explain xkcd - User contributions [en]

Talk:1175: Moving Sidewalks

2013-02-22T14:49:46Z

74.92.219.153:

I'm not quite sure what the joke here is supposed to be. Many have tried to develop variable speed walkways, as one can see in [http://worldwide.espacenet.com/searchResults?page=0&compact=false&ST=advanced&locale=en_EP&DB=EPODOC&CPC=B66B23%2f26%2flow patents]. There was even a pair of these that were installed circa Y2K in the Paris subway (Châtelet-Les-Halles, IIRC), which is renowned for its long passageways. It is AFAIK no longer in service, I don't know why. When I saw it an attendant was present to watch over for making sure that users wouln't fall. This contraption is way more complicated than standard rubber-belt conveyors with its meshing steps. --[[Special:Contributions/70.52.115.181|70.52.115.181]] 15:59, 18 February 2013 (UTC)
: Is it possible that you're thinking of [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pBJN1X3LeJw these]? [http://www.thetransportpolitic.com/2009/05/21/paris-experimental-high-speed-moving-walkway-is-abandoned/ Here]'s a news article saying it got canceled due to constant technical problems. --[[User:Waldir|Waldir]] ([[User talk:Waldir|talk]]) 02:06, 21 February 2013 (UTC)

I know what I'm building this weekend... [[Special:Contributions/207.237.164.241|207.237.164.241]] 06:22, 18 February 2013 (UTC)
:I just wonder if it is possible to remove these stupid posts and the panel on top of them from my treadmill without breaking it... {{unsigned|89.174.214.74}}

Isn't "of" suppose to be "off" in the title text? {{unsigned|67.161.114.84}}
:No... Why would it be? That doesn't make any sense.[[Special:Contributions/74.92.219.153|74.92.219.153]] 14:49, 22 February 2013 (UTC)

Do anybody know examples of such belts. The ones I recall has all one-speed-only [[User:Spongebog|Spongebog]] ([[User talk:Spongebog|talk]]) 10:43, 18 February 2013 (UTC)
: At Toronto Airport they have double speed moving sidewalks, that accelerate by stretching the panels. --[[User:Johnsmith|Johnsmith]] ([[User talk:Johnsmith|talk]]) 08:43, 19 February 2013 (UTC)
:: Here's a video. Pretty neat concept! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U9k1K5M2Mkw --[[User:Waldir|Waldir]] ([[User talk:Waldir|talk]]) 02:06, 21 February 2013 (UTC)

I was under the impression (from the alt-text), that they would take the belts inward traveling faster until they hi-five. Then, as they sped away, they would change sides and repeat the process. 10:56, 18 February 2013 (UTC)

I don't see why they are positioned as they are. If they were taking the belts inward, they would take advantage of the momentum imparted by the belts and be going much faster than their stride would normally take them. The way they are positioned, they would have to be running to just catch up to each other in the middle. [[Special:Contributions/64.121.163.170|64.121.163.170]] 11:06, 18 February 2013 (UTC)

:This is surely the point. They have to run faster as they get closer. [[Special:Contributions/77.99.26.23|77.99.26.23]] 12:00, 18 February 2013 (UTC)
:: Has the picture changed? Now it seems as if they where going faster to the middle. --[[User:Johnsmith|Johnsmith]] ([[User talk:Johnsmith|talk]]) 08:48, 19 February 2013 (UTC)

There doesn't appear to be any 'trick' to this one. Like the commenter above, I initially thought they were being taken towards each other by the conveyors. I thought the joke was that they would be accelerated to a ridiculous speed which would make it impossible to high five without obliterating each other, but the alt text didn't indicate anything like this and I looked again and realised I had read way too much into it. It's probably most sensible to interpret the speed multiples as relating to the first belts, not the last one you were on. This makes the difference between the '5x' belts going at 5x the speed of the outer ones, instead of 100x if each was the specified multiple of the last. If this alternative situation were the case, the outer belts would have to be going very slowly (of the order of 0.1m/s) for them to ever be able to high five. [[Special:Contributions/77.99.26.23|77.99.26.23]] 12:00, 18 February 2013 (UTC)

The appears reminiscent of Improv Everywhere's prank, "High-Five Escalator" http://improveverywhere.com/2009/02/09/high-five-escalator/ [[User:JamesCurran|JamesCurran]] ([[User talk:JamesCurran|talk]])

I'm sure I would fall over trying to use this one. --[[Special:Contributions/173.49.75.121|173.49.75.121]] 14:09, 18 February 2013 (UTC)

Randall updated the comic, explaining that he meant to draw the arrows going the way Cueball and Megan are facing, not opposite. I'd change the wiki, but I don't get it now. :) [[User:Zpletan|Zpletan]] ([[User talk:Zpletan|talk]])

The Comic has been changed: "Oops! I originally put up a version with backward sidewalk arrows. I should know better than to edit and post comics while sleep-deprived. Sorry!" [[Special:Contributions/86.32.218.17|86.32.218.17]] 14:28, 18 February 2013 (UTC)

I don't think they're going a multiple of the previous belt, but a multiple of base speed. Just my 2 cents :) Also, I think the belts are moving toward each other to get the ultimate "high five" in terms of velocity of the impact. {{unsigned|161.31.32.81}}

I don't see why anyone would think the "5x speed" etc would mean 5 times the previous tile. Seems obvious to me that the first tile is moving at some speed, the second tile is moving twice that base speed, the third moving 3x that base, etc. So when the pass each other their moving at 10x the base speed. Assuming the base speed is something reasonable, something near a typical walking speed, the high five would take place at a speed similar to if they were just sprinting past each other. Hardly a "ridiculous speed which would make it impossible to high five without obliterating each other." [[Special:Contributions/67.51.59.66|67.51.59.66]] 16:58, 18 February 2013 (UTC)

:As you'll see from my comment, I only thought something like this might be implied on first glance before I looked at it properly. Honestly it just doesn't seem that awesome to have a series of conveyor belts that allow you to high five a person at sprinting pace. I briefly suspected Randall might have been getting at some feature of physics or mathematics, like the story of the guy who asked for payment for something in grains of rice placed on a chessboard, starting with one grain in the corner and doubling for each square. But no. It's just two people high fiving each other. [[Special:Contributions/77.99.26.23|77.99.26.23]] 17:43, 19 February 2013 (UTC)

Does anyone think this may be a reference to "The Caves of Steel" a novel by Isaac Asimov? As I recall there was a global system of moving belts of various speeds that were used for transportation.
: That's what I thought of immediately. [[Special:Contributions/128.84.127.95|128.84.127.95]] 19:17, 18 February 2013 (UTC)
: Or Heinlein's "The Roads Must Roll". [[Special:Contributions/173.8.183.86|173.8.183.86]] 19:41, 18 February 2013 (UTC)
:: Also Clarke's ''The City and the Stars'', for the {{w|Big Three}} trifecta. But in those stories, the different-speed belts were arranged in parallel, like lanes of a highway, rather than in series. So you'd accelerate by stepping sideways from belt to belt.
::[[User:Wwoods|Wwoods]] ([[User talk:Wwoods|talk]]) 20:30, 18 February 2013 (UTC)

Seriously, they're playing a game of Robo Rally[[User:Schmammel|Schmammel]] ([[User talk:Schmammel|talk]]) 04:48, 21 February 2013 (UTC)

I would love to see this sidewalk placed in a Bison habitat.[[Special:Contributions/94.191.187.81|94.191.187.81]] 05:04, 19 February 2013 (UTC)

Is it just me - or was this comic fixed after it was initially uploaded? I could've sworn the original had either the arrows backwards or the people on the wrong sides - They would've been fighting the sidewalk. 09:59, 19 February 2013 (UTC)
:As an edit to this, I was correct. This is a mirror of the comic on Gizmodo, showing the error. http://img.gawkerassets.com/img/18f07q9hveoaepng/xlarge.png {{unsigned|‎77.98.193.149}}
:And it seems that when fixing it, Randall changed all the arrows, rather than moving the people. [[User:JamesCurran|JamesCurran]] ([[User talk:JamesCurran|talk]])

I wonder, what is the pace of the centerbelt? Is it 5x, 6x or maybe about 5x where that belt start, accelerating to 7x (or even more?) at the high five location and then slowing down till about 5x at the end? [[Special:Contributions/86.82.116.63|86.82.116.63]] 16:30, 19 February 2013 (UTC)

Talk:1173: Steroids

2013-02-14T17:36:35Z

74.92.219.153:

Does anyone know what that 'something' is? That's what I came here to find out... :/ --[[User:NeatNit|NeatNit]] ([[User talk:NeatNit|talk]]) 11:57, 13 February 2013 (UTC)

:I had a lot of ideas, but I don't know. It might be a molecule, some sort of portal transmitting sound, a star, a future life form.
:--[[User:Jaap-Jan|Jaap-Jan]] ([[User talk:Jaap-Jan|talk]]) 12:13, 13 February 2013 (UTC)

::My first instinct was that Megan was talking to the asterisk that gets put next to world records held by athletes who have been suspected of using steroids.
::[[User:Smperron|Smperron]] ([[User talk:Smperron|talk]]) 17:08, 13 February 2013 (UTC)

:::It looks to me like the God from Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal. Though that God would know all about the steroid scandal, presumably. [[Special:Contributions/98.234.113.134|98.234.113.134]] 00:19, 14 February 2013 (UTC)

::::It's the crystalline life-form from the Star Trek: The Next Generation episode "Home Soil". When not killing red shirts, it keeps taunting humans that they're "ugly bags of mostly water".[[User:Columbus Admission|Columbus Admission]] ([[User talk:Columbus Admission|talk]]) 00:28, 14 February 2013 (UTC)

I think the "artificial boundary" isn't so artificial. There is a clear difference between food chemicals, which are healthy for us, vs steroid chemicals, which cause all sorts of health problems. Of course, then Megan would have to explain that we have limited lifespans and we greatly value our quality of life, and these steroids would decrease our quality of life. [[Special:Contributions/70.31.159.230|70.31.159.230]] 13:41, 13 February 2013 (UTC)
:So on the one side of this "clear boundary" you'd have something like Big Macs (food, good for us) and on the other you'd have vitamin supplements (non-food chemicals, bad)?
::I think the theory is that things that improve athletic performance but hurt the body should not be allowed. That way, athletes who are willing to sacrifice their health in order to win do not have an advantage over those who are not willing to make such a sacrifice. If people want to eat Big Mac's they are welcome to because it doesn't give them any advantage. Basically, you can put bad stuff into yourself all you want, but not if it gives you a competitive advantage. [[Special:Contributions/74.92.219.153|74.92.219.153]] 17:36, 14 February 2013 (UTC)
:Like trying to line up all the people in the world and draw a clear line to divide blacks from whites, it's too much of a gradual spectrum to be anything other than arbitrary. [[Special:Contributions/67.51.59.66|67.51.59.66]] 17:27, 13 February 2013 (UTC)
::I explained my point very poorly. "Good" performance enhancing chemicals (like healthy foods) tend to also make us more healthy while "bad" performance enhancing chemicals (like steroids) cause all sorts of health problems. Athletes are generally encouraged to take the "good" stuff while avoiding the "bad" stuff. Of course there's a huge grey area in between (including non-performance-enhancing Big Macs), but I think steroids clearly fall outside this grey area. [[Special:Contributions/70.31.159.230|70.31.159.230]] 19:58, 13 February 2013 (UTC)
:::|Um, you do realize that the human body itself creates "Steroids"? Which are also in found within the plants and animals that we eat. (Especially soybeans.) Testosterone is supposedly one of these "bad" steroids, which cause many problems for humans. [[Special:Contributions/69.181.140.191|69.181.140.191]] 12:28, 14 February 2013 (UTC)
::::I suppose my point requires further explanation; devil's advocates will never be satisfied. Testosterone isn't intrinsically "bad" for us (as you mentioned, it is an integral part of our chemistry), but taking significant amounts of it from external sources has been shown to damage our bodies' ability to produce it and/or regulate its levels, among other effects. Hence, taking steroids is bad for us. Compare that with healthy food, which is generally accepted to "increase" our athletic performance (compared with unhealthy food, or no food) without any serious avoidable side effects.
::::However, you do bring up the point of testosterone being present in some things we consider to count as "food". I guess there is a certain amount of testosterone you are allowed to ingest (for these contests) that cause a negligible effect. [[Special:Contributions/70.31.159.230|70.31.159.230]] 13:21, 14 February 2013 (UTC)

Blood doping is not the same as steroid use. {{unsigned|‎98.204.81.157}}
== Douglas Adams ==

Does anyone else feel that the title text has a strong Douglas Adams flavour?
And if so, can we make that hard with a quote from one of his books?

:It's a biblical reference, Genesis 3:19, "In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken: for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return", King James version.[[User:Jasqm|Jasqm]] ([[User talk:Jasqm|talk]]) 14:03, 13 February 2013 (UTC)

:D.N.A. has been known to reference the bible:
:-"In the beginning, the universe was created. This made a lot of people unhappy and has been widely regarded as a bad move."
:-"And then one day, nearly two thousand years after one man was nailed to a tree for saying how great it would be if people were nice to each other for a change..."
:[[User:Smperron|Smperron]] ([[User talk:Smperron|talk]]) 17:08, 13 February 2013 (UTC)

:You're probably thinking of his quotes that reference digital watches and what a big mistake it was to leave the oceans (combined with the scene from the show where the guy walks back into the ocean).[[User:CityZen|CityZen]] ([[User talk:CityZen|talk]]) 21:30, 13 February 2013 (UTC)

Ive said that Douglas Adams write for XKCD for years now...Notice if you change all the letters to their corresponding number (A=1, B=2, etc) and add them, you get 42 ;) [[Special:Contributions/90.205.199.80|90.205.199.80]] 12:49, 13 February 2013 (UTC)

Not just a Biblical reference, the comic is published on (western christian) Ash Wednesday... [[User:Patmiller|Patmiller]] ([[User talk:Patmiller|talk]]) 14:58, 13 February 2013 (UTC)