https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/api.php?action=feedcontributions&user=Geryon&feedformat=atomexplain xkcd - User contributions [en]2024-03-19T01:12:07ZUser contributionsMediaWiki 1.30.0https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=1265&diff=4903812652013-09-16T08:32:35Z<p>Geryon: 1265: Juicer</p>
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<div>#REDIRECT [[1265: Juicer]]</div>Geryonhttps://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=1265:_Juicer&diff=490371265: Juicer2013-09-16T08:31:15Z<p>Geryon: 1265: Juicer</p>
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<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 1265<br />
| date = September 16, 2013<br />
| title = Juicer<br />
| image = juicer.png<br />
| titletext = But the rind is where all the vitamins are!<br />
}}<br />
<br />
==Explanation==<br />
{{incomplete}}<br />
<br />
==Transcript==<br />
{{incomplete}}<br />
<br />
{{comic discussion}}<br />
<!-- Include any categories below this line. --></div>Geryonhttps://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=File:juicer.png&diff=49036File:juicer.png2013-09-16T08:29:00Z<p>Geryon: </p>
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<div>== Licensing ==<br />
{{XKCD file}}</div>Geryonhttps://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=1137:_RTL&diff=200221137: RTL2012-11-26T13:13:55Z<p>Geryon: /* Edit war cheatsheet */ rename to “Unicode Control Characters”</p>
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<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 1137<br />
| date = November 21, 2012<br />
| title = LTR<br />
| image = rtl.png<br />
| imagesize = <br />
| titletext = Collaborative editing can quickly become a textual rap battle fought with increasingly convoluted invocations of U+202a to U+202e<br />
}}<br />
<br />
==Explanation==<br />
U+202e is a {{w|unicode control characters|unicode control character}} that changes all proceeding text to right-to-left (RTL, as the title references). In the comic, [[Black Hat]] tires of [[Cueball]]'s complaining and inserts a U+202e character in the middle of Cueball's speech, turning his complaints into gibberish - sentences that must be read from right-to-left. U+202c returns text back to its normal direction.<br />
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When multiple writers work on the same text, arguments can often arise with some writers resorting to vandalizing the works of other writers. The title text takes this up a level, suggesting the use of U+202e and other direction control characters in editor wars to disrupt other people's work.<br />
<br />
==Transcript==<br />
:[Cueball and Black Hat. Cueball is standing. Black Hat is sitting down and using a laptop.]<br />
:Cueball: And that's not even the worst part! The ''worst'' part is that— <br />
:Black Hat: U+202e<br />
:Cueball: ...neve t'ndid yehT— (Flipped translation = "— They didn't even...")<br />
:Cueball: ?lleh eht tahW... (Flipped translation = "...What the hell?")<br />
:Cueball: ...uoy did woH (Flipped translation = "How did you...")<br />
:Cueball: .elohssA... (Flipped translation = "...Asshole.")<br />
<br />
== Unicode Control Characters ==<br />
<br />
{| class="wikitable"<br />
|-<br />
! Unicode number !! Name !! Meaning<br />
|-<br />
| U+202a || LEFT-TO-RIGHT EMBEDDING || The following text will be left-to-right. This will not change directionality of characters, so for example Arabic letters will stay right-to-left. This character alone does nothing in an English text, since the text direction is left-to-right by default. <br />
|-<br />
| U+202b || RIGHT-TO-LEFT EMBEDDING || The following text will be right-to-left. This will not change directionality of characters, so Latin letters will stay left-to-right. Full stops, which don't have a directionality on their own, will be left of the sentence. Use this character for some little misplacings that cause big confusion. <br />
|-<br />
| U+202c || POP DIRECTIONAL FORMATTING || The following text is formated like the text before the last U+202a, U+202b, U+202d or U+202e character. <br />
|-<br />
| U+202d || LEFT-TO-RIGHT OVERRIDE || The following text will be left-to-right. Additionally, the directionality of characters is changed to left-to-right. Used alone in an English text, this will only affect characters that are right-to-left by default, like for example Arabic letters. <br />
|-<br />
| U+202e || RIGHT-TO-LEFT OVERRIDE || The following text will be right-to-left. Additionally, the directionality of characters is changed to right-to-left. Use this character to completely screw up an English text. <br />
|}<br />
<br />
==Trivia==<br />
* The title of the comic on the xkcd website actually has a U+202e character preceding it; when copied and pasted, the title of the comic actually reads "LTR". The page title is "xkcd: [U+202e]LTR", which causes Firefox to use "xkcd: xoferiF allizoM - RTL" as the window title. This also occurs in Chromium and Opera.<br />
* In the version originally published there was a typo in the reverse text ("ETH" instead of "EHT" for "THE"). This mistake was corrected within a couple of hours.<br />
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{{comic discussion}} <br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Black Hat]]<br />
[[Category:Computers]]</div>Geryonhttps://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=900:_Religions&diff=19237900: Religions2012-11-22T21:48:00Z<p>Geryon: /* Explanation */ link, wording</p>
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<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 900<br />
| date = May 18, 2011<br />
| title = Religions<br />
| image = religions.png<br />
| imagesize = <br />
| titletext = But to us there is but one God, plus or minus one. —1 Corinthians 8:6±2.<br />
}}<br />
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==Explanation==<br />
This comic is a reference to the increasing coverage of the prediction by {{w|Harold Camping}} that the {{w|Rapture}} will be on May 21, 2011. The Rapture is the event prophesied in the Bible in which Christians believe that {{w|Christ}} will return to Earth and take all true believers up to Heaven.<br />
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The first frame is a reference to raptors in {{w|Jurassic Park (film)|Jurassic Park}}. In this film, the raptor dinosaurs get much more dangerous once they learn how to open doors. Cueball mishears Megan, which is why he thinks she said “Raptors” instead of “Rapture”.<br />
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In the second frame, Cueball references three major religions. Christian and church for {{w|Christianity}}, Mosque for {{w|Islam}} and Rabbi for {{w|Judaism}}.<br />
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The third frame is a math joke in which Megan references error bars which are used on graphs to indicate the uncertainty. So, Megan believes in one God (monotheism), as she says in the comic. But if she is still trying to find the error bars, and from the title text it is “one, plus or minus one”, that could be in the range of zero ({{w|Atheism}}) to two ({{w|Dualism|Bitheism}}).<br />
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The title text is a supposed excerpt from the holy text of experimental monotheism. {{w|First Epistle to the Corinthians|First Corinthians}} is a book of the {{w|Christian biblical canons|Christian Bible}}. Megan refers to chapter 8 verse 6 (±2), which would be [http://www.bibleserver.com/text/ESV/1%20Corinthians8:4-8 verses 4–8]. In the actual bible text, this section refers to idols and “so called gods”, but also states “There is no God but one.”<br />
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==Transcript==<br />
:[Cueball and Megan talking]<br />
:Megan: So are you worried about the rapture?<br />
:Cueball: No, unless it figures out how to open doors.<br />
:Megan: I said ''rapture.''<br />
<br />
:Cueball: Oh, I'm not really into that. I'm the kind of christian who only goes to church on Christmas and Easter, and then spends the other 363 days at the mosque.<br />
:Megan: ... I don't think that's a thing.<br />
:Cueball: Our rabbi swears it's legit.<br />
<br />
:Cueball: What religion are you?<br />
:Megan: Experimentalist Monotheism.<br />
:Cueball: Which is?<br />
:Megan: We believe there's one god, but we're trying to find the error bars on that number.<br />
<br />
{{comic discussion}}<br />
<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]<br />
[[Category:Religion]]<br />
[[Category:Math]]</div>Geryonhttps://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=User_talk:Geryon&diff=19234User talk:Geryon2012-11-22T20:16:23Z<p>Geryon: /* Welcome to the wiki, thanks for spam fighting */</p>
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<div>==Welcome to the wiki, thanks for spam fighting==<br />
It isn't necessary to blank spam pages, in fact, most of us leave the page as it is unless it's porn spam. But, if you could put {{tl|spam}} at the top of each spam page, that would be fantastic. The spam template puts a notice on that page that it is believed to be spam, and it adds the category [[:Category:Pages to delete]] to the page so that admins have a single place to go to find these spam pages. We also check the page creator and will block them if they are only spammers. Thanks for helping out! [[User:Lcarsos|lcarsos]]<span title="I'm an admin. I can help.">_a</span> ([[User talk:Lcarsos|talk]]) 18:04, 21 November 2012 (UTC)<br />
: Thanks, I didn't know about that template. --[[User:Geryon|Geryon]] ([[User talk:Geryon|talk]]) 20:16, 22 November 2012 (UTC)</div>Geryonhttps://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=1135:_Arachnoneurology&diff=189791135: Arachnoneurology2012-11-21T13:11:54Z<p>Geryon: /* Explanation */ + Beret Guy</p>
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<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 1135<br />
| date = November 16, 2012<br />
| title = Arachnoneurology<br />
| image = arachnoneurology.png<br />
| imagesize = <br />
| titletext = SPIDER PSYCHOLOGY (21st Ed.) is a comprehensive overview of arachnoneurology, neuro-arachnology, forensic arachnology, neuro-arachnoneurology (the study of the brains of spider neurology experts), and arachnoarachnology (the study of too many spiders).<br />
}}<br />
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==Explanation==<br />
[[Beret Guy]] uses spider {{w|psychology}} in the comic to engineer a forked object in such a way that spiders will weave a silk shirt around it. Usually extracting {{w|spider silk}} is a complicated process and getting enough to weave a shirt would take very long (and be very expensive).<br />
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The title text sums up some more non-existent, increasingly far-fetched fields of science related to spiders, which may as well exist if spider psychology has such a big standard work. The prefix arachno- means "(related to) spiders", for example as in {{w|arachnophobia}}.<br />
<!--Please add more --><br />
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==Transcript==<br />
:[Beret Guy holding a protractor and handling a fork-like stand with black knobbly protrusions. On the table is a book titled ''Spider Psychology'', some sticks, a set square and a ruler.]<br />
:[Beret Guy places his creation in a cobwebbed corner.]<br />
:[Spiders weave webs around Beret Guy's creation.]<br />
:Six weeks later:<br />
:[Beret Guy pulls a shirt made of spider silk away from his creation.]<br />
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{{comic discussion}} <br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Beret Guy]]</div>Geryonhttps://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=1136:_Broken_Mirror&diff=189761136: Broken Mirror2012-11-21T13:06:07Z<p>Geryon: /* Explanation */ Add two Wikipedia links</p>
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<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 1136<br />
| date = November 19, 2012<br />
| title = Broken Mirror<br />
| image = broken_mirror.png<br />
| imagesize = <br />
| titletext = 'I see you're in this mood again.' 'I am always in this mood.'<br />
}}<br />
<br />
==Explanation==<br />
It is a {{w|Mirror#Mirrors_and_superstition|common superstition}} that breaking a mirror will result in 7 years of bad luck. [[Black Hat]] is mocking the superstition while ostensibly subscribing to it saying that breaking the mirror results in the "illusion that my actions somehow influence" a world governed by nothing other than chance. <br />
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[[Black Hat]]'s comment is a reference to the second part of the {{w|Dilemma_of_determinism|dilemma of determinism}} in which an {{w|Indeterminism|indeterministic}} view of reality contradicts our apparent {{w|Free will|free will}}, i.e. if our actions are governed by chance, then we do not have free will and cannot influence the world (see also [http://www.informationphilosopher.com/freedom/standard_argument.html the Randomness Objection]). Black hat refers to free will as an [http://www.informationphilosopher.com/freedom/illusionism.html illusion], and satirically states that breaking the mirror causes him to continue to live under this illusion. <br />
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“Eccles. 9:2” refers to the Bible book “{{w|Ecclesiastes|Ecclesiastes}},” specifically chapter 9 verse 2 (“All things come alike to all. There is one event to the righteous and to the wicked; to the good, to the clean, to the unclean, to him who sacrifices, and to him who doesn’t sacrifice. As is the good, so is the sinner; he who takes an oath, as he who fears an oath.” King James 2000 Bible).<br />
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Black Hat is not going to clean the shards, thus being “unclean”, but according to a literal and superficial reading of Ecclesiastes, the clean and the unclean share a common destiny. Thus according to his interpretation of Ecclesiastes, it doesn't matter whether Black Hat is clean or unclean, he will suffer the same fate regardless. In reality, Black Hat will likely get glass in his feet, as Cueball warned him in the previous panel. More likely, Ecclesiastes is referring to the common long-term fate of all humans (death), as opposed to a short-term fate like getting glass in your feet.<br />
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“My fate is as these shards” parallels Ecclesiastes 3:19: “Man's fate is like that of the animals”.<br />
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“All is vanity” is also from Ecclesiastes, specifically the introduction to chapter 1. The mirror is often associated with the vice of {{w|Vanity#Symbolism_of_vanity|vanity}}. There is also a drawing with an optical illusion titled “[https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Allisvanity.jpg All is Vanity]” by {{w|Charles Allan Gilbert}}, which alternately depicts a woman admiring herself at a dressing table, (also referred to as a “{{w|Vanity_(dressing-table)|vanity}},”) or alternately (when viewed at a distance) a human skull. The table Black Hat is standing before is also called a vanity," and a mirror associated with that is often referred to as a "vanity mirror", describing its relationship to the furniture.<br />
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==Transcript==<br />
:[Black Hat and Cueball stand in a bedroom. There is a broken mirror on the floor at Black Hat's feet]<br />
:Black Hat: Oops. Guess this means seven more years of the illusion that my actions somehow influence the indifferent hand of probability which governs our lives.<br />
<br />
:[Black Hat looks down at the broken shards of glass on the floor]<br />
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:Cueball: Plus like half an hour of sweeping.<br />
:Black Hat: No, I think I'll leave it.<br />
:Cueball: You'll get glass in your feet.<br />
<br />
:Black Hat: Eccles. 9:2—All things come alike to all: to the clean, and to the unclean.<br />
:My fate is as these shards.<br />
:Cueball: Dude, chill. It's just a vanity mirror.<br />
:Black Hat: ''All'' is vanity mirrors.<br />
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{{comic discussion}} <br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Black Hat]]<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]</div>Geryon