explain xkcd - User contributions [en]

Talk:1940: The Food Size Cycle

2018-01-31T15:21:52Z

162.158.154.163:

Does panini have a different meaning in the USA? In the UK, it basically means a sandwich made in a flattish rectangular roll, usually toasted (sometimes also the roll itself). They can be quite large; not necessarily smaller than sandwiches in general.[[Special:Contributions/141.101.76.16|141.101.76.16]] 16:44, 10 January 2018 (UTC)
:From my experience its the flatishness off panini that make them more comfortable to eat, but who knows maybe we're on the end of the panini cycle. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.74.9|162.158.74.9]] 23:43, 10 January 2018 (UTC)
:I think you're inadverently proving Randall's point. :) First I ever heard of paninis must have been something like 15 years ago, and the buns were slightly longer than my (admittedly large) hand, putting their length about the same as standard sandwich bread, but a smaller width making them smaller than a sandwich. I do note that if I see panini rolls in the grocery store, they're still that small size. Sounds to me like this size arms race is well underway for paninis where you live (I like never order them, but I suspect here too). [[User:NiceGuy1|NiceGuy1]] ([[User talk:NiceGuy1|talk]]) 04:15, 12 January 2018 (UTC)
:: I'm pretty sure that when they first appeared widely over here they were already substantially larger than that. Perhaps we just imported already outsized ones from the US? Also, at that point, sandwiches generally hadn't undergone much inflation over here, so panini(s) and sandwiches have probably gone through a parallel expansion. The grocery stores here do also sell hand-sized panini rolls, but those are a relatively recent introduction, and they just match the general size of the rest of their roll selection.[[Special:Contributions/141.101.76.16|141.101.76.16]] 10:10, 12 January 2018 (UTC)

Is it generally known that "panini" is the plural form of the Italian word "panino"? We don't say "burritos" or "taquitos" for one example, so why "panini"? [[User:Gearoid|Gearóid]] ([[User talk:Gearoid|talk]]) 07:46, 11 January 2018 (UTC)
: But we do say 'a biscotti'. Probably because when selling them you would advertise in the plural, and those not familiar with Italian linguistics would not know how to construct a singular from it, and so would simply use the word as it stands. As a result, of course, panini and biscotti are, through use, now correct ''english'' singulars.[[Special:Contributions/141.101.76.16|141.101.76.16]] 09:34, 11 January 2018 (UTC)
: perhaps because of its unfortunate similarity to other English words, and the fortunate immaturity of the human race.[[Special:Contributions/162.158.74.9|162.158.74.9]] 00:37, 12 January 2018 (UTC)
:As a non-Italian speaker, I can say I was unaware "panini" was a plural word (though I feel vaguely familiar with the concept that Italian pluralizes words with an i like that). That'll be why, of course, most people are likewise unaware, and it has caught on. Especially considering that we'll often see "panini" itself pluralized, as "paninis". Reminds me of when I see things like "NASA Association", the final A of the acronym already means Association. "Scuba Apparatus", the A already stands for Apparatus. Etc. [[User:NiceGuy1|NiceGuy1]] ([[User talk:NiceGuy1|talk]]) 04:38, 12 January 2018 (UTC)
: Expanding on the theme, there are rivers in the U.K. routinely referred to as the "River Avon", ignoring the fact that "Avon" already means "River"... [[User:Gearoid|Gearóid]] ([[User talk:Gearoid|talk]]) 07:29, 12 January 2018 (UTC)
: We may not say "a burritos" or "a taquitos", but we do say "a tamale" and there is no such word in Spanish. The singular in Spanish is "tamal"; "tamale" is a backformation from the Spanish plural "tamales". [[Special:Contributions/172.68.34.106|172.68.34.106]] 02:06, 13 January 2018 (UTC)
:In English, words ending in "i" often lack an explicit plural form, since many words which end in a "s" or "sh" sound use an "i" ending when pluralized. Illiteracy has lessened this somewhat in recent decades: The correct plural for octopus is octopi & the correct plural for virus is virii. Saying "octopuses" & "viruses" are modernisms which have become so prevalent that they are now widely accepted, but grammatically they are incorrect.[[User:ProphetZarquon|ProphetZarquon]] ([[User talk:ProphetZarquon|talk]]) 19:51, 24 January 2018 (UTC)
::The correct plural for ''octopus'' is not ''octopi'', because ''octopus'' is not a Latin word, it is a Greek one. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.154.163|162.158.154.163]] 15:21, 31 January 2018 (UTC)Jack Rudd

Ah, but what about the slider effect? Mini versions of (in this case burgers) to be served in a collective? --[[User:Thomcat|Thomcat]] ([[User talk:Thomcat|talk]]) 17:01, 10 January 2018 (UTC)

Related, perhaps, is the sizing issue. Some places sell medium, large, and extra large drinks. Note no small.
[[Special:Contributions/108.162.216.154|108.162.216.154]] 20:29, 10 January 2018 (UTC) Gene Wirchenko <genew@telus.net>
: And the 'regular' is what used to be the 'large'; the 'small', if it exists, is what used to be the 'regular' - to try to make you feel like you're short-changing yourself if you buy a normal sized one.[[Special:Contributions/141.101.76.16|141.101.76.16]] 09:27, 11 January 2018 (UTC)

The alt-text seems backwards: The way Randall's presented it, it looks like he's asserting that thick crusts get thinner, then the cycle repeats. This matches anecdotal evidence based upon the style favored by my local pizza shops over the years, but more research is needed. Thin crusts also tend to be cheaper to make, so... [[User:ProphetZarquon|ProphetZarquon]] ([[User talk:ProphetZarquon|talk]]) 21:08, 10 January 2018 (UTC)
: I don't think so - 'deep-dish' is listed first, as the one on the original track; 'thin crust' is then the one on the replacement track. The original pizzas, as imported from Italy, would have been thin crust. These then got thicker until they begat deep dish, and, indeed, beyond, with the ridiculous proliferation of stuffed and sandwich crusts. Then, as some people lost patience with this, there was a trend to re-introduce the thin crust (the replacement track).[[Special:Contributions/141.101.76.16|141.101.76.16]] 09:25, 11 January 2018 (UTC)
: Some original pizza from Italy had thick crust. My uncle, an immigrant to the US from Bari, Italy, made extremely thick crust pizza at his restaurant in the 1960s, almost a pizza bread. Pizza Hut initially advertised their 'deep dish' as 'Sicilian Pan Pizza'. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.75.166|162.158.75.166]] 21:54, 11 January 2018 (UTC)
:Thick crust is listed first, giving it precedence. To get thinner or thicker would be a logical progression which can loop back without significant alteration, whereas a replacement track would imply calzones, or taco-pizza, or some other such alternative to traditional pizza. By the simple fact that he listed thick crust first, reading it in English implies a progression from thick to thin. Also, see 75.166's reference to Sicilian pizza: I'm pretty sure thin crust is a modernism; Pizza crust is not unleavened, it is meant to rise. [[User:ProphetZarquon|ProphetZarquon]] ([[User talk:ProphetZarquon|talk]]) 19:38, 24 January 2018 (UTC)

Portion inflation makes dietary information misleading. One would be hard pressed to find a muffin of the size used in nutrition information guides.
Recipe books show similar inflation, recipes as printed make larger amounts of food, but they are listed as feeding fewer people than they used to. [https://www.webmd.com/diet/features/7-expert-tricks-calorie-portion-control]
Analagous inflation can also be seen in clothes sizes. What used to be a size 8 is now labeled a size 4. Regular becomes "slim cut." [[Special:Contributions/172.68.189.127|172.68.189.127]] 00:01, 11 January 2018 (UTC)

Is the ratio between subsequent food size bifurcations consistent with the first Feigenbaum constant? [https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Feigenbaum_constants] [[User:Docstout|Docstout]] ([[User talk:Docstout|talk]]) 01:15, 11 January 2018 (UTC)

Does this remind anyone of a Hertzsprung–Russell diagram? [[User:Capncanuck|Capncanuck]] ([[User talk:Capncanuck|talk]]) 02:51, 11 January 2018 (UTC)
:Yes. It reminds me of a Hertzsprung-Russell diagram, but being inversed. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.88.188|162.158.88.188]] 13:42, 26 January 2018 (UTC)

BTW, I find it amusing that this comic came out the next day after a report on [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shrinkflation shrinkflation] of Mondelez chocolates in Europe hit the news here ... --kavol, [[Special:Contributions/141.101.96.197|141.101.96.197]] 07:57, 11 January 2018 (UTC)

Is this phenomenon specific to the US? I don't really recognize it here in the Netherlands, but the US has a reputation of having giant versions of everything: food, cars, people (width mostly) & so on. Maybe specific to a "big is beautiful" cultural attitude? [[Special:Contributions/162.158.111.187|162.158.111.187]] 15:22, 11 January 2018 (UTC)
:This happens, albeit to a considerably lesser extend, in the UK. Here, the phenomenon is restricted primarily to American fast food restaurants. I've eaten in America and was able to get 6 meals from the left-over food from a single-portion meal at Pinky's Pupu Bar & Grill in Kailua, Hawai`i. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.105.96|141.101.105.96]] 21:31, 11 January 2018 (UTC)
: Living in Canada, I find it amusing to note that my Netherlands-born-and-raised mother often complains about large portion sizes, about how anything she might order is way more food than she can eat (and in fact has this weird effect on her that a large amount of food makes the food unappetizing to her). As far as I know, this is a North American phenomenon, but moreso in the States. For example, if I go to McDonald's and order a trio, and tell them to Supersize it, that means change the Regular drink and Regular fries to Larges. In the States, apparently "Supersize" is its own size, this changes them to a size above Large that doesn't even exist here. [[User:NiceGuy1|NiceGuy1]] ([[User talk:NiceGuy1|talk]]) 04:38, 12 January 2018 (UTC)
: Common in the Netherlands also: https://huisvlijt.com/2016/11/krimpflatie-minder-product-zelfde-prijs.html, https://forum.fok.nl/topic/2255412. Though some of the examples seem to be normal inflation combined with downsizing. --[[Special:Contributions/162.158.222.4|162.158.222.4]] 09:29, 12 January 2018 (UTC)

Is it just me, or did this look like a reference to BitCoin to you when you first read it. Big block size, forks, the creation of new coins... I think Randall was really just making fun of BitCoin, because it seems like an otherwise boring topic --vikarjramun
: I think it might just be you. :) I suspect it's that you've read and heard more about BitCoin than I have. All I know about BitCoin is that it's an online-only virtual currency almost exclusively used for criminal activity (ransoms for ransomware, selling off stolen pictures hacked from celebrities, etc), and that their price has gotten ridiculous (like a ransomware I heard about asking only 3 BitCoins, amounted to about $2,000 at the time. Idiots outpriced themselves, the only people who'd pay that are companies big enough to have backup solutions which make it unnecessary). I don't know any of these phrases in relation to BitCoin, and out of context here they have no logical connection (except creating being self-explanatory), they clearly require the context. :) [[User:NiceGuy1|NiceGuy1]] ([[User talk:NiceGuy1|talk]]) 05:29, 16 January 2018 (UTC)

1903: Bun Trend

2017-10-17T20:00:24Z

162.158.154.163:

{{comic
| number = 1903
| date = October 16, 2017
| title = Bun Trend
| image = bun_trend.png
| titletext = Our experts have characterized the ecological impact of this trend as "adorable."
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by A Velociraptor - When editing this page, please change this comment. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

In this comic, [[Beret Guy]] takes his bun shenanigans to the state government, reporting to the governor that the number of buns around the capitol has shown a rapid increase. The governor is confused, then finally comes to grasp that Beret Guy is talking about rabbits, lots of which can be seen if he would just go outside (by the way, there is a ''small'' one '''RIGHT NOW'''!).

Elections in the United States often have a blank spot on the ballot for the voter to write the name of a {{w|write-in candidate}}. Beret Guy thinks he works for the governor because he wrote his name in on the ballot. This does not mean that he actually works for the governor. This is typical of his naive understanding of the world.

The governor finally takes appropriate action by calling security, and Beret Guy confronts his fate with poise and honor. Indeed, the readiness with which he accepts his removal almost seems to suggest that he doesn't belong, which would be an unusual level of awareness for his character. Alternatively, Beret Guy might have misinterpreted the governor's request for security as a question for whether he works in security.

"Buns" have been mentioned previously in [[1682: Bun]] and [[1871: Bun Alert]].

Beret Guy's uncertain position in the government is very similar to the way he treats and operates his business.

In the title text, experts characterize the ecological impact of the large amount of bunnies as "adorable" instead of giving information on how the rabbits are affecting the environment.

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
:[Beret Guy holds a stick and points at a board next to him. The board contains a picture of a rabbit, a data point graph and other notes.]
:Beret Guy: Good morning, Governor. Our tracking systems show a rapid increase in the number of buns around the Capitol.

:[Hairy is sitting at an office desk and facing Beret Guy in a frameless panel.]
:Hairy: Buns?
:Beret Guy: Yes; there's been a long-term upward trend, but it has accelerated recently.
:Hairy: The trend in... rabbits.
:Beret Guy: Yes.

:[Beret Guy takes out his phone.]
:Hairy: So... so what?
:Beret Guy: So if you want to see some buns, there are lots of them outside!
:''beep!''
:Beret Guy: Ooh!
:Beret Guy: There's a small one right now!

:[Zoom-in on Beret Guy.]
:Hairy (offscreen): Do you... actually ''work'' for me?
:Beret Guy: Almost certainly. We had an election, right? I wrote my name in on the thing.
:Hairy (offscreen): Security?
:Beret Guy: It's been an honor to serve.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Hairy]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Beret Guy]]
[[Category:Animals]]

1647: Diacritics

2017-10-12T01:15:54Z

162.158.154.163:

{{comic
| number = 1647
| date = February 24, 2016
| title = Diacritics
| image = diacritics.png
| titletext = Using diacritics correctly is not my forté.
}}

==Explanation==
A {{w|diacritic}} (or a diacritical mark) is a {{w|glyph}} added to a letter. The main use of diacritical marks in the {{w|latin script}} is to change the sound-values of the letters to which they are added, typically vowels.

[[Cueball]] is writing an e-mail (maybe for a job application) and notes in the mail that he attaches his {{w|résumé}}, or {{w|curriculum vitae}}. The word ''résumé'' uses two ''e''s with an {{w|acute accent}} so they look like this: é.

While diacritics can be common in several languages, English is an example of a language that rarely ever has any at all. This occurs to such an extent that words and expressions borrowed from other languages (such as "résumé" or "piñata") are frequently written in English with the diacritics omitted, as in "resume" or "pinata".

Randall may be poking fun at people who use Zalgo, a form of spam where people continuously spam diacritics in chat messages. For example:

T̯̙̻̼̠͕̙̬̬̜̼̊ͥͦͬͤ̇̎̆̌ͭ͢͠͡o̡̲̩̟̲̬̰̪̜̝͙̺̦̙͍̳ͬͯͯ͋͒̍ͨ̓̇́̚̚̕ ̸̢̬̘̦͕̯̱̜̲̼̤ͬͧͤͨǐ̷̷̯̼̝̹̫ͪ̀̋̿̄̓n̿͂ͩ͂ͮ̔̆͏͎͍͕̜͎̺̯͈̼̩̣̥̬͡͞ͅͅv̴̨̙̼̤̼͙͖̫̖̺̹̠̹̦́͌͑̓̆̂ͯ̑̈̏ͭo̢̫̲̙̺̬̤̲̳ͨ̐ͦ̽͛ͮ͛́͂ͣ͂ͮ͆͑̍̀ͯ̕͟k̵̨̫̙̤͙̹̫͚͈̪͇͓͈̫̬̥͕̱͎̜̉̔ͬͭͦ̓͐ͫ̋̋ͥ̋̀̕͟è̢̛͑͋͐̀̏ͣ̏ͬ̒̌͌́̚͘͝͏̟̞͇̘̤̼̮̤͍͚̫̤͚̰ ̶̧̮̗̣̫͇̦͎̮̤̗͙̗̳͎̺͆̉̈ͭ̽̈́̌̽ͥ̾͑̀̚̚͘͟ͅͅt̸͓͉̩́̓̓ͮ̇̈̆ͣ̀ͪͬ͑̅ͣ̍h̸̡̧ͧ͑̐̂ͥ̄̃̂̄́͋ͨ͑̓̆͋̚͏̸̟̣̤̺͔̘̞̦̖͖̣̺̱̜͔̗̫̰ͅȇ̡͇͎͎̩̮̟̖̖̤̦̜͍̱̇ͨ̃̈́̄̑ͦͭ̚͞ͅ ̛̼̤̟̩̦̻̤̙̥̬̠̩̙̙̱͚͕ͫ͐̏ͥ̄ͧͧͭ̔̆͐̋͘h̶̵̜̤͓̹̰ͣ̄͗́́i̝͕̘̗͉͚̰͓̮͕̣͒̂̒ͨ̽ͫ̎ͪͦ́̕͝ͅv̧̙̞̣̳͍̟̖͚̻̝͈ͧ͊ͫ͋ͩͫ̍͋̏̽ͤ̀͝͞ͅẻ̢͓̣̰͔̟͎̥̻̤̲̟̣̜̄̈́̌͛̌̄͢͞ͅ-̨̡͆̓̌̎̉̑҉͚̝̗m̨̛͎̬͉̯̽ͥͫ̇ͦ̒̿̎́͒́̚͡͠ỉ̧̡͖͙̙͕͔̲ͩ́ͣ͐ͧ͑̊̾̒͑̅͗̊́̎̚n̠̮̜̝̜̤̰̻̘͖̦͚̼ͫ̄͐͗ͣ́͢͜d̡̛̳͕̬̫̯̩͕̰̖̟̲͕͙ͭ̅̓ͥ͛ͨ͒ͯ͌̚ͅͅ ̟̜̳̫͕̺͎̺̲̗̋̐̀͛͑̅̅͛̾̈́̀̚͞͠r̸̯̥͚̟̰͉͎͓̖͉͂̎̅̐ͫͧ͛ͯ͜ë́̎͂̆ͥͩ͟͏̰̤̳͓̩͉̲̣̠͍͔̗̦̬̱̯p̽ͧ͒͗ͣ̿̆̄̑͏̘̜̥̠̜̥̘̲̮̹̤̪̦͕͇͓͞r̴͓̼̺̰̹͙͉̦͚̞̤͕̭̦̈́ͫ̔̂̓̆̒͗͛̿̑̉̿̓ͤ̏̇̀̚͘͘͢é̴̢̛̖̗̖̤ͧ̽͑ͨ̒̌̍ͭ̑̋̃̒ͫ̀͡ş̶͉͚̠̠͇͓̬̙͚̖̝͓͕̤̟́̂̏ͧͩ͌͑͐ͣ͌͌̄̾̿ȩ̢͈̗̝͍ͨ̒͗ͭ̔̈͆ͫ̔ͨ̈́́̊ͣ̃̎̀͝͝n̸̟͔̺̠̺̓̑̏͐ͩͬ̏̈́̌͒́̏ͥ̌̍͊ͧ̀̚͜͞͞tͮ̾͒̇̐ͩ͆̓ͣ҉̢̤͖̩͕̬̮͚͙̖͕̬̘̙͘͠ͅĩ̡̬̙̙̯̩͋̋̄n̡̡̊̐͌ͣ̍̒̽ͩͫ͌ͦ̚͝͏̳̻̞͓̗̹̪̜̘̰̠̟͈̮̲̳̜g̵̎̓́̃ͮ̍̏̈̄ͧ̈́̐̔̏ͤͭͨ҉̛̘̰̘̟̬̝̰̜̗̼ͅͅ ̸̦̞͓̟͉̫͔̦̰̝͈̩̳̞̼̮̩̬͕̿ͩ͗̂̌̐ͭ͟͞c̳̻͚̻̩̻͉̯̄̏͑̋͆̎͐ͬ͑͌́͢h̵͔͈͍͇̪̯͇̞͖͇̜͉̪̪̤̙ͧͣ̓̐̓ͤ͋͒ͥ͑̆͒̓͋̑́͞ǎ̡̮̤̤̬͚̝͙̞͎̇ͧ͆͊ͅo̴̲̺͓̖͖͉̜̟̗̮̳͉̻͉̫̯̫̍̋̿̒͌̃̂͊̏̈̏̿ͧ́ͬ̌ͥ̇̓̀͢͜s̵̵̘̹̜̝̘̺̙̻̠̱͚̤͓͚̠͙̝͕͆̿̽ͥ̃͠͡.̔̈́ͤͣͪ̅̎̄̽ͩͪ͛̓̂̂̑͒҉̤͍͔̲̣̜͕̺͕͇̖͓̺̦̺́̀͢

Which reads (without the diacritics) as 'To invoke the hive mind representing chaos.'

As Cueball/[[Randall]] is a native English-speaker, it is thus naturally that he often forgets (or just doesn't bother) to add these diacritics (hence the title of the comic).

When he occasionally remembers them, for instance when he types a word where he knows they should be included, like résumé, he then makes up for all those he must have forgotten since last time he thought of it, and thus adds a whole bunch at once. This reason is somewhat nonsensical.

The first diacritic he uses is the normal acute accent for the e to make it an é which does belong in ''résumé''. But the second diacritic he uses is an {{w|Umlaut (linguistics)|umlaut}} on the u making it into ü, which is not part of the word. (Although in French the ''u'' is pronounced like a {{w|Close front rounded vowel|[y]}}, which is also the sound of a German or Turkish ''ü'', and in German the word is spelt using this as ''Resümee'', but then the meaning is not the same but rather conclusions or abstracts).

Cueball then goes all in on the last e which, like the first e, is supposed to have an acute accent. This e has a {{w|cedilla}} (as in ȩ), a {{w|Ring (diacritic)|ring}} (as in e̊), three acute accents, and is topped off by a {{w|breve}} (as in ĕ). In total, six diacritics are used on this e alone.

Some languages—notably Vietnamese—{{w|Vietnamese alphabet|can use more than one diacritic per letter}}, but usually only two (for example, ṏ). Using them in this fashion makes little sense though it is reminiscent of [http://stackoverflow.com/q/6579844/256431 Zalgo text].

There are also three acute accents over the last period. This is not something that is ever used.

So for a word that is supposed to have two diacritics, Cueball uses eight, plus three for the period.

In the title text "not my forté" is supposed to mean that it is not one of Randall's strength or talent. However, to obtain this meaning [https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/forte forte] should not have an acute diacritic over the e, thus proving Randall's point that it is not his forte to use diacritics. This is a form of {{w|hyperforeignism}}, where people spell loan words or use pronunciations that they believe is more faithful to the language it comes from instead of the "English" one, even though the "English" one is actually more correct. Due to its similarity with other words from French such as café, some people believe that forte is also spelled with a diacritic on the ending E.

The title text may be a reference to the [[what if?]] released a week before this comic, {{what if|145|''Fire from moonlight''}}, in which note 9 reads "My résumé says étendue is my forté." (With the same error on "forte") It is possible that noticing his mistake was the inspiration for this comic. Also [https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/%C3%A9tendue étendue] can be written without the accent as [https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/etendue#English etendue] and the meaning is only written on this page in the Wiktionary. It means property of the light in an optical system which makes sense in the context of the note. However, it means something different in French where it either refers to size or range as a noun or as a verb is an alternative form of [https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/%C3%A9tendre#French étendre] meaning stretch or spread. The most correct way of writing the sentence he tried to write would only have involved the accent on résumé: "My résumé says etendue is my forte." Thus again making it clear that Randall has it right when he writes: "Using diacritics correctly is not my forté."

If there actually has been someone who corrected Randall's mistake in the what if?, then there could be an extra pun hidden in the title. Those who criticized Randall's use of accents, would thus become dia''critics''!

Comic [[1209: Encoding]] also references an absurd use of diacritics, and later a possible movie called ''Combining Diacritical Marks'' was mentioned in [[1857: Emoji Movie]], a direct reference to this comic.

==Transcript==
:[Cueball sitting in front of his lap top typing. The text above him is the one he is typing. The last word résumé has too many diacritics. The u has an umlaut (as in ü) and the last é has no less than six diacritics; a cedilla below (as in ȩ), a ring above (as in e̊ ), then three acute accents above the ring (as in é), and finally they are topped off by a breve (as in ĕ). Also the last full stop has three accents "´" above it:]
 
:Cueball (typing): Attached please fīnd my résümȩ̊́́́̆.́́́

:I usually leave out diacritics when I type, so I make up for it by occasionally adding a whole bunch at once.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Language]]

Talk:1849: Decades

2017-06-13T06:23:05Z

162.158.154.163:

There seems to be a slightly tongue-in-cheek move to call the 2000's "the noughties" with the obvious implication of 'naughty'. Personally though I'm still waiting for everyone to stop saying "2000 and something, it very annoying! [[User:RoyT|RoyT]] ([[User talk:RoyT|talk]]) 14:38, 12 June 2017 (UTC)
:Some people I know use the term "double-o's" for the period 2001-2009. Perhaps inspired by 007. --[[User:Nialpxe|Nialpxe]], 2017. [[User_talk:Nialpxe|(Arguments welcome)]] 02:30, 13 June 2017 (UTC)

Where would the descriptor "millennial" (adj) fit on this? I suggest that 00's fads be designated "millennial" and 10's fads be... forgotten.
[[Special:Contributions/173.245.48.171|173.245.48.171]] 14:57, 12 June 2017 (UTC)

Just a quick note to highlight the double "and" in the text: "(...) is ambiguous and and "aughts" (...)"
[[Special:Contributions/162.158.6.52|162.158.6.52]] 14:43, 12 June 2017 (UTC)

Good eyes on the double 'and'. Perhaps the explanation needs a sections about other terms not mentioned here "teensies" "noughties" "tenies" etc. (and perhaps the Aughts aren't used due to cultural differences between Brits and Americans, the former more likely to call them the "Noughts"). Also I assume the title text refers to Randal's local variety radio. [[User:WamSam|WamSam]] ([[User talk:WamSam|talk]]) 15:07, 12 June 2017 (UTC)

I listen to a radio station that says "90s, 2K, and today." It's not the only time I've seen "2K" used for the first decade of the 2000s {{unsigned ip|162.158.62.75}}

2K might end up being the accepted form. It might morph into "the 2-10s," "the 2-20s," "the 2-30s," and so on. It differentiates the seperate centuries and is short enough to survive the endless grinding of popular culture. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.216.40|108.162.216.40]] 23:49, 12 June 2017 (UTC)

My local variety station has been says "80s, 90s and today" since the mid-90s, which was really odd for the 5 years or so that it was redundant. {{unsigned ip|172.68.78.28}}

Around here "the zeroes" is commonly used. {{unsigned ip|141.101.76.46}}

;Next Comic
<pre>
COST-BENEFIT ANALYSIS:
|< <PREV RANDOM NEXT> >|
|---------------------------| |----------------------------| |----------------------------| |----------------------------|
| Normal Company | | Stingy Company | | Bored Economist | | *crash* |
| | | | | | | |
| Is it worth it Let's | | Is cost- Let's do | | I built a Did you | | |
| to spend that do cost- | | Benefit Cost-Benefit | | machine to do do cost- | | No, why? YOU FOOL! |
| much on benefit | | analysis analysis to | | cost-benefit benefit | | YOU'VE |
| development? analysis | | worth it? see | | analysis analysis? | | DOOMED US ALL!!|
| / / | | / / | | / / | | / / |
| O 0 | | O 0 | | O 0 | | O 0 |
| /|\ /|\ | | /|\ /|\ | | /|\ /|\ | | /|\ /|\ |
| / \ / \ | | / \ / \ | | / \ / \ | | / \ / \ |
| | | | | | | *rumble* |
|---------------------------| |----------------------------| |----------------------------| |----------------------------|
</pre>
{{unsigned ip|173.245.50.102}}

:@173.245.50.102 Wait, what? [[Special:Contributions/162.158.154.163|162.158.154.163]] 06:23, 13 June 2017 (UTC)

What does Randall usually do when there is typo/grammatical error in a comic? Will he correct it and re-upload it, or just leave it?
[[Special:Contributions/172.68.58.149|172.68.58.149]] 23:02, 12 June 2017 (UTC)

Talk:1128: Fifty Shades

2017-06-12T15:04:21Z

162.158.154.163:

Considering dogs can only see in black and white (and all the grays in between), ''Fifty Shades of Grey'' would be a great book for Wishbone to reenact IMO! --[[User:Dangerkeith3000|Dangerkeith3000]] ([[User talk:Dangerkeith3000|talk]]) 14:32, 31 October 2012 (UTC)

:That's not correct, see [[:wikipedia:Dog#Vision]]. --[[User:Kronf|Kronf]] ([[User talk:Kronf|talk]]) 16:43, 31 October 2012 (UTC)

::I stand corrected! However, I'll still leave up my comment because it gave me a chuckle thinking of it.--[[User:Dangerkeith3000|Dangerkeith3000]] ([[User talk:Dangerkeith3000|talk]]) 18:02, 31 October 2012 (UTC)

:::More importantly your comment should remain for transparency reasons, one can't simply destroy any evidence that one was wrong [[Special:Contributions/162.158.154.163|162.158.154.163]] 15:04, 12 June 2017 (UTC)

Didn't Wishbone get discontinued in 1998? There can't be a Fifty Shades of Grey episode. [[User:Davidy22|Davidy22]][[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>(talk)</tt>]] 06:29, 31 October 2012 (UTC)

:Maybe it got moved to "Adult Swim"? :) --[[User:Bpothier|B. P.]] ([[User talk:Bpothier|talk]]) 07:47, 31 October 2012 (UTC)

:According to Wikipedia, you are correct and Wishbone ended in 1998, but if xkcd had to adhere to such a rigorous use of real life elements such as the proper time period in which a TV show used to air, then today's comic would have been impossible. You must be at least a little flexible. Also, I'm certain there isn't such an episode, that would be impossible, as you pointed out. The main thing here is that Randall combined both the nature of Wishbone with the nature of Fifty Shades of Grey to produce a hilarious concept which concludes in a magnificent explosion of laughter. I for one can look the other way in regards to the fact that Wishbone ended in 1998. I'm curious. Were you trying to troll the comments section? (no offence) --[[User:DelendaEst|DelendaEst]] ([[User talk:DelendaEst|talk]]) 09:52, 31 October 2012 (UTC)

::That doesn't really seem like a troll post. He probably just doesn't get the comic. --[[User:SuspendedPhan|SuspendedPhan]] ([[User talk:SuspendedPhan|talk]]) 23:02, 31 October 2012 (UTC)

:::Oi, check the history of the explanation page. I wrote the explanation, I was just nitpicking here. [[User:Davidy22|Davidy22]][[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>(talk)</tt>]] 23:06, 31 October 2012 (UTC)

Yes, [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fifty_Shades_of_Grey Fifty Shades of Grey] is a "novel featuring large quantities of sex," but it is the kind of sex that is important; it is the fetish nature of the sexual exploits in the novel that set it apart from your every day harlequin romance novel, making it the fastest selling paperback. The novel is about a woman that agrees to be a sex slave for a wealthy man for a few months. She signs a lengthy contract that explains what's expected of her, and what he can do to her. The sexual acts involve combinations of BDSM fetishes, including restraints, submission, and inflicting/receiving pain for sexual pleasure. It is the inflicting/receiving pain detail that makes the noises from the TV "inappropriate" and not just someone disciplining/abusing a dog (which could also be inappropriate, just for very different reasons). {{unsigned|24.123.40.78}}

I changed the explanation to "Great Illustrated Classics" rather than "Classics Illustrated" as the graphic novels are probably too old for Randall to have read extensively, but Illustrated Classics is right in his age range (speaking from personal experience). Also omitting the "great" from the title seemed more likely than reversing the words. By the way does anyone know how to add non Wikipedia links I want to link to http://www.facebook.com/pages/No-I-havent-Read-that-Great-Literary-Classic-but-Ive-seen-the-Wishbone/162079210527833 but just dumping the url in the explanation breaks the prose and when I tried to use the ref tag it failed miserably --[[User:Chexwarrior|Chexwarrior]] ([[User talk:Chexwarrior|talk]]) 18:09, 1 November 2012 (UTC)

:You can use "<nowiki>[http://www.url.com this is a link!]</nowiki>" to get "[http://www.url.com this is a link!]" (omit the quotes). http://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Help:Links#External_links has that and more. [[User:Jerodast|- jerodast]] ([[User talk:Jerodast|talk]]) 16:26, 3 December 2012 (UTC)

<strike>I want this to be a thing.</strike> [[User:SuperSupermario24|Just some random derp]] 23:40, 11 June 2015 (UTC)

1128: Fifty Shades

2017-06-12T14:53:44Z

162.158.154.163: Updated and clarified info about Facebook group, still not keen on the wording though

{{comic
| number = 1128
| date = 31 October 2012
| title = Fifty Shades
| image = fifty shades.png
| titletext = Wishbone and the Illustrated Classics series have gotten me through every conversation I've ever had about Dickens, Treasure Island, The Anarchist's Cookbook, and Our Bodies, Ourselves.
}}

==Explanation==
''{{w|Fifty Shades of Grey}}'' is a best-selling novel featuring large quantities of {{w|BDSM}} sex. ''{{w|Wishbone (TV series)|Wishbone}}'' was a children's TV show about a dog who draws parallels between literature and real life in his dreams, reenacting many literary classics. The show was especially praised in its time for refusing to censor the more unpleasant aspects of its source work. Many people within [[Randall]]'s age group have experienced more literary classics through ''Wishbone'' than by actually reading them; this phenomenon lead to the formation of a Facebook group (now replaced by a [https://www.facebook.com/No-I-havent-Read-that-Great-Literary-Classic-but-Ive-seen-the-Wishbone-162079210527833/ page]) with over 70,000 members dedicated to that idea.

In the comic, [[Cueball]] claims to have learned all that he knows about ''Fifty Shades of Grey'' from the ''Wishbone'' adaptation of the book. Knowing the faithful nature of ''Wishbone'''s adaptations, an episode on the book would likely involve age-inappropriate material for children, as the sounds emanating from the TV would suggest.

In the title text:
*{{w|Great Illustrated Classics}} is a series of easy to read adaptations of literary classics, including works by {{w|Charles Dickens}} and Stevenson's ''{{w|Treasure Island}}''.
*''{{w|The Anarchist Cookbook}}'', first published in 1971, is a book that contains instructions for the manufacture of explosives, rudimentary telecommunications phreaking devices, and other items. It was written by William Powell to protest United States involvement in the Vietnam War.
*''{{w|Our Bodies, Ourselves}}'' is a book about women's health and sexuality produced by the nonprofit organization Our Bodies Ourselves (originally called the Boston Women's Health Book Collective). First published in 1971, it contains information related to many aspects of women's health and sexuality, including menopause, birth control, childbirth, sexual health, sexual orientation, gender identity, mental health and general well-being.

Part of the title text joke is that the latter two works would not likely be the subject of Great Illustrated Classics or ''Wishbone''. However, the title text may be actually technically 100% correct, if Randall hasn't ever had an in-depth conversation about either of the latter two works.

==Transcript==
:As with most famous books, I've never actually '''read''' ''Fifty Shades of Grey.''
:I only know the plot from watching the ''Wishbone'' version
:TV: Bark!
:TV: Bark!
:TV: ''Smack!''
:TV: Bark!

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

657: Movie Narrative Charts

2017-05-03T21:20:11Z

162.158.154.163: Minor correction and improvement

{{comic
| number = 657
| date = November 2, 2009
| title = Movie Narrative Charts
| image = movie_narrative_charts.png
| titletext = In the LotR map, up and down correspond LOOSELY to northwest and southeast respectively.
}}
*A [http://xkcd.com/657/large/ larger version] of this image can be found by clicking the image at xkcd.com - the comic's page can also be accessed by clicking on the comic number above.

==Explanation==

These charts show movie character interactions. The horizontal axis is time. The vertical grouping of the lines indicates which characters are together at a given time.

=== {{w|Lord_of_the_Rings_film_trilogy|''Lord of the Rings'' Trilogy}} ===
A mass of colored lines weaves back and forth across the chart, representing various characters. Sauron is represented by a red bar at the bottom contained within a huge black bar with branches, that in turn represents his army of nazgul, orcs, etc. Major locations (Moria) and plot points (the breaking of the fellowship) are marked. Gandalf, especially at the beginning, jumps all over the map in a short time. Eagles appear and then disappear a couple of times. Treebeard's line is flat except for the march to Isengard. At the end, the ship to the West drifts off into a corner. The hobbits start off in the top left with Frodo, Sam, Merry, and Pippin with Bilbo with them for a short time because of the party at the beginning. They go off on their adventure and briefly encounter Gandalf. They are then split up for a short time but meet back up at Weathertop when the Nazgul attack and they meet Aragorn (Strider at that point). They meet up with the rest of what becomes the fellowship of the ring at the council of Elrond at Rivendell. The newly formed fellowship must then venture into the mines of Moria which is referenced in comic [https://xkcd.com/760/ #760] and comic [https://xkcd.com/1218/ #1218]. After encountering the Balrog and the later death of Boromir the fellowship splits up. Frodo and Sam take the ring and go off on their own to destroy it and sneak into Mordor with the help of Gollum. Merry and Pippin are captured by the Uruk-hai but are rescued by Eomer and his army. Eomer and his army then briefly reunite with Legolas, Gimli, and Aragorn while Merry and Pippin find Treebeard and flood Isengard. While Merry, Pippin and Treebeard are flooding Isengard Aragorn, Gimli, and Legolas fight at Helm's Deep with Gandalf and Eomer and Theoden. Aragorn, Gimli, and Legolas go to wake the army of the dead while Pippin goes with Gandalf and Merry goes with the Rohirrim. All of these people rejoin for the battle of the Pelennor fields where Eowyn kills the witch king after Theoden dies along with Denethor. The orcs, men and oliphants are all destroyed and Aragorn releases the army of the dead. All the surviving members of that battle go to the Black Gate except Eowyn and Faramir. Sam and Frodo destroy the Ring, Gollum dies and everyone who is still alive is there for Aragorn's coronation. Everyone goes back to their respective homes except for Frodo, Gandalf, Elrond, Galadriel, and Bilbo who get on a ship to the west.

As the title text points out, most of the plot of The Lord of The Rings occurs on a rough northwest to southeast axis, with the Fellowship of the Ring traveling from the Shire near the top of chart to Modor at the bottom of the chart (and back again.) The most significant exception to the northwest-southeast axis is the area of the chart between "The Breaking of the Fellowship" and "Isengard Flooded." Helm's Deep and Isengard are southwest from the overall northwest-southeast axis of the movies.

=== {{w|Star_Wars|''Star Wars'' (original Trilogy)}} ===
Luke, mostly accompanied by R2-D2, joins and parts from other sets of characters. There's a dotted alternative path on Jabba's line for the special edition. A dark line representing Vader, travels through the duel where he kills Obi-Wan and proceeds to the Death Star to meet with the main charcters for the first time. Vader travels to Hoth where all the characters escape and goes to Cloud City where Han is frozen. He then duels Luke before going for a long time alone and confronts Luke for a short time before taking him to the Death Star II where the climatic duel happens and he is killed. Leia at first with C-3PO is captured and placed on the Death Star before being rescued and proceeds to Hoth, Cloud City, the Sail Barge and finally to the Battle of Endor before reuniting with all the survivors. R2D2 and C-3PO are mostly together save for when Luke is attacking the Death Star and Luke's Jedi training. Luke's line swerves through most of the scenes, breaking away from the other characters during the Jedi Training, the duel on Cloud City and the duel on the Death Star II. Han and Chewie are always together as they go through all the scenes. Greedo, Lando and Boba all appear at there respictive scenes. Yoda appears about halfway through (where Luke's Jedi training is marked). All the surviving lines group up at Endor except for Vader, the Emperor, Luke, and Lando; after the climactic duel, the latter two join the rest.

=== {{w|Jurassic_Park_(film)|''Jurassic Park''}} ===
The human characters are in black; dinosaurs are in red. Dilophosaurus appears briefly to eat Nedry and then fades out again. the T-Rex appears at the start and swoops down on the cars and eats Gennaro. It then weaves out until the end where it eats the raptors. The three raptors are together at the beginning, but split up about halfway through. One has a dotted portion of line between "locked up" and "escapes." In the meantime, they cut off the lines of Arnold and Muldoon. Malcolm, Grant, Sattler, Hammond and the kids all weave in and out of their respective scenes. The raptor lines all end when t-rex's swoops down to meet them at the end, and all the surviving humans leave together.

=== {{w|12 Angry Men (1957 film)|''12 Angry Men''}} ===
This is a very famous trial film that tells the story of a jury made up of 12 men as they deliberate the guilt or acquittal of a defendant on the basis of reasonable doubt. Only one of these angry men believe the defendant may be innocent and he argues this against the other 11, eventually convincing them that there is reasonable doubt in the case.

The lines are labeled Juror 1 through Juror 12. They are all perfectly horizontal and parallel.

The joke in the 12 Angry Men graphic is that in the movie all 12 jurors (the angry men) are in the same room for the entire duration of the movie. They never move and they all always interact with each other, hence their lines stay straight and close to each other.

This is actually not entirely true. The movie begins in the court room; a couple of times during the proceedings, a few jurors go into the washroom and have a brief discussion there; and finally, in the very last scene, two jurors have a brief exchange in front of the courthouse. In fact, this chart would actually become a useful reference to the film if each of the jury's votes sessions was shaded as battles/events, and each juror's vote shown on their line, tracking when each juror's vote switches from 'guilty' to 'not guilty'. But as far as the characters' locations, there is no need for such a narrative chart, and that is the joke.

=== {{w|Primer_(film)|''Primer''}} ===
The last box is a movie called Primer from 2004, which became a cult classic. It is about a group of engineers who discover a way to travel through time, but only in one direction (backwards) and only at the speed of regular time (i.e. you have to stay in the time machine for one hour to move an hour back in time). Because of this, the story ends up having multiple versions of the same person existing at the same time; the plot and time-travel mechanics are notoriously hard to follow, so that it is almost impossible to figure out where each character is at one time, as the comic illustrates.
Three lines start on the left labeled Abe, Aaron, and Granger. They enter a mass of scribbling. Somewhere vaguely towards the end, three lines emerge and fade out, all labeled with question marks.
The chart for ''Primer'' is referenced in the title text of the fourth image in the [[what if?]] ''{{what if|101|Plastic Dinosaurs}}''.

=== Background ===

These charts are a reference to "''[https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Minard.png Napoleon's March]''" the map and statistical infographic by cartographic pioneer
{{w|Charles Joseph Minard}}; it details the movements and losses of Napoleon's troops on his failed conquest of Russia. The size and location of Napoleon's army are represented by tapering streams similar to the design used for Sauron's and Saurman's troops in the LotR Chart. Minard's chart is extensively discussed by {{w|Edward Tufte}} in his book ''The Visual Display of Quantitative Information'', and he summarizes some of that [https://www.edwardtufte.com/tufte/minard on his website].

[[File:Minard.png|Napoleon's March by Minard]]

==Transcript==

[colors given approximately in HEX at first appearance]

These charts show movie character interactions.
The horizontal axis is time. The vertical grouping of the
lines indicate which characters are together at a given time.

=== Lord of the Rings ===

Lord of the Rings

====[Legend]====
[yellow line (fff500)] ring

[thin line, here dark green (467120)] ringbearer

[grey colored area (e9e9e9)] battle/event

[line ending with a dot, here black] death

[bar, here light brown (daccae)] army

[line, here brown (9d7929), in a bar, here light brown] character leading army

[grey line (b7bfb6)] wizards

[brown line (9d7929)] men

[blue line (4a89a8)] elves

[dark brown line (6c411b)] dwarves

[dark turquoise line, 143035] ents

[green line (4e7629)] hobbits

'''[signs and colors not explained by the legend]'''
*[line starting / ending with a little sun means appearance / disappearance]
*[dark grey line (Eagles)]

====[Entering and leaving of characters] ====

'''[Characters entering the chart on the left, from top to bottom]'''
*Merry [green line]
*Pippin [green line]
*Sam [green line]
*Frodo [green line]
*Bilbo [green line]
*Gandalf [grey line, disappearance and reappearance marked by the sun-symbol]
*Arwen [blue line]
*Elrond [blue line]
*Galadriel [blue line]
*Saruman [grey line]
*Wormtongue [brown line]
*Éomer [brown line]
*Théoden [brown on light brown bar]
*Éowyn [brown line]
*Boromir [brown line on light brown bar]
*Denethor [brown line on light brown bar]
*Faramir [brown line]
*Sauron [red line (a23939) on black bar]

'''[Characters leaving the chart on the right side, from top to bottom]'''

[The five characters leaving off the top border of the chart]

*Frodo
*Gandalf
*Bilbo
*Elrond
*Galadriel

[text next to the group of five] Ship to the West

[other characters leaving on the right side]

*Merry
*Pippin
*Sam
*Treebeard [dark turquoise line]
*Legolas [blue]
*Gimli [dark brown line]
*Éomer
*Arwen
*Aragorn [brown line]
*Éowyn
*Faramir

''' [characters starting or leaving in the middle the chart] '''
*Nazgûl [black line, emerging from the black bar of Sauron's army, disappearance and reappearance marked by the sun-symbol. Second appearance splits splitting in two branches. Both end with death.]
*Aragorn [brown line, emerging via a dotted line]
*Legolas [blue line, emerging via a dotted line]
*Gimli [dark brown line, emerging via a dotted line]
*Eagles [dark grey line (808080), emerging and vanishing twice via a dotted line (second time after splitting into two branches)]
*Uruk-Hai [black bar, two groups emerging out of Saruman's line]
*Gandalf [grey line, disappearance and reappearance marked by the sun-symbol]
*Dead [light green bar, emerging out of nothing, lead by Aragorn, disappearance marked by the sun-symbol]
*Ents [grey bar, emerging out of nothing, lead by Treebeard]
*Men&Oliphaunts [black bar, emerging out of nothing]
*Elves [light blue bar (b3cdda), emerging near the line of Galadriel]
*Gollum [dark green line, emerging via a dotted line]
*Treebeard [dark turquoise line, emerging via a dotted line]

==== [List of battles/events as displayed in the chart] ====

*Bilbo’s party [joined by] Merry, Pippin, Sam, Frodo, Bilbo, Gandalf [ring goes from Bilbo to Frodo]

*Gandalf imprisioned [joined by] Gandalf, Saruman, Eagles

*Weathertop [joined by] Nazgûl, Merry, Pippin, Sam, Frodo with the ring, Aragorn |

*Council of Elrond [including] Merry, Pippin, Sam, Frodo with the ring, Aragorn, Bilbo, Elrond, Legolas, Gimli, Gandalf, Boromir

*Moria [including] Merry, Pippin, Sam, Frodo with the ring, Aragorn, Legolas, Gimli, Gandalf [disappearance], Boromir

*Breaking of the Fellowship [including] Merry, Pippin, Sam, Frodo with the ring, Aragorn, Legolas, Gimli, Boromir [death], Uruk-Hai [black]

*Hobbits escape [including] Éomer, Merry, Pippin, Uruk-Hai [death]

*Helm’s Deep [including] Éomer, Gandalf, Elves [death], Uruk-Hai [death], Aragorn, Legolas, Gimli, Théoden

*Isengard flooded [including] Treebeard [with bar of ents-army in grey], Merry, Pippin, Saruman [death], Wormtongue [death]

*Pelennor fields [including] Aragon [with bar of Dead-army in light green (bbcbad)], Legolas, Gimli, Merry, Éomer, Éowyn, Pippin, Gandalf [with bar in light brown], Faramir, Men&Oliphaunts [death], Orcs [death], Nazgûl [death and disappearing], Théoden [death], Denethor [death]

*Black gate [including] Aragorn, Legolas, Gimli, Merry, Éomer, Pippin, Gandalf [with bar in light brown], Orcs [death], Eagles, Nazgûl [death] [this battle/event-area is joined with ring destroyed-area]

*Ring destroyed [including] Sam, Frodo, Gollum [death], Sauron [death], Nazgûl [death] [this battle/event-area is joined with Black Gate-area]

*Aragorn crowned king [including] Arwen, Elrond, Aragorn, Legolas, Gimli, Merry, Éomer [without army], Pippin, Gandalf [without army], Éomyn, Faramir, Sam, Frodo

=== Star Wars (original triology) ===

Star Wars (original triology)

====[Entering and leaving of characters] ====

'''[Characters entering the chart on the left, from top to bottom]'''

*Vader [black line]
*Leia [grey line]
*R2-D2 [blue line]
*C-3P0 [yellow line]
*Obi-Wan [grey line]
*Luke [grey line]
*Han [grey line]
*Chewie [brown line]
*Jabba [green line]

'''[Characters leaving the chart on the right side, from top to bottom]'''

*Luke
*Lando [grey line]
*Chewie
*Leia
*R2-D2
*C-3PO
*Han

''' [Characters starting or leaving not in battle/event-areas and not on the left/right side of the chart] '''

*Greedo [green line]
*Jabba Special edition [green dotted line, marking an alternative way for Jabba that unites after a little loop with Jabba main line].
*Yoda [green line, death also marked on the chart but not marked in an battle/event-area]
*Boa Fett [green line]
*Empperor [black]

==== [List of battles/events as displayed in the chart] ====

*Leia rescued [including] Luke, Leia, Han, Chewie, Obi-Wan, R2-D2, C-3PO

*Duel [first] [including] Vader, Obi-Wan [death]

*Death Star [including] Vader, Luke, R2-D2, Han, Chewie

*Hoth [including] Vader, Luke, Han, R2-D2, Chewie, Leia, C-3PO

*Luke's entire Jedi training [including] Yoda, Luke, R2-D2

*Han frozen [including] Boba Fett, Vader, Han, Chewie, Leia, C-3PO, Lando

*Duel [second] [including] Luke, Vader

*Sail barge [including] Luke, Chewie, Leia, R2-D2, C-3PO, Lando, Han, Boba Fett [death], Jabba [death]

*Endor [including] Chewie, Leia, R2-D2, C-3PO, Han

*Duel [third] [including] Emperor [death], Vader [death], Luke, Lando

=== Jurassic Park ===

Jurassic Park

==== [Entering and leaving of characters] ====
[all dinosaurs are represented by red, all men by black lines]
[for dinosaurs locked up, there is a donut-sign.]

'''[Characters entering the chart on the left, from top to bottom]'''

*T-Rex
*Raptors [splitting into Raptor 1, Raptor 2 and Raptor 3 later in the chart]
*Malcolm
*Grant
*Sattler
*Gennaro
*Hammond
*Muldoon
*Arnold
*Nedry

'''[Characters leaving the chart on the right side]'''

*T-Rex
*Kids [start short after the left border of the chart]
*Grant
*Sattler
*Malcolm
*Hammond

===== [Characters starting or leaving not in events/battles and not on the left/right side of the chart] =====

*Dilophosaurus [emerging by a dotted line, vanishing by a dotted line]

==== [List of events as displayed in the chart] ====

*Attack on cars [including] T-Rex, Malcolm [serious injury marked by a sign looking like a hole], Gennaro [death], Grant, Kids

*Must go faster [including] T-Rex, Malcolm, Sattler, Muldoon

*Nedry eaten [including] Dilophosaurus, Nedry [death]

*Gallimimus [including] Grant, Kids, T-Rex

*Shed [including] Raptor 3, Arnold [death]

*Clever girl [including] Raptor 1, Muldoon [death], Raptor 2

*Locked up escapes [including] Raptor 3, Sattler [This area is only grey in the point of "locked up", but a little further on the dotted line, the word "escapes" shows that the raptor 3 is free again. All over the entire comic, this is the only time that a description of "what happens" is given. All other labels are only titles, characters and locations and the note "Special edition" at Jabba / Star Wars, which is also a kind of meta-information.]

*Kitchen locked up [including] Raptor 1, Kids, Raptor 2 [marked as locked up with the donut-sign]

*Visitor Center [including] T-Rex, Raptor 1 [death], Kids, Grant, Sattler, Raptor 3 [death]

=== 12 angry men ===

12 angry men

==== [Entering and leaving of characters] ====

[All lines go parallel, start and end at the borders of the chart. There are no areas of battle/event.]

Juror 1 --------- Juror 1 ----------- Juror 1 ------------ Juror 1

Juror 2 --------- Juror 2 ----------- Juror 2 ------------ Juror 2

Juror 3 --------- Juror 3 ----------- Juror 3 ------------ Juror 3

Juror 4 --------- Juror 4 ----------- Juror 4 ------------ Juror 4

Juror 5 --------- Juror 5 ----------- Juror 5 ------------ Juror 5

Juror 6 --------- Juror 6 ----------- Juror 6 ------------ Juror 6

Juror 7 --------- Juror 7 ----------- Juror 7 ------------ Juror 7

Juror 8 --------- Juror 8 ----------- Juror 8 ------------ Juror 8

Juror 9 --------- Juror 9 ----------- Juror 9 ------------ Juror 9

Juror 10 --------- Juror 10 ----------- Juror 10 ------------ Juror 10

Juror 11 --------- Juror 11 ----------- Juror 11 ------------ Juror 11

Juror 12 --------- Juror 12 ----------- Juror 12 ------------ Juror 12

=== Primer ===

[Three characters enter the chart on the left side, all represented by black lines]
*Abe
*Aaron
*Granger
[The lines come to a giant scribble and end up with dotted lines and question marks in the right area. One cannot see which line leads to which end.]

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics with color]]
[[Category:Large drawings]]
[[Category:Timelines]]
[[Category:LOTR]]
[[Category:Star Wars]]
[[Category:Jurassic Park]]
[[Category:Velociraptors]]
[[Category:Time travel]]
[[Category:Fiction]]

1830: ISS Solar Transit 2

2017-04-28T17:20:28Z

162.158.154.163: /* Explanation */ added suggestion for possible meaning/interpretation behind the comic (please remove if this is inappropriate)

{{comic
| number = 1830
| date = April 28, 2017
| title = ISS Solar Transit 2
| image = iss_solar_transit_2.png
| titletext = Most people don't realize it, but they actually launch a new space station every few weeks because this keeps happening.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

This Friday comic is a continuation of the Monday comic from the same week, [[1828: ISS Solar Transit]], where [[Cueball]] was preparing his camera in order to try an capture the transit of the {{w|International Space Station}} (ISS) across the {{w|Sun}}. The comic is also made in the same special way using split panels. As a noted in the first comic in the [[:Category:ISS Solar Transit|ISS series]] the {{w|white balance}} is still not set properly, because the sun looks orange instead of white/yellow.

However, instead of transiting across the face of the sun, the ISS crashes into the Sun. In reality, of course, this can never happen, because the ISS orbits Earth at an altitude of between 330 and 435 km, while the Earth orbits the Sun at an altitude of about 149.60 million kilometers or 1 {{w|astronomical unit}}. This means the minimum distance between the ISS and the Sun is only slightly less than 1 AU. Also, due to {{w|parallax}}, only people in a very localized region on earth are able to see the ISS "hit" the sun. For all others the ISS would travel past the sun.

Additionally, even if the ISS would somehow impact the sun, it would not make a noticeable splash, due to being incredibly tiny compared to the sun. It would get vaporized before reaching it. (See the [[what if?]] ''{{what if|89|Tungsten Countertop}}''). And it would make no "Fwoosh" sound to be heard on Earth, primarily because there's a lot of empty space between Earth and the Sun, and sound cannot propagate in empty space.

The title text plays on the event in the comic, by saying that a new space station is being launched every few week as the event in the comic keeps happening, so a continuation of ISSs gets destroyed by crashing into the Sun on a regular basis. This is clearly implausible, as it has taken many years to build up the ISS, and there are at least three astronauts on board that would get killed a couple of times a month.

It's possible that the comic is a play on conspiracy theories about space exploration, such as the moon landing being faked. In these situations, while the government may be trying to cover up or show something different from what actually happened, amateur photographers/astronomers/radio enthusiasts (such as Cueball in this comic) who observe the event independently of government or commercial sources can see what really happened. In this case, the conspiracy theory would be that the ISS actually does crash into the sun every few weeks, but we're made to believe that it orbits the earth without crashing, while Cueball is able to observe what really happens with his camera.

==Transcript==
:[Every panel is split into two half height panels above each other.]

:[The first top panel shows an image of an orange sun on a black background with a white dot labeled in light-blue letter at the top right corner. The dot is in a light-blue cross-hair and a light-blue dotted trail is behind it as indicating movement towards the sun.]
:ISS

:[In the bottom panel Cueball is kneeling in front of a small platform while operating a camera with a very long objective while holding a smartphone. The camera is angled sharply upward toward the sky as it is attached to a tripod standing on the platform.]
:Cueball: Perfect! Transit in three... two...

:[The upper image is the same but the dot has halved the distance to the sun.]
:ISS

:[Cueball sits in the panel below.]
:Cueball: ...one...

:[In the upper panel the dotted line enters the Sun and the white dot has plunged into the sun making a flare "splash" out from the surface of the Sun. This makes a sound written in orange letters.]
:''Fwoosh''

:[Cueball sits silent in the panel below.]

==Trivia==
*The ISS travels across the face of the sun in 0.47 seconds ([https://spacemath.gsfc.nasa.gov/weekly/5Page61.pdf calculation]).
**If we assume that Cueball is counting seconds, then the depicted speed of the ISS between panels 1 and 2 is too slow.
*This could be seen as a joke on {{w|Pink Floyd|Pink Floyd's}} ''{{w|Set the Controls for the Heart of the Sun}}''.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:ISS Solar Transit]]
[[Category:Comics sharing name|ISS Solar Transit 02]]
[[Category:Comics with color]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Astronomy]]
[[Category:Space]]

1827: Survivorship Bias

2017-04-21T10:21:34Z

162.158.154.163: /* Explanation */ simplified/generalised explanation of lottery to make it more relevant to the comic

{{comic
| number = 1827
| date = April 21, 2017
| title = Survivorship Bias
| image = survivorship_bias.png
| titletext = They say you can't argue with results, but what kind of defeatest attitude is that? If you stick with it, you can argue with ANYTHING.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Still incomplete.}}
This comic makes a joke about survivorship bias, hence the title. {{w|Survivorship bias}}, or survival bias, is the logical error of concentrating on the people or things that "survived" some process and inadvertently [[#Trivia|overlooking those]] that did not because of their lack of visibility. This can lead to false conclusions in several different ways. The survivors may be actual people, as in a medical study, or could be companies or research subjects or applicants for a job, or anything that must make it past some selection process to be considered further.

In this comic [[Hairy]] is giving a talk encouraging people to "never stop buying {{w|lottery}} tickets". This is an unwise investment plan for many reasons. The chances of winning the lottery are mathematically very low and the total payout is usually less than the total ticket sales, meaning the expected return from buying a lottery ticket is ([[#Trivia|almost]]) always negative. Survivorship bias applies in this situation since people who eventually win (and, presumably, win more than they've spent on lottery tickets in the time that it took them to win) are much more likely to give inspirational speeches than someone who never won or didn't win enough to make the "investment" worthwhile.

[[Randall]] says in the caption below the panel that people should be informed about survivorship bias before hearing inspirational talks from successful people.

==Transcript==
:[Hairy, holding an arm out towards an unseen crowd, is standing on a podium with five large bags around him, each having a dollar signs on them.]
:Hairy: Never stop buying lottery tickets, no matter what anyone tells you.
:Hairy: I failed again and again, but I never gave up. I took extra jobs and poured the money into tickets.
:Hairy: And here I am, proof that if you put in the time, it pays off!

:[Caption below the panel:]
:Every inspirational speech by someone successful should have to start with a disclaimer about survivorship bias.

==Trivia==
*Lottery with '''positive return''':
*When item prices are donated to a lottery (for charity or advertising purposes), sometimes the value of those items may actually be larger than the total price for all of the lottery tickets, if you otherwise would be willing to pay full prize for all the prizes.
*'''Examples''' of survivorship bias:
**Almost everyone was smoking back in the 1930-70s, thus everyone above 80 have probably smoked a lot, if not them selves then at least passive smoking. Thus anyone above that age could be claimed to prove that you can live a long life while smoking. But they consist of the small group of people that survived in spite of all the smoke, where large sections of those that would have been 80 today, died from cancer or heart disease caused by smoking, long ago, maybe even before they retired. But since these people are dead and gone many years ago, they do not speak up, and are thus the silent majority that is not heard, which is the problem with survivorship bias.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Hairy]]
[[Category:Science]]
[[Category:Public speaking]]

Talk:1798: Box Plot

2017-02-13T19:37:21Z

162.158.154.163:

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 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/
I’m surprised this was Cueball, not Beret Guy.
: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)

Talk:1798: Box Plot

2017-02-13T16:27:43Z

162.158.154.163:

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)