explain xkcd - User contributions [en]

Talk:2757: Towed Message

2023-04-03T14:07:48Z

172.70.126.116:

I hear there were plane(s) pulling banners (Draftkings) around the Boston area yesterday (MLB opening day), perhaps that influenced Randall. [[User:JohnHawkinson|JohnHawkinson]] ([[User talk:JohnHawkinson|talk]]) 23:31, 31 March 2023 (UTC)

I think that he edited the sign midflight somehow. --[[User:Purah126|Purah126]] ([[User talk:Purah126|talk]]) 00:06, 1 April 2023 (UTC)

Also, how do they answer the telephone call mid-flight? --[[User:Purah126|Purah126]] ([[User talk:Purah126|talk]]) 01:59, 1 April 2023 (UTC)
:Well, they didn't, but that means they flew out of range of any suitable cell towers before any call came in. Which is their oversight/error given that it should be easier to maintain line-of-sight than if you're stuck on the ground in a canyon or something.
:Otherwise, I'm sure they could waggle the stick with one hand whilst holding the handset to their ear with the other. I'm sure the FAA has rules against it (given that many jurisdictions don't like drivers driving whilst on a phone) but probably the least of the problems for a pilot who has to deal with a banner that they don't know how to handle... [[Special:Contributions/172.71.242.87|172.71.242.87]] 03:06, 1 April 2023 (UTC)

Is it some kind of [[:Category:Self-reference|self-reference]]? [[2659: Unreliable Connection]] 02:03, 1 April 2023 (UTC)

[[File:Explanation length.png|400px|thumb|Frankly, I'm worried about burnout. [[User:Liv2splain|Liv2splain]] ([[User talk:Liv2splain|talk]]) 10:52, 3 April 2023 (UTC)]]

Is this supposed to be the April Fools comic, but a day early, or is that comic late?20:21, 1 April 2023 (UTC)
:I can't wait for the April Fools comic! --[[User:Purah126|Purah126]] ([[User talk:Purah126|talk]]) 15:19, 2 April 2023 (UTC)
::April third, still no april fools comic :( [[User:Mushrooms|Mushrooms]] ([[User talk:Mushrooms|talk]]) 09:18, 3 April 2023 (UTC)
I noticed that image quality on the comics seems to have dropped, I wonder if this is some kind of quiet joke.

Talk:1784: Bad Map Projection: Liquid Resize

2023-03-01T16:27:50Z

172.70.126.116: Comparison to Subways/Underground

I'm not too experienced with PhotoShop, but I think that the tool is a selective delete that he used on water bodies, so removing most of the water while maintaining relative shapes and sizes?
:Mostly just from the fact that India looks desiccated.
[[Special:Contributions/162.158.166.197|162.158.166.197]] 05:06, 11 January 2017 (UTC)Girish
::Australia is pretty mutilated, so I think the tool was used on land too [[Special:Contributions/162.158.178.111|162.158.178.111]] 05:55, 11 January 2017 (UTC)

Where are Laos and Cambodia missing? [[Special:Contributions/108.162.246.11|108.162.246.11]] 06:14, 11 January 2017 (UTC)
:It seems that Laos and Burma have been merged into one big county, as well as Cambodia and Thailand. Maybe they are just unnecessary details according to this map projection. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.238.22|162.158.238.22]] 16:39, 11 January 2017 (UTC)

The tool removes spaces of uniform color automagically. If you have big countries like India or Australia, they get caught by the algorithm as well. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.69.9|162.158.69.9]] 06:16, 11 January 2017 (UTC)

Can anybody figure out the projection before the application of the tool? [[Special:Contributions/108.162.219.232|108.162.219.232]] 06:58, 11 January 2017 (UTC)
:I think it is a Mercator projection that got mutilated. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.104.239|141.101.104.239]] 07:50, 11 January 2017 (UTC)
::I agree, it looks like a Mercator that Freddy Kruger got at.
Girish, [[Special:Contributions/162.158.166.197|162.158.166.197]] 09:02, 11 January 2017 (UTC)
:::I think if it was a Mercator, the bottom of Antarctica would be flat. To me, it looks like Winkel Tripel, with the odd angles in Alaska and the Russian Far East. [[User:Schroduck|Schroduck]] ([[User talk:Schroduck|talk]]) 15:02, 11 January 2017 (UTC)

I feel like there is some part of sarcasm in "unused blank spaces", as if it was Randall saying "You're right, why would anyone care about the oceans? There, I have removed them, problem solved.". Can anyone tie this to a recent event? Or maybe the joke is about improperly handling data, where you use a tool just because it's known to work well and for the sake of processing data, even if using in a given context doesn't make much sense. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.69.213|141.101.69.213]] 10:14, 11 January 2017 (UTC)
:I'm not sure about recent events, but "removing oceans" features prominently in one of Randall's [https://what-if.xkcd.com/53/ What If?] articles. {{unsigned ip|108.162.241.130}}

This map proves, once again, that it's good to be an archipelago. Philippines, FTW! [[Special:Contributions/172.68.54.58|172.68.54.58]] 13:59, 11 January 2017 (UTC)
:Hold your patriotic horses there, where did Palawan go? --[[Special:Contributions/162.158.138.10|162.158.138.10]] 12:24, 12 January 2017 (UTC)

Comics like these make me wonder how Randall preserves the XKCD visual style when working with content that is clearly not hand-drawn. [[User talk:AgentMuffin|~AgentMuffin]]

"This is a play on the common advice to young children to refrain from "running with scissors" to avoid physical accidents." <-- Does anyone else thing this is a bit of a stretch? {{unsigned ip|108.162.245.130}}
:Yes, I do :) [[User:Luckykaa|Luckykaa]] ([[User talk:Luckykaa|talk]]) 15:46, 12 January 2017 (UTC)
: absolutely. Running just refers to the algorithm. It's not meta in any way.[[Special:Contributions/162.158.58.45|162.158.58.45]] 16:29, 12 January 2017 (UTC)

This map centres on Africa, which has survived the distortion relatively unscathed. Might this be a dig at other projections that exaggerate the relative size of Africa? For example, Gall-Peters is called out in {{xkcd|977}} with a simple "I hate you".
--[[Special:Contributions/108.162.241.130|108.162.241.130]] 15:47, 13 January 2017 (UTC)
:Maybe but I think it is because all landmasses are more or less centered around Africa. By putting this center there is not need to show any of the Earths half-sphere with the paccific Ocean, which would anyway disappear completely. I think it would be more difficult for people to relate to a map that shows USA up Against China, than US up against Europe. And that may be an important factor when making such a comic. People need to know what they see and what has happened to appreciate the comic. But I'm sure he appreciated that it keeps Greenland and Australia much smaller then Africa, which is not the case for the mercator projection. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 20:46, 17 January 2017 (UTC)

It seems to me that this comic is inspired by {{xkcd|1685}}, once again making humorous reference to using a Photoshop tool to accomplish an unrelated task. {{unsigned ip|108.162.215.130}}
:Agree. Will add [[1685: Patch]] to the explanation. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 20:46, 17 January 2017 (UTC)

Can someone please explain the relevance of "political" in the title? Because I understood the resizing of the map to be related to unused blank political space, so that areas with little or no political "content" were cut away, which seems to run counter to what everyone else thinks. But then again, I know absolutely nothing about actual map resizing.
:"Political" is a type of map which focuses on showing locations of countries, usually by painting neighbouring ones in different colors.[[Special:Contributions/172.68.11.41|172.68.11.41]] 09:33, 24 January 2017 (UTC)

This page reads more like a review than an explanation. ★☆☆☆☆ [[Special:Contributions/108.162.212.227|108.162.212.227]] 10:16, 7 August 2017 (UTC)

Could someone add Tissot's Indicatives (correct spelling) onto the map as the title text shows? could someone do a reverse liquid resize to put it back to what it was before? [[Special:Contributions/172.69.63.203|172.69.63.203]] 16:40, 11 June 2020 (UTC)Bumpf

"Bad content aware scaling is already a meme." -- Well, this is about bad continent-aware scaling! [[Special:Contributions/162.158.155.90|162.158.155.90]] 13:21, 30 December 2020 (UTC)

This reminds me of maps for underground train networks, which greatly distort distances but preserve relationships between stops on different rail lines.
[[Special:Contributions/172.70.126.116|172.70.126.116]] 16:27, 1 March 2023 (UTC)

2732: Bursa of Fabricius

2023-02-02T01:36:10Z

172.70.126.116: /* Transcript */

{{comic
| number = 2732
| date = February 1, 2023
| title = Bursa of Fabricius
| image = bursa_of_fabricius_2x.png
| imagesize = 298x399px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = If an anatomical structure is named for a person, it means they were the only person to have it. Pierre Paul Broca had a special area of his brain that created powerful magnetic fields, enabling him to do 19th century fMRI research.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by FLYING SCIENTISTS WITH TRANSPLANTED AVIAN LYMPHATIC ORGANS - Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

The {{w|Bursa of Fabricius}} is an organ found in birds that is necessary for the development of the immune system. The comic claims that 16th century anatomist {{w|Hieronymus Fabricius}} (for whom the organ was named) was able to fly because he also had that organ. However, this organ does not in fact contribute to flight.{{citation needed}}

Many scientific and mathematical discoveries, including anatomical structures, are named after the people who discovered them. The title text claims that in the case of anatomical structures, the anatomical structure is named after the only person to have it in their body. This would seem to be highly unlikely given the limits of biology.{{citation needed}} {{w|Pierre Paul Broca}} was a French physician, anatomist and anthropologist, known for his research on {{w|Broca's area}}, a region of the brain named after him that is used for speech and language processing. Broca did not do fMRI research, as it was not invented in his lifetime, but was able to study brains of speech-impaired patients of his who had died.

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
:[A Cueball-like man wearing a hat, and a Megan-like woman wearing a wig look up at a man with bald-patches flying in the air]
:[Header on top of the image]:
:The ''bursa of Fabricius'' is a lymphoid organ found only in birds and in 16th century anatomist Hieronymus Fabricius, to whom it conferred the power of flight.
:Hieronymus Fabricius: ''Wheee''

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Biology]]
[[Category:Animals]]
[[Category:Comics featuring real people]]
[[Category:Characters with hats]]

2659: Unreliable Connection

2023-01-24T05:27:50Z

172.70.126.116:

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2659: Unreliable Connection

2023-01-02T02:59:13Z

172.70.126.116:

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2659: Unreliable Connection

2022-12-20T04:48:37Z

172.70.126.116:

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Talk:2712: Gravity

2022-12-16T22:29:20Z

172.70.126.116:

Whatever image is supposed to be in the center isn't showing up for me! D: Tried on both Safari and Chrome but it gives me the little broken picture icon. Hopefully it's fixed soon! (The comic's been up for about 10 minutes going by when the bot updated this page.) [[Special:Contributions/172.70.126.117|172.70.126.117]] 22:28, 16 December 2022 (UTC)

Talk:672: Suggestions

2022-12-07T21:09:08Z

172.70.126.116:

What is the icon in the third panel supposed to be? --[[User:NeatNit|NeatNit]] ([[User talk:NeatNit|talk]]) 13:40, 26 June 2014 (UTC)
: Two people being warm against each other. --[[User:Bedunkel|BD]] ([[User talk:Bedunkel|talk]]) 01:14, 20 November 2014 (UTC)
::So we have a multi millionaire with no life, no respect for anyone's privacy and no moral scruples that has been running this make-believe world since he was a pimply kid and offering the full Monty to any would be Faust.
::HTF did we let that happen? :~D
::Oh yes, sexual persuasion. Why do I get the impression this is all going to end badly for everyone involved?
[[User:Weatherlawyer| I used Google News BEFORE it was clickbait]] ([[User talk:Weatherlawyer|talk]]) 00:09, 28 January 2015 (UTC)

How is Susie "drawn as a sexy version of Megan"? That seems to be a bit of a reach to me. {{unsigned ip|172.68.110.64}}
: On the other side: How can you tell she isn't ;-) [[Special:Contributions/162.158.90.54|162.158.90.54]] 14:29, 12 June 2019 (UTC)
::It is objectively false that she is a sexy version of anything. She is a stick figure. I also don't think it makes any sense to call anyone Megan in any xkcd strip unless they are called Megan in that specific strip. Xkcd seldom has continuity of any kind, and imputing it to characters is goofy.
::If I believed that this wiki should be a source of ultimate truth, I would have removed the line about sexy Megan. Since I think this wiki is a fun collaborative writing project in its own right, I added a citation needed tag to this assertion, because it is funnier that way. If you remove it, or the thing about being sexy Megan, your mom's a ho. [[Special:Contributions/172.68.38.44|172.68.38.44]] 23:58, 24 July 2020 (UTC)
:::I removed it and think you should have learned the joke before you used it. This community gives real (but sarcastic) explanations on the comic. The "citation needed" joke should be used on things that are universally understood to be true, and should not normally need a citation. The concept of a sexy stick figure isn't that... all I see is more random words which isn't funny except to a mind where random is funny, to whom I direct to xkcd:1210 [[Special:Contributions/172.69.68.195|172.69.68.195]] 16:22, 1 July 2021 (UTC)

Why does the explanation say that Cueball left his webcam on? He '''explicitly said that the action was creepy'''. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.126.116|172.70.126.116]] 21:09, 7 December 2022 (UTC)