explain xkcd - User contributions [en]

Talk:1095: Crazy Straws

2024-11-28T15:43:12Z

141.101.69.117:

Compare [[915:_Connoisseur|xkcd.com/915]]. [[User:Arlo James Barnes|Arlo James Barnes]] ([[User talk:Arlo James Barnes|talk]]) 10:06, 15 August 2012 (UTC)

"Subcultures" is misspelled in the comic. Perhaps Randall will fix it and reupload? [[User:Erenan|Erenan]] ([[User talk:Erenan|talk]]) 15:17, 15 August 2012 (UTC)
:Randall has corrected the mistake, but the image on this page is still the old one. Would we want to keep both versions of the image in the interest of completeness? [[User:Erenan|Erenan]] ([[User talk:Erenan|talk]]) 00:02, 16 August 2012 (UTC)

Have to admit, this one went a bit over my head. [[User:TheHYPO|TheHYPO]] ([[User talk:TheHYPO|talk]]) 20:38, 15 August 2012 (UTC)

Fractals not only have an unlimited level of detail; they are (most times) self-similar in the sense that you'll find the same pattern on every level of detail. Just like finding the equivalent of finding the "Paris hilton of the plastic straw subcultures' hobbyists' splinter group." [[User:BKA|BKA]] ([[User talk:BKA|talk]]) 09:06, 16 August 2012 (UTC)

I think we should get the corrected comic, but note that it was originally misspelled in the explanation. Tebow Time, Twice a Day. 17:19, 16 August 2012 (UTC) ([[User talk:jjhuddle|talk]])

It's a mistake to think the every-pickier level of detail is a flaw in these interest subcultures. Smaller and smaller levels of study are what flesh out our knowledge of the world. And myriad small subgroups of shared interests allow many people to achieve excellence and status, not just in their minds but in an (admittedly small) range of reality. Examples: the people who maintain and improve the Kennedy line of Boston Terriers; people whose specialty is tooth wear in prehuman hominids; people who parse xkcd comics.
:This comment was mine, attribution corrected.[[User:Noni Mausa|Noni Mausa]] ([[User talk:Noni Mausa|talk]]) 12:39, 19 August 2012 (UTC)

I don't think that the comic means it as a flaw, I think it's a just a (humourous) observation, not a negative critisism.

Agreed, and it even goes on here (just drop in on the community portal, to see tempests in a tea pot such as whether he's [[Cueball]] or [[Rob]]...) I couldn't help but think that RM poked his head in on this site and came up with this comic as a response. (Of course, that would be greatly overestimating our importance in the grand scheme of things, but we are all entitled to our little fantasies of grandeur, no?) Ah, well... it seemed perfect timing nonetheless. '''By the way, folks: please sign your posts.''' Four tildes, a la <nowiki>~~~~</nowiki>, is all it takes... -- [[User:IronyChef|IronyChef]] ([[User talk:IronyChef|talk]]) 14:30, 16 August 2012 (UTC)

I don't think the fractal analogy holds because human subcultures cannot be nested infinitely deep. At some point, subcultures will come down to individual humans, who aren't also (infinitely deep) subcultures. [[Special:Contributions/70.31.155.184|70.31.155.184]] 15:06, 16 August 2012 (UTC)
:Randall is using the term hyperbolically — his point is that subcultures have ludicrous amounts of detail, not necessarily infinite. [[Special:Contributions/108.233.253.211|108.233.253.211]] 18:26, 16 August 2012 (UTC)
::Half of me disagrees with you, with the other half in an argument with itself over from which crazy straw will Paris Hilton look best drinking. [[Special:Contributions/146.186.149.47|146.186.149.47]] 18:49, 16 August 2012 (UTC)
:::Still, even people so crazy they are kept in straitjacket all the time can have only several dozens of personalities ... there's not enough space in brain for infinite. -- [[Special:Contributions/89.177.52.2|89.177.52.2]] 09:36, 17 August 2012 (UTC)
:I still believe Randall's point was not the infinite detail, but self-similarity. Regardless on whether you look at something very popular or a niche - you'll always find exactly the same social structures. [[User:BKA|BKA]] ([[User talk:BKA|talk]]) 06:05, 17 August 2012 (UTC)
:Funny, I was just reading the article http://www.economist.com/node/21560559 -- And while they're not infinite, there's a damn lot of (microbial) subcultures within a human too!

Isn't there any reference to the [http://www.blinkenlights.com/classiccmp/gateswhine.html Open Letter to Hobbyists] and the famous hacker Eric Raymond?
:I keep coming back to this page to see who "Eric" is. I don't think it's Eric Raymond (no apparent connection, from what I can see). Any insights? [[User:Zelmo|Zelmo]] ([[User talk:Zelmo|talk]]) 03:56, 18 August 2012 (UTC)
::"Eric" isn't an uncommon name, and in fact, there's a well documented "[http://www.catb.org/esr/ecsl/ Eric Conspiracy]" out there. While ESR is a prominent Eric, I see nothing to tie the Eric in this comic to ESR specifically. For that matter, I'd be hard pressed to see a reference to Bill Gate's "Open Letter to Hobbyists", either. [[User:Blaisepascal|Blaisepascal]] ([[User talk:Blaisepascal|talk]]) 17:54, 19 August 2012 (UTC)
::I wonder if the comic is making an oblique reference to String theory and Loop Quantum Gravity. There was (and still is, in some places) a lot of hostility between the two camps, most easily visible in the articles and comments of various physics blogs. This would kind of tie in with the 'fractal' comment, since you see this same division into strings (or wiggly crazy straws) and loops - it's a pattern that repeats when you look at physics groups or crazy straw groups. In that case, the Eric would be "[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Erik_Verlinde Erik Verlinde]". I know it's a bit of a stretch, but what do you think? [[User:Slouchingtb|Slouchingtb]] ([[User talk:Slouchingtb|talk]]) 01:56, 20 August 2012 (UTC)
:::Okay, at this point the depth of the discussion has just corroborated the point of the comic. Good job, everyone, pack it up. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.99.236|141.101.99.236]] 17:44, 1 November 2013 (UTC)

IMO [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kim_Kardashian/ Kim Kardashian] is a much better example of someone who is famous (just) for being famous. Hilton hotel scion etc. [[Special:Contributions/173.245.54.34|173.245.54.34]] 09:51, 27 January 2014 (UTC)
:Not really. Kim K became famous from being a porn star and then becoming an actor after that. Paris Hilton sorta just became famous for no obvious reason. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.7.9|162.158.7.9]] 07:46, 12 July 2020 (UTC)

Is it just me, or are the crazy straws themselves examples of something that would work just fine as a straight line, but are much more interesting with fractal-like complexity (subject to the practical limits of a physical object)? [[User:Danshoham|Mountain Hikes]] ([[User talk:Danshoham|talk]]) 04:50, 16 February 2016 (UTC)

Despite the fact there is a finite number of people (or so the explanation claims) it forgets that a single person can have conflicting opinions. For all we know there is a crazy straw enthusiast who has a fascination with loops but has decided to never put them into their own design. And opinions can be near infinite, so a few people may be able to carry on their subculture's infinite niches in their own head. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.219.123|108.162.219.123]] 19:35, 1 September 2021 (UTC)

Does anyone think that the last line of the explanation doesn't make sense? He's not saying that the guy Eric is famous in the world, he's saying that he's famous in the straw community, with the same reason as Paris Hilton, right?[[User:Sarah the Pie(yes, the food)|Sarah the Pie(yes, the food)]] ([[User talk:Sarah the Pie(yes, the food)|talk]]) 12:43, 9 October 2021 (UTC)
: I took it to mean that people tend to care about a famous person's opinion about things, despite having no particular reason to do so other than "I've heard of that person" [[Special:Contributions/172.70.134.91|172.70.134.91]] 14:22, 21 March 2022 (UTC)

Anyone else disappointed that no-one from the crazy straw fan community has turned up here to comment on this?...

Talk:87: Velociraptors

2024-09-10T13:15:59Z

141.101.69.117:

I know the knowledge of dinosaurs is growing and changing daily. Was it widely understood that Velociraptors were feathers back in the early 1990s? [[User:Tryc|Tryc]] ([[User talk:Tryc|talk]]) 17:33, 13 June 2013 (UTC)

:Nope. The confirmation came quite later.
Wikipedia: In 2007, paleontologists reported the discovery of quill knobs on a well-preserved Velociraptor mongoliensis forearm from Mongolia, confirming the presence of feathers in this species. [[User:SaMa|SaMa]] ([[User talk:SaMa|talk]]) 13:31, 20 June 2013 (UTC)we

::However, the size of the velociraptor was well known when the book and the film were produced. The dinosaurs in the film are similar to Deinonychus in size. Deinonychus was also feathered. HNY [[Special:Contributions/141.101.106.107|141.101.106.107]] 00:32, 1 January 2015 (UTC)

Want to feel old? This comic was released closer to the premiere of Jurassic Park than to today.[[Special:Contributions/108.162.216.130|108.162.216.130]] 07:36, 14 August 2018 (UTC)

My last place was a duplex weirdly a half floor elevated with a wooden stair I could barricade or destroy, perfect for keeping out zombies while still having a big picture window. My current 2,900 square foot house would be great except for one huge set of three picture windows that would be impossible to defend, and that's bothered me since I got it. I don't have his weird velociraptor fetish, though. I think I could handle those. — [[User:Kazvorpal|Kazvorpal]] ([[User talk:Kazvorpal|talk]]) 22:44, 14 August 2019 (UTC)
* Each place I live, I develop a plan for if there's a Zombie Apocalypse. This does involve figuring out which windows need to be boarded up, among other things. — [[User:Kazvorpal|Kazvorpal]] ([[User talk:Kazvorpal|talk]]) 01:51, 29 January 2024 (UTC)
Found a reference to Randall's fear of Velociraptors over in Dinosaur Comics, specifically in the mouseover text: https://qwantz.com/index.php?comic=903 {{unsigned ip|162.158.255.250|04:51, 14 April 2021}}

In light of a recent edit, I was tempted to add that he does not seem to assess the garage/car-port door at all, nor acknowledge any rearward/out-of-view pogential openings in the house wall. Now, the garage likely has external shutter ''and'' internal door leading into the human(/dino)-only interior, so if both are closed then Ok. But, knowing the tropes, some chink will open up and there is a nasty surprise awaiting the human defender(s). The unseen rear/sides can be excused his lack of Sherlock Vision labeling, maybe, until he can actually do a walk round the perimiter to fill in ''those'' gaps in his internal picture, but the missed ingress (or emergency egress, perhaps not needing it to be opened first) is blatently missing... [[Special:Contributions/172.70.86.154|172.70.86.154]] 09:54, 26 June 2023 (UTC)

Want to feel even older? This comic was released closer to the publication of Michael Crichton's book than to today. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.69.117|141.101.69.117]] 13:15, 10 September 2024 (UTC)

Talk:383: Helping

2017-04-19T10:16:24Z

141.101.69.117:

Most depressing XKCD ever? [[Special:Contributions/71.201.53.130|71.201.53.130]] 14:24, 22 August 2013 (UTC)
:Every time when I see this comic I'm close before some tear drops running out of my eyes ;( --[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 21:42, 9 December 2013 (UTC)

Waitwaitwait. So the guy was in the building all along, witnessing the suicide/self-harm, and he failed to stop a woman from apparently successfully knocking herself out? 16:19, 24 May 2014 (UTC) {{unsigned ip|141.101.88.205}}

I thought Cueball was choking her![[Special:Contributions/108.162.238.169|108.162.238.169]]

I thought maybe it was about Randall's wife. Just like some of the comics feature her implicitly, I thought maybe this one did. {{unsigned ip|108.162.216.20}}

I think the explanation is a bit off. Sometimes getting someone into a hospital is helping. I've had to call 911 to get friends help. Things usually got bad for a while after that. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.216.124|108.162.216.124]] 21:46, 26 April 2015 (UTC)

The first time I saw this one, it was some 2 or 3 days after I had to call the police for a friend who was attempting suicide. It hit way, way too close to home, to the point where I wanted to cry. I ended up just getting up right then and going for a long walk in the woods to clear my head. 7:24, 2 July 2015 (UTC) {{unsigned ip|173.59.1.79}}

To 108.162.216.20, he married in 2011... this comic was made in 2008. Unfortunately, we may never know who he is referring to. {{unsigned ip|141.101.84.114}}

Am I the only one who feels that the point is he tried to talk to someone to cheer them up, but the woman was so distraught by what cueball said, it lead to self harm? {{unsigned ip|107.136.89.38}}

When you care for someone, especially a significant other, your natural instinct as a decent human being is to provide help and support when they are in distress or upset. But with issues like depression, tendencies toward self-harm, or even general anxiety, your attempt to help provides no benefit or much more likely makes things worse. You being so close to that person makes it that much harder for them to be helped by you, and it often isn't your place to assume the role of therapist or counselor no matter how much you want to. No matter how much you think that person should be happy, you can't assume responsibility for it and no amount of convincing or reassuring is going to help that. When things get really bad, professional medical help and distance are the only thing that will keep that person safe. I cry when I read this. I've sat and held the hand of a close friend while he was handcuffed by campus police for his own safety and was escorted to a hospital for treatment. It takes a long time to heal that divide - and its the most frustrating thing in the world to know the best thing you can do is step away for a while. If you ever feel the need to comfort a spouse, a child, a friend who is so overwhelmed with existence that they aren't sure they want to live anymore, you'll understand this panel. {{unsigned ip|172.68.141.172}}

First time I read this comic, I didnt think much of it.
Rereading it years later, after I lived with a loved one struggling with depression, made me cry so much. It is exactly what I feel.