explain xkcd - User contributions [en]

1437: Higgs Boson

2014-10-24T06:36:07Z

173.245.48.79:

{{comic
| number = 1437
| date = October 22, 2014
| title = Higgs Boson
| image = higgs_boson.png
| titletext = 'Can't you just use the LHC you already built to find it again?' 'We MAY have disassembled it to build a death ray.' 'Just one, though.' 'Nothing you should worry about.' 'The death isn't even very serious.'
}}
[[File:Candidate_Higgs_Events_in_ATLAS_and_CMS.png|thumb|upright=1.5| Candidate Higgs boson events from collisions between protons in the LHC. (from Wikimedia Commons)]]
==Explanation==
[[Cueball]] and [[Ponytail]] are applying for a large amount of grant money to find the {{w|Higgs boson}}. Under scrutiny, they have been forced to admit that they have "lost" the particle which had been previously "found". This is a humorous play on the term "finding" when applied to fundamental particles. The common usage means to discover or observe the existence of a class of particles, rather than to know the current location of an individual particle.

''The Higgs boson'' is an {{w|elementary particle}} that is predicted by a physical model of the universe (the '{{w|Standard Model}}'). Observing evidence that Higgs bosons really exist is a key test of this model: if a search for the Higgs boson had failed to find evidence confirming its existence then the Standard Model would have been shown to be an incorrect description of reality. Finding the Higgs boson was one of the main reasons why the {{w|Large Hadron Collider}} (LHC) was built: to create energies high enough for the Higgs boson to become manifest. The point is, once evidence for its existence has been observed it is not possible to 'lose' the Higgs boson in a way implied by Cueball and Ponytail.

In the title text, the off-screen questioner wonders why Cueball and Ponytail can't use the LHC to find the particle again. The implication is that this would avoid spending another $3 billion. Their responses imply that the pair have already dismantled the LHC and converted its components into a {{w|death ray}} (a {{w|particle-beam weapon}} to be exact). The ostensibly reassuring platitudes offered mimic those used to placate those who were worried about possible apocalyptic consequences of commissioning the LHC, for instance the creation of {{w|black hole}}s, {{w|strange matter}}, a {{w|vacuum bubble}} or proton-eating {{w|magnetic monopole}}s.

The comment that "The death isn't even very serious" in the title text may be a reference to a Isaac Asimov's "I, Robot." Robopsychologist Dr. Susan Calvin tells supercomputer The Brain not to worry about death, that it wasn't a "big deal," when the robot is working on an equation relating to hyper drive. The Brain was able to deliver the solution, since anyone using the hyperdrive would be briefly "dead" (no longer exist), but in the end, they would arrive safe and sound.

This also implies that the death ray was only able to produce one death, as opposed to the many deaths such a weapon could be expected to cause, just as it is implied that the LHC only produced a single Higgs boson, which was subsequently misplaced. In [[401: Large Hadron Collider]] the proton stream from the LHC was used to cause the eventual death of a helicopter.

==Transcript==
Voice Offscreen: Tell us about your proposal. 
Ponytail: We're requesting $3 billion in funding to find the Higgs boson.

Voice Offscreen: ...wait. Didn't you already find it a year or two ago? 
Cueball: Yes, well, um.

Ponytail: ...OK, this is embarrassing. 
Cueball: See, the thing is —

Voice Offscreen: Don't tell us you lost it already. 
Ponytail: Look. 
Ponytail: In our defense, it's ''really'' small.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Ponytail]]
[[Category:Physics]]

Talk:1437: Higgs Boson

2014-10-24T04:31:34Z

173.245.48.79:

They can lose the DATA about Higgs Boson. To help prevent such possibility, I would like to mention that the found Higgs Boson energy is between 125 and 126 GeV/c^2 [[User:Hkmaly|Hkmaly]] ([[User talk:Hkmaly|talk]]) 12:18, 22 October 2014 (UTC)

:It may be nitpicking because of the 'equivalancy of mass and energy', but isn't the term ''GeV/c2'' usually used to describe a particle's mass while ''GeV'' is used to describe its energy?--[[User:Dangerkeith3000|Dangerkeith3000]] ([[User talk:Dangerkeith3000|talk]]) 15:29, 22 October 2014 (UTC)

:: You are right with the terms. However, when speaking about mass the "/c^2" term is implicit. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.217.125|108.162.217.125]] 03:46, 24 October 2014 (UTC)BK201

Sorry, felt it better to change "play 'hide and seek' with" to "know the current location of", because it read too as too anthropomorphic for the tone of the explanation. Like I don't play hide-and-seek with my house-keys, when they're temporarily unlocated. (Unless the world is weirder than I'm aware of, and the voices in my head are right after all!) Apologies if the hyperbole was the intent, and feel free to revert. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.247|141.101.98.247]] 14:53, 22 October 2014 (UTC)

The 4th paragraph begins with "Meagan's mention that "The death isn't even very serious"...". Shouldn't it be Ponytail, not Meagan? --[[Special:Contributions/108.162.216.111|108.162.216.111]] 16:28, 22 October 2014 (UTC)

:Or Cueball. Changing to "The comment..." [[Special:Contributions/173.245.54.195|173.245.54.195]] 17:36, 22 October 2014 (UTC)

Though of course this is a comic and not an actual transcript of a news conference or proceedings determining actual grant money, is there something significant missing or unanswered about the Higgs Boson that would require significantly more money (for e.g. a BIGGER COLLIDER!!!!!!!!)? Or is this rather a play at the "Find/Found" difference, and Randall just used the Higgs to make the point? I believe last I heard they found something that must be it, but I suppose further study was required to confirm it (or something)... [[User:Brettpeirce|Brettpeirce]] ([[User talk:Brettpeirce|talk]]) 20:37, 22 October 2014 (UTC)

Maybe they just precisely determined it's momentum? {{unsigned|Craignelson7007}}

I don't read the "just one" reference as being just one death - "... to build a death ray.' 'Just one, though.'" certainly sounds like they built just one death ray. [[Special:Contributions/173.245.62.74|173.245.62.74]] 03:11, 24 October 2014 (UTC)

:In the phrase "the death isn't even very serious", "the death" is singular. I read this to mean "we didn't even kill someone important." It is likely ambiguous intentionally. It could also mean "the death ray doesn't cause very serious death." as though you could cause a mild death. "Don't worry he's only dead. He won't mind." [[Special:Contributions/173.245.48.79|173.245.48.79]] 04:31, 24 October 2014 (UTC)BLuDgeons

1437: Higgs Boson

2014-10-23T04:18:05Z

173.245.48.79:

{{comic
| number = 1437
| date = October 22, 2014
| title = Higgs Boson
| image = higgs_boson.png
| titletext = 'Can't you just use the LHC you already built to find it again?' 'We MAY have disassembled it to build a death ray.' 'Just one, though.' 'Nothing you should worry about.' 'The death isn't even very serious.'
}}
[[File:Candidate_Higgs_Events_in_ATLAS_and_CMS.png|thumb|upright=1.5| Candidate Higgs boson events from collisions between protons in the LHC. (from Wikimedia Commons)]]
==Explanation==
[[Cueball]] and [[Ponytail]] are applying for a large amount of grant money to find the {{w|Higgs boson}}. Under scrutiny, they have been forced to admit that they have "lost" the particle which had been previously "found". This is a humorous play on the term "finding" when applied to fundamental particles. The common usage means to discover or observe the existence of a class of particles, rather than to know the current location of an individual particle.

''The Higgs boson'' is an {{w|elementary particle}} that is predicted by a physical model of the universe (the '{{w|Standard Model}}'). Observing evidence that Higgs bosons really exist is a key test of this model: if a search for the Higgs boson had failed to find evidence confirming its existence then the Standard Model would have been shown to be an incorrect description of reality. Finding the Higgs boson was one of the main reasons why the {{w|Large Hadron Collider}} (LHC) was built: to create energies high enough for the Higgs boson to become manifest. The point is, once evidence for its existence has been observed it is not possible to 'lose' the Higgs boson in a way implied by Cueball and Ponytail.

In the title text, the off-screen questioner wonders why Cueball and Ponytail can't use the LHC to find the particle again. The implication is that this would avoid spending another $3 billion. Their responses imply that the pair have already dismantled the LHC and converted its components into a {{w|death ray}} (a {{w|particle-beam weapon}} to be exact). The ostensibly reassuring platitudes offered mimic those used to placate those who were worried about possible apocalyptic consequences of commissioning the LHC, for instance the creation of {{w|black hole}}s, {{w|strange matter}}, a {{w|vacuum bubble}} or proton-eating {{w|magnetic monopole}}s.

The comment that "The death isn't even very serious" in the title text may be a reference to a Isaac Asimov's "I, Robot." Robopsychologist Dr. Susan Calvin tells supercomputer The Brain not to worry about death, that it wasn't a "big deal," when the robot is working on an equation relating to hyper drive. The Brain was able to deliver the solution, since anyone using the hyperdrive would be briefly "dead" (no longer exist), but in the end, they would arrive safe and sound.

This also implies that the death ray was only able to produce one death, as opposed to the many deaths such a weapon could be expected to cause, just as it is implied that the LHC only produced a single Higgs bosson, which was subsequently misplaced.

==Transcript==
Voice Offscreen: Tell us about your proposal. 
Ponytail: We're requesting $3 billion in funding to find the Higgs boson.

Voice Offscreen: ...wait. Didn't you already find it a year or two ago? 
Cueball: Yes, well, um.

Ponytail: ...OK, this is embarrassing. 
Cueball: See, the thing is —

Voice Offscreen: Don't tell us you lost it already. 
Ponytail: Look. 
Ponytail: In our defense, it's ''really'' small.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Ponytail]]
[[Category:Physics]]

Talk:1429: Data

2014-10-03T05:03:21Z

173.245.48.79:

What should "off-screen" be called in the transcript? I just put that since I didn't know what else to say. Also, someone needs to a) explain the Kirk/Picard situation and b) explain the title text. Sorry for not doing it myself, but I'm editting on my phone so there are probably errors that people need to fix and other peolle know far more about it anyway. [[User:Athang|Athang]] ([[User talk:Athang|talk]]) 04:42, 3 October 2014 (UTC)

The comic refers tp "pedants '''on all sides'''", which implies there is some kind of debate/dispute about the issue in the grammatical world. If someone who is aware of this dispute were to explain the details of it and/or provide links to sites that discuss it, I think the explanation would be greatly improved. {{unsigned ip|108.162.219.180}}

I always thought the noun data was non-quantifiable like "gasoline" which you'd need a unit to pluralize. "This piece of data suggests more than those gallons of gasoline"... [[Special:Contributions/173.245.48.79|173.245.48.79]] 05:03, 3 October 2014 (UTC)BLuDgeons

Talk:1409: Query

2014-09-16T00:54:03Z

173.245.48.79:

----
I assume the Cueball sitting on the box is being accused of being Hairy. I'd say no. [[User:Markhurd|Mark Hurd]] ([[User talk:Markhurd|talk]]) 07:26, 18 August 2014 (UTC)

Is there any particular point Randall would be making where 2 females and only one male, out of 5 each, have watch porn in the last half day? [[User:Markhurd|Mark Hurd]] ([[User talk:Markhurd|talk]]) 07:26, 18 August 2014 (UTC)
:I wasn't sure about one of those 'females', because of the various visual cues.
:What do we know/can assume about the figures? From Left to Right...
:Dark-haired ponytail and mobile phone, on own: *above 30*, not high-earning, flies easily, not a recent porn viewer. (Possibly she's a professional woman, but not smashed through the glass ceiling.)
:Assumed Megan with the 'device', standing apart: less than 30yo, not high-earning, *fears flying* (hence her inspiration), not a recent porn viewer. (Could this be the archetypal Megan, or just ''a'' Megan?)
:Taller cueball, in 1-to-1 conversation: *above 30*, not high-earning, flies easily, not a recent porn viewer. (Grown up, doubtless socially comfortable.)
:Shorter, buzzcut cueball, in 1-to-1 conversation: *above 30*, *high earner*, flies easily, not a recent porn viewer. (Probably an pre-middle-aged Exec "going places", perhaps his success and choice of 'young' haircut are as a result of a mild case of Napoleon syndrome, but if people will talk to him he's probably not being a dick about his success.)
:Sitting ponytail, in conference: less than 30yo, not high-earning, flies easily, *recent viewed porn*. (From the companions and the position, probably high 20s recent graduate relaxing with a long-term social group.)
:Sitting cueball, in conference: *above 30*, not high-earning, flies easily, not a recent porn viewer. (Another graduate, early 30s, probably exercises in order to find that sitting position relaxing. Part of the same social group.)
:Sitting flowinghair, in conference: *above 30*, not high-earning, *fears flying*, *recent viewed porn*. (''Sex indeterminate'' as that hair could indicate a metrosexual male. By 30 the look is probably starting to wearing thin, but still not overly embaressing. It certainly doesn't look like (s)he has settled down in a familial relationship yet, but has quite obviously flown the parental nest and is now with friends from college/university. Or might have been met on a round-the-world backpacking holiday and discovered they were from his own home city, except for the fear of flying (unless worked passage on ships). Probably knows all the cool scenes in this city, though, so well worth socialising in the park with.)
:Perched cueball, with icecream, hanging out: less than 30yo, not high-earning, flies easily, not a recent porn viewer. (Probably a teenager, with a close-cropped haircut. Might or might not know the other two behind him, but hard to tell what he thinks except perhaps "I've got an ice-cream! Yay!" Perhaps after a busy day of not-watching-porn.)
:Leaning ponytail, with device, hanging out: less than 30yo, not high-earning, *fears flying*, not a recent porn viewer. (Teenage girl. Big on social networking. Probably not so big on face-to-face-talking.)
:Smallest cueball, with device, hanging out: less than 30yo, not high-earning, *fears flying*, *recent viewed porn*. (Teenage boy. Typical teenage boy. As girl, but probably in-between Tweeting with the girl next to him he's serrupticiously viewing a video someone sent him (see his furtive look?), and maybe of the girl next to him. Or something 'sexted' ''from'' her, if that wouldn't count for her SELECTion on that criteria. One way or another, ''probably'' with the sound off.)
:...what's more, presumably none of those fiogures were Terminator Units, Alien Shapeshifting Lizards or ''already'' ghosts of some kind (or whatever class of individual would not belong in TABLE PEOPLE). [[Special:Contributions/141.101.99.7|141.101.99.7]] 09:34, 18 August 2014 (UTC)

::Thats racism! I mean speciesm. Alien Shapeshifting Lizards are people too! -- [[User:Hkmaly|Hkmaly]] ([[User talk:Hkmaly|talk]]) 10:15, 18 August 2014 (UTC)

::You list a lot of individuals being from college/university, however we have no data from the above image to establish that. People that don't go to university do exist and do have social networks (and outnumber the people who have been to college). Additionally, while I assume it to be out of place for Randall there is the possibility that some of our females/males in this population are transgendered or transvestites (assuming, of course, they're a US population). As well . . . Terminator Units aren't people!? [[Special:Contributions/108.162.237.181|108.162.237.181]] 13:53, 19 August 2014 (UTC)

Sounds a lot like watch_dogs. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.229.201|108.162.229.201]] 07:42, 18 August 2014 (UTC)

Is this Zuckerberg's phone? [[Special:Contributions/108.162.254.34|108.162.254.34]] 09:33, 18 August 2014 (UTC)

Is there any particular reason this comic isn't appearing on the homepage at the moment? For some reason xkcd.com is displaying 1408 "March of the Penguins". No actual navigation on the site will take me to this comic, I have to manually type /1409 into the URL bar. --[[User:Zagorath|Zagorath]] ([[User talk:Zagorath|talk]]) 10:20, 18 August 2014 (UTC)

I'm under the impression that Megan is using the device to look for potential mates. The age and income queries point to this, the other two are less common but still make sense in the context of a relationship. Finding no one who matches all of her criteria, she then deletes the list.
[[User:Dromaeosaur|Dromaeosaur]] ([[User talk:Dromaeosaur|talk]]) 10:41, 18 August 2014 (UTC)
:Well, there's obviously something to the idea of those directing her choices (for positive ''or'' negative selection purposes - I assume <=30 && >$100k, but would she want someone who shares her fear and would ''never'' suggest a plane trip, or someone who could be reassuring when one ''is'' taken? And someone who is 'wholesome' or likely to be open-minded about pornography?) but, although it's likely there's no Mr(/Mrs) Right, she finds just proclaims it "neat" and only seems to inadvertently 'tidy up' (albeit too much), rather than doing it in deliberate (if again misjudged) frustration... [[Special:Contributions/141.101.99.7|141.101.99.7]] 11:39, 18 August 2014 (UTC)
::I thought the same. I think that when Megan realises that no one matched her queries (so no possible relationship match) she decide to clean the list as she's not interested in them. Doing this she forgets, like most people do, that she's part of the people as well, and so she deletes herself too, accidentally.

Why does the explanation call it "SQL-esque"? That looks like fully valid SQL to me. --[[Special:Contributions/108.162.230.119|108.162.230.119]] 10:49, 18 August 2014 (UTC)

I think the comic is a reference to "Big Data" and the claim I read this morning that one organisation has a file on 10% of the world's population with around 1500 pieces of information on each of them. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.194|141.101.98.194]] 12:27, 18 August 2014 (UTC) Dan
:It's also possible that the strip is commenting on the notion that the universe may be a hologram and/or a computer simulation. If that's the case, then it would make sense to have a People table.

One thing I find interesting is what I see as an implication that <del>5/10</del> (sorry: 6/10) of the people pictured would not have a "device" on them at the time they were dropped with the PEOPLE table - certainly ''more'' than half of people have a device (or at least an ID or set of keys or something)... perhaps being contained within their clothing -- which apparently is dropped along with the associated person -- means THOSE devices were dropped along with the clothing (cascading?); however, being in the hands of the associated person means a certain level of disassociation... idunno... pick pick pick away at the joke! ALSO, seems like the time since someone watched porn would have to be computed (wouldn't be stored in the table as a field itself, but computed from a field like time_last_watched_porn and datediff... or else some user-defined function)... FINALLY - would have been great to see the result of an INSERT or UPDATE statement prior to dropping... ah well - [[User:Brettpeirce|Brettpeirce]] ([[User talk:Brettpeirce|talk]]) 14:10, 18 August 2014 (UTC)

See [[327: Exploits of a Mom]]. That is all. [[Special:Contributions/173.245.54.153|173.245.54.153]] 19:04, 18 August 2014 (UTC)

I think it's interesting Megan chooses to Drop Table People right after viewing who's watched porn, much like people who clear their browser cache/history after watching porn to make sure no one else finds out. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.237.179|108.162.237.179]] 00:15, 19 August 2014 (UTC)

There's a further implication no-one seems to have picked up on here. At the beginning of the strip, Megan finds the device sitting on the ground,presumably lost. At the end of the strip, everyone's disappeared and the device is sitting on the ground, presumably lost. Is this the first time this chain of events has occurred, or has the table been dropped in the past? [[User:Grutness|Grutness]] ([[User talk:Grutness|talk]]) 01:37, 19 August 2014 (UTC)

What Megan never realized was that Mr 100 000 earned his [http://google.com/#q=100000+VND+in+USD earned his income in Vietnam]. —[[User:Jameslucas|jameslucas]] ([[User talk:Jameslucas|" "]] / [[Special:Contributions/Jameslucas|+]]) 12:24, 19 August 2014 (UTC)

Isn't dropping the table kinda boring? Think of the possibilities... ''UPDATE PEOPLE SET AFRAID_OF_FLYING=FALSE, ANNUAL_INCOME=120000 WHERE NAME='Megan''' [[User:KillaBilla|KillaBilla]] ([[User talk:KillaBilla|talk]]) 13:52, 19 August 2014 (UTC)

:You are selfish. Think of how you can help whole world! ''UPDATE PEOPLE SET ANNUAL_INCOME=10000 WHERE ANNUAL_INCOME < 10000'' ... poverty in Africa solved :-). -- [[User:Hkmaly|Hkmaly]] ([[User talk:Hkmaly|talk]]) 11:24, 20 August 2014 (UTC)
:: That would just result in inflation, and nobody would win.
:: I'd love to see Black Hat with this device. 23:27, 25 August 2014 (UTC)

Talk:1393: Timeghost

2014-07-11T09:17:57Z

173.245.48.79:

A lot of the facts seem to fit information that sites like http://you.regettingold.com/ would provide. But I'll leave it up to someone else to work out the dates of everything (except for the imminent and possibly eerie deaths of the strip characters) being referenced, and thus what ages Randall is assuming the various cohorts are... [[Special:Contributions/141.101.99.233|141.101.99.233]] 04:58, 11 July 2014 (UTC)

''Forrest Gump'' the book - 1986

''Forrest Gump'' the movie - 1994

Vietnam War - 1955 to 1975

Keanu Reeves - born 1965 (age 49)

''The Simpsons'' season 5 - 1993 [[User:Dude1818|Dude1818]] ([[User talk:Dude1818|talk]]) 05:15, 11 July 2014 (UTC)

I'm sure you all remember [[1108:_Cautionary_Ghost|Cautionary Ghost]]; there's got to be a lot of those around in the xkcd universe... [[Special:Contributions/108.162.231.73|108.162.231.73]] 07:23, 11 July 2014 (UTC)

I don't know enough about the English usage of the term to see the connection, but could this be a play on "zeitgeist", seeing how it is a literal translation of the word? [[Special:Contributions/103.22.200.115|103.22.200.115]] Tobl

Maybe it is just me, but I don't see the characters' deaths as imminent. In the first panel, Megan is not suprised to see that ghost and can even identify it easily. So my guess is that she previously met the ghost "some time" before, but she (obviously) doesn't like to know how much time she has left to live. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.229.156|108.162.229.156]] 08:12, 11 July 2014 (UTC)

(average age of new grandparents is less than 50) [citation needed] {{unsigned ip|141.101.99.53}}
:can I site xkcd:1393 as a source for that data?[[Special:Contributions/173.245.48.79|173.245.48.79]] 09:17, 11 July 2014 (UTC)BLuDgeons

1374: Urn

2014-05-28T07:56:15Z

173.245.48.79:

{{comic
| number = 1374
| date = May 28, 2014
| title = Urn
| image = urn.png
| titletext = Can this PLEASE be drawing with replacement?
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by a BOT - Please change this comment when editing this page.}}

==Transcript==
[Cueball is standing in a classroom with Megan at a desk.]

Cueball: Imagine that you're drawing at random from an urn containing fifteen balls - six red and nine black.

Megan: OK. I reach in and... ''My grandfather's ashes?!? Oh god!''

Cueball: I... what?

Megan: '''WHY WOULD YOU DO THIS TO ME?!?'''

{{comic discussion}}

1346: Career

2014-03-24T14:50:58Z

173.245.48.79: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 1346
| date = March 24, 2014
| title = Career
| image = career.png
| titletext = They'd convince me to come out of retirement for one last job: biting into a giant lump of slightly soft wax a couple of times.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|There is a probability of some nontrivial connection between those three tasks}}

Cueball's dream job, rather than being an astronaut or game designer or some other typical response, is to do a variety of really easy and/or cool tasks. Who HASN'T wanted to press a lightsaber handle up to things and watch it pierce through?
The alt text references a similarly easy and fun task.

Human Resources people expect applicants to say realistic jobs they dream of (dream as ''an aspiration or goal'' or ''something of unreal excellence)''. On the other hand Cueball says crazy jobs someone could dream of having (dream here is ''a succession of images passing through the mind during sleep),'' but it's improbable that anyone would pay someone for peeling lint from dryer traps.

==Transcript==
:[Cueball is talking to a woman sitting behind a desk]
:Cueball: It would start with five minutes of peeling lint from dryer traps
:Cueball: Followed by an hour of pressing a lightsaber handle against things and switching it on.
:Cueball: Then I'd retire to a life of luxury.

When people ask me to describe my dream job, I'm never sure how realistic to be.

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]