explain xkcd - User contributions [en]

2803: Geohydrotypography

2023-07-18T03:16:28Z

162.158.63.106: Category tag

{{comic
| number = 2803
| date = July 17, 2023
| title = Geohydrotypography
| image = geohydrotypography_2x.png
| imagesize = 339x389px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = The Atlantic is expanding at about 10 ppm (points per month).
}}

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

This comic is another entry in the "[https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/Category:My_Hobby My Hobby]" series of comics.

[[wikipedia:Plate tectonics|Plate tectonics]] is the theory that the earth's lithosphere is comprised of tectonic plates, which carry the continents. Here, Randall explains that if the surface of the Atlantic Ocean were covered in printed text (as if its surface were a giant sheet of printed paper), the shifting of the continents would increase the amount of text by about 100 words per second.

The title text reports the rate of the ocean's expansion, about 40 millimeters per year, in points per month. A point in typography is 0.3528 millimeters.

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
''A map of the Atlantic Ocean. In the space between the continents, the following is written:''

:If you covered the surface of the Atlantic Ocean with twelve-point printed text, with the lines wrapping at the coasts, the expansion of the ocean basin due to plate tectonics would increase your word count by about 100 words per second.

:[Caption below the panel:]
:My hobby: Geohydrotypography

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:My Hobby]]

2122: Size Venn Diagram

2019-03-11T21:13:04Z

162.158.63.106: /* List of items in the diagram */

{{comic
| number = 2122
| date = March 11, 2019
| title = Size Venn Diagram
| image = size_venn_diagram.png
| titletext = Terms I'm going to start using: The Large Dipper, great potatoes, the Big Hadron Collider, and Large Orphan Annie.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by a Large Terror. Please mention here why this explanation isn't complete. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
This comic is a {{w|Venn diagram}} illustrating the complete set of possible intersections of five different size adjectives: "little, "large", "small", and "great", “big”. Each unique intersection contains a short list of nouns that can be preceded by each of its intersecting adjectives.

For example, "flying fox" (a type of bat) appears at the intersection of "large", "small", and "great", because the species {{w|large flying fox}}, {{w|small flying fox}}, and {{w|great flying fox}} all exist, but there is no such species as a "big flying fox" or a "little flying fox". Similarly, humans have organs named the {{w|small intestine}} and {{w|large intestine}}, but no "little intestine", "great intestine", or "big intestine".

Some descriptors are applied in combination to their noun, rather than individually; for example, "planet" is placed in both the "little" and "big" groups in reference to the 2008 video game ''{{w|Little Big Planet}}''.

In the title text, Randall declares that he will start intentionally using term combinations that don't appear in the above diagram, presumably to confuse people.

A similar concept can be seen in [[181: Interblag]], but in a tabular form rather than a Venn diagram.

===List of items in the diagram===
The following table lists all size/noun combinations that the Venn diagram can generate, with a description of each.
{| class="wikitable"
!Item
!Big !! Great !! Large !! Little !! Small
|-
|'''Aunt'''
|
| [[wiktionary:great-aunt|sister of one's grandparent]]
|
|
|
|-
|'''Bang Theory'''
|currently-accepted {{w|Big Bang|scientific theory}} that explains the origin of the universe; also a {{w|The Big Bang Theory|TV sitcom}}|| || || ||
|-
|'''Barrier Reef'''
|
|{{w|Great Barrier Reef|world's largest coral reef system}}, off the coast of Australia
|
|
|
|-
|'''Bear Lake'''
|A {{w|Big Bear Lake, California|lake and the community around it}} in the mountains of southern California.
|{{w|Great Bear Lake}}, Northwest Territories is the largest lake entirely in Canada, and the fourth-largest in North America.
|
|
|-
|'''Bend'''
{{w|Big Bend|several geographic locations}}, including a {{w|Big Bend National Park|US National Park}} in Texas
{{w|Great Bend (disambiguation)|several geographic locations}}, including a {{w|Big Bend, Kansas|city in Kansas}} and the description of the S-shaped curving of the {{w|Nile River}} in Egypt and Sudan
|
|
|
|-
|'''Billed Seed Finch'''
|
|{{w|Great-billed seed finch|species of finch}}, described in 1851
|{{w|Large-billed seed finch|species of finch}}, described in 1789
|
|
|-
|'''Blue'''
|nickname for [https://www.ibm.com IBM] and the {{w|New York Giants}}, also [https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0095250 a movie]
|
|{{w|large blue|various different butterflies}}
|
|{{w|small blue|butterfly}}, smallest found in the UK
|-
|'''Blue Heron'''
|
|{{w|Great Blue Heron|species of heron}} that measures 91–137 cm (36–54 in) long
|
|{{w|Little Blue Heron|species of heron}} that measures about 60 cm (24 in) long
|
|-
|'''Board'''
| Nickname for the {{w|New York Stock Exchange}} || || || ||
|-
|'''Cardiac Vein'''
|
|{{w|Great cardiac vein}}
|
|
|{{w|Small cardiac vein}}
|-
|'''Circle'''
|
|{{w|Great circle|Largest possible circle}} that can be drawn on a sphere; the {{w|equator}} is an example of one on the Earth
|
|?
|?
|-
|'''Claims Court'''
|
|
|
|
|{{w|Small claims court|Judicial court}} that handles cases involving only relatively small amounts of money
|-
|'''enchilada'''
|[[wiktionary:big enchilada|important person]] || || || ||
|-
|'''Depression'''
|
|{{w|Great Depression|Period of prolonged economic downturn}} that affected the world economy in the 1930's
|
|
|
|-
|'''Dipper'''
|{{w|Big Dipper|Subset collection of stars}} in the constellation {{w|Ursa Major}}
|
|
|Another name for the constellation {{w|Ursa Minor}}
|
|-
|'''Emerald'''
|
|
|?
|?
|?
|-
|'''End'''
|?
|?
|
|
|?
|-
|'''Eyed Conger'''
|eel
|
|eel
|
|eel
|-
|'''Flying Fox'''
|
|{{w|Great flying fox}}
|{{w|Large flying fox}}
|
|{{w|Small flying fox}}
|-
|'''Foot'''
|The well known folk-lore monster ''{{w|Bigfoot}}''
|
|
|Main character in the ''{{w|Land Before Time}}'' film series
|''{{w|Smallfoot (film)|Smallfoot}}'' is an animated film that inverts the Bigfoot legend, focusing on a group of yetis that tell stories about humans.
|-
|'''Forest Bat'''
|
|
|bat
|bat
|
|-
|'''Format'''
|
|
|{{w|Large format|anything larger than 4x5 inches in photography}}
|
|
|-
|'''Foundation'''
|?
|
|?
|?
|
|-
|'''Frog'''
|?
|
|?
|?
|?
|-
|'''Game'''
|Large animals hunted for sport or food, usually referring to the African {{w|big five game}} (lion, leopard, rhinoceros, elephant, cape buffalo); can also refer to the NFL's {{w|Super Bowl}}
|{{w|Great Game|19th Century geopolitical competition}} between the British and Russian Empires over control of Afghanistan
|Large animals hunted for sport or food, such as bears or moose
|
|Small animals hunted for sport or food, such as rabbits or ducks
|-
|'''Hadron Collider'''
|
|
|{{w|Large Hadron Collider|particle accelerator}}
|
|
|-
|'''Hearted'''
|?
|?
|?
|
|
|-
|'''House on the Prairie'''
|
|
|
|{{w|Little House on the Prairie|novel}} (later made into a TV show)
|
|-
|'''Intestine'''
|
|
|gut
|
|gut
|-
|'''Island'''
|{{w|Big Island|largest island in Hawaii}}
|{{w|Great Island|in Cork Harbour, Ireland}}
|{{w|Large Island|island in the Antilles, owned by Grenada}}
|{{w|Little Island|several islands named such}}, plus a song in ''{{w|Randy Newman's Faust}}''
|{{w|Small Island (novel)|novel which was made into a movie}}
|-
|'''League'''
|Nickname for top-level competition
|?
|
|{{w|Little League Baseball|Youth baseball organization}}
|
|-
|'''Lies'''
|{{w|Big Little Lies (TV series)|Big Little Lies}}, a novel made into a TV series; also a [[wiktionary:big lie|form of propaganda]]
|
|{{w|Big Little Lies (TV series)|Big Little Lies}}, a novel made into a TV series; also a {{w|Little Lies|Fleetwood Mac song}}
|
|
|-
|'''Magellanic Cloud'''
|
|
|galaxy
|
|galaxy
|-
|'''Millimeter Telescope'''
|
|
|{{w|Large Millimeter Telescope|radio telescope}}
|
|
|-
|'''One'''
|Nickname for any large natural disaster that is expected to happen in the future, such as a tsunami or an earthquake in California
|Nickname for {{w|Wayne Gretzky}}, considered by many to be the greatest ice hockey player of all time
|
|?
|?
|-
|'''Orphan Annie'''
|
|
|
|{{w|Little Orphan Annie|comic strip}}
|
|-
|'''Planet'''
|Part of the video game ''{{w|Little Big Planet}}''
|
|
|Part of the video game ''{{w|Little Big Planet}}''
|
|-
|'''Potatoes'''
|
|
|
|
|[[wiktionary:small potatoes|something relatively unimportant]]
|-
|'''Pox'''
|
|an old name for {{w|syphilis}}
|
|
|{{w|smallpox|a deadly disease}} which was effectively eradicated by 1977
|-
|'''Professor'''
|
|
|{{w|Large Professor|rap artist}}
|{{w|Little Professor|educational math toy}} (also "Little Professor Syndrome", an informal name for autism)
|
|-
|'''Richard'''
|
|
|
|{{w|Little Richard|musician}}
|
|-
|'''Room'''
|
|?
|
|?
|?
|-
|'''Screen'''
|another name for movies
|
|
|
|another name for TV
|-
|'''Sister'''
|[[wiktionary:big sister|older female sibling]]
|
|
|[[wiktionary:little sister|younger female sibling]]
|
|-
|'''Soldiers'''
|
|
|
|?
|{{w|Small Soldiers|1998 movie}} about sentient animated toys at war
|-
|'''Sur'''
|{{w|Big Sur|coastal region of California}} famed for its mountain scenery
|
|
|
|
|-
|'''Terror'''
|
|{{w|Great Terror|One of two periods of violent political repression}}; one during {{w|Reign of Terror|the French Revolution}} between 1793 and 1794, the other in {{w|Great Purge|the Soviet Union under Josef Stalin}} between 1936 and 1938
|
|
|
|-
|'''Time'''
|major
|
|
|
|minor
|-
|'''Toothed Aspen'''
|tree (bigtooth)
|
|tree
|
|
|-
|'''Wall of China'''
|
|{{w|Great Wall of China|Series of fortifications}} over 13,000 miles long that served to protect various Chinese empires from raids and invasion from their north
|
|
|
|-
|'''White'''
|{{w|Big White Ski Resort|ski resort in British Columbia}}
|{{w|Great white shark|species of shark}} or a {{w|Great White|rock band}}
|{{w|Pieris brassicae|a butterfly}} or {{w|Large White pig|a common breed of pig}}
|
|{{w|Dixeia|multiple species}} of {{w|Pieris rapae|butterflies}} are known as small whites
|-
|'''Wonder'''
|
|
|
|?
|?
|-
|'''World'''
|?
|?
|
|?
|?
|}

==Transcript==


:Big: Bang Theory, Enchilada, Board, Sur
:Little: Orphan Annie, House on the Prairie, Richard
:Large: format, Millimeter Telescope, Hadron Collider
:Small: claims court, potatoes
:Great: Barrier Reef, Wall of China, Depression, Terror, aunt

:Big/Great: Bend, Bear Lake
:Big/Small: time, screen
:Big/Little: Dipper, Planet, lies, sister
:Little/Great: Blue Heron
:Little/Large: Professor, Forest Bat
:Big/Large: Toothed Aspen
:Large/Small: intestine, Magellanic Cloud
:Little/Small: wonder, soldiers
:Small/Great: pox, cardiac vein
:Large/Great: Billed Seed Finch

:Big/Large/Great: hearted
:Big/Small/Great: end
:Big/Little/Small: foot
:Big/Little/Great: league
:Little/Large/Great: (none)
:Big/Little/Large: foundation
:Big/Large/Small: Eyed Conger, Blue
:Little/Large/Small: emerald
:Little/Small/Great: circle, room
:Large/Small/Great: flying fox

:Big/Large/Small/Great: game, white
:Big/Little/Small/Great : world, one
:Big/Little/Large/Great : (none)
:Big/Little/Large/Small : frog
:Little/Large/Small/Great : (none)

:Big/Little/Large/Small/Great: Island

{{comic discussion}}

2120: Brain Hemispheres

2019-03-06T20:26:45Z

162.158.63.106: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 2120
| date = March 6, 2019
| title = Brain Hemispheres
| image = brain_hemispheres.png
| titletext = Neurologically speaking, the LEFT hand is actually the one at the end of the RIGHT arm.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by an AUTONOMOUS LEG and a CHICKEN. Please mention here why this explanation isn't complete. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
It is often said that the right half of the brain controls the left arm and left leg, and vice versa for the left half of the brain. Also, many people incorrectly say that different parts of the brain control logic and emotion. Randall joins and spoofs these by suggesting that the right brain instead controls the upper half of the body. This would mean both that your left leg moves independently of your brain, and that your right arm and right face have 'disputed' control within the brain. All 3 claims are false.

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
:[A stick figure with the left half of the brain colored orange and the right half colored blue. A blue box is overlaid over the left half of the body, and an orange box is overlaid over the top half. An arrow labelled :'DISPUTED/DUAL CONTROL' points towards the overlapping area.]
:'''Neuroscience Fact'''
:The LEFT half of the brain actually controls the RIGHT half of the body... [Arrow pointing to blue rectangle]
:...while the RIGHT half of the brain actually controls the TOP half of the body. [Arrow pointing to orange rectangle]
:This leg is fully autonomous. [Arrow pointing to stick figure's left leg]

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics with color]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Biology]]

2118: Normal Distribution

2019-03-04T11:54:30Z

162.158.63.106: independent, not uncorrelated

{{comic
| number = 2118
| date = March 1, 2019
| title = Normal Distribution
| image = normal_distribution.png
| titletext = It's the NORMAL distribution, not the TANGENT distribution.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by PEOPLE NEW ENOUGH TO STATISTICS TO NOT LEAVE IN ANNOYANCE. Please mention here why this explanation isn't complete. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
[[File:Standard_deviation_diagram.svg|thumb|{{w|Normal distribution}}s and the intervals of the standard deviation are a topic commonly seen in introductory statistics. Randall's chart is similar, but his lines are perpendicular.]]
In statistics, a {{w|Probability distribution|distribution}} is a representation that can be understood in terms of how much of a sample is expected to fall into either discrete bins or between particular ranges of values. For example, if you wanted to represent an age distribution using bins of ten years (0-9, 10-19, etc.), you could produce a bar chart, one bar for each bin, where the height of each bar represents a count of the portion of the sample matching that bin. To turn that bar chart into a distribution, you'd get an infinite number of people, put them into age bins that are infinitely narrow, and then divide each bin count by the total count so that the whole thing added up to 1. It is common to ask how much of the distribution lies between two vertical lines; that would correspond to asking what percent of people are expected to fall between two ages.

Many statistical samplings resemble a pattern called a "{{w|normal distribution}}". A theoretically perfect normal distribution would have an infinite sample size and infinitely small bins. That would produce a bar chart matching the shape of the curve in the comic.

The area between two vertical lines of the distribution represents the probability that the value is between the x-values of the lines, and the total area is 1. Randall finds the area between two ''horizontal'' lines instead, which is mathematically meaningless, because the y-axis of a probability distribution represents {{w|absolute magnitude|magnitude}} as a fraction of unity (although we do have half of the normal curve between the two lines). The items represented by the magnitude at any given horizontal position are indistinguishable, unordered, and interchangeable; the idea that one could be above another is meaningless, and the fact that two items happen to fall at the same position on the y-axis doesn't mean they have anything in common. So, the comic explores the humor of annoying people by deliberately misunderstanding their work.

An alternative explanation is that Randall has invented a new probability distribution, that we could call the ''tangent distribution'' (from the title text), the ''Munroe distribution'', or something of the sort. This distribution is defined as follows: consider the area between the curve in the comic and the horizontal axis, and consider a random point (X, Y) uniformly distributed in that region. Then X has the normal distribution and Y has the tangent distribution. Areas between vertical lines in the comic give probabilities about X, and areas between horizontal lines in the comic give probabilities about Y. So the comic gives a correct statement that the interval of Y values that is 52.682% of the range of Y centered at the midpoint of the range has probability 1/2. Great! Except this distribution has never been discussed before because it has no known application. Moreover, it makes no sense to talk about intervals centered at the midpoint of the range because the distribution of Y is not symmetric: the midpoint of the range is neither the mean, the median, nor the mode. So even if this distribution were interesting, the probability in the comic is not a good way to describe it! We do use such intervals for the normal distribution because the normal distribution is symmetric, and the center of symmetry is the mean, median, and mode.

The title text refers to the {{w|Normal (geometry)|normal line}}, which is perpendicular to the {{w|tangent}} line at a given point. Given a shape of interest, a normal line points perpendicularly away from it at a point, making a 90-degree angle with it in all directions, while a tangent line crosses a point on it and is exactly parallel to it at that point. The normal line is not at all related to the normal distribution, as the former is a geometry concept and the latter is probability/statistics one. Saying this to a statistician would only annoy the statistician further. This refers to the fact that the diagram attempts to divide the graph with horizontal lines when such a division would usually be done with perpendicular vertical lines.

And this is annoying to a probabilist or statistician not only because the terms ''normal'' and ''tangent'' are come from differential geometry and have no established meaning in probability theory. Even the word ''perpendicular'' has no established meaning in probability theory. Of course, the x and y coordinates in the comic are perpendicular (orthogonal) coordinates, but X and Y are not "perpendicular" or "orthogonal" random variables. Even if we give "perpendicular" or "orthogonal" a probabilistic meaning, and the most obvious such meaning is {{w|Independence (probability theory)|independent}} (which even uses a symbol related to the geometric symbol for perpendicularity), X and Y are not perpendicular in this sense.

So the more probability and statistics you know, the more annoying (ha, ha) this comic becomes. It is not just about confusing novices.

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

:[A bell curve of a normal distribution, with the area between two horizontal lines shaded.]

:[The center of the chart is marked between the two lines:]
:Midpoint

:[The distance between the lines is marked to the right of the midpoint, with the label:]
:52.7%

:[A label on the outside of the graph, describing the distance between the two lines:]
:"Remember, 50% of the distribution falls between these two lines!"

:[Caption below the panel:]
:How to annoy a statistician

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Charts]]
[[Category:Statistics]]

Talk:216: Romantic Drama Equation

2018-01-14T02:58:07Z

162.158.63.106:

This can't be right, even at 50/50, the number of gay pairings far outnumbers the number of straight pairings.[[Special:Contributions/80.235.105.134|80.235.105.134]] 20:10, 28 February 2013 (UTC) Moved from article page
:Not quite. Consider a cast of 4 with 2 male (A, B) and 2 female (C, D). Possible gay pairings - 2 (A-B and C-D). Possible straight pairings - 4 (A-C, A-D, B-C, B-D){{unsigned ip|122.200.61.203}}

:He says for large casts. For 2000 cast members, with 1000 of each gender, the gay couplings comes out at 999,000 and straight at 1,000,000. Presumably this is the small cross over the diagram alludes to. If you substitute x = n/2 into the equations, then you get (n^2-2n)/4 for the gay combinations and n^2/4 for the straight combinations, so for gender balanced cast size of n, the straight combinations outnumber the gay by n/2 {{unsigned ip | 141.101.98.229}}

There is a typo in his formula for gay casts. The + should be a -. {{unsigned ip|199.27.128.159}}
No, he's right. Notice the x-n term. x<n, so x-n is negative.[[Special:Contributions/108.162.215.61|108.162.215.61]] 03:14, 2 March 2014 (UTC)

This also the small implication that "Queer as Folk" was so dull that Randall produced this equation to occupy his mind during it. I often find my mind wandering while sat watching soaps with my other half. [[User:Drmouse|Drmouse]] ([[User talk:Drmouse|talk]]) 14:20, 3 January 2014 (UTC)

The first equation can also be understood more simply as the total number of possible pairings, minus the number of straight ones. {{unsigned ip|162.158.23.191}}
:Good point! I wonder where exactly that small crossover region should be. n(n-1)/2 - x(n-x) = x(n-x) so n(n-1)/2 = 2x(n-x) so n(n-1) = 4x(n-x). Hm, he said for large casts, so I suppose Randall's making approximations based on the limit. As n -> infinity, n(n-1) -> n^2, and as x -> n/2, 4x(n-x) -> 2 n(n/2) which is also n^2. So it makes sense that the crossover region gets closer to just being one point at n/2. But can we calculate an exact trend? n(n-1)=4nx-x^2, so x^2-4nx+n(n-1)=0, so x=[4nx±sqrt(16-4(n)(n-1))]/2, so x(1-2n)=x-2nx=±sqrt[16-4(n)(n-1)]/2=±sqrt[4-n(n-1)], so x=±sqrt[4-n(n-1)]/(1-2n). Also, that can't possibly be right because it would give a negative answer but whatever, it's late, I think I did the approximated math right so that's good enough [[Special:Contributions/172.68.78.100|172.68.78.100]] 05:53, 21 June 2017 (UTC)

I think all genders being constant isn't really an assumption of the graph. Obviously the graph only works for a single moment in time in a TV show, since the cast changes over time with the plot of the show (such as when people die in the show). The graph already needs to be re-drawn every time someone enters or leaves the cast. For the data we're tracking, a sex change operation is the same as, for example, a man leaving the show and a woman subsequently entering it. Sure, you could then also say that the cast being constant is an assumption of the graph, but that's not really accurate either. The graph simply doesn't observe the passage of time. You'd have to add a time axis for that, making the graph three-dimensional. [[Special:Contributions/172.68.26.251|172.68.26.251]] 04:15, 21 March 2017 (UTC)

I think a better way to explain the gay pairing equation would be to look at it like this: n(n-1)/2 are all possible pairings, since you take each person(n), pair them with everyone except themselves(multiply by n-1) and then divide by 2 to eliminate pairing the same people twice. Then substract x(n-x) which is the equation for all straight pairings. - x(n-x)=x(x-n), hence the second part of this equation.(Hope I'm editing correctly)

It actually comes out that if each individual's gender is chosen randomly, the expected value for straight casts and for gay casts is the same (not too hard to prove via induction).

376: Bug

2018-01-08T16:56:26Z

162.158.63.106: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 376
| date = January 28, 2008
| title = Bug
| image = bug.png
| titletext = The universe started in 1970. Anyone claiming to be over 38 is lying about their age.
}}

==Explanation==
In computer systems, time is measured starting from some arbitrarily chosen point. That particular time is known as the "{{w|Unix time|epoch}}" for that system. The {{w|UNIX}} operating system internally uses an epoch of January 1, 1970, and measures the time as a number of seconds from then. Since this was intended only for things internal to the OS (File last modified times and the like), using 1-Jan-1970 was safe as no UNIX systems existed before that date. Dates before 1 January, 1970 are represented by negative values.

Commonly known as the {{w|year 2038 problem}}, at 03:14:08 on 19 January 2038, the 32-bit versions of the Unix time stamp will cease to work, as it will overflow the largest value that can be held in a signed 32-bit number. The 64-bit version "will" expire at 15:30:08 on 4 December 292,277,026,596.

[[Cueball]] has clearly misused the system date in some way (probably by using an unsigned data type to store the timestamp, which cannot store negative values (in this case dates before 1970) or doing some other operation that doesn’t support negative values), his friend makes a pun by combining "Epoch" with "Epic Fail" - a colloquial term meaning "a very big mistake was made".

The title text takes the joke to the next level, claiming that the entire universe began when Unix did, and therefore no one can be older than 38 at the time of the release of this comic, 2008. This would now be 48 as of 2018 (the formula is 'x - 1970', where x is the current year), which would explain the bug since no earlier dates would be needed. This is also similar to {{w|Last Thursdayism}}.

==Transcript==
:[Cueball sits at a computer, staring at the screen and rubbing his chin in thought. A friend stands behind him.]
:Cueball: Weird — My code's crashing when given pre-1970 dates.
:Friend [pointing at Cueball and his computer]: Epoch fail!

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Computers]]
[[Category:Programming]]
[[Category:Puns]]

Talk:915: Connoisseur

2018-01-04T16:42:11Z

162.158.63.106:

Let's face it: every wine connoisseur is an alcoholic. You have to drink a lot of wine over a long period of time to begin distinguishing all wine-types, flavors etc. Rule of nature. No discussion.{{unsigned ip|162.158.83.144}}

This is one of those xkcd comics that I'm just constantly linking back to as an image retort. I love Randall. '''[[User:Davidy22|{{Color|#707|David}}y²²]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 01:28, 17 April 2013 (UTC)

I expanded the explanation and removed the incomplete tag. [[Special:Contributions/173.245.53.117|173.245.53.117]] 14:47, 5 December 2013 (UTC)

The current incomplete tag asks why voice 1 calls Joe Biden "the man" and voice 2 calls him J.B. As far as I can see, there is no deeper/cryptic meaning to the choice of these words, other than possible space saving. Both 'J.B.' and 'the man' are shorter than 'Joe Biden'. I personally don't believe that this requires any further explanation, but I will leave the incomplete tag for now. If there are no updates to the page or additional discussion here, I will remove the incomplete tag in due course. --[[User:Pudder|Pudder]] ([[User talk:Pudder|talk]]) 13:06, 30 July 2015 (UTC)

:The stars are named Joe Biden, though. Hmmmm... [[User:RedHatGuy68|RedHatGuy68]] ([[User talk:RedHatGuy68|talk]]) 05:20, 23 January 2016 (UTC)

This could be another 242 reference; the explanation to [[903: Extended Mind]] describes Randall's use of 242 as an old inside joke, ãnd 242 also appears in [[688: Self-Description]]. [[User:Pelosujamo|Pelosujamo]] ([[User talk:Pelosujamo|talk]]) 20:07, 5 February 2017 (UTC)

How can it be a reference to 1051 if it came before 1051[[Special:Contributions/162.158.63.106|162.158.63.106]]