explain xkcd - User contributions [en]

Talk:2727: Runtime

2023-01-21T19:41:45Z

162.158.34.231:

It has to be said that a first season of a series generally will be written ''as'' a whole season (give or take any pilot/feature-length-special that may be the heralding first episode). Whereas film sequences don't tend to be purposefully made/anticipated together (notable exceptions: Back To The Futures 2 & 3, the LOTR and (later) Hobbit trilogies, various sub-sets of Star Wars (the prequel and sequel trilogies, certainly, the OT's second and third conclusions to the story started with Ep4)). Sometimes it runs well enough to get up into high numbers of at least sufficiently similar-yet-innovating releases that satisfy the theme (the Fast And Furiouses... the whole Bond œuvre..?), though sometimes it might stutter (Highlander 2!) and may or may not actually recover. Either way, it risks becoming a made-for-TV-movie sinkhole (as Disney knows well enough), unless it was always intended to reproduce some previously successful serialisation (Tolkein's stuff, as already alluded to; J.K. Rowling's surprisingly popular product). I think, therefore that Cueball is right to more dread the effort of dealing with some multi-sequel monstrocity of a film-canon, compared to whatever degree of {{tvtropes|EarlyInstallmentWeirdness|First Season Disservice}} he has suffered or heard that he must suffer before the kinks are properly ironed out in seasons 2-6. (Then it goes funny for 7, 8 and most of 9, until the story arc evolves into something that gets it to series 20 before a bit of cancel/uncancel shenanigans plague the production, spin-offs (including a prequel series and/or an animated version) take over the franchise and relegate the old stars to cameo-actors, the franchise then gets a Series: The Movie! which either does surprisingly well or surprisingly manages to upset the whole diverse fanbase in loads of differing ways... or some variation on all that.)
 ...but, anyway, it's not surprising. Yet it ''does'' probably qualify as an interesting point that fully deserves to be highlit or else we might never have thought of it for ousrselves, in as many words. [[Special:Contributions/172.71.178.64|172.71.178.64]] 03:55, 21 January 2023 (UTC)

I don't think 8 moves are of about equal length to 1 season. I picked 8 random movies from the list of movies I'm planning to watch and it totaled 18¼ hours. Then looked at some series first seasons. The Mandalorian is 5½ hours, Wednesday is 6 hours, Friends is 6¼ hours, even an outlier like Dragon Ball Z is only 10½ hours. The premise of the comic probably still stands though, but can be explained by the fact that with a series it also gives the promise of more hours of good material. With movies if the first 8 are bad there might not be many good ones after that. [[User:Tharkon|Tharkon]] ([[User talk:Tharkon|talk]]) 04:13, 21 January 2023 (UTC)
:You picked some BAD examples, though... AFAIK, Mandalorian and Wednesday are straight-to-streaming shows. STS, specialty channel, and non-North American shows (British, Australian) have particularly short seasons of 6, 8, or 10 episodes. A standard season is between 22 and 26 episodes at the very outside, usually around 24. Also, such discussions don't generally happen about half hour sitcoms & cartoons like Friends or Dragon Ball Z, most shows are hour shows (44 minutes without ads instead of 22). Quick and dirty math - rounding to 20 and 40 minute episodes, or 3 per hour and 3 per 2 hours - means you picked a weirdly short season of Friends of 18.75 episodes, their 26 episode seasons (as I recall they tended to hit 26) would be nearly 9 hours usually. Hour-long shows, using the average 24 episodes, is 16 hours. A usual average movie length these days is 2h per (used to be 1.5 until I'd say the late 90s, movies could be as short as 1:15 and rarely hit 2, but SO MANY long movies in recent decades) means 8 movies ALSO averages about 16. The math works out if you use standard, middle of the road examples - no long movies like Titanic or short seasons like streaming shows. [[User:NiceGuy1|NiceGuy1]] ([[User talk:NiceGuy1|talk]]) 07:26, 21 January 2023 (UTC)
:It's not just about the length, although yes, it's rare for movie series to have more than 8 movies. It's about continuity. Movies tend to be relatively stand-alone (although there are counterexamples, like LOTR) so watching 8 of them just to "get" the 9th is rarely needed. Meanwhile, with series, you usually NEED to watch the first season - or at least big part of it - to get the basic premise of the show. It's more likely you get away with skipping second one, if it actually gets better in third or fourth season (like ST:DS9, although you probably can just watch first four episodes then skip rest of first season and whole second and not miss much). -- [[User:Hkmaly|Hkmaly]] ([[User talk:Hkmaly|talk]]) 12:31, 21 January 2023 (UTC)

The runtime of most movies is O(n), but the runtime of some TV shows is O(n log n) because you have to go back for context. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.2.114|162.158.2.114]] 04:24, 21 January 2023 (UTC)

I was surprised nobody noticed or made mention that with Doctor Who you CAN'T watch from the true beginning (not really) because of all the lost episodes from the 60s and 70s! So I added that to the explanation. I've collected every episode, but for those lost ones all I have is that they have the audio and some pictures so someone made a slideshow as a replacement, or they have the audio and someone animated a replacement (many of these replacements are shorter than an episode, though). And sometimes it isn't even full stories missing - as nearly every story spanned multiple episodes - so LOTS of stories aren't complete. So nobody can TRULY watch every episode from the beginning any more (I've done my best and got to season 3 before I couldn't find time any more). [[User:NiceGuy1|NiceGuy1]] ([[User talk:NiceGuy1|talk]]) 08:07, 21 January 2023 (UTC)

Is "The original Doctor Who, running from 1963-1989 was extremely low budget, and is generally considered to be not as good as the revived series (2005-present), which has a much higher production budget and is typically much more popular with modern viewers (who mainly ignore the older episodes)" actually true? Most of the discussion I've seen is not particularly kind to the revival relative to the heyday of the third through seventh doctors. It seems like someone just made this up to fit the comic's underlying narrative. An actual citation is actually needed. I would suggest in this case that being its own thing means that the quality varies from writer to writer more than from year to year. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.210.145|172.70.210.145]] 08:21, 21 January 2023 (UTC)
:Without having read your comment, I made changes there that might help. But, really, the joke is ''not about'' Doctor Who (outside of the title text)v, and while there is much useful info to impart, the point is that it just isn't covered by the comparison and might even need to begiven a Trivia-like add-on for the detail, and leave the main bit as a "it's complicated!" to not distract..? ;)

I think the title text is less about the number of seasons of Doctor Who and more about the fact that people tend to suggest you start with the 9th Doctor. In other words, they're suggesting you skip the first 8 Doctors. [[User:Mrgvsv|Mrgvsv]] ([[User talk:Mrgvsv|talk]]) 15:22, 21 January 2023 (UTC)

I interpreted the title text as saying that, although Doctor Who would by any reasonable metric (consistency of writing, consistency of worldbuilding, how compelling and/or realistic and/or complex villains are, plausibility, philosophical resonance, CGI, etc.) be rated as 'bad' or 'unlikely to be good' in almost any season, it is nonetheless good for the vast majority of it. But I don't want to put that in unless somebody else reads it that way too.[[Special:Contributions/172.68.35.32|172.68.35.32]] 15:57, 21 January 2023 (UTC)
:To some extent I agree. I've heard enough times "You've never watched DW? I think you'd enjoy Blink..." (or "The Girl In The Fireplace", or "A Good Man Goes To War" or "The Dalek Invasion of Earth" or "The Five Doctors" or... ...whatever the speaker thinks will appeal to the curiosity and/or particular interests of their Who-curious but surprisingly still 'cherry' partner in conversation).
:There are some episodes/serials/entire seasons that I'd not suggest as an intro, but An Unearthly Child is valid, as is Rose (consigning the whole available run of of Classic and especially the TV-Movie to "maybe later, just to get an idea"). But there are clunkers (or "hilarious in hindsight", like the rather ''less'' impressive 'preview' of the London Olympics in Fear Her) that I'd say to watch along the way through a series but not try to make too much judgement of as you advance onwards to other intresting points (Army Of Ghost, etc) or episodes which actually need quite a bit of prior knowledge to appreciate (Turn Left).
:But this is going to be a subjective deal between the existing fan and the 'potential new recruit' that I can only really generalise about. And likely mystify some others as to my choice of examples and attitudes towards them! [[Special:Contributions/162.158.34.231|162.158.34.231]] 19:41, 21 January 2023 (UTC)

Talk:2716: Game Night Ordering

2022-12-26T23:30:01Z

162.158.34.231:

Should we create a category for comics about game night? It can contain at least this and https://xkcd.com/2486/. [[User:Barmar|Barmar]] ([[User talk:Barmar|talk]]) 22:32, 26 December 2022 (UTC)
:I'm not going to oppose it, but keep in mind that it would overlap with [[:Category:Board games]]. --[[Special:Contributions/172.70.178.48|172.70.178.48]] 22:50, 26 December 2022 (UTC)

The rules would seem to be similar to the card game Cheat (or, at least, the version we used to play). Using an ordinary wholly-dealt pack of cards (for any number of players), it was a "blind bid and discard" game whereby each player has to state "<one to four> <card value>s" (or more than four, with merged packs, each of which might be whole or partial) was going on the discard pile, such that the card value was within one (-1, =, +1, with standard wrapping ...>10>J>Q>K>A>2>...) of the prior stated discard. And ''something'' had to be discarded, whether or not the player could technically do so. The forfeit for not continuing play ''or'' challenging, within a generally acceptable thinking time, was the same for either being successfully challenged (you stated you put down two threes, but on checking the dump pile you discarded two sevens) or for the person who wrongly challenged... to pick up the discard pile and be so much further from the ultimate goal of ending up with zero cards (the first the winner, optionally the second, third, etc to do so to earn further ranks just for the sake of continuing/last-ranking the one who ended up as the only one still with cards). - I presume this game just applies the same penalty (buying the food) to anyone who dithers over whether to challenge anything or 'play their own hand'. There doesn't need to be anything more complicated to it. Unless there's also an 'empty hand' winning state, that I can't discern from the brief discourse given in the comic. But it seems more geared to finding the eventual 'loser' (the one who pays up) than any single beneficiary. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.34.230|162.158.34.230]] 23:17, 26 December 2022 (UTC)
:If there is a link for Cheat you should add it. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.206.150|172.70.206.150]] 23:20, 26 December 2022 (UTC)
::Well, I think there's far too many variations... Though, surprisingly, it does look like {{w|Cheat (game)}} actually describes ''my'' learnt version quite well. But I don't think I see any 'time out' penalties mentioned there, and that was the key part of the "play or challenge, don't dither, or you lose" bit to my (sorry, rather long) description above... [[Special:Contributions/162.158.34.230|162.158.34.230]] 23:27, 26 December 2022 (UTC)
::(Plus there's the inverted "loser finder" rather than "winner finder" primary nature of the gameplay. It makes the methodology of play a bit too different.) [[Special:Contributions/162.158.34.231|162.158.34.231]] 23:30, 26 December 2022 (UTC)

2716: Game Night Ordering

2022-12-26T22:59:57Z

162.158.34.231: /* Explanation */ Seems logical that a player that isn't caught out just isn't caught out, plus a limitation on reaction times. (Third time I'm being Edit Conflicted?)

{{comic
| number = 2716
| date = December 26, 2022
| title = Game Night Ordering
| image = game_night_ordering_2x.png
| imagesize = 293x471px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = One good trick, if you get called on a fake service, is to build a working version of it and mention it again the next week.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by a BORED FOOD.NET DRIVER BETWEEN DELIVERIES. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

The comic is poking fun at the proliferation of apps and internet services such as food delivery and money transfer services. The characters are discussing which ones to use after an evening of tabletop gaming. The caption says that the group has a running competition to see who can mention the most fake apps and services without being called out.

[[Cueball]] mentions three food delivery services, {{w|Grubhub}}, {{w|DoorDash}}, and Food.net, and [[Ponytail]] asks him to reimburse her using {{w|Venmo}}, {{w|PayPal}}, or Yahoo Cash. Cueball expresses skepticism about Yahoo Cash, after which Ponytail admits it's a fake service and is thus obligated to pay for Cueball's meal. Food.net, which Cueball mentioned, is not a real service; https://food.net exists but is "not available for use," and is not related to food. Thus he was able to get a fake service past the other players.

Based on Ponytail's offer, it seems that if someone is correctly called out, they have to pay for the player who caught them. When a player isn't caught (e.g. Cueball mentioning Food.net), it seems that 'play' is passed to the next player, presumably with a penalty for hesitating too long to consider whether or not to actually make a challenge ''or'' their own response.

The title text offers a tip for winning the competition after being called out for mentioning a fake service: building a working version of it and then mentioning it again the next week.

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

:[Cueball, Megan, and Ponytail are sitting at a table to order food. Cueball is on his phone, and Ponytail, sitting opposite, on her laptop.]
:Cueball: What should we use to order? Grubhub? DoorDash? Food.net?
:Ponytail: I'll do Grubhub; you can send me money. Do you do Venmo? Paypal? Yahoo Cash?
:Cueball: Yahoo Cash HAS to be fake.
:Ponytail: Yes. Dang. I'll get your share.
:[Caption below the panel:]
:Our game night has an ongoing competition to see who can mention the most fake apps and services without getting called on it.

{{comic discussion}}

User talk:Tbc

2022-12-11T21:14:18Z

162.158.34.231: /* Userpage updates */

==Email change request==
[[User:Lcarsos]] has [[explain xkcd:Community portal/Admin requests#Please remove subaddressing from my account email user:tbc|responded]] and I also concur: this is not a change Administrators can make. You'll need to email or ask [[User:Jeff]] as Lcarsos mentions. [[User:Markhurd|Mark Hurd]] ([[User talk:Markhurd|talk]]) 16:14, 11 August 2013 (UTC)

== Userpage updates ==

Still there? —[[User:While False|While False]] ([[User:While False/explain xkcd museum|'''museum''']] | [[User talk:While False|talk]] | [[special:Contributions/While_False|contributions]] | [[special:Log/While_False|logs]] | [[Special:UserRights/While_False|rights]] | [https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=User:While_False&printable=yes printable version] | [https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=User:While_False&action=info page information] | [https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/Special:WhatLinksHere/User:While_False what links there] | [https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=Special:RecentChangesLinked&days=30&from=&target=User%3AWhile_False related changes] | [https://www.google.com Google search] | current time: {{CURRENTTIME}}) 18:11, 8 December 2022 (UTC)
:'''Does it effing matter..?''' Really, what's the point asking. Especially because, if you [https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?limit=50&title=Special%3AContributions&contribs=user&target=Tbc&namespace=&tagfilter=&start=&end= do a basic check] you see that the current last edit (as I type, but likely forever now) shows "15:26, 10 July 2018 (diff | hist) . . (+445)‎ . . Talk:2016: OEIS Submissions ‎ ((1) answer a Q (2) update on my sequence)" is the last contribution, over four years ago. Not that it deserves mention, nor all those other similarly stupid replies. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.34.231|162.158.34.231]] 21:14, 11 December 2022 (UTC)

2013: Rock

2022-10-24T05:46:48Z

162.158.34.231: /* Explanation */ ...

{{comic
| number = 2013
| date = June 29, 2018
| title = Rock
| image = rock.png
| titletext = It traveled so far to reach me. I owed it my best.
}}

==Explanation==

Megan either knows enough about geology to tell on sight how this particular rock formed, or has brought this rock from a collection. Alternatively she’s simply guessing. Despite admiring its formation, all she wants is to use it as a skipping stone to give it "a weird day in its life" (similar to [[325: A-Minus-Minus]]), and possibly confuse future geologists.

Megan provides three pieces of information about the rock: It formed at the south pole, during an ice age, just before multicellular life developed. Unfortunately, due to disagreements among geologists and palæontologists about when exactly the first multicellular life emerged it is unclear which time Megan refers to - and consequently where she is and what kind of rock she is holding. There are two possibilities:

# The {{w|Francevillian biota}}, living about 2.1 billion years ago, has been proposed as the first multicellular life. If Megan subscribes to this theory, then the Ice age just before would be the {{w|Huronian glaciation}} which extended from 2.4 to 2.1 billion years ago. The land which was at the South pole at that time would eventually [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UwWWuttntio become part of Africa].
# However, not all scientists accept the Francevillian biota as the first multicellular life. If Megan shares this view the first fossils multicellular life would be only 600 million years old (e.g. in the {{w|Doushantuo Formation}}). In this case the ice age "just before" would be the {{w|Cryogenian}} lasting from 720 million to 635 million years ago. The land occupying the South Pole at the time became present-day Scandinavia and Baltic sea.

Thus — assuming that Megan has accurately identified the stone — the stone is either from Western Africa or Northern Europe and has "travelled" from there to get to her.

{{w|Stone skipping}} is the art of throwing a flat stone across water in such a way that it bounces off the surface. Despite there being many factors attributed to successfully skipping a stone (including the attributes of the stone itself), Cueball and Megan are in agreement that skipping this particular stone five times is an above-average throw. (It is, however, far short of the world record of 88 skips set by Kurt Steiner in 2013).

This comic is one of many that look at everyday things from a new, philosophical perspective.

==Transcript==
:[Cueball and Megan are looking at a rock that Megan is holding up in one hand.]
:Megan: This rock erupted from a volcano near the South Pole when the world was frozen over, just before multicellular life arose.

:[Zoom out reveals that Cueball and Megan are standing on the beach of a bay with hills in the background. The water surface is quite flat without any waves. Megan throws the rock which skips 5 times across the water before it sinks.]
:Stone: Skip Skip Skip Skip Skip Plunk

:[Zoom back on Cueball and Megan who are still looking in the direction she threw the stone.]
:Megan: Now it'll be covered in sediment that becomes a new rock layer. It will likely stay buried until it melts down, erodes away, or the earth is consumed by the sun.

:[Cueball and Megan still looking the same way.]
:Cueball: Today was a weird day in its incredibly long life.
:Megan: Five brief skips, then eons of darkness.
:Cueball: Five is a lot, though!
:Megan: It '''''was''''' a good throw.

==Trivia==
Megan throws the rock with her left hand, which supposes that she may be left-handed.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Geology]]
[[Category:Philosophy]]
[[Category:Volcanoes]]

2685: 2045

2022-10-15T18:25:10Z

162.158.34.231: /* Explanation */ Undoubled punc!

{{comic
| number = 2685
| date = October 14, 2022
| title = 2045
| image = 2045_2x.png
| imagesize = 350x457px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = "Sorry, doctor, I'm going to have to come in on a different day--I have another appointment that would be really hard to move, in terms of the kinetic energy requirements."
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by a GIGANTIC NUCLEAR FURNACE (THE SUN) - Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

The characters are talking about upcoming total {{w|solar eclipses}}. Partial solar eclipses are fairly frequent (2–5 per year), but total eclipses are less frequent (about every 18 months), and most of them will not be in convenient locations for a particular set of people. Cueball seems to be talking about total eclipses visible in much of North America: {{w|Solar eclipse of April 8, 2024|April 8, 2024}} and {{w|Solar eclipse of August 12, 2045|August 12, 2045}}. (There's also a {{w|annular eclipse}} on October 14, 2023.) Making plans for eclipses is awkward given the uncertainty present for anything else far in the future, such as whether the attendees will have children by then, and even whether another scheduling program will catch on and replace Google Calendar.

Black Hat claims he can't make it, as he vaguely and obscurely claims he already knows he has "a thing" on August 12, 2045. Events for that far in the future usually have not yet been scheduled for a precise date,{{Citation needed}} and, combined with the fact that Black Hat remembers this date without checking, implies that this could be another of his grand and sinister plans... or he just doesn't want to go.

The title text is someone cancelling a medical appointment to see the eclipse. The eclipse is hard to move because that would require hastening or delaying it by moving the Earth, Moon or Sun, any of which would require vast amounts of energy.{{Citation needed}} People also don't often schedule doctor's appointments decades in advance.{{Citation needed}}

This was published a year before the next eclipse so, if you're someone who plans things a year in advance, this serves as a reminder to put it on your calendar.

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
:[Cueball, a friend also drawn as Cueball, Danish, and Black Hat are standing together. Danish is looking at her phone.]
:Cueball: ...And then after the one in 2024, there's another on August 12, 2045.
:Friend: We're in! We can invite our kids, assuming we have any.
:Danish: I'll create an event. Do you think we'll still be using Google Calendar in 2045?
:Black Hat: Sorry, I'd love to make it, but I have a thing that day.

:Caption: It's weird making plans for eclipses.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Multiple Cueballs]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Danish]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Black Hat]]

1183: Rose Petals

2022-09-19T17:59:58Z

162.158.34.231: Remove residual arrow from past drama

{{comic
| number = 1183
| date = March 8, 2013
| title = Rose Petals
| image = rose petals.png
| titletext = Joke's on you--the Roomba and I had a LOVELY evening.
}}

==Explanation==
This comic strip is playing with romantic movies and gestures used in them. In such movies, one often used romantic gesture is {{tvtropes|FlowersOfRomance|spreading rose petals in the house or apartment}}, making a way towards the bedroom in which a romantic interest/lover is waiting surrounded by roses for a love-making session. The joke is that these petals don't lead from the front door to the bedroom and [[Cueball]]'s lover, but in the opposite direction instead from the bedroom out onto the street. It appears that someone has set up a box of rose petals and an electric fan atop a {{w|Roomba}} (an autonomous robotic vacuum cleaner) as a method of automatically creating such a trail. The title text suggests that despite the other party's intentions of setting this up as a joke to trick Cueball, Cueball ended up having a lovely time with the Roomba.

==Transcript==
:[Cueball enters a living room, to see a line of red rose petals on the floor.]
:[Cueball follows the line of rose petals.]
:[Cueball observes that the line of rose petals leads out the front door, down the driveway, and along the sidewalk.]
:[The rose petals leads up to a table fan behind what appears to be an inverted mailbox filled with rose petals with its back removed. Both are sitting on a Roomba which is motoring down the sidewalk. The fan is on, and is blowing the rose petals out the slit in the front of the mailbox. The contraption is making a sound and the Roomba has its brand written on it]
:Whirrrrrr
:Roomba

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Comics with color]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Romance]]
[[Category:Roomba]]

132: Music Knowledge

2022-09-19T17:59:20Z

162.158.34.231: Remove residual arrow from past drama

{{comic
| number = 132
| date = July 24, 2006
| title = Music Knowledge
| image = music_knowledge.png
| titletext = When Guitar Hero 2 comes out I'll have fresh conversational material for MONTHS.
}}

==Explanation==
The punchline of this comic is that just by naming bands from the game ''{{w|Guitar Hero}}'', you can sound pretty knowledgeable about music without actually knowing anything about the bands you are naming. This is further emphasized when [[Megan]] mentions {{w|Metallica}}, a very famous band that mostly everyone can be assumed to have heard of, and [[Cueball]] has no clue who they are, because Metallica is not featured in Guitar Hero (at the time of this comic writing). A similar premise was demonstrated in [[1859: Sports Knowledge]].

''{{w|Guitar Hero}}'' is a music rhythm video game developed by Harmonix and published by RedOctane for the {{w|Playstation 2}}.

In the title text, Cueball (or possibly Randall) is just hoping for a sequel to ''Guitar Hero'' to get more, and newer, conversational material. As of 2019, there have been 6 main sequels to ''Guitar Hero'', with numerous other spinoffs and expansions to the {{w|Guitar Hero|''Guitar Hero'' series}}.

===List of bands mentioned===

'''Classic Rock'''
*{{w|Boston (band)|Boston}} is an American rock band from Boston, who had their most success in the 1970s and 1980s. Their song "{{w|More Than a Feeling}}" is featured in ''Guitar Hero''.
*{{w|Queen (band)|Queen}} is a British rock band from London, formed in 1970, with many major hits. Their song "{{w|Killer Queen}}" is featured in ''Guitar Hero''.
*"Bowie" ({{w|David Bowie}}) was an English singer and songwriter. His song "{{w|Ziggy Stardust (song)|Ziggy Stardust}}" is featured in ''Guitar Hero''.
*{{w|Joan Jett}} is an American rock singer. She is best known for her work as the frontwoman of her band, Joan Jett & the Blackhearts. Their version of the song "{{w|I Love Rock 'n' Roll}}" is featured in ''Guitar Hero''.

'''Newer stuff'''
*{{w|Franz Ferdinand (band)|Franz Ferdinand}} are a Scottish rock band formed in Glasgow in 2002. Their song "{{w|Take Me Out (song)|Take Me Out}}" is featured in ''Guitar Hero''.
*{{w|The Donnas}} were an American rock band formed in Palo Alto, California in 1993. Their song "{{w|Spend the Night (The Donnas album)|Take it Off}}" is featured in ''Guitar Hero''.
*{{w|Audioslave}} was an American rock supergroup formed in Los Angeles in 2001. Their song "{{w|Cochise (song)|Cochise}}" is featured in ''Guitar Hero''.

'''Other stuff'''
*{{w|Arcade Fire}} is a Canadian indie rock band founded in 2000.
*{{w|The Postal Service|Postal Service}} was an American indie rock band founded in 2001.
*{{w|Freezepop}} is an American electronic band from Boston. Their song "Get Ready 2 Rokk" is featured in ''Guitar Hero'', as a bonus song. This is the first giveaway of Cueball's source for his music knowledge; Freezepop is a fairly obscure indie band best known for their placement in Guitar Hero and other rhythm games.
*{{w|Metallica}} is an American heavy metal band. The band was formed in 1981 in Los Angeles, California. Metallica has won 9 Grammy awards and received 23 Grammy nominations. They were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2009.

Interestingly, neither {{w|Arcade Fire}} nor {{w|The Postal Service|Postal Service}} (mentioned by Megan) are featured in ''Guitar Hero'', so Cueball should not have any knowledge of these bands.

==Transcript==
:[Megan and Cueball converse.]
:Megan: What kind of music do you listen to?
:Cueball: Oh, a mix of things. Some classic rock like Boston, but then of course Queen and Bowie, Joan Jett...
:Megan: Definitely, we need more of those sounds.
:Cueball: But there's some great newer stuff too, like Franz Ferdinand, The Donnas, and Audioslave.
:Megan: Sometimes they're a little much for me. I go more for things like The Arcade Fire, sometimes mixing some electronic sounds like Postal Service.
:Cueball: Oh yeah—have you ever checked out Freezepop?
:Megan: Mhm! Synth pop can be fun, but at the same time, I agree that sometimes you just need to blast some Metallica.
:Cueball: Who?
:Megan: ...Metallica.
:Cueball: Are they new?
:I sound pretty knowledgeable about music until people figure out that I'm just naming bands from Guitar Hero.

==Trivia==
*In his [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zJOS0sV2a24#t=42m20s Google-speech] in late 2007, [[Randall]] expressed some form of dissatisfaction with ''Guitar Hero III'' (coincidentally the first edition in the series to include a Metallica song).
*In 2009, three years after this comic was released, ''Metallica'' eventually got a game {{w|Guitar Hero: Metallica}}.

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]
[[Category:Music]]
[[Category:Video games]]
[[Category:Rhythm Games]]
[[Category:Guitar Hero]]

130: Julia Stiles

2022-09-19T17:58:05Z

162.158.34.231: Remove residual arrow from past drama

{{comic
| number = 130
| date = July 19, 2006
| title = Julia Stiles
| image = julia stiles.jpg
| titletext = I found an old tape of this episode in my family's closet. Check the news section of the forums to see the clip!
}}

==Explanation==
{{w|Julia Stiles}}, who later became a well-known actress as an older teenager and adult, did in fact appear in the children's television show ''{{w|Ghostwriter (1992 TV series)|Ghostwriter}}'' as a 12-year-old in 1993. The sketch in this comic depicts Stiles as she appeared in the episode, and all the dialogue attributed to her is taken from her character's actual dialogue.

Although this dialogue was supposed to establish Erica (Stiles' character) as an expert on hacking, it actually consists mostly of buzzwords (some of which are fake), none of which would impress an actual computer hacker. The term "console cowboys" is stated to be a reference to the book ''{{w|Neuromancer}}'' in the full scene.

The thread in the news section of the forums, as referenced in the title text, could originally be found [http://forums.xkcd.com/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=92 here]. However, as the forums went offline in 2019, the link is no longer available. A copy of the video with better audio can be found [http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=bLlj_GeKniA here].

==Transcript==
:The best thing ever to appear on TV:
:12-year-old Julia Stiles as a hacker in a 1993 episode of PBS's "Ghostwriter"

:[A sketch of Julia Stiles, as a 12-year-old, with a bandana over her head, long wavy hair, elbow shirt, wrist band, and pants.]
:Julia Stiles: Do you know anything about hackers?
:Julia Stiles: Can you jam with the console cowboys in cyberspace?
:Julia Stiles: Never experienced the new wave? Next wave? Dream wave? '''OR''' cyberpunk?

==Trivia==
*This is a rare comic on xkcd to feature a drawing of a recognizable human being, as opposed to a stick-figure representation of them.

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Comics featuring real people]]

134: Myspace

2022-09-19T17:57:05Z

162.158.34.231: Remove residual arrow from past drama

{{comic
| number = 134
| date = July 28, 2006
| title = Myspace
| image = myspace.png
| titletext = It's like they got together and said 'what do we miss most from the internet in 1998? that's right, embedded MIDI!'
}}

==Explanation==
This comic references a common issue that users would experience in the late 2000s on the now outdated website {{w|MySpace}}. At the time, an individual with a profile on that website would be able to choose a song that would automatically play when anyone accessed said profile. This was a heavily promoted feature in which the majority of users would partake. The song would interrupt whatever else the user was doing, such as listening to music, watching a video, or simply browsing in silence.

For further context, MySpace at the time did not have a universal "news feed" to browse, so users would perform most of their interaction with other users by actively going to their profiles. Thus, the auto-playing music became a compounding problem, as the user could experience it several times per browsing session.

The "first five seconds" refers to approximately how long it would take a typical user to find the pause button.

Future social networks would eschew features like this, as they are perceived by the user base to be annoying and distracting. However, the issue in some ways persists, as sites like Facebook now auto-play sound on videos and advertisements (unless the user opts out).

The title text refers to the fact that old pages, back in the late 1990s, used embedded {{w|MIDI}} files, which would not only play automatically, but also have no way to stop playing. The viewer would have to leave the website or externally mute the audio. Additionally, some Macintosh computers at the time had a bug that would automatically play MIDI files at the maximum computer volume, making them an incredible nuisance. MIDI files do not contain actual audio, but instead contain instructions for which notes to play on which musical instruments, and upon playback, these instructions would render sound from a library of MIDI audio samples installed in the computer's operating system — audio samples that were often artificially synthesized and of poor quality, producing music reminiscent of early video games; this may have made these web pages with embedded MIDI even more annoying. (In fairness, it should be noted that high-quality MIDI audio samples are also available, often recorded from actual musical instruments, and capable of reproducing realistic music.)

==Transcript==
:[Computer screen showing a myspace page.]
:Oh man, you and everyone in earshot are gonna '''love''' the first five seconds of this song!

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Comics with color]]
[[Category:Music]]
[[Category:Internet]]
[[Category:Social networking]]

128: dPain over dt

2022-09-19T17:56:03Z

162.158.34.231: Remove residual arrow from past drama

{{comic
| number = 128
| date = July 14, 2006
| title = dPain over dt
| image = dPain_over_dt.png‎
| titletext = You laugh to keep from crying, you do math to keep from crying...
}}

==Explanation==

Another one of the math-love relationship comics, a mathematical depiction of pain as a {{w|differential equation}} is shown. It is hoped that ''dPain/dt'', or the rate of pain (in this case, shrinking), decreases quickly so that the pain will vanish quickly. He's hoping the value for ''d'' will not be larger than a few days or some weeks. Assuming that ''How much she's still in my life'' is a constant [Megan], [http://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=dP%2Fdt+%3D+%28-k1*P%2BG%29*%281%2F%281%2Bexp%28-%28t-k2%29%2Fd%29%29%29 solving the differential equation] leads to the following solution (with unknown ''c1''):
: <math> Pain(t) = {c_1 \left(e^{k_2/d} + e^{t/d}\right)}^{-dk_1} + \frac{[\text{Megan}]}{k_1}</math>

If ''k1'' was positive or if ''k2'' was a large value, the value of ''dPain/dt'' would approach zero. Ideally, ''k1'' would be "How much she's in my life"/''Pain'' (we assume both these values are positive), while ''k2'' would ideally be extremely large. Either of these scenarios approach what would be a situation where the value of ''dPain/dt'' is close to zero. But we don't know the meaning of ''k1'' or ''k2''; these variables are just unpredictable.

In the title text, [[Randall]] changes the famous "laugh to keep from crying" statement to math.

==Transcript==
:dPain/dt = (-k1 Pain + [Image of Megan]) (1/(1 + e ^ -(t-k2)/d))
:''k''1=?
:''k''2=?
:[Image of Megan]=How much she's still in my life
:Please let ''d'' only be a few days... or weeks
:I guess there's some kind of a cutoff after years, where it stops mattering and we can be friends. Do I want that?
:Is ''k''1 positive? Is ''k''2 large?
:Will I ever stop feeling like this?

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Analysis]]
[[Category:Romance]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]

123: Centrifugal Force

2022-09-19T17:55:19Z

162.158.34.231: Remove residual arrow from past drama

{{comic
| number = 123
| date = July 3, 2006
| title = Centrifugal Force
| image = centrifugal force.png
| titletext = You spin me right round baby, right round, in a manner depriving me of an inertial reference frame. Baby.
}}

==Explanation==
[[Black Hat]] has strapped {{w|James Bond}} to a centrifuge and claims that the {{w|Centrifugal force|centrifugal}} force will be lethal. Bond objects that there is no such thing, but just {{w|Centripetal force|centripetal}} force. The notion of centrifugal force is a common one, as we experience it whenever we turn. Teachers will initially teach Newtonian mechanics in an inertial frame, and in inertial frames, the centrifugal force is zero. Instead, a body that moves in a circle does so because of a centripetal force (acting towards the centre of the rotation). This is a reasonable (and correct) view, but it is a subtle point that many students find hard to grasp, as it seems to contradict their personal experience of centrifugal forces. For the sake of exposition, teachers may claim that "There is no such thing as centrifugal force." This, however, is also a misconception, which is addressed in the explanation below:
;Observers' point of view (Black Hat, us, etc.)
:James Bond is moving in a circle, and is therefore accelerating. The force keeping him there is an inward force of contact against the centrifuge, a centripetal force. Via Newton's {{w|Newton's laws of motion#Newton's third law|third law}}, since the centrifuge is pushing Bond inward, Bond is pushing the centrifuge outward. The centrifuge's material is strong enough not to break under this force, however.
;James Bond's point of view
:In James Bond's frame of reference, Bond is at rest. He is kept there by two forces: the above-mentioned inward force of contact against the centrifuge, and an ''outward centrifugal force''. He feels both forces.

As mentioned in the explanation, as the centrifuge rotates faster, the forces needed to keep him in motion get larger, so the force he feels gets larger. This will eventually kill him. The conclusion will be the same regardless of which frame of reference is chosen.

Teachers of mechanics are well aware of this; however, in introductory expositions, these ideas are often not taught. In theoretical mechanics, one describes the positions and velocities of the particles in a model relative to a frame of reference. This means that a time is chosen to be time 0, and positions are chosen to be (0,0,0), (1,0,0), (0,1,0), and (0,0,1). With these chosen, the position and time of any particle in the system can be described. It is an axiom of Newtonian Mechanics that there exist "Inertial Frames." In an inertial frame, a particle will remain at rest or at a constant speed unless acted on by an external force, and Newton's second law takes a simple form: F = ma. The surface of the Earth approximates an inertial frame. In a non-inertial frame, such as one rotating with a giant centrifuge, or moving with an accelerating vehicle, a particle will accelerate, relative to the frame. Newton's second law, when formed in such a frame, is much more complicated, as it has terms for the linear acceleration of the frame, the angular acceleration of the frame, the centrifugal force, and the {{w|Coriolis force}}. These extra terms are sometimes called "fictitious forces," as they result from the choice of the frame of reference. The mathematics required to describe problems in a non-inertial frame is more sophisticated, and all problems may be solved using an inertial frame. Thus is reasonable that teachers at school level "{{w|lie to children}}" and teach the mechanics in inertial frames.

James Bond was almost killed by a centrifuge in {{w|Moonraker (film)|Moonraker}}. The final statement by Black Hat is that said by {{w|Auric Goldfinger}} in {{w|Goldfinger (film)|Goldfinger}} in response to James Bond's question "Do you expect me to talk?"

The title text is inspired by {{w|Dead or Alive (band)|Dead or Alive's}} famous song from 1985, "{{w|You Spin Me Round (Like a Record)|You Spin Me Round}}."

Randall feels very strongly that the centrifugal force is a real thing. He links to this comic in the first footnote of his [[what if?|What if?]] article [https://what-if.xkcd.com/92/ One-Second Day] and the 6th footnote of [https://what-if.xkcd.com/157/ Earth-Moon Fire Pole], stating that it is a real thing, and that he will go so far as to strap arguers to a centrifuge that he or someone he knows apparently owns.

As can also be seen in the [https://twitter.com/bohacekp/status/531500491180875776/photo/1 footnote on page 132] in his [[what if?#The book|What if? book]], he will even fight you about it. From the book: 
"Furthermore, if you're on the equator, you're being flung outward by a centrifugal force1."
 "1Yes, centrifugal. I will fight you."
 (The article itself is about what happens if you lose all your DNA, so it has not much to do with this "real" force... The sentence is just stating that the actual weight loss from losing all your DNA is similar to the weight loss you would experience by moving from the poles to the equator due to this force.)

==Transcript==
:[James Bond, drawn as Cueball, is strapped to a giant wheel suspended from the ceiling. Black Hat is standing next to two levers.]
:Black hat: How do you like my centrifuge, Mister Bond? When I throw this lever, you will feel centrifugal force crush every bone in your body.
:[Same scene, but a closer shot.]
:Bond: You mean centripetal force. There's no such thing as centrifugal force.
:Black hat: A laughable claim, Mister Bond, perpetuated by overzealous teachers of science. Simply construct Newton's laws in a rotating system and you will see a centrifugal force term appear as plain as day.
:[Closer shot, only Bond's head is visible.]
:Bond: Come now, do you really expect me to do coordinate substitution in my head while strapped to a centrifuge?
:Black hat: No, Mister Bond. I expect you to die.

==Trivia==
*This comic is available as a signed print in the [https://store.xkcd.com/products/signed-prints xkcd store].

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Black Hat]]
[[Category:Physics]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Footer comics]] 
[[Category:Comics with xkcd store products]]

665: Prudence

2016-04-22T12:05:05Z

162.158.34.231: correctec book #

{{comic
| number = 665
| date = November 20, 2009
| title = Prudence
| image = prudence.png
| titletext = Moments later, the White Witch rolls up and, confused, tries to tempt the probe with a firmware upgrade.
}}

==Explanation==
This comic references the fantasy novel series "{{w|The Chronicles of Narnia}}" by {{w|C. S. Lewis}}. In the second book (and the first movie), four children discover the fictional world of Narnia which can be accessed through a wardrobe.

The comic mocks at the imprudent behaviour shown by the protagonists of the novel, who enter the world of Narnia without knowing anything about its dangers. In the comic, Megan discovers the magical wardrobe while playing {{w|hide-and-seek}}. Unlike the original characters, Megan does not precipitately set foot into Narnia. Instead, she fetches her technical equipment and sends a remote-controlled probe through the wardrobe door in order to sound the situation first. The probe can be seen in the sixth and eighth panel, encountering {{w|Mr. Tumnus}} the faun with an umbrella at a lamppost in a snowy wood on the last panel. This picture is the first impression of Narnia in the novels and was apparently Lewis' original idea for the series.

The {{w|White Witch}} mentioned in the title text is the main antagonist in the novel. She originally lures one of the protagonists with a hot drink and {{w|Turkish delight}}. In the scenario displayed in the comic, she tries to tempt the probe with a firmware update accordingly.

Megan takes a scientific approach to Narnia again in [[821: Five-Minute Comics: Part 3|a later comic]].

==Transcript==
:[Megan is running towards a closed wardrobe.]
:Someone off-panel: Everyone hide! 99... 98... 97...

:[Megan opens the wardrobe.]
:Wardrobe: click

:Megan, looking inside: !!!

:[Megan looks thoughtful.]

:[Megan walks away.]

:[Megan returns with an armful of electronics.]

:[Megan is kneeling, typing on a laptop, which has a cord extending into the wardrobe.]

:[A robotic probe is approaching Mr. Tumnus, the faun, under the lamppost in narnia.]

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