explain xkcd - User contributions [en]

1920: Emoji Sports

2018-06-04T18:30:12Z

162.158.75.148: added possible interpretations of consequence archery

{{comic
| number = 1920
| date = November 24, 2017
| title = Emoji Sports
| image = emoji_sports.png
| titletext = No horse has yet managed the elusive Quadruple Crown—winning the Kentucky Derby, the Preakness, the Belmont Stakes, and the Missouri Horse Hole.
}}

==Explanation==

This comic, as the heading indicates, arbitrarily selects emoji and uses them to make up very bizarre sports. Although some of these might be completely normal, most of them take things to a completely absurd level.

The title text is a reference to the triple crown, which is an highly prestigious award given to a three-year-old thoroughbred horse who wins the Kentucky Derby, the Preakness Stakes, and the Belmont Stakes, the first three of the four listed events. The joke is that if Horse Hole was a real sport, then one who won a major competition for it, the Missouri Horse Hole, in addition to the three main horse racing events, would win a “Quadruple Crown".

''Please note that some emoji may not be supported by your browser, in which the emoji will appear as a black rectangle, and if there is a male/female version of the emoji, a male/female sign will appear next to the rectangle.''

{| class="wikitable"
!scope="col" style="width: 100px;" |Emoji
!scope="col" style="width: 150px;" |Sport
!scope="col" |Description
|-
|🤽‍♂️🌋
|Lavaball
|Sets the sport of water polo around or inside an active volcano. If the water is simply replaced with lava, the players would asphyxiate from the toxic fumes long before they burned to death in the molten rock. If a typical pool of water is involved, the introduction of lava would cause rapid evaporation and the release of {{w|Chlorine#Use_as_a_weapon|chlorine gas}}, which is destructive to living tissue. In any case, this game is not a good idea.{{Citation needed}}
|-ly o
|🤾‍♀️🤺
|Bladeball
|Using a fencing foil to hit a ball would not only be inefficient, but would easily lead to the destruction of the ball instead.
|-
|💃💃⚽
|Fancyball
|Soccer played in high heels and dresses would be a problem for both kicking and running, with the grassy terrain exacerbating these issues, and these would lead to frequent injury.{{Citation needed}}
|-
|🕳️🏇🏇🏇
|Horse hole
| Jockeys ride their horses into a large pit. Needless to say, such a sport would constitute blatant animal abuse; the ensuing fall would seriously injure competing equines (as well as their jockeys if they don't bail out beforehand). If the horse's self-preservation instinct kicks in before reaching the edge, the jockey will likely be severely injured in the process, an outcome which would likely garner a lot less pity. Both this segment and the title text may relate to Episode 354 of My Brother My Brother And Me, "Beanfreak", where a potential punishment for losing horses in a race is described as a trapdoor leading to a "pony pile" beneath the track. (Many of the podcast's episodes deal with horse racing and horse behavior, including some impassioned conversations on the performance of specific horses and the unregulated nature of the widely recognized Triple Crown achievement.)
|-
|🔪🏀⛏️
|Basketball shredding
|The apparent point of this sport is to compete to destroy basketballs as quickly and/or as thoroughly as possible. There is some transgressive appeal in mistreating sports equipment, but hardly enough to keep a captive audience.
|-
|🥚🔭🕵️‍♀️
|Eggspotting
|This could be a combination of {{w|Egg_hunt|egg hunting}} and {{w|birdwatching}}. The emojis may imply that said eggs would have to be found alone in nature, as if they were wild animals, though it might be spotting of eggs of the wild animals in their nests. If the latter is true, the humor arises from the situation being like a form of pre-emptive birdwatching, as the eggs will eventually hatch into birds, and such an activity might be considered easier, or "beginner-level", birdwatching, due to the eggs remaining in one place.
|-
|⛷️🐊
|Alligator jumping
|An unusual combination of attributes, and to get the alligators to adapt to a cold environment might be a challenge. The emoji is actually a crocodile.
|-
|👩🎣🧜‍♂️
|Merfishing
|Unless humans volunteer to get in costume, this sport is unlikely to have any successes, due to the nonexistence of {{w|Mermaid|mermaids}}.{{Citation needed}}
|-
|👨🏸🧚🏸👩
|Tinkerball
|Playing badminton with a fairy, named after [[wikipedia:Tinker Bell|Tinker Bell]]. Likely to injure the fairy, and such an activity runs the risk of the fairy flying away to escape the abuse.
|-
|🥌🦔🥌
|Hedgehog curling
|Hedgehogs are not ideal projectiles for sports, as {{w|Alice's Adventures in Wonderland}} has already demonstrated, and such an idea would be considered animal abuse on top of the impracticality. Nonetheless, hedgehogs are technically skilled at curling...their bodies.
|-
|🗜️🍔
|Burger clamping
|Perhaps a challenge to fit a tall burger into a bite-sized height, though said clamp would probably be more likely to pierce the burger than to flatten it.
|-
|👩‍🚀🏹🛰️
|Consequence archery
|Archery on a space station could cause damage to its structure leading to the potentially explosive decompression of the space station, and necessitate the evacuation of the astronauts aboard. If played outside, stray arrows could still cause disaster by setting space debris into motion or by hitting space vessels or equipment. Another dangerous consequence of shooting an arrow while floating in space without a jetpack would be that the shot propels the astronaut in the opposite direction of the arrow, setting him or her off to drift away helplessly into space. Alternatively the goal may be to hit satellites which would imply the consequence part being the resulting legal action accompanying a high score unless you wait for them to deorbit naturally in which case the consequence part would be everything associated with being near large chunks of metal at terminal velocity. Another possible hazard would come if the sport involves trying to hit an orbiting object from the ground in which case building let alone trying to wield a bow capable of launching an arrow out of the atmosphere would be dangerous{{Citation needed}}, illegal{{Citation needed}} and difficult. More casual versions could arise from playing on celestial bodies with less gravity and atmosphere but that would defeat the whole point.
|-
|🦉➡️📬
|Owlstuffing
|This appears to consist of attempting to stuff owls into mailboxes, which would be doubly illegal, because it would be cruel to the owls and interfere with delivery of the mail. The mailbox is shown with the flag up, which normally indicates that there is mail in it, but it appears to be empty, perhaps so that the owl can be stuffed in it. Possibly a reference to owls carrying mail in the Harry Potter series.
|-
|🍴🕯️🍴
|Candle eating
|An even more unhealthy form of {{w|competitive eating}}. Eating large amounts of candle wax can cause {{w|Bowel_obstruction|intestinal obstruction}}.
|-
|⛳💣🏌️‍♀️
|Consequence golf
|The "consequence" of this game is simple: the bomb's eventual explosion necessitates efficient playing. Golfing with a bomb would likely significantly reduce the par on each hole, depending on the length of the fuse, and due to the threat of explosion, it would probably not be possible to exceed par unless the golfer is also very fast. There would certainly be damage to the course and golfers unless the holes extinguished the bombs of golfers who succeeded in time. The balance and rolling of the bomb balls would also be impeded by the fuses and caps. The bombs would also need to be very small to be used with standard golf clubs.
|-
|👉🐍👈
|Snake shaming
|Probably a play on snake charming. Also a possible reference to the biblical story where the snake is shamed for deceiving mankind by being doomed to crawl on its belly.
|-
|🔥🧗‍♀️🔥
|Hell escape
|Trying to escape the {{w|lake of fire}} is the pastime of damned souls, but perhaps living people are instead sent there and have to return home.
|-
|🎮🥑🎮
|Multiplayer avocado
|Unless a game based on avocados is the subject, there is, to say the least, a hardware compatibility issue here. Very different from the adult version, multiplayer eggplant (🎮🍆🎮; see [[1870: Emoji Movie Reviews]]).
|}

==Transcript==

:<big>New sports</big>
:created from random emoji

:[Man Playing Water Polo + Volcano]
:🤽‍♂️🌋 Lavaball

:[Woman Playing Handball + Person Fencing]
:🤾‍♀️🤺 Bladeball

:[Woman Dancing (2 emojis) + Soccer Ball]
:💃💃⚽ Fancyball

:[Hole + Horse Racing (3 emojis)]
:🕳️🏇🏇🏇 Horse hole

:[Kitchen Knife + Basketball + Pick]
:🔪🏀⛏️ Basketball shredding

:[Egg + Telescope + Woman Detective]
:🥚🔭🕵️‍♀️ Eggspotting

:[Skier + Crocodile]
:⛷️🐊 Alligator jumping

:[Woman + Fishing Pole + Merman]
:👩🎣🧜‍♂️ Merfishing

:[Man + Badminton + Fairy + Badminton + Woman]
:👨🏸🧚🏸👩 Tinkerball

:[Curling Stone + Hedgehog + Curling Stone]
:🥌🦔🥌 Hedgehog curling

:[Clamp + Hamburger]
:🗜️🍔 Burger clamping

:[Woman Astronaut + Bow and Arrow + Satellite]
:👩‍🚀🏹🛰️ Consequence archery

:[Owl + Right Arrow + Open Mailbox]
:🦉➡️📬 Owlstuffing

:[Fork and Knife + Candle + Fork and Knife]
:🍴🕯️🍴 Candle eating

:[Flag in Hole + Bomb + Woman Golfing]
:⛳💣🏌️‍♀️ Consequence golf

:[Pointing Right + Snake + Pointing Left]
:👉🐍👈 Snake shaming

:[Fire + Woman Climbing + Fire]
:🔥🧗‍♀️🔥 Hell escape

:[Video Game + Avocado + Video Game]
:🎮🥑🎮 Multiplayer avocado

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics with color]]
[[Category:Emoji]]

1925: Self-Driving Car Milestones

2017-12-06T18:56:25Z

162.158.75.148: /* Transcript */

{{comic
| number = 1925
| date = December 6, 2017
| title = Self-Driving Car Milestones
| image = self_driving_car_milestones.png
| titletext = I'm working on a car capable of evaluating arbitrarily complex boolean expressions on "honk if [...]" bumper stickers and responding accordingly.
}}

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

:This comic is a list of milestones for self-driving cars. Some have already been achieved, others are still being worked on, while others are facetious "milestones".
- automatic emergency brakes : this is another reference to how hard it can be to program human-obvious stuff (add link https://xkcd.com/1425/). A self driving car has to be able to distinguish a danger (cliff, person on foot, other cars coming the wrong way/doing weird stuff) from either the side of the road, the background, the other cars or even a light pole safely standing on the side of the road. Then the car also has to decide whether turn around, just slow down (as danger is not imminent) or actually do the strong brake (and optimally decide what would be the most effective, taking into account weather conditions, road type and traffic). There are big potential advantages for self driving cars, in case of success : computers don't panic, would have faster reaction times than humans, and would have safer "reflex-ideas" (rephrase? would do a better choice of action than a human that maybe doesn't know the wisest reaction) than humans (add link https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Autonomous_car#Safety)

- sometimes, especially on highways where road delimitations might be faint or absent (https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/1/11/Route_66_2073773569_7b3fae3b91_b.jpg/220px-Route_66_2073773569_7b3fae3b91_b.jpg) or when lane markings could have faded away, a self driving car programmed to pilot based on road markings would have issues holding to the good side of the road. this is a bigger problem than in cities as cars move faster on highways, so the danger detection mentioned above might not manage to detect danger in time while breaking or avoiding the obstacle needs to be anticipated much more.

- already implemented in recent normal cars, that feature is important for the car not to stay in the road after use [citation needed], and is sometimes considered as a difficult maneuvre by to-be-drivers (citation?) as it requires a good "feeling" of the car dimentions, as well as of distances and maneuverability of the car. (the latter parameters being easy to compute, with radar and back-camera aide, is made rather easy for computers (citation?))

-

:The [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trolley_problem trolley problem] is a well-known thought experiment in ethics, in which a person must choose between passively allowing several people to die, or actively causing a single person to die. Such a choice could plausibly be forced on the computer of self-driving car. For example, if the car could avoid a high-speed collision only by running down a pedestrian.

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
Header: all caps: Upcoming and recently-achieved
Newline: Self-driving car milestones
Newline: End Header

Bulleted List: 
Automatic emergency braking : 
Highway lane-keeping : 
Self-Parking : 
Full highway autonomy : 
First sex in a self-driving car : 
Full trips with no input from driver : 
Full trips by empty cars : 
An empty car wandering the highways for months or years until someone notices the credit card fuel charges : 
Cars that read other cars' bumper stickers before deciding whether to cut them off : 
Autonomous engine revving at red lights : 
Self-Loathing cars : 
Autonomous canyon jumping : 
Cars capable of arguing about the trolley problem on facebook : 
End Bulleted List 
{{comic discussion}}

1919: Interstellar Asteroid

2017-11-23T17:09:45Z

162.158.75.148: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 1919
| date = November 22, 2017
| title = Interstellar Asteroid
| image = interstellar_asteroid.png
| titletext = Every time we detect an asteroid from outside the Solar System, we should immediately launch a mission to fling one of our asteroids back in the direction it came from.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Edited by a 180m aubergine. Please change this joke when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

{{w|ʻOumuamua}} is the first detection of an [https://www.nasa.gov/planetarydefense/faq/interstellar interstellar asteroid] passing through the Solar System originating from another solar system.

[[Megan]]'s list of objects with a similar shape ratio:
* 1:4:9 {{w|Monolith (Space Odyssey)|monolith}} from the sci-fi movie ''{{w|2001:_A_Space_Odyssey_(film)|2001: A Space Odyssey}}''
* {{w|Star Destroyer}}, a spaceship in the ''{{w|Star Wars}}'' universe
* Huge eggplant emoji (🍆, U+1F346 Aubergine, commonly used to represent a penis).
* Statue of {{w|"Weird Al" Yankovic}}, an American singer and parodist
* iPhone XXXXX, likely making fun of Apple's {{w|iPhone X}} and larger in size
* [http://voltron.wikia.com/wiki/Voltron_(Voltron_Force) Voltron], a giant robot from the animated series ''{{w|Voltron|Voltron: Defender of the Universe}}''
* A giant {{tvtropes|BurialInSpace|space coffin}} with someone inside.

As soon as Megan lists off the last item, she is about to start speculating within her own speculative scenario about who or what might be in the coffin, before being interrupted by Cueball. Cueball attempts to bring Megan back down to earth by reminding her that she has too little data to work with, but Megan is far too excitable to listen to reason. The dangers of speculating irresponsibly, it would seem.

It could also be argued that Megan with this makes fun of many news outlets whose first reaction to a new space body often seems to be to search for something to compare its shape to, such as with the [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko#Shape 'rubber duck' comet]. Making fun on media covering science news is a recurring theme on xkcd.

The title text suggests taking reciprocal action by sending asteroids away when the solar system receives them. This would of course be difficult. On top of that, it appears to imply that some non-human entity is sending these rocks, which is an inane idea{{Citation needed}}.

==Transcript==
:[Megan walks towards Cueball while looking at her phone. Cueball sits in front of his laptop.]
:Megan: Hey, you know that asteroid that tumbled past from another star system? It's apparently really long and skinny.
:Megan: Like a ratio of 6:1 or 10:1.
:Cueball: Weird. Wonder what it's shaped like.

:[Megan lowers her phone and looks up. Cueball looks backward.]
:Megan: Without more data, it would be irresponsible to speculate further.
:Cueball: So...you're going to?
:Megan: ''Absolutely.''

:[Frameless panel focusing on Megan.]
:Megan: Here are some objects with a similar shape ratio:
:Megan: The 1:4:9 monolith from ''2001: A Space Odyssey''.
:Megan: A star destroyer.
:Megan: A huge eggplant emoji.

:[Same setting with Megan and Cueball.]
:Megan: A statue of Weird Al. An iPhone XXXXX. Voltron.
:Megan: A giant space coffin. But who could be inside? We can only guess. I'll start:
:Cueball: This is all based on ''how'' many data points, again?
:Megan: One. But it's a ''perfect'' fit!

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category: Comics featuring Megan]]
[[Category: Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Star Wars]]

1919: Interstellar Asteroid

2017-11-22T05:37:01Z

162.158.75.148: Added transcript – probably formatted it incorrectly.

Talk:455: Hats

2017-05-25T01:50:33Z

162.158.75.148:

I have a dissenting opinion, I think it's an electrostatics joke, with black hat (who is negative), meets a person of the same charge and more mass, so he is repelled by an electromagnetic field (likes repel)
--[[Special:Contributions/198.228.200.168|198.228.200.168]] 15:57, 9 May 2013 (UTC)

:I am sure this is a mystic power pushing Black Hat back at the last frame. There must be a film or video game with a powerful man wearing two hats or something similar. I have no idea. --[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 19:40, 9 May 2013 (UTC)

::What, you mean like Team Fortress 2, and its infamous Gentle Manne of Leisure?{{unsigned ip|173.245.54.79}}

:I disagree with the above discussion: I believe the wavy lines shown in the final frame are simply to indicate that Black Hat is slowly backing away. If any mystical or eletrostatic forces were involved, the long delay in the 3rd and 4th frames, during which Black Hat is sizing up Black Hat 2, would NOT be appropriate. --[[User:MisterSpike|MisterSpike]] ([[User talk:MisterSpike|talk]]) 18:25, 26 June 2013 (UTC)

I believe it is significant that the black hat has its own black hat. Nobody mentioned this. It's not merely that the gentleman is wearing two hats. This effectively squares the humor level.
--[[Special:Contributions/71.22.93.130|71.22.93.130 dobennett]] 23:37, 17 May 2013 (UTC)

I think the dual-BHG first had only one hat (I mean, why would you wear two hats?), but gained one from another BHG (ala Cube Zero and the watches), which is why DBHG is clearly a threat to BHGs.
--[[Special:Contributions/84.249.195.230|84.249.195.230]] 14:54, 3 July 2013 (UTC)

Is it at all possible that Black Hat believes that there is something wrong with a person who wears two black hats and that they should be avoided at all costs?
--{{unsigned ip|71.244.43.9|1:27, 3 january 2015 (UTC)}}

Could this have to do with the journal comics? I think it should be mentioned at least.[[Special:Contributions/162.158.75.148|162.158.75.148]] 01:50, 25 May 2017 (UTC)
:Not just possible, but likely! -Pennpenn [[Special:Contributions/108.162.250.162|108.162.250.162]] 07:07, 23 June 2015 (UTC)

Would it be possible that Two Black Hats in this page is the actual Black Hat intimidating someone who happened to wear a black hat on that day?
[[Special:Contributions/108.162.216.156|108.162.216.156]] 17:38, 3 September 2015 (UTC)

New [[1401: New|headcannon]]: The second hat is actually Black Hat from [[412: Startled]] [[User:SuperSupermario24|Just some random derp]] 22:09, 21 September 2015 (UTC)

Talk:857: Archimedes

2017-03-24T22:58:58Z

162.158.75.148:

What's Cueball trying to lift here that he needs a massive lever and fulcrum? '''[[User:Davidy22|{{Color|#707|David}}y²²]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 07:05, 17 April 2013 (UTC)

I think Cueball is just trying to gain ''leverage''. -Justin- [[Special:Contributions/131.111.141.12|131.111.141.12]] 20:39, 5 June 2013 (UTC)

:Cueball wants to move the earth with a lever. But how this should work in space? The hostage is the entire population of the earth. I will add an incomplete tag.--[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 21:34, 5 June 2013 (UTC)

::He is not saying he wants to move the Earth with a lever. He's either demanding the lever and a place to stand, threatening to kill hostages, or he's using a gun as a prop in a joke. Either way, the explanation is perfectly fine as it is, no "incomplete" needed. [[Special:Contributions/108.28.72.186|108.28.72.186]] 02:44, 4 August 2013 (UTC)
:::Hey, the title text was wrong, the Archimedes cite was wrong, it was just INCOMPLETE. I did not undo your edit but I did some enhancements, hoping this is more correct now.--[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 19:43, 4 August 2013 (UTC)

How do you know his hostages are the entire population of earth? ~JFreund

Hey, I'm new here. I was thinking it would be more helpful if someone could give an example of a thriller movie with that quote. Thanks! [[Special:Contributions/162.158.75.148|162.158.75.148]] 22:58, 24 March 2017 (UTC)