explain xkcd - User contributions [en]

Talk:428: Starwatching

2013-07-04T00:53:08Z

184.41.49.246: Created page with "An interesting interpretation. I thought Cueball was just referencing [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Lion_King The Lion King]. ~~~~"

An interesting interpretation. I thought Cueball was just referencing [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Lion_King The Lion King]. [[Special:Contributions/184.41.49.246|184.41.49.246]] 00:53, 4 July 2013 (UTC)

Talk:365: Slides

2013-07-04T00:44:58Z

184.41.49.246: Title text connection comment

I believe that the title text actually implies that the conference in the comic '''is''' [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SIGGRAPH SIGGRAPH].

263: Certainty

2013-07-03T22:32:51Z

184.41.49.246: /* Explanation */ m word edits

{{comic
| number = 263
| date = May 18, 2007
| title = Certainty
| image = certainty.png
| titletext = a(b+c)=(ab)+(ac). Politicize that, bitches.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete}}
Two teachers are talking about their students and the political discussions with them. They outline that it is not possible to find the real truth. But then Cueball (with prompting) states that Mathematics is an exception. [[Randall]] likes mathematics because there discussions as in politics are not possible.

The title text shows a simple valid mathematical equation and Randall is daring one to politicize it. This is impossible, of course, to discuss about equations like this; it is simply a clear statement.

==Transcript==
:[A door seen from a hallway, with "Teachers' Lounge" on the glass. Inside, two teachers are talking.]
:Megan: My students drew me into another political argument.
:Cueball: Eh; it happens.
:Megan: Lately, political debates bother me. They just show how good smart people are at rationalizing.
:[The two teachers continue talking. A third one is seen reading a book on a sofa.]
:Megan: The world is so complicated - the more I learn, the less clear anything gets. There are too many ideas and arguments to pick and choose from. How can I trust myself to know the truth about anything? And if everything I know is so shaky, what on Earth am I doing teaching?
:Cueball: I guess you just do your best. No one can impart perfect universal truths to their students.
:Mrs. Lenhart: ''ahem''
:Cueball: ...Except math teachers.
:Mrs. Lenhart: Thank you.

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

256: Online Communities

2013-07-03T22:29:54Z

184.41.49.246: /* Explanation */ m word edits

{{comic
| number = 256
| date = May 2, 2007
| title = Online Communities
| image = online_communities_small.png
| titletext = I'm waiting for the day when, if you tell someone 'I'm from the internet', instead of laughing they just ask 'oh, what part?'
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete}}
This is a map of Online Communities in 2007. Facebook and Youtube had just started to get more attention at that time.

Randall likes to draw maps in a manner like this. Each "Country" is represented by size and related points of interest. We also have a "Sea of memes" and a small "Straits of WEB 2.0".

There is a successor of this comic at [[802: Online Communities 2]].

==Transcript==
:[Hand-drawn fantasy style map with land and sea areas representing populations of online communities. Each area or item is labeled.]
:Map of Online Communities and related points of interest. Geographic area represents estimated size of membership Map Disclaimer Text: Not a complete survey. Sizes based on best figures I could find but involved some guesswork. Do not use for navigation.

:[Land Area Labels:]
:The Icy North (Yahoo, Windows Live),
:AOL, Reunion dot com,
:Classmates dot com,
:E-harmony,
:Faceparty,
:QWGHLM,
:Yahoo Games,
:Mountains of Web 1.0,
:The Lonely Island,
:MySpace,
:Attractive MySpace Pages,
:The Series of Tubes,
:Myspace Bands,
:WOW,
:Lineage,
:Second Life,
:Third Life,
:UO,
:EQ,
:FPXI,
:2channel,
:4chan,
:LJ,
:Xanga,
:Orkut,
:Cyworld,
:Blurty,
:OK Cupid,
:Facebook,
:Piczo,
:The Compass-Rose-Shaped Island,
:Broadcaster,
:Flickr,
:Last.fm,
:DeviantArt,
:Isle of Slash,
:Numa,
:Digg,
:Fark,
:Reddit,
:Your Base,
:Soviet Russia,
:(slashdot),
:Spaaarta (YTMND),
:StumbleUpon,
:Del.icio.us,
:The Blogipelago,
:Sulawesi,
:Technocrati,
:BoingBoing,
:Huntingdon Post,
:Gays of Web 2.0,
:The Wikipedia project,
:MIT,
:Engadget,
:Gizmodo,
:Usenet,
:XY Singles,
:MAKE Blog,
:IRC Isles,
:Sourceforge.

:[Sea Area Labels:]
:NOOB Sea,
:Gulf of YouTube,
:Bay of Angst,
:Sea of Culture,
:Ocean of Subculture,
:P2P Shoals,
:Straits of Web 2.0,
:Here Be Anthropomorphic Dragons,
:Bay of Trolls,
:Viral Straits,
:Sea of Memes,
:The Wet Sea Item Labels: Shipwreck of the SS Howard Dean, Cory Doctrow's Balloon, Stallman's airship, Google's volcano fortress

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Internet]]
[[Category:Comics with color]]
[[Category:Large drawings]]

235: Kite

2013-07-03T22:27:56Z

184.41.49.246: /* Explanation */ m word edits

{{comic
| number = 235
| date = March 14, 2007
| title = Kite
| image = kite.jpg
| titletext = It's easy to regret your awkward conversations but hard to regret the ones you didn't have.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete}}
[[Cueball]] is probably dreaming. He is starting to fly a kite, then fixes it to a tree, after which he is climbing on that string. When he reaches a high altitude, [[Megan]] appears hanging on a blimp. Cueball is wondering about her, but he can't talk to her even if he wanted to. After she has gone Cueball is alone again.

The title text explains that you can lament on a bad conversation you had, but it's still worse when you did not begin a conversation.

==Transcript==
:[Cueball readies a kite.]
:[Cueball starts to fly the kite.]
:[Cueball continues to fly the kite.]
:[Cueball ties the kite string to a tree.]
:[Cueball grabs the string.]
:[Cueball starts to climb the string.]
:[A scene showing Cueball holding onto the string at a high altitude, against a colour backdrop of the ground, clouds, water and the sky.]
:[Black and white again. Megan comes into view holding onto a small blimp.]
:Cueball's thought bubble: Hey, there's someone else up here. I wonder what her story is.
:[Megan floats to the other side of the panel.]
:Cueball's thought bubble: Maybe I should say hi.
:[Cueball is alone holding onto the string.]

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