explain xkcd - User contributions [en]

2832: Urban Planning Opinion Progression

2023-09-24T10:10:03Z

172.71.178.149: /* 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 naive suggestion of making more space for cars. In the second panel, Knit Cap mentions how he 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, bicyclists and vehicles. Car-centric cities often allocate the most space to cars, leaving less space for bikes and pedestrians. Many cities try and make up for a lack of space for bike lanes by allowing cyclists to cycle in the streets with the cars. This, however, is significantly more dangerous than a city having a dedicated bike lane 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]</span>) This danger was discussed more in the fifth panel as well.

Megan's comment in the sixth panel is likely referring to pickup trucks in addition to regular trucks. Many 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. Many people believe that a vehicle with higher ground clearance will keep them safe on the road, and while this is true (one editor learned the opposite, that the elevated center of mass reduced safety due to reducing the stable tipping angle, although they’ve certainly appreciated high clearance on unpaved roads), it comes at the cost of potentially hurting others who are in smaller vehicles or no vehicle at all. Alternatively, it could refer to many large tractor trailer cabs or garbage trucks that if you stand 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, thereby ''worsening'' their traffic jam problem. Conversely, other cities have tried removing traffic lanes or converting them to dedicated public transit lanes, and have claimed a reduction in traffic congestion. 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<sup>''[citation needed]''</sup> 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]]

Talk:1886: Typing Notifications

2022-09-01T10:32:45Z

172.71.178.149: (Hadn't finished editing/signed yet. This'll have to do.)

Sorry for the double explanation, if there was any notification that someone else had added an explanation before I was done editing (I saw an empty explanation when I started editing) I missed it. I went (mostly) back to the first explanation. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.88.172|141.101.88.172]] 17:19, 6 September 2017 (UTC)

I believe that in some instant messaging systems just by clicking in the text box or just by changing focus to the text box causes a notification to the other person that you are typing. So, if I click into the text box and then go to another application and come back and resume focus, multiple notifications are sent, and there is an expectation that a message is coming that never comes. [[User:Rtanenbaum|Rtanenbaum]] ([[User talk:Rtanenbaum|talk]]) 17:23, 6 September 2017 (UTC)

'''Hey, WhatsUp???''' --[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 18:24, 6 September 2017 (UTC)

I miss ytalk {{unsigned ip|162.158.182.22}}

[[Special:Contributions/172.68.58.47|172.68.58.47]] 02:03, 7 September 2017 (UTC) Wouldn't this comic make more sense if Randall were the person REPLYING to the chat message, not the person who originally sent it? although that would probably mean that we were seeing the chat window from the perspective of the anonymous second user...

"''In the title text, Randall expresses that he likes to watch when the recipient reacts but he's also happy not to receive that attempt as an empty reply.''" It's not what I understood. I understood that the recipient could open a blank note on another application, type a reply taking all the time he needs, then copy-paste it on the messaging system. This is exactly what I do when I don't want to trigger typing notifications, and Randall writes that he prefers not to know that. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.229.148|108.162.229.148]] 07:55, 7 September 2017 (UTC)
: "Typing notifications" means NOT Randall is typing notifications. He is watching a notification showing someone is typing/working on an answer to a message Randall has sent. And there is no "another application" in the comic at all. And your idea even doesn't match the rest of the explanation. --[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 13:16, 7 September 2017 (UTC)
::Well it says open a note - which might be an application, especially for mobile systems there are applications with names like that. And a new document in a writing application was my first interpretation too... I found the interpretation that 108.162.229.148 quoted quite unlikely too, as Randall (if this is about Randall at all) said he likes having it on. [[Special:Contributions/198.41.242.5|198.41.242.5]]
:::Cmon, that extra app is sending notifications through the messenger app?
:::This "typing awareness indicator" is typical for messenger applications, not only on smartphones. When the reader of the message presses something like the reply-button a ''note'' is opened and this action is visualized to the sender. But anything what the reader is typing is not visible until the send-button is pressed. The point is, you can see that the recipient is working on a reply, how often they start again from the beginning, and even when you got no reply you can be sure your text was read and your partner has tried to send an answer. And besides of that, why using an extra app for typing when features like autocomplete belong to the keyboard app?--[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 17:51, 7 September 2017 (UTC)
::::Actually, I agree with ol' 108 162 here. I interpreted that it's not RANDALL'S show, but that it's Randall who is having trouble composing a reply, but this notification has revealed this trouble. He's been discovered! Otherwise this person would have no idea of Randall's struggle, this way he/she still gets some of the hurt that Randall was trying to save them from with "It was great!". "Opening a blank note" is unquestionably another app on the same device, the words "open" and "blank" indicates this must be digital. It's not an "extra" app per se, every iDevice I've seen has an app called Notes, and my Android phone has a similar app for typing up notes, both part of the device's OS. I do such things all the time (the only ExplainXKCD explanation I've written is still sitting in an electronic note, where I composed it in the first place in order not to keep a browser window open that long and to avoit edit conflicts). Randall is saying that he uses a Note application to avoid the situation depicted in the comic, to avoid showing a typing notification when he wants to give his reply some serious consideration before comitting to it, so he dreads the day that devices add to the typing notification with a Typing In The Note App Notification (which would be a joke, since this IS a comic, and that's impossible). Randall might be inclined to think typing notifications should be discontinued, to go back to hiding what he's doing until he's ready, but for what he says in the title text as to why he wants it to stick around and why he keeps it on. [[User:NiceGuy1|NiceGuy1]] ([[User talk:NiceGuy1|talk]]) 03:43, 8 September 2017 (UTC)
:::::Again: "Typing notifications" means NOT Randall is typing notifications, he gets notified that someone else is typing. --[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 11:50, 8 September 2017 (UTC)
::::::There's nothing that says Randall is the one receiving the typing notifications. I contend that NOT Randall is the one receiving the typing notifications, and Randall is cursing the existence of typing notifications because they are ruining his attempts to be tactful. After all, why would he be talking about avoiding them by using a Notes app if it wasn't him triggering the typing notification? RANDALL is the one saying "It was great!", I'm telling you. [[User:NiceGuy1|NiceGuy1]] ([[User talk:NiceGuy1|talk]]) 03:39, 9 September 2017 (UTC)
::::::Let me try it this way: Let's call the other person Megan. I think we're looking at Megan's phone or message app. She asks Randall what he thought of her show, and says "Be honest!". Randall at first decides to be honest and starts typing, which Megan sees that he's typing. Then he deletes that and probably tries to be more tactfully honest, and Megan again sees that he was typing. Then he deletes that and just types and sends "It was great!". After this conversation Megan confronts Randall about it, asking why he hesitated, what was he going to say, etc. and Randall realizes that without Megan receiving these typing notifications from him, she never would have known he struggled over what to write, and saying "It was great!" would have worked. Then in the title text he explains how he can't completely hate typing notifications, because he keeps them on himself. So as a compromise he avoids this by typing replies in a separate Note app, but he fears the day that it sends notifications about that as well (which is a joke, since it seems impossible that the text or message app would monitor the usage of a separate Note app). [[User:NiceGuy1|NiceGuy1]] ([[User talk:NiceGuy1|talk]]) 04:03, 9 September 2017 (UTC)
:::::::So, why just read the comic pictures and let's assume Megan got the message and hesitates to answer. At the second attempt she types more but then she cancels again, then no action, and finally just a kind response. ALL THIS is shown in the comic, but maybe it's not Megan. And I recall: "Typing notifications" means NOT Randall is typing notifications, he gets notified that someone else is typing. --[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 21:00, 9 September 2017 (UTC)
::::::::It doesn't matter which person in the comic is Randall. The situation is bad for both of them. It is very, very clear that, as the others have suggested, "opened a blank note to compose a reply" means someone is writing a reply in another application to prevent typing notifications. It is an anti-notification technique, and notifications for an anti-notification technique would be completely counterproductive. That's the logic behind the title text - Randall is glad this imaginary, counterproductive, and terrible feature doesn't exist. Again: it doesn't matter, ''at all'', who is typing. The grammar basically makes any other interpretation impossible - he's definitely saying, "I can tolerate ''normal'' typing notifications, but I'm glad these silly hypothetical notifications aren't real."--[[User:Mythnut|Mythnut]] ([[User talk:Mythnut|talk]]) 17:18, 11 September 2017 (UTC)
::::::::I'm not sure why you think "typing notifications" means it's NOT Randall typing (Megan typing, to use my example). Other people can get typing notifications as well, like from Randall typing. I see it that this comic is called "Typing Notifications" because he's complaining that his friends are getting Notified when he's Typing. Yes, it's possible that this is Randall's phone (or messenger app), but it makes less sense that way. It makes so much less sense that I feel 100% sure that Randall didn't mean it that way. The technique he describes in the title text is about HIM avoiding sending typing notifications, it only makes sense if the comic's typing notifications are also Randall typing. This technique is about the typist keeping a secret from the recipient, he wouldn't be promoting people keeping secrets from him (in fact, saying he likes to keep notifications on means he likes it NOT to be secret). Though, as Mythnutl says, it doesn't matter much who is who, in this situation both people suffer from the typing notifications. [[User:NiceGuy1|NiceGuy1]] ([[User talk:NiceGuy1|talk]]) 04:12, 12 September 2017 (UTC)

With some of these (Atleast with Skype) the indicator only shows from a keypress for 5 seconds then stops it it could be that the person was very disinterested in the conversation and simply was not typing for a bit [[Special:Contributions/141.101.107.66|141.101.107.66]] 12:17, 8 September 2017 (UTC)
:Indeed, the inherent ambiguity is almost as frustrating when you're on the other end, sending a reply. Just yesterday a colleague interrupted me as I was typing a crucial reply over IM, and I'm sure it must have looked like I was indecisive when I wasn't. I would prefer the option to turn them off as a sender, as a matter of privacy. I suppose I should start opening new notes to compose replies. [[Special:Contributions/172.68.142.101|172.68.142.101]] 01:32, 9 September 2017 (UTC)
::It seems only two people here understand ''Instant Messengers''. --[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 21:00, 9 September 2017 (UTC)
:::Here's how the Note thing works. We type in the Note App (or Notepad on a computer) in order to take advantage of a larger typing space, to not keep something open, or (like in this comic) to avoid letting the recipient know we're typing. After we've typed our response, and acted as our own editor checking it over, we Copy & Paste into the INSTANT MESSENGER and send it instantly. This way we're only "typing" in the instant messenger for a moment. [[User:NiceGuy1|NiceGuy1]] ([[User talk:NiceGuy1|talk]]) 04:12, 12 September 2017 (UTC)

»''In the caption below the screens Randall reveals that the three-dotted(-animation) is his preferred version to get be informed that someone else is working on a reply to him.''« Huh? Surely, the comic doesn't say that? It says that Randall prefers to having a typing notification over not having it. --[[Special:Contributions/162.158.182.154|162.158.182.154]] 15:11, 8 September 2017 (UTC)

I also very much disagree with the title text. He just says he'd rather have notifications than not. But he's glad that opening up a separate note to compose the reply doesn't also have a notification. Nothing about getting blank messages or preferring the "..." style notification. I'm sure "____ is typing" has all the same characteristics given in the comic.

[Hmmm, previous person forgot to sign] About the title text, "he's also happy to not receive notifications that the texter is composing a response in a blank note file.", this is absolutely unquesionably the incorrect interpretation. No matter which side of the comic's conversation is Randall, this must be the other way around. Since Randall prefers knowing when the other person is writing back to him - as stated in the title text - he most definitely would also prefer to receive Writing-In-A-Note notifications. His objection could only be that he's glad that using a Note keeps HIS activity secret, that they don't know he's doing it. [[User:NiceGuy1|NiceGuy1]] ([[User talk:NiceGuy1|talk]]) 04:12, 12 September 2017 (UTC)

This reminds me of the same kind of joke on another webcomic: [http://thedoghousediaries.com/3316 “Jim is typing”, on The Doghouse Diaries] (from late 2011). - [[User:Cos|Cos]] ([[User talk:Cos|talk]]) 11:42, 14 November 2017 (UTC)

I regularly assume websites are capable of keeping live statistics on their forms (like profiling my typing patterns, navigation, edits, etc), including unsubmitted/aborted content that may qualify as trash abandoned (and now public, so free to take) at the curb. [[User:Elvenivle|Elvenivle]] ([[User talk:Elvenivle|talk]]) 23:11, 15 July 2019 (UTC)
:I vaguely remember seeing a study on what kind of facebook posts triggers people to type a reply but not publish it, and abandon it instead, but I cannot find it right now... But while searching for it I found this [https://slate.com/technology/2013/12/facebook-self-censorship-what-happens-to-the-posts-you-dont-publish.html article about it from slate...] --[[User:Lupo|Lupo]] ([[User talk:Lupo|talk]]) 07:18, 16 July 2019 (UTC)

Not really useful to add to Explanation, but one or other famously exuberant (and cunningly tactful?) socialite/whatever would allegedly attend many interminable premiers (and then after-shows) of plays and then, when asked by their reassurance-seeking stars what she thought about their performance immediately respond with theatrically 'congratulatory' hugs and smiles and fully effused voice saying "'Good' is ''not'' the word, darling!" ...Which probably doesn't work as well in text-only medium. Even/especially with smiling/hugging emojii as real-life, despite at least being an immediate 'positive' response. [[Special:Contributions/172.71.178.149|172.71.178.149]] 10:32, 1 September 2022 (UTC)