explain xkcd - User contributions [en]

1380: Manual for Civilization

2014-06-11T14:29:45Z

108.162.254.109: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 1380
| date = June 11, 2014
| title = Manual for Civilization
| image = manual_for_civilization.png
| titletext = We will have an entire wing of the library devoted to copies of book #26, because ohmygod it's the one where Jake and Cassie finally KISS!!!
}}

==Explanation==
In this comic {{w|Brian Eno}} (a musician) who is co-founder of {{w|Long Now Foundation}} is telling an audience that one of the missions of the Long now is to make a library of books that can help rebuild society if/when it collapsed. The experts have made a list and this list suggests that reading the {{w|Animorphs}} books would be enough to help humanity in rebuilding society.

It may also be a pun on Isaac Asimov's Foundation series, where Harry Seldon claimed that the Galactic Empire is going to collapse in a thousand years, there is no way to stop it but his group of scientists are writing Encyclopedia Galactica to help people rebuild civilization.

Animorphs is a series of books written by {{w|K.A. Applegate}}. It follows a group of five children (later, an alien joins as the sixth member), that try to stop the parasitic aliens, the Yeerks, by transforming into animals. A Yeerk that enters a human has complete control over their host, and can read their memories. Because the Yeerks can imitate their host almost perfectly, humanity is slowly being taken over without knowing it, and for this reason the children cannot contact the authorities and are on their own in the battle against the Yeerks.

When asked if all the books on the experts list are from the Animorph series, Eno misses the point of the question by saying ''No!'', only to mention the {{W|List_of_Animorphs_books#Companion_books|Megamorphs}} books and {{W|The Andalite Chronicles}}, both of which are side stories to the Animorph universe.

There are other books like these which aren't mentioned here - but it is clear from the last two panels that it is a quite long list - and it seems to be written in two columns, so maybe all {{w|List_of_Animorphs_books#Animorphs_main_series|54 Animorphs books}} and all {{W|List_of_Animorphs_books#Companion_books|ten side stories}} could be included on the list.

In suggesting that a series of young adult novels make up the blueprint for rebuilding civilization, [[Randall]] is spoofing the idea of such libraries (since such books would be largely useless in terms of providing the detailed instructions that would be necessary). At the same time, he may also be sending up a recent [http://www.slate.com/articles/arts/books/2014/06/against_ya_adults_should_be_embarrassed_to_read_children_s_books.single.html controversial article] from ''{{W|Slate (magazine)|Slate}}'', which suggested that adults should be ashamed of reading children's literature, by having a popular young adult work be considered crucial to rebuilding civilization.

The title text makes it completely ludicrous by saying an entire wing of the library will be devoted to the {{w|The Attack (Animorphs)|book}} (#26) where {{w|Animorphs#Animorphs|Jake and Cassie}} finally KISS!!!

*The Long Now Foundation was mentioned recently in [[1340: Unique Date]].
*According to another recent comic, [[1360: Old Files]], Cueball/Randall was once an Animorphs fan - and is now ashamed of it... (see title text).

==Transcript==
:[Brian Eno is talking to an unseen audience]
:Brian Eno: Hi. I'm music's Brian Eno, co-founder of the Long Now Foundation.

:[Panel 2 shows he is standing on a stage]
:Brian Eno: As part of our mission to promote long-term thinking, we've asked experts to help us assemble a collection of books from which civilization can be rebuilt if it ever collapses.

:[Panel 3 shows he is holding a manuscript with a long list of book titles]
:Brian Eno: Today we're sharing the results - the first ever ''Manual for Civilization''.

:[Panel 4 shows him reading from the manuscript - when he is interrupted by the audience]
:Brian Eno: *Ahem*
::''Animorphs #1: The Invasion''
::''Animorphs #2: The Visitor''
::''Animorphs #3: The Encounter''
:Unseen Audience member: ...Are they ''all'' Animorphs Books?
:Brian Eno: No! There's also ''Megamorphs'' and ''The Andalite Chronicles''.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring real people]]

1380: Manual for Civilization

2014-06-11T14:26:56Z

108.162.254.109: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 1380
| date = June 11, 2014
| title = Manual for Civilization
| image = manual_for_civilization.png
| titletext = We will have an entire wing of the library devoted to copies of book #26, because ohmygod it's the one where Jake and Cassie finally KISS!!!
}}

==Explanation==
In this comic {{w|Brian Eno}} (a musician) who is co-founder of {{w|Long Now Foundation}} is telling an audience that one of the missions of the Long now is to make a library of books that can help rebuild society if/when it collapsed. The experts have made a list and this list suggests that reading the {{w|Animorphs}} books would be enough to help humanity in rebuilding society.

It's a pun on Isaac Asimov's Foundation series, where Harry Seldon claimed that the Galactic Empire is going to collapse in a thousand years, there is no way to stop it but his group of scientists are writing Encyclopedia Galactica to help people rebuild civilization.

Animorphs is a series of books written by {{w|K.A. Applegate}}. It follows a group of five children (later, an alien joins as the sixth member), that try to stop the parasitic aliens, the Yeerks, by transforming into animals. A Yeerk that enters a human has complete control over their host, and can read their memories. Because the Yeerks can imitate their host almost perfectly, humanity is slowly being taken over without knowing it, and for this reason the children cannot contact the authorities and are on their own in the battle against the Yeerks.

When asked if all the books on the experts list are from the Animorph series, Eno misses the point of the question by saying ''No!'', only to mention the {{W|List_of_Animorphs_books#Companion_books|Megamorphs}} books and {{W|The Andalite Chronicles}}, both of which are side stories to the Animorph universe.

There are other books like these which aren't mentioned here - but it is clear from the last two panels that it is a quite long list - and it seems to be written in two columns, so maybe all {{w|List_of_Animorphs_books#Animorphs_main_series|54 Animorphs books}} and all {{W|List_of_Animorphs_books#Companion_books|ten side stories}} could be included on the list.

In suggesting that a series of young adult novels make up the blueprint for rebuilding civilization, [[Randall]] is spoofing the idea of such libraries (since such books would be largely useless in terms of providing the detailed instructions that would be necessary). At the same time, he may also be sending up a recent [http://www.slate.com/articles/arts/books/2014/06/against_ya_adults_should_be_embarrassed_to_read_children_s_books.single.html controversial article] from ''{{W|Slate (magazine)|Slate}}'', which suggested that adults should be ashamed of reading children's literature, by having a popular young adult work be considered crucial to rebuilding civilization.

The title text makes it completely ludicrous by saying an entire wing of the library will be devoted to the {{w|The Attack (Animorphs)|book}} (#26) where {{w|Animorphs#Animorphs|Jake and Cassie}} finally KISS!!!

*The Long Now Foundation was mentioned recently in [[1340: Unique Date]].
*According to another recent comic, [[1360: Old Files]], Cueball/Randall was once an Animorphs fan - and is now ashamed of it... (see title text).

==Transcript==
:[Brian Eno is talking to an unseen audience]
:Brian Eno: Hi. I'm music's Brian Eno, co-founder of the Long Now Foundation.

:[Panel 2 shows he is standing on a stage]
:Brian Eno: As part of our mission to promote long-term thinking, we've asked experts to help us assemble a collection of books from which civilization can be rebuilt if it ever collapses.

:[Panel 3 shows he is holding a manuscript with a long list of book titles]
:Brian Eno: Today we're sharing the results - the first ever ''Manual for Civilization''.

:[Panel 4 shows him reading from the manuscript - when he is interrupted by the audience]
:Brian Eno: *Ahem*
::''Animorphs #1: The Invasion''
::''Animorphs #2: The Visitor''
::''Animorphs #3: The Encounter''
:Unseen Audience member: ...Are they ''all'' Animorphs Books?
:Brian Eno: No! There's also ''Megamorphs'' and ''The Andalite Chronicles''.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring real people]]

Talk:878: Model Rail

2014-06-03T13:49:31Z

108.162.254.109:

It IS possible to go smaller than one atom, but it tends to make a really bright flash and loud noise. The original atomic bomb was the second guy's reading of a train modeler's notes, miraculously preserved in a refrigerator. --[[Special:Contributions/68.200.188.141|68.200.188.141]] 03:37, 29 January 2013 (UTC)

Corrected HO to H0 --[[Special:Contributions/70.169.90.254|70.169.90.254]] 22:25, 10 April 2013 (UTC)

I hate it when my model train layout gets crushed by a cold virus. [[Special:Contributions/199.27.128.150|199.27.128.150]] 23:38, 28 December 2013 (UTC)
:You mean your model model model model model train layout.. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.99.195|141.101.99.195]] 20:39, 20 January 2014 (UTC)

3.5mm per foot? What kind of half-assed system is that?? It's an embarrassment. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.219.58|108.162.219.58]] 21:13, 5 February 2014 (UTC)

The "this discussion" link doesn't lead to the discussion in question. Please fix? Anonymous 17:32, 13 February 2014 (UTC)
:I can't see this. But a former add here is fixed, maybe this helps.--[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 23:14, 13 February 2014 (UTC)
::The {{Tl|w}} does interpret the link target as the page name. So when linking to "Page?bar=foo" will not interpret the bar parameter. Additionally because there was a = in one parameter it treated everything before as the parameter name and everything after it as the parameter value. If the first problem wouldn't be a problem at least the first parameter would need to be defined as 1=…. I reverted that part to the old working version. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.254.109|108.162.254.109]] 13:49, 3 June 2014 (UTC)

878: Model Rail

2014-06-03T13:41:39Z

108.162.254.109: !fix link to the discussion (the w template doesn't support linking to specific versions);

{{comic
| number = 878
| date = March 28, 2011
| title = Model Rail
| image = model rail.png
| titletext = I don't know what's more telling--the number of pages in the Wikipedia talk page argument over whether the 1/87.0857143 scale is called "HO" or "H0", or the fact that within minutes of first hearing of it I had developed an extremely strong opinion on the issue.
}}

==Explanation==
In model rail construction, {{w|HO scale}} refers to the currently most popular scale for modeling railroads, in which 3.5 millimeters in the model corresponds to 1 real-world Imperial foot. As the comic suggests, it works out to a ratio of about 1:87.1. In Europe, the scale is defined as exactly 1:87 instead, to avoid reference to US measurements.

The (apparently less-experienced) modeller wants to make an HO model layout of his town. However, the more-experienced modeller points out that this is a bad idea, due to nesting. To make it a perfectly accurate model, the modeller would have to include a model of his house, which includes his basement, which includes the model. So, he would have to make a model of the model, which will include a smaller model of the model, and so forth.

{{w|Matryoshka doll|Matryoshka dolls}} are toys of Russian origin that can be stacked inside one another. Here, the "Matryoshka limit" is the hard barrier that follows as a result of the nesting. Matter is not infinitely divisible; once one gets the level of atoms, it's impossible to go any smaller. The unit shown in the last diagram is the {{w|Angstrom|ångström}}, a preposterously small unit of measurement that was created when humans started discovering preposterously small things, like crystal structures and wavelengths.

The rules of model train layouts reference the 1999 cult classic ''{{w|Fight Club}}'', where the first rule of Fight Club is "do not talk about Fight Club." However, while the club instituted the rule because their activities were morally and legally questionable, the rule in the comic was instituted by friends and family members who, apparently, were sick of hearing the train enthusiasts talk about model train layouts all the time.

The "Philistines" comment is not referring to citizens of ancient Palestine (at least not directly), but rather the philosophy of {{w|Philistinism}}. {{w|Friedrich Nietzsche}} defined a Philistine as someone who is purely negative in how they define style, i.e. they know exactly what they hate and don't really have anything they like. A common stereotype for artists is to refer to anyone who dislikes their work as "Philistines," thus dismissing their criticism as being part of a larger personality defect on the critic's part rather than any particular failing of the artwork in question.

The title text references [http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Talk:HO_scale&oldid=413137887#Number_0_versus_letter_O this discussion]. [[1167: Star Trek into Darkness]] is entirely about a similar debate on Wikipedia.

==Transcript==
:Cueball: I want to build a perfect HO-scale (~1/87) model train layout of my town.
:Friend: In your basement? Bad idea. Never make a layout of the area you're in.

:Cueball: Why not?
:Friend: Because it'd include a little 10" replica of your house.

:Cueball: So? That's be cool! I'd make tiny replicas of my rooms, my furniture—
:Friend: —and your train layout?

:[The comic shows how the models would nest together.]
:[Layer 1: 18 meters across. The two modelers are shown standing next to it.]
:[Layer 2: 21 cm across.]
:[Layer 3: 2.4 mm across. A mosquito is shown for comparison. It stands over roughly half of the town.]
:[Layer 4: 28 μm across. A strand of spider silk is shown for comparison. It is much thicker than the roads.]
:[Layer 5: 320 nm across. A cold virus is shown for comparison. It covers roughly a quarter of the town. At this level the town becomes notably "fuzzy" as individual atoms are discernible.]
:[Layer 6: 37 Å across. The town is simply spheres (atoms) at this point. The large hill near the back is the only noticeable feature, consisting of five atoms jutting out from the mostly flat ground.]
:The Matryoshka limit: It is impossible to nest more than six HO layouts

:Cueball: My God.
:Friend: Yeah. It's the second rule of model train layouts: No nesting.

:Cueball: ...What's the first rule?
:Friend: "Do ''not'' talk about model train layouts." That rule was actually voted in by our friends and families.
:Cueball: Philistines.

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