explain xkcd - User contributions [en]

2005: Attention Span

2021-01-21T19:37:16Z

173.245.52.110: /* Explanation */ Added a link to the high fantasy Wikipedia article, for people who don't know what it is

{{comic
| number = 2005
| date = June 11, 2018
| title = Attention Span
| image = attention_span.png
| titletext = I didn't even realize they MADE a novelization of "Surf Ninjas." How did you-- Oh my god, it's signed by the author?!
}}

==Explanation==
People often groan about their shrinking attention span, attributing it to an increased illiteracy. This allows for fond nostalgia about the times when they were supposedly more intelligent and focused.

[[Cueball]] does the same here, but [[Megan]] retorts that he spent six hours reading over a pointless (if disturbingly plausible) theory about a banal show based off a series of bedtime stories made to entertain small children. ''{{w|Thomas & Friends|Thomas The Tank Engine}}'' is a British children's series based off a series of books written by Wilbert Awdry. It follows the adventures of anthropomorphized train locomotives and other vehicles.

Cueball qualifies his statement: he has no attention span for anything good anymore. Megan, in reply, examines Cueball’s bookshelf, finding a book that cements Cueball’s status as a nerd who reads {{w|High fantasy|high fantasy}}. Cueball protests that the book is a classic, but Megan dismisses the fact.

To be fair to Cueball, many great fantasies have covers such as those in the comic (e.g. ''{{w|A Song of Ice and Fire}}'', ''{{w|The Lord of the Rings}}'', Randall's personal favorite ''{{w|Discworld}}''). To be fair to Megan, this book is apparently not one of them, being thicker than it is wide (like ''The Complete {{w|Miss Marple}}'' by {{w|Agatha Christie}}), a telltale sign of needless bombast and turgid prose.

Other possibilities for the dragon book are ''{{w|His Majesty's Dragon}}'' from the ''{{w|Temeraire (series)|Temeraire}}'' series or ''{{w|Dragonsbane}}'' from the Winterlands series.

If there was any doubt about Cueball’s dubious literary tastes before, Megan dispels them in the title text, refering to a novelization of the excoriated movie ''{{w|Surf Ninjas}}'', a movie that is exactly what it sounds like. Signed novelizations of a movie named “Surf Ninjas” are not typical fodder for great minds.

The comic contains a hyperlink to an article with the same unfortunate content Cueball has apparently finished reading prior to this comic: [https://www.newyorker.com/culture/rabbit-holes/the-repressive-authoritarian-soul-of-thomas-the-tank-engine-and-friends The Repressive, Authoritarian Soul of “Thomas the Tank Engine & Friends”]. This article, the articles linked from it, further linked articles from those, links found by googling the topic, and other related [https://www.techopedia.com/definition/5199/surfing-world-wide-web web surfing] on the topic could easily add up to six hours or more of reading.

==Transcript==
:[Cueball and Megan are standing together.]
:Cueball: I haven't read any books in forever. I have no attention span anymore.

:[Zoom in on the faces of Cueball and Megan.]
:Megan: Didn't you literally '''''just''''' spend six hours obsessively reading about the theory that ''Thomas the Tank Engine'' is authoritarian propaganda depicting a post-apocalyptic fascist dystopia?

:[Cueball still standing there. Megan begins pacing away.]
:Cueball: OK
:Cueball: I mean I have no attention span for anything '''''good''''' anymore.
:Megan: Let's check out your bookshelf, shall we?

:[Cueball alone.]
:Cueball: What are you-
:Off-panel: I see a dragon holding a sword in its teeth on the cover of a book that's thicker than it is wide.
:Cueball: And? That's a '''''classic!'''''
:Off-panel: Just saying, I don't think this is a new development.

==Trivia==
2005 (the comic number) is also the year of the first XKCD comic.

{{comic discussion}}

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

Talk:1048: Emotion

2015-05-11T19:07:22Z

173.245.52.110:

Damn. Well, she's still going strong. I suppose that's a good thing. '''[[User:Davidy22|Davidy22]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 13:58, 8 January 2013 (UTC)

I was surprised nobody noted the big increase in romance around early 2009 -- presumably when Randall met his future wife? [[Special:Contributions/108.162.212.30|108.162.212.30]] 11:18, 19 May 2014 (UTC)

:: My interpretation was just that "politics" peaked in 2008 (for the election), and then receded. Romance wasn't so much increasing as it was going back to its normal value. [[Special:Contributions/173.245.52.110|173.245.52.110]] 19:07, 11 May 2015 (UTC)

I am concerned about the ending of Joss Whedon's influence. Didn't Randall like the Avengers at all? I will grant you that Nathon Fillion has not been in those movies, but there should be some response!--[[Special:Contributions/108.162.219.18|108.162.219.18]] 14:46, 20 May 2014 (UTC)

"This comic does not show any joke." Hm... I thought putting "people being wrong on the internet" as a major source of emotions was meant to be a joke...? I know this is a mostly serious comic, but saying that it doesn't have any jokes ''at all'' seems a bit inaccurate... Not sure though, so I'll just leave it. [[User:SuperSupermario24|Just some random derp]] ([[User talk:SuperSupermario24|talk]]) 02:11, 22 April 2015 (UTC)

::I agree. Even if it was not meant to contain joke, I don't think it is important to point out, there are several xkcd strips that aren't meant to be funny and they don't all note it in the explanations here. [[User:Jaalenja|Jaalenja]] ([[User talk:Jaalenja|talk]])

:::Okay, I edited it a little bit. How does that look? [[User:SuperSupermario24|Just some random derp]] ([[User talk:SuperSupermario24|talk]]) 22:51, 27 April 2015 (UTC)

Talk:1509: Scenery Cheat Sheet

2015-04-16T13:46:47Z

173.245.52.110:

Wish he added Big Hero 6 for San Francisco. They did a super good job at getting the map accurate to San Francisco. [[Special:Contributions/199.27.133.129|199.27.133.129]] 19:19, 8 April 2015 (UTC)
:But that was set in [http://disney.wikia.com/wiki/San_Fransokyo San Fransokyo] {{unsigned ip|173.245.54.193}}

One objection: although ''What About Bob?'' was set at Lake Winnipesaukee, NH, it was actually filmed at Smith Mountain Lake, VA. {{unsigned|‎Jstech}}

The Napoleon Dynamite Idaho square doesn't cover Preston, where it was filmed.[[Special:Contributions/199.27.133.121|199.27.133.121]] 06:00, 8 April 2015 (UTC)

The ''Twilight/50 Shades'' area really shouldn't cover eastern Washington and Oregon either. East of the Cascade Mountains is much more like Boise than Seattle. [[User:Tribble314|Tribble314]] ([[User talk:Tribble314|talk]]) 07:12, 8 April 2015 (UTC)
:Tribble314 is completely correct

It gets Forest Gump wrong, that is set in Alabama, including the Alabama gulf coast and not easter Georgia, The Tombstone section is on the wrong side of Arizona and Zorro is set, and filmed, in California. Anything By Mark Twain is too far south, and since Road Runner cartoons all have Saguaro and organ pipe cactus, it is amazing how the map outlines the exact part of Arizona where they don't exist {{unsigned ip|173.245.50.122}}
:It's not about where it's set. It's where it's filmed. And I object to the 'Anything by Mark Twain' on the grounds that it's basically just Tom Sawyer/Huck Finn without say Innocents Abroad or for that matter most of what was written by a guy who did a good bit of traveling in his lifetime.--Dude[[Special:Contributions/108.162.237.183|108.162.237.183]] 09:28, 8 April 2015 (UTC)
::No, the map is about where it's set (generally). ''Star Trek'' wasn't actually filmed in Iowa, part of the movie was set there. In any event, the explanation provides a column for each. - Equinox [[Special:Contributions/199.27.128.120|199.27.128.120]] 15:14, 8 April 2015 (UTC)

Let's not forget ''A Connecticut Yankee In King Arthur's Court''! I'm pretty sure that doesn't fit in 'Anything By Mark Twain'-space. --[[User:PsyMar|PsyMar]] ([[User talk:PsyMar|talk]]) 12:46, 8 April 2015 (UTC)

I never even knew I lived so close to so many awesome movies. [[User:YourLifeisaLie|The Goyim speaks]] ([[User talk:YourLifeisaLie|talk]]) 12:39, 8 April 2015 (UTC)

Wikipedia tells me that there are 3 2005 ''War of the Worlds'' movies. So... [[User:YourLifeisaLie|The Goyim speaks]] ([[User talk:YourLifeisaLie|talk]]) 12:43, 8 April 2015 (UTC)

A lot I'd like to argue with, but without proof (no time to look), I'll skip most except for this: The Twin Cities of Minnesota (Minneapolis & St. Paul) are clearly shown (Mpls. skyline at least) in ''Fargo'', yet the Twin Cities area is barely within ''Fargo'''s border. (Nitpick from the movie: the characters are coming FROM the north but the Mpls view is obviously from the south, I-35W Northbound.) Also, ''North Country'', whose story is based around taconite mining in Minnesota's Iron Range (north/northwest of Duluth), should have been included, and also shows a Mpls. skyline as an establishing shot for either lawyer's offices and/or a courthouse. (And one more thing: Thanks to whoever pointed out that Woodstock, IL is the true filming location for ''Groundhog Day''. I would show it on the map with a dot or star there, rather than the Pennsylvania area is supposedly represents.) --BigMal27 // [[Special:Contributions/173.245.50.177|173.245.50.177]] 13:03, 8 April 2015 (UTC)

I think the Oregon Trail section of the map is specifically referring to the video game, because the subtitle below the main text in that map location says "The only part I ever got to." [[Special:Contributions/199.27.128.190|199.27.128.190]] 17:00, 8 April 2015 (UTC)
:That was my assumption too. It's challenging to get to the end of the game, whereas I don't know any reason to not be able to finish the movie. [[User:Smperron|Smperron]] ([[User talk:Smperron|talk]]) 16:41, 9 April 2015 (UTC)

Are we going to have a column for the area the square covers on the map? or a place to record whether or not the area covers the filming location or where it was set? [[Special:Contributions/199.27.133.121|199.27.133.121]] 17:57, 8 April 2015 (UTC)

I think the statement "this is where the movies are set, not where they are filmed" completely misses the point. This is a map of where the movies look like they are set. So, some areas are where they are set (if the movie background seems to be where it's supposed to be) and some areas are where they were filmed (if there's an obvious contradiction between location and setting). Hence, The Sandlot, for example... [[Special:Contributions/173.245.48.188|173.245.48.188]] 18:03, 8 April 2015 (UTC)

Orange is the New Black is a much more convincing setting for Upstate New York, even though it isn't a movie. {{unsigned ip|173.245.56.206}}

For the record, northeast america is a pretty good guess for any Steven King movie. Lots of his stuff is set up there. I know because I am an avid reader. [[User:YourLifeisaLie|The Goyim speaks]] ([[User talk:YourLifeisaLie|talk]]) 04:18, 9 April 2015 (UTC)

I took out the line about 50 Shades being the first fan fiction book to be made into a movie. (The movie Mortal Instruments: City of Bones was a Harry Potter fan fiction.) {{[[Special:Contributions/108.162.237.144|108.162.237.144]] 15:19, 9 April 2015 (UTC)}}

Much (if not most) of True Grit takes place in Oklahoma, so this should at least be Oklahoma/Arkansas {{unsigned ip|173.245.56.173}}

I did not watch "dazed and confused" but according to that one line in wikipedia,the cast are from austin,tx.maybe this should give a note -kai [[Special:Contributions/103.22.200.220|103.22.200.220]] 07:43, 12 April 2015 (UTC)

*Duck Dynasty* is a TV show not a movie [[Special:Contributions/173.245.52.110|173.245.52.110]] 13:46, 16 April 2015 (UTC)

1292: Pi vs. Tau

2015-04-07T13:21:45Z

173.245.52.110:

{{comic
| number = 1292
| date = November 18, 2013
| title = Pi vs. Tau
| image = pi vs tau.png
| titletext = Conveniently approximated as e+2, Pau is commonly known as the Devil's Ratio (because in the octal expansion, '666' appears four times in the first 200 digits while no other run of 3+ digits appears more than once.)
}}

==Explanation==
This is yet another of [[Randall]]'s [[:Category:Compromise|compromise comics]]. A few mathematicians argue as to whether to use pi, which is the ratio between a circle's circumference and its diameter, or tau, which is the ratio between a circle's circumference and its radius.

Some consider pi to be the wrong convention and are in favor of using tau as ''the'' circle constant; see the [http://tauday.com/tau-manifesto Tau Manifesto], which was inspired by the article "[http://www.math.utah.edu/~palais/pi.html Pi is wrong!]" by mathematician Robert Palais. Others consider proponents of tau to be foolish and remain loyal to pi (see the [http://www.thepimanifesto.com Pi Manifesto]). Of course, regardless of which convention is used, the change is merely in notation — the underlying mathematics remains unaltered. Still, the choice of pi vs. tau can affect the clarity of equations, analogies between different equations, and how easy various subjects are to teach.

Most people know π (pi) by the approximation 3.14, but do not know τ (tau) which, by definition, is twice as large as pi. Randall is suggesting using "pau", which is a portmanteau of "pi" and "tau", as a number situated, appropriately enough, halfway between pi and tau, i.e. 1.5 pi or 0.75 tau. But of course his number would be inconvenient, as this value does not naturally turn up when working with circles or other mathematical constructs, so there are no commonly used formulas that would use pau.

The title text claims that pau can be approximated by e+2, as both values are roughly 4.71 — a similarity that holds little since it requires another irrational constant, {{w|E (mathematical constant)|e}}. It also attributes the nickname "Devil's Ratio" to pau, due to the sequence {{w|Number of the Beast|666}} supposedly appearing four times in the first 200 digits of pau when expressed in the {{w|octal}} base. However, this is not the case, and was likely due to an error in the computer system used by WolframAlpha; for more details see below.

==Transcript==
:[On the left is a "forbidden"-style slashed circle with the π symbol, captioned "Pi". On the right is a "forbidden"-style slashed circle with 2π, captioned "Tau". In the middle it reads 1.5π, captioned "Pau".]
:A compromise solution to the Pi Tau dispute

==Math details==
Possibly, [[Randall]] used [http://www.wolframalpha.com/ Wolfram|Alpha] to calculate the result (he uses it a lot, for example [http://what-if.xkcd.com/70/ What-if 70: The Constant Groundskeeper] or [http://what-if.xkcd.com/62/ What-if 62: Falling With Helium]).
However, when the comic was published, there was (and still is, as of April 29, 2014) a bug in Wolfram|Alpha so that, when getting 200 octal digits from "pau", it just calculates the decimal value rounded to 15 significant digits (this is 4.71238898038469) and expands that as octal digits as far as needed.

This gives a periodically repeating number. In the first 200 digits of the octal expansion, the sequences 666 and 6666 do occur, twice and once, respectively. There are 4 occurrences, however, in the first 300 digits:
<pre>
4.554574376314416445676661714336617116240444076666510533533077631151350452060436452476274022621206136310000177621674175071262255702044274154476005744176002676623042402346036604733130522524127534777714554305412763636566643022106616734723661726160312772574551366370203115523402704104015532221722772357666</pre>
Expansion that long indeed does contain 666 (the {{w|Number of the beast|number of the beast}}) four times (with one instance as 6666). It also contains 0000, 222, 444, and 7777, but they only appear once in a run.

{{w|Mathematical coincidence|Coincidentally}}, e+2 is also very similar to 1.5 pi, although only to a few digits.
<pre>
1.5π = 4.71238898038...
e+2 = 4.71828182845...
</pre>

==Trivia==
*For Pi the sequence '666' occurs for the first time at position 2440. Many more occurrences can be found here: [http://www.angio.net/pi/ The Pi-Search Page].
*Note that pau is Catalan for peace, which is a good solution for the pi/tau dispute.
*In the discussion it has been theorized that Randall used [[356: Nerd Sniping|Nerd Sniping]]. In which case he was aware of the mistake in Wolfram!
*For an entertaining introduction to the concept of tau, see this [https://www.khanacademy.org/math/recreational-math/vi-hart/pi-tau/v/pi-is--still--wrong Vi Hart video].

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Comics with color]]
[[Category:Math]]
[[Category:Compromise]]