explain xkcd - User contributions [en]

1628: Magnus

2016-01-11T16:34:28Z

108.162.236.19: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 1628
| date = January 11, 2016
| title = Magnus
| image = magnus.png
| titletext = In the latest round, 9-year-old Muhammad Ali beat 10-year-old JFK at air hockey, while Secretariat lost the hot-dog-eating crown to 12-year-old Ken Jennings. Meanwhile, in a huge upset, 11-year-old Martha Stewart knocked out the adult Ronda Rousey.
}}

==Explanation==
[[Cueball]] shows [[Megan]] an {{w|mobile app|app}}, [http://magnuscarlsen.com/playmagnus Play Magnus] ([https://itunes.apple.com/app/play-magnus/id808138395?mt=8 iOS], [https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=pl.mw.playmagnus Android]) which claims to simulate playing {{w|chess}} against {{w|Magnus Carlsen}} at various ages. Magnus is a {{w|chess grandmaster}} who was ranked no. 1 in the world when this comic was released.

The idea behind the app is that as Magnus grows up he becomes better at chess and thus it become exceedingly difficult to beat him as he gets older. But it claims to do so with an unlikely precision which Randall is mocking; e.g. that Cueball could have beaten Magnus when he was 8½-year-old, but not a half-year later.

Taking the mocking a step further, Megan wants such an app for other sports {{w|tennis}} and {{w|Swimming (sport)|swimming}}, where skill couldn't imaginably be simulated via an app at all. She wants to compare herself to an 8-year-old {{W|Serena Williams}}, a top-ranked professional tennis player. Or to a 6-year-old {{W|Michael Phelps}}, the {{w|List_of_multiple_Olympic_medalists#List_of_most_Olympic_medals_over_career|most decorated Olympian competitor}} of all time.

Cueball expands beyond sport, wishing to determine if he could cook better than an 11-year-old {{W|Martha Stewart}} (author of several cookbooks). Megan wonders if she'd have won an election against a 12-year old JFK ({{W|John F. Kennedy}}, the 35th American President). Obviously, cooking and politics were skills acquired later in life for both figures.

Cueball and Megan continue speculating about their wished-for app simulating what random celebrities (or animals) could do at certain ages, even beyond the skills that made them famous. They finally end up comparing 8-year-old Magnus's swimming skill against 9-year-old Martha's (he wins). But they'd both lose a {{w|hot dog}}-{{w|Competitive eating|eating contest}} against the championship race horse {{W|Secretariat (horse)|Secretariat}}. At this point even Megan realizes (with considerable understatement) their project "has gotten weird".

The title text extends the point to even greater absurdity, e.g. the ludicrous prospect of a young Martha Stewart knocking an adult {{W|Ronda Rousey}} (Olympic bronze medalist judoka and MMA fighter) unconscious, or e 9-year-old {{W|Muhammad Ali}}, one of the all-time great boxers, beating a 10-year-old JFK in the {{w|air hockey}}. The horse also gets s re-mentioned in the title text, losing in a hot dog eating contest against 11-year-old {{W|Ken Jennings}}, record-holder for his winning streak on {{W|Jeopardy!}}.

Chess was previously compared to {{w|basketball}} in [[1392: Dominant Players]], which also mentioned Magnus. This is the tenth [[:Category:Chess|comic about chess]] on {{xkcd}}.

==Transcript==
:[Cueball walks from the right towards Megan while holding up his smartphone.]
:Cueball: Magnus Carlsen has an app where you can play chess against a simulated version of him at different ages.
:Cueball: I can beat the 8½-year-old, but lose to him at 9.

:[While Megan talks to Cueball he lifts his hand to his chin, while holding the smartphone down.]
:Megan: I want that, but for other games. Can I beat 8-year-old Serena Williams at Tennis? Swim laps faster than a 6-year-olf Michael Phelps?
:Cueball: We should make a simulator.

:[Cueball walks out left and Megan follows him. He must have pocketed his phone as it is not in his hand.]
:Cueball: ...Why limit it to games? Can I cook a better chicken than 11-year-old Martha Stewart?
:Megan: Win an eating contest against 12-year-old JFK?

:[At the top frame of this panel there is a small frame with a caption. Below lies Megan on the floor to the left in front of her laptop, while Cueball sits on the floor to the right facing her in front of his own laptop. Between them are some heavy books.]
:Soon...
:[Cueball and Megan sitting at laptops in the bottom of the panel.]
:Megan: Looks like 8-year-old Magnus Carlsen can swim faster than 9-year-old Martha Stewart.
:Cueball: But they both lose a hot-dog-eating contest to 2-year-old Secretariat.
:Megan: This project has gotten weird.

==Trivia==
The app they are talking about is called [http://magnuscarlsen.com/playmagnus Play Magnus].

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]
[[Category:Comics featuring real people]]
[[Category:Comics featuring John F. Kennedy]]
[[Category:Chess]]
[[Category:Sport]]
[[Category:Animals]]

Talk:1628: Magnus

2016-01-11T16:32:10Z

108.162.236.19: Ronda Rousey is not a boxer, she's a Judoka and MMA fighter

Attempted to write the transcript. Hope I did an okay job... {{unsigned ip|‎198.41.235.41}}
:It was great. I just added some descriptions of the panels. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 15:01, 11 January 2016 (UTC)

Might Ronda Rousey being knocked unconsious be a reference to her recent loss to Holly Holm, where Rousey indeed was knocked unconcious? --[[Special:Contributions/162.158.202.141|162.158.202.141]] 10:27, 11 January 2016 (UTC)
:The word reference means "a thing you say or write that mentions somebody/something else; the act of mentioning somebody/something". Since the comic doesn't mention Holly Holm, there is no reference. I think there isn't even an allusion (something that is said or written that refers to or mentions another person or subject in an indirect way). [[Special:Contributions/108.162.221.17|108.162.221.17]] 13:46, 11 January 2016 (UTC)
:Besides, the phrasing is "knocked out". That needn't be a combat/contact-sport 'KO' in which Rousey was rendered actually unconscious in an intentional/explicable manner, according to the activity, but could just be telling us which of the two passed through to the next round of a bracketed competition of some other kind. (Either of a form that remains unspecified or, as the most recently mentioned competition, in an earlier iteration the hot-dog-eating contest. Either way, 11yo Stewart wasn't highly ''expected'' to win, whatever the match conditions, but the outcome needn't be so against form as it might have in a pugilistic match.) [[Special:Contributions/162.158.152.227|162.158.152.227]] 15:13, 11 January 2016 (UTC)
::Since nothing is mentioned about which sport and Rousey is mentioned for the first time and it is a surprise she looses (on a KO) it is obvious to me that it refers to her fighting skill and a real KO. And if it was one of her first KO in that match is could easily be a reference especially if it was not expected. These two last things I do not know anything about though... --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 15:41, 11 January 2016 (UTC)

Magnus' App is available here: http://www.playmagnus.com/. There are also numerous youtube videos of him playing against himself at various ages. --[[Special:Contributions/198.41.242.240|198.41.242.240]] 10:33, 11 January 2016 (UTC)

JFK was not 10 in 1961 as that is when he became President and you have to be at least 35 to do that. [[User:Momerath|Momerath]] ([[User talk:Momerath|talk]]) 15:26, 11 January 2016 (UTC)
:Whops. That went to fast, thanks for correcting it. ;-) --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 15:39, 11 January 2016 (UTC)

Maybe I misunderstood some special reference or way to put it here, because as it links to the correct wiki page, it seems the author knew what he was talking about but:
" Michael Phelps who is the most decorated Olympian competitor of all time, with a total of 22 medals in three Olympiads." is still a very strange formulation imo. As correctly linked an Olympiad is the time span between two Olympic Games (aka 4 years). First of all Phelbs won the Medals from 2004 to 2012 so if one really would want to write that in olympiads it would be closer to two. Even so I think it very strange to ever talk about the olympic medals over the course of such a timespan as they were won at three distinct events, while countless other medals were won in the time span. I would rather change it to "olympic games" or something. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.91.139|141.101.91.139]] 15:51, 11 January 2016 (UTC)

Does anyone else actually kind of want this to exist? I mean, it would certainly settle a lot of playground discussions. :P [[User:Hammy2211|Hammy2211]] ([[User talk:Hammy2211|talk]]) 15:55, 11 January 2016 (UTC)

Ronda Rousey is a former Judo Olympian and current MMA fighter, not a boxer. Holly Holmes (who she lost to) is an ex-boxing champion. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.236.19|108.162.236.19]] 16:32, 11 January 2016 (UTC)

Talk:1311: 2014

2014-01-01T05:37:27Z

108.162.236.19:

Just a note that the PNG file for this comic is (or was initially) actually a TIFF file with a PNG extension. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.236.19|108.162.236.19]] 05:37, 1 January 2014 (UTC)

Talk:1311: 2014

2014-01-01T05:35:20Z

108.162.236.19: Technical note re comic

Just a note that the PNG file for this comic is (or was initially) actually a TIFF file with a PNG extension.