explain xkcd - User contributions [en]

95: The Sierpinski Penis Game

2014-12-20T08:48:01Z

108.162.250.203: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 95
| date = April 28, 2006
| title = The Sierpinski Penis Game
| image = the_sierpinski_penis_game.jpg
| titletext = Inappropriate places for the Penis Game include baby showers and terrorist attacks.
}}

==Explanation==

{{w|Chaos game|The Chaos Game}} is a method, invented by {{w|Michael Barnsley}} of generating a fractal by repeatedly applying randomly-chosen transformation functions to a point and plotting the position of the new point each time. The transformation functions are randomly chosen from a small, predefined list. The surprising result of this is that, even though the functions are picked randomly, a distinctly non-random fractal image emerges.

One such fractal that can be produced by the Chaos Game is the {{w|Sierpinski Gasket}}, which is the fractal pictured in this comic.

The Penis Game, on the other hand, is a childish activity where people (usually schoolchildren) compete to shout "Penis!" increasingly loudly in the presence of an authority figure (usually a teacher) without getting in trouble.

The two games could be said to be similar in that they both involve iterations of transformations; in the Chaos Game, a point's position is transformed (moving it closer and closer to the attractor set of the transformations); in the Penis game, the volume of the phrase "Penis!" is transformed (becoming louder and louder). The difference is that the Chaos Game works by {{w|negative feedback}} (eventually settling down into a well-defined image) whereas the Penis Game involves {{w|positive feedback}} (at some point, the cry of "Penis!" will become loud enough that the culprit will get in trouble and the game will end). Nonetheless, they could be vaguely considered inverses of each other, and Randall is conflating the two in this comic.

The title text may be calling attention to the fact that a mathematical object such as a fractal is also an inappropriate place in which to be playing the Penis Game.

==Transcript==
:[A large triangle is shown, with many smaller triangles inside.]
:[Words are in the triangles.]
:PENIS! Haha, penis.

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Math]]
[[Category:Penis]]

1034: Share Buttons

2014-12-13T23:14:35Z

108.162.250.203: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 1034
| date = March 26, 2012
| title = Share Buttons
| image = share_buttons.png
| titletext = The only post to achieve perfect balance between the four was a hilarious joke about Mark Zuckerberg getting caught using a pseudonym to sneak past the TSA.
}}

==Explanation==
This comic is a commentary on what sort of articles work best on different {{w|social networking services}}. From left to right the share buttons are: {{w|Facebook}}, {{w|Twitter}}, {{w|Reddit}}, and {{w|Google plus|Google+}}.

*Twitterers are often stereotyped as constantly trying to be funny; hence, the article on stand-up comedy is shared most on Twitter.

*{{w|Conspiracy theory}} articles play well on Reddit, especially if they are against the {{w|Christian Right}} and for {{w|Wikipedia}}, as there is a loud and large atheist community on Reddit.

*"Boycott Facebook" articles are ironically popular on Facebook. Google+, being semantically akin to Facebook, also has a significant anti-Facebook community. One of the punchlines is that Google+ is struggling and not used much.

*The last article gets almost no shares at all — not many want to admit they are reading an article about a {{w|RealDoll}}, a type of sex doll. (Also mentioned in [[Game AIs]] and [[Flying Cars]].) A Custom ROM is an aftermarket distribution of the {{w|Android (operating system)|Android}} operating system and are often targeted toward enthusiasts. This community exists primarily on Google+ (as Google is the main developer of Android), and is one of the few active communities on that social network. As Android is an operating system primarily aimed at {{w|smartphones}} and {{w|tablet computers}}, installing it on a RealDoll, whilst possible due to Android's {{w|open source}} nature, would be a very niche activity, and the low number of shares indicates that it only interests a small portion of the already-small (relative to other social networks) Google+ community.

The title text humorously combines appealing subjects for all four networks:

*''a hilarious joke'' – Twitter, same as above.
*''about {{w|Mark Zuckerberg}}'' – founder of Facebook.
*''using a {{w|pseudonym}}'' – referencing a [http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9218649/Google_works_to_soothe_users_over_real_name_controversyremember controversy] about real names on Google+.
*''to sneak past the {{w|Transportation Security Administration|TSA}}'' – Reddit, a conspiracy theory as above.

==Transcript==
:[A series of article titles with four share buttons underneath each: Facebook, Twitter, Reddit, and Google+]

:Breaking Into Stand-up Comedy
:FB: 3, Twitter: 1,781, Reddit: 2, G+: 0

:How the Christian Right Threatens Wikipedia
:FB: 1, Twitter: 0, Reddit: 2,241, G+: 3

:Boycott Facebook Today!
:FB: 248k, Twitter: 0, Reddit: 0, G+: 74

:DIY: Installing a Custom ROM on a Realdoll
:FB: 0, Twitter: 0, Reddit: 0, G+: 2

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Comics with color]]
[[Category:Social networking]]

Talk:277: Long Light

2014-04-27T06:44:08Z

108.162.250.203:

The driver seems to know that the light always takes forever and yet there he is. Sometimes people get what they deserve. {{unsigned|99.234.144.69}}

when I'm at a long light like this, I don't blame the engineer of that light, I blame the city planner who decided to put that light at that intersection when a different system would have worked better (one that adjusts to time of day and/or uses sensors to notice that someone's waiting and there's no traffic). just sayin' [[Special:Contributions/70.72.16.171|70.72.16.171]] 13:42, 25 April 2013 (UTC)

:Not that 70.72.16.171 will necessarily see this, but there are traffic engineers, who design intersections (not only the types, number, and arrangement of individual signal assemblies and sensors in a given intersection, but also any timing or sensor-based relationship with other intersections and several other things not signal-related). I think the engineer in the comic is one of these traffic engineers (maybe that's what ...16.171 is calling a city planner?). It's not the one that designed the actual assembly of bulbs, lenses, circuits and housing that makes up a given "signal" - which would also no doubt be an engineer (somewhere in the civil/electrical area I might venture to guess)[[User:Brettpeirce|Brettpeirce]] ([[User talk:Brettpeirce|talk]]) 18:28, 18 February 2014 (UTC

[[Special:Contributions/108.162.250.203|108.162.250.203]] 06:44, 27 April 2014 (UTC)Doesn't mean Cueball can't reverse away to get the engineer off his car. Unless it's a one-way street.

Talk:705: Devotion to Duty

2014-04-26T10:33:39Z

108.162.250.203: -comment-

This is very clearly a Die Hard parody. {{unsigned|‎70.12.4.193}}
Indubitably --[[User:JSekula71|JSekula71]] ([[User talk:JSekula71|talk]]) 23:36, 9 June 2013 (UTC)

Oh man. This needs some reworking. --[[User:Quicksilver|Quicksilver]] ([[User talk:Quicksilver|talk]]) 03:10, 20 August 2013 (UTC)

[[Special:Contributions/108.162.250.203|108.162.250.203]] 10:33, 26 April 2014 (UTC) In Die Hard, the terrorists used a chainsaw to cut the telephone trunk cables. Try repairing that damage.

1341: Types of Editors

2014-03-12T09:49:57Z

108.162.250.203: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 1341
| date = March 12, 2014
| title = Types of Editors
| image = types_of_editors.png
| titletext = m-x machineofdeath-mode
}}

==Explanation==

{{w|WYSIWYG}}, pronounced, "whizz-ee-whig", is an acronym that stands for "What you see is what you get". In regards to computers, it refers to text editors in which the user can see exactly what will be published as he is typing it.

The comic compares various types of editors. A WYSIWYG editor displays the edited document in its final, typically printed, form. The next type, WYSIN(not)WYG, is similar to an HTML source editor, where you enter raw HTML code and are (in a different view) presented with the rendered appearance of the page.

The WYSITUTWYG ("... is totally unrelated to ...") editor apparently takes your input and proceeds to ignore it entirely, instead displaying totally unrelated words.

Finally, the WYSIHYD ("... is how you die") "editor" is not an editor at all, but a terrible, terrible pun on the multiple meanings of the word "get": If you see "eaten by wolves", you will get ... eaten by wolves. This effect and the white-on-black writing is probably a reference to the anime ''Death Note''.

The text editor used in this very wiki's page editor is of the "not what you get" variety.

The title text takes the joke one step further. It is a fictitious command to the highly extensible {{w|Emacs}} text editor. A well-known comment about Emacs is that "it is a pretty good operating system, all it lacks is a good editor". In fact, Emacs is a runtime environment for the {{w|Lisp_(programming_language)|Lisp}} programming language; the main application present in that environment is the editor. Emacs operates in various "modes", which are customizations for specific purposes, like editing plain text, e-mail, source code in any of hundreds of languages, operating heavy machinery, etc. Placing Emacs into "Machine of Death" mode would turn it into a WYSIHYD editor (or maybe it would just kill the user?). "M-x" is Emacs-way of saying "hold down meta key, press x, release meta key", and meta is normally mapped to Alt key. Don't know why xkcd uses "m-x" instead of "M-x". And no, that particular mode does not exist at least on Emacs 23.2.1.

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript}}

{{comic discussion}}