explain xkcd - User contributions [en]

623: Oregon

2018-11-26T12:07:51Z

141.101.88.148: /* Explanation */ should be "before 1848". There is no 1847 on the comic.

{{comic
| number = 623
| date = August 14, 2009
| title = Oregon
| image = oregon.png
| titletext = A century later, the harrowing flight of the survivors from Oregon was dramatized in a popular video game.
}}

==Explanation==
This comic relates to the computer game ''{{w|The Oregon Trail (video game)|The Oregon Trail}}'', and humorously depicts the consequences to real-world Oregon if everyone had arrived in the same manner they did in the game.

''The Oregon Trail'' was an educational computer game released in 1971. In the game, players would play as a character taking a trek west along the {{w|Oregon Trail}} from Missouri to Oregon. The player's journey starts in 1848 and typically takes less than one year to complete. Along the way, the player must manage resources (food, spare parts, etc.) {{tvtropes|DoomedExpedition|and face risks and dangers (starvation, disease, etc.)}}. Most players at the time were grade-school students. The game was very popular, and thousands of players played it monthly.

The game made it very easy to hunt for food. Large animals (bison, bears, etc.) were very easy and rewarding targets, where spending a single bullet could be enough to collect enough food for multiple days. There were also smaller prey available (rabbits, squirrels, etc.) which were harder to catch and provided less food. Since bullets are much lighter and cheaper than food, it was a good strategy to bring the minimum amount of food and plan to hunt for meals. Extra food can even be traded for money or other supplies, so it wasn't necessary to start the journey with anything except bullets.

The comic tries to document, as though in a historical fashion, what would have been the result if all the players had been real settlers who really had prepared for their journey on the Oregon Trail in that way. The parts before 1848 are historically accurate. Starting from 1848, however, players of the game would form an unbelievably large influx of people arriving nearly simultaneously, with very little food or supplies being brought along. Massive overhunting would soon strip the land bare, all large game slaughtered for meat, with hunger, starvation and disease soon to follow. {{w|Dysentery}} in particular was very common in the original game and perhaps the most infamous way to die, hence its listing as the most prominent epidemic.

The title text makes things rather recursive. In this alternate reality, thousands upon thousands of people fleeing ''from'' the overpopulated, devastated Oregon becomes the focus of another video game, much like ''The Oregon Trail'' in our universe.

==Transcript==
:History of 19th-century Oregon

:[Timeline, with relevant images next to various dates.]

:1805
::[Two men stand at the edge of a cliff. One has a walking staff.]
::Arrival of Lewis & Clark

:1825
::Early settlers arrive

:1841
::Oregon Trail established

:1843
::Larger western migration begins

:1848
::[A horse is pulling a covered wagon. A gun peeks out the back.]
::Huge wave of 500,000+ settlers arrives from Missouri. Largely children and adolescents, most bring nothing but cartloads of bullets for hunting.

:1849
::[Cueball and Megan with rifles aim at something.]
::Overhunting begins to devastate ecosystem
::Dysentery epidemic.

:1850
::[Tombstones and bodies.]
::Shooting deaths skyrocket
::Typhoid epidemic
::Measles epidemic
::Cholera epidemic

:1851
::All mammals larger than squirrels wiped out by overhunting
::Massive famine

:1852
::[Sun low over a land, devoid of life. Scattered remains of corpses and skeletons.]
::Last survivors flee
::Oregon territory abandoned

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

2055: Bluetooth

2018-10-08T13:35:20Z

141.101.88.148: it needed a citation needed but it hates me

{{comic
| number = 2055
| date = October 5, 2018
| title = Bluetooth
| image = bluetooth.png
| titletext = Bluetooth is actually named for the tenth-century Viking king Harald "Bluetooth" Gormsson, but the protocol developed by Harald was a wireless charging standard unrelated to the modern Bluetooth except by name.
}}

==Explanation==
{{w|Bluetooth}} is a technology invented in the mid 1990's and intended for devices to connect wirelessly over a relatively short range for the purpose of transmitting information and/or audio. For example, a headset that connects via Bluetooth could be connected to a computer that's also Bluetooth-enabled, and then whatever would normally come out of the computer's speakers would come out the headset's ear pieces instead, and whatever was spoken into the headset's microphone would be transmitted to the computer's audio input system as if coming in through the computer's microphone. For this to work, the two devices need to be paired, which means they need to know the unique identification number of the other device and have been given permission to communicate with it, as well as knowing what kind of data exchanges are both possible and allowed. This pairing process is not always a smooth process.

[[Cueball]] is talking to [[White Hat]] about {{w|Bluetooth}} and wireless connectivity. He asks if it has become easier to stream audio via Bluetooth since he last used it. White Hat then replies that it has become an easy-to-use and streamlined service, where connecting devices is easy, and he gives some examples of how easy it is to use. Cueball is excited about this, until White Hat reveals that he was lying and that Bluetooth is still as hard to use as ever. Cueball then invokes the name of "Josiah Bluetooth", a fictitious person implied to have invented the eponymous Bluetooth. This is probably a reference to [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Josiah_Wedgwood Josiah Wedgwood], who was famous for his blue and white pottery. Probably for similar reasons, a Bluetooth ceramic speaker has been named "[https://www.impossible.com/josiah/ Josiah]".

This comic also references the common problem of audio playing through the wrong device when Bluetooth is activated.

The Viking king referenced in the title text, {{w|Harald Bluetooth|Harald “Bluetooth” Gormsson}}, usually called Harald Bluetooth, was a ruler of Denmark and Norway who died in 985 or 986. He of course had nothing to do with wireless Bluetooth connection technology, which wouldn’t be invented for more than a millennium. However Jim Kardach of Intel did name the Bluetooth protocol after him, apparently as he united the various Norse tribes of Denmark into a single kingdom just as Bluetooth unites communication protocols. The {{w|Bluetooth#Logo|Bluetooth logo}} unites the two Norse {{w|runes}} corresponding to "H" and "B" for Harald Bluetooth.

The title text joke could also be a pun on military “charging”, which would certainly be wireless.

==Transcript==
:[Cueball and White Hat are talking, Cueball is holding a cell phone and wireless headphones.]
:Cueball: I haven’t used a wireless/bluetooth thingy in like ten years. Is audio stuff still a nightmare?
:White Hat: Nah, it’s great now.

:[Zoom in on White Hat, Cueball is off-screen.]
:White Hat: You tap devices together twice to link them and they flash in sync. (It pairs using accelerometer timing and sound.) Tap them three times to disconnect.
:White Hat: You can pair multiple inputs and outputs and it handles it smoothly.
:Cueball (off screen): Nice!
:White Hat: It just works. Sound comes from where you expect.
:Cueball (off screen): Wonderful.

:[Zoom out to White Hat and Cueball facing each other.]
:White Hat: Haha, just kidding, it’s a nightmare.
:Cueball: ''Noooooo!''
:White Hat: When I connect to my car, music starts blasting from my headphones while the car repeatedly plays a “New connection!” chime.
:Cueball: ''This is not what Josiah Bluetooth intended!''

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring White Hat]]
[[Category:Computers]]
[[Category:Smartphones]]

2055: Bluetooth

2018-10-08T13:34:22Z

141.101.88.148: it needed a citation needed

{{comic
| number = 2055
| date = October 5, 2018
| title = Bluetooth
| image = bluetooth.png
| titletext = Bluetooth is actually named for the tenth-century Viking king Harald "Bluetooth" Gormsson, but the protocol developed by Harald was a wireless charging standard unrelated to the modern Bluetooth except by name.
}}

==Explanation==
{{w|Bluetooth}} is a technology invented in the mid 1990's and intended for devices to connect wirelessly over a relatively short range for the purpose of transmitting information and/or audio. For example, a headset that connects via Bluetooth could be connected to a computer that's also Bluetooth-enabled, and then whatever would normally come out of the computer's speakers would come out the headset's ear pieces instead, and whatever was spoken into the headset's microphone would be transmitted to the computer's audio input system as if coming in through the computer's microphone. For this to work, the two devices need to be paired, which means they need to know the unique identification number of the other device and have been given permission to communicate with it, as well as knowing what kind of data exchanges are both possible and allowed. This pairing process is not always a smooth process{{cn}}.

[[Cueball]] is talking to [[White Hat]] about {{w|Bluetooth}} and wireless connectivity. He asks if it has become easier to stream audio via Bluetooth since he last used it. White Hat then replies that it has become an easy-to-use and streamlined service, where connecting devices is easy, and he gives some examples of how easy it is to use. Cueball is excited about this, until White Hat reveals that he was lying and that Bluetooth is still as hard to use as ever. Cueball then invokes the name of "Josiah Bluetooth", a fictitious person implied to have invented the eponymous Bluetooth. This is probably a reference to [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Josiah_Wedgwood Josiah Wedgwood], who was famous for his blue and white pottery. Probably for similar reasons, a Bluetooth ceramic speaker has been named "[https://www.impossible.com/josiah/ Josiah]".

This comic also references the common problem of audio playing through the wrong device when Bluetooth is activated.

The Viking king referenced in the title text, {{w|Harald Bluetooth|Harald “Bluetooth” Gormsson}}, usually called Harald Bluetooth, was a ruler of Denmark and Norway who died in 985 or 986. He of course had nothing to do with wireless Bluetooth connection technology, which wouldn’t be invented for more than a millennium. However Jim Kardach of Intel did name the Bluetooth protocol after him, apparently as he united the various Norse tribes of Denmark into a single kingdom just as Bluetooth unites communication protocols. The {{w|Bluetooth#Logo|Bluetooth logo}} unites the two Norse {{w|runes}} corresponding to "H" and "B" for Harald Bluetooth.

The title text joke could also be a pun on military “charging”, which would certainly be wireless.

==Transcript==
:[Cueball and White Hat are talking, Cueball is holding a cell phone and wireless headphones.]
:Cueball: I haven’t used a wireless/bluetooth thingy in like ten years. Is audio stuff still a nightmare?
:White Hat: Nah, it’s great now.

:[Zoom in on White Hat, Cueball is off-screen.]
:White Hat: You tap devices together twice to link them and they flash in sync. (It pairs using accelerometer timing and sound.) Tap them three times to disconnect.
:White Hat: You can pair multiple inputs and outputs and it handles it smoothly.
:Cueball (off screen): Nice!
:White Hat: It just works. Sound comes from where you expect.
:Cueball (off screen): Wonderful.

:[Zoom out to White Hat and Cueball facing each other.]
:White Hat: Haha, just kidding, it’s a nightmare.
:Cueball: ''Noooooo!''
:White Hat: When I connect to my car, music starts blasting from my headphones while the car repeatedly plays a “New connection!” chime.
:Cueball: ''This is not what Josiah Bluetooth intended!''

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring White Hat]]
[[Category:Computers]]
[[Category:Smartphones]]

Talk:1984: Misinterpretation

2018-04-24T17:43:24Z

141.101.88.148:

“covering your eyes and ears and yelling logically correct statements into the void” — isn’t this the definition of Twitter?
[[Special:Contributions/108.162.237.214|108.162.237.214]] 15:10, 23 April 2018 (UTC)
:Alas, no... Twitter doesn't have any requirement for logical correctness. [[Special:Contributions/172.68.189.229|172.68.189.229]] 18:26, 23 April 2018 (UTC)
::Which is why the US president manages to use it so successfully... ;-) --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 20:20, 23 April 2018 (UTC)
:Alas and alack .. Twitter is not connected to the void either.[[Special:Contributions/162.158.74.213|162.158.74.213]] 01:30, 24 April 2018 (UTC)

WOW, I am just about literally Cueball here, like I wonder if Randall has been stalking me, LOL! But I have to disagree with this off-panel person. All we can do is word things as clearly as possible. As it is, it seems like this desire to be understood leads to my writing large blocks of text to clearly, explicitly state things (which ends up making it worse from another direction, because then people get too lazy to read everything, so they STILL misunderstand.... Maybe you should have just paid attention in the first place, when I wrote less). :) [[User:NiceGuy1|NiceGuy1]] ([[User talk:NiceGuy1|talk]]) 04:02, 24 April 2018 (UTC)

I don't think the timing of this comic is a coincidence in light of the recent media attention to "terms and conditions" language being used by companies with an online presence, e.g. https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-04-20/uber-paypal-face-reckoning-over-opaque-terms-and-conditions

[[Special:Contributions/172.68.141.28|172.68.141.28]] 04:35, 24 April 2018 (UTC)

Does Cueball fail at communicating? Or does writing as a medium that lacks the subtle facial expressions and tone that talking has mean that a spoken sentence and that same sentence written out can be interpreted differently even by the same person? Ahem, Poe's law.
[[Special:Contributions/172.68.253.59|172.68.253.59]] 15:00, 24 April 2018 (UTC)

I must say, I expected something else for 1984. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.88.148|141.101.88.148]]

Talk:1798: Box Plot

2017-02-13T22:11:23Z

141.101.88.148:

No Valentine's comic this year? (Or could it be later this week?) [[Special:Contributions/162.158.154.163|162.158.154.163]] 16:27, 13 February 2017 (UTC)
:Trump killed Valentine's Day for Randall. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.74.219|162.158.74.219]] 17:54, 13 February 2017 (UTC)
::I would agree with that, but it could just as well be next comic. However, Randall doesn't usually make Valentines comics, so... --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 20:59, 13 February 2017 (UTC)

I thought this may also be similar to a bycicle pump because it doesn't explode it just enlarges. Wasn't there a comic similar to this where someone blows into a laptop power cord and it blows up like a balloon.[[User:XFez|XFez]] ([[User talk:XFez|talk]]) 18:54, 13 February 2017 (UTC)
:Yes: https://xkcd.com/1395/ {{unsigned ip|108.162.216.100}}
::Good call [[1395: Power Cord]] should be mentioned. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 21:01, 13 February 2017 (UTC)

I’m surprised this was Cueball, not Beret Guy. {{unsigned ip|108.162.216.100}}
:It could be that inflating/manipulating data is not supernatural. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.154.163|162.158.154.163]] 19:37, 13 February 2017 (UTC)
::Yes many people do this all the time, sadly. Often referenced in xkcd... --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 21:01, 13 February 2017 (UTC)

There's also a blasting machine in Floor, /735
[[Special:Contributions/141.101.88.148|141.101.88.148]] 22:11, 13 February 2017 (UTC)