explain xkcd - User contributions [en]

Talk:2434: Vaccine Guidance

2021-03-09T04:43:10Z

162.158.74.139:

Wow, I'm so early, there isn't even a transcript yet. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.74.139|162.158.74.139]] 04:43, 9 March 2021 (UTC)

Talk:2433: Mars Rovers

2021-03-09T04:40:26Z

162.158.74.139:

I just realised something: We should totally establish the terms "Mars rover" and "Mars hover" to distinguish these two categories of "stuff we put on Mars". [[User:Fabian42|Fabian42]] ([[User talk:Fabian42|talk]]) 10:58, 6 March 2021 (UTC)
:But to rove is to wander/roam (aimlessly, or at least without much advanced certainty), and doesn't require wheeled movement - or even legged, which the existing rovers strictly aren't unless the wheels ''totally'' jam. To hove is to linger/wait and generally intend to stay put or halt ("Hove to, ye landlubbers! Arrrr!" - a 'suggestion' that might be made by a piratical "Sea Rover")... I think I'd rather Ingy be classed as a Rover than merely a Hover. :-p [[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.60|141.101.98.60]] 15:06, 6 March 2021 (UTC)

This implies that Randall will be modifying his Roomba to look/act like Soujouner.
On first reading, I thought maybe Randall figured that mentioning "roomba sojourner mod" in title text would make it so that the *next* time he searches for that phrase, he will no longer be sorely disappointed. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.216.60|108.162.216.60]] 17:44, 6 March 2021 (UTC)

Which comic was it that Randall said he wanted a pet sojourner rover?
[[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.244|141.101.98.244]] 21:21, 7 March 2021 (UTC)

I find the Fuck Grapefruit reference true but irrelevant (Especially as the explanation of why these are related is long and basically goes "There are connected/similar... blah, blah... they are acually not _that_ similar..."). Should be Trivia at most or even completely deleted. [[User:Elektrizikekswerk|Elektrizikekswerk]] ([[User talk:Elektrizikekswerk|talk]]) 08:10, 8 March 2021 (UTC)

Themain thing, which is not mentionned in the explanation, is that for Randall cute = small (eg rabbits) --[[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.244|141.101.98.244]] 08:36, 8 March 2021 (UTC)

So given what Randall mentioning a subject tends to do, what's the over/under on seeing Sojourner Roombas within the month? [[Special:Contributions/172.69.22.252|172.69.22.252]] 16:20, 8 March 2021 (UTC)

sojourner is not very capable its just a solar powered camera of wheels but it is very small and cute.--[[Special:Contributions/108.162.219.152|108.162.219.152]] 20:08, 8 March 2021 (UTC)

I'm disappointed there's no mention of Beagle 2. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.75.90|162.158.75.90]] 23:58, 8 March 2021 (UTC)

Talk:2433: Mars Rovers

2021-03-09T04:40:12Z

162.158.74.139: /* Headline text */

==

I just realised something: We should totally establish the terms "Mars rover" and "Mars hover" to distinguish these two categories of "stuff we put on Mars". [[User:Fabian42|Fabian42]] ([[User talk:Fabian42|talk]]) 10:58, 6 March 2021 (UTC)
:But to rove is to wander/roam (aimlessly, or at least without much advanced certainty), and doesn't require wheeled movement - or even legged, which the existing rovers strictly aren't unless the wheels ''totally'' jam. To hove is to linger/wait and generally intend to stay put or halt ("Hove to, ye landlubbers! Arrrr!" - a 'suggestion' that might be made by a piratical "Sea Rover")... I think I'd rather Ingy be classed as a Rover than merely a Hover. :-p [[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.60|141.101.98.60]] 15:06, 6 March 2021 (UTC)

This implies that Randall will be modifying his Roomba to look/act like Soujouner.
On first reading, I thought maybe Randall figured that mentioning "roomba sojourner mod" in title text would make it so that the *next* time he searches for that phrase, he will no longer be sorely disappointed. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.216.60|108.162.216.60]] 17:44, 6 March 2021 (UTC)

Which comic was it that Randall said he wanted a pet sojourner rover?
[[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.244|141.101.98.244]] 21:21, 7 March 2021 (UTC)

I find the Fuck Grapefruit reference true but irrelevant (Especially as the explanation of why these are related is long and basically goes "There are connected/similar... blah, blah... they are acually not _that_ similar..."). Should be Trivia at most or even completely deleted. [[User:Elektrizikekswerk|Elektrizikekswerk]] ([[User talk:Elektrizikekswerk|talk]]) 08:10, 8 March 2021 (UTC)

Themain thing, which is not mentionned in the explanation, is that for Randall cute = small (eg rabbits) --[[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.244|141.101.98.244]] 08:36, 8 March 2021 (UTC)

So given what Randall mentioning a subject tends to do, what's the over/under on seeing Sojourner Roombas within the month? [[Special:Contributions/172.69.22.252|172.69.22.252]] 16:20, 8 March 2021 (UTC)

sojourner is not very capable its just a solar powered camera of wheels but it is very small and cute.--[[Special:Contributions/108.162.219.152|108.162.219.152]] 20:08, 8 March 2021 (UTC)

I'm disappointed there's no mention of Beagle 2. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.75.90|162.158.75.90]] 23:58, 8 March 2021 (UTC)

Talk:2220: Imagine Going Back in Time

2019-12-09T18:42:12Z

162.158.74.139: separate comments by different people

I wonder if Randall had a particular "frog pokemon" in mind? Croagunk, Toxicroak, Froakie, Frogadier, Greninja...? [[Special:Contributions/172.69.44.150|172.69.44.150]] 19:58, 25 October 2019 (UTC)
:Hint: First, Pokemon Go didn't finished deploying generation 5 pokemons yet. Second, Trump is totally toxic. -- [[User:Hkmaly|Hkmaly]] ([[User talk:Hkmaly|talk]]) 23:17, 25 October 2019 (UTC)
::The Poliwhirl family dates from Generation 1 and is the "original" frog pokémon. --[[Special:Contributions/162.158.122.36|162.158.122.36]] 23:59, 25 October 2019 (UTC)
:::Yes so fur sure the frog Pokémon Politoed from gen 2, since the Poliwag is tadpoles. I agree that Toxicroach or Croagunk would fit better with Trump in Randall's view, but it is a reelect Trump fan, so he would most likely use a green frog that is not "ugly". Have added this to the description with link to page with picture. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 22:08, 26 October 2019 (UTC)
::::Agree that Politoed is the most likely, but contrary to what the page says currently, croagunk and toxicroak have been in the game for a few months now. (I just had a bunch of croagunk in my area and evolved a toxicroak, which is why I had them in mind when I made my previous comment.)[[Special:Contributions/172.69.44.150|172.69.44.150]] 20:13, 28 October 2019 (UTC)

"... and I suppose Marla Maples is the first lady!" [[Special:Contributions/172.68.38.88|172.68.38.88]] 20:04, 25 October 2019 (UTC)

I know that Randall, and by extension Cueball, are not enthusiastic about the idea of dealing with a player who goes by "Reelect Trump 2020", but what does it mean that there is a frog Pokemon in the gym alongside? In other words, is Cueball's annoyance just that there is a Trump-promoting player in the game or is there more to it than that? --[[Special:Contributions/172.69.90.46|172.69.90.46]] 20:16, 25 October 2019 (UTC)
:I see that at least you made the connection to the original "Back to the Future" when Marty meets Doc in 1955 and tells him that Ronald Reagan is President. [[User:RAGBRAIvet|RAGBRAIvet]] ([[User talk:RAGBRAIvet|talk]]) 06:04, 28 October 2019 (UTC)

:Definitely the Trump-promoting, as Toxicroak wouldn't be that hard pokemon to remove, with max CP 2488. Wait, "next to mine"? Ok, so he plays same team as Cueball and Cueball CANT remove it due to that. -- [[User:Hkmaly|Hkmaly]] ([[User talk:Hkmaly|talk]]) 23:17, 25 October 2019 (UTC)
::And it is not a toxic pokémon when it is a fan of Trump that put it in! See above. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 22:08, 26 October 2019 (UTC)

:The frog Pokemon is likely a reference to Pepe the Frog, which is a meme popular with Trump supporters--[[Special:Contributions/172.68.90.112|172.68.90.112]] 20:52, 25 October 2019 (UTC)

Trump was quite sufficiently (in)famous by 1999. Remember that he divorced his most famous wife, Ivana, in 1991. His various business and romantic <s>failures</s> ventures were regular tabloid fodder throughout the 90s. If you think a 1999 person would have never heard of Trump, you're obviously <s>too young to be using the internet</s> younger than I am. I think the main joke in this comic is that Cueball goes back expecting his younger self to go, "wait, re-elect WHO??", but his younger self doesn't even bat an eyelash at that part. [[Special:Contributions/173.245.52.175|173.245.52.175]] 21:03, 25 October 2019 (UTC)
:Famous, yes. Expected to became president, no. And young Cueball might be too young to care about tabloids and celebrities. -- [[User:Hkmaly|Hkmaly]] ([[User talk:Hkmaly|talk]]) 23:17, 25 October 2019 (UTC)
:Nobody - not even Randall - is suggesting ANYBODY didn't know who Trump was in 1999. He's been quite famous for decades. The surprise here is that he's president, not who he is. [[User:NiceGuy1|NiceGuy1]] ([[User talk:NiceGuy1|talk]]) 03:29, 26 October 2019 (UTC)
:He was famous enough to be a recognizable cameo in ''Home Alone 2'' with no explanation (and ''Home Alone 2'' was basically ''the'' holiday movie at the time, since no one liked ''Home Alone 3''), but that fame was nothing compared to how famous he'd become later--[[Special:Contributions/162.158.122.36|162.158.122.36]] 15:07, 27 October 2019 (UTC)
::There is a ''Home Alone 3''? oO [[User:Elektrizikekswerk|Elektrizikekswerk]] ([[User talk:Elektrizikekswerk|talk]]) 14:05, 28 October 2019 (UTC)

Has no one considered that we have been "dumbed down" to the point that so-called adults playing Pokemon and so-called adults voting for Trump are inextricably linked and are symptoms of the same malaise - a general inability to think for ourselves and a deep susceptibility to marketing, advertising and following the herd[[Special:Contributions/108.162.241.148|108.162.241.148]] 03:05, 26 October 2019 (UTC)
:Yes, but nobody important. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.34.98|172.69.34.98]] 03:11, 26 October 2019 (UTC)
::Adults playing Pokemon just means they’re happy doing what makes them happy, why should someone be ashamed of it? [[Special:Contributions/162.158.166.141|162.158.166.141]] 10:35, 26 October 2019 (UTC)
:::Yes, I play Pokémon Go, I'm in my forties, and most of the other players I play with are adults although here it has had a revive with the kids in school again. I get a lot of fresh air and more exercise than I got before starting to play 2,5 year ago. And with Randall's obsession with Pokémon and his knowledge about the games mechanics he most likely plays it himself. There are millions of adults playing every day as it is one of the most downloaded apps in app store. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 22:08, 26 October 2019 (UTC)
:::If *children* are mocking you for being childish, you *should* probably sit down and think about it for a moment. The thought seems to have struck Randall, too. --[[Special:Contributions/162.158.90.66|162.158.90.66]] 21:58, 28 October 2019 (UTC)

Just as I remember reading in a 1969 textbook that Ronald Regan was going to someday be elected President if (then current) political trends that became the “southern strategy” weren’t addressed, I also remember reading at least one op-Ed piece in the late 1990’s that if the political parties didn’t clean house and get rid of undue influence from big donors that someday Donald Trump would become President. There were people worried about Trump in 1999.[[Special:Contributions/162.158.62.129|162.158.62.129]] 04:13, 26 October 2019 (UTC)

I can't help but wonder if the wording of the title text is meant to invoke another shocking reveal when considering what "trendy adults" really are into these days.--[[User:Henke37|Henke37]] ([[User talk:Henke37|talk]]) 15:30, 26 October 2019 (UTC)

What's with the width of this comic? It's too wide, and it breaks out of the standard xkcd.com layout a little bit. --[[User:NeatNit|NeatNit]] ([[User talk:NeatNit|talk]]) 16:31, 27 October 2019 (UTC)
:I noticed this, too. Has this happened before? -- [[User:Dtgriscom|Dtgriscom]] ([[User talk:Dtgriscom|talk]]) 14:47, 28 October 2019 (UTC)

20 years ago, I was a whiny little shit and would have probably ranted that I'm to cool for Pokemon, instead of just admitting that it looks interesting and would have wanted a gameboy to play it myself. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.55.22|172.69.55.22]] 10:10, 28 October 2019 (UTC)

I am not sure which I find more disturbing. Randall's apparent unthinking Trump Derangement Syndrome (I would have imagined him too intelligent to fall for mere politics) or the fact that Explain XKCD seems to have been invaded by Goldman Sachs advertising. If you are going to use an ad rotator, could you at least set it to display DIFFERENT adverts on the same page? I don't need to see the same advert 3 times. [[User:Seebert|Seebert]] ([[User talk:Seebert|talk]]) 12:55, 28 October 2019 (UTC)
:In all fairness, I must point out that it is ''Cueball'' giving an kneejerk anti-Trump reaction in this comic, not Randall himself. While Randall does often project his own views through the characters of his comic, we cannot say for certain that that is the case here. In the past he has often created characters with incorrect or strawman positions in order to make a point or to satirize them. [[User:Hawthorn|Hawthorn]] ([[User talk:Hawthorn|talk]]) 13:46, 28 October 2019 (UTC)

Hmm, It seems to me that today's Cueball's (TP) dismay with the past's Cueball's (PC) reaction isn't about Trump, it's about calling him old and questioning his continued Pokemon-ing. This seems more in line with my impression of his priorities in life. With the two of them together, they could easily lose track of the 2nd half of the original odd statement and go off on the "what are you saying about me?" tangent - which makes the "I didn't come here to be mocked!" make a little more narrative sense. PC doesn't show any interesting in the Trump aspect, merely the idea of TP's still playing and being 20 years older, seems to be worth his consideration. I don't see it as changing the future sort of thing, don't you have to kill your grandfather or something to do that? [[User:Afbach|Afbach]] ([[User talk:Afbach|talk]])

I had the feeling that old Cueball dies/disappears, because young one decides not to do childish things at age 40, altering the future. [[Special:Contributions/172.68.226.16|172.68.226.16]] 10:19, 30 October 2019 (UTC)

Do you all think we should add the Multiple Cueballs tag to this comic? Because...um...yeah. --[[User:Account|Account]] ([[User talk:Account|talk]]) 19:35, 11 November 2019 (UTC)

{{Talk:2220: Imagine Going Back in Time/Ads}}

Talk:2167: Motivated Reasoning Olympics

2019-11-20T16:24:39Z

162.158.74.139:

Reminds me of the Monty Python Argument Clinic :) [[User:Hawthorn|Hawthorn]] ([[User talk:Hawthorn|talk]]) 16:50, 24 June 2019 (UTC)

It certainly DOESN'T remind you of the Monty Python Argument Clinic, you gormless git! [[Special:Contributions/162.158.214.28|162.158.214.28]] 17:46, 24 June 2019 (UTC)
:Yes it DOES![[Special:Contributions/141.101.105.192|141.101.105.192]] 17:57, 24 June 2019 (UTC)
::No it doesn’t.
:::You're just being contrary. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.214.136|162.158.214.136]] 20:14, 24 June 2019 (UTC)
::::No I'm not. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.54.141|172.69.54.141]] 08:25, 25 June 2019 (UTC)
:::::''Dinggggg''...Your 5 minutes is up! [[User:Ianrbibtitlht|Ianrbibtitlht]] ([[User talk:Ianrbibtitlht|talk]]) 13:26, 25 June 2019 (UTC)
:::::: That was never 5 minutes! [[User:N0lqu|-boB]] ([[User talk:N0lqu|talk]]) 13:59, 25 June 2019 (UTC)
:::::::Quite ironic, I see...[[Special:Contributions/162.158.74.139|162.158.74.139]] 16:24, 20 November 2019 (UTC)
“Rationalizations are more important than sex. When’s the last time you went a week without a rationalization?” - Woody Allen [[User:Miamiclay|Miamiclay]] ([[User talk:Miamiclay|talk]]) 05:06, 27 June 2019 (UTC)

== Explain "Motivated Reasoning"? ==

Shouldn't the explanation include some contextual explanation of "[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Motivated_reasoning Motivated Reasoning]" as pertaining to Cueball's behavior shown in the comic?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Motivated_reasoning
[[User:ProphetZarquon|ProphetZarquon]] ([[User talk:ProphetZarquon|talk]]) 20:37, 24 June 2019 (UTC)

: I added a Wikipedia link to Motivated Reasoning in the title text explanation earlier, but I'm wondering if some of that detail should be moved earlier in the explanation. [[User:Ianrbibtitlht|Ianrbibtitlht]] ([[User talk:Ianrbibtitlht|talk]]) 23:10, 24 June 2019 (UTC)

:: Yeah, I'd never heard of "Motivated Reasoning" before, so came here expecting the explanation to begin "Motivated reasoning is ...", before going into the details of the comic. A lot of the text at the moment feels more like an extended transcript than an explanation (e.g. "Ponytail rightly points out that the trophy says he only got second place."). It would be great if someone who's familiar with the term could add a better summary. - (too lazy to create an account right now) [[Special:Contributions/141.101.105.192|141.101.105.192]] 10:32, 25 June 2019 (UTC)

== Better quality images? ==

This probably isn't the right place but I figured this would get the most visibility. I noticed that the image here made it really hard for me to see the "2" engraved on the trophy, but the image on xkcd.com was much clearer. Yada yada yada, turns out there's much higher quality images on xkcd.com for all comics starting with [[1084]], for example for this comic:

https://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/motivated_reasoning_olympics.png is the normal image,

https://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/motivated_reasoning_olympics_2x.png is the higher resolution image.

Shouldn't the wiki start using the higher quality images?

--[[User:NeatNit|NeatNit]] ([[User talk:NeatNit|talk]]) 17:53, 24 June 2019 (UTC)

: While there is a higher quality image available on the XKCD site, it's not the one displayed on the comic on xkcd.com. The same lower-quality image is displayed on both sites by default. [[User:Ianrbibtitlht|Ianrbibtitlht]] ([[User talk:Ianrbibtitlht|talk]]) 18:44, 24 June 2019 (UTC)

:: I am seeing the higher-quality image on xkcd.com. I guess it has to do with screen DPI. The HTML on xkcd.com is:
:: <pre><img src="//imgs.xkcd.com/comics/motivated_reasoning_olympics.png" title="..." srcset="//imgs.xkcd.com/comics/motivated_reasoning_olympics_2x.png 2x"/></pre>
:: So it probably selects it automatically only when it'd be useful. This wiki doesn't, obviously, since it doesn't have the higher-quality image and, best I can tell, there doesn't seem to be a way to make a template do this.

:: I'm trying to figure this out right now on [[User:NeatNit/Template/comic]] but I can't find a way to make it display an image at half of its resolution, without me knowing its resolution in advance. I also can't find any parser function that returns an image's dimensions. So annoying. --[[User:NeatNit|NeatNit]] ([[User talk:NeatNit|talk]]) 18:52, 24 June 2019 (UTC)

:::I would expect this can't work correctly without support for srcset in mediawiki itself. -- [[User:Hkmaly|Hkmaly]] ([[User talk:Hkmaly|talk]]) 22:13, 24 June 2019 (UTC)

:::: Turns out MediaWiki supports srcset natively but only when an image is embedded at a smaller size, i.e. you have to upload the 2x image and embed it at half size, and let the wiki take care of everything else.

:::: If we want to do this we'll have to teach the bot some new tricks. I'll talk about this in [[User talk:DgbrtBOT]]. --[[User:NeatNit|NeatNit]] ([[User talk:NeatNit|talk]]) 13:54, 25 June 2019 (UTC)

:I have also noticed that this wiki displays lower resolution images than the official xkcd site, when viewing at high DPI. I had previously assumed it was just a moderate resolution copy chosen to conserve explainxkcd server resources. I would love to see a higher resolution when available. [[User:ProphetZarquon|ProphetZarquon]] ([[User talk:ProphetZarquon|talk]]) 20:18, 24 June 2019 (UTC)

== Olympics vs Splinter League ==

I removed the newly added paragraph suggesting the competition was being held by the splinter league. The Olympics should include representation from all leagues and likely includes the best from the state-sponsored league in addition to Cueball's splinter league. [[User:Ianrbibtitlht|Ianrbibtitlht]] ([[User talk:Ianrbibtitlht|talk]]) 13:18, 25 June 2019 (UTC)

: "I mean ''technically'' it's not actually the Olympics, but when you consider..." [[Special:Contributions/162.158.58.227|162.158.58.227]] 21:02, 25 June 2019 (UTC)
:: Is this more motivated reasoning? I mean ''Olympics'' is right there in the name! How much more technical can you get than the name? However, I think what you're saying is it's not the actual ''Olympics'', as in the one held every 4 years in the summer. Oh, and the other one held every 4 years in the winter. There's another one for physically-challenged people (like my wife) too, the Paralympics. So, I don't see any problem with treating this Olympics like all of the others. [[User:Ianrbibtitlht|Ianrbibtitlht]] ([[User talk:Ianrbibtitlht|talk]]) 06:13, 26 June 2019 (UTC)
::: We only have his word for it that ''Olympics'' is in he name; that carries as much weight as his claim that his trophy is for 1st place... [[Special:Contributions/172.68.46.227|172.68.46.227]] 17:43, 26 June 2019 (UTC)

: I definitely read this as being his splinter league's "Olympics" because he says he's surprised by the corruption. If it were held by the statewide league (or a larger one) then I'd expect the motivated reasoner to conclude that this is a case of the general corruption his splinter league was protesting. {{unsigned ip|162.158.118.80|06:37, 26 June 2019 (UTC)}}
:: (Moved unsigned comment to end of thread per suggested practice and added unsigned wikitext markup) I think he's surprised by the corruption because he expected his splinter league's protest action to improve the corruption, but he thinks the corruption has instead gotten worse rather than better. [[User:Ianrbibtitlht|Ianrbibtitlht]] ([[User talk:Ianrbibtitlht|talk]]) 14:05, 26 June 2019 (UTC)
::: I also read it as being the splinter "Olympics", with the implication that similar splits had happened several times previously and are the reason why the previous league was only statewide in the first place.<br />(For what it's worth, I'm used to that kind of competition being known as the such-and-such Olympiad rather than the such-and-such Olympics, as in the assorted branches of the International Science Olympiad, but I think that's just a dialectal difference.) [[Special:Contributions/172.68.182.46|172.68.182.46]] 16:34, 26 June 2019 (UTC)