explain xkcd - User contributions [en]

Talk:3009: Number Shortage

2024-11-12T21:41:00Z

108.162.238.34:

I bet there's plenty of 9s left. They obviously didn't get a proper range of digits at Benford's Discount Number Store. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.195.113|172.69.195.113]] 05:53, 9 November 2024 (UTC)
:There are so many 9s because they get used the least on microwaves. [[User:N-eh|N-eh]] ([[User talk:N-eh|talk]]) 22:27, 10 November 2024 (UTC)
:I expect pricing psychology uses up most of the 9's that Benford stocks, using the first-in-last-out method.[[Special:Contributions/162.158.159.119|162.158.159.119]] 21:06, 11 November 2024 (UTC)

Is this not an error? "15 2s and 12 3s" uses up one 3. So shouldn't it next be 11 3s left, not 10? -- [[Special:Contributions/172.69.144.152|172.69.144.152]] 10:41, 9 November 2024 (UTC)
: No - they started with fifteen 2s and twelve 3s. They used two 2s saying '15 '''2'''s and 1'''2''' 3s' which leaves thirteen 2s. They used two 3s saying ...12 '''3'''s / No wait, 1'''3''' 2s...' which leaves ten 3s. However, by the next line they still have nine 3s (having used up one saying '... and 10 '''3'''s') - not eight, as the explanation previously said.[[Special:Contributions/172.70.160.134|172.70.160.134]] 17:06, 11 November 2024 (UTC)

the consequences of our actions /ref [[User:CalibansCreations|'''<span style="color:#ff0000;">Caliban</span>''']] ([[User talk:CalibansCreations|talk]]) 10:45, 9 November 2024 (UTC)

The above mentioned “error” is not an error. When she says there are 13 2s left, that uses up one 3. [[User:PedanticMan|PedanticMan]] ([[User talk:PedanticMan|talk]]) 11:13, 9 November 2024 (UTC)

: There's no pause, no "No wait" after "13 2s". Is she reevaluating numbers instantly realtime midsentence? Did she start the sentence planning to say one thing and instantly altered it partway through? I guess that's what Randall is going for. -- [[Special:Contributions/172.69.144.162|172.69.144.162]] 12:00, 9 November 2024 (UTC)
::That's what I assumed, and I already included it in the explanation. But I'm not sure if the title text is consistent with that interpretation. [[User:Barmar|Barmar]] ([[User talk:Barmar|talk]]) 17:35, 9 November 2024 (UTC)
:::Title text is perhaps semi-consistent. Regardless of what was said/used beteen "ten minutes ago" and now, the statement (ten minutes ago) of "2 0s" used one zero. The statement (now) of "10 minutes ago" used another and ''technically'' used a third (but it could be considered recycled from the original statement being quoted).
:::Whichever way the counting works (and presuming that any quotable re-use principle doesn't allow just "Ns" to be requoted as "X Ns" in a way that preserves the N stock even whilst depleting Xs), we're certainly down to the stage where we can no longer say there are "0" of something, nor that the something involved is the 0s.
:::...to put it another way, a different TT might be "10 minutes ago we were down to only 2 ... oh darnit!". But that wouldn't have made itself quite so obvious (the Ns could have been 0, 1 or 2). I suppose having 3 0s ten minutes ago might only have led to the necessity of that logic being explained (then: "3 0s {0s=>2}"; now: "10 minutes {0s=>1} .. 3 0s {0s=>0}" "now?" " {0s=>0 ∴ unable to even begin to answer} "), however...
:::But, much like the TT question posed, wise use of "them”/etc might be useful in ''some'' (not-title text) circumstances. "I earlier said there were 9 9s, but now there are 7 of them. ...still 7. Yep, definitely 7 of them! (7s, on the other hand are now...)", vs. "there were 9 9s, but now there are 7 9s. 6 9s! 5 9s! <...> 1 9! <curses>" [[Special:Contributions/172.69.195.114|172.69.195.114]] 12:19, 10 November 2024 (UTC)
::I believe the title text is clear. There where still 2 like there was when she checked ten minutes ago. She can only say the sentence because she still had those two left. But after it is not possible to day there are 0 0 left. And thus the Idk. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 08:43, 11 November 2024 (UTC)
::: Presumably the scenario that resulted in this was: There were three 0s remaining; Person A said "How many 0s do we have left?" (reducing them to two); Person B then said "2". If, instead, someone had said "We have only 2 0s left", that would have reduced them to one, leaving insufficient to complete the sentence in the title text.[[Special:Contributions/172.70.86.141|172.70.86.141]] 17:21, 11 November 2024 (UTC)

If anyone wants to see self-referentiality of numbers taken even further, here is a series of posts that I wrote on "self-describing numbers": https://atmos.warplight.dev/profile/1p8WCZnqqG6N3ZOsJxBgUTo/p1cNCw1OTsioTQBRk [[User:Fabian42|Fabian42]] ([[User talk:Fabian42|talk]]) 12:09, 9 November 2024 (UTC)

the first stage of grief is denial [[user talk:lettherebedarklight|youtu.be/miLcaqq2Zpk]] 12:19, 9 November 2024 (UTC)
: So you saw that the Harris banner is still up too, eh? There may be no shortage of absolute numbers, but numbers of <em>things</em>, yeah, there are shortages. Like, chances to act to avert disaster, like weren't taken in 2016, and we got lucky ... [[Special:Contributions/172.68.23.92|172.68.23.92]] 17:37, 9 November 2024 (UTC)
::Just heard on Not The Bee that Trump is planning to help the Democrats out by paying Kamala's campaign debt at a rate of $10/mention in speeches over the past 180 days. Should be plenty to pay off the $20 million.[[Special:Contributions/172.71.142.75|172.71.142.75]] 21:02, 10 November 2024 (UTC)
::: [https://www.dude-n-dude.com/2024/11/05/amoebas-lorica-experimentum-finita/ When logic and proportion][https://www.dude-n-dude.com/2024/11/03/ai-elect/ have fallen sloppy dead], {{w|It_Can%27t_Happen_Here|remember}} {{w|White_Rabbit_(song)|what the dormouse said}}.[[Special:Contributions/172.71.142.30|172.71.142.30]] 05:48, 11 November 2024 (UTC)

I'm pretty sure "15" uses up one 3 (3*5) and "12" uses up two 2's and one 3 (2*2*3) [[Special:Contributions/172.71.222.213|172.71.222.213]] 15:09, 9 November 2024 (UTC)
:No, I think the "3s" in the first statement uses one, and the ones place of "13" referring to the number of 2s left in the second statement uses another. [[User:Laneymarie96|Laneymarie96]] ([[User talk:Laneymarie96|talk]]) 03:13, 10 November 2024 (UTC)

"Well? How many numbers do we have left?"
"Oh great! There's one more!"
(Yes, I know this goes against the logic of the original comic)
[[User:Turquoise Hat|Turquoise Hat]] ([[User talk:Turquoise Hat|talk]]) 17:36, 9 November 2024 (UTC)

Why don't we try using Roman numerals while we wait for the shortage to get fixed? [[Special:Contributions/172.69.135.53|172.69.135.53]] 04:05, 10 November 2024 (UTC)
:We could always go back gto tally marks...wait also who says this is Miss Lenhart? {{unsigned ip|172.68.70.56|12:41, 11 November 2024}}
::No one says it is her, since we (explain xkcd users) have named a character that looks like [[Blondie]] but who seems to be a teacher [[Miss Lenhart]]. This is taken from a couple of comics where a teacher is named and another where her name is used. In this case she works at the Math Department, presumably at a university thus she is likely a teacher there, and looks like Blondie, hence it is Miss Lenhart. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 18:51, 11 November 2024 (UTC)

Seems very related to the {{w|Look-and-say sequence}}! [[Special:Contributions/172.71.170.93|172.71.170.93]] 21:48, 10 November 2024 (UTC)Bumpf

Instead of having to say "I don't know" in the title text, one could just say "none". [[Special:Contributions/172.70.110.170|172.70.110.170]] 19:46, 9 November 2024 (UTC)
:It's funnier to imagine that they forgot how to articulate "zero" as a concept. [[User:Psychoticpotato|P?sych??otic?pot??at???o ]] ([[User talk:Psychoticpotato|talk]]) 20:56, 9 November 2024 (UTC)
:By that logic, they could (partially) escape the "10 minutes ago 0s" issue by saying "ten minutes ago" and not depleting certain digits. Or, as it says "numbers", depleting 10s (but neither 1s nor 0s). But you have to consider if "one" is a "1" (also "a(n)", maybe), and if you can get away with "a couple of" or dozens, scores, grosses, ton(ne)s of, a "pony" or a "grand" or even a googol/googolplex. Then one (1s--) may won(1s--?)der what really ''are'' the uses to be strictly atone(1s--?)d for? Still, I've got 33×3 problems, but the number of 3²s aint one! (1s--). [[Special:Contributions/172.70.160.218|172.70.160.218]] 12:47, 10 November 2024 (UTC)

So, is this comic related to the Google incident? Google seems to be suffering from money '''shortage''' after being fined in large '''number'''s. [[User:CategoryGeneral|CategoryGeneral]] ([[User talk:CategoryGeneral|talk]]) 01:51, 10 November 2024 (UTC)
: ...no? Big leap in logic here. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.22.243|172.69.22.243]] 04:06, 10 November 2024 (UTC)

This one needs a nerd snipe warning! Anyone else get sniped with this one? [[User:Fephisto|Fephisto]] ([[User talk:Fephisto|talk]]) 14:02, 11 November 2024 (UTC)
:I'll let you know. I have only fifteen vowels left. No, nine. Or is it six? No, two. Grrrrr! [[Special:Contributions/172.70.160.135|172.70.160.135]] 15:39, 11 Nvmbr 2024 (TC)
::t's not hard t rtclt wtht vwls, tbh -[[User:Psychoticpotato|P?sych??otic?pot??at???o ]] ([[User talk:Psychoticpotato|talk]]) 17:44, 11 November 2024 (UTC)

It's surprising they didn't run out of 0s and 1s well before the rest. I mean, we all know what those Computer Science types are like when you turn your back for a moment...[[Special:Contributions/172.70.162.204|172.70.162.204]] 17:34, 11 November 2024 (UTC)

I have a backup supply of 615 2s, 172 3s, 68 5s, 216 1s, and 29 0s. No, wait [[Special:Contributions/108.162.238.34|108.162.238.34]] 21:41, 12 November 2024 (UTC)

Talk:3009: Number Shortage

2024-11-12T21:40:16Z

108.162.238.34:

Talk:2584: Headline Words

2022-02-22T13:02:51Z

108.162.238.34:

It is ironic how Cueball, being bald, doesn't have any "headlines". [[Special:Contributions/172.68.11.68|172.68.11.68]] 06:48, 22 February 2022 (UTC)

I mean, I would be pretty annoyed too if someone talked like that instead of saying "Wow, I can't believe you shot down the idea for the party venue that everyone likes" and "I'm reconsidering my plan (to speak in headline words) since people are starting to get annoyed" (also, "Everyone hated the headline-word thing, so I'm gonna stop") [[Special:Contributions/172.70.178.113|172.70.178.113]] 07:09, 22 February 2022 (UTC)

I have made a new section for trying to explain each of Cueball's three headlines. I tried to make some sense of the first, but think I failed... So please feel free to change or improve my text completely. For sure the above comment gets the correct meaning, but I do not think it is a translation, more a possible sentence to be said instead. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 11:55, 22 February 2022 (UTC)
: I tried to expand that :) [[Special:Contributions/108.162.238.34|108.162.238.34]] 13:02, 22 February 2022 (UTC)Bumpf

2584: Headline Words

2022-02-22T13:02:16Z

108.162.238.34: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 2584
| date = February 21, 2022
| title = Headline Words
| image = headline_words.png
| titletext = Roundly-condemned headlinese initiative shuttered indefinitely.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by a HEADLINE-GENERATING MARKOV CHAIN - Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
[[White Hat]], [[Megan]], [[Cueball]] and [[Ponytail]] seems to be planning a party. Megan mentions that the party was planned to be at [[Rob|Rob's]] place, but that this might not be a good idea, since he has cats, and some of the participants in the party are allergic to cats. This is a valid reason. Seems likely that Megan is one of those that are allergic. Usually Rob is drawn as Cueball, but it is not necessarily Rob that is present, it could just be a discussion among some of the friends that are supposed to come to the party.

Cueball then replies to this in a very confusing way, strange enough to prompt Megan to ask him to stop. He continues though, although the gist of his second line is that he will stop speaking like this now.

That this is indeed the case and what he is actually trying to do is explained in the comics caption. It states that Cueball's project was to speak in weird headline words. And that the project did not last for long.

News headlines are often very dramatic explanations of minor events; so are the things Cueball says here. Furthermore, some newspapers write their headlines in a stylized way which relies heavily on shorter words (such as "nixed" for "rejected") or by using cliches (such as "tension mounts"), a style colloquially known as {{w|Headlinese}}.

See [[#Headlines explained|below]] for explanation of his headlines.

The title text continues with a final headline statement from Cueball, telling that project was stopped permanently.

===Headlines explained===
Here each of the three headlines will be explained. Several of the words used are {{w|Headline#Commonly_used_short_words|listed}} in the wiki article on Headlinese.

:Wow, major snub for widely-touted top spot as lavish gala bid nixed.
According to the list of words Snub means reject, tout means put forward, bid means attempt and nix also means reject. A lavish gala is an expensive/impressive festive celebration i.e. a party.
Literally it could be translated to:
:Wow, big rejection of the most put forward favorite venue for the party attempt rejected.

:Ill-advised scheme mulled as tension mounts amid growing backlash.
Through the same process, this could be translated to
:Not very thought through idea (speaking in Headlinese) re-thought about because of Megan's critisism.

:Roundly-condemned headlinese initiative shuttered indefinitely.
:Because no one likes the way Cueball is speaking, he is going to stop speaking in Headlinese.

==Transcript==
:[White Hat, Megan, Cueball, and Ponytail stand in a row, with White Hat and Megan facing toward the right and Cueball and Ponytail facing toward the left.]
:Megan: Maybe Rob shouldn't host the party. He has cats and some of us are allergic.
:Cueball: Wow, major snub for widely-touted top spot as lavish gala bid nixed.
:Megan: Why are you talking so weird? Please stop.
:Cueball: Ill-advised scheme mulled as tension mounts amid growing backlash.

:[Caption below the panel:]
:My project to speak only in weird headline words didn't last long.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring White Hat]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Ponytail]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Rob]] 
[[Category:Language]]