Difference between revisions of "Talk:1260: LD50"

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:I tried to address this with an edit.  Betwixt the ultimate and penultimate ("...he/she weighs.") sentences I started to add:
 
:I tried to address this with an edit.  Betwixt the ultimate and penultimate ("...he/she weighs.") sentences I started to add:
 
::Presumably, for every recorded death a statistically matched second person survived the same load.  In this case ''perhaps'' this is the Cueball scientist behind the Megan scientist, although he is now obviously unencumbered.
 
::Presumably, for every recorded death a statistically matched second person survived the same load.  In this case ''perhaps'' this is the Cueball scientist behind the Megan scientist, although he is now obviously unencumbered.
 +
 +
:::But what do we know, maybe Cueball is only half dead.
 +
 
:...although it started to run away with me.  Was also going to say something about saving paper by re-using the 'test dose', or something, but it's already getting too long.  But someone might be able to edit it (and even re-arrange it) better than I. [[Special:Contributions/178.106.190.241|178.106.190.241]] 11:42, 4 September 2013 (UTC)
 
:...although it started to run away with me.  Was also going to say something about saving paper by re-using the 'test dose', or something, but it's already getting too long.  But someone might be able to edit it (and even re-arrange it) better than I. [[Special:Contributions/178.106.190.241|178.106.190.241]] 11:42, 4 September 2013 (UTC)
 
:Second-thoughts edit!  The person beneath the documentation isn't ''necessarily'' the dead one (in any given pair)!  He lacks any obvious signs of being deceased (e.g. "a cross for an eye", by common cartoon standards, albeit that cueballs generally don't have eyes, or signs of bodily breakage or presumably vital fluids slowly seeping across the floor, or...).  Thus maybe this is one of the (uncomfortable!) survivors from the cohort of testees, being observed.  If only Randall would have added a sign of death (or life, like a "groan") then we could get on with our lives!  (Unlike fully half of those tested upon.) [[Special:Contributions/178.106.190.241|178.106.190.241]] 11:51, 4 September 2013 (UTC)
 
:Second-thoughts edit!  The person beneath the documentation isn't ''necessarily'' the dead one (in any given pair)!  He lacks any obvious signs of being deceased (e.g. "a cross for an eye", by common cartoon standards, albeit that cueballs generally don't have eyes, or signs of bodily breakage or presumably vital fluids slowly seeping across the floor, or...).  Thus maybe this is one of the (uncomfortable!) survivors from the cohort of testees, being observed.  If only Randall would have added a sign of death (or life, like a "groan") then we could get on with our lives!  (Unlike fully half of those tested upon.) [[Special:Contributions/178.106.190.241|178.106.190.241]] 11:51, 4 September 2013 (UTC)

Revision as of 06:25, 5 September 2013

There's one toxicology paper that's facing us instead of laying flat. Is it just me, or is there a funny "concerned" face on it? --Druid816 (talk) 05:58, 4 September 2013 (UTC)

Oh my, when I checked the comic this morning I didn't even see Cueball lying underneath the stack of toxicology papers... --Buggz (talk) 06:17, 4 September 2013 (UTC)

Is there any way to move this page from LD50 to LD50? 208.120.153.144 06:31, 4 September 2013 (UTC)

We try to stay as faithful to the main xkcd comics as possible when referencing xkcd materials. If the comic title on xkcd.com is LD50, it's LD50 here too. Davidy²²[talk] 06:51, 4 September 2013 (UTC)

Wait, that's just one scientist out of three that died of toxicity data. Doesn't that mean, that they've only determined LD33? Is there any way to estimate LD50 from LD33? Imho the exact distribution of death rate / dose would have to be known up to one free parameter for such an estimate... -- Xorg (talk) 10:56, 4 September 2013 (UTC)

I tried to address this with an edit. Betwixt the ultimate and penultimate ("...he/she weighs.") sentences I started to add:
Presumably, for every recorded death a statistically matched second person survived the same load. In this case perhaps this is the Cueball scientist behind the Megan scientist, although he is now obviously unencumbered.
But what do we know, maybe Cueball is only half dead.
...although it started to run away with me. Was also going to say something about saving paper by re-using the 'test dose', or something, but it's already getting too long. But someone might be able to edit it (and even re-arrange it) better than I. 178.106.190.241 11:42, 4 September 2013 (UTC)
Second-thoughts edit! The person beneath the documentation isn't necessarily the dead one (in any given pair)! He lacks any obvious signs of being deceased (e.g. "a cross for an eye", by common cartoon standards, albeit that cueballs generally don't have eyes, or signs of bodily breakage or presumably vital fluids slowly seeping across the floor, or...). Thus maybe this is one of the (uncomfortable!) survivors from the cohort of testees, being observed. If only Randall would have added a sign of death (or life, like a "groan") then we could get on with our lives! (Unlike fully half of those tested upon.) 178.106.190.241 11:51, 4 September 2013 (UTC)

A third edit from me: Regular printing paper's density (according to Wiki) is 800kg/m³, with the human body being slightly less than 1000kg/m³ as a ready reckoner (oh, go on then... wiki says... oh, it doesn't, obviously at least... well, given how we float in water, I'd estimate it at 850-950kg/m³). Doesn't that pile of literature (even assuming air gaps, and possibly some lamination/plastic covering of perhaps even less dense nature) look a little more than than twice-and-a-bit the volume of the typical Cueball beneath, even unflattened and unstickified? Right, that was my last edit. Honest. 178.106.190.241 12:02, 4 September 2013 (UTC)

Could it be that by "administered orally", Randall means "verbally" (i.e. read out loud)? I think that could be quite a funny interpretation... :-) Gregatar (talk) 18:56, 4 September 2013 (UTC)

Laughing my ass off!!! But nothing to contribute other than laughter.  :¬D ExternalMonolog (talk) 20:14, 4 September 2013 (UTC)ExternalMonolog

Something is very wrong here. The LD50 is the dose required to kill HALF of the test population, but here we see only one guy, and he's presumably either dead or not-dead. The "2kg/kg" figure suggests that if you drop 2x each person's weight in paper on an entire population, *half* of them will die. 58.28.131.238 (talk) (please sign your comments with ~~~~)