Yes, but the chaffing will last until the release of What If? 3.
I sometimes wonder if Google’s biking times are customized to the user’s biking speed. I know it’s usually pretty close for me, which means that either I’m very close to Google’s standard typical cyclist, or it’s tracking my movement and taking it into account.
I did have one situation once where I asked for directions to get to a particular spot downtown. I knew how to get there, because I went there often, but was unsure which of two bridges would be quicker. I was surprised at first when I saw that it gave me exactly the same unintuitive set of turns I would normally take downtown, because I’d found that those particular turns worked best with the traffic pattern… until I realized that I, all by myself, represented a majority of bicycle trips by Android users from the west side of Cleveland to that destination.
It’s Google and yes, they are tracking you. Don’t be alarmed. It will all be over soon.
I think the proper phrase is “you will be assimilated”.
Nah, for google, it is, “You will be indexed.”
Forseen fifty years ago.
I will not be pushed, filed, stamped, indexed, briefed, debriefed, or numbered! My life is my own!
To be clear, I know they’re tracking me. The point I’m unsure about is just whether they’re using my average biking speed to customize their expected travel times for me.
Actually, that’s pretty easy to check. I just asked it for directions from
Lakewood Public Library Main Library, 15425 Detroit Ave, Lakewood, OH 44107
to
Cleveland Public Library, 325 Superior Ave, Cleveland, OH 44114
by bicycle. It suggests a route via Lake Avenue, 8.0 miles, which it predicts will take me 41 minutes. Anyone else want to try those two endpoints, and see if it gives the same time?
I get the same time for the main route.
But, as you said, you may be the model that they are basing it off of in the first place.
I get the same time as you.
I tried part of one of my usual rides that works out to about 8 miles and I also get 41 minutes. So either…
- Google has a standard speed for a bicycle over comparable distances; or
- We bike at about the same speed, and Google knows this about both of us; or
- Google applies their standard bike speed to one of us but not both, which coincidentally happens to be the other’s speed.
Google does know enough to increase expected speeds for downhills, I just reversed a 2 mile incline near my house and the expected time for the downhill run is half that of the uphill.
I had 41 minutes, too. Google knows how quickly I tend to drive, but I can’t say I’ve ever used Google maps while riding, so I do not think it has a good baseline for me.
Google uses a base speed of 12 mph for its bicycle time calculation, adjusted for elevation changes and things like stop lights. It isn’t personalized, and unlike driving directions, it doesn’t take into account current traffic or time of day.
I’m certainly not the model for that particular route, because though I’ve biked to either of those libraries many times, I don’t think I’ve ever gone directly from one to the other. I just wanted definite endpoints, far enough apart to have a couple of digits for comparison but not so far that it might assume camping or something, and libraries are points I tend to think of.
OK, so it apparently does just use the same standard speed for everyone. To be honest, I’m slightly disappointed by that. Though it does make sense that bike times aren’t affected by traffic, because traffic doesn’t have much effect on biking (except for potentially making left turns much trickier).
See also
That other Hugo-winning webcomic artist beat him to the mouseover joke.
Anyone want to take a stab at what chemical this could be for? Not at all flammable but somewhat reactive has me stumped-- A heavy metal, maybe? Are there any of those worth between $10 and $99 per gram?
And what would the diamond look like for, say, azidoazide azide?
Something like mercury is almost a good guess, but has a street value of way less than $10/gram. Maybe one of the organic versions, like methylmercury.
How about compound with the highest score? Probably everything from the TIWWW blog is a contender. I nominate chlorine pentafluoride.
Heroin is a pretty good match, except for reactivity.
There have been some guesses here:
https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/Talk:2638:_Extended_NFPA_Hazard_Diamond
It’s also got a black value of way more than 2-- Just from my own acquaintances, I’ve heard at least two of those horror stories.
From the explainxkcd link:
I don’t know the other three, but it definitely wouldn’t be nitrous oxide, because I’m pretty sure you can dispose of that just by venting it to open air.
Oh, and the center space being empty probably rules out anything radioactive.
Reminiscent of Chemistry Nobel and Standard Model changes
And State Borders.
We probably could come up with other “correction” comics if we tried. Maybe there are enough that this should be a category on ExplainXKCD.