explain xkcd - User contributions [en]

Talk:937: TornadoGuard

2016-05-14T09:08:20Z

108.162.222.35:

The image text is also a reference to another comic: http://xkcd.com/583/
In this comic, the bug was that the speech recognition fails on a young child's voice. So the team attempts to reproduce a child in order to fix the bug and get the test subject. The bug report is closed as cannot fixed with the reason being 'could not reproduce'. {{unsigned ip|128.237.217.152| 19:40, 22 August 2012‎ (UTC)}}

And it's happened. See https://twitter.com/andymangold/status/341327603451441152/photo/1. Four-star rated "Tornado by American Red Cross" app, current top review reads "I did not find this app useful at all. There was a tornado watch for eight hours in my town, a tornado warning for 30 minutes, and there were no warnings or alerts visible on this app." [[Special:Contributions/192.91.191.162|192.91.191.162]] 16:58, 3 June 2013 (UTC)
:ROFL ;) If this picture is real it should be added to this explain. Check the Customer Review here: [https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/tornado-by-american-red-cross/id602724318?mt=8 itunes], I am sure it's just a reaction on this comic.--[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 19:06, 3 June 2013 (UTC)

According to [[1098]], it's still an OK app. 22:57, 22 July 2013 (UTC)

'could not reproduce'

https://groups.google.com/forum/#!topic/sci.geo.earthquakes/kTDkMMbC_mw

[[User:Weatherlawyer| I used Google News BEFORE it was clickbait]] ([[User talk:Weatherlawyer|talk]]) 13:19, 23 January 2015 (UTC)

This is why looking at both the positive and negative reviews is good practice. --[[Special:Contributions/173.245.54.44|173.245.54.44]] 17:57, 31 August 2015 (UTC)

It struck me when I read it that it was also suggesting that there are probably other people out there who COULDN'T leave a negative review, because the app failed them and they were killed in the tornado. If the program not working means you're likely to die, then only people with positive reviews will survive to leave reviews, giving the wrong impression: look, the are 3 times as many positive reviews as negative ones! I'll take it!"
It seems like there must be some reason he chose something so deadly as a tornado; it could have been anything, and the other reasons would still have worked.[[Special:Contributions/108.162.218.118|108.162.218.118]] 00:42, 12 May 2016 (UTC)

True to life if you've ever checked a travel insurance policy review site. Everything is rated five stars because of idiots leaving reviews that went "I didn't need it, thank God, but the feeling of security is invaluable."[[Special:Contributions/108.162.222.35|108.162.222.35]] 09:08, 14 May 2016 (UTC)

Talk:888: Heaven

2014-03-19T20:38:14Z

108.162.222.35:

I also think that the comic number '888' is a reference to the chinese belief that eight is a lucky number, and '888' even more [[Special:Contributions/61.22.6.176|61.22.6.176]] 01:56, 3 February 2013 (UTC)

Also I think the next piece after that is a longer than usual L block which basically fills the whole line {{unsigned ip|108.162.250.7}}

The player is also about to smash the previous high score.

Talk:1139: Rubber and Glue

2014-03-14T03:04:43Z

108.162.222.35: 'mooom!' = mom, or mouthful of glue?

I am not a native speaker, but after some research, I found that rubber/glue refers to the rhyme "I am rubber, you are glue, whatever you say bounces off of me and sticks to you." If that's true, the current explanation that the topos is meant "to imply that insults of another person are an indication of their own insecurity and weakness" is just plain wrong. [[User:BKA|BKA]] ([[User talk:BKA|talk]]) 15:51, 26 November 2012 (UTC)
*It's really not wrong, it's just a clarification. [[User:Castriff|Jimmy C]] ([[User talk:Castriff|talk]]) 19:43, 26 November 2012 (UTC)
:"Which bounces off me and sticks to you" is not meant in the literal sense. The sticks to you portion typically means that the recipient of the insult is implying that the sender is calling out other people by names that apply to themselves. [[User:Davidy22|Davidy22]][[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>(talk)</tt>]] 00:22, 27 November 2012 (UTC)

The in-joke here is presumably that CRC stands (or stood?) for the Chemical Rubber Company, and the handbook - found in many a physics and chemistry lab - is often referred to as the "Rubber Bible".
[[Special:Contributions/131.251.254.81|131.251.254.81]] 16:07, 26 November 2012 (UTC)

Of note is probably that the book young black hat is reading is known as the "Rubber Bible". From wikipedia: The CRC Handbook of Chemistry and Physics is in its 93rd edition. It is sometimes nicknamed the 'Rubber Bible' or the 'Rubber Book', as CRC originally stood for "Chemical Rubber Company". http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CRC_Handbook_of_Chemistry_and_Physics

As an aside, this is the first time Black Hat has ever been referred to by a name of any kind. Should we consider calling him "Hatman" now? --[[User:Castriff|Jimmy C]] ([[User talk:Castriff|talk]]) 19:43, 26 November 2012 (UTC)
:The transcript calls him Black Hat. Hatboy is only what the bullies were calling him in an effort to make fun of him. [[User:Erenan|Erenan]] ([[User talk:Erenan|talk]]) 20:22, 26 November 2012 (UTC)
:: Is it just me or does this appear to be a flashback to Black Hat's youth? --[[User:Jeff|Jeff]] ([[User talk:Jeff|talk]]) 23:03, 26 November 2012 (UTC)
:::The size of their heads would make it appear to be so. We could probably approximate his age in the comic from the proportional size of his head to the rest of his body. [[User:Davidy22|Davidy22]][[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>(talk)</tt>]] 03:48, 27 November 2012 (UTC)

::::And also the hat is way too big for him! :) --[[User:St.nerol|St.nerol]] ([[User talk:St.nerol|talk]]) 16:23, 27 November 2012 (UTC)

There ought to be a name for the mind games that children use to abuse each other. The "rubber /glue" phrase, for instance, makes no sense ate all, but among children acts as a real restriction on discourse, a kind of bard curse that ties up the recipient in confusion. I was delighted to see the phrase turned around like this. Yay black hat![[Special:Contributions/64.254.188.208|64.254.188.208]] 14:22, 27 November 2012 (UTC) Noni Mausa, (away from home and don't have my log-in, sorry)

Just as an entertaining comment, Sheldon on the Big Bang Theory uses a form of this insult as such: "I'm polymerized tree sap and you're an inorganic adhesive, so whatever verbal projectile you launch in my direction is reflected off of me, returns on its original trajectory and adheres to you." --[[User:Joehammer79|Joehammer79]] ([[User talk:Joehammer79|talk]]) 14:47, 27 November 2012 (UTC)

I can't help but wonder whether this is a reference to cuil theory. His phrasing is very similar to some of the higher-cuil paragraphs in the original explanation, with the mention of being unable to scream and whatnot. --nobody important

The translator of the spanish version of the Monkey Island video game did not know this expression and translated it as 'Yo soy cola, tú pegamento', which doesn't have any comprehensible meaning. It's considered a geek cult mistranslation, kind of a spanish version of what "All your base are belong to us" is in English. {{unsigned|81.34.231.6}}

:[http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/GoodBadTranslation Link] for those of you that need more information, open up "Adventure Game". [[User:Lcarsos|lcarsos]]_a ([[User talk:Lcarsos|talk]]) 18:09, 28 November 2012 (UTC)

The words black hat uses to terrorize the bullies reminded me of Harlan Ellison's famous horror sci-fi short story "I have no mouth and I must scream":
:I will describe myself as I see myself: I am a great soft jelly thing. Smoothly rounded, with no mouth, with pulsing white holes filled by fog where my eyes used to be. Rubbery appendages that were once my arms; bulks rounding down into legless humps of soft slippery matter. I leave a moist trail when I move. Blotches of diseased, evil gray come and go on my surface, as though light is being beamed from within. Outwardly: dumbly, I shamble about, a thing that could never have been known as human, a thing whose shape is so alien a travesty that humanity becomes more obscene for the vague resemblance. Inwardly: alone. Here. [..snip..] I have no mouth. And I must scream. --unsigned
:Which is also a pretty awesome [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I_Have_No_Mouth,_and_I_Must_Scream_(video_game) adventure game]

"frighten the children bullying him, into calling for their mothers" Hmm. It seems to me that 'moooom!' is the kind of incoherent noise that one would make if your mouth were actually full of glue. Seriously, try it. Fill your mouth with - say - banana - then hold your lips together and try to say something. Has Baby Blackhat found a way to literally fill his tormentor's mouth with glue? Maybe?