explain xkcd - User contributions [en]

Talk:1762: Moving Boxes

2016-11-21T18:17:22Z

108.162.215.191:

I think I've got some Dark Matter in a box left in my basement. Anyone knows how long you can keep this stuff until it expires? [[Special:Contributions/162.158.22.72|162.158.22.72]] 13:36, 21 November 2016 (UTC)
: Mine is about 13.8 billion years old and still OK. But shouldn't about 3/4 of the boxes be filled with dark matter? --[[Special:Contributions/162.158.91.172|162.158.91.172]] 14:21, 21 November 2016 (UTC)
: Hah! Mine's 13.8'''1''' years old.
--[[User:Thejohnfan|Thejohnfan]] ([[User talk:Thejohnfan|talk]]) 14:28, 21 November 2016 (UTC)Thejohnfan
::Yeah - you've really gotta be careful about labelling that stuff - since it neither absorbs nor emits electromagnetic radiation, you're going to have to use gravitational lensing techniques to figure out which box it's in - and we all know how much of a pain THAT can be on moving day! [[User:SteveBaker|SteveBaker]] ([[User talk:SteveBaker|talk]]) 14:59, 21 November 2016 (UTC)

:When I last moved house, I methodically labelled every single box with it's exact contents. Several meticulously itemized boxes contained (amongst other things) stuff like "Acrylic art paint", "Rodent poison" and "Adhesives" - and the movers saw this and refused to move about a dozen boxes because they contained things that are liquids or hazardous materials. This was more than I could fit in my car - so this became a huge deal. So next time, I'm going with "Normal House Stuff". Seriously - just label them with the room you want them dumped in at your new home and a number...write the actual contents in a MySQL database...preferably with a photo of the box before you taped it up. [[User:SteveBaker|SteveBaker]] ([[User talk:SteveBaker|talk]]) 14:59, 21 November 2016 (UTC)
::Label the boxes with "Normal house stuff'); DROP TABLE Boxes; --" if you're doing that. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.34.137|162.158.34.137]] 15:16, 21 November 2016 (UTC)
:::How do you access the MySQL database when your computer is still packed away in a box? [[User:B jonas|B jonas]] ([[User talk:B jonas|talk]]) 16:08, 21 November 2016 (UTC)

Note that there is a similar use of "Normal" in [https://xkcd.com/1530/ https://xkcd.com/1530/] [[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.151|141.101.98.151]] 16:54, 21 November 2016 (UTC)

Protip: Label boxes you don't want the movers to know about with "Party Favors." [[Special:Contributions/172.68.79.83|172.68.79.83]] 16:22, 21 November 2016 (UTC)

The explanation for Bison says they're "also known as buffalo". Not sure if that's technically accurate. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bison Excerpt: "Although sometimes referred to historically as a "buffalo", it is only distantly related to the true buffalo."
:Yes, but colloquially, this is acceptable. For another example, see "Indian vs. Native American."[[Special:Contributions/162.158.75.100|162.158.75.100]] 18:08, 21 November 2016 (UTC)

The "shards" could also be a reference to "sharding", as in "MongoDB is web scale"[http://www.mongodb-is-web-scale.com/]
[[User:CrazyVaccine|CrazyVaccine]] ([[User talk:CrazyVaccine|talk]]) 17:30, 21 November 2016 (UTC)

membranes shards may also refer to sponges

I read the "shawls glucose kits" as "shawls, glucose [testing] kits", not as "shawls, glucose, kits"

Talk:1717: Pyramid Honey

2016-08-16T05:19:04Z

108.162.215.191:

Seems like this could be the [http://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/the-science-behind-honeys-eternal-shelf-life-1218690/ Smithsonian reference]! --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 13:53, 8 August 2016 (UTC)

Anyone know what the counter source or argument is?{{unsigned ip|141.101.98.16}}

This looks like it could be the source that inspired the strip:

http://irna.lautre.net/Honey-in-the-pyramids.html{{unsigned ip|173.245.54.53}}

Looks like a place to start digging for references: http://bumblehive.com/honey-was-not-found-in-pharaohs-tombs/ {{unsigned|JourneymanWizard}}

Did Randall draw the wrong colored hat?? [[User:Jameslucas|jameslucas]] ([[User talk:Jameslucas|" "]] / [[Special:Contributions/Jameslucas|+]]) 15:09, 8 August 2016 (UTC)
: Nah, I think it's just IRL trolling. [[Special:Contributions/173.245.54.80|173.245.54.80]] 15:34, 8 August 2016 (UTC)

Could this be the ned of Black Hat? The end of ''xkcd?!'' [[Special:Contributions/173.245.54.51|173.245.54.51]] 16:06, 8 August 2016 (UTC)

Correction: this doesn't put "Megan unwillingly into the same camp as conspiracy theorists" it puts Black Hat there.{{unsigned ip|108.162.246.111}}
: No. Black hat is very much willing to join the conspiracy theorist camp. Rather, he creates it. Megan isn't a conspiracy theorist, her scepticism towards Cueballs honey claims are perfectly valid. But to an outside observer, she promotes the same viewpoint as Black hat. Indeed, Black hat even refers to Megan for "evidence". So Megan is forever assosiated with the Pyramid Honey truthers, despite having nothing to do with them. --[[Special:Contributions/141.101.80.70|141.101.80.70]] 09:35, 9 August 2016 (UTC)

[https://www.reddit.com/r/xkcd/comments/4wq6pf/xkcd_1717_pyramid_honey/d690yct This Reddit thread] cites https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Honey#Preservation and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Honey#Ancient_times [[Special:Contributions/172.68.35.71|172.68.35.71]] 18:58, 8 August 2016 (UTC)

The phrase "a weird hill to die on" could probably use an explanation, too, as I'd never heard of that (or its apparent source phrase "Is this the hill you want to die on?", based on some quick googling) before. [[Special:Contributions/199.27.133.101|199.27.133.101]] 23:04, 8 August 2016 (UTC)
: "Is this the hill you want to die on?" sounds to me like a line from a war movie, e.g. this one https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hamburger_Hill. Maybe its origin is indeed something military, as some sources suggest: http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/162813/what-is-the-origin-of-the-phrase-a-mountain-im-willing-to-die-on [[User:Elektrizikekswerk|Elektrizikekswerk]] ([[User talk:Elektrizikekswerk|talk]]) 06:49, 9 August 2016 (UTC)

I have a possible source for the "weird hill to die on" reference, saw it on BBC a while back: Body on the Moor; http://www.bbc.com/news/resources/idt-e8c6cbab-da44-4a3c-8f9b-c4fccd53dd24. {{unsigned ip|108.162.244.85}}

Every particle physicist knows that the shelf life of honey is at most 1042 years, just like everything else. --[[Special:Contributions/108.162.215.129|108.162.215.129]] 00:51, 9 August 2016 (UTC)
: Only if you assume nucleon decay. If Earth doesn't get absorbed into a black hole and then Hawking Radiated out, the honey would just continue to cool long into the heat death of the universe, eventually cold-fusioning via quantum-tunnelling into Iron-56 by 101500 years https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Future_of_an_expanding_universe#Future_without_proton_decay. [[User:Ehryk|Ehryk]] ([[User talk:Ehryk|talk]]) 02:23, 10 August 2016 (UTC)

re: tooltip - I thought it was a floating giant eye? --[[Special:Contributions/173.245.54.28|173.245.54.28]] 00:59, 9 August 2016 (UTC)

The "weird hill to die on" phrase could mean a point of view Black Hat will defend to the last, regardless the sense of it (which makes sense with the militarian source).
He might find such a thing worth to find because it would give his entire life a (though in general maybe and in this case definitely unuseful) purpose.
furthermore, by simply spreading Megan's claim without considering the nuances of her point and questioning it thouroughly he does basically the same as ll the people who claim honey's shelf life to be infinite (who apparently never thought of asking for further information where exactly the honey was found and by whom).
{{unsigned ip|162.158.83.228}}
:when the explanation for "weird hill to die on" as a phrase gets settled the explanation should probably also reference Black Hat's mixing of the metaphorical use (a debate position or principled stand) and a literal hill ("[A]ll the real ones are too far from my house.") [[Special:Contributions/108.162.237.242|108.162.237.242]] 12:24, 9 August 2016 (UTC)

So, the "hill to die on" expression does relate back to the military some. Hills are good defensive places (ask any Civilization player). It's much easier to defend yourself when the other army is trying to run up a hill. Hence why lots of forts and military battles are associated with hills. The hill you die on, then, is that area of contention that you'll stubbornly defend to the very end. And of course Black Hat is making something like a zeugma when he mixes the metaphorical and literal meanings. {{unsigned ip|108.162.216.152}}

"a hill to die on" appears in chapter 27 of the novel "For Whom the Bell Tolls", by Ernest Hemingway, published in 1940, about the 1936-1939 Spanish Civil War in which many non-Spanish volunteers joined the fight on one side or the other for ideological reasons. The book ends with the American protagonist, alone and wounded, preparing to ambush the enemy to buy time for the escape of his comrades; he will probably not survive. [[User:GrayJay|GrayJay]] ([[User talk:GrayJay|talk]]) 04:36, 10 August 2016 (UTC)--

Some facts about honey [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7FlzHiURdTs Honey: Bacteria's Worst Enemy] --[[Special:Contributions/162.158.92.207|162.158.92.207]] 14:27, 9 August 2016 (UTC)

"While some conspiracy theories turn out to be true, most, like the two mentioned here, are fake": while it's completely clear that the Moon landing not happening theory is false, we can't be 100% sure about the 9/11 theories at the moment (of course, the one mentioned is highly unlikely, but it's not refuted to the level of the moon landing conspiracy theories at the moment). I suggest correcting this statement into something weaker.{{unsigned ip|198.41.242.75}}

Wouldn't Black Hat just be trolling everyone else? I can't find the idea among the discussion, and neither in the the explanation, while it seems the obvious one to me. Deliberately spreading conspiracy theorists seems exactly his thing (just like the way he met Danish was a form of deliberate trolling...) [[Special:Contributions/141.101.105.10|141.101.105.10]] 15:25, 10 August 2016 (UTC)
:I totally agree. I'm now a "Black Hat always behaves like Black Hat truther"... :-) No seriously I agree and have added this as an alternative reason for his behavior. Maybe my version could be improved though? --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 11:51, 15 August 2016 (UTC)

I've tried to keep honey in my fridge for a while. After five years or so, it's mostly just so much crystallized sugar. In principle, after a sufficiently long time (probably less than a millenium), all the sugar should probably crystallize away, leaving something that isn't really honey. [[Special:Contributions/172.68.10.51|172.68.10.51]] 01:20, 12 August 2016 (UTC)

"Megan seems to think it is OK as long as it is her opinion Black Hat spreads out." You get this from the phrase "Oh well"? A common statement of resignation? [[Special:Contributions/108.162.210.196|108.162.210.196]] 01:33, 12 August 2016 (UTC)
:Has been changed by someone now, that's what so nice about a wiki ;-) --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 11:51, 15 August 2016 (UTC)

Perhaps an alternate explanation for Black Hat's quote "and all the real ones are too far away from my house" would be that he's referring to the real problems. The phrase, "a hill to die on" refers to something you'll defend to the bitter end-- there are many things in the world that need to be fought for, many injustices against which we ought to direct our energy to stopping... and yet people find time to waste fighting about irrelevant, stupid things (like whether or not honey has infinite shelf-life-- I mean, really, how many lives is this going to change?). The reason for this is because to fight for those things, the important things, requires one to actually ''do'' something, to get off his/her butt and put effort, energy, money, and more into solving it. But whining/ranting on twitter about something that doesn't matter (or can't be solved by whining/ranting on the internet)? While it takes a lot of [wasted] time and energy to do that, its significantly less effort than, well, doing something meaningful to make a positive difference in the world. So that's why I think Black Hat meant: not that the weird hills were literally too far from his house, but that all the important things to fight for would take too much effort (he would have to get off his butt and go somewhere and strive). Or I might be reading too much into this due to my personal annoyance with pointless internet crusades. *shrug* ~EinarAmund

433: Journal 5

2016-07-21T04:19:35Z

108.162.215.191: /* Explanation */ changed of to off

{{comic
| number = 433
| date = June 6, 2008
| title = Journal 5
| image = journal_5.png
| titletext = 'Pick you up at eight?' 'Nine. I've got to re-mine the driveway.'
}}

==Explanation==
In [[Journal]], [[Black Hat]] explains to [[Cueball]] that a hobby of his is to pretend to write in a journal while on the subway, acting embarrassed if anyone sees. He then proceeds to silently scorn the person once they give him any kind of reassurance.

In [[Journal 2]], however, [[Danish]] sees through his ruse. She counteracts it by proving that she understands him, and attempts to resign him to the fact that he will never see her again, thus robbing him of the satisfaction of a proper social connection. She leaves, taking his hat in the process.

Initially stunned, he at last regained his hat in [[Journal 3]], the trademark of his personality and attitude, leaving him with the upper hand.

In [[Journal 4]], however, he is overcome with emotions, to the extend that he has even taken his black hat off while sitting head in hand on a bench, wondering in the title text why he would feel any emotions when he has a hat.

Now, in Journal 5, Black Hat parks his car and soon finds himself on the doorstep of Danish house. He comes to tell her that he gives up and that she wins, because he just has to know who she is. This is very uncharacteristic of Black Hat. He then tries to tell her that he thinks they understand each other's personalities and that this means something to him. He is obviously smitten with her on some level. But all she does about this initially is use her remote control to set off the mines she installed in the driveway where Black Hat's car is parked.

But, even in his state of love, Black Hat had spotted these mines and moved them to her garage. So when Danish sets them off she destroys her own garage (and possibly her car) instead of Black Hat's car. When he tells her about moving them she is impressed and acknowledges this by saying ''Touché''. Maybe this is when she also begins to respect him in her own weird manner.

Black Hat can foresee that it will be a tricky relationship with their mean personalities crashing together, but when Danish gives him the option to go find a ''non-crazy girl'' he promptly states that this has no interest at all.

In the title text it seems that neither of them is deterred by this obstacle, and their relationship begins when Black Hat tells her that he will pick her up at eight. Although she does ask for one more hour, so she can re-mine the driveway before he comes back at nine. This did not seem to harm their future relationship as in most of the later [[:Category:Comics featuring Danish|comics with Danish]] she is mainly shown together with Black Hat, sometimes even in a clearly romantic setting, like in [[515: No One Must Know]], from where she got her name.

The whole "[[:Category:Journal|Journal]]" story are:
*[[374: Journal]]
*[[377: Journal 2]]
*[[405: Journal 3]]
*[[432: Journal 4]]
*[[433: Journal 5]]

==Transcript==
:[Black Hat parks his car.]
:''PARK''

:[Black Hat knocks at door.]
:''KNOCK KNOCK''

:Black Hat: Hi.
:Danish: Hi.

:Black Hat: I give up. You win. I have to know who you are.

:Black Hat: We understand each other. I can't let that slip away—
:''beep'' [from device in Danish's hand.]
:''BOOM''

:Black Hat: What was that?!
:Danish: Remote mines under your car.

:Black Hat: Oh, those? I moved them to your garage before knocking.
:Danish: Touché.

:Black Hat: ...This relationship is going to be tricky.
:Danish: There's still time to leave and find a non-crazy girl.
:Black Hat: Not even ''slightly'' interested.

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Comics featuring Danish]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Black Hat]]
[[Category:Journal|05]]
[[Category:Romance]]

384: The Drake Equation

2016-07-12T03:42:52Z

108.162.215.191: /* Explanation */ identified Frank Drake

{{comic
| number = 384
| date = February 15, 2008
| title = The Drake Equation
| image = the_drake_equation.png
| titletext = But seriously, there's loads of intelligent life. It's just not screaming constantly in all directions on the handful of frequencies we search.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|But who's Frank Drake?}}
This comic is multi-layered, and seems to be [[Randall]]'s take on the {{w|Fermi paradox}}.

For starters, the {{w|Drake equation}} is a model developed by (and named for) Frank Drake for estimating the number of communicating life forms in our galaxy.

Even if there is life on other planets, most life forms will not establish civilizations. However, if there are any communicating civilizations, their messages would have to travel for hundreds, thousands, or hundreds of thousands of years to reach us, and then our response would take an equivalent amount of time, leaving them waiting for thousands and thousands of years or more, and probably even more than that. Any response, from their perspective, would take at least twice as long as the message took to reach its destination.

All the factors involved in the equation are difficult to measure or estimate, no number is determined with sufficient accuracy, so the equation is a guideline for a thought experiment at best, and just "bullshit" at worst.

The title text makes fun of the {{w|SETI|Search for ExtraTerrestrial Intelligence (SETI)}} project, which searches for intelligent life on other planets by looking for radio communications, and the intelligence of their researchers. Nearly nothing, if not nothing, restricts potential extraterrestrial communications to the frequencies that SETI searches at any given moment. Even if another civilization communicated on one of SETI's search frequencies, they would most likely live extremely far away. Additionally, an extraterrestrial source that doesn't know we're here would have to send a constant and powerful signal in all directions for us to notice it. This serves to show how ludicrous it may seem to assume any intelligent species is wasting too many resources trying to communicate with us or any other species in the galaxy.

The SETI project is searching at the 21 cm {{w|Hydrogen line}}, which, although considered a favorable frequency by potential extraterrestrial civilizations, is not used by humans. Therefore, a SETI-like organization would have a hard time finding earth.

The title text suggests Randall does not think Drake is a nutjob; he just has a more conservative expectation of discovering extraterrestrial life.

[[638: The Search]] further discusses the difficulty of methods of finding extraterrestrial life.

==Transcript==
:The Drake Equation:
:N = R* fp ne fl fi fc L Bs
:N: Number of communicating civilizations in our galaxy
:ne: Number of life-supporting planets per solar system
:fi: Probability that life on a planet becomes intelligent
:Bs: Amount of bullshit you're willing to buy from Frank Drake

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Comics with color]]
[[Category:Science]]
[[Category:Statistics]]
[[Category:Space]]

Talk:1527: Humans

2015-05-21T04:32:05Z

108.162.215.191: Hawking says so

Yes! Preach it, Randall! [[Special:Contributions/188.114.106.23|188.114.106.23]] 08:23, 20 May 2015 (UTC)
:Everyone knows they're more akin to big cows, anyway. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.106.143|141.101.106.143]] 09:33, 20 May 2015 (UTC)
::Big ''spherical'' cows. --[[User:Pudder|Pudder]] ([[User talk:Pudder|talk]]) 10:22, 20 May 2015 (UTC)
:::[http://what-if.xkcd.com/120/ Although most remaining "cows" are actually closer to oblate spheroids ...] [[Special:Contributions/108.162.210.252|108.162.210.252]] 19:56, 20 May 2015 (UTC)

Robots complaining about science is like humans complaining about evolution. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.231.60|108.162.231.60]] 09:49, 20 May 2015 (UTC)
:Great line :) --[[Special:Contributions/108.162.215.118|108.162.215.118]] 10:51, 20 May 2015 (UTC)

Given the title text, the reference to movie humans makes this cartoon likely an oblique commentary on the upcoming film ''Jurassic World'' where the dinosaurs remain featherless. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.237.162|108.162.237.162]] 10:54, 20 May 2015 (UTC)

I don't really want to see a sequel criticized for maintaining continuity. Think of what it would be like if someone made a 2001 movie where instead of travelling to Jupiter, Hal orchestrated the invasion of Iraq. Wait a second, that would make for an awesome movie.--Dave[[Special:Contributions/108.162.237.183|108.162.237.183]] 13:36, 20 May 2015 (UTC)
* LOL! :) [[User:KieferSkunk|KieferSkunk]] ([[User talk:KieferSkunk|talk]]) 23:22, 20 May 2015 (UTC)

Personally, I wouldn't like being chased with Aepyornis either, and noone ever doubted Aepyornis had feathers. -- [[User:Hkmaly|Hkmaly]] ([[User talk:Hkmaly|talk]]) 11:45, 20 May 2015 (UTC)

I wonder which movie Robot #2 is referring to. Something with a crowned monarch and lots of (almost) naked warriors. ''300'' perhaps? [[User:Smperron|Smperron]] ([[User talk:Smperron|talk]]) 12:47, 20 May 2015 (UTC)
:I'm pretty sure their talking about future films, we make films about prehistoric dinosaurs, so the robots make films about prehistoric humans(pre robot history) --[[Special:Contributions/141.101.99.24|141.101.99.24]] 13:36, 20 May 2015 (UTC)
:: except for the use of "their", I'm in complete agreement. I'm gonna make a few tweaks, accordingly - [[User:Brettpeirce|Brettpeirce]] ([[User talk:Brettpeirce|talk]]) 14:18, 20 May 2015 (UTC)
:Robot 2 isn't referring to a current movie, I think this is set roughly 65million years in the future. So i've removed the part about Troy and other sword and sandal films {{unsigned|Zeimusu}}
:::I assume it's more that skeletons and metal are much more likely to survive than clothes. Perhaps, they often see the crowns nearby the skulls in digs and assume that they were attached in life. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.219.100|108.162.219.100]] 19:24, 20 May 2015 (UTC)

Dinosaurs with feathers. Yawn. The idea is already tired. Dinosaurs with feathers cool? I just picture the T-Rex in Jurassic Park chasing the car to the tune of the Chicken Dance and it doesn't take me long to realise how cool feathered dinosaurs really are. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.249.161|108.162.249.161]] 21:49, 20 May 2015 (UTC)

"covered with colorful fabric" - "big pillows" - Am I the only person who thinks the robots have discovered, and are taking as authoritative, a furniture store ad for king and queen size beds?

Could this also be reference to Stephen Hawking's recent comments about computers overtaking humans with AI ([http://www.ign.com/articles/2015/05/13/stephen-hawking-computers-will-overtake-humans-in-100-years "Checkmate" - HAL])? [[Special:Contributions/108.162.215.191|108.162.215.191]] 04:32, 21 May 2015 (UTC)