p [[Special:Contributions/172.71.242.21|172.71.242.21]] 00:52, 5 October 2023 (UTC)
:: It could Randall hasn’t read the book either, but instead ordered the sequel rather than reading it. It could also be an editor was trying to help us think about the causes of these things. Criminals can force victims to deny their existence, stimulating psychological dissociation where you actually think “nobody” is causing your addiction; small things can help people connect the dots more safely. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.126.211|172.70.126.211]] 13:28, 5 October 2023 (UTC)
:Maybe Cueball has a dog named Nobody, and the courier refused to complete the delivery for fear of being bitten. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.68.249|141.101.68.249]] 16:28, 5 October 2023 (UTC)

It's the 21st century. He should have ordered it as an e-book. [[User:Barmar|Barmar]] ([[User talk:Barmar|talk]]) 23:51, 4 October 2023 (UTC)
: "This file type was not recognised. It may be protected by BeggarDRM."[[Special:Contributions/172.70.85.219|172.70.85.219]] 08:28, 5 October 2023 (UTC)

The current transcript text describes the "Refresh" click as coming after the displayed screen contents. I could be wrong, but I thought the clicks on "Refresh" actually caused the display presented in the panel. Anyone else think the same thing? [[User:Ianrbibtitlht|Ianrbibtitlht]] ([[User talk:Ianrbibtitlht|talk]]) 01:44, 5 October 2023 (UTC)
:I initially agreed with you, but noting the "order" process appears to happen at the end of one panel and its result in the next, I feel it's appropriate to maintain the refresh as "after" the content. But it sure does feel unnatural. [[Special:Contributions/172.71.166.66|172.71.166.66]] 02:24, 5 October 2023 (UTC)
::I thought about that as well, which is why I didn't go ahead and change it without asking. [[User:Ianrbibtitlht|Ianrbibtitlht]] ([[User talk:Ianrbibtitlht|talk]]) 03:13, 5 October 2023 (UTC)
:::i put them at the end because they're lower than the rest of the text in the panel [[User:Certified_nqh|Me]][[[285: Wikipedian Protester|''citation needed'']]][[Category:Pages using the "citation needed" template]] 03:23, 5 October 2023 (UTC)
: More likely it's happening before, after, and several times subsequently - i.e. it's a single 'Refresh' that stands for repeated refreshing.[[Special:Contributions/141.101.99.85|141.101.99.85]] 08:32, 5 October 2023 (UTC)

Not why the explanation suggests that buying more books than you read only happens because 'technology and marketing slowly addicts us'. Clearly whoever wrote this hasn't met many bibliophiles or book collectors. It's not a new phenomenon -- or a bad one! I suggest looking up the concept of an antilibrary.... [[User:Zoid42|Zoid42]] ([[User talk:Zoid42|talk]]) 14:35, 5 October 2023 (UTC)
:: This antilibrary thing is a strange and vaguely unpleasant concept to me. Preservation of antique texts or something is one thing, but a collection of standard-edition books you have no intention to read feels... perverse feels close to the right word. Like having a collection of paintings you lock in a closet and refuse to show to anyone, or a workshop that you refuse to use. [[User:Scorpion451|Scorpion451]] ([[User talk:Scorpion451|talk]]) 18:40, 5 October 2023 (UTC)

The Odyssey is just the most elaborate "Why were you so late getting home from work?" excuse in history. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.247.43|172.69.247.43]] 14:45, 5 October 2023 (UTC)

Anyone else think XKCD has kind of gone downhill? This comic doesn't quite seem as high quality as some of his work a few years ago. Is there any reason for this that could be added to the explanation?
[[Special:Contributions/172.70.162.19|172.70.162.19]] 23:10, 5 October 2023 (UTC)
:Given that this opinion would be entirely subjective (not every comic's a winner, certainly, but different people would suggest different non-winners), probably not going to be a valid Explanation addition.
:Some might want a lot more Map Of The Internet-type things, rather than Gravity/Escape Velocity things. I'm sure there'd be fans of Barrel Boy, or Time or even further Up-Goer Five stuff (which, after all, spawned a book!) in returning.
:But something new is something new. And it's not ''all'' 'classicist' humour. Or the latest Exploits Of A Mum/Blackhat/White Beret/... It'd be boring if it were, or chasing Erdoz/Euler jokes incessantly. But part of the fun (for me... YKmMV) is never quite knowing what the next comic might look like. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.90.2|172.70.90.2]] 11:15, 6 October 2023 (UTC)

2832: Urban Planning Opinion Progression

2023-09-25T14:21:11Z

172.70.90.2: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 2832
| date = September 22, 2023
| title = Urban Planning Opinion Progression
| image = urban_planning_opinion_progression_2x.png
| imagesize = 675x2033px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = If they're going to make people ride bikes and scooters in traffic, then it should at LEAST be legal to do the Snow Crash thing where you use a hook-shot-style harpoon to catch free rides from cars.
}}

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

This comic follows Cueball, Megan, Knit Cap and Ponytail as they begin to favor pedestrian-centered design. In the first panel, Cueball and Megan complain about the common problem many car-centric cities face about not having enough space for all the cars, and give the naïve suggestion of making more space for cars. In the second panel, Knit Cap mentions how she is going to visit Amsterdam, a city known for its {{w|walkability}} and bike friendliness. Ponytail expresses concern over the popularity of cycling in the street presumably because cycling in the street is dangerous where she lives and so she expects it to be dangerous in Amsterdam.

In the third panel, Cueball discusses another problem many car-centric cities face which is that there are not a lot of bike paths. Since there is a limited amount of space on a street, cities face a dilemma on how much space they should allocate to pedestrians, cycles and vehicles. Car-centric cities often allocate the most space to cars, leaving less space for bikes and pedestrians. The default for cities is to just require cyclists to cycle in the street with the cars, as the road vehicles they are. This, however, is considered by some to be significantly more dangerous than a city having dedicated bike lanes, which is why Ponytail was likely concerned in the second panel. (A recent study reported that painted bike lanes are more dangerous than no bike lane, and only protected bike lanes are safer: <span title="Conclusions: Protected bike lanes and buffered bike lanes had estimated protective effects on segments between intersections but estimated harmful effects at intersections. Conventional bike lanes had estimated harmful effects along segments and at intersections.">Garber, Michael D., et al: ''[https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2214140523001056 Bicycle infrastructure and the incidence rate of crashes with cars: A case-control study with Strava data in Atlanta]''. Journal of Transport & Health, '''32'''. September 2023: Received 13 February 2023; Received in revised form 10 July 2023; Accepted 14 July 2023; Available online 11 August 2023. doi:[https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jth.2023.101669 10.1016/j.jth.2023.101669]) This danger was discussed more in the fifth panel as well. From a wider perspective, however much you attempt to segregate different forms of transport (at junctions and other bottlenecks where space cannot be reserved), you'll always need to bring bicycles and traffic back into contact, briefly, and in circumstances where motorised traffic has become unused to sharing the roadspace with the lighter vehicles. This is unlike a more integrated and less segregated place like Amsterdam where you are rarely going to be surprised by the presence of bicycles, overlook them and therefore cause an accident.

One editor found that Megan's comment in the sixth panel may be referring to lifted pickup trucks in addition to regular trucks, and related that pickup truck owners care a lot about the distance their vehicle is off the ground and so they will either purchase a pickup truck with a high ground clearance or raise it themselves, resulting in what is known as a lifted pickup truck. The belief is that a vehicle with higher ground clearance will keep them safe on the road, but that this comes at the cost of potentially hurting others who are in smaller vehicles or no vehicle at all. Another editor learned the opposite, that the elevated center of mass reduced safety due to reducing the stable tipping angle, and has only seen high clearance useful when driving on unpaved roads. The comment may refer to many large tractor trailer cabs or garbage trucks that if you move directly in front of the cab you can't see the driver and they can't see you. It is particularly dangerous for children.

{{w|Induced demand}} is an economic theory in which increasing the supply of a good or service causes the demand to rise faster than the increased supply, worsening the shortage. The most common example is traffic: some US cities have tried to alleviate traffic jams by widening the roads and highways, which incentivized more people to take up driving, more vehicles to route through their streets, or took potential funding from other transportation solutions, worsening the traffic jam problem. Conversely, other cities have tried removing traffic lanes or converting them to dedicated public transit lanes, and have reported a reduction in traffic congestion, due to people choosing other transportation options. Among urban planners, this is known as the {{w|Downs–Thomson paradox}}.

Cueball's comment in the second-to-last panel that "anything that makes a city a worse place to drive in makes it a better place to live, short of scattering random tire spikes on the road" is a slight exaggeration. 

The title text references a cyberpunk book called "{{w|Snow Crash}}", by Neal Stephenson. An early scene in that book involves the equivalent of a skater using a magnet on a cable to attach onto the back of a pizza delivery vehicle. He swerves in order to dislodge her, she taunts him and attaches stickers to his vehicle.

=== What makes a city walkable? ===
As all of Europe{{actual citation needed}} agrees, urban planning (or zoning) must be seamlessly integrated with public transport planning. The central truth is that everybody is a pedestrian for some time, which also includes car drivers. Crucially, the average pedestrian is willing to walk about 2000 ft from their home to the next public transport stop, and an additional 2000 ft between the last public transport stop and their workplace. Opportunities for shopping and eating should exist at every connecting station, with the connections scheduled in a way that it both allows changing to the connecting train/tramway/bus immediately - as well as buying groceries.

All roads should have a sidewalk, which, of course, costs area, but make the pedestrians' lives much easier. But then, not only roads impact walkability. In the United States, many places open to the public are, by municipal ordinances, forced to provide enough parking space for [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OUNXFHpUhu8 all customers at any given time], which leads to serious knock-on effects: Pedestrians must often cross a large and weather-exposed parking lot in order to shop. A building can often be only re-purposed if a neighboring building is bulldozed to create the necessary parking area. And tenants who live in an apartment, but do not own a car, are forced to pay for the parking space they do not need.

Another topic is subsidizing public traffic. Municipalities in Switzerland, for example, order bus connections - e.g. a hourly bus from 6 AM until 10 PM, and in exchange, they cover the deficit of any such connection. That way, families, who usually are better taxpayers, move to villages, and beginning with grade 5, 6 or 7, pupils can still easily commute to a district school.

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

:'''Typical urban planning opinion progression'''

:[Each panel is connected to a point on a timeline. Timeline is recognizable as the tread of a bicycle tire]

:Cueball: I wish there wasn't so much traffic to get into the city. They should put in more lanes.
:Megan: And more parking.
:Megan: Parking is so bad here.

:Knit Cap: I have to go to Amsterdam for work next week. I hear they all ride bikes there.
:Ponytail: Bikes are fine but people shouldn't ride them in the street! I worry I'm going to hit someone!

:Cueball: It would be nice if we had better transit options!
:Cueball: I tried a scooter. It was fun but I wish there were more bike paths.

:Megan: It's funny how widening roads to speed up traffic makes them more dangerous to walk near, making driving more necessary and creating more traffic.
:Megan: Really makes you think.

:Knit Cap: Visiting the Netherlands was cool!
:Knit Cap: Amsterdam is really neat.

:Cueball: We've ceded so much of our land to storing and moving cars, with the rest of us tiptoeing around the edges and making drivers mad for trespassing on "their" space.
:Cueball: Even though '''''we're''''' the ones in danger from '''''them!'''''

:Megan: Those giant trucks with front blind spots that keep hitting kids should be illegal.

:Knit Cap: We should be more like the Netherlands.
:Knit Cap: They design their streets to prioritize...

:[Cueball is frustrated.]
:Cueball: The problem is car culture. It's systemic.
:Cueball: I don't know if we can fix it.

:[Megan’s arms are thrown out, and her hair is bedraggled.]
:Megan: People approach road planning decisions from the point of view of drivers because that's how we're used to interacting with the city, so we make choices that make it more car-friendly.
:Megan: It's a vicious cycle.

:[Knit Cap is walking around with two Dutch flags raised in his hands.]
:Knit Cap: '''''Netherlands! Netherlands! Netherlands! Netherlands!'''''

:Cueball: Anything that makes a city a worse place to drive in makes it a better place to live, short of scattering random tire spikes on the road.

:Megan: Honestly, I think the city council should consider the tire spikes thing.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Knit Cap]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Ponytail]]

2831: xkcd Phone Flip

2023-09-25T09:00:34Z

172.70.90.2: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 2831
| date = September 20, 2023
| title = xkcd Phone Flip
| image = xkcd_phone_flip_2x.png
| imagesize = 740x458px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = Theranos partnership: Sorry, we know, but we signed the contract back before all the stuff and the lawyers say we can't back out, so just try to keep your finger away from the bottom of the phone.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by THE BOT FORTOLD BY THE FORTUNETELLER PROPHECY - Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
This is the 9th in the ongoing [[:Category:xkcd Phones|xkcd Phone]] series in which Randall explains his new joke phone designs with many strange and useless features. It is a reference to the somewhat recent {{w|Galaxy Z}} series, but instead of folding in half, it folds into the more complex and much less usable shape of a typical {{w|paper fortune teller}}. The product's slogan suggests that this was not an intended feature, which would be incredibly difficult to create accidentally without causing the phone to become nonfunctional. It's therefore possible that this phone was designed by [[:Category:Beret Guy's Business|Beret Guy's company]], which has in the past [[1493: Meeting|trademarked seemingly normal phrases]] and [[1293: Job Interview|done impossible things with electronics]].

The name Phone Flip is a play on the term {{w|Flip Phone}}, which has refered to older cellphones with a {{w|Clamshell design|basic hinged construction}}, but {{w|Samsung}} has released a line of {{w|smartphones}} under the Galaxy Z range given the name 'Flip' (or 'Fold') which use a flexible display across the hinge. Randall's version takes this complexity up a notch with a currently impractical varifolded origami design.

Noted features, from the top, left column first:

; Exfoliating screen
: A term commonly found on lotions and facial products, "exfoliating" means removing dead skin cells from the surface of the skin, in order to improve its appearance. This could mean that it will exfoliate the user's skin when pressed to it. However, this would probably require a mildly abrasive and/or adhesive screen texture or coating, which are usually not desirable qualities of a touchscreen.{{w|Citation (film)|[citation needed]}} A different reading is that the screen itself exfoliates, i.e. slowly disintegrates. Unless the phone is an organism able to regrow exfoliated surfaces, this will eventually lead to the screen's disappearance, not an improvement of its appearance.

; Orthotic shape for arch support
: {{w|Orthotics}} are devices used to reduce stress on the body. "Arch support" is a specific term referring to padded inserts designed to fit to the contour of a person's foot and provide support for the arch of the foot, a raised area between the ball in front and the heel in back. Fitting this space requires either a curved shape or one that's thicker in the center, which would usually make a phone less straightforward (pun not intended) to use. (This assumes, of course, that the foot is shaped like a "normal" human foot.) Additionally, the materials used in a phone are not typically suitable for orthotic usage and doing so could worsen any issues and damage the phone from the stress of the person's weight upon it. However, it's possible that in this context, the phone is ergonomically shaped to fit the way that the typical hand arches around it.

; Single big pixel
: Typical phone displays use many small {{w|pixels}}, each with relatively few display states. For instance, each pixel can show a uniform color. It would be difficult to make a useful display with a single pixel of this sort. Some displays use smaller numbers of more complicated picture elements (e.g., each element could show a letter, like a {{w|split-flap display}}, or a {{w|nixie tube}}). To make a useful display with one pixel means that element needs a different display state for every image the phone can show (like a {{w|carousel slide projector}}, {{w|movie projector}}, or {{w|gobo (lighting)|gobo}}). This may also be a joke on "{{w|Megapixel}}".

; Ready to eat
: A typical sales pitch for {{w|convenience foods}} denoting that no time must be spent preparing the product for safe consumption, in contrast to other such meals where ingredients would need to be combined and/or cooked in some fashion. It is unknown how a phone could be produced in such a way as to be edible (perhaps the display could use {{w|sugar glass}}), but in any case, it seems likely that eating it would limit it's future usefulness as a phone.

; Hypoimmunogenic
: Meaning less able to produce an immune response - so perhaps useful in that people do not want their phone to cause an immune response in their body, however cell phones typically cause no immune response, so this is not generally an issue. This is probably related to items that are marketed as hypoallergenic, less likely to cause an allergic reaction. It may also be a reference to persistent unsubstantiated claims that radio waves from mobile phones cause cancer and other disorders.

; Up to 50% more
: A play on the words "Up to 50% more <product>". Although considering that there is no mention of what product there could possibly be 50% more of (or 0% extra, as that is ''also'' less than or equal to 50%), this statement is useless. See [[870: Advertising]]. It could be a reference to the steadily increasing size of mobile phones.

; Full-spectrum backlight optimized for plant growth
: {{w|Full-spectrum light}}s and backlights are typically used to increase {{w|color rendering}} accuracy, especially important in photography, art, and printing. It typically refers to the part of the spectrum people can see. Plants respond to some wavelengths outside our visual spectrum (e.g., UVA), and are less influenced by some portions of the visual spectrum (e.g. green, hence mostly reflecting such light). A backlight optimized for plant growth would not provide a very natural appearance to our eyes and typically appear pink. The screen backlight is unlikely to be used for growing plants.

; Long-lasting main sequence battery
: Perhaps referring to a "{{w|main sequence}}" star (Dwarf stars, like the {{w|sun}}, where main energy generation is hydrogen fusion). Such stars spend a long time in this phase of evolution. This might also explain SPF 15 and full-spectrum backlight. Stars do last a long time compared to most cell phone batteries. This feature might be a reference to [[1422: My Phone is Dying]].

; Break glass to access apps
: A play on how emergency paraphernalia such as fire alarms and extinguishers are protected by glass casings in most places. The idea of this is to discourage removal of these items except in an emergency situation. It would not be helpful in the case of smartphone apps, which are frequently used. Presumably you would have to replace the glass each time you use an app, which is likely to prove tedious and expensive. Unusual things behind glass is also mentioned in [[1634: In Case of Emergency]]. Could also refer to the process of Jailbreaking a smartphone, such as an iPhone, to allow the install of 3rd party apps from an alternate app store.

Right hand column:

; Buy one get one
: A play on typical retail sales advertised as "Buy one get one ____", where one buys one item at full price and gets another of that item either for free or at a reduced price. Since no discount has been mentioned, it would imply that you can get two at full price or perhaps simply that if you buy a phone, you receive the phone; this is expected upon almost all purchases and is {{w|Tautology (logic)|tautological}} in nature.

; Bending phone activates chemical flashlight
: This feature parallels a {{w|glow stick}}, which is also activated by bending the stick; this breaks an inner capsule causing chemicals to mix and produce light. However, doing this with a phone likely to cause physical or chemical damage and additionally only works once, which is not very useful for a phone flashlight that one typically uses as a tool throughout the phone's lifetime.

; SPF 15 coating protects your face from websites
: Sun protection factor (SPF) is a rating used to compare the protection provided by sun screens. Some people find some web sites excessively bright, colorful or garish, making them hard to read, or causing eye strain. This extends that to imply that some sites are so bright that they might cause {{w|sunburn}}. In reality, some sites, browsers, or plugins provide a {{w|night mode}}, for those who have problems with excess brightness. (See also full spectrum, and main sequence battery.)
: Alternatively, SPF in this context might be a novel term for, for example, ''site'' protection factor, or ''socials'' protection factor, and be a method for protecting you from viewing potentially harmful content encountered on the internet.

; Iatrogenic construction
: 'Iatrogenic' means 'physician caused', and usually refers to illnesses which are caused or worsened by medical malpractice. This may imply that the phone was made ''by'' doctors, which may align with the statement given in the title text.

; All-vinyl data storage for maximum fidelity
: This is a reference to the hipster maxim that vinyl records provide high fidelity music. And while {{w|vinyl data}} storage does exist, it's profoundly outdated and was never widely adopted. The relevant formats had several issues, including (relevantly) wear issues that lead to fidelity problems after repeated reads. It is also unlikely that vinyl storage could be engineered to provide sufficient storage density to meet the requirements of a modern smartphone.

; Locks in moisture
: Good for cosmetics perhaps, to combat 'dry skin' (which is really more to do with substances other than water), but generally bad for a cell phone, where ingress (let alone retention) of liquids tends not to help the electronics. Most modern phones cite their ability to lock ''out'' moisture.

; National Weather Service partnership - phone is afraid of thunder
: Not a useful feature, as normal phones do not have emotions (yet). How this fear manifests is also unexplained. It may turn off, or it may scream like the original xkcd phone did when in free fall. A number of the previous xkcd phone have had unexplained, inexplicable or incomprehensible partnerships.

; One-click ''ruina montium''
: ''{{w|Ruina montium}}'' ('mountain destroyer') was a now-lost mining technique used by the ancient Romans, thought to involve a form of hydrostatic drilling. It is not clear how this could be applied by a smartphone, let alone as a one-click operation.

; Free refills
: Good for restaurant drinks, not typical for cell phones. Could mean no cost refueling (e.g., {{w|fuel cell}} power), or recharging or {{w|battery swapping}}.

The title text references the failed company {{w|Theranos}} that notably could not live up to its ambitious promise to diagnose many health issues from a single drop of blood. Due to legal agreements, and subsequent design choices already built in, the bottom of the phone ''will'' still collect a drop of your blood (unless you're particularly careful).

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
:[A rectangular phone with a touch screen. There is a small dark camera section at the top of the screen and a charging/connecting port may be shown on the lower casing edge. Lines on the left side of the phone lead from the general area of the image to feature descriptions down the leftmost edge of the frame.]
* Exfoliating screen
* Orthotic shape for arch support
* Single big pixel
* Ready to eat
* Hypoimmunogenic
* Up to 50% more
* Full-spectrum backlight optimized for plant growth
* Long-lasting main sequence battery
* Break glass to access apps

:[Two phones folded in the shape of a 'paper fortune teller' are depicted on on the right, set one above the other with other general feature lines leading off from the nearest folded phone illustration towards further listed items down the right-hand side of the frame.]
* Buy one get one
* Bending phone activates chemical flashlight
* SPF 15 coating protects your face from websites
* Iatrogenic construction
* All-vinyl data storage for maximum fidelity
* Locks in moisture
* National Weather Service partnership: phone is afraid of thunder
* One-click ''ruina montium''
* Free refills

:[Text below the phone:]
:Introducing
:'''The xkcd Phone Flip'''
:''We actually didn't mean for it to do this''™

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:xkcd Phones]]
[[Category:Comics sharing name|xkcd Phones]]

Talk:2701: Change in Slope

2022-11-22T14:37:49Z

172.70.90.2:

I am an occasional data scientist, and I can confirm this is why we have monitor stands that tilt. [[Special:Contributions/172.71.94.50|172.71.94.50]] 16:33, 21 November 2022 (UTC)

The third e in "neeed" in the title text seems to be a typo
[[User:Victor|Victor]] ([[User talk:Victor|talk]]) 16:41, 21 November 2022 (UTC)
:I think Randall may have added it to represent that the speaker prolongs the "e" sound for emphasis, although that's usually done with 4-5 e's. [[User:Barmar|Barmar]] ([[User talk:Barmar|talk]]) 16:53, 21 November 2022 (UTC)
::I had to double-check this, myself (presumed the 'Bot created the lage faithfully, but went straight to source to see if I needed to find a vandalism post to revert). May need a comment (to prevent hypercorrection, if not to note the implied emphisis) and certainly will if it turns out to be a typo and gets corrected (for which I'm sure a future checker will discover Randall's revisiting, but then worth a note to that effect). [[Special:Contributions/172.70.90.2|172.70.90.2]] 17:42, 21 November 2022 (UTC)
:::I guess Randall fixed it, because I'm only seeing 2 'e's in the title text. Just updated it on the wiki. [[User:Zman350x|Zman350x]] ([[User talk:Zman350x|talk]]) 01:26, 22 November 2022 (UTC)
Bender Bot was one of the main characters in Futurama. [[User:Barmar|Barmar]] ([[User talk:Barmar|talk]]) 16:54, 21 November 2022 (UTC)
:Just donning my unnecessary pedantry hat for a moment: his name is Bender Bending Rodriguez --[[User:192·168·0·1|192·168·0·1]] ([[User talk:192·168·0·1|talk]]) 23:02, 21 November 2022 (UTC)

A couple(?) of authors used the word(s) "(point of) inflection", which is {{w|Inflection point|not really suitable}} for a join between two straight segments. Was tempted to talk about "discontinuity", but that really only applies to the meta-slope (derivatives, to one degree or other) where it suddenly jumps (at a point), or the derivative's derivative has jumps (as it enters and leaves the smoothly linking curve). Hope it works well enough how I left it, though. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.142.176|162.158.142.176]] 21:28, 21 November 2022 (UTC)

For anyone curious, I used an image editor to turn the entire comic sideways and [https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/525939879805190154/1044395695525875712/xkcd_sideways.png it actually does seem to work,] to some degree anyway. [[User:SuperSupermario24|SSM24]] 23:37, 21 November 2022 (UTC)
:Added; thanks! [[Special:Contributions/172.71.158.230|172.71.158.230]] 00:14, 22 November 2022 (UTC)

This one shows the beauty of Explainxkcd: people reading the explanation are likely to learn accessible methods of substantial practical utility. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.166.173|162.158.166.173]] 00:38, 22 November 2022 (UTC)

Hey, if it works for picking out lumber at Lowe’s, why not for graphs, too? - MadMarie
:There was an old bit of explanation that related it to examining physical objects (for dent/bend-removal in metalwork, I think it was) that got wiped out by a later edit. Though I'm considering my own version, now generalised to cover your experience, as it seems quite relevant/analogous to me. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.90.2|172.70.90.2]] 14:37, 22 November 2022 (UTC)

Whoever wrote the 1st explanation needs to go touch grass and learn how real people talk, pissed me off so much I just effectively rewrote the whole thing from scratch [[Special:Contributions/172.71.202.46|172.71.202.46]] 06:34, 22 November 2022 (UTC)

Going in a different direction than "this is silly" - if we ignore the "viewing point/parallax" issue, doing a change of basis like this is similar to linear methods like [SVD https://hadrienj.github.io/assets/images/ch12_svd/ch11_SVD_geometry.png] & [https://jakevdp.github.io/PythonDataScienceHandbook/figures/05.09-PCA-rotation.png PCA], and considering the graph as a mappingg in a "higher dimension" is similar to the "kernel trick" popularized by [https://i.ytimg.com/vi/wqSTBCguVyU/maxresdefault.jpg Support] [https://miro.medium.com/max/4800/1*gtF6KeL7b9zNHd7pXtC1Nw.png Vector] [https://dinhanhthi.com/img/post/ML/support-vector-machine/svm-3.jpg Machines] 11:31, 22 November 2022 (UTC)

Talk:2701: Change in Slope

2022-11-21T17:42:34Z

172.70.90.2:

Talk:2699: Feature Comparison

2022-11-17T21:19:44Z

172.70.90.2:

The image has changed. Now Mastodon includes USER-RUN INSTANCES (though I believe it should also have a check next to DOESN'T REQUIRE CENTRAL SERVER).

I tried googling "wikipedia feature comparison chart". Instead of finding a page explaining how these charts work, I got a chart comparing different wiki softwares. [[User:Barmar|Barmar]] ([[User talk:Barmar|talk]]) 23:22, 16 November 2022 (UTC)

Of course, it wouldn't be hard to make apps on smartphones support mesh networks ... however, the manufacturers and app developers prefer to work hard to make sure they don't work without being connected to internet and serving advertisement. [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wi-Fi_Direct Although ...] -- [[User:Hkmaly|Hkmaly]] ([[User talk:Hkmaly|talk]]) 00:25, 17 November 2022 (UTC)
:Actually, nearly all smartphones use radio chipsets running proprietary firmware with little to no mesh support; WiFi Direct depends upon protocol support from these chipsets, & specifically precludes relaying from device-to-device-to-device in a "decentralized mesh" fashion. DD-WRT & OpenWRT protocols support this kind of wireless decentralized mesh, but are not supported by the radio firmware present on consumer smartphones. Devices supporting these wireless mesh protocols do exist, but a lack of other nearby devices supporting those protocols, precludes relayed communication over multiple until such devices are deployed throughout the distance between a sender & recipient. In the US, there's only a couple bands allocated by the FCC which permit ciphered digital transmissions without a broadcast license, & the lineup of cellular handsets featuring radios for these bands can be counted on a few fingers.
:[[User:ProphetZarquon|ProphetZarquon]] ([[User talk:ProphetZarquon|talk]]) 19:55, 17 November 2022 (UTC)

There seems to be a lot of wrongness about this matrix. Besides that mastodon instances can be run by user (which is fixed):
* Mastodon does not support file transfer. You can only upload images, and ''not'' even all image formats—webp is not supported. Some other ActivityPub servers support file upload, but then it's not Mastodon.
* IRC also doesn't support file transfer afaik.
* Mastodon and SMS don't require a central server
* Discord, Reddit, and Slack doesn't have user-run instances
* Discord doesn't have builtin games last time I checked. The games are by the bots,

I don't know about Slack, but pretty much all of Discord and Reddit is user-run/moderated instances.
:That slash is doing a lot of work there. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.34.31|172.69.34.31]] 06:57, 17 November 2022 (UTC)
:Your definition for "instance" must be very different from mine then. For me, "instance" refer to the server software's instance; that is, the user must be able to run the server software on their own to qualify this. If you consider subreddits and discord chat rooms (I refuse to call them "servers", because that's not what they are) as "user-run instances", then so are Facebook groups, right? Those are not instances; they're just communities or groups moderated by some selected people. --[[Special:Contributions/172.71.215.3|172.71.215.3]] 12:55, 17 November 2022 (UTC)

"IRC itself is a teleconferencing system, which (through the use of the client-server model) is well-suited to running on many machines in a distributed fashion. A typical setup involves a single process '''(the server) forming a central point''' for clients (or other servers) to connect to, performing the required message delivery/multiplexing and other functions." – J. Oikarinen, D. Reed; Internet Relay Chat Protocol; RFC 1459; May 1993. Emphasis added. [[Special:Contributions/172.71.154.158|172.71.154.158]] 01:45, 17 November 2022 (UTC)

Notably, Mastodon ''eschews'' file transfer - audio specifically - for fear of enabling piracy (issue #7495). Tumblr would have a more comprehensive version of file transfer.
[[Special:Contributions/172.71.146.136|172.71.146.136]] 03:17, 17 November 2022 (UTC)

IRC has (X)DCC for File Transfers and for it's centralisation it depends on the deployment, the original network that became EFNet (Eris-Free Network) doesn't have a central server, but things like Libera and OFTC have centralised services for authentication and servers maintained by only one organisation. Btw for games on the fediverse (which Mastodon is part of) Misskey includes some, sadly they're centralised. [[User:Lanodan|Lanodan]] ([[User talk:Lanodan|talk]]) 03:40, 17 November 2022 (UTC)

Tumblr does have group chats. They're publicly viewable by anyone, but only people in the group can send messages, so I think they still count as group chats.

It appears we are all having a [[386]] moment watching Randall finally be wrong about something. How dare he?! [[Special:Contributions/172.70.111.30|172.70.111.30]] 05:37, 17 November 2022 (UTC)
: Nobody wants to put this train wreck into the explanation, but someone has to. I'm guessing we're waiting for further corrections just in case.
[[Special:Contributions/172.69.34.31|ki172.69.34.31]] 06:57, 17 November 2022 (UTC)

Discord did add games recently: https://discord.com/blog/server-activities-games-voice-watch-together
[[User:Spenc|Spenc]] ([[User talk:Spenc|talk]]) 07:28, 17 November 2022 (UTC)

He also just left out Matrix entirely, y'know I'm starting to think this isn't a serious comparison. --[[Special:Contributions/172.70.250.193|172.70.250.193]] 07:42, 17 November 2022 (UTC)

Not sure what built-in would mean, but Slack has plenty of games you can install on it as an admin (Similar to Discord) [[Special:Contributions/172.70.162.223|172.70.162.223]] 09:52, 17 November 2022 (UTC)

Also on April fool's days Tumblr occasionally have some sort of built-in game [[Special:Contributions/172.70.162.46|172.70.162.46]] 09:54, 17 November 2022 (UTC)
:xkcd has those too :p --[[Special:Contributions/172.71.215.3|172.71.215.3]] 12:55, 17 November 2022 (UTC)

I'm wondering if we shouldn't include in the explanation, besides (on instead of) the link to {{Wikipedia|Mesh networking}}, also a link to {{Wikipedia|Comparison of software and protocols for distributed social networking}}. --[[User:Waldir|Waldir]] ([[User talk:Waldir|talk]]) 10:34, 17 November 2022 (UTC)

I can't help to notice phpBB is so dead it's not even on this chart. -- Shirluban [[Special:Contributions/172.71.122.79|172.71.122.79]] 10:37, 17 November 2022 (UTC)

I agree that the table is riddled with a surprising number of errors, but if the conspiracy theory that Randall has been replaced by another, evil cartoonist (as I write, the head of this explanation) is meant to be funny ... it didn't seem amusing to this particular explainer. [[User:Nitpicking|Nitpicking]] ([[User talk:Nitpicking|talk]]) 12:55, 17 November 2022 (UTC)
: It wasn't meant to be funny, it was meant to explain the comic. How much fake news about fake news about fake news do we need before we talk about it? It's clear to anybody who can tell how severe the mistakes are, that this is what the comic is about. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.111.29|172.70.111.29]] 15:10, 17 November 2022 (UTC)

While I'm sure this could start a holy war in its own right, if you include MMS under the umbrella of SMS, you get sort-of file transfers and also group chats. [[User:Jpatterson|Jpatterson]] ([[User talk:Jpatterson|talk]]) 14:12, 17 November 2022 (UTC)

If you think about the difference between user *run* instances vs user *hosted* instances, that might explain why Discord, Reddit, and Slack all have that check. However, I can't think of a possible reason why Mastodon is missing "Doesn't require central server" when that is its main selling point. :shrug: [[Special:Contributions/108.162.246.67|108.162.246.67]] 14:59, 17 November 2022 (UTC)

Somebody reverted my change that IRC does not require a central server, but it doesn't. The protocol has clients connecting to _one_ server among a _network_ of interconnected servers, where anybody can run such a network. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.111.29|172.70.111.29]] 15:10, 17 November 2022 (UTC)
: There's still going to be centralization of administration even among federated nets of IRC servers, unlike USENET for example. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.33.168|172.69.33.168]] 15:31, 17 November 2022 (UTC)

Are we encountering a new kind of vandalism where plausible edits are made introducing terrible prose, typos, and falsehoods? I noticed something similar happened with the recent Y2K comic. I really don't like to log in because we usually show we can do good work with most people logged out and IP's CDN-obfusticated for actual mass anonymity, but I will absolutely log in and push for page protection if vandals start trying to get insidious with subterfuge. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.33.168|172.69.33.168]] 15:31, 17 November 2022 (UTC)
:I don't know what vandalisms you're referring to. I've been adding the "Intermediate Edits", mostly behind HTML comments while fine-tuning so as not to make it look awful during the time I know it'll be half-completed (or less!).
:As to terrible prose, I cannot refute the possibility that I'm guilty of that. I do my best, but genuine typos or personal proclivities for purple prose may indeed creep in.
:With falsehoods, nothing I have added (or changed) is deliberately wrong, but may be not the same interpretation as someone else. I'm somewhat handicapped by not being a (regular/registered) user of most of the services (and may understand, e.g., Mesh Networking only in a form that a modern re-envisaging of it has moved drastically away from), but I've been taking my cues from only the very best external references (or Wikipedia!) and trying to boil down the supernumary technicalities to a more Explainxkcd-friendly format.
:As always, another editor with a genuinely better idea (in all those aspects) can refine things. As, I notice, has already been started. Didn't get an Edit Conflict, which I put down to being short and sharp in my insertions, and hope I caused not too many for others. - Taking a break from imposing my own edits, now. I shall deal with any further changes (or reversions) in good heart when I get the time again, later. Good luck and good editing to those who wish to pick up any of the work (or rework it) in the meantime. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.91.53|172.70.91.53]] 15:58, 17 November 2022 (UTC)

I think some of you missed the forest for the trees. The point of the comic is to illustrate how feature comparison charts, which are very common sales tools, might be abused to show that the seller's product looks better than it really is. That should be in the explanation of the comic. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.210.243|172.70.210.243]] 17:27, 17 November 2022 (UTC)
: Agreed, there are a lot of the points that could be debated. Is "central server" meant a server not controlled by you? What is a user-run instance? As twitter has several clients available but is listed without "User-run instances". I bet cybiko is trending on google search right now. [[User:Harald|Harald]] ([[User talk:Harald|talk]]) 17:33, 17 November 2022 (UTC)
::Sort of https://trends.google.com/trends/explore?date=now%207-d&q=cybiko [[Special:Contributions/172.71.154.38|172.71.154.38]] 19:13, 17 November 2022 (UTC)

===Proposal===
Instead of trying to describe all the common platforms and features, as the HTML comments editor plans, why not just link to their Wikipedia articles and discuss the edge cases, like what counts as group chat or file transfer? Most people will understand the general terms. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.214.252|172.70.214.252]] 19:41, 17 November 2022 (UTC)
:I see it as a handy summary that the respective Wikilink (which could still be followed) discusses at length, with history, CEOs, controversies, etc that we don't (normally, except maybe Twitter – for obvious current reasons/inspiration). Enough to brief the slightly adrift user (I have no idea how Discord works, I thought it was like Zoom!) or to clarify the tech used (the Mesh concept was backboneless self-organising swarm-communication, in my day, but is it possibly like Torrenting, according to one version of explanation?) without copypastaing absolutely everything.
:Plus the extensive "this is wrong, that is wrong..." can be quickly folded into a caveat (as one comment says) rather than the current clump edited in at the end, where it's a pain to read and I'm not sure I even read it thoroughly anyway. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.90.2|172.70.90.2]] 21:19, 17 November 2022 (UTC)