explain xkcd - User contributions [en]

Talk:2457: After the Pandemic

2021-05-02T11:00:38Z

162.158.74.67:

Other benefits of normalizing wearing masks: keeping warmer in the winter; protecting face from sun; reducing breathing of smoke and fine particulates; potentially reduce value of facial matching in face of ubiquitous surveillance. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.105.124|141.101.105.124]] 18:04, 30 April 2021 (UTC)
:Between our rapidly deteriorating air quality (check out how much of the dust we breathe is from plastic clothing fibers); ubiquitous tracking by an increasing number of increasingly untrusted groups (not that we can evade that with masks, only make it more error prone); & just the fact that we still interact with thousands who then interact with ''other'' thousands on a scale impossible only two centuries ago, making transmissible disease spread almost a certainty; ... I'd strongly prefer that ''everyone'' who can, wear a mask in any shared public space.
:Awkward, uncomfortable, & socially inconvenient? Yes. ''Better than an endless procession of mid-level epidemics, & a population with initially minor but alarmingly widespread respiratory & cardiac issues which progressively worsen?'' (again, look at air quality since 1999) ''Also yes.''
:If we're entering a crowded space, please just ''wear the masks, people.'' Now & always.
:Might as well get used to it, because within this generation, we're all going to need masks to breathe normally, anyway; & I'm not exaggerating even a little.
:[[User:ProphetZarquon|ProphetZarquon]] ([[User talk:ProphetZarquon|talk]]) 19:25, 30 April 2021 (UTC)
:Mask wearing was already super common in Asia before the pandemic because of this. I'm hoping it gets more common here in the US too [[User:Opalmagpie|Opalmagpie]] ([[User talk:Opalmagpie|talk]]) 20:53, 30 April 2021 (UTC)
:If there is enough sun to be worth protecting from it, I don't need to protect face, I need to protect eyes. And I didn't find mask which doesn't fog sun glasses yet. Luckily, in the time of year with most respiratory infections sun glasses are not so necessary. -- [[User:Hkmaly|Hkmaly]] ([[User talk:Hkmaly|talk]]) 01:21, 2 May 2021 (UTC)

@Randall, we get it, you worry about COVID. Really, we get it.
:Right? It's like the comedians who all went 99% political during the last few years: Even if I agree completely, it isn't as funny after the 24th time you make a joke about it.
:[[User:ProphetZarquon|ProphetZarquon]] ([[User talk:ProphetZarquon|talk]]) 19:25, 30 April 2021 (UTC)
::Good luck telling Randall what to do. I doubt he reads this website anyways. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.34.56|172.69.34.56]] 01:30, 1 May 2021 (UTC)

Maybe another thing that will become common is self-quarantining when you're sick. You don't need to wear a mask if you don't go out. And now that we've learned that it's possible to work from home in many professions, you don't need to go into the office when you're contagious. [[User:Barmar|Barmar]] ([[User talk:Barmar|talk]]) 21:47, 30 April 2021 (UTC)
: Bingo! Back when I was a kid, in the 70's, it was understood that when you're sick, you stay home and get rest. Today, everybody thinks it's just fine to take some over-the-counter pill to relieve the symptoms and go on with your life, which will slow your recovery and infect other people. Maybe now, we can get back to some common sense? Probably not, but one can hope. [[User:Shamino|Shamino]] ([[User talk:Shamino|talk]]) 12:32, 1 May 2021 (UTC)
:: I'm surprised it took a big epidemic for some people to realize that most professions can be done from home just as easily as from office. Only reason it's harder to work from beach is that most displays are hard to read in direct sun. -- [[User:Hkmaly|Hkmaly]] ([[User talk:Hkmaly|talk]]) 01:21, 2 May 2021 (UTC)

"[...] wear a mask when they are sick, as is common in many East Asian countries" - This true? Prior to the pandemic, E.Asian students (my most frequent contact with this ethnic group, who are not actual nth-generation habituated/assimilated and so never had the then vestigial mask-wearing tendency) could be observed wearing masks around the nearby University city mostly in September, dropping off in frequency once they seemed to realise that the air was not anything as ''polluted'' as back home, not for fear of disease. Or so I gathered from what conversations I heard about it. (The most egregious example of this was witnessing an individual leaning against an alley-wall, mask shifted away from his mouth so he could 'safely' ''smoke''... Avoiding the barely notable car-fumes in order to directly inhale death-stick fumes.) Now, I've not had enough post-outbreak experience of such imported attitudes to masks, but I still feel that those who are not openly sick ''of'' masks, in the open air, are probably wearing them regardless of personal illness. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.107.78|141.101.107.78]] 02:03, 1 May 2021 (UTC)

"It's just they're terribly comfortable. I think everyone will be wearing them in the future."[[Special:Contributions/162.158.74.67|162.158.74.67]] 10:59, 2 May 2021 (UTC)

;Enough with the COVID comics
I mean, seriously, if this is all XKCD has become, then it's time to move on. To help emphasize that point, I feel a new topic is in order.<br>Please post all your COVID-comic-hating comments here. {{unsigned ip|172.69.22.132}}
: I agree, this is getting tedious and predictable - all of the things that XKCD never was. Randall is in danger of destroying his audience. A "cartoon" that's just a bunch of words saying something pretty obvious, and devoid of any hidden message, devoid of any humor - isn't a cartoon anymore. It's a crappified version of twitter with an upper-case only comic sans font. It's not a matter of "COVID-comic hating" - it's "''Not-a-comic'' comic hating" [[User:SteveBaker|SteveBaker]] ([[User talk:SteveBaker|talk]]) 02:16, 1 May 2021 (UTC)
::To be fair, the pandemic was/is a ''major'' part of our lives. I support covid-related comics '''if they're funny''', which this one doesn't seem to be. However, let's give Randall the benefit of the doubt; maybe he just had an off day. [[User:Danish|Danish]] ([[User talk:Danish|talk]]) 03:05, 1 May 2021 (UTC)
::: To be even fairer, it's not the first time that XKCD has serious comics. The Hilary endorsement is an obvious example, but a lot of comics about cancer aren't meant to be funny. It was a way for Randall to cope with his personal life, and because his mind wasn't *able* to think about another subject at the time. Covid isn't (I hope) a personal issue like cancer was, but it's still a stressful problem.[[Special:Contributions/141.101.107.164|141.101.107.164]] 12:09, 1 May 2021 (UTC)
::::As this is the biggest thing to hit the world since the end of WW2, and has lasted for more than a year, still causing major changed to our lives, and still being a big problem in some countries (India at present for instance), I see no problem in Randall continuing to make comics about it. If his comics are funny or unfunny can always be debated. But it is a serious issue with mask wearing, do it even help etc. And as said above my comic, Randall is not always making funny comics. Some serious comics are interspersed with jokes, like [[Earth Temperature Timeline]], but the comic it self was not funny, but scary. Here he is giving us advice and letting us know what he thinks and hopes. Take it of leave it. And if this makes you stop following xkcd, then that is just your loss ;-) --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 20:08, 1 May 2021 (UTC)
:::Comics don't have to be funny. XKCD is often educational or thought provoking (e.g. visualizing data like ocean depths, raising awareness of obscure topics, etc.) Of course entertaining as well helps.
:::I discovered the article on the cost of the common cold as a result of editing the explanation for this cartoon. Considering the huge impact colds have changed my views some. (I already figured masking for other reasons than Covid made sense, but this gave me more appreciation of the magnitude.)
:::Covid or not - keep them coming Randall. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.62.157|162.158.62.157]] 21:10, 1 May 2021 (UTC)

Talk:2457: After the Pandemic

2021-05-02T10:59:34Z

162.158.74.67:

Other benefits of normalizing wearing masks: keeping warmer in the winter; protecting face from sun; reducing breathing of smoke and fine particulates; potentially reduce value of facial matching in face of ubiquitous surveillance. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.105.124|141.101.105.124]] 18:04, 30 April 2021 (UTC)
:Between our rapidly deteriorating air quality (check out how much of the dust we breathe is from plastic clothing fibers); ubiquitous tracking by an increasing number of increasingly untrusted groups (not that we can evade that with masks, only make it more error prone); & just the fact that we still interact with thousands who then interact with ''other'' thousands on a scale impossible only two centuries ago, making transmissible disease spread almost a certainty; ... I'd strongly prefer that ''everyone'' who can, wear a mask in any shared public space.
:Awkward, uncomfortable, & socially inconvenient? Yes. ''Better than an endless procession of mid-level epidemics, & a population with initially minor but alarmingly widespread respiratory & cardiac issues which progressively worsen?'' (again, look at air quality since 1999) ''Also yes.''
:If we're entering a crowded space, please just ''wear the masks, people.'' Now & always.
:Might as well get used to it, because within this generation, we're all going to need masks to breathe normally, anyway; & I'm not exaggerating even a little.
:[[User:ProphetZarquon|ProphetZarquon]] ([[User talk:ProphetZarquon|talk]]) 19:25, 30 April 2021 (UTC)
:Mask wearing was already super common in Asia before the pandemic because of this. I'm hoping it gets more common here in the US too [[User:Opalmagpie|Opalmagpie]] ([[User talk:Opalmagpie|talk]]) 20:53, 30 April 2021 (UTC)
:If there is enough sun to be worth protecting from it, I don't need to protect face, I need to protect eyes. And I didn't find mask which doesn't fog sun glasses yet. Luckily, in the time of year with most respiratory infections sun glasses are not so necessary. -- [[User:Hkmaly|Hkmaly]] ([[User talk:Hkmaly|talk]]) 01:21, 2 May 2021 (UTC)

@Randall, we get it, you worry about COVID. Really, we get it.
:Right? It's like the comedians who all went 99% political during the last few years: Even if I agree completely, it isn't as funny after the 24th time you make a joke about it.
:[[User:ProphetZarquon|ProphetZarquon]] ([[User talk:ProphetZarquon|talk]]) 19:25, 30 April 2021 (UTC)
::Good luck telling Randall what to do. I doubt he reads this website anyways. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.34.56|172.69.34.56]] 01:30, 1 May 2021 (UTC)

Maybe another thing that will become common is self-quarantining when you're sick. You don't need to wear a mask if you don't go out. And now that we've learned that it's possible to work from home in many professions, you don't need to go into the office when you're contagious. [[User:Barmar|Barmar]] ([[User talk:Barmar|talk]]) 21:47, 30 April 2021 (UTC)
: Bingo! Back when I was a kid, in the 70's, it was understood that when you're sick, you stay home and get rest. Today, everybody thinks it's just fine to take some over-the-counter pill to relieve the symptoms and go on with your life, which will slow your recovery and infect other people. Maybe now, we can get back to some common sense? Probably not, but one can hope. [[User:Shamino|Shamino]] ([[User talk:Shamino|talk]]) 12:32, 1 May 2021 (UTC)
:: I'm surprised it took a big epidemic for some people to realize that most professions can be done from home just as easily as from office. Only reason it's harder to work from beach is that most displays are hard to read in direct sun. -- [[User:Hkmaly|Hkmaly]] ([[User talk:Hkmaly|talk]]) 01:21, 2 May 2021 (UTC)

"[...] wear a mask when they are sick, as is common in many East Asian countries" - This true? Prior to the pandemic, E.Asian students (my most frequent contact with this ethnic group, who are not actual nth-generation habituated/assimilated and so never had the then vestigial mask-wearing tendency) could be observed wearing masks around the nearby University city mostly in September, dropping off in frequency once they seemed to realise that the air was not anything as ''polluted'' as back home, not for fear of disease. Or so I gathered from what conversations I heard about it. (The most egregious example of this was witnessing an individual leaning against an alley-wall, mask shifted away from his mouth so he could 'safely' ''smoke''... Avoiding the barely notable car-fumes in order to directly inhale death-stick fumes.) Now, I've not had enough post-outbreak experience of such imported attitudes to masks, but I still feel that those who are not openly sick ''of'' masks, in the open air, are probably wearing them regardless of personal illness. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.107.78|141.101.107.78]] 02:03, 1 May 2021 (UTC)

It's just they're terribly comfortable. I think everyone will be wearing them in the future.[[Special:Contributions/162.158.74.67|162.158.74.67]] 10:59, 2 May 2021 (UTC)

;Enough with the COVID comics
I mean, seriously, if this is all XKCD has become, then it's time to move on. To help emphasize that point, I feel a new topic is in order.<br>Please post all your COVID-comic-hating comments here. {{unsigned ip|172.69.22.132}}
: I agree, this is getting tedious and predictable - all of the things that XKCD never was. Randall is in danger of destroying his audience. A "cartoon" that's just a bunch of words saying something pretty obvious, and devoid of any hidden message, devoid of any humor - isn't a cartoon anymore. It's a crappified version of twitter with an upper-case only comic sans font. It's not a matter of "COVID-comic hating" - it's "''Not-a-comic'' comic hating" [[User:SteveBaker|SteveBaker]] ([[User talk:SteveBaker|talk]]) 02:16, 1 May 2021 (UTC)
::To be fair, the pandemic was/is a ''major'' part of our lives. I support covid-related comics '''if they're funny''', which this one doesn't seem to be. However, let's give Randall the benefit of the doubt; maybe he just had an off day. [[User:Danish|Danish]] ([[User talk:Danish|talk]]) 03:05, 1 May 2021 (UTC)
::: To be even fairer, it's not the first time that XKCD has serious comics. The Hilary endorsement is an obvious example, but a lot of comics about cancer aren't meant to be funny. It was a way for Randall to cope with his personal life, and because his mind wasn't *able* to think about another subject at the time. Covid isn't (I hope) a personal issue like cancer was, but it's still a stressful problem.[[Special:Contributions/141.101.107.164|141.101.107.164]] 12:09, 1 May 2021 (UTC)
::::As this is the biggest thing to hit the world since the end of WW2, and has lasted for more than a year, still causing major changed to our lives, and still being a big problem in some countries (India at present for instance), I see no problem in Randall continuing to make comics about it. If his comics are funny or unfunny can always be debated. But it is a serious issue with mask wearing, do it even help etc. And as said above my comic, Randall is not always making funny comics. Some serious comics are interspersed with jokes, like [[Earth Temperature Timeline]], but the comic it self was not funny, but scary. Here he is giving us advice and letting us know what he thinks and hopes. Take it of leave it. And if this makes you stop following xkcd, then that is just your loss ;-) --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 20:08, 1 May 2021 (UTC)
:::Comics don't have to be funny. XKCD is often educational or thought provoking (e.g. visualizing data like ocean depths, raising awareness of obscure topics, etc.) Of course entertaining as well helps.
:::I discovered the article on the cost of the common cold as a result of editing the explanation for this cartoon. Considering the huge impact colds have changed my views some. (I already figured masking for other reasons than Covid made sense, but this gave me more appreciation of the magnitude.)
:::Covid or not - keep them coming Randall. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.62.157|162.158.62.157]] 21:10, 1 May 2021 (UTC)

784: Falling Asleep

2020-09-23T14:36:27Z

162.158.74.67: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number =784
| date =August 25, 2010
| title =Falling Asleep
| image =falling_asleep.png
| titletext =Sweet unintersecting dreams!
}}

==Explanation==
The first few panels of this strip seem romantic and sentimental, as it's common to hear that people sleep better next to people they love. The last panel reveals that [[Cueball]] and [[Megan]] are actually going through some relationship trouble, because Cueball uses her presence as a good reason for leaving this world behind. He does, however, not intend to commit suicide to escape from her and the world; he just wishes to escape by falling asleep (either that, or it's a double-meaning joke based on the fact that he's about to fall out of the bed).

As the title text reveals, he also wishes to avoid her in his dreams, as he wishes their dreams do not intersect - i.e. he hopes he will not dream of her (and vice versa). The opposite of "I'll see you in my dreams".

The cartoon seems to be a homage to the webcomic [http://www.asofterworld.com/ a softer world], which takes the same format.

==Transcript==
:[Cueball gets into bed.]
:It's so much easier
:falling asleep

:[Megan is lying in bed, gripping her pillow.]
:With you beside me—

:[Cueball is lying on his back in bed.]
:All the incentive I need

:[Full shot of the bed, Megan is on the left, gripping the pillow, Cueball is as far to the right as possible, nearly falling off, facing away from her.]
:To leave the world behind.

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

Talk:2361: Voting

2020-09-19T03:54:00Z

162.158.74.67:

To current and future readers: Ruth Bader Ginsburg died today. The timing of this comic may even coincide with this fact.
[[Special:Contributions/162.158.74.67|162.158.74.67]] 03:54, 19 September 2020 (UTC)

691: MicroSD

2016-11-24T20:20:19Z

162.158.74.67: /* Updated the highest storage capacity for MicroSD */

{{comic
| number = 691
| date = January 20, 2010
| title = MicroSD
| image = microsd.png
| titletext = That card holds a refrigerator carton's worth of floppy discs, and a soda can full of those cards could hold the entire iTunes store's music library. Mmmm.
}}

==Explanation==
{{w|MicroSD}} is one format of the Secure Digital memory card format, used in digital cameras, cell phones, and other devices. It is very small, only 15×11×1 mm, but can hold as much as 512GB of data (as of November 2016).

The main character in the comic (on the right) thinks about all the ideas that could be expressed by the data in the microSD card, or in a library. He feels not just reverent and intimidated, but sexually aroused by the thought. As he begins to touch it, his friend is disgusted by what might happen if he uses the card as some kind of sex toy, and does not want to help him locate the card if it gets "lost" inside a body cavity.

The title text seems to be the main character thinking about how much data the card holds, in terms of {{w|floppy disks}} and the {{w|iTunes}} music library, and feeling aroused by these thoughts.

Randalls claims in the title text do check out. A high density floppy disk with a FAT format holds about 1.4 MB of data, and has dimensions of 90×94×3 mm, for a volume of about 2.5 cm³. A refrigerator carton is the large cardboard box that fridges are delivered in. A typical refrigerator carton may be 1800×700×700 mm, a volume of about 0.9 m³. So a fridge carton could hold about 35000 90mm floppies, or roughly 50GB. This is comparable to the storage on a single microSD card. A soda can (1 ml = 1 cm³) could hold 3000 microSD cards, or store 50TB of data. However, the iTunes store claims to hold 26 million songs (as of Summer 2014), and allowing for about 2MB per song gives 50 TB of music. The claim that a soda can could hold the iTunes library seems to be reasonable.

Related to this topic is [http://what-if.xkcd.com/31/ this xkcd What If blog entry].

==Transcript==
:[Cueball and a friend approach a table.]
:Cueball: Hey, what's up?
:Friend: Shhhhh.
:Cueball: Hrm?
:Friend: There's a microSD card on your table.

:[A microSD card sits next to an assortment of coins for size reference.]
:Cueball (out of panel): So?
:Friend (out of panel): I dunno, high storage densities freak me out. A whole aisle of library shelves on something smaller than a dime.

:[The two people stand near the table, the friend peering at the coins and card on the table.]
:Friend: Libraries are unnerving enough-millions of ideas surrounding you, towering over you. These cards fill me with that same reverence, that same intimidation.

:[Cueball stands alone.]
:Friend (out of panel): ...that same faint arousal. Maybe I'll just touch it.
:Cueball: If you lose that card I'm <u>NOT</u> helping you find it.

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