explain xkcd - User contributions [en]

2771: College Knowledge

2023-05-05T12:11:36Z

162.158.78.76: Jumproping rope jumping jumping rope

{{comic
| number = 2771
| date = May 3, 2023
| title = College Knowledge
| image = college_knowledge_2x.png
| imagesize = 649x266px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = 'Your chitin armor is no match for our iron-tipped stingers! Better go hide in your jars!' --common playground taunt
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by a BOT GOING TO IO TO GET MORE DIODES - Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
A common playground rhyme which children will often recite when divided by gender is that "girls go to college to get more knowledge; boys go to {{w|Jupiter}} to get more stupider," with the genders being interchangeable depending on the rhyme's singer.

Starting out with this cadence, three characters (or child versions) jump rope and explore parts of the solar system and beyond that become increasingly obscure and less likely to feature in actual playground rhymes; meanwhile, their justifications for each visit become increasingly tenuous in order to rhyme (or "rhyme") with the destination, as with "college" or "Jupiter." So they eventually give up (and the rope jumping stops accordingly).

The title text refers back to some of the rhymes the characters mention, making sure to stay consistent with whichever gender acquires which object. Speaking from the perspective of the college-bound gender, who had acquired iron ("ferrous") from {{w|Eris}}, the girls playfully threaten the boys with iron-tipped {{w|stingers}}, for which the boys' armour of {{w|chitin}} (a material commonly found on the exoskeletons of various insects, along with stingers themselves) is purportedly no match. The girls then also refer to the jars which the boys had acquired from {{w|Mars}}, telling the boys that they'd better hide in them if they wanted any sort of protection from the iron-tipped stingers. To top it all off, the title text finally claims that this is supposedly a "common playground taunt" among children (which itself depends on the rhymes which the characters in the comic had made).

In [[1202: Girls and Boys]], boys and girls both go to college ''and'' to Jupiter, both to get more knowledge.

==Note==
Going to Mars to get more jars may be a reference to a 1955 {{w|Burma-Shave}} campaign promising a free trip to Mars for whoever sent in 900 empty jars. The joking offer was accepted by a Wisconsin shopkeeper named Arliss French. The company enjoyed the publicity, and sent him and his wife to {{w|Moers}}.

{{w|Chitin}} is a polysaccharide found in the bodies of insects and fungi.

{{w|Tim Berners-Lee}} is the inventor of the World Wide Web.

{{w|Pamplemousse}} is the French word for grapefruit or pomelo, depending on dialect.

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

:[Science Girl, Ponytail and Cueball are jumping rope while singing a common playground song. Science Girl and Cueball are swinging the ends of the rope, Ponytail is jumping in the middle.]
:Science Girl: Girls go to college to get more knowledge
:Science Girl: Boys go to Jupiter to get more stupider

:Cueball: Girls go to Ceres to get more theories
:Cueball: Boys go to Mars to get more jars

:Ponytail: Girls go to Eris to get more ferrous
:Ponytail: Boys go to Triton to get more chitin

:[The three have stopped playing.]
:Science Girl: Girls go to...Mercury...to...meet Tim Berners-Lee
:Science Girl: Boys go to... ...Betelgeuse...to get more... ...pamplemousse
:Cueball: I think we're done.

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Comics featuring Ponytail]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Science Girl]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Cobson]]
[[Category:Games]]
[[Category:Astronomy]]
[[Category:Comics featuring real people]]
[[Category:Food]]

Talk:2347: Dependency

2020-08-18T02:22:09Z

162.158.78.76: /* Some random person in Nebraska */

I worked for the Linux Foundation on the Core Infrastructure Initiative supporting OpenSSL and other projects. The one that scared me was Expat the XML parser maintained by two people on alternate Sunday afternoons assuming no other distractions. We did get funding for a test suite. Joe Biden was a supporter of LF and CII and was going to host a fund raiser for us at the White House until a perverse result.[[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.222|141.101.98.222]] 22:46, 17 August 2020 (UTC)

== Relevance of Imagemagick? ==

Could someone perhaps add to the explanation an explanation of how this applies to Imagemagick (as mentioned in the title text)? —[[Special:Contributions/108.162.219.174|108.162.219.174]] 22:58, 17 August 2020 (UTC)
:I don't use it myself, but it is a very versatile standalone utility that does a lot through command-line (batched) processing or can be accessed through actual API interface (I use GIMP tools that way, in automation, when not using it directly as a manual interface, but I understand there's a lot of love out there for IM). There's potentially untold uses for that, hidden in the background of other applications. If it disappeared or changed in just the wrong way, could perhaps half the CAPTCHA dialogues suddenly break? Could a self-driving car company find its vehicles are suddenly blind? We might suddenly have so many fewer Doge memes! (Wow! Much up-to-datedness! So topical!).
: In Randall's (or his characters') world, that is. In our world, I see someone mentioned Leftpad in the Explanation, which probably needs more Explanation (or else wikilinking) but is an interesting thing that actually happened in our world, albeit not ''quite'' armagg3don for society... [[Special:Contributions/162.158.154.131|162.158.154.131]] 23:22, 17 August 2020 (UTC)
: Imagemagick is the de-facto standard for Image processing. Since the 90's engineers were either adding support for new formats to ImageMagick or adding new language bindings for ImageMagick. This resulted in a single library that is available on almost every server and desktop platform and can read and write almost every image format. Using imageMagick is sometimes unwieldly. e.g. on nodeJS it actually spawns a sub-process to run imagemagick. But it is still the de-facto (and the only practical) choice in most cases.--[[User:Deepjoy|Deepjoy]] ([[User talk:Deepjoy|talk]]) 00:24, 18 August 2020 (UTC)

== from the late 2010s onwards? ==

I'm pretty sure re-use and modularization was a thing long before then. Maybe it got more popular in the 2010s, but it's been around since at least the '70s.

== This has happened before ==

It may be worth mentioning a case where this actually happened, like https://www.theregister.com/2016/03/23/npm_left_pad_chaos/ [[Special:Contributions/141.101.97.101|141.101.97.101]] 01:03, 18 August 2020 (UTC)

== Some random person in Nebraska ==

Is the reference to a random person in Nebraska totally arbitrary, or is it a reference to someone in particular?

Also, it would be good to have examples of heavily used projects with very small (especially one person) maintainer teams. OpenSSL definitely comes to mind, from what I have read. [[User:Stevage|Stevage]] ([[User talk:Stevage|talk]]) 01:49, 18 August 2020 (UTC)

Nebraska came up in 1667, "Algorithms" as well.

673: The Sun

2020-08-01T15:05:18Z

162.158.78.76: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 673
| date = December 9, 2009
| title = The Sun
| image = the_sun.png
| titletext = Obligatory bad guy: This operation is sheer foolishness, and it's not happening on my watch! Mainly because I can't figure out how to adjust the time.
}}

==Explanation==
This comic makes fun of {{w|science fiction}} {{w|disaster movies}}, especially the 2003 film ''{{w|The Core}}'' in which a group of scientists travel through the Earth's mantle to place a series of nuclear devices in order to speed up the slowing rotation of the Earth's core and prevent a complete collapse of Earth's magnetic field.

This comic presents the next film from the makers of The Core. In this case an astronomer [[Ponytail]] discovers the Sun's fusion is failing. The two [[Cueball]]-like guys behind her are not impressed, one is disbelieving and the other is not interested (''Whatever''). But then Ponytail rally them by threatening them with impeding doom for Earth, and they call {{w|NASA}}. A group of astronauts has taken the call at NASA and the leader (another Cueball-like guy) describes what could happen in trailer like fashion:
*The earth bathed in eternal darkness?
*A night without a dawn? Not on my watch!
And then he tells his team of astronauts, a fourth Cueball-like guy, [[Megan]] and another Ponytail to ''Saddle up'', and the comic finished with showing the poster (a copy of the one for The Core with the Sun in place of the Earth mantle) of this new movie called '''The Sun''' (hence the title of the comic) with two taglines:
*It's Daylight saving time.
*Never fall back.

The movie described by this comic shows a scenario where the "sun's fusion is failing". This is in fact the exact plot of the British science fiction film ''{{w|Sunshine (2007 film)|Sunshine}}'' from 2007, released two years before this comic, which was about a group of astronauts sent on a mission to reignite a dying {{w|Sun}} with a battery of nuclear bombs.

The {{w|sun}}'s energy comes from {{w|nuclear fusion}} reactions among the extremely hot dense hydrogen plasma in its core. The idea of the sun's fusion failing is rather ridiculous from a scientific perspective, because the fusion reactions are well understood and the sun has enough hydrogen to fuel it for about 5 billion more years. Even if the sun's hydrogen was getting low it would {{w|Star#Post–main sequence|start fusing helium}} and begin expanding into a {{w|red giant}}. This will then make the Earth uninhabitable. Even in the nearly impossible event of the sun's fusion is {{w|Supernova#Core collapse|failing in the traditional sense}}, the sun would {{w|Star#Collapse|collapse}} causing a {{w|supernova}}. In other words, if the sun stopped fusing we wouldn't have to worry about less sunlight, we would have to worry about more.

In any case, it appears to be failing and the solution is to send a team of astronauts to the sun to restart the fusion (which is analogous to sending an {{w|ant}} to the {{w|US Senate}} to break a {{w|Government shutdowns in the United States|budget deadlock}}). The team leader is motivated by concern that if the sun's fusion stops, there will be no more light, and so the earth will be in perpetual darkness.

The poster in the final panel gives the movies two taglines. {{w|Daylight saving time}} (DST) refers both to the policy of changing clocks, which is intended to "save" daylight for a more useful part of the day; and the scenario in this movie in which it is time for the team to literally save the sun's daylight from being extinguished. "Never fall back" is an additional word play on the {{w|mnemonic}} used (in the States at least) to remember the direction to change clocks. The mnemonic goes, {{w|Spring forward, fall back#Terminology|"spring forward, fall back"}} to indicate that in the spring season, clocks get set ahead by an hour, while in the fall the clocks are set backwards an hour. The phrase "fall back", however, can also mean to retreat from a battle.

[[Randall]] seems to believe that DST makes little sense today and he has made it clear in [[:Category:Daylight saving time|several comics]] that he is not a fan. As DST is the main joke of the comic (and the title of the next movie), it seems obvious that the comment from the astronaut about this not happening on "my watch" may be a pun relating to his wristwatch. He would not wish to have DST on his watch! This meaning is the made clear in the title text see below. Also this indicates that Randall never wish to apply DST as he never falls back, the last tagline.

The comic makes fun of these disaster movies in a couple of ways. The characters in the first panel acknowledge that the scenario doesn't make sense scientifically, but are prepared to sacrifice scientific value for the plot. Also, in the second panel the team is to be composed of {{w|NASA}}'s "hottest astronauts", which makes fun of the fact that the characters in movies are much more attractive than average, and the fact that they will be much hotter when they reach the sun. The team leader expresses his concern with a few buzz phrases often used in such films.

An alternative explanation, which would make sense scientifically, is that the sun had never stopped working, and Ponytail merely assumed that something was wrong with the sun when the sunrise did not occur at its normal time, but that was only because the clocks had been sent an hour ahead for DST, and not because of anything wrong with the sun, which continued working properly, oblivious to earth clocks.

The title text continues the lunacy (solacy?) of the situation with the cliche of the "obligatory bad guy" — a person in the plot who acts antagonistic, often for the flimsiest of reasons. There is also the common complaint, especially among the technologically inept, that he can't figure out how to change the time, relating back to DST, and using the phrase "on my watch" as a pun here (if you interpret "watch" in the sense of a small timepiece worn on one's wrist). [The phrase "on my watch" was used in the comic itself, but it isn't clear whether it was intended as a pun. It's possible that Randall realized he missed his chance to make a great pun with that phrase, inspiring the title text.

Note that while four different Cueballs in a comic is [[:Category:Multiple Cueballs|not uncommon]] it is rare that two different Ponytails are shown in one comic.

==Transcript==
:[Caption above the first panel, which is lower than the rest:]
:Coming this March from the makers of ''The Core''...
:[Ponytail is standing on a raised platform looking through a huge telescope (exiting the panel to the left) in an observatory. To her right is a large station with three screens and two Cueball-like guys are standing on the floor to the of that right. Behind them is another station with a large panel showing two circles with an arrow pointing from the top left to the bottom right.]
:Ponytail: The sun's fusion is failing!
:Man 1: Does that make sense?
:Man 2: Whatever.

:[Zoom in on the scene where Ponytail throws up her arms as she turns towards the two Cueball, still standing on the platform, but the rest of the background is white. The first Cueball turns around and points to the other Cueball who has also turned around and has taken a phone of the hook, the curled cord disappearing at the panels right edge.]
:Ponytail: If we don't send a ship to restart it, it could go out completely!
:Man 1: Call NASA!
:Man 2 (into the phone): <small>Assemble our hottest astronauts.</small>

:[Another Cueball-like guy has taken the call, and still stands with the phone in hand, the cord attached to the phone hook on the panels left edge. He stands with the helmet of a space suit under his other arm, obviously being an astronaut. Behind him is a fourth Cueball-like guy, Megan and another Ponytail.]
:Astronaut: The earth bathed in eternal darkness? A night without a dawn? Not on my watch!
:Astronaut: Saddle up.

:[The same four characters are shown in silhouette on gray background (still only one with helmet under arm), casting huge shadows towards the bottom of the panel from the dim sun in the top center of the panel. Above the sun is written a tagline (for the movie) and at the bottom of the panels with shadows falling over it is a second smaller tagline:]
:It's
:<big>'''''Daylight saving time.'''''</big>
:<small>Never fall back.</small>

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Ponytail]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]
[[Category:Multiple Cueballs]]
[[Category:Physics]]
[[Category:Daylight saving time]]
[[Category:Telescopes]]
[[Category:Puns]]

Talk:691: MicroSD

2017-09-08T02:55:27Z

162.158.78.76:

Please include definition of refrigerator carton. Also, what is the average storage capacity of a floppy disk?[[Special:Contributions/108.162.219.7|108.162.219.7]] 00:08, 19 May 2014 (UTC)
:These days refrigerators come in cartons for safe storage. Also you can open them to store floppy discs, which is a lot easier than trying to load them in soda cans. Especially the unopened ones. {{unsigned|Weatherlawyer}}
A soda can of then's microSD cards could hold the whole iTunes library then. A soda can of now's microSD cards could hold the whole iTunes library now. I do not see the issue or what seems unreasonable. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.78.76|162.158.78.76]] 02:55, 8 September 2017 (UTC)