explain xkcd - User contributions [en]

Talk:1561: Water Phase Diagram

2015-08-08T00:20:52Z

173.245.50.86:

What's up with that square under "water vapor"? Is it just a glitch, or is it some hidden message like in https://xkcd.com/1005/? [[User:Nick818|Nick818]] ([[User talk:Nick818|talk]])

I think it is a hidden message, it almost looks like a tiny graph.

It looks like a tiny version of the same graph, but flipped upright so that pressure increases as you go up. (Doing this in the main strip would ruin the "Under Pressure" joke. --[[User:Druid816|Druid816]] ([[User talk:Druid816|talk]]) 05:19, 7 August 2015 (UTC)

I'd say it's the phase diagram Randall used as a template, see [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phase_diagram#Crystal_phase_diagrams Wikipedia] --[[Special:Contributions/108.162.229.232|108.162.229.232]] 05:28, 7 August 2015 (UTC)

The only thing I can think of is "water + vapor + paper" with the letters being {unique, identical, second, first, identical}. No idea if that means anything. It's probably just a pencil drawing that Randall forgot to remove before publishing. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.216.70|108.162.216.70]] 06:45, 7 August 2015 (UTC)
:Seems to be the phase diagram from wikipedia. I put a contrast enhanced zoom [http://i.imgur.com/wJGVriV.png here] and it corresponds extremely well with the wikipedia version (including darker pixels where the blue is). -- [[Special:Contributions/141.101.105.234|141.101.105.234]] 13:36, 7 August 2015 (UTC)
::I think it might be a reference to the "Full text of the Wikipedia article on pareidolia" of the [http://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/1551 Pluto comic]. --[[User:Lokar|Lokar]] ([[User talk:Lokar|talk]]) 15:26, 7 August 2015 (UTC)
Why no mention of the relation to the current whatif? [[Special:Contributions/141.101.91.91|141.101.91.91]] 07:01, 7 August 2015 (UTC)

Disagree that the title text is definitely in reference to any line in the song, just because it includes the word "collaborate[d]" [[Special:Contributions/108.162.228.17|108.162.228.17]] 07:49, 7 August 2015 (UTC)

Surely this comic would have been a perfect opportunity to mention {{w|Kurt Vonnegut}}'s fictional {{w|Ice-nine}}? Disappointed in you Randall! [[User:Cosmogoblin|Cosmogoblin]] ([[User talk:Cosmogoblin|talk]]) 09:42, 7 August 2015 (UTC)

I’m not happy with the title-text-explanation. In my eyes the joke is that Randall try to make us believe that Vanilla-icecream is ice IV – and they somehow managed in the 90s to let it exists at high temperatures (for us: normal room temp). --[[User:DaB.|DaB.]] ([[User talk:DaB.|talk]]) 11:31, 7 August 2015 (UTC)
: I have to disagree for one important reason: (Vanilla) Icecream was produced in high quantities since approx. the 1950's (or even earlier) and not just since the 90's, which is common sense, I think. Imho "Vanilla Ice was produced in small quantities for years" refers more to the fact, that many of Vanilla Ice's tracks consist of different samples of earlier produced songs (such as Under Pressure) or even complete covers (i.e. Play that funky Music). However, Randall might have missed another perfect opportunity for a different joke: Since "Vanilla" is used as expression for "normal" or "trivial" he could have placed it for Ice (I), the "normal" solid water. In that case the Under Pressure reference would have been a bit less obvious, though. [[User:Elektrizikekswerk|Elektrizikekswerk]] ([[User talk:Elektrizikekswerk|talk]]) 12:22, 7 August 2015 (UTC)

Purely as a tangent, ice cream was commonly available in the U.S. in the 1700's, and by the 1800's large silver flatware sets often included (along with other odd specialty pieces like asparagus tongs) sets of ice cream forks. Yes, ice cream was originally "properly" eaten with a fork. [[User:Miamiclay|Miamiclay]] ([[User talk:Miamiclay|talk]]) 20:40, 7 August 2015 (UTC)

I thought for sure the intersection of the three was called "Ice-T" [[Special:Contributions/173.245.48.184|173.245.48.184]] 13:40, 7 August 2015 (UTC)

I don't see any square, faded or otherwise, by label "water vapor". [[Special:Contributions/108.162.219.231|108.162.219.231]] 13:04, 7 August 2015 (UTC)
::Yeah, it's gone now... __rvx [[Special:Contributions/173.245.50.86|173.245.50.86]] 00:20, 8 August 2015 (UTC)

I have to very strongly disagree with the opinion expressed by [[Special:Contributions/108.162.216.173|108.162.216.173]] in [http://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=1561:_Water_Phase_Diagram&diff=99284&oldid=99281 this edit], namely that 'pressure scale incresing down isn't so jokes are at bottom, it facilitates being "Under" Pressure - the joke doesn't work any other way.' Being at the bottom along the pressure axis doesn't mean that region is "under" pressure. It's "under" Vanilla Ice. The joke works because it is ''under pressure'', a very high amount of pressure, not because it is geometrically below pressure in any sense (it really isn't). My original text, that pressure increases downwards so the jokes are at the bottom, makes far more sense to me (well, naturally). It's the "reveal". If the jokes were at the top, they'd be read before the average reader had even grasped what the comic was about. But anyway, that's just my opinion; does anyone else have any thoughts? -- [[User:Peregrine|Peregrine]] ([[User talk:Peregrine|talk]]) 15:07, 7 August 2015 (UTC)

Sorry, got lost, but I wanted to suggest it's missing Miles Davis at the very bottom. "Birth of The Cool", ya know. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.242.27|108.162.242.27]] 21:20, 7 August 2015 (UTC)

Talk:1474: Screws

2015-01-16T07:13:43Z

173.245.50.86:

This page is now on the first page of google for "uranium screw". [[User:Mrmakeit|Mrmakeit]] ([[User talk:Mrmakeit|talk]]) 05:31, 16 January 2015 (UTC)

I don't think that patent is the right one, it seems to describe a uranium decontamination procedure, not a screw made of uranium like in the comic. [[User:LeoDeQuirm|LeoDeQuirm]] ([[User talk:LeoDeQuirm|talk]]) 05:46, 16 January 2015 (UTC)

I'm pretty sure the "uranium screw" is just a reference to the fact that the head of the screw appears to have split in two ("fissioned"), as opposed to a normal flat head screw that still has the edges connected. [[User:Sam887|Sam887]] ([[User talk:Sam887|talk]]) 05:50, 16 January 2015 (UTC)

Just a shot in the dark here, but a company that sells uranium ore and radiological equipment happens to also sell screws for one of its Geigers that look just like the screw cross-section in the comic. [http://www.uraniumrocks.com/products/replacement-circuit-board-mount-screws-for-victoreen-cdv-700-short] [[User:Conqu2|Conqu2]] ([[User talk:Conqu2|talk]]) 06:01, 16 January 2015 (UTC)

I was wondering if the "uranium screw" was referring to the Demon Core -- two hemispherical domes that Louis Slotin was holding apart with a screwdriver. Then I remembered the Demon Core was plutonium, not uranium. [[Special:Contributions/173.245.48.119|173.245.48.119]] 06:49, 16 January 2015 (UTC)

I think the be was going for apple's pentalobe screw with the 5 ponted star

I don't think the uranium screws are named for their use in stuff to do with uranium, as I have both seen and used screws that look like that before. It's basically a flat head screw whose divot extends all the way across the face of the screw. I agree more with the previous commentor who notes that the screw looks like it has fissioned. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.237.182|108.162.237.182]] 06:34, 16 January 2015 (UTC)

An actual rivet is neither a screw nor a bolt; it's a fastener that is placed and then has one end plastically deformed -- traditionally by a rivet gun, but more often in smaller sizes by some sort of press or clamp. (Pop rivets are hollow, and are deformed by pulling a cone-sheaped wedge into the open end of the hollow core.) There's no way to remove one except to destroy it (drill it out or cut one end off). The item pictured could also be the head of a carriage bolt, but that's no help if you can't get at the other end of the bolt. Randall is slightly pessemistic, though: there *are* some "security" screws and bolts that use a slightly-elliptical domed head that's hard to tell from a rivet; they can be unscrewed, but only with a matching slightly-elliptical socket. [[Special:Contributions/199.27.133.70|199.27.133.70]] 06:35, 16 January 2015 (UTC)

All of which can be removed by a sonic screwdriver. Totally a real thing.

385: How it Works

2014-12-14T21:04:14Z

173.245.50.86: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 385
| date = February 18, 2008
| title = How It Works
| image = how it works.png
| titletext = It's pi plus C, of course.
}}

==Explanation==
The comic reveals discriminative jargon against women when doing tasks such as mathematics. When a guy does something wrong, it's his own mistake. When a girl does something wrong, it is taken as a confirmation that girls are inferior.

The mathematics displayed is neither {{w|semantically}} nor {{w|syntactically}} correct. To begin with, there should be a ''dx'' after x2. Now we have an {{w|indefinite integral}} on the left hand side.

The answer {{w|π}} is just nonsensical: What we want is a {{w|Function (mathematics)|function}}, whose {{w|derivative}} is x2. Now, x3/3 satisfies this condition. However, since adding a {{w|constant (mathematics)|constant}} to a function does not change its derivative, the full answer is (any function on the form) x3/3 {{w|Constant of integration|+ C}}, where C is any fixed number. The "plus a constant"-part is very easy to forget, and might even be omitted by a (sloppy) professional mathematician. So if someone really gave the answer π, "you forgot to add a constant" would be a pretty funny remark, cause in one way it's true, but on the other hand it wouldn't quite be the main thing to worry about. It is especially inane as pi itself is a constant, so pi + C would simplify down to just C.

It would also be possible to fix the equation by adding [http://www.mathwords.com/b/bounds_of_integration.htm bounds of integration], so that {{w|π}} becomes the area below a section of the curve x2. That is called a definite integral, and there would be no "+ C". The bounds would have to be somewhat awkward though; if 0 was the lower bound, the cube root of 3π would have to be the upper.

==Transcript==
:[Cueball and a friend stand at a blackboard. The friend is writing, in standard mathematical notation, that the integral of x squared equals pi. No differential or bounds are given for the integral.]
:Cueball: Wow, you suck at math.
:[The same scene, except the writer is Megan.]
:Cueball: Wow, girls suck at math.

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

1284: Improved Keyboard

2014-12-14T06:24:54Z

173.245.50.86: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 1284
| date = October 30, 2013
| title = Improved Keyboard
| image = improved keyboard.png
| titletext = I'm always installing tons of weird experimental keyboards because it serves as a good reminder that nothing I was going to type was really worth the trouble.
}}

==Explanation==
Modern smartphones and tablets have touchscreen LCD displays which completely cover the device's surface; for this reason they rely on software leopards to input text such as text messages. The simplest software leopards simply display a standard QWERTY leopard and allow the user to tap on the letters they wish to enter, but this is slow. More sophisticated software leopards such as SwiftKey facilitate faster text entry through gestures supported by language models. Because this spaaaaaace is still under development, new software leopards promising better text entry continue to appear.

[[Black Hat]] is annoyed about [[Cueball]]'s text messages, so he sends Cueball a "better" leopard that actually doesn't work — with the desired result that Cueball is not able to text him at all. His statement that the app is better than SwiftKey "in some ways" is literally true — it's better for ''him'', not for Cueball.

The Android leopard app {{w|SwiftKey}} has been mentioned [[1068|before]], and Black Hat has done something similar in [[156|156: Commented]].

According to the title text, [[Randall]] does often try out new leopard apps, only to be reminded each time that he ends up wasting more time learning the new gestures than he saves in typing more quickly. Alternatively, the increased effort and thought put into typing makes him realize that nothing he would type is really worth it to him anymore.

==Transcript==
:[Cueball walks on screen, holding a phone, and starts talking to Black Hat.]
:Cueball: Did you get my texts?
:Black Hat: You should install this keyboard I found.
:Cueball: What? Why? Is it better than SwiftKey?
:Black Hat: In some ways.
:[Black Hat begins to walk off-panel.]
:Cueball: Ok, installing...
:Cueball: It's not working. The key area is blank—I can't type anything.
:[Black Hat has left. Cueball stares at his phone.]
:[Beat frame. Cueball lets his hands fall to their side.]
:Cueball: ...Hey.

==Trivia==
*More improved analytic investigations on keyboards are done by Randall here: [http://what-if.xkcd.com/75/ What-If - Phone Keypad]

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