https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/api.php?action=feedcontributions&user=162.158.134.106&feedformat=atomexplain xkcd - User contributions [en]2024-03-29T14:13:34ZUser contributionsMediaWiki 1.30.0https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=2896:_Crossword_Constructors&diff=3353772896: Crossword Constructors2024-02-20T13:06:46Z<p>162.158.134.106: Nominative plural is likely more interesting - "Latin for 'eras'" is a lot easier than "Latin genetive/dative singular of 'era'"</p>
<hr />
<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 2896<br />
| date = February 19, 2024<br />
| title = Crossword Constructors<br />
| image = crossword_constructors_2x.png<br />
| imagesize = 285x388px<br />
| noexpand = true<br />
| titletext = Also, we would really appreciate it if you could prominently refer to it as an 'eHit'.<br />
}}<br />
<br />
==Explanation==<br />
{{incomplete|Created by a THREE-LETTER WORD THAT STARTS WITH B - Add meanings of words given, if any. Also check whether any of these words are albums or songs already. Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}<br />
<br />
This comic is inspired by a common situation when people try to make crossword puzzles. Here, [[Cueball]], [[Hairbun]], and [[White Hat]] are {{w|crossword puzzle}} constructors, but some of the words they would like to use would result in awkward sequences of letters crossing them which are not English words or familiar names, such as "aete", "eni", etc. However, they have an idea to write a letter to persuade prominent singers ({{w|Taylor Swift}}, {{w|Ed Sheeran}}, {{w|Nicki Minaj}}, {{w|Ariana Grande}} and {{w|The Weeknd}}) to choose these awkward sequences of letters as titles of their future albums, thereby letting Cueball, Hairbun, and White Hat write clues about those albums and use those letter sequences as answers. <br />
<br />
The particular sequences of letters that are selected are notable for their exclusive usage of the most common English letters. They also all begin and end with a vowel. These are two features that are common in "crosswordese", i.e. words which appear significantly more often in crosswords than in reality. Examples of crosswordese that are actually used include the words "OREO", "EPEE", and (Yoko) "ONO". However, none of these words are actual common English words {{cn}} and are unlikely to be album names (especially when taking {{w|Ed Sheeran discography|Ed’s albums}} into consideration).<br />
<br />
The title text lists another sequence of awkward letters, "ehit". Thus, Cueball, Hairbun, and White Hat ask these singers to refer their hits (popular songs) as "eHit"s, adding the "e" for electronic such as in e-mail and e-dating. This is also a reference to common crossword entries like "E-TAIL" or "E-MAG" which are often criticized for using the prefix "E" to create words that no one really uses.<br />
<br />
===Possible meanings of words===<br />
*aete: {{w|Apple_event#Object_Model|AppleEvent Terminology Extension}}<br />
*eni: {{w|Eni|Eni S.p.A.}}, Italian multinational energy company<br />
*oreta: ''{{w|Oreta}}'', moth genus in family Drepanidae<br />
*aroe: {{w|Aroe}} may refer to: The Aru Islands Regency, islands in eastern Indonesia; Aroe, an alternative name for Aroi, Patras, in western Greece<br />
*oine: {{w|Kusumoto Ine}}, also known as O-Ine, Japanese physician<br />
*aen: {{w|AEN}} may refer to: Acute esophageal necrosis, a rare esophageal disorder; and more<br />
*enta: [https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/enta enta] (French verb) third-person singular past historic of enter<br />
*aerae: [https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/aerae aerae] (Latin Noun) genitive/dative singular and nominative plural of [https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/aera#Latin aera] (era)<br />
<br />
''{{w|Enta da Stage}}'' is the debut album by American East Coast hip hop group Black Moon.<br />
<br />
==Transcript==<br />
:[Cueball is sitting in an office chair at a table and typing on his laptop, with small movement lines above his hands indicating typing. White Hat and Hairbun are standing behind him and looking at what he writes. The text he writes can be seen above them. The list of words at the end are written in two columns with four words in each. Here below, the second column of words is written below the first:]<br />
:Dear Ms. Swift, Mr. Sheeran, Ms. Minaj, Ms. Grande, and Mr. Weeknd,<br />
:We are a group of crossword puzzle constructors, and we would like to suggest some titles for your future albums:<br />
:*Aete<br />
:*Eni<br />
:*Oreta<br />
:*Aroe<br />
:*Oine<br />
:*Aen<br />
:*Enta<br />
:*Aerae<br />
<br />
{{comic discussion}}<br />
<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring White Hat]]<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Hairbun]]<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]<br />
[[Category:Language]]<br />
[[Category:Music]]<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring real people]]</div>162.158.134.106https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=2217:_53_Cards&diff=1814512217: 53 Cards2019-10-19T10:00:44Z<p>162.158.134.106: Put more physics into it</p>
<hr />
<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 2217<br />
| date = October 18, 2019<br />
| title = 53 Cards<br />
| image = 53_cards.png<br />
| titletext = Well, there's one right here at the bottom, where it says "53."<br />
}}<br />
<br />
==Explanation==<br />
{{incomplete|Created by a 53-CARD DECK. Please mention here why this explanation isn't complete. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}<br />
<br />
In this comic Cueball claims that he has found a way to manipulate a {{w|Standard 52-card deck|52-card deck}} into a 53-card deck with only shuffling and rearranging. This is absurd, since there is no way for new cards to be incorporated. He backs up this claim with a diagram containing random mathematical jargon and challenges Ponytail to find an error. However, the given math is sufficiently esoteric that an error cannot easily be found. It's possible that the process [[804:_Pumpkin_Carving|involves the Banach-Tarski paradox at some step.]]<br />
<br />
The caption below the comic states that this is how Randall feels when talking to someone who likes the theory of {{w|perpetual motion}}, motion of macroscopic bodies that, barring mechanical damage, continues indefinitely. This is impossible according to currently known laws of physics, since such motion would entail producing energy out of nothing in order to overcome friction, but adherents still believe it is possible. The comic draws comparison between conservation of energy and conservation of cards in a deck.<br />
<br />
In the title text, Ponytail responds to Cueball's challenge with snark, claiming that the most obvious error is the fact that the formula's result is "53". This doesn't actually prove that there is an error in Cueball's math, but Ponytail refuses to entertain the possibility that 52 items can become 53 items without having any items added to the system in the process – similar to how energy can be transferred but never produced.<br />
<br />
==Transcript==<br />
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}<br />
:Cueball: I've found a way to turn a 52-card deck into 53 cards by shuffling and rearranging them.<br />
:Ponytail: No, you haven't.<br />
:Cueball: How do you know?! I challenge you to find an error in my math!<br />
<br />
:Caption: Every conversation between a physicist and a perpetual motion enthusiast.<br />
<br />
{{comic discussion}}<br />
<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Ponytail]]<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]<br />
[[Category:Physics]]</div>162.158.134.106https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=2170:_Coordinate_Precision&diff=1760782170: Coordinate Precision2019-07-02T06:05:30Z<p>162.158.134.106: /* Explanation */ {{w|...}} instead of hardcoded urls</p>
<hr />
<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 2170<br />
| date = July 1, 2019<br />
| title = Coordinate Precision<br />
| image = coordinate_precision.png<br />
| titletext = 40 digits: You are optimistic about our understanding of the nature of distance itself.<br />
}}<br />
<br />
==Explanation==<br />
{{incomplete|Created by a CARTOGRAPHER. Each table entry needs to be individually explained. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}<br />
<br />
Coordinates are data points used to identify a person's location on the planet Earth. However, a given coordinate covers a square region of land, and thus leaves some ambiguity; thus, greater precision requires an increasing count of decimal points in your coordinates. This comic uses this information to roughly identify how precise a given coordinate length might be.<br />
<br />
The coordinates at [https://tools.wmflabs.org/geohack/geohack.php?pagename=Cape_Canaveral&params=28.5234_N_80.6830_W_type:landmark_region:US-FL_scale:10000 28.5234°N, 80.6830°W] (in {{w|decimal degrees}} form; in {{w|geographic coordinate system}} form using degrees, minutes, and seconds, 28° 31′ 24.24″N, 80° 40′ 58.8″W) are pointing to the {{w|Rocket Garden}} at {{w|Kennedy Space Center}} in {{w|Merritt Island, Florida}} (usually referred to as '''{{w|Cape Canaveral}}''')—specifically, the tip of the [https://www.kennedyspacecenter.com/-/media/DNC/KSCVC/Blog-Images/Rocket-Garden/rocket-garden-with-labels.ashx?h=860&w=1173&la=en&hash=7B9ADC7AFF5370E462AC98D9651945B806B77B2C Delta] rocket.<br />
<br />
The sixth entry in the table, with seven digits of precision, includes the caveat that, while your coordinates map to areas small enough on the Earth's surface to indicate pointing to a specific person in a room, "since you didn't include datum information, we can't tell who". This is a reference to the various ''{{w|geodetic data}}'' or ''geodetic systems'' — different ways of dealing with the fact that the earth is neither perfectly spherical nor perfectly an oblong ellipsoid. The various data do not make much difference at six digits of precision, but at seven, there is enough skew depending on which system is in use that the person in a room you are referring to with the coordinates is ambiguous. It is unstated, but the remaining lines in the table with ever-greater precision suffer from this same issue and are equally ambiguous without datum information.<br />
<br />
The final entry, with seventeen digits of precision, suggests that either the user is referring to individual atoms in the much-larger-scale whole-Earth coordinate system, or (perhaps more likely) has not bothered to format the values from the GPS module for viewing in the software UI in any way whatsoever, resulting in a value that is {{w|False precision|meaninglessly precise}} because the measurement wasn't that {{w|Accuracy and precision|accurate}} to begin with. Even if the value is accurate, locating individual atoms by coordinates is not actually useful in most cases, and the motions of multiple systems within our physical world (continental drift, subtle vibrations, etc.) would render the precise value obsolete rather quickly.<br />
<br />
For the decimal places past the 5th on the latitude, the digits given are actually the decimal expansion of the constant ''e'' (2.7182818284), while for the decimal places past the 6th on the longitude, the digits given are the decimal expansion of the constant ''pi'' (3.14159265358).<br />
<br />
The title text references how at sufficiently small distances, our understanding of reality itself begins to break down. Smaller than the {{w|Planck length}}, which is more than a quintillion times smaller than the diameter of a proton, the ideals of Euclidean geometry no longer apply and space itself may be composed of a {{w|quantum foam}} where the very geometry of spacetime itself fluctuates, meaning coordinate systems based on an assumption that space doesn't change would no longer work. String theory, on the other hand, assumes that at a short enough distance the world is composed of ten space dimensions, which precludes the use of a two-dimensional coordinate system.<br />
<br />
==Chart==<br />
<br />
{| class="wikitable"<br />
|-<br />
! Decimal places<br />
! Resolution*<br />
! In the comic<br />
! Location<br />
! Explanation/notes<br />
|-<br />
| 0<br />
| 110 km (70 mi)<br />
| Something space-related<br />
| Somewhere near the east coast of Florida<br />
| This resolution is enough to point out a large-scale feature like a country, a mountain range, a large lake, or a significant island on a map of the world. It can also be used to tell if certain celestial phenomena are visible from a given location.<br />
|-<br />
| 1<br />
| 11 km (7&nbsp;mi)<br />
| A specific city<br />
| Cape Canaveral<br />
| Cities typically span a couple kilometers/miles in diameter and are far enough from each other to distinguish them at this resolution. There are exceptions though, and the veracity of this statement depends greatly on what constitutes a “city”, which varies greatly by location and history.<br />
|-<br />
| 2<br />
| 1.1 km (¾&nbsp;mi)<br />
| A neighborhood<br />
| Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex<br />
|<br />
|-<br />
| 3<br />
| 110 m (360&nbsp;ft)<br />
| A suburban cul-de-sac<br />
| The Rocket Garden at the Kennedy Space Center<br />
|<br />
|-<br />
| 4<br />
| 11 m (36&nbsp;ft)<br />
| A particular corner of a house<br />
| Somewhere near the center of the Rocket Garden<br />
|<br />
|-<br />
| 5<br />
| 1.1 m (3½&nbsp;ft)<br />
| A specific person in a room (given geodetic datum information)<br />
| The [https://www.kennedyspacecenter.com/-/media/DNC/KSCVC/Blog-Images/Rocket-Garden/rocket-garden-with-labels.ashx?h=860&w=1173&la=en&hash=7B9ADC7AFF5370E462AC98D9651945B806B77B2C Thor-Delta] rocket in Rocket Garden<br />
| As the comic notes, the differences between {{w|geodetic datum}}s – different ways to map geodetic coordinates to specific points on the Earth's surface – become large enough that one needs to specify the one in use when supplying coordinates to this degree of precision (or greater, of course). Since the Earth is not a perfect ellipsoid, different parts of the planet conform best to ellipsoids of slightly different proportions, resulting in different coordinates for a specific location; not to mention that locally used datums have local reference points, which means that the local and global standards are slowly drifting away from each other with the tectonical plates.<br />
Note that the comment in the comic concerns only the {{w|North American Datum|NAD 1983}} datum which is fairly close to the international, “one size fits all” standard {{w|WGS-84}}. Other datums may be shifted by tens or even hundreds of meters (yards), making geodetic datum specification necessary for less precise coordinates as well.<br />
|-<br />
| 7<br />
| 1.1 cm (⁷⁄₁₆&nbsp;in)<br />
| Waldo on a page<br />
| Presumably the very tip of the rocket<br />
|<br />
|-<br />
| 9<br />
| 0.11 mm (4⅜&nbsp;thou)<br />
| A specific grain of sand<br />
| rowspan=3 | N/A<br />
|<br />
|-<br />
| 15<br />
| 110 pm (1.1&nbsp;Å)<br />
| Raw floating point precision or an individual atom<br />
| A double-precision (64-bit) floating point variable stores 52 significant bits (with an implicit 1 in front), so that 180.00000000000000 and 179.99999999999997 may be represented as distinct values. (This is only 14 decimals, however; the larger the integral part, the less bits remain to represent the fractional part.) This level of precision is useful for mitigating rounding errors in computations, but this advantage only shows if the last few digits are treated as non-significant and thus, ideally, hidden from view. To actually track individual atoms (which may be as close to one another as 32 pm) or to represent continental drift up to the second, one would need to work with coordinates in ''quadruple'' precision.<br />
Tracking atoms, however, needs very sensitive (and expensive) equipment with a severely limited range (according to our current understanding of science and technology). Using a global-scale coordinate system when a micrometer-scale would fit much better is either an abuse of the system and a great waste of memory and computing power, or it means that a significant portion of the Earth's surface has been blanketed by quantum microscopes, which would be an abuse and a waste of many other things as well.<br />
|-<br />
| 40<br />
| 1.1 × 10<sup>–11</sup>&nbsp;ym (1.1 × 10<sup>–35</sup>&nbsp;m)<br />
| Near (or past) our current understanding of the nature of distance<br />
| This is where the resolution reaches the Planck length. At this scale, the very structure of spacetime (and thus, the notion of distance) may be different than what we know; measuring anything to Planck length precision would necessitate such tremendous amounts of energy in one place that it would inevitably create minuscule black holes.<br />
|}<br />
<nowiki>*</nowiki>Since the Earth is not exactly spherical, the actual length of one degree of latitude varies between 110.574 km (68.707 mi) at the equator and 111.694 km (69.403 mi) at the poles, while one degree of longitude is 111.320 km (69.171 mi) at the equator, 55.800 km (64.673 mi) at lat. 60°, and 0 km (0 mi) at the poles.<br />
<br />
==Transcript==<br />
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}<br />
:[Single panel containing a table with two columns for "Lat/Lon Precision" and "Meaning" and a caption above the table.]<br />
:Caption: What The Number of Digits in Your Coordinates Means<br />
<br />
:[Row 1]<br />
:Lat/Lon: 28&deg;N, 80&deg;W<br />
:Meaning: You're probably doing something space-related<br />
<br />
:[Row 2]<br />
:Lat/Lon: 28.5&deg;N, 80.6&deg;W<br />
:Meaning: You're pointing out a specific city<br />
<br />
:[Row 3]<br />
:Lat/Lon: 28.52&deg;N, 80.68&deg;W<br />
:Meaning: You're pointing out a neighborhood<br />
<br />
:[Row 4]<br />
:Lat/Lon: 28.523&deg;N, 80.683&deg;W<br />
:Meaning: You're pointing out a specific suburban cul-de-sac<br />
<br />
:[Row 5]<br />
:Lat/Lon: 28.5234&deg;N, 80.6830&deg;W<br />
:Meaning: You're pointing to a particular corner of a house<br />
<br />
:[Row 6]<br />
:Lat/Lon: 28.52345&deg;N, 80.68309&deg;W<br />
:Meaning: You're pointing to a specific person in a room, but since you didn't include datum information, we can't tell who<br />
<br />
:[Row 7]<br />
:Lat/Lon: 28.5234571&deg;N, 80.6830941&deg;W<br />
:Meaning: You're pointing to Waldo on a page<br />
<br />
:[Row 8]<br />
:Lat/Lon: 28.523457182&deg;N, 80.683094159&deg;W<br />
:Meaning: "Hey, check out this specific sand grain!"<br />
<br />
:[Row 9]<br />
:Lat/Lon: 28.523457182818284&deg;N, 80.683094159265358&deg;W<br />
:Meaning: Either you're handing out raw floating point variables, or you've built a database to track individual atoms. In either case, please stop.<br />
<br />
{{comic discussion}}</div>162.158.134.106https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=2170:_Coordinate_Precision&diff=1760772170: Coordinate Precision2019-07-02T06:00:48Z<p>162.158.134.106: /* Explanation */ photon -> proton</p>
<hr />
<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 2170<br />
| date = July 1, 2019<br />
| title = Coordinate Precision<br />
| image = coordinate_precision.png<br />
| titletext = 40 digits: You are optimistic about our understanding of the nature of distance itself.<br />
}}<br />
<br />
==Explanation==<br />
{{incomplete|Created by a CARTOGRAPHER. Each table entry needs to be individually explained. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}<br />
<br />
Coordinates are data points used to identify a person's location on the planet Earth. However, a given coordinate covers a square region of land, and thus leaves some ambiguity; thus, greater precision requires an increasing count of decimal points in your coordinates. This comic uses this information to roughly identify how precise a given coordinate length might be.<br />
<br />
The coordinates at [https://tools.wmflabs.org/geohack/geohack.php?pagename=Cape_Canaveral&params=28.5234_N_80.6830_W_type:landmark_region:US-FL_scale:10000 28.5234°N, 80.6830°W] (in {{w|decimal degrees}} form; in {{w|geographic coordinate system}} form using degrees, minutes, and seconds, 28° 31′ 24.24″N, 80° 40′ 58.8″W) are pointing to the {{w|Rocket Garden}} at {{w|Kennedy Space Center}} in {{w|Merritt Island, Florida}} (usually referred to as '''{{w|Cape Canaveral}}''')—specifically, the tip of the [https://www.kennedyspacecenter.com/-/media/DNC/KSCVC/Blog-Images/Rocket-Garden/rocket-garden-with-labels.ashx?h=860&w=1173&la=en&hash=7B9ADC7AFF5370E462AC98D9651945B806B77B2C Delta] rocket.<br />
<br />
The sixth entry in the table, with seven digits of precision, includes the caveat that, while your coordinates map to areas small enough on the Earth's surface to indicate pointing to a specific person in a room, "since you didn't include datum information, we can't tell who". This is a reference to the various ''{{w|geodetic data}}'' or ''geodetic systems'' — different ways of dealing with the fact that the earth is neither perfectly spherical nor perfectly an oblong ellipsoid. The various data do not make much difference at six digits of precision, but at seven, there is enough skew depending on which system is in use that the person in a room you are referring to with the coordinates is ambiguous. It is unstated, but the remaining lines in the table with ever-greater precision suffer from this same issue and are equally ambiguous without datum information.<br />
<br />
The final entry, with seventeen digits of precision, suggests that either the user is referring to individual atoms in the much-larger-scale whole-Earth coordinate system, or (perhaps more likely) has not bothered to format the values from the GPS module for viewing in the software UI in any way whatsoever, resulting in a value that is [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/False_precision meaninglessly precise] because the measurement wasn't that [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Accuracy_and_precision accurate] to begin with. Even if the value is accurate, locating individual atoms by coordinates is not actually useful in most cases, and the motions of multiple systems within our physical world (continental drift, subtle vibrations, etc.) would render the precise value obsolete rather quickly.<br />
<br />
For the decimal places past the 5th on the latitude, the digits given are actually the decimal expansion of the constant ''e'' (2.7182818284), while for the decimal places past the 6th on the longitude, the digits given are the decimal expansion of the constant ''pi'' (3.14159265358).<br />
<br />
The title text references how at sufficiently small distances, our understanding of reality itself begins to break down. Smaller than the [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Planck_length Planck length], which is more than a quintillion times smaller than the diameter of a proton, the ideals of Euclidean geometry no longer apply and space itself may be composed of a [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quantum_foam quantum foam] where the very geometry of spacetime itself fluctuates, meaning coordinate systems based on an assumption that space doesn't change would no longer work. String theory, on the other hand, assumes that at a short enough distance the world is composed of ten space dimensions, which precludes the use of a two-dimensional coordinate system.<br />
<br />
==Chart==<br />
<br />
{| class="wikitable"<br />
|-<br />
! Decimal places<br />
! Resolution*<br />
! In the comic<br />
! Location<br />
! Explanation/notes<br />
|-<br />
| 0<br />
| 110 km (70 mi)<br />
| Something space-related<br />
| Somewhere near the east coast of Florida<br />
| This resolution is enough to point out a large-scale feature like a country, a mountain range, a large lake, or a significant island on a map of the world. It can also be used to tell if certain celestial phenomena are visible from a given location.<br />
|-<br />
| 1<br />
| 11 km (7&nbsp;mi)<br />
| A specific city<br />
| Cape Canaveral<br />
| Cities typically span a couple kilometers/miles in diameter and are far enough from each other to distinguish them at this resolution. There are exceptions though, and the veracity of this statement depends greatly on what constitutes a “city”, which varies greatly by location and history.<br />
|-<br />
| 2<br />
| 1.1 km (¾&nbsp;mi)<br />
| A neighborhood<br />
| Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex<br />
|<br />
|-<br />
| 3<br />
| 110 m (360&nbsp;ft)<br />
| A suburban cul-de-sac<br />
| The Rocket Garden at the Kennedy Space Center<br />
|<br />
|-<br />
| 4<br />
| 11 m (36&nbsp;ft)<br />
| A particular corner of a house<br />
| Somewhere near the center of the Rocket Garden<br />
|<br />
|-<br />
| 5<br />
| 1.1 m (3½&nbsp;ft)<br />
| A specific person in a room (given geodetic datum information)<br />
| The [https://www.kennedyspacecenter.com/-/media/DNC/KSCVC/Blog-Images/Rocket-Garden/rocket-garden-with-labels.ashx?h=860&w=1173&la=en&hash=7B9ADC7AFF5370E462AC98D9651945B806B77B2C Thor-Delta] rocket in Rocket Garden<br />
| As the comic notes, the differences between {{w|geodetic datum}}s – different ways to map geodetic coordinates to specific points on the Earth's surface – become large enough that one needs to specify the one in use when supplying coordinates to this degree of precision (or greater, of course). Since the Earth is not a perfect ellipsoid, different parts of the planet conform best to ellipsoids of slightly different proportions, resulting in different coordinates for a specific location; not to mention that locally used datums have local reference points, which means that the local and global standards are slowly drifting away from each other with the tectonical plates.<br />
Note that the comment in the comic concerns only the {{w|North American Datum|NAD 1983}} datum which is fairly close to the international, “one size fits all” standard {{w|WGS-84}}. Other datums may be shifted by tens or even hundreds of meters (yards), making geodetic datum specification necessary for less precise coordinates as well.<br />
|-<br />
| 7<br />
| 1.1 cm (⁷⁄₁₆&nbsp;in)<br />
| Waldo on a page<br />
| Presumably the very tip of the rocket<br />
|<br />
|-<br />
| 9<br />
| 0.11 mm (4⅜&nbsp;thou)<br />
| A specific grain of sand<br />
| rowspan=3 | N/A<br />
|<br />
|-<br />
| 15<br />
| 110 pm (1.1&nbsp;Å)<br />
| Raw floating point precision or an individual atom<br />
| A double-precision (64-bit) floating point variable stores 52 significant bits (with an implicit 1 in front), so that 180.00000000000000 and 179.99999999999997 may be represented as distinct values. (This is only 14 decimals, however; the larger the integral part, the less bits remain to represent the fractional part.) This level of precision is useful for mitigating rounding errors in computations, but this advantage only shows if the last few digits are treated as non-significant and thus, ideally, hidden from view. To actually track individual atoms (which may be as close to one another as 32 pm) or to represent continental drift up to the second, one would need to work with coordinates in ''quadruple'' precision.<br />
Tracking atoms, however, needs very sensitive (and expensive) equipment with a severely limited range (according to our current understanding of science and technology). Using a global-scale coordinate system when a micrometer-scale would fit much better is either an abuse of the system and a great waste of memory and computing power, or it means that a significant portion of the Earth's surface has been blanketed by quantum microscopes, which would be an abuse and a waste of many other things as well.<br />
|-<br />
| 40<br />
| 1.1 × 10<sup>–11</sup>&nbsp;ym (1.1 × 10<sup>–35</sup>&nbsp;m)<br />
| Near (or past) our current understanding of the nature of distance<br />
| This is where the resolution reaches the Planck length. At this scale, the very structure of spacetime (and thus, the notion of distance) may be different than what we know; measuring anything to Planck length precision would necessitate such tremendous amounts of energy in one place that it would inevitably create minuscule black holes.<br />
|}<br />
<nowiki>*</nowiki>Since the Earth is not exactly spherical, the actual length of one degree of latitude varies between 110.574 km (68.707 mi) at the equator and 111.694 km (69.403 mi) at the poles, while one degree of longitude is 111.320 km (69.171 mi) at the equator, 55.800 km (64.673 mi) at lat. 60°, and 0 km (0 mi) at the poles.<br />
<br />
==Transcript==<br />
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}<br />
:[Single panel containing a table with two columns for "Lat/Lon Precision" and "Meaning" and a caption above the table.]<br />
:Caption: What The Number of Digits in Your Coordinates Means<br />
<br />
:[Row 1]<br />
:Lat/Lon: 28&deg;N, 80&deg;W<br />
:Meaning: You're probably doing something space-related<br />
<br />
:[Row 2]<br />
:Lat/Lon: 28.5&deg;N, 80.6&deg;W<br />
:Meaning: You're pointing out a specific city<br />
<br />
:[Row 3]<br />
:Lat/Lon: 28.52&deg;N, 80.68&deg;W<br />
:Meaning: You're pointing out a neighborhood<br />
<br />
:[Row 4]<br />
:Lat/Lon: 28.523&deg;N, 80.683&deg;W<br />
:Meaning: You're pointing out a specific suburban cul-de-sac<br />
<br />
:[Row 5]<br />
:Lat/Lon: 28.5234&deg;N, 80.6830&deg;W<br />
:Meaning: You're pointing to a particular corner of a house<br />
<br />
:[Row 6]<br />
:Lat/Lon: 28.52345&deg;N, 80.68309&deg;W<br />
:Meaning: You're pointing to a specific person in a room, but since you didn't include datum information, we can't tell who<br />
<br />
:[Row 7]<br />
:Lat/Lon: 28.5234571&deg;N, 80.6830941&deg;W<br />
:Meaning: You're pointing to Waldo on a page<br />
<br />
:[Row 8]<br />
:Lat/Lon: 28.523457182&deg;N, 80.683094159&deg;W<br />
:Meaning: "Hey, check out this specific sand grain!"<br />
<br />
:[Row 9]<br />
:Lat/Lon: 28.523457182818284&deg;N, 80.683094159265358&deg;W<br />
:Meaning: Either you're handing out raw floating point variables, or you've built a database to track individual atoms. In either case, please stop.<br />
<br />
{{comic discussion}}</div>162.158.134.106https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=Talk:1819:_Sweet_16&diff=138297Talk:1819: Sweet 162017-04-04T09:34:57Z<p>162.158.134.106: </p>
<hr />
<div><!--Please sign your posts with ~~~~--><br />
I checked it out, if this truly is a basketball comp, then the 1988 Los Angeles Lakers win hands-down. [[User:Themanhimself11|Themanhimself11]] ([[User talk:Themanhimself11|talk]]) 10:25, 3 April 2017 (UTC)<br />
:The youngest members of the '88 Lakers are now in their 50s, which would be a significant handicap. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar is 69! The team with the best chance here is probably the regular basketball team wearing baseball equipment; with the exception of catcher's gear, it's the least restrictive of all the options.[[Special:Contributions/108.162.216.250|108.162.216.250]] 18:44, 3 April 2017 (UTC)<br />
:: Not if the baseball equipment includes cleats. [[Special:Contributions/172.68.58.101|172.68.58.101]] 01:10, 4 April 2017 (UTC)<br />
:This being Randall, they'll probably be playing basketball by Marquess of Queensberry rules. [[User:Nialpxe|Nialpxe]] ([[User talk:Nialpxe|talk]]) 11:22, 3 April 2017 (UTC)<br />
<br />
:A lot of people who play NBA 2K17 are actually good in real life, so they should have a pretty good chance.<br />
<br />
WHERE IS MY APRIL FOOLS DAY COMIC?? [[Special:Contributions/162.158.238.130|162.158.238.130]] 11:04, 3 April 2017 (UTC)<br />
<br />
Minor detail - NBA 2K17 is made by 2K Games, rather than EA. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.107.36|141.101.107.36]] 12:43, 3 April 2017 (UTC)<br />
:My bad. Must've confused it with the NBA Live series by EA. [[User:Nialpxe|Nialpxe]] ([[User talk:Nialpxe|talk]]) 14:31, 3 April 2017 (UTC)<br />
<br />
The additional text says, "Every year I make my bracket at the season ...." Should that say "at the end of the season"? --[[Special:Contributions/162.158.74.105|162.158.74.105]] 13:20, 3 April 2017 (UTC)<br />
:I was thinking it should say "at the beginning of the season," thus explaining why his bracket is busted before the postseason begins. Clearly ''something'' is missing! [[User:Miamiclay|Miamiclay]] ([[User talk:Miamiclay|talk]]) 15:52, 3 April 2017 (UTC)<br />
<br />
What we should explain for non-USA people to understand this comic is that it is an annual tradition to predict the full bracket of games and compare the predictions with friends and workmates. It's not just "a competition bracket": it's the annual "I'm trying to picture what would these opponents do". [[Special:Contributions/188.114.110.250|188.114.110.250]] 14:45, 3 April 2017 (UTC)<br />
<br />
The real question is, how long will it be before there's an XKCD Bracket II Twitter? [[Special:Contributions/172.68.58.173|172.68.58.173]] 15:27, 3 April 2017 (UTC)<br />
<br />
Could "A dog team with one human" be a reference to the Iditarod? [[Special:Contributions/162.158.75.166|162.158.75.166]] 19:36, 3 April 2017 (UTC)<br />
<br />
Could the basketball/baseball teams be a reference to Michael Jordan (in)famous 1993–1994 period during which he retired from basketball and played baseball instead? --[[Special:Contributions/162.158.134.106|162.158.134.106]] 09:34, 4 April 2017 (UTC)</div>162.158.134.106https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=1354:_Heartbleed_Explanation&diff=1357971354: Heartbleed Explanation2017-02-21T11:00:54Z<p>162.158.134.106: </p>
<hr />
<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 1354<br />
| date = April 11, 2014<br />
| title = Heartbleed Explanation<br />
| image = heartbleed_explanation.png<br />
| titletext = Are you still there, server? It's me, Margaret.<br />
}}<br />
<br />
==Explanation==<br />
The {{w|Heartbleed bug}} has received a lot of news coverage recently and was also the topic of the previous comic [[1353: Heartbleed]]. This comic explains how the bug may have been discovered and can be exploited to reveal a server's memory contents. <br />
<br />
A [[Megan]]-like character named Margaret (or "Meg") sends heartbeat requests to the server, the server responds to the heartbeat request by returning the contents of the body of the request up to the number of letters requested. The first two requests are well formed, requesting exactly the number of characters in the request body. The server's memory is showing Meg's request with many other requests going on at the same time.<br />
<br />
Meg then ponders this and tries to another request asking for "HAT" but requests that it be 500 letters long instead of only 3; the server —not checking it or simply unaware that 500 letters is larger than the request body— returns "HAT" plus 497 letters that happened to be next to the word "HAT" in its memory (more will follow than are shown in the server's speak bubble as there are only 251 letters/symbols in the shown reply). Included are many sensitive bits of information, including a master key and user passwords. One of the passwords shown is "CoHoBaSt", a reference to [[936: Password Strength]], which suggests using "<u>co</u>rrect <u>ho</u>rse <u>ba</u>ttery <u>st</u>aple" as a password.<br />
<br />
Often popular explanations of security bugs require the issue to be simplified a lot and to leave out a lot of details. In this case [[Randall]] didn't have to do much simplifying; the bug is actually that simple. Also, it should be noted that any client which can connect to the server typically can exploit this bug in the underlying {{w|OpenSSL software}} — the use of the term "User Meg" does not imply that Meg had to authenticate first.<br />
<br />
Although Randall shows Meg recording the data by hand, on paper, it is more likely that a person exploiting the bug would have a computer record the data, perhaps on its hard drive or on a flash drive.<br />
<br />
The title text is a reference to ''{{w|Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret.}}'', a novel by {{w|Judy Blume}}, and plays off of the "server, are you still there?" line in every panel where she did start a request. The novel is the theme of another comic [[1544: Margaret]] too. ''Meg'' can be a nickname for ''Margaret'' as well as ''[[Megan]]'' who Margret resembles.<br />
<br />
==Transcript==<br />
:[Caption above the panels:]<br />
:'''How the Heartbleed Bug works:'''<br />
<br />
:[Meg, a girl with more curly hair than Megan, stands to the left in a panel. At the center of the panel is a black and gray server with red and green diode lights showing. During all six panels the server stays the same. Meg is standing with her arms down in four panels. It will be noted when she does not. Meg talks to the server. The server "thinks" all the time, i.e. we see its memory in all panels. The top and bottom line is breaking the edge of the thought bubble making it difficult to discern. In every second panel it replies to Meg. In these panels the number of letters requested by Meg is highlighted with yellow color.]<br />
<br />
:[Meg speaks, server thinks:]<br />
:Meg: Server, are you still there? If so, reply "POTATO" (6 letters).<br />
:Server thinking: <tt>wans pages about "boats". User Erica requests secure connection using key "4538538374224" '''User Meg wants these 6 letters: POTATO.''' User Ada wants pages about "irl games". Unlocking secure records with master key 5130985733435. Maggie (chrome user) sends this message: "Hi</tt><br />
<br />
:[Server thinks, the same as above, although cut a little different at the edges, with POTATO highlighted in yellow and it replies the highlighted part in a rectangular speak bubble.]<br />
:Server thinking: <tt>wans pages about "boats". User Erica requests secure connection using key "4538538374224". '''User Meg wants these 6 letters: POTATO.''' User Ada wants pages about "irl games". Unlocking secure records with master key 5130985733435. Maggie (chrome user) sends this message: "H</tt><br />
:Server: <tt>POTATO</tt><br />
<br />
:[Meg speaks, server thinks:]<br />
:Meg: Server, are you still there? If so, reply "BIRD" (4 letters).<br />
:Server thinking: <tt>User Olivia from London wants pages about "man bees in car why". Note: Files for IP 375.381.283.17 are in /tmp/files-3843. '''User Meg wants these 4 letters: BIRD.''' There are currently 348 connections open. User Brendan uploaded the file selfie.jpg (contents: 834ba962e2ceb9ff89bd3bff8c</tt>...<br />
<br />
:[Server thinks, the same as above, although cut a little different at the edges, with BIRD highlighted in yellow and it replies the highlighted part in a rectangular speak bubble. Meg has taken her hand to her chin thinking:]<br />
<br />
:Server thinking: <tt>User Olivia from London wants pages about "man bees in car why". Note: Files for IP 375.381.283.17 are in /tmp/files-3843. '''User Meg wants these 4 letters: BIRD.''' There are currently 348 connections open. User Brendan uploaded the file selfie.jpg (contents:</tt><br />
:Server: <tt>BIRD</tt><br />
:Meg: ''Hmm...''<br />
<br />
:[Meg has taken her hand down again and speaks, server thinks, now with her line at the top:]<br />
<br />
:Meg: Server, are you still there? If so, reply "HAT" (500 letters).<br />
:Server memory: <tt>a connection. Jake requested pictures of deer. '''User Meg wants these 500 letters: HAT.''' Lucas requests the "missed connections" page. Eve (administrator) wants to set server's master key to "14835038534". Isabel wants pages about "snakes but not too long". User Karen wants to change account password to "CoHoBaSt". User</tt><br />
<br />
:[Server thinks, the same as above, although cut a little different at the edges, with everything from (and including) "HAT" highlighted in yellow and it replies the highlighted part and even more in a rectangular speak bubble. Meg has taken a note book and a pen and it writing something.:]<br />
<br />
:Server memory: <tt>a connection. Jake requested pictures of deer. '''User Meg wants these 500 letters: HAT.''' Lucas requests the "missed connections" page. Eve (administrator) wants to set server's master key to "14835038534". Isabel wants pages about "snakes but not too long". User Karen wants to change account password to "CoHoBaSt". User</tt><br />
:Server: <tt>HAT. Lucas requests the "missed connections" page. Eve (administrator) wants to set server's key to "14835038534". Isabel wants pages about "snakes but not too long". User Karen wants to change account password to "CoHoBaSt". User Amber requests pages</tt><br />
<br />
{{comic discussion}}<br />
<br />
[[Category:Comics with color]]<br />
[[Category:Computers]]</div>162.158.134.106https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=271:_Powers_of_One&diff=135138271: Powers of One2017-02-13T09:21:20Z<p>162.158.134.106: </p>
<hr />
<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 271<br />
| date = June 1, 2007<br />
| title = Powers of One<br />
| image = powers_of_one.png<br />
| titletext = It's kinda Zen when you think about it, if you don't think too hard.<br />
}}<br />
<br />
==Explanation==<br />
This is a parody of the short documentary {{w|Powers of Ten (film)|"Powers of 10"}}, which can be found [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0fKBhvDjuy0 here].<br />
<br />
As in the documentary, the comic features a man and a woman having a picnic on a blanket. In the documentary, the apparent distance from the scene, and thus the zoom level, gradually changes by a factor of ten every ten seconds (hence the name "Powers of 10": 1, 10, 100, ...). In the comic, powers of one are used. Since all powers of 1 are 1, the image doesn't change at all, showing a series of identical images.<br />
<br />
The title text refers to the {{w|Zen}} meditation ({{w|zazen}}), in which the meditator is supposed to suspend all judgmental thinking and let thoughts pass by without eliciting them consciously and without getting involved in them.<br />
<br />
==Transcript==<br />
:[A sequence, presumably continuing endlessly in both directions, of identical images of a couple lying on a chequered blanket, with a picnic basket, on grass. Each image has a rule at the bottom giving measurements in meters, with the scale in terms of 1 to a particular power. The powers visible are the -1th (part), 0th-2nd, and 3rd (part).]<br />
<br />
{{comic discussion}}<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]</div>162.158.134.106https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=Talk:1785:_Wifi&diff=133669Talk:1785: Wifi2017-01-13T12:18:17Z<p>162.158.134.106: </p>
<hr />
<div><!--Please sign your posts with ~~~~--><br />
This, I believe, is in reference to things like [https://www.dd-wrt.com/site/ DD-WRT], where someone with knowledge may install it to 'improve' your router. If done right, it can increase the speed and stability, if not, it can brick it. [[Special:Contributions/172.68.78.70|172.68.78.70]] 05:23, 13 January 2017 (UTC) That's what I thought too! Girish, [[Special:Contributions/162.158.166.197|162.158.166.197]] 05:27, 13 January 2017 (UTC)<br />
I installed Hurd on my router dont judge me ok. --[[Special:Contributions/162.158.91.137|162.158.91.137]] 06:14, 13 January 2017 (UTC)<br />
I doubt it is referring to router firmware. The tech-savviness is of the housguest, not of the router owner (though, I can easily imagine somebody updating host router). --[[Special:Contributions/162.158.134.106|162.158.134.106]] 12:18, 13 January 2017 (UTC) <br />
<br />
:Some devices need operational firmware downloaded to them after reset, so it's handled at boot time by a firmware downloader. A typical example is devices which have s DSP in them; the DSP's code would be loaded into the device's RAM designated for the purpose. For Wi-Fi, it might handle the low level details of associating with an AP, performing the WPA2 protocol for example so the device looks for the most part logically like any other network interface, e.g. Ethernet. In this case, it would have nothing to do with the firmware in the Wi-Fi AP.<br />
:[[User:RChandra|RChandra]] ([[User talk:RChandra|talk]]) 12:05, 13 January 2017 (UTC)<br />
<br />
''“In most systems this just works but in the case of more geeky operating systems, like GNU/Linux, it needs to be installed separately.”'' Ironically, it's quite the opposite these days. On a fresh Windows install you typically have no network drivers, but with a lot of GNU/Linux distros you have network out of the box. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.105.60|141.101.105.60]] 09:25, 13 January 2017 (UTC)<br />
:I would agree with you on wired connections there, but with the most common Intel or Broadcom WLAN chipsets on laptops it's the other way around. Windows works out of the box (maybe downloads a newer driver from Windows Update once you set up the Internet connection), while especially libre Linux distributions (which are inherently "geekier", because they focus on the political aspect of Free Software instead of something that Just Werks™) lack the non-free firmware required to drive those parts. ''TisTheAlmondTavern'' 10:11, 13 January 2017 (UTC)</div>162.158.134.106https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=Talk:1781:_Artifacts&diff=133331Talk:1781: Artifacts2017-01-05T10:50:40Z<p>162.158.134.106: </p>
<hr />
<div><!--Please sign your posts with ~~~~--><br />
Wouldnt data entirely made of outliners just be ..regular measurements that just yields different results?[[User:West|&#35;GoWest-West]] ([[User talk:West|talk]]) 13:59, 4 January 2017 (UTC)<br />
<br />
One possibility for the alt-text scenario:<br />
Consider an n-dimensional dataset consisting of n points. Arbitrarily assign total orders to the data points and the dimensions. For the most part, every measurement is drawn from a standard Gaussian with mean 0 stdev 1, except the ith dimension of the ith point has a value of n. <br />
: Though this is really fascinating idea, I think that it is not completely correct. You would need to define outliers in each dimension separately. If you's use n-dimensional distance, the points will be all roughly equidistant from the mean. --[[Special:Contributions/162.158.134.106|162.158.134.106]] 10:42, 5 January 2017 (UTC)<br />
: I think therefore that "One way to have a data set composed entirely of outliers would be a data set with N points, in an N-dimentional space, where each point is zero for every dimension except one, unique to itself.[http://math.stackexchange.com/questions/1302395/n-points-can-be-equidistant-from-each-other-only-in-dimensions-ge-n-1] All these points are equidistant from each other." should be removed from the text. In an equidistant data set, no point is an outlier.--[[Special:Contributions/162.158.134.106|162.158.134.106]] 10:50, 5 January 2017 (UTC)<br />
<br />
<br />
The graph that Cueball is showing looks like the graph from the EM drive paper. Maybe Randall is poking fun at the EM drive with this comic? [[User:Cgplover|Cgplover]] ([[User talk:Cgplover|talk]]) 14:15, 4 January 2017 (UTC)<br />
<br />
It does look like the Full Resonance tuner sweep graph [[Special:Contributions/108.162.237.238|108.162.237.238]] 15:12, 4 January 2017 (UTC)<br />
<br />
Why the emphasis on HAVE in the alttext instead of, say, ENTIRELY?<br />
: I see no issue with this. The speaker is clearly focusing on the probability of the situation. If anything, I'd say that this emphasis is intended to underline the competence, or lack thereof, of the researcher, which is in line with the mocking tone previously given. Not emphasizing HAVE would more indicate the speaker is accepting of the results, but is still surprised by them. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.2.10|162.158.2.10]] 15:40, 4 January 2017 (UTC)<br />
<br />
Is there also a suggestion that Indiana Jones didn't properly handle artifacts he dealt with?<br />
: Depends... Does dropping the Holy Grail down a crevice count as "not properly"? [[Special:Contributions/162.158.2.10|162.158.2.10]] 15:40, 4 January 2017 (UTC)<br />
::I also think that that could be a reference to him holding an artifact while running from that giant boulder. Could be. IDK. --[[User:JayRulesXKCD|JayRulesXKCD]] ([[User talk:JayRulesXKCD|talk]]) 15:58, 4 January 2017 (UTC)<br />
<br />
I have the feeling that I've seen this comic before. Is there another comic where Cueball gives a presentation and is then dissed by his audience? [[Special:Contributions/162.158.89.223|162.158.89.223]] 15:36, 4 January 2017 (UTC)<br />
:I think you are referring to the one where he is talking about emoticons and parentheses (for example, :)), then gets kicked out of the convention center. --[[User:JayRulesXKCD|JayRulesXKCD]] ([[User talk:JayRulesXKCD|talk]]) 16:35, 4 January 2017 (UTC)<br />
<br />
:Yeah, check out [https://xkcd.com/410 #410: Math Paper] and [https://xkcd.com/323 #323 Ballmer Peak], see if those ring a bell. And as Jay mentions, there is also [https://xkcd.com/541 TED Talk].[[Special:Contributions/108.162.215.100|108.162.215.100]] 20:02, 4 January 2017 (UTC)<br />
<br />
To me, the point of the comic is the mistake in the first sentence. "Data" is plural and so the correct wording would have been "the data clearly prove that...". The last sentence points out the error -- there are lots of items on the poster and he didn't handle them correctly -- as a plural -- in the initial statement. The capitalization of HAVE also seems to be a clue that "plural" is the theme ("it has" versus "they have"). [[User:Ibid|Ibid]] ([[User talk:Ibid|talk]]) 16:19, 4 January 2017 (UTC)<br />
:I'm pretty sure that argument has been addressed in a previous comic, or at least something similar. Linguistic drift changes the way words are used, and as long as the listener understands the speaker, there isn't really a reason to correct it. Also, it's more of a collective term than plural, which in American English use singular parts of speech. Plus, I'm of the camp that believes that loanwords should be treated as part of the language they are joining, rather than the one they are from. English is complicated enough with its Germanic, Greek, Latin, and ''specifically'' French components all contradicting each other on how they should be spelled and pronounced. --[[User:KingStarscream|KingStarscream]] ([[User talk:KingStarscream|talk]]) 16:50, 4 January 2017 (UTC)<br />
:As far as the ''point'' of the comic being about him using the word incorrectly, that doesn't seem likely considering that the heckler talks about the data chart in the alt text as well. Using a word incorrectly wouldn't be considered an artifact, though the supposition about how it should be used can be in a way. As for the capitalization, it's for emphasis and sarcasm. --[[User:KingStarscream|KingStarscream]] ([[User talk:KingStarscream|talk]]) 17:03, 4 January 2017 (UTC)<br />
:I don't think it's even ''relevant'' to quip on grammar in this explanation. Besides that, "data" here refers to the singular object of "collection of data", and as such I would think "the data ''proves''" is most correct. --[[Special:Contributions/108.162.245.226|108.162.245.226]] 19:48, 4 January 2017 (UTC)<br />
:Working in a field that uses lots of data and often uses the word "data" in formal publications, I concur with others that it is commonly and acceptably used as a "group noun" which is treated as singular. While datum is sometimes used as a technical term (I most often see it referencing a fixed line or plane used as a reference in geometry or Computer Aided Design), it is almost never used as the singular for "data." Whenever it begins to be tempting to treat it as plural and an editorial argument breaks out, I often recommend changing to "data point" or "data set" or similar for clarity. My point is that a grammatical debate here is pedantic, moot, and unrelated to the comic. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.237.208|108.162.237.208]] 19:59, 4 January 2017 (UTC)<br />
:Also we already know that Randall Munroe pokes fun at grammar pedants for this exact word from his comic "Data". [[Special:Contributions/108.162.237.208|108.162.237.208]] 20:23, 4 January 2017 (UTC)<br />
<br />
== Artifacts versus artifacts (artefacts?) ==<br />
<br />
When I first read this I thought it was referencing image compression artifacts. Like he has a chunk of visual aid onscreen but it's all blocky and blurry and stuff. All the statistics stuff mentioned here didn't even cross my mind. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.241.52|108.162.241.52]] 23:01, 4 January 2017 (UTC)<br />
<br />
To whoever edited the title, topic OP here: artefact is the Brit spelling, artifact the North American one. As for me, I'm a Canada-Brit dual citizen who uses S's a lot ("stigmatised") but will miss the occasional Brittier spelling. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.75.76|162.158.75.76]] 10:22, 5 January 2017 (UTC)</div>162.158.134.106https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=Talk:1781:_Artifacts&diff=133330Talk:1781: Artifacts2017-01-05T10:42:21Z<p>162.158.134.106: </p>
<hr />
<div><!--Please sign your posts with ~~~~--><br />
Wouldnt data entirely made of outliners just be ..regular measurements that just yields different results?[[User:West|&#35;GoWest-West]] ([[User talk:West|talk]]) 13:59, 4 January 2017 (UTC)<br />
<br />
One possibility for the alt-text scenario:<br />
Consider an n-dimensional dataset consisting of n points. Arbitrarily assign total orders to the data points and the dimensions. For the most part, every measurement is drawn from a standard Gaussian with mean 0 stdev 1, except the ith dimension of the ith point has a value of n. <br />
: Though this is really fascinating idea, I think that it is not completely correct. You would need to define outliers in each dimension separately. If you's use n-dimensional distance, the points will be all roughly equidistant from the mean. --[[Special:Contributions/162.158.134.106|162.158.134.106]] 10:42, 5 January 2017 (UTC)<br />
<br />
<br />
The graph that Cueball is showing looks like the graph from the EM drive paper. Maybe Randall is poking fun at the EM drive with this comic? [[User:Cgplover|Cgplover]] ([[User talk:Cgplover|talk]]) 14:15, 4 January 2017 (UTC)<br />
<br />
It does look like the Full Resonance tuner sweep graph [[Special:Contributions/108.162.237.238|108.162.237.238]] 15:12, 4 January 2017 (UTC)<br />
<br />
Why the emphasis on HAVE in the alttext instead of, say, ENTIRELY?<br />
: I see no issue with this. The speaker is clearly focusing on the probability of the situation. If anything, I'd say that this emphasis is intended to underline the competence, or lack thereof, of the researcher, which is in line with the mocking tone previously given. Not emphasizing HAVE would more indicate the speaker is accepting of the results, but is still surprised by them. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.2.10|162.158.2.10]] 15:40, 4 January 2017 (UTC)<br />
<br />
Is there also a suggestion that Indiana Jones didn't properly handle artifacts he dealt with?<br />
: Depends... Does dropping the Holy Grail down a crevice count as "not properly"? [[Special:Contributions/162.158.2.10|162.158.2.10]] 15:40, 4 January 2017 (UTC)<br />
::I also think that that could be a reference to him holding an artifact while running from that giant boulder. Could be. IDK. --[[User:JayRulesXKCD|JayRulesXKCD]] ([[User talk:JayRulesXKCD|talk]]) 15:58, 4 January 2017 (UTC)<br />
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I have the feeling that I've seen this comic before. Is there another comic where Cueball gives a presentation and is then dissed by his audience? [[Special:Contributions/162.158.89.223|162.158.89.223]] 15:36, 4 January 2017 (UTC)<br />
:I think you are referring to the one where he is talking about emoticons and parentheses (for example, :)), then gets kicked out of the convention center. --[[User:JayRulesXKCD|JayRulesXKCD]] ([[User talk:JayRulesXKCD|talk]]) 16:35, 4 January 2017 (UTC)<br />
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:Yeah, check out [https://xkcd.com/410 #410: Math Paper] and [https://xkcd.com/323 #323 Ballmer Peak], see if those ring a bell. And as Jay mentions, there is also [https://xkcd.com/541 TED Talk].[[Special:Contributions/108.162.215.100|108.162.215.100]] 20:02, 4 January 2017 (UTC)<br />
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To me, the point of the comic is the mistake in the first sentence. "Data" is plural and so the correct wording would have been "the data clearly prove that...". The last sentence points out the error -- there are lots of items on the poster and he didn't handle them correctly -- as a plural -- in the initial statement. The capitalization of HAVE also seems to be a clue that "plural" is the theme ("it has" versus "they have"). [[User:Ibid|Ibid]] ([[User talk:Ibid|talk]]) 16:19, 4 January 2017 (UTC)<br />
:I'm pretty sure that argument has been addressed in a previous comic, or at least something similar. Linguistic drift changes the way words are used, and as long as the listener understands the speaker, there isn't really a reason to correct it. Also, it's more of a collective term than plural, which in American English use singular parts of speech. Plus, I'm of the camp that believes that loanwords should be treated as part of the language they are joining, rather than the one they are from. English is complicated enough with its Germanic, Greek, Latin, and ''specifically'' French components all contradicting each other on how they should be spelled and pronounced. --[[User:KingStarscream|KingStarscream]] ([[User talk:KingStarscream|talk]]) 16:50, 4 January 2017 (UTC)<br />
:As far as the ''point'' of the comic being about him using the word incorrectly, that doesn't seem likely considering that the heckler talks about the data chart in the alt text as well. Using a word incorrectly wouldn't be considered an artifact, though the supposition about how it should be used can be in a way. As for the capitalization, it's for emphasis and sarcasm. --[[User:KingStarscream|KingStarscream]] ([[User talk:KingStarscream|talk]]) 17:03, 4 January 2017 (UTC)<br />
:I don't think it's even ''relevant'' to quip on grammar in this explanation. Besides that, "data" here refers to the singular object of "collection of data", and as such I would think "the data ''proves''" is most correct. --[[Special:Contributions/108.162.245.226|108.162.245.226]] 19:48, 4 January 2017 (UTC)<br />
:Working in a field that uses lots of data and often uses the word "data" in formal publications, I concur with others that it is commonly and acceptably used as a "group noun" which is treated as singular. While datum is sometimes used as a technical term (I most often see it referencing a fixed line or plane used as a reference in geometry or Computer Aided Design), it is almost never used as the singular for "data." Whenever it begins to be tempting to treat it as plural and an editorial argument breaks out, I often recommend changing to "data point" or "data set" or similar for clarity. My point is that a grammatical debate here is pedantic, moot, and unrelated to the comic. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.237.208|108.162.237.208]] 19:59, 4 January 2017 (UTC)<br />
:Also we already know that Randall Munroe pokes fun at grammar pedants for this exact word from his comic "Data". [[Special:Contributions/108.162.237.208|108.162.237.208]] 20:23, 4 January 2017 (UTC)<br />
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== Artifacts versus artifacts (artefacts?) ==<br />
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When I first read this I thought it was referencing image compression artifacts. Like he has a chunk of visual aid onscreen but it's all blocky and blurry and stuff. All the statistics stuff mentioned here didn't even cross my mind. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.241.52|108.162.241.52]] 23:01, 4 January 2017 (UTC)<br />
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To whoever edited the title, topic OP here: artefact is the Brit spelling, artifact the North American one. As for me, I'm a Canada-Brit dual citizen who uses S's a lot ("stigmatised") but will miss the occasional Brittier spelling. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.75.76|162.158.75.76]] 10:22, 5 January 2017 (UTC)</div>162.158.134.106