explain xkcd - User contributions [en]

1231: Habitable Zone

2013-06-28T21:09:59Z

159.90.101.101: restoring possible motivation with a link that (hopefully) will clue people in who will read this after the hype is over

{{comic
| number = 1231
| date = June 28, 2013
| title = Habitable Zone
| image = habitable zone.png
| titletext = They have a telescope pointed RIGHT AT US!
}}

==Explanation==
While searching for {{w|extrasolar planet}}s this gullible astronomer is looking at a reflection of the Earth itself. He's very excited because he found a planet in a stars {{w|habitable zone}}, with visible oceans and weather. It is presumably quite likely to have life on it, which would be the first discovery many astronomers are looking for.

The title text goes on and says that the planet under observation has a mirror where the telescope is pointing on, so it's just a hint that the astronomer is actually only viewing the Earth. But even pointing to a mirror at a distance of the moon would require a real huge one, probably more than one hundred kilometer in diameter.

This was probably brought on by [http://www.nsf.gov/news/news_summ.jsp?cntn_id=128372&org=NSF&from=news the discovery of three superearths in the habitable zone of a star].

==Transcript==
:Cueball: I've discovered an earth-sized planet in a star's habitable zone!
:Cueball: It even has oceans!
:Cueball: And visible weather!
:To mess with an astronomer, put a mirror in the path of their telescope.

==Trivia==
*There is a typo at the original picture: "in a star's habitable zone" should be "in a stars habitable zone".
*Searching for extrasolar planets is still a hard job, so even the results from the {{w|Kepler (spacecraft)|Kepler mission}} are only classified as candidates. The findings still have to be confirmed by other (mostly earth based) telescopes.
*As in June 2013 there are no earth-sized planets confirmed, habitable or not.

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

875: 2009 Called

2013-06-21T19:40:23Z

159.90.101.101: /* Transcript */

{{comic
| number = 875
| date = March 21, 2011
| title = 2009 Called
| image = 2009 called.png
| titletext = 2017 called, but I couldn't understand what they were saying over all the screams.
}}

==Explanation==
The comic deconstructs a common idiom - "X called, they want their Y back." Usually, X is a year (like 2009 here), and Y is something very popular in that year that is seen as ridiculous in the present day.

Here, [[Megan]] notices a Three-Wolf Moon t-shirt that [[Cueball]] apparently owns. The {{w|Three Wolf Moon|Three-Wolf Moon}} is a shirt of three wolves howling at the moon that reached meme status when several people posted ironic reviews giving it supernatural powers on {{w|Amazon}} around late 2008.

Megan says the idiom, but before she can finish, Cueball takes it literally (that is, that the year 2009 actually called her) and admonishes for not telling them about {{w|2010 Haiti earthquake|the February 2010 earthquake in Haiti}} and {{w|2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami|the March 2011 earthquake and tsunami in Japan}}. The comic was posted shortly after the latter, so it is reasonable to assume that it was created as a response to the disaster.

The title text continues the idiom, implying the end of humanity and/or the world will come about in 2017.

==Transcript==
:[Cueball is at computer. Megan is standing behind him, looking at clothes on the floor.]
:Megan: Is this a three wolf moon shirt?
:Megan: Dude, 2009 called, and they--
:Cueball: OH MY GOD!
:Cueball: DID YOU WARN THEM?
:Cueball: ABOUT HAITI AND JAPAN?
:Megan: What? No, I--
:Cueball: You ASSHOLE!

==See also==
*[[102: Back to the Future]]

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

583: CNR

2013-06-13T22:14:33Z

159.90.101.101: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 583
| date = May 13, 2009
| title = CNR
| image = cnr.png
| imagesize =
| titletext = Can't and shouldn't.
}}

== Explanation ==

In this comic, "could not reproduce" is a {{w|double entendre}}. Because the reported bug is that speech recognition failed on a young child's voice, the programming team attempt to reproduce (biologically) in order to have a child to use as a test subject to understand and fix the bug, starting by reproducing it (the bug). However the attempt fails, as shown by the negative pregnancy test, and therefore the bug report is closed with the reason being "could not reproduce": they could not reproduce the bug because they could not reproduce biologically.

This reason also shows up in comic [[937: TornadoGuard]].

The title-text "Can't and shouldn't" qualifies the bug report, meaning that the programmers not only could not reproduce, they also should not reproduce given their unacceptable motive as well as poor child-rearing skills (demonstrated in comic [[674: Natural Parenting]]).

==Transcript==
:[Megan is sitting at a computer.]
:Speech2Text Commander
:Bug #167801
:Speech recognition fails on young child voices.
:Megan: Hmm.
:
:[The view enlarges to show a man sitting at another desk.]
:Megan: Hey, can you do me without a condom? We need a young child for something.
:Cueball: Okay.
:
:[A pregnancy test is displayed. The label indicates not pregnant.]
:
:[The woman is at the computer again.]
:Bug #167801
:Status: Closed
:Reason: Could not reproduce.

{{comic discussion}}