explain xkcd - User contributions [en]

Talk:865: Nanobots

2016-08-06T06:43:00Z

173.245.55.67:

So IPv6 gives us enough addresses to cover 40% of the earth in nanobots? I'm sold. IPv6 addresses for everyone! '''[[User:Davidy22|{{Color|purple|David}}y²²]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 10:01, 9 March 2013 (UTC)

The top header on this page is different from the others. It advertises that xkcd is IPv6 enabled: "xkcd.com now has IPv6 connectivity. If you can't reach it, you or your ISP have misconfigured equipment. Sadly, I now have no way to tell you." [[Special:Contributions/141.101.70.163|141.101.70.163]] 22:13, 24 July 2014 (UTC)

: The xkcd page doesn't have an IPv6 address. Has this changed since 2014? -- [[Special:Contributions/162.158.91.219|162.158.91.219]] 14:29, 23 January 2016 (UTC)

I think this maybe be a reference to the scifi book "plague year" it's a good book, and it fits this comic perfectly. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.219.220|108.162.219.220]] 10:01, 25 October 2014 (UTC)

Oh no! I think I got a multicast/link-local/unique local/other reserved address! [[Special:Contributions/173.245.55.67|173.245.55.67]] 06:43, 6 August 2016 (UTC)

446: In Popular Culture

2014-07-28T21:53:44Z

173.245.55.67: /* I changed the date saying when the reference to xkcd on Wikipedia was taken out. The previous version only said "as of this date, it has still be edited out". By changing it to the date it was edited, it makes it easier for others to find.*/

{{comic
| number = 446
| date = July 7, 2008
| title = In Popular Culture
| image = in_popular_culture.png
| titletext = Someday, the 'in popular culture' section will have its own article with an 'in popular culture' section. It will reference this title-text referencing it, and the blogosphere will implode.
}}

==Explanation==
Wikipedia is a popular online encyclopedia with articles that are created and edited by the general public. Wikipedia entries have many sections, with the first few explaining the general concept and details behind the subject.

When this comic was written many Wikipedia articles had a section at the end entitled "in popular culture", listing TV shows, movies, songs and so on which made reference to the subject at hand. In many cases, this list was extensive, possibly because the people editing the articles were such fans of the subject or the pop culture in which it is referenced, they couldn't help but go into great detail, listing many esoteric and seemingly irrelevant elements of pop culture which were peripherally related to the subject of the article. As an example, see the old article [https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Apollo_in_popular_culture&oldid=153446837 Apollo in popular culture] which as of August 2007 redirects to {{w|Apollo}}.

The joke in this case is that even such a mundane article such as one on wood could have an "in popular culture" section and obviously, wooden items are common enough that there are any number of instances of popular culture which could be considered to "reference it", even if that's something as basic as a wooden item being used as a prop in a TV show. Such information would be of little or no use to anybody and only somebody obsessed with wood, a particular element of pop culture in which wood makes an appearance or the concept of placing pop culture references in encyclopedia articles would bother to create or maintain such a section.

Also, wood being such a popular material, the list of references could be virtually endless. This is a reference to the fact that the "in popular culture" sections of many Wikipedia articles contained dozens of items, even for articles on fairly arcane subjects. Note that the end of this particular "in popular culture" section is not visible so we don't know how long it is.

The title text states that in the future there will even have to be a wiki page with the subject "In popular culture". This article will also need an "in popular culture" section and it will be obvious to make a reference directly to this title text, as xkcd is part of popular culture and because this title text predicted the creation of and need for such a page. However this would then create a circular reference. This could be considered a form of infinite loop which is one way to cause a computer to crash (lock up). The joke is that the blogosphere could follow this endless train of circular links and itself crash, causing an "implosion".

This comic was mentioned in {{w|Wikipedia:"In popular culture" content}}. However, on April 23, 2014, the reference was edited out.

==Transcript==
:[A fictional screen capture of the Wikipedia article for "wood" is shown.]
:'''Wood''' is a hard, fibrous tissue found in many plants. It has been used for centuries for both fuel and as a construction material for... [cut in page.]
:In popular culture:
:In episode 6 of ''Firefly'', "''Our Mrs. Reynolds''," Jayne is given a wooden rain stick by a villager.
:In the Buffyverse, Buffy often slays Vampires using stakes made of wood.
:The wand used by Harry Potter is made of wood from a holly tree.
:The fence around the back yard of the house in ''The Simpsons'' is wooden.
:In the 2004 TV series ''Battlestar Galactica'' [rest of page is cut.]

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Wikipedia]]
[[Category:Comics with color]]

Talk:1362: Morse Code

2014-04-30T18:42:04Z

173.245.55.67:

Does the way the panels of the comic go 0101 mean anything, being more code and all? [[User:Cheeselord99|Cheeselord99]] ([[User talk:Cheeselord99|talk]]) 06:58, 30 April 2014 (UTC)

: The Morse sequence · – · – (dot dash dot dash) corresponds to letter Ä (A umlaut), also æ and ą, outside US-ASCII. – · – · is C. --[[User:JakubNarebski|JakubNarebski]] ([[User talk:JakubNarebski|talk]]) 07:52, 30 April 2014 (UTC)

:: I think it just indicates a long pause. They're in a quiet, peaceful place. Not sure there's anything more to be read into it[[Special:Contributions/173.245.53.148|173.245.53.148]] 16:03, 30 April 2014 (UTC)

It seems to translate in the question mark. --07:11, 30 April 2014 (UTC)[[Special:Contributions/141.101.96.205|141.101.96.205]]

Randall mentioned in one of the "what ifs" that when he sees 1010 he involuntarily thinks "ten." So I guess it's "five?" Or an extended-Morse "a-umlaut" or "a-ogonek" or "ae digraph." Or a wild goose chase, maybe...[[User:Taibhse|Taibhse]] ([[User talk:Taibhse|talk]]) 07:25, 30 April 2014 (UTC)

Can someone explain the livejournal? -- [[User:Hkmaly|Hkmaly]] ([[User talk:Hkmaly|talk]]) 09:59, 30 April 2014 (UTC)
:And it is still a nice and a quiet place for people devoted to their interests,[http://raskalov-vit.livejournal.com/130686.html like urban exploration,etc.]Contrasted with Tumblr or Facebook,which are often drama-filled.[[User:Guru-45|Guru-45]] ([[User talk:Guru-45|talk]]) 11:03, 30 April 2014 (UTC)
livejournal is a website that was popular with the "goth" subculture way back in the day where people would post similar things to the last morse message.
:It's commonly used by Russians nowadays.[[User:Guru-45|Guru-45]] ([[User talk:Guru-45|talk]]) 11:05, 30 April 2014 (UTC)

"Cueball and Megan are 'lying' in a grassy, lonely plain." "Laying" has quite a different connotation. Ahem. {{unsigned|Pmiller000}}

I was looking at one of my livejournal entries just yesterday. I left it for Posterous. Then Twitter bought that and shut it down. I thik Wordpress will be around for a while. http://purl.net/net/tbc/blog/about

To the subject at hand. 'I Googled and found a 1999 article about Morse code in ''The Economist'' that is fascinating. I Instapapered http://www.economist.com/node/183572 ''– [[User:Tbc|tbc]] ([[User talk:Tbc|talk]]) 13:03, 30 April 2014 (UTC)''

Perhaps Cueball was simply inspired by the quote and wanted to close his LiveJournal account in a similar manner. He did not necessarily intend to use those exact words.--[[Special:Contributions/108.162.242.8|108.162.242.8]] 14:31, 30 April 2014 (UTC)

The landscape keeps changing from panel to panel: the lines in the horizon, the lines in the front big rock, the bunches of grass, etc. Also, grassy plains are usually thought of as peaceful and quiet, while the internet is not. I think the point (at least, one of the points) in the last panel is that Cueball turns this upside down by wanting to visit livejournal for peace and quietness, {{unsigned ip|108.162.229.33}}

LiveJournal is responding to this comic. http://xkcd-rss.livejournal.com/344879.html [[User:MrGameZone|0100011101100001011011010110010101011010011011110110111001100101]] ([[User talk:MrGameZone|talk page]]) 17:15, 30 April 2014 (UTC)
:As well as other comics, it seems. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.237.218|108.162.237.218]] 18:05, 30 April 2014 (UTC)

Is the "Angst ridden" part not simply one of explain XKCDs users take on live journal. I think it gets way too much focus in the explain as it now also comes into explaining the title text. I would drop it completely - but as I do not know LiveJournal this may be so common knowledge that it is given that Randall reefers to this Angst... And thus I will leave a reasonable change to others... [[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 18:08, 30 April 2014 (UTC)

I thought this comic was a callback to http://xkcd.com/77/ [[Special:Contributions/173.245.55.67|173.245.55.67]] 18:42, 30 April 2014 (UTC)

Talk:506: Theft of the Magi

2014-04-18T21:24:19Z

173.245.55.67:

Is it an "aaw" of dissapointment, or an "aaw" of affection? [[Special:Contributions/108.162.231.121|108.162.231.121]] 23:28, 19 February 2014 (UTC)

:In the comic, it's spelled "aww", as in a cuteness overload. Please note the difference. /s
:I think it's an aww of affection, as explained above. [[Special:Contributions/173.245.55.67|173.245.55.67]] 21:24, 18 April 2014 (UTC)BK201

Talk:632: Suspicion

2014-04-18T20:43:57Z

173.245.55.67:

"I'm more than a spambot! Our love was real!" might suggest that the spambot has actually more self-awareness/feelings than you might expect. -- [[Special:Contributions/145.7.91.126|Arjen]] 10:35, 28 December 2012 (UTC)

:Or an extremely well designed spambot. ;) [[Special:Contributions/173.245.55.67|173.245.55.67]] 20:43, 18 April 2014 (UTC)BK201

Couples wanting to check themselves can try an implementation of this test at http://vk-couples-testing.appspot.com/ :-) --[[User:Mormegil|Mormegil]] ([[User talk:Mormegil|talk]]) 15:10, 1 February 2013 (UTC)

Should we consider the name "Lisa" to be important? One of the very first chat-bots was called Eliza. [[Special:Contributions/91.183.95.109|91.183.95.109]] 15:13, 25 February 2013 (UTC)

::Don't forget that Apple's first GUI was the Lisa system.{{unsigned ip|24.207.62.236}}

I would be happy to see a reference to Philip K. Dick's Voigt-Kampff from his book 'Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?' Since it was written in 1968 and Scott used it as an inspiration to write Blade Runner. Original source and stuff. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.231.55|108.162.231.55]] 22:31, 31 October 2013 (UTC)

Considering what's on panel #2 and #3, I thought that "getting tested" meant those ads that asks to insert your name and your partner's name to check if it's a good relationship. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.212.196|108.162.212.196]] 14:00, 4 January 2014 (UTC)

Talk:82: Frame

2014-04-14T22:04:05Z

173.245.55.67:

Might be far-fetched, but this one reminded me of meiosis [http://www.vib.be/VIBMediaLibrary/Science%20and%20Technologies/Cells/meiose-cell-division500px.jpg]. - [[User:XHalt|XHalt]] ([[User talk:XHalt|talk]]) 08:59, 25 March 2013 (UTC)
:It's more the opposite.--[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 21:35, 3 July 2013 (UTC)

It reminds me of smoking DMT.

This reminds me of the "Cube" movie series. [[Special:Contributions/208.124.118.63|208.124.118.63]] 21:31, 7 October 2013 (UTC)BK

Or Hellraiser (cue the Cenobites)[[User:Squirreltape|Squirreltape]] ([[User talk:Squirreltape|talk]]) 18:52, 3 March 2014 (UTC)

:Hellraiser makes more sense. [[Special:Contributions/173.245.55.67|173.245.55.67]] 22:04, 14 April 2014 (UTC)BK

Talk:68: Five Thirty

2014-04-08T21:22:09Z

173.245.55.67:

Do we need to attempt to explain any of them? --[[User:Quicksilver|Quicksilver]] ([[User talk:Quicksilver|talk]]) 14:33, 25 August 2013 (UTC)
:Sure, the name of this site is explainxkcd.--[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 19:33, 25 August 2013 (UTC)
:: Well then this sort of thing merits an incomplete tag, not pages for which the grammar is slightly off! There should be a tag for explanations that do not explain enough (Incomplete) that is separate from that for copy-edits and such. Blow me if many pages marked Incomplete are far more complete than this one. --[[User:Quicksilver|Quicksilver]] ([[User talk:Quicksilver|talk]]) 21:39, 25 August 2013 (UTC)
Here's my attempt at a partial explanation: I always thought panel 10 (if you read it left to right, top to bottom) was making a joke on how both of the things said were irrational, "My hair is bleeding" for the obvious reasons, and "√3" as it's an irrational number. Panel 9 could be the guy's friend trying to cut his hair with bullets because it's more "manly" than going to the barber. [[User:RoseEmanuel|RoseEmanuel]] ([[User talk:RoseEmanuel|talk]])

Just pointing out that when discussing the eighth (as well as the second, fifth, and eleventh) panel, it makes no diference whether you'r reading left to right or right to left (as long as your going side to side, top to bottom). if going top to bottom, side to side, this is true for the fifth through eighth panels.[[Special:Contributions/108.162.249.114|108.162.249.114]]

Is it just me or couldn't the title "Comics from 5:30" also be deemed a panel (considering it's boxed in)? In which case I really have no idea what Mr Munroe's preferences are... [[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.163|141.101.98.163]]

Does Mr.Munroe (or Dr.Munroe?) ever watch this? I bet he's smiling at his own genius (well deserved, of course) of making his fans quarrel over the random ideas he had. Just like black hat. (I do want to conspire and say he has an account with a pseudonym just to throw us off, if we ever came close to the truth. )
And yes, I do wear tin foil hats too. Duh! /s [[Special:Contributions/173.245.55.67|173.245.55.67]] 21:22, 8 April 2014 (UTC)BK201

Talk:1351: Metamaterials

2014-04-04T20:25:50Z

173.245.55.67: Moved two sentences from explanation to discussion.

You should also note the reference to https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roses_are_red - which should be quite obvious though.
--[[Special:Contributions/108.162.229.61|108.162.229.61]] 06:34, 4 April 2014 (UTC)
:See also http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roses_are_red Sebastian :--[[Special:Contributions/173.245.53.194|173.245.53.194]] 06:28, 4 April 2014 (UTC)

Is there any guidelines for making a transcript? In my opinion any explanation of the comic should stop at a note of who deliver the line. Only when it is not clear in which order a text should be read or for special comics should there be anything else than written text from the comic. [[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 11:50, 4 April 2014 (UTC)
:Take a look [http://explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/explain_xkcd:Community_portal/Proposals#Transcripts here]. It was a (short) discussion about transcripts. {{User:Grep/signature|12:20, 04 April 2014}}

If I'm not terrible mistaken, this is not how metamaterials work. Can anybody link me a work about wavelength-shifting metamaterials?
[[Special:Contributions/108.162.210.249|108.162.210.249]] 16:35, 4 April 2014 (UTC) (whoever put this on grep's talk page... it's supposed to go here)

For red to turn into blue, you still need a nonlinear medium and a lot of red. Or maybe a temporally modulated medium with a modulation similiar to the frequency of visible light...?
(This needs to go in the discussion. Not the explanation. FTFY. You are welcome. ;) [[Special:Contributions/173.245.55.67|173.245.55.67]] 20:25, 4 April 2014 (UTC)BK201

1351: Metamaterials

2014-04-04T20:23:48Z

173.245.55.67: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 1351
| date = April 4, 2014
| title = Metamaterials
| image = metamaterials.png
| titletext = If I developed a hue-shifting metamaterial, I would photobomb people's Instagram pics with a sheet of material that precisely undid the filter they were using.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Feels incomplete.}}

{{w|Metamaterials}}, artificially created materials typically composed of very finely structured “conventional” materials, may cause light passing through them to shift. The exact color it shifts to varies based on the design of the material. (At least that seems to be the underlying assumption of the comic. Real metamaterials, however, are spectrally linear systems. They have a spatially modulated structure, hence they can do weird stuff with light ''spatially''. Color is a function of frequency/time though.)

In today’s comic, Megan uses her metamaterial (which is in the shape of a box) to switch the colors of the cliché Valentine’s Day poem, “{{w|Roses are red}}, violets are blue, sugar is sweet and so are you.”

The title text references this with Randall pondering making a metamaterial that reverses the effect of {{w|instagram}} filters, likely by placing the material between the camera and the subject just before the picture is taken. Instagram is a photo application that applies one of a variety of filters (usually hue shift/contrast adjustments) meant to simulate the look of old photographs.

==Transcript==

:[Picture of a red violet.]
:Megan (off-screen): Violets are red.

:[Picture of a blue rose.]
:Megan (off-screen): And roses are blue.

:[Megan holding sheet of transparent material in front of the two flowers: red violet, blue rose. Cueball stands nearby.]
:Megan: When metamaterials

:[Megan moves the object away from the flowers. Now violet is blue, and rose is red]
:Megan: Alter their hue.

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

Talk:1260: LD50

2014-04-01T14:06:57Z

173.245.55.67:

There's one toxicology paper that's facing us instead of laying flat. Is it just me, or is there a funny "concerned" face on it? --[[User:Druid816|Druid816]] ([[User talk:Druid816|talk]]) 05:58, 4 September 2013 (UTC)

Oh my, when I checked the comic this morning I didn't even see Cueball lying underneath the stack of toxicology papers... --[[User:Buggz|Buggz]] ([[User talk:Buggz|talk]]) 06:17, 4 September 2013 (UTC)

Is there any way to move this page from LD50 to LD50? [[Special:Contributions/208.120.153.144|208.120.153.144]] 06:31, 4 September 2013 (UTC)
:We try to stay as faithful to the main xkcd comics as possible when referencing xkcd materials. If the comic title on xkcd.com is LD50, it's LD50 here too. '''[[User:Davidy22|{{Color|#707|David}}y²²]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 06:51, 4 September 2013 (UTC)

Wait, that's just one scientist out of three that died of toxicity data. Doesn't that mean, that they've only determined LD33? Is there any way to estimate LD50 from LD33? Imho the exact distribution of death rate / dose would have to be known up to one free parameter for such an estimate... -- [[User:Xorg|Xorg]] ([[User talk:Xorg|talk]]) 10:56, 4 September 2013 (UTC)

:I tried to address this with an edit. Betwixt the ultimate and penultimate ("...he/she weighs.") sentences I started to add:
::Presumably, for every recorded death a statistically matched second person survived the same load. In this case ''perhaps'' this is the Cueball scientist behind the Megan scientist, although he is now obviously unencumbered.

:::But what do we know, maybe Cueball is only half dead.{{unsigned ip|189.186.105.168}}

:...although it started to run away with me. Was also going to say something about saving paper by re-using the 'test dose', or something, but it's already getting too long. But someone might be able to edit it (and even re-arrange it) better than I. [[Special:Contributions/178.106.190.241|178.106.190.241]] 11:42, 4 September 2013 (UTC)
:Second-thoughts edit! The person beneath the documentation isn't ''necessarily'' the dead one (in any given pair)! He lacks any obvious signs of being deceased (e.g. "a cross for an eye", by common cartoon standards, albeit that cueballs generally don't have eyes, or signs of bodily breakage or presumably vital fluids slowly seeping across the floor, or...). Thus maybe this is one of the (uncomfortable!) survivors from the cohort of testees, being observed. If only Randall would have added a sign of death (or life, like a "groan") then we could get on with our lives! (Unlike fully half of those tested upon.) [[Special:Contributions/178.106.190.241|178.106.190.241]] 11:51, 4 September 2013 (UTC)

A third edit from me: Regular printing paper's density (according to Wiki) is 800kg/m³, with the human body being slightly less than 1000kg/m³ as a ready reckoner (oh, go on then... wiki says... oh, it doesn't, obviously at least... well, given how we float in water, I'd estimate it at 850-950kg/m³). Doesn't that pile of literature (even assuming air gaps, and possibly some lamination/plastic covering of perhaps even less dense nature) look a ''little'' more than than twice-and-a-bit the volume of the typical Cueball beneath, even unflattened and unstickified? Right, that was my last edit. Honest. [[Special:Contributions/178.106.190.241|178.106.190.241]] 12:02, 4 September 2013 (UTC)

Could it be that by "administered orally", Randall means "verbally" (i.e. read out loud)? I think that could be quite a funny interpretation... :-) [[User:Gregatar|Gregatar]] ([[User talk:Gregatar|talk]]) 18:56, 4 September 2013 (UTC)
:Aurally? [[Special:Contributions/79.45.204.116|79.45.204.116]] 16:55, 5 September 2013 (UTC)APB
::YA RLY!!! [[Special:Contributions/173.245.55.67|173.245.55.67]] 14:06, 1 April 2014 (UTC)BK201

I totally agree with this 'verbally' thing, I was thinking the same, that a too large set of data read out loud would be fatal after a few 100 pages :) Include in explanation?
[[User:Flekkie|Flekkie]] ([[User talk:Flekkie|talk]]) 23:50, 5 September 2013 (UTC)

Laughing my ass off!!! But nothing to contribute other than laughter. :¬D [[User:ExternalMonolog|ExternalMonolog]] ([[User talk:ExternalMonolog|talk]]) 20:14, 4 September 2013 (UTC)ExternalMonolog

Something is very wrong here. The LD50 is the dose required to kill HALF of the test population, but here we see only one guy, and he's presumably either dead or not-dead. The "2kg/kg" figure suggests that if you drop 2x each person's weight in paper on an entire population, *half* of them will die. {{unsigned ip|58.28.131.238}}

:I don't think it's wrong, Randall just didn't draw all the experiments (like in [http://xkcd.com/882/ Significant]), but just the last one. The humour is just to show how the experiment is performed, not how many people it kills. The LD50 term just adds fun by using toxicology jargon.--[[Special:Contributions/92.231.34.227|92.231.34.227]] 14:25, 5 September 2013 (UTC)

When I first read this, I thought it was referring to a [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fork_bomb| fork bomb], saying that the data was toxic to the computer and that the data's mass is twice its own mass, i.e. its size doubles before you know it. The toxicology explanation does seem more convincing though. [[Special:Contributions/98.237.178.64|98.237.178.64]] 01:37, 6 September 2013 (UTC) edited [[Special:Contributions/98.237.178.64|98.237.178.64]] 01:42, 6 September 2013 (UTC)

The explanation of subcutaneous injection mentions blood clots in vessels. Subcutaneous injection in used in the medical field to refer to injections under the skin, but not inside muscle (intramuscular) or inside the veins (intravenous). IV would clearly be more lethal at a lower dose than subcutaneous and I would imagine Randall's intent was to describe an IV injection. I would expect the cause of death from paper particles injected under the skin to be infection if a small to moderate amount of paper was used to hemorrhage due to mechanical tearing of the skin and underlying tissues in a high dose.[[Special:Contributions/99.126.226.212|99.126.226.212]] 05:25, 7 September 2013 (UTC)

Why is the image missing?--[[Special:Contributions/108.162.250.8|108.162.250.8]] 10:32, 5 December 2013 (UTC)

Talk:340: Fight

2014-03-26T19:51:33Z

173.245.55.67: Created page with ""Notoriously hard"[Citation needed]. /s ~~~~BK201."

"Notoriously hard"[Citation needed]. /s [[Special:Contributions/173.245.55.67|173.245.55.67]] 19:51, 26 March 2014 (UTC)BK201.

Talk:977: Map Projections

2014-03-25T21:23:58Z

173.245.55.67:

I have a Plate Carrée hanging on my wall myself. Never failed me yet. '''[[User:Davidy22|Davidy22]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 07:05, 2 February 2013 (UTC)

Dymaxion is clearly the best. There's nothing like a map made out of an unfolded d20. [[User:Alpha|Alpha]] ([[User talk:Alpha|talk]]) 19:43, 23 February 2013 (UTC)

: Makes you wonder what if a dodecahedron had been used instead of an icosahedron. --[[User:Quicksilver|Quicksilver]] ([[User talk:Quicksilver|talk]]) 18:02, 17 August 2013 (UTC)

Peirce Quincuncial has 4 non-conformal points, but not the 4 corners, which are the south pole, but instead are the 4 midpoints of the sides. These are on the equator and seem to be 90 degrees apart.--DrMath 06:30, 30 August 2013 (UTC)

In actual fact, the Waterman butterfly map used a truncated octahedron based upon the mathematics of close packing of spheres and is not at all based upon any of CaHill's work/math.
-- steve waterman {{unsigned ip|65.92.20.61}}
: I love Peirce Quincuncial, yet I slept throughout that "Inception". [[Special:Contributions/141.101.99.228|141.101.99.228]] 11:36, 27 January 2014 (UTC)

xkcd 1051's title text - "meta lucid dreaming". I really got excited that there was an article about and ironically, it leads to meta and lucid dreaming separately. [[Special:Contributions/173.245.55.67|173.245.55.67]] 21:23, 25 March 2014 (UTC)BK201

Talk:450: The Sea

2014-03-05T21:48:05Z

173.245.55.67:

Umm...before changing the page shouldn't there be some discussion here? There was a bunch of other stuff that got deleted. [[Special:Contributions/69.122.106.29|69.122.106.29]] 03:22, 31 May 2013 (UTC)

;Justification of "male enhancement" theory

DGBert wrote that there's no justification for the idea of the first pump being a penis-enlarging pump. What other theory do you have about (a) a pump, that (b) makes someone larger and (c) improves their self-image?
:If you have any hints not only coming from your own brain you are welcome. This wiki is "Explain" and not "Speculate". --[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 17:59, 31 May 2013 (UTC)

(Do we have Word Of God about this or many other 'Explanations'? An awful lot of this Wiki is speculation, without it.) Personally, while the first pump could be either kind of pump, the title text asking for ''another'' in order to drain the sea means that the first (regardless of which way one's mind snaps, on reading) was not intended to be a sea-draining pump. Randall also often does something akin to "one-lead-element Markov Chaining", and "how small I am" leading to a penis pump fits his sense of absurdist humour. Even if it isn't initially that, it's still akin to being a {{w|Garden path sentence}} (only more of a disfluent paragraph version) when parsing. All IMO. YMMV. HTH. HAND.
''[[Special:Contributions/178.107.249.215|178.107.249.215]] 13:40, 14 June 2013 (UTC)''

;Totally agree with "male enhancement" explanation

The previous explanation (last edited by [[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]]) was:

<blockquote>
In this comic, Cueball compares himself to a very large sea and realizes how small he is. The initial implication is that this causes him to be humble and realize his small place on the planet -- a common sentiment expressed in poetry and blogs.
</blockquote>
<blockquote>
The punchline "I should get one of those pumps" induces humor by reversing the expectation: as he thinks about how small he is compared to the sea, he starts wanting to buy a pump, presumably take out the sea water so the sea could be smaller and not so much a threat to his self-image anymore. It shows that he really hasn't learned anything and is still egotistical.
</blockquote>
<blockquote>
The title text creates additional humor by reversing the expectation yet again, by saying that he wanted another pump to drain the sea, meaning that the purpose of the first pump was not to drain the sea. This leads the reader to ponder what possible use the first pump was to have, and how it was going to make him bigger.
</blockquote>

This, to me, felt weak, was overly complex, and ignored what seems a painfully obvious point. The number of "male enhancement" products being marketed by junk-mail at the time was a frequent source of humour, and something that anyone with an e-mail account (and a poor junk-mail filter) dealt with on a frequent basis. Ref: [http://www.google.ca/trends/explore?q=penis%20pump#q=penis%20pump%2Cmale%20enhancement&cmpt=q|Google Trends on Male Enhancement]

Note, the line is: "... one of '''those''' pumps." This wording indicates that Randall is referring to something that he expects the reader to realize is topical. If he meant a generic pump, he would NOT have used the keyword "those". People ignorant of the junk mail of the day, and the function of penis pumps, would understandably not get the joke.
''[[User:MisterSpike|MisterSpike]] ([[User talk:MisterSpike|talk]]) 10:16, 26 June 2013 (UTC)''

;Totally agree with previous explanation. [[User:Undee|Undee]] ([[User talk:Undee|talk]]) <nowiki>12:01, 30 October 2013 (UTC)</nowiki>

; A question for Dgbrt
Did you know that in English the sentences ''I'm small'' and ''I'm big'' sometimes mean ''my penis is small''[http://im-small.tumblr.com/] and ''my penis is big''?[http://es.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=big&defid=3086531][http://wtfcontent.com/wtf-2500.htmlhttp://wtfcontent.com/wtf-2500.html] [[Special:Contributions/173.245.50.84|173.245.50.84]] 13:44, 18 February 2014 (UTC)

: I seriously take issue with that statement as well - I suggest using "can also mean" rather than "mean" or "sometimes mean" [[User:Brettpeirce|Brettpeirce]] ([[User talk:Brettpeirce|talk]]) 13:55, 18 February 2014 (UTC)

;A question to me (Dgbrt)
This explain should be discussed with [[Randall]]. This comic doesn't belong to SEX, most man don't use a "Penis Pump" because it's nonsense. If Randall did joke about this item we would get a better claim on this. This explain still does not cover the meanings by the author. --[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 23:29, 18 February 2014 (UTC)
:I was asking because if you didn't know the meaning of "I'm small" then you obviously didn't think about a penis pump until you came here. People who knew in advance the meaning of "I'm small"" immediately thought of a penis pump. [[Special:Contributions/173.245.50.84|173.245.50.84]] 13:05, 19 February 2014 (UTC)

First, I agree that without the tagline, the first thought is about the ocean. I am reminded of the Norse myth about Thor being tricked by the giants to "drink the ocean" in what he thought was a beer (or mead or ale) drinking contest. The phrase to drink the ocean does appear in colloquial english (american).

There are at least two popular cultural allusions here that north american readers would be familiar with. One is the Austin Powers movies. When Austin is unfrozen there is an elaborate scene where they are returning his personal effects and one of them is a swedish penis pump. The scene goes on and on as he tries to deny it. The second thought is an episode from Seinfeld where George goes into the ocean, his bathing trunks fall off and his male member is reduced to the point that his date laughs. The rest of the episode goes includes George trying to convince everyone that he is actually reasonably endowed. His explanation is "shrinkage". I think this second argument might be more compelling if cueball were walking out of the ocean where it is obvious that he is a victim of shrinkage. Without that visual we would have to imagine he is thinking back to a past event. For those readers unfamiliar with the ocean, or male member(s), the effect, I believe is based on cold so would last until core body temperature returned to normal. Your mileage may vary. {{unsigned|Mcjoker|01:13, 19 February 2014}}

The links that direct to tumblr should be labelled NSFW. I do regularly follow the wiki and a select discussions, even at work during breaks(or while the code compiles). They do carry no warning as of now. [[Special:Contributions/173.245.55.67|173.245.55.67]] 21:48, 5 March 2014 (UTC)BK201

Talk:1321: Cold

2014-01-24T17:15:59Z

173.245.55.67:

Apparently Randall hasn’t seen this:
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f5/All_palaeotemps.png

To quote Michael Z. Williamson:
29 years in the last century is not an "average" of the last 300 million years.

Any finding based on that "average" is complete bullshit. You may as well use 1300-1305 hours on Apr 23 as your "average." You'll be about as accurate, and save time over actual data collection.

I really hate when articles on science get a POV tag. Science isn't politics (hint: evolution and gravity aren't POV either). Related to the comic, I just had a similar rant on Facebook in the last week or two where I linked to [http://www.skepticalscience.com/print.php?r=54 this article] when someone said it was too cold for Global Warming. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.237.64|108.162.237.64]] 12:24, 24 January 2014 (UTC)

I really hate it when people think the global warming scam is science, when it really is nothing more than politics masquerading as science. The IPCC has been proven to be a bunch of liars, and really there's nothing left but a bunch of whining left-wing lunatics who are desperately clinging to their hope of continuing to use this lie to raise energy prices/taxes. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.219.17|108.162.219.17]] 12:55, 24 January 2014 (UTC)
:Well you're wrong, and apparently delusionally paranoid about what the political left wants, but the bigger question is why is this in a wiki discussion page? [[Special:Contributions/108.162.249.117|108.162.249.117]] 13:21, 24 January 2014 (UTC)

Although it doesn't directly mention it, this is partly related to people's confusion over the difference between 'weather' and 'climate' - the former being what the conditions are at a given moment in time, and the latter referring to long-term trends.[[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.228|141.101.98.228]] 14:52, 24 January 2014 (UTC)

I think the one with whit wolly hat is whitehat [[User:Halfhat|Halfhat]] ([[User talk:Halfhat|talk]]) 16:10, 24 January 2014 (UTC)

Randall has cherry picked data for his conclusion and the graph in the comic. The full history is available from the NWS. The one for my home town can be found here http://www.erh.noaa.gov/iln/climo/below0.php The 1970's were unusually cold, which makes the present seem warmer by comparison. --[[Special:Contributions/108.162.210.254|108.162.210.254]] 16:33, 24 January 2014 (UTC)