Sketchplanations - A weekly explanation in a sketch

Sketchplanations in a book! I think you'll love Big Ideas Little Pictures

Sketchplanations podcast photo of Rob Bell, Tom Pellereau and Jono Hey

Prefer to listen?
Try the podcast

Like Sketchplanations?
Support me on Patreon

Explaining the world one sketch at a time

How to wash your hands

In these times, and to be honest, most times, washing your hands well is one of the very best things you can do to keep yourself healthy and free from infections. You should use soap if you have it; it should take about 20s, and if you follow these steps, you’ll cover pretty much all of the different parts of your hands. In standard, cursory handwashing, it’s very easy to miss what ought to be obvious places to clean, like your fingertips. Then, try to avoid touching taps and door handles on your way out of public places. I find doing these steps takes about 20s, but to make sure you could also try singing a song segment you like. NPR has some suggestions: Keep flu at bay with a song. Some other hygiene sketches to bear in mind: Sneezes and coughs are powerful things — a sneeze can travel up to 8m. So always make sure you do your… Dracula sneeze Dry your hands with only one towel And as a basic rule…pour don’t dip when sharing snacks The handwashing guidance is from the wonderful NHS.…In these times, and to be honest, most times, washing your hands well is one of the very best things you can do to keep yourself healthy and free from infections. You should use soap if you have it; it should take about 20s, and if you follow these steps, you’ll cover pretty much all of the different parts of your hands. In standard, cursory handwashing, it’s very easy to miss what ought to be obvious places to clean, like your fingertips. Then, try to avoid touching taps and door handles on your way out of public places. I find doing these steps takes about 20s, but to make sure you could also try singing a song segment you like. NPR has some suggestions: Keep flu at bay with a song. Some other hygiene sketches to bear in mind: Sneezes and coughs are powerful things — a sneeze can travel up to 8m. So always make sure you do your… Dracula sneeze Dry your hands with only one towel And as a basic rule…pour don’t dip when sharing snacks The handwashing guidance is from the wonderful NHS.

29 Feb 2020

Types of phishing

Phishing is tricking people into sharing personal details and logins by pretending to be someone else, and it's surprisingly effective. Some of the smartest people I know have been taken in by it and it only takes a moment’s lapse in concentration or uncertainty to fall for it. The maths is simple: it barely costs anything to send an email to 100,000s of people and it only needs a few people to get caught in the net for it to pay off. Also, look out for targeted spear-phishing attacks where scammers may seem to know specific details about yourself to make the attack more credible. Or what’s known as whaling — the targeting of high-profile figures such has heads of companies or celebrities with elaborately planned and sometimes very convincing schemes. Stay vigilant people. You can also check if you’ve been caught in a data breach at: Have I been Pwned. I updated this image for my book Big Ideas Little Pictures Also see: 2-factor authentication…Phishing is tricking people into sharing personal details and logins by pretending to be someone else, and it's surprisingly effective. Some of the smartest people I know have been taken in by it and it only takes a moment’s lapse in concentration or uncertainty to fall for it. The maths is simple: it barely costs anything to send an email to 100,000s of people and it only needs a few people to get caught in the net for it to pay off. Also, look out for targeted spear-phishing attacks where scammers may seem to know specific details about yourself to make the attack more credible. Or what’s known as whaling — the targeting of high-profile figures such has heads of companies or celebrities with elaborately planned and sometimes very convincing schemes. Stay vigilant people. You can also check if you’ve been caught in a data breach at: Have I been Pwned. I updated this image for my book Big Ideas Little Pictures Also see: 2-factor authentication

23 Feb 2020

The dangers of just this once

Clayton Christensen, in his book and article ’How will you measure your life?’, discusses what he learned about how to live a life of integrity. Among other things he says: It’s easier to hold to your principles 100% of the time than it is to hold to them 98% of the time. If you give in to “just this once,”…you’ll regret where you end up. You’ve got to define for yourself what you stand for and draw the line in a safe place. I think this is relevant, both in the small things — whether to work out today when it’s raining — and in the larger decisions which help us be proud of our lives. Here's Clayton Christensen telling his story that illustrates this principle in person (video).…Clayton Christensen, in his book and article ’How will you measure your life?’, discusses what he learned about how to live a life of integrity. Among other things he says: It’s easier to hold to your principles 100% of the time than it is to hold to them 98% of the time. If you give in to “just this once,”…you’ll regret where you end up. You’ve got to define for yourself what you stand for and draw the line in a safe place. I think this is relevant, both in the small things — whether to work out today when it’s raining — and in the larger decisions which help us be proud of our lives. Here's Clayton Christensen telling his story that illustrates this principle in person (video).

16 Feb 2020

Thunderclap or rumble

If you’ve ever been close enough to lightning when it strikes you may be familiar with the startling high frequency thunderclap or crack it makes. But the high frequency soundwaves of the clap are attenuated by their travel through the air away from the source so that from a kilometre or so away all you hear is the growling of the thunder rumbling away as it clatters and rebounds off everywhere it hits. I learned about this from Randall Munroe’s fun book How to: Absurd scientific advice for common real-world problems.…If you’ve ever been close enough to lightning when it strikes you may be familiar with the startling high frequency thunderclap or crack it makes. But the high frequency soundwaves of the clap are attenuated by their travel through the air away from the source so that from a kilometre or so away all you hear is the growling of the thunder rumbling away as it clatters and rebounds off everywhere it hits. I learned about this from Randall Munroe’s fun book How to: Absurd scientific advice for common real-world problems.

9 Feb 2020

Commitment device

Sometimes we’re smart enough to know that we’ll have trouble doing something we want to get done. That might be going to the gym, finishing that essay instead of goofing around, quitting smoking, doing your taxes, or, if you happen to be Odysseus, listening to the sirens’ song without going crazy and diving in the water or driving your boat to be crashed on to the rocks. In these cases, you can try a commitment device: a voluntary restriction to help maintain our future self-control. In Odysseus’s case he instructed his men to fill their ears with wax and to bind him the mast and told them if he asked them to let him go then they were to bind him tighter. In this way, he managed to listen to the sirens’ song without ending up at the bottom of the sea. Other commitment device’s may be more mundane, such as publicly announcing to your friends that you’re going to do something, paying a bunch of money to sign up for something upfront, or handing a $20 bill to a friend with instructions not to give it back until you’ve done what you’re supposed to. Here are some nice examples of commitment devices.…Sometimes we’re smart enough to know that we’ll have trouble doing something we want to get done. That might be going to the gym, finishing that essay instead of goofing around, quitting smoking, doing your taxes, or, if you happen to be Odysseus, listening to the sirens’ song without going crazy and diving in the water or driving your boat to be crashed on to the rocks. In these cases, you can try a commitment device: a voluntary restriction to help maintain our future self-control. In Odysseus’s case he instructed his men to fill their ears with wax and to bind him the mast and told them if he asked them to let him go then they were to bind him tighter. In this way, he managed to listen to the sirens’ song without ending up at the bottom of the sea. Other commitment device’s may be more mundane, such as publicly announcing to your friends that you’re going to do something, paying a bunch of money to sign up for something upfront, or handing a $20 bill to a friend with instructions not to give it back until you’ve done what you’re supposed to. Here are some nice examples of commitment devices.

2 Feb 2020

The travelling salesman problem

You have to drop off 2 things after school, get to the shops and back home — which route should you take? You drive an Amazon delivery van and you have 145 parcels to deliver across London — what’s the most efficient route? It’s pretty clear that for situations like the first one, with fewer stops, assuming you know travel distances or travel times, you could figure out the best route by trying out the different combinations until you hit on the shortest. The trouble is as you keep adding extra stops it doesn’t get just a little bit harder — instead the difficulty continues to increase along with the time it will take to find an answer. Figuring out the shortest route to visit all the stops and return back home is known as the travelling salesman problem. It’s a problem formulated over 150 years ago that still has relevance and interest today whether it’s for delivering parcels, stocking shelves or soldering transistors.…You have to drop off 2 things after school, get to the shops and back home — which route should you take? You drive an Amazon delivery van and you have 145 parcels to deliver across London — what’s the most efficient route? It’s pretty clear that for situations like the first one, with fewer stops, assuming you know travel distances or travel times, you could figure out the best route by trying out the different combinations until you hit on the shortest. The trouble is as you keep adding extra stops it doesn’t get just a little bit harder — instead the difficulty continues to increase along with the time it will take to find an answer. Figuring out the shortest route to visit all the stops and return back home is known as the travelling salesman problem. It’s a problem formulated over 150 years ago that still has relevance and interest today whether it’s for delivering parcels, stocking shelves or soldering transistors.

25 Jan 2020

Search·Categories·Archive