explain xkcd - User contributions [en]

2024: Light Hacks

2018-11-15T17:12:21Z

Ата: /* Explanation */ cueball is a defalt, but still

{{comic
| number = 2024
| date = July 25, 2018
| title = Light Hacks
| image = light_hacks.png
| titletext = Life hack: Wait for an advanced civilization to be briefly distracted, then sneak in and construct a slightly smaller Dyson sphere inside theirs.
}}

==Explanation==
"{{w|Life hack}}ing" is the practice of using common everyday items in novel ways to increase the convenience or enjoyment of daily activities. This comic pokes fun at the many blogs and video channels that purport to cover life hacking tips, but merely point out obvious or intended uses for products or well known techniques as low effort clickbait.

[[Megan]] tells someone off panel, possibly [[Cueball]], that, by using sheets of paper, she can reflect and diffuse the light coming from a lightbulb. She refers to her discovery as a life hack, while Cueball sarcastically points out that all she has done is reinvent the lampshade, to which Megan again refers to as a life hack.
A {{w|Dyson sphere}} is a hypothetical energy-collecting megastructure encompassing a star, and collecting a large percent of its energy in the process. It is named after the physicist and mathematician {{w|Freeman Dyson}}.

The joke here is that Dyson spheres are generally not intended for lightbulbs, yet using them in this way is suggested by Megan as a life hack, poking fun at the fact that life hacks make things more complicated instead of convenient. Freeman Dyson argued that Dyson spheres, if they existed, could be found by infrared surveys, as large objects that would emit infrared radiation. [https://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/00311498/ IKEA pendant lampshades] are spherical shells that surround the bulb. Megan claims studies have tried to use infrared surveys to find Dyson spheres at Ikea locations, without success. When Cueball tells her the easier way, searching for it online, she eagerly refers to his method as another life hack, much to Cueball's annoyance.

The title text creates a different sort of confusion of the term lifehack, with another sort of popular clickbait videos. Described activity, if done, would be considered a prank - depriving the distractible civilization of their sunlight and energy source, rather than bringing any benefit to the builders of the smaller sphere.

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

:[Megan walks to the right, holding a sheet of paper and a light bulb]
:Megan: I discovered a cool life hack -- you can put a white sheet behind a lightbulb to reflect more light.
:Off-panel voice: I'm ... not sure that's a life hack.

:[Megan stops, and positions the light bulb between two sheets of paper]
:Megan: And you can put a sheet in front to diffuse the light.
:Off-panel voice: So you've invented the lampshade.
:Megan: '''''Life hacks!'''''

:Megan: Freeman Dyson suggested that advanced civilizations would build spherical shells that surrounded their bulbs, redirecting 100% of their energy.
:Off-panel voice: Yes, they have those at IKEA.

:Megan: Well, they might. Infrared surveys are inconclusive.
:Off-panel voice: You know you can just check their website.
:Megan: Ooh, great life hack!
:Off-panel voice: ''No!''

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]

2020: Negative Results

2018-11-15T16:39:53Z

Ата: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 2020
| date = July 16, 2018
| title = Negative Results
| image = negative_results.png
| titletext = P.S. We're going to the beach this weekend, so I'm attaching my preregistration forms for that trip now, before we find out whether it produces any interesting results.
}}

==Explanation==
Recently, scientists have begun encouraging each other to publish negative results, where a study failed to find the intended effect, as a way of counteracting {{w|publication bias}} (where only interesting positive results get published), which results in false-positive results being published while negative results are not.

Cueball misinterprets the "push to publish negative results" as meaning that he should always attempt to publish the fact that he failed to find evidence of an effect, even when he didn't even try, spending his time playing a video game instead. This plays on the unspoken assumption that scientists would only choose to submit (and journals would only accept) negative results where a study was designed and executed well enough that it should have shown an effect or at least demonstrated evidence of some kind.

Besides personal preferences, ''{{w|The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild}}'', the most recent ''Legend of Zelda'' game at the time of publication, was likely chosen for its notable length, Nintendo nerd cred, and a relevance to ''{{w|Nature (journal)|Nature}}'' magazine’s subject. The average time to beat 100% of the content is [https://howlongtobeat.com/game.php?id=38019 over 175 hours].

The title text references the practice of "pre-registration" of a study, which is one means to prevent publication bias: details of a planned study are registered with an organization before the study is conducted, so that a null result or a change in methodology cannot be hidden. The title text may be a play on words, mixing this up with registering (or booking) travel. On the other hand, it may just be playing on the absurdity of pre-registering a simple trip to the beach with a registry for scientific studies.

==Transcript==
:[Cueball is sitting in an office chair at a desk typing on a laptop computer. The following message is displayed above him:]
:Dear ''Nature'' Magazine,
:I found no evidence sufficient to reject the null hypothesis in any research areas because I spent the whole week playing ''The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild''.
:I'll send you another update next week!

:[Caption below the panel:]
:The push to publish negative results seems kinda weird, but I'm happy to go along with it.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Science]]
[[Category:Video games]]

1982: Evangelism

2018-11-05T08:30:05Z

Ата: /* Explanation */ I guess, this word was meant

{{comic
| number = 1982
| date = April 18, 2018
| title = Evangelism
| image = evangelism.png
| titletext = The wars between the "OTHER PRIMATES OPEN THEM FROM THE SMALL END" faction versus the "BUT THE LITTLE BIT OF BANANA AT THE SMALL END IS GROSS" faction consumed Europe for generations.
}}

==Explanation==
In this comic, [[Randall]] presents a line plot where causes are listed, in increasing order, by the intensity of the evangelism of their advocates. {{w|Evangelism}}, in {{w|Christianity}}, is the commitment to or act of publicly preaching of the {{w|Gospel}} with the intention of spreading the message and teachings of Jesus Christ. “Evangelism” is also defined as any zealous advocacy for a cause, religious or not.

The first punchline is that religious proselytizers are unexpectedly much less intense than advocates for such things as opening bananas from the other end—which is also the subject of the title text. The comic’s release date on April 18th, is likely correlated with this days assignment as the official [https://www.daysoftheyear.com/days/banana-day/ “Banana Day”] in the US. (However, at the time of release of this comic, this day was not mentioned on the Wikipedia {{w|List_of_food_days#United_States|list of food days in the US}}).

As the graph moves from left to right, the issues at stake have less and less impact on the life of someone who “converts”, but the intensity and fervor of those spreading the cause increases. This is counterintuitive, which is the joke.

Below, each of the points on the chart, as well as the title text, is discussed.

;'''Religious proselytizers'''
{{w|Proselytism|Religious proselytizers}} are the best known evangelists, and the term “evangelism” originally applied only to them. Christian faith remains roughly as popular as ever, but Christian ''evangelism'' has become less common and less accepted in the public sphere in recent decades, and often only practiced in specific venues. Randall contrasts them in this strip with four other groups which he finds to be more intense in their “evangelism”.

;'''People who want the US to switch to metric'''
Unlike most of the world, the US uses {{w|United States Customary Units|US Customary units}} instead of {{w|metric units}}. The vast majority of the world population wish for the US to change, to the point that the US Congress already passed the {{w|Metric Conversion Act}} that U.S. President Gerald Ford signed into law on December 23, 1975. Though the US now uses SI units in many areas, especially professionally, most Americans deal more with US Customary units in their day-to-day lives.

Randall has made a conversion chart for helping US people with the confusing metric units: [[526: Converting to Metric]].

;'''People who want the US to switch to metric but keep Fahrenheit'''
Pro-metric people who wish to keep the {{w|Fahrenheit}} scale rather than change to {{w|Celsius}} are ranked as slightly more evangelic. A common argument for keeping the Fahrenheit scale is due to 0°F equating to “really cold” and 100°F to “really hot” when talking about weather. Fahrenheit also has smaller degrees than Celsius, so temperatures can be cited more precisely, if necessary, without the need to include fractional degrees. This also gives Fahrenheit the advantage that “decades” of temperatures are more useful as in saying the weather is in the 40s or the 70s, for instance. Because the Celsius degree is larger, the range of temperatures within any decade is wider and saying the temperature is in the 10s may not be as useful as it is a wider range of temperatures, compared to Fahrenheit.

To many people, making the shift only partially may immediately seem very silly—and yet the people arguing for this are even more ardent than those that wish to shift entirely, perhaps precisely because of this immediate strangeness. Also, if someone is being an SI purist, supporting a full shift to SI units, one could argue they should be advocating a switch to {{w|Kelvin}} as the unit of thermodynamic temperature, even though Celsius has the status of an {{w|SI derived unit}}.

Fahrenheit versus Celsius has been the topic of [[1643: Degrees]] and [[1923: Felsius]].

;'''People who threw away their socks and bought all one kind'''
The reason to do such a thing would be that any two socks in your drawer will match, saving time since they don't need to be matched or rolled/folded. It also reduces the likelihood of ending up with an unmatched sock—or a whole stack of them—in your drawer. This is a problem that [http://www.techtimes.com/articles/154000/20160427/science-reveals-why-you-always-lose-your-socks-in-the-laundry.htm scientists have researched].

To ordinary people, it immediately seems quite aesthetically boring to always wear the same color of socks or other clothing. But it will be easier to find matching socks, so time is saved and there will be reduction in cost as no unmatched socks will have to be discarded. For those reasons, people that do this will recommend it quite ardently to all their friends, and, at least according to the comic, even more so than the pro-metric advocates.

Randall previously referenced this idea in the xkcd survey (see [[1572: xkcd Survey]]) from September 2015. It included this question:

<blockquote>
Have you ever thrown out all your different pairs of socks/underwear, bought a bunch of replacements that were all one kind, and then told all your friends how great it was and how they should do it too?
</blockquote>

;'''People who open bananas from the other end'''
The most evangelic people Randall includes are the people who open {{w|bananas}} from the “other” end. Some people prefer to open bananas from the calyx end instead of the stem end. This thought is continued in the title text.

;'''Title text'''
The title text describes a fictional argument that apparently somehow tore apart Europe between the two factions ''Other primates open them from the small end'' and ''But the little bit of banana at the small end is gross''. It continues the most evangelic point in the chart about how bananas are supposed to be opened from the “right” end. It seems absurd that this could have actually happened, over such a trivial issue. However, major {{w|schisms}} in religion, such as that between {{w|Catholicism}} and {{w|Protestantism}} (which did, in fact, split Europe) may seem similarly trivial to the non-religious.
The supposed argument ''stems''<nowiki>[</nowiki>[[559: No Pun Intended|Pun Intended]]<nowiki>]</nowiki> from a disagreement between those that find it easier to open a banana from the bottom and those that find the small bit at the base of a banana unappetizing.

Though {{w|primates}} [http://uk.businessinsider.com/wild-monkeys-do-not-eat-bananas-2016-6?IR=T do not eat bananas in the wild], in captivity, some have been observed to [http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-2713696/Is-banana-peeling-method-WRONG-Video-demonstrates-squish-free-monkey-way-upside-down.html open bananas from the bottom end] away from the stem, as one of the two factions refers to. Less force is required to open a banana at the bottom than at the stem, causing less bruising of the fruit and generally making it easier to open. However, if not done carefully, this can result in the fruit getting squished and making a mess on the person’s fingers. Opening bananas from the stem end appears to be the predominant habit of most banana-eating humans (in Randall’s sample). One explanation is that using the stem as a lever makes for greater ease of opening and thus less damage in practice. (Bananas grow with [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Banana_farm_Chinawal.jpg the stem at the bottom]).

The entire “correct banana end” discussion could be a reference to the wars between the Blefuscudians, who opened their eggs at the big end, and the Lilliputians, who broke their eggs at the small end, as told in {{w|Jonathan Swift|Jonathan Swift’s}} epic novel ''{{w|Gulliver’s Travels}}''. This in turn is the origin of the terms {{w|Endianness|"Little Endian" and "Big Endian"}} which were much debated in circa 1980's computer architectures - which may also have been on Randall's mind.

Randall’s thoughts on the problems with opening bananas could also explain why this fruit, which many find very easy to peel and consume, is listed in the middle of the easy/difficult scale in the [[388: Fuck Grapefruit]] chart.

==Transcript==
:[A chart is shown with a line drawn from left to right with five markers on it. Each marker has a line going to it from a labeled below the main line. Above this there is a title and right below that a label above an arrow pointing to the right.]
:<big>People by intensity of evangelism</big>
:More intense

:Religious proselytizers
:People who want the US to switch to metric
:People who want the US to switch to metric but keep Fahrenheit
:People who threw away their socks and bought all one kind
:People who open bananas from the other end

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Charts]]
[[Category:Rankings]]
[[Category:Religion]]
[[Category:Food]]

1942: Memorable Quotes

2018-10-28T11:48:20Z

Ата: /* Explanation */ from comments section

{{comic
| number = 1942
| date = January 15, 2018
| title = Memorable Quotes
| image = memorable_quotes.png
| titletext = "Since there's no ending quote mark, everything after this is part of my quote. —Randall Munroe
}}

==Explanation==

This comic "helpfully" provides random quotes to be used by anyone as {{w|blurb}}s, online reviews, motivational quotes or similar short bits of text. Either the webcomic xkcd or its creator Randall Munroe may be quoted when using any of the provided lines, as stated at the top of the comic.

In particular, their "usefulness" lies in the fact that almost any of them are equally applicable to almost any situation. This is achieved by making each quote not really about anything in particular, aside from the fact that they are quotes. This is in contrast to typical quotes, which are never quite this aware that they will be quoted, but this is to be expected when the lines here were made solely for being quoted.

These self-aware quotes are, on a meta level, jokes about quotations generally. Most of Randall's quotes either sabotage the quoting work, reference some aspect of quotes as used in practice, or both---and it can be both when the aspects referenced are about twisting people's words to look like they agree with you.

The title-text does not have an ending quote mark, so "- Randall Munroe" is part of the quote, and possibly everything in xkcd after that until the next ending quote. Note that the next quote mark in xkcd is in [[1947: Night Sky]].

==Table==
{| border =1 width=100% cellpadding=5 class="wikitable"
! Quote !! Explanation
|-
|''"I disagree strongly with whatever work this quote is attached to."''
|Quotes are often used in, or on, publications and documents to add weight to them by making it seem like the person being quoted endorses their content or message. This quote would actively undermine the reputation of the work.
|-
|''"This quote was taken out of context."''
|Quotes are commonly taken out of context to make it look as though they support a (sometimes fallacious) point, or to falsely imply an endorsement of the work they are attached to. However, since this quote serves no purpose beyond pointing out that it is out of context, there would be no point in trying to use it in this way. In any case, since all these quotes are provided without any real context, it's not clear what taking it out of context would mean.
|-
|''"This quote is often falsely attributed to Mark Twain."''
|Many quotes are misattributed to famous people who are well known for originating a lot of quotes (such as [https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Mark_Twain#Misattributed Mark Twain], [https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Dr._Seuss#Misattributed Dr. Seuss], or [https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Albert_Einstein#Misattributed Albert Einstein]). If this quote was attributed to Mark Twain, however, it would be immediately clear that either it wasn't said by him, or he was lying at the time.
|-
|''"I'm being quoted to introduce something, but I have no idea what it is and certainly don't endorse it."''
|This is likely the case for many famous, widely admired people who are often quoted for all sorts of arguments, even diametrically opposed ones.
|-
|''"This quote is very memorable."''
|This is likely not the case; this quote itself is very forgettable, being very short, and containing no insight on anything meaningful. However, the irony is that this simple quote stating it’s memorableness may be enough to get it stuck in your head, making it a sort of self-fulfilling prophecy. This quote could actually be useful if you were preparing a presentation on how to give presentations, and wanted to illustrate the misuse of quotes.
|-
|''"I wrote this book, and the person quoting me here is taking credit for it."''
|The quote is attempting to sabotage the authorship of the book that uses it. Paradoxically, though, by implying that Randall wrote the book, it also implies that he is the one using the quote, and therefore claiming credit that is not due to him.
|-
|''"This entire thing is the quote, not just the part in quote marks." [Quote marks, brackets, and editor's note are all in the original. —Ed.]''
|Editors sometimes use square brackets within or after a quote in order to make a comment on the quote, such as to note that mistakes or typographical oddities were in the author's original, to correct factual errors, or to provide additional context. Randall is deliberately confusing the issue by including what appears to be an editor's note within the quote itself.

Further confusion would be caused if the quoting author, or their editor, wanted to include a note of their own, such as one noting that this odd construction was in the original quote, because it would be hard to tell what the scope of the claims were, and who wrote each editor’s note. Such problems of clarity can be solved using different formatting or typographical techniques such as footnotes. Programming languages avoid this type of ambiguity by using {{w|escape characters}}.
|-
|''"Websites that collect quotes are full of mistakes and never check original sources."''
|Websites that collect quotes are infamous for not checking sources. This has been parodied in many ways. The implication would be that if you found this quote on such a website, there would be a good chance that it was inaccurate or misattributed.
|-
|''"This quote will be the only part of this presentation you remember."''
|When used effectively in a presentation a quote should succinctly summarize the ideas being presented in a memorable, pithy phrase that helps to bring to mind the rest of the message. However, it is a common experience, especially if the presentation was weak, or the quote was not particularly appropriate, for them to be the only part you remember.
|-
|''"Oooh, look at me, I looked up a quote!"''
|It is sometimes recommended to add quotes to a work or, particularly a presentation, to add weight, wit, or authority. However, it is common for quotes to appear to have been included because the author thought there ought to be one, rather than serving any particular purpose, especially if the quote chosen is of questionable relevance. This quote would make it very clear that this was the case. This could also be a reference to a Rick and Morty episode with a character named Mr. Meseeks.
|-
|''"If you're doing a text search in this document for the word 'butts,' the good news is that it's here, but the bad news is that it only appears in this unrelated quote."''
|This would probably occur if you decided to follow Randall's advice and include this quote in your work, since this is a fairly infrequently used word in most contexts.
|-
|''"Wait, what if these quote marks are inside out, so everything in the rest of the document is the quotation and ''this'' part isn't? ''Duuuuude.''"''
|The quote imitates the stereotype of hippies, typically ones on drugs, announcing what they believe to be deep insights into reality. If it were true, it would mean that whoever wrote the quoting work would be stealing the entire thing from somewhere, with the exception of these two weird sentences pointing it out.
|-
|''"The editors of ''Bartlett's Familiar Quotations'' are a bunch of cowards who don't have the guts to print this."''
|The author of this quote is apparently making a desperate attempt to get a quote published by challenging the editors of ''{{w|Bartlett's Familiar Quotations}}'', or perhaps is resentful, having attempted to get them to publish his quote(s) and been rejected.
|-
|''"This quote only looks profound when it's in a script font over a sunset."''
|Supposedly inspirational quotes are often set in a fancy font above a picture of a sunset, mountain range, beach, etc. to make them look more profound. However, these are often ridiculed as being trite or vacuous. This quote takes the unusual step of acknowledging that, without such formatting, it looks boring and average.
|-
|''"I don't do a lot of public speaking, so I looked up a memorable quote to start my speech, and this is what I found. OK, you're staring at me blankly, but this whole thing is a quote. I know that sounds confusing, but... you know what, never mind."''
|People often begin speeches with a memorable quote in order to engage the audience. Using this quote would give the impression that the person speaking lacked confidence in their speech and, particularly, the quote they had chosen to introduce it, being interesting enough to get people's attention.
|-
|''"Sent from my iPhone"''
|This is the default email signature on an {{w|iPhone}}. Quoting this might lead the reader to think that you typed the preceding work on your phone, or that Randall sent the quote from his phone, and you lazily copied and pasted the wrong part of the message.
|-
|''"Since there's no ending quote mark, everything after this is part of my quote. —Randall Munroe
|Appears in the title text. Randall Munroe is saying that because there's no ending quotation mark, the rest of the book this quote is in is part of Randall's quote, including, weirdly, the piece of text, after what should be the quote, specifying that Randall has also said his name.
|}

==Transcript==

:Looking for a quote for something?
:Here are some for general use.

:They can be attributed to xkcd or Randall Munroe as needed.

:"I disagree strongly with whatever work this quote is attached to."
:"This quote was taken out of context."
:"This quote is often falsely attributed to Mark Twain."
:"I'm being quoted to introduce something, but I have no idea what it is and certainly don't endorse it."
:"This quote is very memorable."
:"I wrote this book, and the person quoting me here is taking credit for it."
:"This entire thing is the quote, not just the part in quote marks." [quote marks, brackets, and editor's note are all in the original. -ED.]
:"Websites that collect quotes are full of mistakes and never check original sources."
:"This quote will be the only part of this presentation you remember."
:"Oooh, look at me, I looked up a quote!"
:"If you're doing a text search in this document for the word 'butts,' the good news is that it's here, but the bad news is that it only appears in this unrelated quote."
:"Wait, what if these quote marks are inside out, so everything in the rest of the document is the quotation and ''this'' part isn't? ''Duuuuude."
:"The editors of ''Bartlett's Familiar Quotations'' are a bunch of cowards who don't have the guts to print this."
:"This quote only looks profound when it's in a script font over a sunset."
:"I don't do a lot of public speaking, so I looked up a memorable quote to start my speech, and this is what I found. OK, you're staring at me blankly, but this whole thing is a quote. I know that sounds confusing, but... You know what, never mind!"
:"Sent from my iPhone."

{{comic discussion}}

User:Ата

2018-10-07T11:45:11Z

Ата: Created page with "Ата as in Atë."

Ата as in [[:wikipedia:Atë|Atë]].

Talk:1767: US State Names

2018-10-07T11:38:27Z

Ата:

I'm wondering whether this could be a joke about autocorrect/suggested completion as found in smartphone texting apps.
[[User:Dromaeosaur|Dromaeosaur]] ([[User talk:Dromaeosaur|talk]]) 08:06, 2 December 2016 (UTC)
:But would autocorrect replace Texas with Hexxus?--[[User:Blaisorblade|Blaisorblade]] ([[User talk:Blaisorblade|talk]]) 09:02, 2 December 2016 (UTC)

According to Wikipedia Will Wheaton is not from Washington [[Special:Contributions/162.158.133.150|162.158.133.150]] 08:56, 2 December 2016 (UTC)

I think the starting point is the ambiguity of the standard "Name all 50 states" challenge. I'm no native speaker but "Name" means both "invent a new name" and "give the correct name for", and Randall is misunderstanding this on purpose. Maybe that's obvious to some, but it seems the sort of thing worth explaining here?--[[User:Blaisorblade|Blaisorblade]] ([[User talk:Blaisorblade|talk]]) 09:02, 2 December 2016 (UTC)
:Clever! That's certainly true, it could be a pun on the word "name". Although Randall has done similar things in the past (putting objects in states, reordering states, drawing physically cumbersome bicycles) that suggest he likes playing with the idea that people who ''sort of'' know how things work but ultimately end up mixing things up and creating something that's not all that accurate (but nonetheless very interesting and creative). [[Special:Contributions/172.68.79.81|172.68.79.81]] 18:31, 3 December 2016 (UTC)

"Colocated" is technically misspelled (it's either "co-located" or "collocated"), though that could be for the sake of matching it to "Colorado." However, the word is used in many situations other than "co-location center" (e.g. workers being collocated in the same office), so unless Colorado is particularly notable for its co-location centers, I don't think it makes sense to claim that that's what it's specifically referring to. –[[User:PhantomLimbic|PhantomLimbic]] ([[User talk:PhantomLimbic|talk]]) 09:36, 2 December 2016 (UTC)
:Hmm, it looks like "colocated" is a spelling used specifically within the industry, so perhaps the claim is warranted after all. –[[User:PhantomLimbic|PhantomLimbic]] ([[User talk:PhantomLimbic|talk]]) 09:50, 2 December 2016 (UTC)

:Collocate is not a synonym for co-locate; [https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/collocate collocate] (pronounced like "kallocate") has the sense of juxtaposing things with each other, especially placing them side by side. This is subtly different from co-locate (housing them in the same location). "Colocate" is an industry [http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/07/weekinreview/07mcgrath.html shortening] of "co-locate", not a misspelling of "collocate". [[Special:Contributions/108.162.215.47|108.162.215.47]] 01:01, 5 December 2016 (UTC)

Isn't it a challenge to correctly name all the states with clues given as to the proper name?[[Special:Contributions/162.158.91.95|162.158.91.95]] 10:27, 2 December 2016 (UTC)

I think the challenge is supposed to be a blank map that someone has filled out in red pen. The joke is that whoever filled it out does pretty much know all of the states but isn't really clear on their actual names.[[Special:Contributions/108.162.238.50|108.162.238.50]] 10:34, 2 December 2016 (UTC)
Right, I get you. Something a bored Geography teacher may or may not find amusing when it comes to giving out detentions for the week :)[[Special:Contributions/162.158.91.95|162.158.91.95]] 10:40, 2 December 2016 (UTC)

Is Georgia / George a reference to the kings of georgia (of which 9 were named george)? (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Georgian_monarchs) [[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.253|141.101.98.253]] 10:49, 2 December 2016 (UTC)
:I would have thought of the king of England when the colonies decided to declare independence -- or, for that matter, his grandfather King George II, after whom the state was named -- before thinking of kings from the other side of the Northern Hemisphere. But who knows. George is a common enough name that without word from Randall, it could equally be said he was making a reference to George Lucas, or to the name the Abominable Snowman wanted to give his "own little bunny rabbit." [[User:Nyperold|Nyperold]] ([[User talk:Nyperold|talk]]) 18:00, 7 December 2016 (UTC)

About "OH HI", I've understood it as a reference to the cult movie "The Room" (2003) (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0368226), where the main character Johnny greets the other ones with a "Oh hi!". But that's maybe only my view. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.226.112|108.162.226.112]] 12:12, 2 December 2016 (UTC)

I think it's within plausibility for OH HI to be a reference to the logic game 0h h1 [http://0hh1.com]. Toss that possibility around? --[[Special:Contributions/108.162.212.96|108.162.212.96]] 23:30, 3 December 2016 (UTC)

As a Hoosier, I think that the name given to Indiana is on point. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.238.45|108.162.238.45]] 14:06, 2 December 2016 (UTC)

Shouldn't the table be alphabetical and the transcript be in geographical order (rather than the other way around as it is now)?[[Special:Contributions/108.162.219.83|108.162.219.83]] 15:12, 2 December 2016 (UTC)

I'm fairly confident that "Mossouri" is not a typo, but rather a reference to Katie Mossouris, the Microsoft security researcher who created the bug bounty program. see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Katie_Moussouris. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.245.54|108.162.245.54]] 18:06, 2 December 2016 (UTC)

Dear, it's old to complain of xkcd's various quality drops, but I think this is my turn. A good number of recent comics have just been variously exaggerated text lists of stuff. Randall might just as well switch to a written format; pictorial context is becoming less and less necessary for his comics by the week. <nowiki>~~~~</nowiki> {{unsigned ip|162.158.203.149}}
:Never read [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cerebus_the_Aardvark Cerebus the Aardvark], did you? --[[Special:Contributions/172.68.78.133|172.68.78.133]] 14:04, 3 December 2016 (UTC)

I'm thinking that at least in part, it's a commentary on what the average American middle-schooler knows about their country's geography. [[Special:Contributions/173.245.52.98|173.245.52.98]] 10:56, 2 December 2016 (UTC)

I'm pretty sure there is no 'ee' sound in Michigan, also of note the Carolina's are named for one the British King Charles's although I'm not sure which, and Wysiwyg has been used in xkcd before... Somewhere[[Special:Contributions/108.162.237.88|108.162.237.88]] 21:14, 2 December 2016 (UTC)
:Agreed re Michigan and removed. [[User:Miamiclay|Miamiclay]] ([[User talk:Miamiclay|talk]]) 23:11, 3 December 2016 (UTC)

Newark? He named New York after Newark, New Jersey? Yea, I got your Newark right here, buddy! --[[Special:Contributions/172.68.78.133|172.68.78.133]] 14:04, 3 December 2016 (UTC)

For me, Randall's comic is a gentle-but-hilarious depiction of the general imprecision of human cognition --- pretty much every story that we tell, and every fact we remember, arrives in our awareness in the foggy forms that this comic makes fun of. [[User:John Sidles|John Sidles]] ([[User talk:John Sidles|talk]]) 02:12, 4 December 2016 (UTC)

"Spanish Maine" is ironic given the sinking of the {{w|USS Maine (ACR-1)|naval ship of the same name}} and the inspired rally, "Remember the Maine, to Hell with Spain!" [[Special:Contributions/172.68.79.81|172.68.79.81]] 18:31, 3 December 2016 (UTC)

Should there be a link to the Exoplanets comic? Also related to the chaos that arises when people are allowed to 'name' things (https://xkcd.com/1253/) - [[Special:Contributions/162.158.58.88|162.158.58.88]] 23:08, 5 December 2016 (UTC)

The explanation for "More Dakota" says that "More Dakka" (which I believe to be referenced here) is possibly too obscure to be a shoutout here, as XKCD does not usually mention Warhammer 40,000. However, there is a TV Trope named "More Dakka", and it is well-established that Randall is an avid reader of TV Tropes. (This is also the only way I know about "More Dakka".) [[User:Mathmannix|Mathmannix]] ([[User talk:Mathmannix|talk]]) 14:04, 7 December 2016 (UTC)

I've taken the liberty to make a description list out of the table (and sort it alphabetically), so it is easier to read on small screens. The original order is still in the wikitext as a comment, in case this is preferred by the original authors. (also, if this is 'too much', feel free to revert) [[User:Gir|//gir.st/]] ([[User talk:Gir|talk]]) 11:10, 28 August 2018 (UTC)

Could 'Fyoridor' be derived from 'corridor'? --[[User:Ата|Ата]] [[User talk:Ата|(talk)]] 11:38, 7 October 2018 (UTC)

Talk:1723: Meteorite Identification

2018-09-25T07:42:58Z

Ата: comment

lol, some poor soul is now wondering why his Meteorite ID chart is being flooded with traffic! [[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.59|141.101.98.59]] 12:08, 22 August 2016 (UTC)

I'd like to see some analysis of the linked flowchart, or a least an explanation of the title text comment. Why does "Did you see it fall" have only an "yes" option, that leads to "not a meteorite" [[User:Zeimusu|Zeimusu]] ([[User talk:Zeimusu|talk]]) 12:10, 22 August 2016 (UTC)
: Because actually seeing a meteorite fall and recovering it is an incredibly rare event (690 times since 1900), but ''stories'' about how they saw a meteor fall and went out and found a rock in the middle of a crater are a dime-a-dozen. So if someone shows up with a rock they think is a meteorite, odds are they will say they saw it fall, but odds are it's not a meteorite. --[[Special:Contributions/162.158.214.231|162.158.214.231]] 14:26, 22 August 2016 (UTC)

:: You missed the "have only a yes option". It lacks a "No" path. --[[Special:Contributions/108.162.218.179|108.162.218.179]] 20:07, 22 August 2016 (UTC)

::: I assume the reason for that is that the chart has run out of ideas why you'd even think it's a meteorite at that point [[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.59|141.101.98.59]] 08:30, 23 August 2016 (UTC)

:::Looks like the chart was updated since then; now it has "No" arrow that also leads to "not a meteorite" -- [[User:Ата|Ата]] [[User talk:Ата|(talk)]] 20:04, 22 September 2018 (UTC)
::::What chart? What "No" arrow? Not this comic. --[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 17:11, 24 September 2018 (UTC)
:::::[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]], I was talking about the ''[http://meteorites.wustl.edu/check-list.htm Meteorite or meteorwrong]'' flow chart. -- [[User:Ата|Ата]] [[User talk:Ата|(talk)]] 07:42, 25 September 2018 (UTC)

I'm wondering if this is related to the recent claims in British newspapers (Warning, Daily Mail content [http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3745346/Homeowner-makes-world-discovery-glowing-METEORITE-lands-garden-lights-cigarette-it.html Link] [[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.83|141.101.98.83]] 12:27, 22 August 2016 (UTC)

Here's the chart hosted externally: http://imgur.com/a/AzQOk Also, could somebody explain the mouseover text? Why does it falling from the sky mean it's not a meteorite? (Edit: Imgur's servers are trying to give out. Here's another external hosted version: http://oi66.tinypic.com/315yazp.jpg ) [[User:NexTerren|NexTerren]] ([[User talk:NexTerren|talk]]) 12:47, 22 August 2016 (UTC)

Where did the 'there have only been 690 confirmed cases since 1900' factoid come from? Wikipedia says there are over 38,000 well documented finds, referring to a 2011 source. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.250.161|108.162.250.161]] 13:03, 22 August 2016 (UTC)
: The [http://meteorites.wustl.edu/realities.htm|"Some Metorite Realities"] page says "Since 1900, the numbers of recognized meteorite "falls" is about 690 for the whole Earth." It looks like the author mistook that as the total number of meteorite ''discoveries''. [[Special:Contributions/173.245.54.28|173.245.54.28]] 13:49, 22 August 2016 (UTC)

Here's some explanation on why seeing a meteorite fall is unlikely: http://www.meteoritemarket.com/metid2.htm Located at point 48A from http://meteorites.wustl.edu/realities.htm (Linked on the full chart) [[Special:Contributions/141.101.70.43|141.101.70.43]] 13:07, 22 August 2016 (UTC)

I just tried fixing it up FOUR TIMES, and got an edit conflict each time. The later ones didn't even change anything. I'd contribute, but not if this keeps happening. [[User:Papayaman1000|Papayaman1000]] ([[User talk:Papayaman1000|talk]]) 14:50, 22 August 2016 (UTC)
:Sorry about that, but I hope my edits fixed this. There is now an extended explanation of the title text. I'm finished for now, so please improve where needed. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 14:52, 22 August 2016 (UTC)

Yeah, I can't even get on it. {{unsigned ip|162.158.75.27}}

Well, thanks Randall for 'borrowing' my chart ....

http://www.mindat.org/forum.php?read,11,279733,279757

UPDATE: I have heard from Randall and we're sorting things out! --[[Special:Contributions/108.162.215.125|108.162.215.125]] 04:25, 23 August 2016 (UTC)
:Interesting, have included this in a trivia! What did you sort out then? Guess he just got the same idea from the chart he links to, as you had...? --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 20:32, 23 August 2016 (UTC)
::Great I can see that Randall has now credited Jolyon with the idea in the header above {{xkcd|1723}}. Have amended the trivia to cover this. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 07:58, 1 September 2016 (UTC)

»Any meteor big enough to glow and be visible while falling will leave a large impact crater, rather than simply sit on the ground as a rock.« Doesn't many meteors break up and fragment while still in the air? Such an event could be highly visible on the sky yet yield meteorites sitting on the ground. --[[Special:Contributions/141.101.80.70|141.101.80.70]] 09:03, 23 August 2016 (UTC)
:The missing bit is IMHO that for finding meteorite based on seeing it fall it would need to be still visible in low attitudes. In case of breakup, you will see the breakup but will have no way to guess where the meteors landed, as the breakup will change the trajectory. -- [[User:Hkmaly|Hkmaly]] ([[User talk:Hkmaly|talk]]) 12:55, 23 August 2016 (UTC)
::I think the explanation was not clear enough and have improved. But agree with Hkmaly that also a breaking up meteor will result in lots of meteorites that while falling the last part of the way, was not visible to the naked eye (day or night). If the rock had not broken up but hit the ground, it would have been visible all the way, but would have been completely destroyed in the impact (leaving a crater) and no meteorite would have been left to find. So again you would not find a meteorite that you saw land! --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 20:32, 23 August 2016 (UTC)

I think it's important to note that from a certain perspective, this graph is wrong 100% of the time. Technically, speaking from a super-geological timeframe, our planet is nothing but a big mashed up mass of meteorites... or would our planet simply be a large meteoroid and thus not a meteorite yet as we have not finished plummeting into the sun? [[User:Joshupetersen|Joshupetersen]] ([[User talk:Joshupetersen|talk]])
:As Earth has now cleared it's trajectory around the sun it is deemed a planet and thus not a meteoroid. Any stone that has been molten after landing on the Earth is now part of the Earth. This thus rules out all rocks that hit the Earth before it got a solid crust in the first place. Any rock that can be determined to have fallen to Earth after that, and has never been molten after landing is a meteorite and not a part of the original Earth. So technically you comment is, from any perspective, 100% wrong all the time ;-) --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 20:32, 23 August 2016 (UTC)

Talk:1723: Meteorite Identification

2018-09-22T20:04:33Z

Ата:

lol, some poor soul is now wondering why his Meteorite ID chart is being flooded with traffic! [[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.59|141.101.98.59]] 12:08, 22 August 2016 (UTC)

I'd like to see some analysis of the linked flowchart, or a least an explanation of the title text comment. Why does "Did you see it fall" have only an "yes" option, that leads to "not a meteorite" [[User:Zeimusu|Zeimusu]] ([[User talk:Zeimusu|talk]]) 12:10, 22 August 2016 (UTC)
: Because actually seeing a meteorite fall and recovering it is an incredibly rare event (690 times since 1900), but ''stories'' about how they saw a meteor fall and went out and found a rock in the middle of a crater are a dime-a-dozen. So if someone shows up with a rock they think is a meteorite, odds are they will say they saw it fall, but odds are it's not a meteorite. --[[Special:Contributions/162.158.214.231|162.158.214.231]] 14:26, 22 August 2016 (UTC)

:: You missed the "have only a yes option". It lacks a "No" path. --[[Special:Contributions/108.162.218.179|108.162.218.179]] 20:07, 22 August 2016 (UTC)

::: I assume the reason for that is that the chart has run out of ideas why you'd even think it's a meteorite at that point [[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.59|141.101.98.59]] 08:30, 23 August 2016 (UTC)

:::Looks like the chart was updated since then; now it has "No" arrow that also leads to "not a meteorite" -- [[User:Ата|Ата]] [[User talk:Ата|(talk)]] 20:04, 22 September 2018 (UTC)

I'm wondering if this is related to the recent claims in British newspapers (Warning, Daily Mail content [http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3745346/Homeowner-makes-world-discovery-glowing-METEORITE-lands-garden-lights-cigarette-it.html Link] [[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.83|141.101.98.83]] 12:27, 22 August 2016 (UTC)

Here's the chart hosted externally: http://imgur.com/a/AzQOk Also, could somebody explain the mouseover text? Why does it falling from the sky mean it's not a meteorite? (Edit: Imgur's servers are trying to give out. Here's another external hosted version: http://oi66.tinypic.com/315yazp.jpg ) [[User:NexTerren|NexTerren]] ([[User talk:NexTerren|talk]]) 12:47, 22 August 2016 (UTC)

Where did the 'there have only been 690 confirmed cases since 1900' factoid come from? Wikipedia says there are over 38,000 well documented finds, referring to a 2011 source. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.250.161|108.162.250.161]] 13:03, 22 August 2016 (UTC)
: The [http://meteorites.wustl.edu/realities.htm|"Some Metorite Realities"] page says "Since 1900, the numbers of recognized meteorite "falls" is about 690 for the whole Earth." It looks like the author mistook that as the total number of meteorite ''discoveries''. [[Special:Contributions/173.245.54.28|173.245.54.28]] 13:49, 22 August 2016 (UTC)

Here's some explanation on why seeing a meteorite fall is unlikely: http://www.meteoritemarket.com/metid2.htm Located at point 48A from http://meteorites.wustl.edu/realities.htm (Linked on the full chart) [[Special:Contributions/141.101.70.43|141.101.70.43]] 13:07, 22 August 2016 (UTC)

I just tried fixing it up FOUR TIMES, and got an edit conflict each time. The later ones didn't even change anything. I'd contribute, but not if this keeps happening. [[User:Papayaman1000|Papayaman1000]] ([[User talk:Papayaman1000|talk]]) 14:50, 22 August 2016 (UTC)
:Sorry about that, but I hope my edits fixed this. There is now an extended explanation of the title text. I'm finished for now, so please improve where needed. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 14:52, 22 August 2016 (UTC)

Yeah, I can't even get on it. {{unsigned ip|162.158.75.27}}

Well, thanks Randall for 'borrowing' my chart ....

http://www.mindat.org/forum.php?read,11,279733,279757

UPDATE: I have heard from Randall and we're sorting things out! --[[Special:Contributions/108.162.215.125|108.162.215.125]] 04:25, 23 August 2016 (UTC)
:Interesting, have included this in a trivia! What did you sort out then? Guess he just got the same idea from the chart he links to, as you had...? --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 20:32, 23 August 2016 (UTC)
::Great I can see that Randall has now credited Jolyon with the idea in the header above {{xkcd|1723}}. Have amended the trivia to cover this. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 07:58, 1 September 2016 (UTC)

»Any meteor big enough to glow and be visible while falling will leave a large impact crater, rather than simply sit on the ground as a rock.« Doesn't many meteors break up and fragment while still in the air? Such an event could be highly visible on the sky yet yield meteorites sitting on the ground. --[[Special:Contributions/141.101.80.70|141.101.80.70]] 09:03, 23 August 2016 (UTC)
:The missing bit is IMHO that for finding meteorite based on seeing it fall it would need to be still visible in low attitudes. In case of breakup, you will see the breakup but will have no way to guess where the meteors landed, as the breakup will change the trajectory. -- [[User:Hkmaly|Hkmaly]] ([[User talk:Hkmaly|talk]]) 12:55, 23 August 2016 (UTC)
::I think the explanation was not clear enough and have improved. But agree with Hkmaly that also a breaking up meteor will result in lots of meteorites that while falling the last part of the way, was not visible to the naked eye (day or night). If the rock had not broken up but hit the ground, it would have been visible all the way, but would have been completely destroyed in the impact (leaving a crater) and no meteorite would have been left to find. So again you would not find a meteorite that you saw land! --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 20:32, 23 August 2016 (UTC)

I think it's important to note that from a certain perspective, this graph is wrong 100% of the time. Technically, speaking from a super-geological timeframe, our planet is nothing but a big mashed up mass of meteorites... or would our planet simply be a large meteoroid and thus not a meteorite yet as we have not finished plummeting into the sun? [[User:Joshupetersen|Joshupetersen]] ([[User talk:Joshupetersen|talk]])
:As Earth has now cleared it's trajectory around the sun it is deemed a planet and thus not a meteoroid. Any stone that has been molten after landing on the Earth is now part of the Earth. This thus rules out all rocks that hit the Earth before it got a solid crust in the first place. Any rock that can be determined to have fallen to Earth after that, and has never been molten after landing is a meteorite and not a part of the original Earth. So technically you comment is, from any perspective, 100% wrong all the time ;-) --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 20:32, 23 August 2016 (UTC)

1708: Dehydration

2018-09-21T07:03:11Z

Ата: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 1708
| date = July 18, 2016
| title = Dehydration
| image = dehydration.png
| titletext = I don't care what the research says. Everybody knows you should drink 3,000 glasses of water a day and change your oil every 8 miles.
}}

==Explanation==
This comic plays on the idea that there is little to no consensus in the scientific community with regard to the amount of water a person should drink per day. In the first panel [[White Hat]] presents [[Cueball]] with an innocent and sensible suggestion (although controversial) that people should drink six glasses of water per day. In the second panel, more characters join the discussion, an off-panel voice claims the most {{w|Drinking_water#Requirements|common misconception}} of eight glasses a day, a number which is not supported by scientific research. [[Ponytail]] again goes two higher with ten highlighting the existence of a wide range of so-called 'optimum' liquid consumption 'rule-of-thumb'. Implied here is the variety of health-related books, articles, blogs or other literature published that self-proclaims an optimum drinking formula.

The first sign of absurdity also arises here in the second panel when [[Black Hat]] posits that we need 5 glasses of water every minute. This equates to 7200 glasses of water a day, and using an often cited "standard definition of a glass"[https://www.quora.com/One-glass-of-water-is-how-many-ounces], [https://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20061002110517AAltamZ], [http://www.sparkpeople.com/ma/How-many-ounces-is-a-glass-of-water?/7/1/27943956] being equal to 8 oz (236 ml), Black Hat is suggesting that we should each drink 1.7 cubic meters (1700 liters) of water a day, not only curing {{w|dehydration}} but also causing {{w|water intoxication}}. This is a typical Black Hat kind of statement that he uses to further emphasizes the absurdity of the problem at hand.

Some time later [[Megan]], despite having read through all studies on dehydration (or low-grade dehydration in particular), still has not come to a solid conclusion. She becomes dizzy, admitting that she's been so focused on her work, she has ironically [http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/ForgetsToEat forgotten to eat or drink]. Her personal experience with dehydration prompts someone off-panel to get some water, but since she couldn't find any consensus in her research, she asks how many glasses they should bring her. Presumably to avoid the question of "how many glasses" entirely, Cueball finally suggests that she should drink straight from the tap, a (tenuously) sincere suggestion seeing her dehydration and following the good advice to drink when you are thirsty until that state has been absolved. In the title text of [[1744: Metabolism]], released less than 3 months after this one, Cueball mentions how he starts to feel bad if he refrains from drinking, just like Megan here. In that comic it is Cueball that tells White Hat about his "problems".

The title text contains a mix-up between two often stated intervals; drinking eight glasses of water per day (which makes no sense, see above) and changing the engine oil every {{w|3,000_mile_myth|3000 miles}} (almost 5000 km) which may be a good rule, but not a necessity. Obviously it's impossible to drink 3000 glasses of water, and changing the oil every eight miles (about 13 km) would make driving a car very impractical.

The subject of this comic has been graphed in [[715: Numbers]] and mentioned in the what if? ''{{what if|74|Soda Planet}}'':
<blockquote>
The question of how much water we should drink per day is the subject of furious debate—the "8 glasses" thing seems to be a myth—but the amount of water we actually drink per day seems to be about a liter.
</blockquote>

Later, in the what if? ''{{what if|91|Faucet Power}}'', [[Randall]] comments on the preference for even numbers in the graph, and writes:
<blockquote>
The only real solid advice I've heard is that if you're thirsty, you should drink some water.
</blockquote>
''How many glasses is "some water"'' remains an open question...

[[Beret Guy]] and Megan are participants of a thought experiment concerning glasses of water and vacuum in the [[what if?]] ''{{what if|6|Glass Half Empty}}''.

And the six glasses of water that this comic began with is also mentioned later in [[1853: Once Per Day]].

This is a rare example of a normal xkcd comic of few panels manages to use five of the seven [[Template:navbox characters|major characters]] who actually interact. It is the [[:Category:Characters with Hats|first comic]] where Black Hat has spoken (or directly interacted) with White Hat. Until this comic, they have only appeared together in complicated/large drawings where there is no interaction between the two. The only other time this has happened is in [[1881: Drone Training]].

==Transcript==
:[White Hat and Cueball standing together.]
:White Hat: Many people are mildly dehydrated. And don't realize it. You should drink at least six glasses of water per day.

:[A voice comes from off-panel to the left as Ponytail enters from the left and Black Hat from the right in this frameless panel.]
:Off-panel voice: No, ''eight'' glasses!
:Ponytail: I heard ten.
:Black Hat: You need to drink at least five glasses of water per minute.

:[Megan is standing to the left holding a book or a thick binder along her side while holding up a finger with the other hand. A question comes from off-panel to the right. Above her a caption is written in a small frame that breaks the top of this panel's frame:]
:Later:
:Megan: Okay, I just read through every study I could find to try to figure out whether low-grade dehydration is even a real thing.
:Off-panel voice: What did you learn?

:[Megan looking downwards, has two starbursts a circles and two dots above her head signifying dizziness. Cueball stands to the right as another voice comes from off-panel to the right.]
:Megan: If you spend all day doing research and forget to eat or drink, you start to feel pretty bad.
:Off-panel voice: I'll get some water.
:Megan: ''But how many glas'' - Whoa, feeling dizzy.
:Cueball: Maybe you should just drink straight from the tap.

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring White Hat]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Ponytail]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Black Hat]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]

Talk:977: Map Projections

2017-09-03T10:38:37Z

Ата: btw

I have a Plate Carrée hanging on my wall myself. Never failed me yet. '''[[User:Davidy22|Davidy22]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 07:05, 2 February 2013 (UTC)

I like the Azimuthal Equidistant (equatorial aspect) the best. - not Pennpenn. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.221.43|108.162.221.43]] 01:15, 17 December 2015 (UTC)

You can explore and compare different map projections and their distortions (using Tissot’s indicatrix and triangulation of sphere) in an interactive blog post '''[http://mjmdavis.com/showing/2017/05/16/how-to-read-maps.html The problem with maps]''' by Michael Davis --[[User:JakubNarebski|JakubNarebski]] ([[User talk:JakubNarebski|talk]]) 14:58, 26 May 2017 (UTC)

Go check out that site carefully though most of the data is accurate, some of the media is not, for example the two side by side Google maps satellite images of cars and the text saying how a map projection changes the apparent size of the cars. Well if you open up both links you will see they are at different zoom levels, one at a scale of 50 feet per unit and the other at 100 feet so yes being twice the zoom the cars are going to appear larger then the image right next to it. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.62.231|162.158.62.231]] 12:04, 23 August 2017 (UTC)

Btw, this comic is given in ''[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2lR7s1Y6Zig What Does Earth Look Like?]'' of Vsause where these projections are discussed. --[[User:Ата|Ата]] [[User talk:Ата|(talk)]] 10:38, 3 September 2017 (UTC)

;Dymaxion
Dymaxion is clearly the best. There's nothing like a map made out of an unfolded d20. [[User:Alpha|Alpha]] ([[User talk:Alpha|talk]]) 19:43, 23 February 2013 (UTC)

: Makes you wonder what if a dodecahedron had been used instead of an icosahedron. --[[User:Quicksilver|Quicksilver]] ([[User talk:Quicksilver|talk]]) 18:02, 17 August 2013 (UTC)

::Here you go: http://www.progonos.com/furuti/MapProj/Normal/ProjPoly/Foldout/Dodecahedron/dodecahedron.html - [[User:Frankie|Frankie]] ([[User talk:Frankie|talk]]) 16:40, 23 July 2015 (UTC)

;Quincunx
Peirce Quincuncial has 4 non-conformal points, but not the 4 corners, which are the south pole, but instead are the 4 midpoints of the sides. These are on the equator and seem to be 90 degrees apart.--DrMath 06:30, 30 August 2013 (UTC)
: I love Peirce Quincuncial, yet I slept throughout that "Inception". [[Special:Contributions/141.101.99.228|141.101.99.228]] 11:36, 27 January 2014 (UTC)
: I'm surprised nobody thought of "''really'' looking at your hands" as a hint that person that likes this projection is under influence of LSD or similar drug. As this surely is a thing that you do. (and you'll think of it next time you smoke your joint - inception!) --[[Special:Contributions/108.162.254.137|108.162.254.137]] 17:29, 7 December 2014 (UTC)

Plus it has a picture of a man looking at his hand and a man looking at the man looking at his hand.[[User:Weatherlawyer| I used Google News BEFORE it was clickbait]] ([[User talk:Weatherlawyer|talk]]) 14:39, 22 January 2015 (UTC)

xkcd 1051's title text - "meta lucid dreaming". I really got excited that there was an article about and ironically, it leads to meta and lucid dreaming separately. [[Special:Contributions/173.245.55.67|173.245.55.67]] 21:23, 25 March 2014 (UTC)BK201

The common video game trope of "the far east of the world is connected to the far west, and the far north likewise to the far south" is popularly resolved by saying that those game worlds are toroidal shapes. (For a particular reference, I am thinking of the SNES and PSX era Final Fantasy games (4-9.)) But sometime in the last year, I got the idea that you could also resolve that geographical conflict (and claim they are spherical) by the logic that the "world map" you see in those games (where they have one) is a Peirce Qunincuncial map. Is my logic sound? [[User:Boct1584|Boct1584]] ([[User talk:Boct1584|talk]]) 15:31, 28 March 2015 (UTC)

The explanation for the Peirce Quincuncial seems to miss the fact that Randall is implying that anyone who likes this map is most likely high. Getting lost in deep thought over things like your hands, or sitting in a dark theater for 6 hours to wrap your head around Inception...these are all very stereotypical "has smoke a lot of marijuana" behaviors. {{unsigned ip|108.162.216.21}}

;Waterman

In actual fact, the Waterman butterfly map used a truncated octahedron based upon the mathematics of close packing of spheres and is not at all based upon any of CaHill's work/math.
-- steve waterman {{unsigned ip|65.92.20.61}}
:Perhaps the explanation should mention that Waterman himself signed up at forum.xkcd.com and vigorously denied that his map has anything to do with Cahill. At the time, it was unclear whether the account was really Waterman, or just a troll trying to make him look bad. - [[User:Frankie|Frankie]] ([[User talk:Frankie|talk]]) 21:39, 25 March 2014 (UTC)

;Kavrayskiy VII
Kavrayskiy is the best projection, despite being so far out of the mainstream that no-one west of Ukraine has seen one for the past 20 years. {{unsigned ip|173.245.54.64}}
:Wow, I looked into it and it really seems like an excellent projection. It's been a while since I've looked at projections but I think it's my new favourite as it has everything that I've been looking for in a projection. It's a more accurate (in extremes) and more pleasing Robinson projection that still has a reasonable amount cut off the top. Also, the indicatrix for it is very simple, as is the formula, and simple things please simple minds (like mine, apparently) -- without taking it to an extreme like the equirectangular projection does. I swear I've come across it before, but then again I grew up in a country which wasn't far from the Eastern Bloc. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.214|141.101.98.214]] 14:51, 5 November 2014 (UTC)

;Sphere
To be fair, what is drawn is an orthographic azimuthal projection.--[[Special:Contributions/108.162.216.153|108.162.216.153]] 18:59, 14 December 2014 (UTC)

GLOBES ARE THE BEST although my enormous Winkel Tripel hasn't done too bad. {{unsigned ip|108.162.219.9}}

865: Nanobots

2016-08-27T08:37:55Z

Ата: /* Trivia */

{{comic
| number = 865
| date = February 25, 2011
| title = Nanobots
| image = nanobots.png
| titletext = I think the IETF hit the right balance with the 128 bits thing. We can fit MAC addresses in a /64 subnet, and the nanobots will only be able to devour half the planet.
}}

==Explanation==
[[Megan]] and [[Ponytail]] are in orbit while nanobots are devouring the earth in a swarm. The nanobots stop after devouring 40% of the planet. This is a take on the "[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grey_goo Grey goo]" scenario in which self-replicating nanobots destroy the earth while creating more and more of themselves non-stop.

However, the nanobots are only able to destroy 40% of the planet because 40% of the earth volume = (# of {{w|IPv6}} addresses) x (A few cubic microns). Without more IP addresses, the nanobots cannot continue to replicate (assuming that each nanobot must be individually addressable).

IPv6 supports approximately 3.4×1038 addresses while the {{w|Earth|Earth's volume}} is around 1.08321×1012 km3 or 1.08321×1039 µm3(cubic micrometre). [[Randall]]'s guess on 40% of the planet would mean each nanobot is about 1.27331 µm3 (which is still less than "a few microns" according to [[1070: Words for Small Sets]]).

This is a joke on the shortage of IPv4 addresses. The only difference is that we are on {{w|IPv4}} and the nanobots are on {{w|IPv6}}.

1998 is when the [http://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc2460 IPv6 Specification (RFC 2460)] was published and IETF is the Internet Engineering Task Force.

Note that an April fool joke for [http://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc1606 IPV9] exists and would have guaranteed Earth's doom in this comic's scenario.

==Transcript==
:[Megan and commander are on a space station.]
:Megan: Commander! Come quick! It's the nanobots—they've ''STOPPED!''

:Megan: They devoured 40% of the Earth, and then just... quit! They're just sitting there! Why?!

:Ponytail: It's a mystery. ...unless... What's the volume of each nanobot?
:Megan: A few cubic microns. Why?
:Ponytail: I think the year 1998 just bought us some time.
:[Earth's surface, covered in mountains of nanobots.]

:In the swarm:
:Nanobot: What do you mean, "Run out of addresses?"
:Other Nanobot: Look, we should've migrated away from IPv6 ''AGES'' ago...

==Trivia==

*On the website, the space above the comic says "xkcd.com now has IPv6 connectivity. If you can't reach it, you or your ISP have misconfigured equipment. Sadly, I now have no way to tell you."

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Ponytail]]
[[Category:Comics with inverted brightness]]
[[Category:Science]]

Talk:836: Sickness

2016-08-08T17:01:34Z

Ата: i guess, this was intended

Someone evidently didn't understand Hamlet too well. In "To be or not to be" he's contemplating suicide. "Take arms against..." means 'kill yourself so you won't have to put up with life's crappy bits. I would rewrite the Hamlet reference myself, but I'm too lazy. Could someone with a good understanding of the play do it? Please?[[Special:Contributions/173.245.48.85|173.245.48.85]] 01:42, 12 March 2014 (UTC)
:Agreed. Change made. [[User:Orazor|Orazor]] ([[User talk:Orazor|talk]]) 08:03, 21 July 2014 (UTC)
:"Take arms against a sea of troubles..." does not mean to commit suicide. It means to fight against the struggle referred to the in the previous line "the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune". The contemplation of suicide is expressed in the phrase "When he himself might his quietus make / With a bare bodkin" when one could end one's life with a dagger. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.70.151|141.101.70.151]] 08:35, 22 August 2014 (UTC)
::Yes, "to take arms against a sea of troubles" in this context does in fact does mean to commit suicide. The struggle refered to in the previous line is whether to put up with the unbearable situation he (Hamlet) has been placed in, or, in the next line(s), to exit the situation via suicide. Elsewise, why would he suddenly transition from "overcoming obstacles" to considering death? Doesn't make sense. For your reference, check out http://www.nosweatshakespeare.com/quotes/hamlet-to-be-or-not-to-be/.[[User:Orazor|Orazor]] ([[User talk:Orazor|talk]]) 10:53, 19 September 2014 (UTC)
: Why commit suicide. His mother tries to get him to accept the inevitable that his father's killer is now in power and get on with life instead of pretending to be daft.
:A bare bodkin is an arrow tipped with steel, a war arrow. As opposed to a neutered one for harmless purposes.
:[[User:Weatherlawyer| I used Google News BEFORE it was clickbait]] ([[User talk:Weatherlawyer|talk]]) 20:34, 24 January 2015 (UTC)

explain xkcd talk:Translation

2016-08-08T16:40:02Z

Ата:

When I first did read this idea I thought this would be a massive project. But more and more users sign in here so maybe it could be possible. So here my first thoughts (I don't want to edit the project page):
*URL: <nowiki>www.tld.explainxkcd.com and tld.explainxkcd.com</nowiki> should be possible on the domain ''explainxkcd.com''. An other idea is <nowiki>www.explainxkcd.com/tldwiki</nowiki>. So this would be www.explainxkcd.com/dewiki for Germany.
*Direct translations are often not easy or just impossible. The pages should show the original content and explain the original text without a simple translation. Jokes not common to non US citizen must be be explained in more detail than in English.
*It's a project for 2014, not this year.
*I will do some attempts for the German language, The Doctor has to be explained, what the hell is Firefly, what is NSFW, ... Most Germans need an explanation for this, they just don't know. So I will focus on some more complex comics, but not now.
*The comic itself should be the original because it helps people with a smaller knowledge on the English language.
Nice idea, but still a hard job.--[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 23:17, 21 November 2013 (UTC)
:It's totally fine to edit the page, it's still a work in progress and I hadn't fully fleshed out exactly what the parameters of the project would be when I wrote it. I was planning on discussing it with other editors until we reached consensus on how we were going to handle everything. The only thing that I had set-in-stone decided was that I would only make the alternate language wikis live after we had completed every English explanation, so that translators would have a correct base to work from. I'm inclined to go for the subdomain solution, because less typing. If we could figure out automagic region redirects from explainxkcd.com, that would be sweet. I was already intending to nominate you and Slashme for adminship on the German wiki, and our German audience is sizeable enough that I think we should be fine on edit volume. I was actually thinking about doing translation on the comics and transcripts, because I figured that's what we're here to do; make the comics as accessible to visitors as possible. If we gave them xkcd in their native language, all the better. I also started this thing because I wanted to reach people who didn't know any English at all. The image translation would be a colossal effort though, and I was thinking of contacting and inviting guys like [http://xkcde.dapete.net/], [http://xkcdde.tumblr.com/] and [http://xkcd.lapin.org/] to come help us for that. I wasn't expecting translating the entire wiki into a different language to be an easy task at all, but it's going to be completely worth it. I'm considering Chinese next, just for the massive audience boost. '''[[User:Davidy22|{{Color|#707|David}}y²²]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 02:48, 22 November 2013 (UTC)
:I am a little worried about French though. They're our third biggest language, but there's no real viable French candidate for adminship currently. It'll be fine for the next year or so when we're working on German, but we'll need a French speaking admin eventually. I don't know how we're gonna look for that. '''[[User:Davidy22|{{Color|#707|David}}y²²]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 05:38, 22 November 2013 (UTC)

Because of this new page the main page should be changed from "PAGESINCAT:Comics|R}}-13" to "PAGESINCAT:Comics|R}}-14".--[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 22:11, 22 November 2013 (UTC)
:Huh. I don't see the category on this page, but the main page counter seems to back you up. Fix'd. '''[[User:Davidy22|{{Color|#707|David}}y²²]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 23:11, 22 November 2013 (UTC)
::Ohh, sometimes my eagle eyes struggle about something, and the next time I do not recognize other errors here. Are we humans or bots? I am a humaan, and my BOT('s) are instructed by me, NOT vice versa. --[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 01:03, 23 November 2013 (UTC)
I volunteer towards Spanish translation! I am a Puerto Rican who translates stuff out of fun. Also, [http://www.es.xkcd.com/ there is a (partial) Spanish xkcd...] [[User:Greyson|Greyson]] ([[User talk:Greyson|talk]]) 13:38, 3 January 2014 (UTC)
:I got this: "If you see this page, the nginx web server is successfully installed and working. Further configuration is required." A Spanish translation would be great, but a 404 message did happen to me. --[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 19:51, 3 January 2014 (UTC)

:::Is there really a need for translations? This is an English comic, so I doubt many who speak other languages primarily will even read nonetheless want to understand the comic or even find this wiki. It just doesn't sound like it's worth all the effort.--[[Special:Contributions/108.162.219.66|108.162.219.66]] 01:48, 19 May 2014 (UTC)
::::Expanded audience is good stuff. I doubt the subject matter would be wholly unappealing to foreign engineers, and the language barrier is probably the only limiting factor to further reach. '''[[User:Davidy22|{{Color|#707|David}}y²²]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 06:22, 19 May 2014 (UTC)

Hey! Anything happening? {{unsigned|Nk22}}
:Not yet, incomplete articles need to be cleared out, and I need to set things up on my end to make parallel wikis for other languages. It'll happen eventually though. '''[[User:Davidy22|{{Color|#707|David}}y²²]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 19:51, 7 April 2015 (UTC)

Would be able to translate into Spanish whenever this gets off the ground.[[User:Untothebreach|Untothebreach]] ([[User talk:Untothebreach|talk]]) 07:01, 20 August 2015 (UTC)

Have you thought of [[:mw:Extension:Translate|Extension:Translate]]? Links will be not like ''de.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/975'' but rather ''explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/975/de'', afaik. One can get used to it :) --[[User:Ата|Ата]] [[User talk:Ата|(talk)]] 16:40, 8 August 2016 (UTC)

Talk:824: Guest Week: Bill Amend (FoxTrot)

2016-08-05T09:57:05Z

Ата:

isn't sudo used in any Unix system? so linux and mac[[Special:Contributions/108.162.216.62|108.162.216.62]] 23:29, 10 March 2014 (UTC)

From the last paragraph of the explanation: "The dissenters are then asked. Their response being 'Nay.'" I remember it being "No". In the US Congress a voice vote is conducted as follows: "Those in favor say 'Aye'..." ("Aye...") "Those oppose, 'No'..." ("No...") "The [ayes/noes] have it." --[[User:Troy0|Troy0]] ([[User talk:Troy0|talk]]) 08:58, 11 July 2014 (UTC)
:Actually, it looks a bit more complicated than that. It appears that in the Senate, when a voice vote is called, appropriate responses are "yea" and "no," but for a role call vote, it's "yea" or "nay." In the House, the appropriate response to a voice vote is "aye" or "no," while a record vote merits a "yea" or "nay." Amusingly, for a so-called "yea or nay" vote (in which House members are called for voice vote alphabetically), the appropriate response is neither "yea" nor "nay," but rather "aye" or "no." Sources: https://www.senate.gov/general/Features/votes.htm and http://archives.democrats.rules.house.gov/Archives/voting_house.htm [[User:Orazor|Orazor]] ([[User talk:Orazor|talk]]) 09:04, 17 July 2014 (UTC)

Why not add the links to other physics comics listed? -- [[User:Ата|Ата]] [[User talk:Ата|(talk)]] 09:54, 5 August 2016 (UTC)

Talk:824: Guest Week: Bill Amend (FoxTrot)

2016-08-05T09:54:28Z

Ата:

isn't sudo used in any Unix system? so linux and mac[[Special:Contributions/108.162.216.62|108.162.216.62]] 23:29, 10 March 2014 (UTC)

From the last paragraph of the explanation: "The dissenters are then asked. Their response being 'Nay.'" I remember it being "No". In the US Congress a voice vote is conducted as follows: "Those in favor say 'Aye'..." ("Aye...") "Those oppose, 'No'..." ("No...") "The [ayes/noes] have it." --[[User:Troy0|Troy0]] ([[User talk:Troy0|talk]]) 08:58, 11 July 2014 (UTC)
:Actually, it looks a bit more complicated than that. It appears that in the Senate, when a voice vote is called, appropriate responses are "yea" and "no," but for a role call vote, it's
"yea" or "nay." In the House, the appropriate response to a voice vote is "aye" or "no," while a record vote merits a "yea" or "nay." Amusingly, for a so-called "yea or nay" vote (in which House members are called for voice vote alphabetically), the appropriate response is neither "yea" nor "nay," but rather "aye" or "no." Sources: https://www.senate.gov/general/Features/votes.htm and http://archives.democrats.rules.house.gov/Archives/voting_house.htm [[User:Orazor|Orazor]] ([[User talk:Orazor|talk]]) 09:04, 17 July 2014 (UTC)

Why not add the links to other physics comics listed? -- [[User:Ата|Ата]] [[User talk:Ата|(talk)]] 09:54, 5 August 2016 (UTC)

Talk:802: Online Communities 2

2016-07-31T15:56:20Z

Ата: time order

I believe I can explain why the e-mail, SMS and Internet areas of the map are surrounded by the "Spoken Language" country. Yes, SMS, e-mail and most of the Internet are "written", but they're more of a "written spoken language", sharing many traits with informal spoken language. Maybe Wikipedia articles and blog posts can be classified as "standard written texts", but most other forms of electronically-mediated communication bare more resemblance to the way we speak: forums, chatrooms, Facebook posts, SMS texts, the usage of acronyms and smiley faces, etc. It's a widely researched phenomenon, and it continues to be a topic in the fields of linguistics, psychology, sociology and education (literacy attainment). As an aspiring linguist myself, I smiled when I noticed that these so-called "written" forms were next to spoken language :) [[Special:Contributions/108.162.215.10|108.162.215.10]] 22:16, 22 December 2013 (UTC)

I wonder if it's intentional that 4chan looks like a penis...{{unsigned ip|‎65.40.201.44}}

It needs to explain the ferry between 4chan and Gaia. Although, so does a lot of other stuff. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.216.45|108.162.216.45]] 07:58, 9 December 2013 (UTC)

I am still working on this. However, not only is this a big job, but I also have a lot to do outside here. In fact, I might even take a break from the Internet. I am simply warning others here. [[User:Greyson|Greyson]] ([[User talk:Greyson|talk]]) 04:37, 10 December 2013 (UTC)

about the Catbus Route on 4chan island in the Forums inset: Might it have something to do with the catbus in the animated film Totoro? In the film, the bus appears to have a regular route, or at least standard bus stops. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.219.40|108.162.219.40]] 07:55, 13 February 2014 (UTC)

Has anyone calculated the size of this (using Sulawesi for scale)? [[Special:Contributions/108.162.221.150|108.162.221.150]] 00:22, 19 August 2015 (UTC)

This comic makes a brief guest appearance at [//www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=hFAOXdXZ5TM#t=256 4:25] in the MinutePhysics post about magnets. [[User:Fewmet|Fewmet]] ([[User talk:Fewmet|talk]]) 01:46, 9 July 2014 (UTC)

Is there an explanation of why the Twitter area more or less resembles the shape of US/Mexico? If you have a look at the Youtube area then there's Alaska, too. And since Justin Bieber is Canadian and the "Bieber Bay" seems to resemble the Great Lakes... Was Twitter an "US only thing" back in 2010? [[User:Elektrizikekswerk|Elektrizikekswerk]] ([[User talk:Elektrizikekswerk|talk]]) 10:11, 21 January 2015 (UTC)
:Pareidolia. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.56.23|162.158.56.23]] 22:39, 10 January 2016 (UTC)

Kind of cruel that someone linked to TV Tropes up there.--[[Special:Contributions/198.41.239.32|198.41.239.32]] 06:16, 13 March 2015 (UTC)

The "Russia (DJ)" island just next to Sarah Palin's area is probably a reference to her very commented statement that you can see Russia from Alaska,[http://www.todayifoundout.com/index.php/2014/05/sarah-palin-never-said-can-see-russia-house/] somehow implying that it gave her some kind of expertise in international relations.--[[User:Pere prlpz|Pere prlpz]] ([[User talk:Pere prlpz|talk]]) 10:06, 18 December 2015 (UTC)

I looked, couldn't find anything about the Hidden Internet, Dark Web, Deep Web, etc. I sort of imagine it looks like a deep chasm or river (Styx?) to another world with the likes of the NSA, Wikileaks, Electronic Frontier Foundation on the outskirts. Tor is one entrance (or ferry?) to the Netherworld. -- [[User:GeoWendy|GeoWendy]] 5:41 PM Tuesday, January 26 (UTC)

In what way is this explanation "incomplete" still?! It's marked as today's "incomplete explanation of the day" but it's already sixteen printed pages long. How much more content does there need to be before this site will consider this page to no longer be "incomplete?" Yikes... [[Special:Contributions/162.158.253.18|162.158.253.18]] 20:20, 27 January 2016 (UTC)

MMO is not short for MMORPG. It's just not. MMO means Massively Multiplayer Online. Like Dota 2, which is in no way an RPG. Or maybe Realm of the Madgod. Also not and RPG, but YES an MMO. that little gripe having been posted publicly, however, I've just realized that even if it's the day's incomplete article, nothing's going to happen, so fair warning: I'm going to do it meself.
[[Special:Contributions/162.158.92.128|162.158.92.128]] 10:48, 5 February 2016 (UTC)

Annoying pedant again, here with another annoyingly pedantic statement. (https://xkcd.com/1405/)
RPG is short for ROLe PLAYING GAME. NOT "ROLE PLAYER GAME" It doesn't matter now, because I fixed it, but if someone who doesn't understand the difference between MMO and MMORPG, they can at least remember to fix "Role Player Game."
Annoying Pedant out. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.92.128|162.158.92.128]] 10:54, 5 February 2016 (UTC)

There are many things wrong with the part about MMOs.
[[User:AnnoyingInconsistentPedant|AnnoyingInconsistentPedant]] ([[User talk:AnnoyingInconsistentPedant|talk]]) 20:25, 19 March 2016 (UTC)

I added some things to MMO isle. Someone should probably give better descriptions though. I didn't have the time to research: Active Worlds, Smallworlds, UO, EQ. Feel free to add those in if you are looking for something to inprove. [[User:PowerKitten|PowerKitten]] ([[User talk:PowerKitten|talk]]) 15:45, 30 March 2016 (UTC)

It seems like this comic has been "incomplete" for all eternity. This comic is in the "Incomplete explanation spotlight" more than ANY OTHER COMIC. The thing's huge! That's natural! I say this explanation does a pretty good job of explaining most if not every grating detail about this comic! I think we should use the Incomplete Spotlight for comic explanations that are ACTUALLY BAD. So can we stop giving this explanation grief for maybe leaving out a few 5-pixel towns? Thank you and stop fussing.
-A person who thinks this explanation is good

[[Special:Contributions/108.162.219.56|108.162.219.56]] 11:34, 23 April 2016 (UTC)
: No. If an explanation is incomplete, an explanation should be edited until the point where it is as complete as possible. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.104.86|141.101.104.86]] 16:04, 24 April 2016 (UTC)

I'm not arguing that. I'm saying that there are other explanations that are more incomplete than this one. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.219.56|108.162.219.56]] 21:04, 26 April 2016 (UTC)