xkcd

[Peelee]

Thanks, no idea what I was thinking there

Btw, the part about the disintegrating hands made me wonder how fast a thing can be moving for you to safely try to grab it.. But I guess this depends too much on what material you want to grab.

Well, I'd guess it would depend on how fast you were moving as well!

[Lethologica]

Well, I'd guess it would depend on how fast you were moving as well!

Meh. Relativity.

[keybounce]

http://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/inde...Attention_Span

I don't know, I think I spent 6 hours between the ring theory and the "jar jar is a force user" theory pages about Star Wars.

I agree with both of them.

[Kato]

Please tell me Randall is aware of the importance of the poorly received practice of publishing null results.. I mean, I know he's making fun of everything but sometimes I'm not sure.
Because nothig is more fun than meeting the five other people who did the same experiment as you, got no result, and therefore told nobody about it.

[Rockphed]

Please tell me Randall is aware of the importance of the poorly received practice of publishing null results.. I mean, I know he's making fun of everything but sometimes I'm not sure.
Because nothig is more fun than meeting the five other people who did the same experiment as you, got no result, and therefore told nobody about it.

My program had a class about writing papers for journals. The professor suggested that, unless you are hard contradicting a previous paper published in Science or Nature, no result papers should be published in more targetted papers related to the field of study.

[Kato]

My program had a class about writing papers for journals. The professor suggested that, unless you are hard contradicting a previous paper published in Science or Nature, no result papers should be published in more targetted papers related to the field of study.

Oh, I'm not saying you should / have to put them in Nature or Science but while the comic specifically mentions one it seems to me like a general complaint about more papers describing negative results.

[keybounce]

https://xkcd.com/2027/

*Massive* LOL.

[factotum]

https://xkcd.com/2027/

*Massive* LOL.

The word "massive" doesn't appear in the linked strip?

[John Campbell]

The word "massive" doesn't appear in the linked strip?

I believe "massive" was an adjective describing the "LOL", not a quote.

[factotum]

I believe "massive" was an adjective describing the "LOL", not a quote.

OK, blame my eyesight for that--I thought the asterisks were quotation marks!

[keybounce]

I was laughing really, really hard after reading that one.

[jwhouk]

I just noticed that the famed xkcd.com/now strip is an hour off.

[Rockphed]

I just noticed that the famed xkcd.com/now strip is an hour off.

You're in Arizona, did you forget that it is currently daylight savings time?

Edit: looking at it, it does not seem to account for daylight savings time. I am in the same time-zone as denver, and it is currently 10 pm, but now shows it as 9 pm.

[keybounce]

I just noticed that the famed xkcd.com/now strip is an hour off.

Thank you for telling me about this, I had not known.

[jwhouk]

I noticed it. AST should be equal to the time in LA and PDT right now.

[Grey_Wolf_c]

it does not seem to account for daylight savings time.

That is not surprising:



Grey Wolf

[Darkseal]

I noticed there was no thread for xkcd, and it's the only other webcomic I read.

Anyone want to talk about it?

My favourite web comic since forever. The author is also a true genius, check out his Wiki page!

[Rockphed]

That is not surprising:



Grey Wolf

I kept waiting for him to get to the time-skips from Julian to Gregorian calendars. As a note, I used to have a genealogical program that included a "what day of the week was such-and-such date" that included a warning not to use it before about 1750.

Also, different countries made the switch at different times. Russia made the switch about in the early 1900s and skipped even more time than the British did.

[Grey_Wolf_c]

I kept waiting for him to get to the time-skips from Julian to Gregorian calendars. As a note, I used to have a genealogical program that included a "what day of the week was such-and-such date" that included a warning not to use it before about 1750.

Also, different countries made the switch at different times. Russia made the switch about in the early 1900s and skipped even more time than the British did.

Errr... yes? He did get to the time-skips from Julian to Gregorian calendars (with that exact example, too).

Grey Wolf

[John Campbell]

I kept waiting for him to get to the time-skips from Julian to Gregorian calendars. As a note, I used to have a genealogical program that included a "what day of the week was such-and-such date" that included a warning not to use it before about 1750.

jcampbel@violet:~$ cal 9 1752
   September 1752   
Su Mo Tu We Th Fr Sa
       1  2 14 15 16 
17 18 19 20 21 22 23 
24 25 26 27 28 29 30 
                     
                     
                     
jcampbel@violet:~$

[Rockphed]

jcampbel@violet:~$ cal 9 1752
   September 1752   
Su Mo Tu We Th Fr Sa
       1  2 14 15 16 
17 18 19 20 21 22 23 
24 25 26 27 28 29 30 
                     
                     
                     
jcampbel@violet:~$

See, we know when these things happened. But just because we know that doesn't mean that people who lived through them kept good records. George Washington's birthday go moved because of that day skip, but if you have a record that some blacksmith in 1762 got married and it says he was 20 years old, born on the 15th of January, you have no idea if he applied the time skip to his birthday or not.

[keybounce]

I love the non-Euclidean pie chart.

Now, more than "how to shade it", I want to know, how can I write curved text on the curved surface?

[enderlord99]

Does anyone here know the international warning symbol for "will not go to space today?"

[rooster707]

This comic says more about the shockingly poor standards for drivers in the US than driving itself, though.

20 minutes? Really? I wasn't even allowed in a training car until I passed a theory exam (for which I took weeks of class), and didn't take the driving test until after months of 3-times-per-week driving lessons with a professional driving teacher. And I'm not even talking Germany-level exams here.

GW

Bit of an update on this... I have an actual license now.

The test took less than ten minutes. I feel like something might be wrong here.

[Keltest]

Bit of an update on this... I have an actual license now.

The test took less than ten minutes. I feel like something might be wrong here.

Yeah, that sounds... dubiously legitimate. What sort of things did they have you do? Just ride around a track? Did you even go on an open road?

[factotum]

The test took less than ten minutes.

That is kind of scary, glad I don't have to drive on US roads!

[Grey_Wolf_c]

Bit of an update on this... I have an actual license now.

The test took less than ten minutes. I feel like something might be wrong here.

It sounds like you can now really relate to the comic.


(link)

Still, congratulations?

Grey Wolf

[Rodin]

For reference, my driving test in Texas consisted of a 10-question quiz, which was multiple choice and included such choice questions as:

There are pedestrians crossing at a crosswalk. What do you do?

A) Wait patiently for all pedestrians to finish crossing, then drive on carefully.
B) Drive through, you have right of way.
C) Honk at the pedestrians to get them to clear the road.
D) Drive through carefully, weaving between the pedestrians.

--

Then about 5 minutes of inspecting the car to make sure it's roadworthy for the test, then about a 10 minute drive which was basically driving to the nearest neighborhood and going round it for a few minutes, then heading back to the DMV.

Unsurprisingly, when I moved to the UK this year I had to take a real driving test. I wound up taking lessons despite nearly 20 years driving experience, because I didn't know how to do maneuvers like parallel parking and reversing into a parking spot - both maneuvers I never had to do where I lived, so I never practiced them. Heck, I don't think we even practiced those when I had my US lessons.

[5a Violista]

Unsurprisingly, when I moved to the UK this year I had to take a real driving test. I wound up taking lessons despite nearly 20 years driving experience, because I didn't know how to do maneuvers like parallel parking and reversing into a parking spot - both maneuvers I never had to do where I lived, so I never practiced them. Heck, I don't think we even practiced those when I had my US lessons.

On the other hand, I had to learn those maneuvers, regularly use the parallel-parking one, and I'd have failed my driving test in the US if I didn't know how to do those maneuvers.

It seems like driving test requirements vary greatly depending on location in the US.

[Lapak]

On the other hand, I had to learn those maneuvers, regularly use the parallel-parking one, and I'd have failed my driving test in the US if I didn't know how to do those maneuvers.

It seems like driving test requirements vary greatly depending on location in the US.

Yeah, I had to parallel park, forward and reverse into parking, 3-point turn, drive around through some blocks to go through stoplights/signs/etc., and execute a hill-stop. Probably varies pretty drastically from place to place. And possibly from instructor to instructor; the guy who was administering my test was a state trooper and I don't know if that's standard everywhere or a peculiarity of my experience.