explain xkcd - User contributions [en]

Talk:2792: Summer Solstice

2023-06-22T14:27:05Z

172.70.111.153:

Related to [[1878: Earth Orbital Diagram]]? [[User:Purah126|Purah126]] ([[User talk:Purah126|talk]]) 00:32, 22 June 2023 (UTC)
:Great minds think alike*. Hadn't read down here when I leapt in and added that link (and made some other very minor tweaks). Or at least leapt in once I'd found it myself (not rembering its title or enough of its keywords), having had to trawl through [[:Category:Astronomy]] and visit almost all likely titles and several unlikely ones. Which was enjoyable, so not a problem. ;) [[Special:Contributions/172.70.85.92|172.70.85.92]] 00:58, 22 June 2023 (UTC) ''* - fools never differ... :P''

I think there's a 3rd option for what the "fix" entails: eliminating Earth's axial tilt so it's always equinox (12 hour days almost everywhere, perpetual dawn at the poles). The title text specifies "on the equator", not "near" the equator. The only way for eclipses always "on" the equator is if the equator is always aligned with the ecliptic. - [[User:Frankie|Frankie]] ([[User talk:Frankie|talk]]) 02:06, 22 June 2023 (UTC)

I think that to make the solstices match the earliest sunrise/sunset might require straightening out the Earth's tilt as well. Making it a circular orbit I think actually makes the summer solstice even further from the latest sunset (but the winter solstice closer to latest sunrise). [https://www.timeanddate.com/astronomy/equation-of-time.html]. Oh but straightening the tilt would mean no more solstices at all, hm. Maybe what's required is an elliptical orbit but with the sun at the center rather than a focus. --[[Special:Contributions/172.70.111.153|172.70.111.153]] 14:27, 22 June 2023 (UTC)

While we're at it, can we please make the year, lunar phase period, and day neat ratios of one another? [[Special:Contributions/172.69.247.44|172.69.247.44]] 13:52, 22 June 2023 (UTC)

541: TED Talk

2023-05-24T13:16:01Z

172.70.111.153: /* PyCon response */

{{comic
| number = 541
| date = February 9, 2009
| title = TED Talk
| image = ted_talk.png
| titletext = The IAU ban came after the 'redefinition of the 'planet' to include the IAU president's mom' incident.
}}

==Explanation==
The comics shows Randall as a presenter at the highly prestigious {{w|TED conference}}, a symposium about technology, entertainment and design. The illustrious {{w|list of TED speakers|list of former presenters}} includes amongst others Bill Clinton, Al Gore, Larry Page, Richard Dawkins and Gordon Brown. The conference is regarded as a forum for {{w|digerati}}. Every talk has a length of at most 20 minutes and is supposed to be as captivating as possible.

Randall's presentation, however, reduces the purpose of the conference to absurdity: The topic he wishes to point out to his listeners, is that of how to put an emoticon at the end of a parenthetical statement. This question is of little practical consequence, although it received a lot of attention after publication of the comic. In the last panel, the TED conference is another item to add to his list of conferences from which he has been banned. On the list are other conferences from all sorts of fields, including every American furry convention.

The title text about Randall's ban from the {{w|IAU}} conference is a reference to the popular maternal insults called {{w|Maternal insult|"yo momma" jokes}}. A common representative of the genre runs "Yo mama so fat, scientists have declared her the 10th planet." Those kind of jokes are a [[:Category:Your Mom|recurring theme]] on xkcd.

It can be inferred from [[629: Skins]], that Randall was banned from North American furry conventions due to being a "Skin", which is a furry whose fursona prefers going around disguised as a human. Depending on Randall's behavior, such an action could generate a lot of drama and, presumably, lead to convention bans.

Getting banned from attending a conference is a [[:Category:Banned from conferences|recurring theme]] on xkcd, and even in real life, Randall sometimes has bad ideas for conference topics, [https://blog.xkcd.com/2009/02/11/ireland/ such as presumably not speaking for the entire conference]. This was so far the sixth of eight comics to directly mention conference bans. The first to do so was [[153: Cryptography]].

The {{w|PyCon}} organizers made a response to this comic - see below under [[#PyCon response|PyCon response]].

===Conferences where Randall is banned from===
Here is a list of the conferences from which Randall has been banned according to this comic.
{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Conference
! Description
! Website
|-
| Siggraph
| Special Interest Group on Graphics and Interactive Techniques
| http://www.siggraph.org
|-
| Eurocrypt
| Annual International Conference on the Theory and Applications of Cryptographic Techniques
| http://www.iacr.org/meetings/eurocrypt/
|-
| Defcon
| DEF CON® Hacking Conference
| https://www.defcon.org/
|-
| Pycon
| Python Conference
| http://www.pycon.org/
|-
| International Astronomical Union
| The IAU's mission is to promote and safeguard the science of astronomy in all its aspects through international cooperation
| https://www.iau.org/science/meetings/
|-
| Canadian Paleontology Conference
| The main goal of the CPC and its predecessors has been to provide a relatively small, informal forum for presentation and discussion of current paleontological research
| http://www.gacpaleodivision.com/pd-meetings.html
|-
| Every American Furry Convention
| There are many Furry Conventions in America (see the [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_furry_conventions Wikipedia page] for more details), but to be banned from all of them would probably require action by the Furry Convention Leadership Roundtable, the coordinating body for furry conventions.
|
|-
| American Baking Society
(American Bakers Association)
| ABA represents the interests of bakers before the U.S. Congress, federal agencies, and international regulatory authorities
| http://www.americanbakers.org/meetings/
|-
| Asian Dolphin-Training Conference
| International Marine Animal Trainers' Association
| https://www.imata.org/
|-
| TED
| Technology, Entertainment, Design.
| https://ted.com
|}

==Transcript==
:[Randall, drawn as Cueball, on stage.]
:Randall: Hi. I'm Randall. Welcome to my TED talk.
:Randall: It's an honor to speak to you, some of the brightest innovators from so many fields, about a problem in desperate need of your attention:
:Randall: How DO you end parenthetical statements with emoticons? I can't figure out a good way.
:[Screen next to him shows two statements, both crossed out in red.]
:"Linux (or BSD :) would..." looks mismatched
:"Linux (or BSD :)) would..." looks mismatched and weird

:[Randall writing on a desk.]
:[Randall's List] Conferences I'm banned from:
:Siggraph
:Eurocrypt
:Defcon
:Pycon
:International Astronomical Union
:Canadian Paleontology Conference
:Every American Furry Convention
:American Baking Society
:Asian Dolphin-Training Conference
:<u>TED</u>

==PyCon response==
In response to this comic, PyCon organizers jokingly [http://pycon.blogspot.com/2009/02/randall-munroe.html announced] that Randall Munroe was banned from PyCon 2009 due to "last year's disgraceful keynote, 'Web Spiders vs. Red Spiders'." They also said they instructed their volunteers to refuse admission to him and "any stick figures who may attempt to register, particularly if they are wearing hats."

Messages on the PyCon-Organizers mailing list show that this joke was intended to get Randall to come to PyCon: (The links will only work if you're subscribed to the mailing list.)
:PyCon mentioned briefly in today's xkcd:
:http://xkcd.com/541/
:We've still never gotten Randall Munroe to actually attend, have we? Anybody want to take charge of twisting his arm this time? I think we can still offer him a "press pass" (free registration). [...] [http://mail.python.org/mailman/private/pycon-organizers/2009-February/011224.html]
::An invite would seem most appropriate given the cartoon. :-)
::We could also have an official PyCon blog post confirming his ban... [http://mail.python.org/mailman/private/pycon-organizers/2009-February/011225.html]
:::How about a public blog post LIFTING the ban and inviting him? [http://mail.python.org/mailman/private/pycon-organizers/2009-February/011226.html]
::::Confirming the ban is far funnier... He's definitely a disturbing influence on programmers. [http://mail.python.org/mailman/private/pycon-organizers/2009-February/011227.html]
:::::Agreed, especially if we invite him concurrently with confirming the ban. [http://mail.python.org/mailman/private/pycon-organizers/2009-February/011239.html]
:::::(a few posts later)
:::::I'm happy to participate in actually throwing some thin guy out of the conference, and then get some graphics savvy person to animate a stick figure over that. :) [...][http://mail.python.org/mailman/private/pycon-organizers/2009-February/011274.html]
::::::here's a rough idea of what would show up if you invited him to actually do any speaking...
::::::http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zJOS0sV2a24
::::::it's fairly long. he shows up in the beginning around 3:25. [http://mail.python.org/mailman/private/pycon-organizers/2009-February/011275.html]
:::::::For the record, I did try to convince him to come when got the art for the tshirt last year. He didn't seem super psyched, but then again emotions are hard to read via IRC.
:::::::I love the idea of "officially" banning him, however. ;-) [http://mail.python.org/mailman/private/pycon-organizers/2009-February/011241.html]
::::::::(a few posts later)
::::::::OK - posted to the PyCon blog, by the power vested in me as publicity chair. With Michael Foord's excellent sentence added.
::::::::Now let him know that since he's banned, he HAS to come. [http://mail.python.org/mailman/private/pycon-organizers/2009-February/011251.html]
:::::::@32:49 “What I need is a movie that’s an hour and a half of River Tam beating up dinosaurs.” — Randall

==Trivia==

Randall has since this comic given a TED talk in March 2014. [https://www.ted.com/talks/randall_munroe_comics_that_ask_what_if Randall Munroe Comics that ask "what if?"].

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Comics featuring Randall Munroe]]
[[Category:Comics with color]]
[[Category:Furries]]
[[Category:Banned from conferences]]
[[Category:Public speaking]]
[[Category:Your Mom]]

Talk:2776: Crystal Ball

2023-05-21T16:32:01Z

172.70.111.153:

I added an explanation of spherical aberration and the tendency of light to distort around spherical objects, as well as the idea of how fisheye lenses use this principle to do their thing. [[User:Darkwolf0218|Darkwolf0218]] ([[User talk:Darkwolf0218|talk]]) 01:01, 16 May 2023 (UTC)
: Thank you, the spherical aberration discussion is much better than before. Much better than the optics course I took where they consistently failed to notice that spherical aberration is because the '''lens is the wrong shape'''; it is an engineering problem not a physics problem.[[Special:Contributions/172.70.111.153|172.70.111.153]] 16:32, 21 May 2023 (UTC)

I can't seem to find the citation toolbar while editing on mobile. So dropping this here for a reference to ball lenses on fiber optic cables. {{Cite web}} https://www.edmundoptics.com/knowledge-center/application-notes/optics/understanding-ball-lenses/ [[User:Iggynelix|Iggynelix]] ([[User talk:Iggynelix|talk]]) 12:37, 16 May 2023 (UTC)
:We ''very rarely'' use Cites on this site. Just add a link (in alternate-word form to flow with the sentence, ideally).
:I've never really used toolbar stuff (simple enough to tap in {s, }s, [s and ]s, as well as any <s and >s needed for HTML, etc), and it's simple to (eventually, perhaps checking via Preview that it's not ''totally'' messed up on the first go or two) work out what others did to add references and copy the style of the right kinds of them.
:So if you want to mention a link to [https://www.edmundoptics.com/knowledge-center/application-notes/optics/understanding-ball-lenses/ ball lenses], just do something like this. (PS., use the full <nowiki>~~~~</nowiki> when signing Talk contributions, I fixed yours without using the {{template|unsigned}} 'reminder'..) [[Special:Contributions/172.70.86.31|172.70.86.31]] 14:28, 16 May 2023 (UTC)

Why am I now ear-wormed by "Beware of the Beautiful Stranger" by Clive James and Pete Atkin?
"That ball needs a re-gun" I said, shelling out
The future you see there has all come about"
https://genius.com/Pete-atkin-beware-of-the-beautiful-stranger-lyrics
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MeOYHZQqWao
[[Special:Contributions/172.71.242.202|172.71.242.202]] 17:56, 16 May 2023 (UTC)

I’m going to edit the part on the title text to be more broad, as Google isn’t the exclusive way to receive any kind of information on the internet [[Special:Contributions/172.69.58.42|172.69.58.42]] 19:35, 16 May 2023 (UTC)

While we can all applaud the connection of spherical aberration to crystal balls, unfortunately the off-axis part of joke misses the mark as spherical aberration is an aberration that is generally uniform across the frame. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.210.190|172.70.210.190]] 19:52, 16 May 2023 (UTC)

: Yes, the comic seems to be confusing spherical aberration with coma, which makes it hard to produce a good explanation. I think the current reference to fisheye lenses, and distorted shapes, is a red herring. Spherical aberration rather appears as a lack of sharpness. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.154.18|162.158.154.18]] 03:34, 18 May 2023 (UTC)

I'm new to the whole xkcd's websites and comic strips and I desire to meet some other xkcd fans as well![[User:ArchaRaid|ArchaRaid]] ([[User talk:ArchaRaid|talk]]) 23:29, 16 May 2023 (UTC)

Talk:2773: Planetary Scientist

2023-05-12T19:25:10Z

172.70.111.153:

First. [[Special:Contributions/127.0.0.1|127.0.0.1]] 02:14, 8 May 2023 (UTC)

:https://xkcd.com/1258/[[Special:Contributions/172.70.38.127|172.70.38.127]] 02:14, 9 May 2023 (UTC)

The latest edit to this page adds a name for the clerk, "Rumplesoyskin". Is this an in-joke I'm not familiar with, or vandalism? [[User:Angel|Angel]] ([[User talk:Angel|talk]]) 11:32, 9 May 2023 (UTC)
:If I'm to guess, probably vandalism - especially considering Rumplesoyskin isn't mentioned anywhere else [[User:Coreirei|Coreirei]] ([[User talk:Coreirei|talk]]) 13:01, 9 May 2023 (UTC)
:(Ninjaed by Edit Conflict... However, my reply was...) Vandalism. "Soy" is an insult used by certain types (against some nebulous target group or other), which has commonly cropped up here due to (probably) a single rather pernicious recurring vandal with seemingly nothing better to do than prove their own childishness. Revert what needs to be reverted and move on, if you see that again. [[Special:Contributions/172.71.178.206|172.71.178.206]] 13:04, 9 May 2023 (UTC)

Could this have to do with the fact that planetary scientists can't directly observe the conditions of the exoplanets and are relying on circumstantial eveidence to classify which planets are most likely to have a subsurface ocean?[[Special:Contributions/172.71.150.174|172.71.150.174]] 14:32, 9 May 2023 (UTC)
:Not just exoplanets but moons. Images/flux-measurements by Pioneers/Voyagers and then later outer-planet probes keep turning up reasons to believe there may be a subsurface 'ocean' of liquid water (and not just the ones with water-ice surface, where it might be fairly obvious if there's signs of rills in the ice-sheets or even water-geysers that must be fed by ''something'' below that's liquid H<sub>2</sub>O).
:If anything, exoplanets are still more in the "exciting if there could be signs of ''surface'' liquid" stage, as surface conditions and atmospheric composition are the things being worked out from the orbit/rotation and the spectral signature from its occluding. We're a bit further away from working out that a salty mass of subsurface water is distorting the magneto-electric field its orbit passes through.
:But it's a big thing, regardless, to wonder if Pluto has h8dden liquid water, or how much there might be underneath Europa's frozen surface. (Or if there's actually quite a lot more to be found deep beneath the martian surface... or not so deep... as well as as a fraction of its surface ice-caps.) [[Special:Contributions/172.71.134.85|172.71.134.85]] 15:06, 9 May 2023 (UTC)

I think this is related to the recently announced subsurface oceans on Uranus' moons: https://www.nasa.gov/feature/jpl/new-study-of-uranus-large-moons-shows-4-may-hold-water
[[Special:Contributions/172.69.22.119|172.69.22.119]] 17:03, 9 May 2023 (UTC)

The reference to "plate tectonics" should be removed. The comic simply says tectonics. "Plate tectonics" is not the only type of tectonics and is not synonymous with "tectonics". For example Mars and Venus are currently to have tectonics but not plate tectonics. Ice worlds could be either/or.[[Special:Contributions/172.70.111.153|172.70.111.153]] 19:25, 12 May 2023 (UTC)

2771: College Knowledge

2023-05-05T13:20:36Z

172.70.111.153: /* Note */

{{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 cadance, three characters (or child versions) {{w|Skipping rope|jump rope}} and explore parts of the solar system and beyond by taking it in turns to provide the rhythm's tempo. First [[Science Girl]] (who is turning the left end of the rope), then a [[Cueball]] (at the right), followed by a [[Ponytail]] (doing the jumping), before returning to Science Girl. The lyrics become increasingly obscure, and less likely to feature in actual playground rhymes, whilst now concentrating on various stellar bodies. Their seemingly spontaneous verse becomes ever more tenuous in order to contrive a "rhyme" with each new pair of destinations, so they eventually seem compelled to abandon the whole game.

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 {{w|ferrous}} iron from {{w|Eris}} (or perhaps {{w|ferrous|become more like it}}, by bodily transformation), the girls playfully threaten the boys with iron-tipped {{w|stingers}}, for which the boys' acquired armour of {{w|chitin}} (a material commonly found on the exoskeletons of various insects, including in any stings these might normally have) 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|Ceres (dwarf planet)}} "is a dwarf planet in the asteroid belt between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter."

{{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]]