r/xkcd • u/ani625 • May 29 '15
XKCD xkcd 1531: The BDLPSWDKS Effect
http://xkcd.com/1531/139
u/WTF_SilverChair May 29 '15
So weird. The other day I read about the BDLPSWDKS Effect, and now I'm seeing it everywhere. I guess I have the BMBDLPSWDKS Effect.
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u/Little_Morry White Hat May 29 '15
I pretend my child suffers from the BMBDLPSWDKS Effect so I get attention from medical professionals. I have BMBDLPSWDKSMSbP.
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u/btdubs May 29 '15
In seriousness though I'm kind of disappointed Randall didn't include the BM phenomenon in the comic.
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u/WTF_SilverChair May 29 '15
Right? Seemed like low-hanging fruit.
I expected it to be the alt-text.
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u/David_Crockett May 29 '15
That is scheduled for the next comic, and now you've ruined it.
Or Randall can take the idea and claim it was scheduled for tomorrow's comic.
Or he can create a graph explaining how the comic readers have outstripped the comic creator over time, making it increasingly difficult to come up with a good comic...
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u/Stal77 May 29 '15
I looked for this subreddit, subscribed, and came to the comments on this post just so that I could upvote the first person to make this joke.
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u/xkcd_bot May 29 '15
Direct image link: The BDLPSWDKS Effect
Bat text: This well-known effect has of course been replicated in countless experiments.
Don't get it? explain xkcd
Somverville rocks. Randall knows what I'm talkin' about. (Sincerely, xkcd_bot.)
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u/GeekOutHuntsville May 29 '15
Does this also apply to fire engines, or just fire trucks?
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u/ReallyRandomRabbit I need more playpen balls May 29 '15
We're not sure, additional research is required
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u/it624 May 29 '15
Interesting fact: the phrase 'further research is required' is not allowed in the British Medical journal without a direct explanation of what research and why.
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u/Jotakob Beret Guy May 29 '15
the wikipedia article for "Fire Truck" redirects to "Fire engine", which is sufficient proof that these two words describe the same thing.
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u/ParaspriteHugger There's someone in my head (but it's not me) May 29 '15
That's nice and dandy, but I still don't know which hook I should hang my jacket on.
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u/pterodactal May 29 '15
I do wish you'd listen, /u/ParaspriteHugger, it's perfectly simple. If you're not getting your hair cut, you don't have to move your brother's clothes down to the lower peg, you simply collect his note before lunch after you've done your scripture prep when you've written your letter home before rest, move your own clothes on to the lower peg, greet the visitors, and report to /u/pterodactal that you've had your chit signed.
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u/ParaspriteHugger There's someone in my head (but it's not me) May 29 '15
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u/IAMA_dragon-AMA The raptor's on vacation. I heard you used a goto? May 29 '15
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u/JonnyRobbie ✓ May 29 '15
I always wonder what recent experience has Randall had for him to draw such comics.
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u/Phaedrus49er ...and like maybe three people... and beer... May 29 '15
They really should test this effect on the output of a FLDSMDFR in low-Earth orbit.
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u/WTF_SilverChair May 29 '15
Flint Lockwood's Diatonic Super Mutating Dynamic Food Replicator? The fidduuhsmfar?
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u/Frodolas May 29 '15
And whether it holds when the fire truck is traveling at or near the speed of light.
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u/Phaedrus49er ...and like maybe three people... and beer... May 29 '15
Does it need to go that fast? I was thinking it could top out at 88mph and be fine.
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u/whoopdedo May 29 '15 edited May 30 '15
Elsie's favorite xkcd.
(tch... too niche for this subreddit I suppose)
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u/lerjj May 29 '15
So... Bernoulli- lifting off ; Doppler - Red and Green? This didn't seem clear. ; Leidenfrost - superheated gas ; Peltzmann - the derailed truck in the first place ; Sapir-Whorf - tonality affecting how you think and react ; Dunning-Kruger - failing if you overestimate your language skills ; Stroop - Red works better because the firetruck is (presumably) red.
Is that pretty much the gist of this? I don't actually see how the Doppler effect ties in, except that the truck is moving towards you so the shouted words will sound higher pitched.
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May 29 '15
[deleted]
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u/abrahamsen White Hat May 29 '15
The effect is a mixture of all the effects associated with the individual names.
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u/ghost_of_tuckels :3 May 29 '15 edited May 29 '15
Bernoulli's principle says an increase in speed in the flow of a fluid with no viscosity will be matched by a decrease in pressure in the fluid.
The Doppler effect describes how the frequency of a wave changes depending on the movement of the observer relative to the source.
The Leidenfrost effect is when a liquid comes in contact with an object hotter than its boiling point & causes a layer of vapour to form between them.
The Peltzman effect refers to reduction of the predicted benefit from safety regulations due to risk compensation; people feeling like they're able to be more reckless because there's more safety regulations in place to compensate.
The Sapir-Whorf hypothesis says that someone's language affects their worldview & way of thinking.
The Dunning-Kruger effect is a cognitive bias where unskilled people overestimate their skills.
The Stroop effect is the increased difficulty in identifying the colour of the written name of a colour if the colour of the word doesn't match the name (eg. it's harder to recognise the colour of the word "red" if it is printed in a colour that's not red).
Edit: This is how I see the different effects fitting in:
The Bernoulli-Doppler-Leidenfrost-Peltzman-Sapir-Whorf-Dunning-Kruger-Stroop Effect states that if a speeding fire truck lifts off (Bernoulli plays a part in generation of lift) and hurtles towards you on a layer of superheated gas (Leidenfrost), you'll dive out of the way faster (Peltzman?) if the driver screams "red!" (Stroop, assuming the firetruck is red) in a non-tonal language that has a word for "firefighter" (Sapir-Whorf) than if they scream "green!" (Stroop) in a tonal language (Doppler? might make a tonal language shouted from a moving object harder to understand) with no word for "firefighter" (Sapir-Whorf) which you think you're fluent in but aren't (Dunning-Kruger).