https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/api.php?action=feedcontributions&user=162.158.159.95&feedformat=atomexplain xkcd - User contributions [en]2024-03-29T14:09:25ZUser contributionsMediaWiki 1.30.0https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=User_talk:256.256.256.256&diff=292087User talk:256.256.256.2562022-08-05T12:08:18Z<p>162.158.159.95: Me again, for the last(?) time. Knowing that it's not possible for you to be quite sure.</p>
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<!-- Ha, nice one, with the above. Don't want to spoil the effect, but I remember when you started and created/renamed your account so know you'll find a way to read this if you're still as technically-minded. But just wanted to say that I revertednone article back to the standard fake {{template|Citation needed}} from the differently faked one because I did not understand the purpose of over-(de-?)egging the joke. Plus I reverted the "he/she"=>"they" you did because (though I'm a user of "they" myself, in reference to as-yet-unknown singular persons) it's probably going to be a contestable issue amongst others, but '''mainly''' because it's in someone else's signed words (I presume, no particular reason to believe it was your own comment under an anon-IP) and it is considered rude to 'correct' such things. Obviously, you could have (other) very good reasons for either edit, but it was unclear in the Edit Summaries. Redo them and I'll leave them alone, but give a better reasoning just in case another person thinks as I just did. Now, I suspect that the tildes won't even *try* to resolve if I sign this rambling commented-out paragraph, so if it doesn't just accept that I'm an anon-IP writing on 5/Aug/2022 (give or take locality), as the edit-history will also show. ;) ~~~~ PS. Just remove/revert this away again once you've read it, if you want.<br />
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Hello VPN user who is sometimes using the IP 141.101.99.242, thank you for reverting both of those. The <sup>[<i><font color="blue">citation needed</font></i>]</sup> one was technically a (in my opinion)harmless piece of vandalism, so it's correct to revert that. Regarding the other one: I hadn't realized that it's been part of someone's signed comment, and have afterwards adjusted what pages I was searching in. I haven't changed any other signed comments or discussion posts, thank you for reverting that one, as that one really was rude.<br />
Since this is hidden from everyone's first glance anyways, I'll just leave it.<br />
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Me again... Seems like you're on a quest. I'm *not* reverting your non-Talk exits, but still think that some people will find "they" less preferable than the long-form (that also excludes any non-binary, I know), for one reason or another. Mass-changing will just attract such reactionaries. Just sayin'... (ineffectual squiggles here)<br />
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Some people definitely will, but on most other pages the singular they is used anyways and this was more cleaning up the last few bits than a big long quest. I don't think that anyone else is going to reverse it, thank you for voicing your concern though.<br />
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:It's because I knew you were historically a good editor (generally) that I didn't think it was a vandalism, in either case and thought I better check with you after the first two iffy changes. Nice to see that you're responsive in the right way, like I thought. A bit dissappointed the CN-changing wasn't some actual joke that I just hadn't noticed the sense of.<br />
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:Probably wouldn't have batted an eyelid if you'd jumped straight to unsigned text editing (it happens all the time - and, as you say, has been done intermittently elsewhere without too much objection), it was just that it didn't seem realistic that you were exiting (...n.b., I keep hitting "x" instead of "d" in "edit", stupid fiddly on-screen keyboard with zero haptic feedback!) something you claimed as your own and wanted to tidy up, which raised my concern.<br />
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:Anyway, here we are. And I'm not really using a VPN, it's just the vaguaries of the Cloudflare gateway I go through (funnels me through a range of IPs, but not at my own behest or under my control), but I agree it makes things confusing sometimes. You know, I particularly remember you popping up onto the scene because I was seriously thinking of a username (at last) and was wondering if I should fake an impossible IP (having seen someone else spoof a practical one) then suddenly you arrived. You rotter! You pinched my joke! ;) And I never did bother to register properly, as you see.<br />
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:So, anyway, that's why I feel I know you a little. In a good way. Even if you've not always been so active between then and now.<br />
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:The question now might be why am I indenting these paragraphs, when they won't be rendered? Well, really just to make it more obvious for anyone else reading our conversation here. Which I think has now covered everything. Take care, and hello to all the other eavesdroppers out there who are paying attention to this. Didn't want it to go this far, but it did. Whoops! I'd indeed delete it, if I were you, knowing that it's still findable inside the edit-history anyway.<br />
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: ( Tilde Tilde Tilde Tilde ) :P<br />
--></div>162.158.159.95https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=Talk:2651:_Air_Gap&diff=291089Talk:2651: Air Gap2022-07-29T17:11:57Z<p>162.158.159.95: </p>
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Worth noting that this is a large and inefficient version of an [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Opto-isolator opto-isolator] [[Special:Contributions/108.162.221.79|108.162.221.79]] 05:37, 28 July 2022 (UTC)<br />
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: Incandescent light bulb (assuming it the lamp does not use LED in the shape of light bulb) is not only less efficient than diode, but also much slower to warm up and cool down - it usually is much more sensitive to rapid switching, and has shorter life counted in the number of on/off cycles. --[[User:JakubNarebski|JakubNarebski]] ([[User talk:JakubNarebski|talk]]) 07:45, 28 July 2022 (UTC)<br />
:: There’s not even any indication that the bulb is shaped like an incandescent bulb. Only that the front of the light (either fixture or bulb) is a convex curve. For all we know that could be a lens or diffuser in front of a flat LED. Whoever wrote that needs to go back and walk, because the claim that an incandescent bulb is depicted is quite simply false.[[Special:Contributions/172.71.142.89|172.71.142.89]] 10:35, 28 July 2022 (UTC)<br />
::: The warmup and cooldown delays mentioned in the title text must imply an incandescent bulb, mustn't they? [[Special:Contributions/172.70.210.145|172.70.210.145]] 03:29, 29 July 2022 (UTC)<br />
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: I don't think it's less or more efficient than an opto-isolator, it essentially ''is'' just an opto-isolator. But an opto-isolator isn't supposed to be energy efficient to begin with; it's only designed to transmit data between circuits, not power. So the output side only needs to generate enough voltage/current to change the state of a transistor, and the input side only needs to generate enough light for the output side to do that. The voltages and currents involved aren't comparable to power circuits. --[[User:NeatNit|NeatNit]] ([[User talk:NeatNit|talk]]) 08:14, 28 July 2022 (UTC)<br />
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: By the way, wikipedia links can be written like this: <code><nowiki>[[wikipedia:opto-isolator|]]</nowiki></code> result: [[wikipedia:opto-isolator|opto-isolator]] (the final <code>|</code> automatically gets expanded to the article title without the <code>wikipedia:</code> prefix). --[[User:NeatNit|NeatNit]] ([[User talk:NeatNit|talk]]) 08:26, 28 July 2022 (UTC)<br />
::Or more often here on ExplainXkcd, <code><nowiki>{{w|article}}</nowiki></code> or <code><nowiki>{{w|article|anchor text}}</nowiki></code>. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.206.213|172.70.206.213]] 08:35, 28 July 2022 (UTC)<br />
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::: Yes, thanks :) although there is a tiiiiiny advantage to the direct link without the template (the way I said), <code><nowiki>[[wikipedia:Pipe (computing)|]]</nowiki></code> becomes [[wikipedia:Pipe (computing)|Pipe]] whereas <code><nowiki>{{w|Pipe (computing)}}</nowiki></code> becomes {{w|Pipe (computing)}}. The pipe trick strips out the disambiguation parts of the title according to [[Wikipedia:Help:Pipe trick|some rules]]. --[[User:NeatNit|NeatNit]] ([[User talk:NeatNit|talk]]) 12:30, 28 July 2022 (UTC)<br />
:::: Why not <code><nowiki>{{w|Pipe (computing)|pipe}}</nowiki></code>? [[Special:Contributions/172.70.214.95|172.70.214.95]] 15:18, 28 July 2022 (UTC)<br />
:::::Yes we always use the <code><nowiki>{{w|xkcd|xkcd comic}}</nowiki></code> format here on explain to make {{w|xkcd|xkcd comic}} these links. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 09:16, 29 July 2022 (UTC)<br />
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It is missing that air-gapping the power supply would protect your home from voltage surges in the power network caused by lightning strikes. Depending where the lightning hits the power network, there may be no fuses protecting your home or single fuses may fail to protect you. --[[Special:Contributions/172.70.246.115|172.70.246.115]] 07:57, 28 July 2022 (UTC)<br />
:That is true. But the suggestion that this might have anything to do with general energy security (as is currently very prominent in the explanation) is entirely unconvincing to me.<br />
::I also originally thought this was the main joke, until seeing the title text about bit rate. Certainly it's worth mentioning, even if this isn't the main joke, since it would actually work, with a wide enough gap, ideally with a vacuum in between.<br />
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Incandescent light bulbs convert most of their energy to infrared light. There are solar cells that work in this infrared spectrum, so this might not be all that inefficient as stated. This should in fact be a lot more efficient than any LED+visible spectrum based panel, as incandescent bulbs are very efficient in converting electricity into infrared light, much more than LEDs most likely will ever be.<br />
The (mostly) omnidirectionality of the light source might be an even bigger loss, as most of the light (however efficient) does not even reach the panel.<br />
And regarding sending data over this construct: As soon as there's a 0V state (which will be the case as soon as the transmission starts, due to some form of manchester coding, regardless of it being a 0 or 1 bit) the PC behind the solar panel would not only have a data transmission problem :)<br />
(With incandescent bulb, that is. A LED 0V might be short enough for capacitors in the PC's power supply to buffer it, if it is only at 50%(+PSU conversion loss) load max, as manchester coded signals per definition have a duty cycle of 50% to keep the DC bias at 0V)<br />
[[Special:Contributions/172.68.51.204|172.68.51.204]] 08:26, 28 July 2022 (UTC)<br />
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What is the highest wattage commercial opto-isolator, and how can I get one mounted from the ceiling in my bedroom? [[Special:Contributions/172.70.207.8|172.70.207.8]] 14:10, 28 July 2022 (UTC)<br />
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I wonder if it's worth noting the significant understatement within the title text, where it says "the bitrate does drop a little" in contrast to the severe and drastic drop in bitrate that would actually occur, especially in light of today's typical Internet speeds. It might not be worth mentioning, but it struck me as a humorous understatement of the true impact. [[User:Ianrbibtitlht|Ianrbibtitlht]] ([[User talk:Ianrbibtitlht|talk]]) 14:25, 28 July 2022 (UTC)<br />
:We don't know if the light bulb is incandescent or LED, so we can't describe the bandwidth drop other than in very general terms. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.211.88|172.70.211.88]] 15:34, 28 July 2022 (UTC)<br />
:: It's safe to say the warmup and cooldown delays mentioned in the title text imply an incandescent bulb. Is there a standard or average response time for household bulb incandescent filaments? [[Special:Contributions/172.70.214.43|172.70.214.43]] 03:33, 29 July 2022 (UTC)<br />
::: Maybe this helps? https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/abstract/document/5625426 [[Special:Contributions/172.70.142.21|172.70.142.21]] 06:51, 29 July 2022 (UTC)<br />
:::: Yes! [https://tigerprints.clemson.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1961&context=all_theses Figure 1.10 seems to suggest that frequencies above 10 Hz are filtered,] and that seems consistent with Figure 3.14, in that recovery time is a tenth of a second (though drop-off "cooldown" time is much shorter.) So if I remember my {{w|Binary Golay code|modem math,}} even with the most sophisticated coding, anything more than 640 bits per second should be impossible. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.33.225|172.69.33.225]] 07:39, 29 July 2022 (UTC)<br />
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I'm almost tempted to suggest that this should be an (honourary) addition to the Cursed Connectors comic-collection. [[Special:Contributions/172.71.94.187|172.71.94.187]] 14:56, 28 July 2022 (UTC)<br />
:I agree that it reminds me of some of those. But it could never be added to the category, as it misses the cursed connector name and number. But I have added a mention of the similarity here above, and also mentioned it on the [[:Category:Cursed Connectors]] page. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 09:22, 29 July 2022 (UTC)<br />
:It's a cursed ''dis''connector. [[User:Barmar|Barmar]] ([[User talk:Barmar|talk]]) 15:24, 29 July 2022 (UTC)<br />
::{{w|Dis (Divine Comedy)|Dis}}-connectors are always cursed! ;) [[Special:Contributions/162.158.159.95|162.158.159.95]] 17:11, 29 July 2022 (UTC)<br />
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Yes, solar panels can transform electrical into electromagnetic signals. It is more on the side of the incandescent bulb that the capability to receive and forward these signals is missing. My source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TGUteH93xNo<br />
[[User:Torge|Torge]] ([[User talk:Torge|talk]]) 15:11, 28 July 2022 (UTC)<br />
: Interesting! [[Special:Contributions/172.70.142.21|172.70.142.21]] 06:51, 29 July 2022 (UTC)<br />
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Nobody caught on that powerline networking is about sending data through powerlines? or that a crude opto-isolation setup could effectively scrub it? Where my networking geeks at? I am disappoint [[Special:Contributions/172.69.71.51|172.69.71.51]] 15:19, 28 July 2022 (UTC)<br />
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An electrical engineer here: perhaps we should mention that the box pictured after the solar panel must be an inverter? The lightbulb/solar panel pair will be acting as a rectifier, putting out purely positive voltage, and to get back to AC to run appliances on there would need to be an inverter.<br />
[[Special:Contributions/172.69.62.49|172.69.62.49]] 01:10, 29 July 2022 (UTC)<br />
:Can you please help out with the argument about rectifier efficiency at [[2642]]? [[Special:Contributions/172.70.214.95|172.70.214.95]] 03:24, 29 July 2022 (UTC)<br />
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Most of the bulbs in my house (before compact flourescent and LED) were 75 Watt or 100 Watt. 50 Watt would be a very dim bulb.<br />
: Mice wouldn't agree. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.214.43|172.70.214.43]] 05:05, 29 July 2022 (UTC)<br />
::In Denmark 60 Watt was standard, with 100 and 150 possible in some lamps. <br />
--[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 09:22, 29 July 2022 (UTC)<br />
There are actually usecases for optical power links. For example electric field probes use this: https://www.raditeq.com/products/electric-field-probes/<br />
--[[User:Casandro|Casandro]] ([[User talk:Casandro|talk]]) 08:10, 29 July 2022 (UTC)</div>162.158.159.95https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=2650:_Deepfakes&diff=2908772650: Deepfakes2022-07-26T21:16:11Z<p>162.158.159.95: /* Explanation */ It makes me wonder what a Google Image Search might have revealed of the (not directly cut out) book images. A bit of crowd-research might have revealed the coincidence of figure postures fairly quickly.</p>
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<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 2650<br />
| date = July 25, 2022<br />
| title = Deepfakes<br />
| image = deepfakes.png<br />
| titletext = If so great a deductive mind as Arthur Conan Doyle can be fooled by the Cottingley Deepfakes, what chance do we mortals have? Soon our very reality will be dictated by the whims of Frances (9) and Elsie (16).<br />
}}<br />
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==Explanation==<br />
{{incomplete|Created by a DEEPFAKE - Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}<br />
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A {{w|deepfake}} is an altered video, designed to deceive by replacing a person in a video. [[White Hat]] believes that this technology will make it difficult to trust videos. However, [[Cueball]] responds by saying that "fakes" have always existed, in photos (either through {{w|photoshopping|alterations by software such as Adobe Photoshop}}, or deliberately staging faked images, e.g. {{w|Loch Ness Monster#%22Surgeon's photograph%22 (1934)|of the Loch Ness Monster}}) and even more so by people simply lying. White Hat comes around to Cueball's position and says that even the written word is prone to deception and lying.<br />
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Scientific studies of deepfakes have produced surprising results, suggesting that they are more likely to increase uncertainty than persuade,[https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/2056305120903408] that their increased prevalence could inoculate the public against {{w|disinformation}},[https://dspace.cuni.cz/handle/20.500.11956/150489] and that they are more likely to be shared because of their humorousness than persuasiveness.[http://essay.utwente.nl/91654/] Other studies have found that deepfakes are persuasive, especially among those who are unfamiliar with them.[https://www.liebertpub.com/doi/abs/10.1089/cyber.2020.0174][https://www.osti.gov/biblio/1780812]<br />
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The {{w|complaint tablet to Ea-nasir}} is a 3,800 year-old clay tablet containing the oldest known written complaint, in which a customer complains to a merchant, Ea-nasir, about his copper ingots. Cueball's last statement says that perhaps this complaint could have been a lie to begin with, and there was nothing wrong with Ea-nasir's wares. This supposition is arguably the humor of the comic, apart from the hyperbole of the title text.<br />
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The title text references the {{w|Cottingley Fairies}}, a series of five photographs produced in 1917 by two children, Elsie Wright and Frances Griffiths, who were 16 and 9, respectively. The photographs appear to show the children playing with fairies in their garden. The photographs received widespread attention when Sir {{w|Arthur Conan Doyle}}, the author of the ''Sherlock Holmes'' stories, used the photos as proof of paranormal phenomena in a 1920 magazine article. Conan Doyle was notable for being a strong proponent of reaching conclusions based on evidence and reason, and also held a deep belief in paranormal and supernatural phenomena. In 1983, Elsie and Frances finally confessed that the photos had been faked, by the simple process of posing cardboard figures cut out of a children's book. Due to technical advances, young children now can more easily create convincingly realistic fakes, but similarly there are many more self-styled 'experts' willing and able to dedicate themselves to 'proving' one or other side of any argument about authenticity.<br />
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A similar dilemma was alluded to in the [[1958: Self-Driving Issues]] comic, where technology does not create a new way to lie, but may make certain lies more convincing to some parties, such as self-driving cars in that comic.<br />
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==Transcript==<br />
:[White Hat and Cueball are walking to the right.]<br />
:White Hat: Thanks to deepfakes, soon we won't know what's real anymore. Video will become meaningless.<br />
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:[White Hat and Cueball walk on, Cueball lifts one hand with the palm up.]<br />
:Cueball: I dunno.<br />
:Cueball: We've had Photoshop for decades and staged photos for centuries.<br />
:Cueball: It hasn't made photos meaningless.<br />
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:[Zoom in on Cueball, who is turned left towards off-panel White Hat.]<br />
:Cueball: The bottleneck for fake stuff isn't technical. The bottleneck is willingness to lie.<br />
:Cueball: "People lying" is a very old problem.<br />
:Cueball: It's a known exploit.<br />
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:[Zoom back out on White Hat and Cueball who have stopped. White Hat has a hand on his chin. Cueball holds his hands out to the sides.]<br />
:White Hat: I guess technically we've been able to make '''''text''''' deepfakes for 5,000 years.<br />
:Cueball: Maybe Ea-nasir's copper ingots were actually fine!<br />
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{{comic discussion}}<br />
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[[Category:Comics featuring White Hat]]<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring real people]]<br />
[[Category:Photography]]</div>162.158.159.95https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=Talk:2525:_Air_Travel_Packing_List&diff=218927Talk:2525: Air Travel Packing List2021-10-07T08:21:28Z<p>162.158.159.95: </p>
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I'll work on this one, so I don't get edit conflicted. {{User:PoolloverNathan/Signature}} 23:16, 6 October 2021 (UTC)<br />
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A lot of these items that are listed as needed during a crash are not that related to crashing but some things that paranoid potential passengers feel they should have anyway. [[User:Nutster|Nutster]] ([[User talk:Nutster|talk]]) 02:04, 7 October 2021 (UTC)<br />
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I had a teacher that was a retired engineer. He complained about working on an airplane and he wanted to design a lightweight floor, but the heel of high heeled shoes would pierce through so he had to make it heaver than he wanted. One can imagine an alternate world where the lighter floors were chosen, where airplane shoes would be some kind of pressure distributing shoe.[[Special:Contributions/172.69.42.125|172.69.42.125]] 02:32, 7 October 2021 (UTC)<br />
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I think that the Flag for international flights is referring to a national flag not to a flag used for signaling messages. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.187.208|162.158.187.208]] 03:20, 7 October 2021 (UTC)<br />
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Pedantry corner: parachutes don't keep you from falling out of the sky - they help you land safer when you do. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.159.95|162.158.159.95]] 08:21, 7 October 2021 (UTC)</div>162.158.159.95https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=Talk:2520:_Symbols&diff=218508Talk:2520: Symbols2021-09-25T20:04:24Z<p>162.158.159.95: (Redone, presume I didn't to the full four tildes...)</p>
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Great work by whomever did this, but is it possible R_e is something else? I agree that the numerical aspect makes it seem like a fluid mechanics problem, but I've never seen the Reynolds number with a subscripted e... only a regular size e, such that it is Re, not R_e. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.237.93|108.162.237.93]] 20:36, 24 September 2021 (UTC)<br />
: R sub e (not Re) is Effective Reproduction Number. This is related to infection rates. I'm pretty sure it's R sub e, not Re given that infection rates are very much on his mind right now.<br />
:: It would be out of place relative to all the other entries, though, which are all physics related. IMO it's more likely this was an error.<br />
: Earth's radius is abbreviated "R sub e" [[Special:Contributions/162.158.107.4|162.158.107.4]] 21:30, 24 September 2021 (UTC)<br />
: Could be the remainder of a series (i.e. the error when using the first terms of the series as an approximation). Determining upper bounds on this error is usually very tedious.<br />
: R sub e is tire effective rolling radius (or effective radius)--a radius based on the distance traveled by one rotation of a pneumatic tire. Re is similar to the unloaded radius (for radial tires) and normally larger than the loaded radius (distance from axle to ground).<br />
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T to the fourth power looks like blackbody radiation, any ideas what specifically that formula represents? [[Special:Contributions/162.158.203.22|162.158.203.22]] 20:40, 24 September 2021 (UTC)<br />
:There's an equation for what reflects off a spherical object that is a quartic equation (although I'd expect concave reflectors, not convex ones, to risk skin-burn. Or, more likely something to do with UV (non-)absorbtion or generation, but I imagine someone knows ''exactly'' what it is, without someone like me just guessing wildly. ;) [[Special:Contributions/141.101.99.82|141.101.99.82]] 21:05, 24 September 2021 (UTC)<br />
This wiki does not seem to have a consistent formatting structure for lists<br />
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The ''N<sub>A</sub>'' could also soon become NAN (not a number) thus being only a step away from the dangerous arthmeric error. --[[Special:Contributions/162.158.88.43|162.158.88.43]] 21:38, 24 September 2021 (UTC)<br />
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'''Bold Title'''<br />
:Content starting with a tab<br />
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*'''Bold title''' content continues on same line<br />
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*Regular title<br />
Content on a new line, but not starting with a tab<br />
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As well as tables and mixes of these formats. Maybe someone should pick one and apply it to all the explanations. I just noticed it because of the inconsistencies as people are quickly throwing something together for this new comic. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.107.4|162.158.107.4]] 21:02, 24 September 2021 (UTC)<br />
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I read the penultimate line as "Mg" and was trying to imagine a meaning for "megagrams per kilogram". Sloppy Greek letter there, Randall. [[User:Nitpicking|Nitpicking]] ([[User talk:Nitpicking|talk]]) 03:17, 25 September 2021 (UTC)<br />
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Why are partial derivatives considered graduate-level? They're typically covered in first level undergraduate science courses, along with gradients and such. [[User:FPSCanarussia|FPSCanarussia]] ([[User talk:FPSCanarussia|talk]]) 03:34, 25 September 2021 (UTC)<br />
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The reference to "micrometer" links to the Wikipedia page for the measuring device, but it should link to the page for the unit of length: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Micrometre [[User:Professor Frink|Professor Frink]] ([[User talk:Professor Frink|talk]]) 15:58, 25 September 2021 (UTC)<br />
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Adding to “Micrometer/Micrometre” above: this “any” is not really correct:<br />
:Of course, micrometers are used as a measurement of distance in other contexts, but any distance-measuring device capable of accurately measuring micrometer distances would also be expensive.<br />
The “Micrometers” as seen in the Wikipedia article can measure distances of some micrometers accurately, but are not really expensive. Probably even cheaper than any equipment which can ''not'' measure distances. --[[Special:Contributions/162.158.88.239|162.158.88.239]] 18:19, 25 September 2021 (UTC)<br />
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In certain circles (or, perhaps, between them as they roll), the typical Reynolds number is {{w|Reynolds Technology|just three digits}}... ;) [[Special:Contributions/162.158.159.95|162.158.159.95]] 20:04, 25 September 2021 (UTC)</div>162.158.159.95https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=Talk:2520:_Symbols&diff=218507Talk:2520: Symbols2021-09-25T20:02:59Z<p>162.158.159.95: </p>
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Great work by whomever did this, but is it possible R_e is something else? I agree that the numerical aspect makes it seem like a fluid mechanics problem, but I've never seen the Reynolds number with a subscripted e... only a regular size e, such that it is Re, not R_e. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.237.93|108.162.237.93]] 20:36, 24 September 2021 (UTC)<br />
: R sub e (not Re) is Effective Reproduction Number. This is related to infection rates. I'm pretty sure it's R sub e, not Re given that infection rates are very much on his mind right now.<br />
:: It would be out of place relative to all the other entries, though, which are all physics related. IMO it's more likely this was an error.<br />
: Earth's radius is abbreviated "R sub e" [[Special:Contributions/162.158.107.4|162.158.107.4]] 21:30, 24 September 2021 (UTC)<br />
: Could be the remainder of a series (i.e. the error when using the first terms of the series as an approximation). Determining upper bounds on this error is usually very tedious.<br />
: R sub e is tire effective rolling radius (or effective radius)--a radius based on the distance traveled by one rotation of a pneumatic tire. Re is similar to the unloaded radius (for radial tires) and normally larger than the loaded radius (distance from axle to ground).<br />
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T to the fourth power looks like blackbody radiation, any ideas what specifically that formula represents? [[Special:Contributions/162.158.203.22|162.158.203.22]] 20:40, 24 September 2021 (UTC)<br />
:There's an equation for what reflects off a spherical object that is a quartic equation (although I'd expect concave reflectors, not convex ones, to risk skin-burn. Or, more likely something to do with UV (non-)absorbtion or generation, but I imagine someone knows ''exactly'' what it is, without someone like me just guessing wildly. ;) [[Special:Contributions/141.101.99.82|141.101.99.82]] 21:05, 24 September 2021 (UTC)<br />
This wiki does not seem to have a consistent formatting structure for lists<br />
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The ''N<sub>A</sub>'' could also soon become NAN (not a number) thus being only a step away from the dangerous arthmeric error. --[[Special:Contributions/162.158.88.43|162.158.88.43]] 21:38, 24 September 2021 (UTC)<br />
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As well as tables and mixes of these formats. Maybe someone should pick one and apply it to all the explanations. I just noticed it because of the inconsistencies as people are quickly throwing something together for this new comic. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.107.4|162.158.107.4]] 21:02, 24 September 2021 (UTC)<br />
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I read the penultimate line as "Mg" and was trying to imagine a meaning for "megagrams per kilogram". Sloppy Greek letter there, Randall. [[User:Nitpicking|Nitpicking]] ([[User talk:Nitpicking|talk]]) 03:17, 25 September 2021 (UTC)<br />
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Why are partial derivatives considered graduate-level? They're typically covered in first level undergraduate science courses, along with gradients and such. [[User:FPSCanarussia|FPSCanarussia]] ([[User talk:FPSCanarussia|talk]]) 03:34, 25 September 2021 (UTC)<br />
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The reference to "micrometer" links to the Wikipedia page for the measuring device, but it should link to the page for the unit of length: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Micrometre [[User:Professor Frink|Professor Frink]] ([[User talk:Professor Frink|talk]]) 15:58, 25 September 2021 (UTC)<br />
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Adding to “Micrometer/Micrometre” above: this “any” is not really correct:<br />
:Of course, micrometers are used as a measurement of distance in other contexts, but any distance-measuring device capable of accurately measuring micrometer distances would also be expensive.<br />
The “Micrometers” as seen in the Wikipedia article can measure distances of some micrometers accurately, but are not really expensive. Probably even cheaper than any equipment which can ''not'' measure distances. --[[Special:Contributions/162.158.88.239|162.158.88.239]] 18:19, 25 September 2021 (UTC)<br />
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In certain circles (or, perhaps, between them as they roll), the typical Reynolds number is {{w|Reynolds Technology|just three digits}}... ;) [[Special:Contributions/162.158.159.95|162.158.159.95]]</div>162.158.159.95https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=Talk:2519:_Sloped_Border&diff=218390Talk:2519: Sloped Border2021-09-24T14:21:09Z<p>162.158.159.95: Oddly shaped borders where bridges carry one territory over another</p>
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I might be old-fashioned, but I've always wanted to live in Mandelbrotistan 3D. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.89.156|162.158.89.156]] 15:49, 23 September 2021 (UTC)<br />
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I would make the country's border an Alexander horned sphere. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.221.245|108.162.221.245]] 03:21, 23 September 2021 (UTC)<br />
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:Waaait ... how can we define the border to maximize area of both countries? I'm talking non-measurable sets invoking something like {{w|Banach–Tarski paradox}} here ... -- [[User:Hkmaly|Hkmaly]] ([[User talk:Hkmaly|talk]]) 00:01, 24 September 2021 (UTC)<br />
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At least this border doesn't have [https://youtu.be/Mw44wHG4KOc thickness]. --[[User:Angel|Angel]] ([[User talk:Angel|talk]]) 04:48, 23 September 2021 (UTC)<br />
-yet [[Special:Contributions/172.69.55.107|172.69.55.107]] 05:46, 23 September 2021 (UTC)<br />
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GIS: Geographic Information System, that are the systems where maps (and the borders) are defined. They won't care much though, because for them the ground information is the relevant one.<br />
Once you get into air, you'll get a problem, because if the border is very sloped, and not in average straight, then an airplane might still be in the airzone of a different country than where it's flying over. Which will cause all kinds of problems, security wise.<br />
Liechtenstein might loose all control over its airspace, yet their inhabitants want safety even from aircraft flying above them.<br />
Can't imagine that going well, but bureaucrazy is that: it creates paperwork when it is not busy enough with the procedures it already created. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.55.107|172.69.55.107]] 05:46, 23 September 2021 (UTC)<br />
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Liechtenstein and air control is a bad example for the problems with sloped borders because it's quite often the case that the air space of one country is done by air space controllers of another country. In the case of Liechtenstein this is done by SKYGUIDE in Switzerland that is also doing it for southern parts of Germany (being responsible for the collision of two planes near Überlingen: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2002_%C3%9Cberlingen_mid-air_collision) [[Special:Contributions/162.158.89.156|162.158.89.156]] 06:34, 23 September 2021 (UTC)<br />
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Wouldn't sloped borders also have interesting consequences underground when mining, building tunnels etc. ? [[Special:Contributions/162.158.88.239|162.158.88.239]] 08:39, 23 September 2021 (UTC)<br />
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I introduced into the explanation a hint of the more precise problem with airborne geometry upon spherical (or, possibly, geodesic) coordinates. The shallower the angle, the more possible that the 'curves with the ground' altitude calculation is to actually wrap itself all the way round the Earth before (presumably), whatever altitude limit there is to make space the same upper edge as International Waters are to horizontal edges. Taking the Liechtenstein case, as above, you could easily enclose them in a 'pyramidal' (or wedged, if not applied from all around them) air-claim by angling over them - ''or'' greatly increase their air-claim over neighbours if the angle is away. With inverse issues for the Mineral Rights issue. You need to agree in advance what happens when angled boundaries hit perpendicular ones, ''and'' whether the 'rhumbs' projected from the border mash together when equidistant points on a crinkly border project their own air-distance line. ''And'' if it is from an agreed surface level datum or local ground level, with the complications that arise from both cases. (Yeah, I originally thought there were about four different bones of contention that need to be ironed out in the codicil on curvature, but I now think there's about six of them needing strict definition, not counting the compound cases which further may need specifying in advance or forever requirev adhoc arbitration.) And none of this even takes account of Relativity and curved ''space'' frame of reference that might very subtly shift whatever reference you just agreed upon, if you let it go high enough. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.34.165|172.70.34.165]] 12:05, 23 September 2021 (UTC)<br />
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Should there be a part of the explanation talking about how GIS is already a nightmare? Because the hobby is "_new_ ways to make life a nightmare" [[Special:Contributions/162.158.75.159|162.158.75.159]] 13:35, 23 September 2021 (UTC)<br />
:There should ; I expect it's because the borders are often defined by natural features, which may be very detailed AND changing in time. -- [[User:Hkmaly|Hkmaly]] ([[User talk:Hkmaly|talk]]) 00:06, 24 September 2021 (UTC)<br />
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It's not worth wondering: is the boarder sloped across cardinal directions, like East to West, or is it sloped inward or outwards from the country in question? If the latter, outwards will make it like a funnel, meaning country A has greater airspace than its surface area at "ground" level. (Which is another consideration: where does the initial angle begin?) If sloped inwards, well then that country loses a lot of advantage. If it's based on cardinal directions... I do not want to consider how many complications that would create along various sections of the border. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.219.51|108.162.219.51]] 16:55, 23 September 2021 (UTC)<br />
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:Also, NERD SNIPE! [[Special:Contributions/108.162.219.51|108.162.219.51]] 16:56, 23 September 2021 (UTC)<br />
:My presumption would be that the line-on-the-ground, however it winds around (e.g. following the centre of a river, the apex of a ridge or the point-to-point (with or without Great Circle adjustment) between two defining nodes) is a sequence of presumed horizontal line segments of arbitrary length, normalised to be parallel to the horizontal at the whatever ground elevation they cross. That line and the perpendicular through that line from the centre of the Earth (the vertical, by all accounts) thus define the third mutually perpendicular line that is the 'slopeward'(/antislopward) baseline. The defined angle indicates the inclination from the vertical on the vertical/slopeward plane.<br />
:Where landforms complicate matters the border rises or falls across contours, or twists and turns with a convex and/or concave groundtrack, the dominant inclined border is that originating from the closest source-point wherever there is potentially conflict.<br />
:If Cueball's border was around an enclave otherwise within his area of control, this would result in a tent-like (but strangely irregular) territorial enclosure (assuming not truncated by the Karman Line 'air limit', or similar). But I think he's content to make this just ''any'' shared border (e.g. the mostly 'straight' US-Canada fifty-whatever-parallel one) which means probably all other territorial limits (in that case, maritime) remain vertical (certainly not similarly leaning, in non-right-prismatic form) and except in a ''very few'' edge cases would end up dominating the slope-vs-vertical intersections.<br />
:As to 'advantage' (except for the territory sloped away from), I don't think there really is one. At best, it makes true geofencing of drones a bit more complicated than saying "don't cross this line; don't go above/below these altitudes" for some doubtless functional reason. For the people in the RHS 'illustrative' sub-image, it seems to have no practical effect other than to identify limbs/other extremities as cross-border in rather more unusual slices of the body than a normal border-straddler would expect. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.159.11|162.158.159.11]] 22:33, 23 September 2021 (UTC)<br />
Hmm, defining the calculation of the slope is tricky indeed. The commenter above suggests that the slope is relative to "vertical". However, the interpretation of "ground level" could deal with "level" meaning the ground slope, not the ground height. In other words, consider the slope on the side of a mountain. Let's suppose that in a local area, with a section of border running north/south, the ground is sloped 30 degrees to the east. Does that mean the 74 degree border is 104 degrees to the east at that point? The ground changing shape (whether due to natural erosion or bulldozers) could change the borders significantly.[[Special:Contributions/108.162.246.220|108.162.246.220]] 00:01, 24 September 2021 (UTC)<br />
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Sloped borders wouldn't be so weird, if the 3D component of the borders would follow the same rules as most 2D sea borders would do, which is that the border lies at a line of points equidistant from the coastlines.<br />
If country A is flat and B has a mountain range and the border is at the foot of this mountain range which has a 30° slope, the border would be at a 15° slope inward from being perpendicular (to sea level) leaning in on A. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.77.144|141.101.77.144]] 04:51, 24 September 2021 (UTC)<br />
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Borders are usually vertical; what definition of "vertical", though? Some geodetic system? (Which one?) Local plumb line? Something else? [[User:Sabik|Sabik]] ([[User talk:Sabik|talk]]) 06:48, 24 September 2021 (UTC)<br />
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Just had the additional thought that this is probably creating additional borders, which will need more treaties. If the sloping border is quite shallow, there's a chance that the country on the left (with more airspace than ground) will now have an airborne border with whatever country is on the far side of the country on the right. And conversely for the mineral rights issue, the country on the right may now have an underground border with whatever country is on the far side of the one on the left. How does international law deal with a border treaty between two countries causing a non-signatory to have an extra border with one of them? Would those countries need to be consulted? --[[User:Angel|Angel]] ([[User talk:Angel|talk]]) 09:21, 24 September 2021 (UTC)<br />
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This kind of thing can happen with tunnels and bridges. For example, the border between the City of London (north of the river) and the Borough of Southwark (south of the river) runs right down the middle of the Thames as you might expect. But the whole of London Bridge belongs to the City. So if you happen to be on a boat underneath the bridge and on the southern half of the river, you're in Southwark; while a passenger on a bus crossing the bridge directly above you is in the City. So the border really must be sloped - and curved - and, as you trace the arches of the bridge, in some places horizontal. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.159.95|162.158.159.95]] 14:21, 24 September 2021 (UTC)</div>162.158.159.95