explain xkcd - User contributions [en]

2478: Alien Visitors 2

2021-06-18T18:16:06Z

108.162.229.6:

{{comic
| number = 2478
| date = June 18, 2021
| title = Alien Visitors 2
| image = alien_visitors_2.png
| titletext = "Although fresh juice DOES sound--" "NO! For humanity to survive we must learn from the mistakes of the past."
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by a 1920s ELIXIR. Please mention here why this explanation isn't complete. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
In the return of the aliens from the [https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/2477:_Alien_Visitors previous comic], they show more redundant inventions.

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biplane Biplanes] are planes with two sets of wings, which have more drag than a [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monoplane monoplane.]

A [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blimp blimp] is a lighter than air aircraft with no internal structure. The point raised about hydrogen would be because it is highly flammable and dangerous. The [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hindenburg_disaster Hindenbug] was a famous explosion of a hydrogen airship (although zeppelin airships are not blimps because they have an internal structural framework and they're called rigid airships in contrast to blimps, that just rely on the internal pressure of their lifting gas to mantain their shape).

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tetraethyllead Tetraethyllead] was a chemical added to gasoline from the 1920's to the 1990's to prevent [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Engine_knocking Engine Knock], until it was revealed to have highly toxic effects.

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Juicero Juicero] was a juicer known for its absurd inefficiency and greedy business model: the machine would only work on the company's proprietary branded single-serving bags of pre-juiced fruit sold for $7-10 each, and more juice could be extracted from the bags by hand than by the press. Basically, they were selling $10 Capri Sun bags and a $700 machine to empty them into a cup for you.

After the latest showing of unimpressive "inventions", the humans start questioning how "advanced" the aliens really are, asking if they built the flying saucer themselves and suggesting that it might be wise to avoid standing directly beneath it in case it suddenly crashes to earth.

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

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category: Comics featuring Megan]]
[[Category:Aliens]]

Talk:2352: Synonym Date

2020-08-29T15:02:48Z

108.162.229.6:

"This explanation may be incomplete or incorrect: Created by an AUTOMATON." That's funny. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.170.50|172.69.170.50]] 01:23, 29 August 2020 (UTC)
:Yeah, there's one on a lot of them and nobody's ever bothered removing them. [[User:Bubblegum|bubblegum]]-[[User_talk:Bubblegum|talk]]|[[Special:Contributions/Bubblegum|contribs]] 01:39, 29 August 2020 (UTC)
::"Do NOT kill this warning before it is ready to die" is especially good. [[User:Captain Video|Captain Video]] ([[User talk:Captain Video|talk]]) 05:38, 29 August 2020 (UTC)
:::Do not mistake Synonym for Verbaciousness. A single ''technically'' correct but ''contextually'' dubious word (I suppose the original BOT->AUTOMATON counts) is what it should be. Merely verbosifying an antilaconic and/or polysyllaballic interwoven sentencial restructurisation is very much akin to being ballistically off-target vis-a-vis the inherent humour theme. (i.e. missing the joke.) [[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.70|141.101.98.70]] 10:12, 29 August 2020 (UTC)

I feel like this is not Megan, but a new character, differentiated by her wearing a dress (which also makes her seem almost strange compared to the others). [[Special:Contributions/173.245.54.75|173.245.54.75]] 06:17, 29 August 2020 (UTC)
:Come on, can't a gal wear a dress without turning into a completely new person? I think she looks cute in that outfit! [[Special:Contributions/172.69.34.214|172.69.34.214]] 07:23, 29 August 2020 (UTC)

Is grub meant to disgust, or is she merely British and using a perfectly normal word for food in use since 1691.The captcha asked me to click on crosswalks, but all I could seee were Zebra crossings. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.155.108|162.158.155.108]] 07:58, 29 August 2020 (UTC)
:I cannot begin to explain the cascade of confusion and misunderstanding created by having first read The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy in a UK edition rather than a US edition where the words, "zebra crossing," are replaced by, "crosswalk." Being quite young I thought the idea of zebra crossings must be analogous to deer crossings that exist all over US roads but, perhaps, was a reference to human evolution in Africa and, given Adams's quite loose restrictions on temporal effects, that the 'cleverness' of the human species had echoed back in time and destroyed itself before the cleverness ever took place. In theory, if not in practice. Only because the proof of the non-existence of God due to the existence of the Babelfish wasn't universally accepted was the human species saved. Funny how a colorful expression changes things, in'it?[[Special:Contributions/162.158.79.107|162.158.79.107]] 13:03, 29 August 2020 (UTC)

Isn't Megan just overly using British English expressions, which is misinterpreted as being weird on purpose? [[Special:Contributions/108.162.229.6|108.162.229.6]] 15:02, 29 August 2020 (UTC)

1388: Subduction License

2014-06-30T08:53:32Z

108.162.229.6: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 1388
| date = June 30, 2014
| title = Subduction License
| image = subduction_license.png
| titletext = 'Dude, why can't you just be a normal roommate?' 'Because I'm coming TOWARD you!'
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by a BOT - Please change this comment when editing this page.}}

In {{w|structural geology}}, {{w|subduction}} is the mechanism by wich a {{w|tectonic plate}} disapears under another, usually creating an {{w|island arc}}, a {{w|volcanic arc}} or a {{w|mountain range}} on the second one.

In this comic, the beret guy pretends to have a "''subduction licence''", something that which would enable him to start a subduction: he enters his room-mate's space, slowly disappears under the plate of his room-mate, and in the process creates mountain ranges on the floor, disrupting his roommate's work.

Xkcd has previously mentioned atypical licenses in [[410|comic 410]].

The mouseover text plays on the double-meaning of the word "normal," which in {{w|structural geology}} refers specifically to mountainbuilding faults that form when plates or other crustal blocks relax away from one another (e.g., the {{w|Tetons}}). However, since in {{w|subduction}} the plates are necessarily moving toward one another (as noted in the roommate's response in the mouseover text), the mountainbuilding is not due to normal (i.e., extensional) faults, but rather to compressional faults.

"{{w|Thrust fault}}" is a type of compressional fault that is itself part of the extended geologic play on words that drives [[1082: Geology]]

==Transcript==
:[Beret Guy is showing some cards to Cueball, who is at his computer desk.]
:Beret Guy: Sweet! I finally got my subduction license!
:Cueball: Your what?

:[Beret Guy starts sinking into the ground, causing it to ripple.]
:Cueball: ...What are you doing?

:[Beret Guy sinks further, forming a miniature mountain range in front of him. Cueball is frantically trying to keep his computer steady as his desk tilts.]
:Cueball: ''Stop it! Stop it!''

:[Beret Guy is waist-deep, and snow caps have formed on the mountains. Cueball is falling backwards from his desk, and the monitor unplugs itself from his computer.]
:Cueball: '''AUGH!'''

{{comic discussion}}