explain xkcd - User contributions [en]

1719: Superzoom

2016-08-12T20:11:54Z

199.27.133.67: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 1719
| date = August 12, 2016
| title = Superzoom
| image = superzoom.png
| titletext = *click* Let him know he's got a stain on his shirt, though.
}}

==Explanation==
In this comic, [[Cueball]] is showing off his new superzoom camera to [[White Hat]]. These are cameras with large zoom lenses, often up to 25× or higher magnification. He is very excited and starts by exclaiming how they can take detailed photos of the moon, and (on better models) relatively large photos of Jupiter. He then uses it for bird watching, which is a popular use for these cameras. He also is able to photograph an airplane, and make out the airline, both possible on these cameras, though it is unlikely he would be able to make out the registration number.

Finally, White Hat decides to buy a superzoom camera like Cueball's, and [[Cueball]] tells him about shop in town that sells them. This is where it takes a turn for the unlikely; as [[Cueball]] points the camera in the direction of this store, he is able to make out not only the worker inside but also (in the title text) the stain on his shirt. Even with the ability of these cameras, it would be unlikely for Cueball to be able to make out a specific worker inside the store, let alone a stain on their shirt, unless they are relatively close to the store.

==Transcript==
[White Hat and Cueball are walking. Cueball is playing with a camera]

Cueball: I love these superzoom cameras. For a few hundred dollars you can take pictures of moon craters and Jupiter's clouds.

Cueball: And birds! See that speck up there?

[Camera clicking]

Cueball: Peregrine falcon!

[*click*]

Cueball: It's banded, too. Want the number?

Cueball: And see that plane?

[*click*]

Cueball: 787 Dreamliner

[*click*]

Cueball: Japan Airlines.

[*click*]

Cueball: Registration is—

White Hat: OK, I'm sold—I want one.

[*click*]

Cueball: They're in stock at the place on Union Road.

[*click*]

Cueball: Hey, Kevin's working today! He's great.

{{comic discussion}}

1435: Presidential Alert

2014-10-17T23:38:31Z

199.27.133.67: /* Transcript */ nvm "cueball"

{{comic
| number = 1435
| date = October 17, 2014
| title = Presidential Alert
| image = presidential_alert.png
| titletext = When putting his kids to bed, after saying 'Goodnight', Obama has to stop himself from saying 'God bless you, and God bless the United States of America.'
}}
[[File:Eas_new.svg|thumb|upright=1.5| Current EAS logo. (from Wikimedia Commons)]]
==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Second draft}}
The {{w|Emergency Alert System}} allows the U.S. President to address the country in the event of a national emergency, by broadcasting a message over all television and radio channels. Despite the system's having existed in various forms for over 60 years, no president has ever used it, even during the {{w|September 11 attacks}}.

In this comic, the US President accidentally activates the system by pressing a button, apparently located on the {{w|Resolute Desk|''Resolute'' Desk}} in the {{w|Oval Office}}. Surprised by being on television, he tries to think of something important to say on the spot, but cannot think of anything other than a piece of generic dental-hygiene advice—a rather non-urgent message.

The concept of the President mistakenly hitting an important button has long been a source for jokes, often somewhat morbidly involving the {{w|nuclear football}}.

The title text references the typical conclusion to presidential speeches: "Thank you, God bless you, and God bless the United States of America," or some variation thereof. As "goodnight" is the typical conclusion to a day, the title text jokes that {{w|Barack Obama|President Obama}} must sometimes confuse the two statements.

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript}}

[Panel 1]
Television beeping. Screen reads: "E.A.S Incoming Presidential Alert"

[Panel 2]
Person in an office is on the television.

My fellow Americans. I, uhhh. Wow.

[Panel 3]
Frankly, I didn't realize what this button did. I was just... I mean... I appear before you tonight to, um.

[Panel 4]
Look, Uhh...

Remember to floss regularly. Oral hygiene is important. Thank you.

[Title text]
When putting his kids to bed, after saying 'Goodnight', Obama has to stop himself from saying 'God bless you, and God bless the United States of America.'

{{comic discussion}}

1435: Presidential Alert

2014-10-17T23:35:11Z

199.27.133.67: /* Explanation */ not Cueball but rather Obama. Let's go with generic "President" here

{{comic
| number = 1435
| date = October 17, 2014
| title = Presidential Alert
| image = presidential_alert.png
| titletext = When putting his kids to bed, after saying 'Goodnight', Obama has to stop himself from saying 'God bless you, and God bless the United States of America.'
}}
[[File:Eas_new.svg|thumb|upright=1.5| Current EAS logo. (from Wikimedia Commons)]]
==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Second draft}}
The {{w|Emergency Alert System}} allows the U.S. President to address the country in the event of a national emergency, by broadcasting a message over all television and radio channels. Despite the system's having existed in various forms for over 60 years, no president has ever used it, even during the {{w|September 11 attacks}}.

In this comic, the US President accidentally activates the system by pressing a button, apparently located on the {{w|Resolute Desk|''Resolute'' Desk}} in the {{w|Oval Office}}. Surprised by being on television, he tries to think of something important to say on the spot, but cannot think of anything other than a piece of generic dental-hygiene advice—a rather non-urgent message.

The concept of the President mistakenly hitting an important button has long been a source for jokes, often somewhat morbidly involving the {{w|nuclear football}}.

The title text references the typical conclusion to presidential speeches: "Thank you, God bless you, and God bless the United States of America," or some variation thereof. As "goodnight" is the typical conclusion to a day, the title text jokes that {{w|Barack Obama|President Obama}} must sometimes confuse the two statements.

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript}}

[Panel 1]
Television beeping. Screen reads: "E.A.S Incoming Presidential Alert"

[Panel 2]
President Cueball is on the television.

My fellow Americans. I, uhhh. Wow.

[Panel 3]
Frankly, I didn't realize what this button did. I was just... I mean... I appear before you tonight to, um.

[Panel 4]
Look, Uhh...

Remember to floss regularly. Oral hygiene is important. Thank you.

[Title text]
When putting his kids to bed, after saying 'Goodnight', Obama has to stop himself from saying 'God bless you, and God bless the United States of America.'

{{comic discussion}}

Talk:1384: Krypton

2014-06-23T21:55:14Z

199.27.133.67:

Is the Earth baby the real reason Krypton was destroyed? [[Special:Contributions/103.22.201.239|103.22.201.239]] 08:58, 20 June 2014 (UTC)

Is now a good time to mark the shark jump? --[[Special:Contributions/108.162.210.135|108.162.210.135]] 12:52, 20 June 2014 (UTC)
:Only if this keeps up. Yeah, it's a crappy comic, but I don't think the quality overall has been dropping that much. Everyone has off days. [[Special:Contributions/173.245.55.83|173.245.55.83]] 13:58, 20 June 2014 (UTC)
::Jumping the shark is a single event, not a segment of time. In this case it's launching the earth baby. --[[Special:Contributions/108.162.237.175|108.162.237.175]] 03:30, 21 June 2014 (UTC)

Not so bad if you can relate to the anguish of parenting a colicky kid. Sending him to Krypton is an improvement on some of the things I was tempted to do. [[Special:Contributions/173.245.55.71|173.245.55.71]] 15:08, 20 June 2014 (UTC)
:Sending a baby off to die is better than things you were tempted to do? You really want to make that claim? [[Special:Contributions/199.27.133.39|199.27.133.39]] 16:14, 20 June 2014 (UTC)
::It is a completely reasonable reaction given a culture that murders children in the womb for far, far less.[[User:Seebert|Seebert]] ([[User talk:Seebert|talk]]) 04:05, 23 June 2014 (UTC)
:::Please, please, please, let's not turn this comment section into a "hey listen to my important opinion" fight about abortion. [[Special:Contributions/199.27.133.67|199.27.133.67]] 21:55, 23 June 2014 (UTC)

It may be a cultural-linguistic thing, but I felt compelled to change "cries" to "crying", in the explanation. Hearing "his cries" is redolent of "Ahoy there!" coming from a person attracting attention in a nautical context, the various distinctive calls of a person selling produce in a street-market or "I'm up here! Get me down!" from a person stuck on the ledge of a burning building. When a baby cries (as opposed to when someone "cries out") you hear him (or her... it's not actually specified) 'crying', not his(/her) 'calling-cries', even though both are indeed similar forms of attracting attention. I've overthought this, of course. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.99.57|141.101.99.57]] 15:19, 20 June 2014 (UTC)

(Also, should the baby survive... somehow... would Earth Rock, howsoever sent there, be naturally ''strenghthening'' to the child? Assuming similarly transmuted as per the mundane (for native Kryptonians) planetary material beneath their feet was, during the cataclysm... It'd probably depend on which subsection of Superman canon you observed, as they tend to reinvent the 'physics' behind standard green kryptonite, even before adding in the other colours of it...) [[Special:Contributions/141.101.99.57|141.101.99.57]] 15:19, 20 June 2014 (UTC)

Can someone '''explain''' how this is funny? {{unsigned ip|108.162.217.47}}
:Seriously. ''Infanticide as entertainment?!!'' Parents deciding to kill a baby because it's noisy is neither amusing nor an interesting observation. Shame on Randall. [[Special:Contributions/199.27.133.39|199.27.133.39]] 16:11, 20 June 2014 (UTC)
:: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ESFANzZTdYM "Infanticide as entertainment?!!"] --[[Special:Contributions/108.220.125.48|108.220.125.48]] 11:26, 21 June 2014 (UTC)
:::Given infanticide only being punished after you do it to several infants over 19 years (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kermit_Gosnell) why would any good liberal worry about it in a comic strip?[[User:Seebert|Seebert]] ([[User talk:Seebert|talk]]) 04:05, 23 June 2014 (UTC)

What I totally don't get is...when the visual information about Krypton's instability has reached Earth, Krypton has already exploded many years ago. I guess that Kal-El's spaceship is travelling at near-lightspeed, so time-dilation effects cause very little apparent time to pass for Kal-El; so when he arrives he's still a a baby. This assumes that (a) the alien technology allows for extraordinary acceleration while still maintaining survivable conditions for the baby (while Superman can apparently survive extreme conditions, this trait is most probably bestowed upon him only at the end of his journey by the Earth sun), and (b) the he is a male (this primary sexual characteristics are not shown in the movie, IIRC...). An FTL spaceship is out of the question, as this would mean that the Krptonite meteors would also have been travelling at FTL speed.

:Whatever. By the time a spaceship from Earth arrives, even if it travels at near-lightspeed, Clark Kent will most probably be facing retirement already (after turning a crank for many years, of course).

Btw, having Superman turn a crank instead of having him fight crimes would not necessarily mean that Lex Luthor would have had success with his evil plans. Mr. Bond, James Bond, had proven numerous times that he can stop any criminal who attempt to achieve world domination or at least extreme wealth via over-convoluted plans. Yep, I mean, if you could build powersats, you'd immediately achieve wold domination via your monopoly for "free and clean energy", so why bother with criminal plans? Any, if you are smart enough to build powersats, but cannot resist the temptation to use them for over-convoluted criminal plans, should yout net able to think about the option to give your Legion of Doom at least basic training in marksmanship?

But I think I'm getting carried away. --[[Special:Contributions/108.162.254.108|108.162.254.108]] 16:25, 20 June 2014 (UTC)

I actually thought this was more brilliant before I saw the second ship (rather: noticed that the crystal was a ship). I thought the gag was that some human, in attempting to resolve a crying baby (we've all been there, and if you haven't, don't knock it) actually created Superman (the shuttle destroys the unstable Krypton, and the baby is flung back). If anyone does think that this comic is gruesome, then stop reading it: your efforts could be rewardingly employed by criticizing "Cyanide and Happiness" instead. I love the quirkiness Randall! [[Special:Contributions/108.162.216.88|108.162.216.88]] 16:45, 20 June 2014 (UTC)

Am I alone in thinking ([http://www.dvice.com/sites/dvice/files/enterprise-warp.jpg NCC-1701]) moviebombed the 1978 film? See 'version depicted' in explanation. [[Special:Contributions/199.27.133.73|199.27.133.73]] 20:06, 20 June 2014 (UTC)

I think the depth of the cartoon is Newton's "Every action has an equal and opposite reaction" [[User:Nathan Hillery|Nathan Hillery]] ([[User talk:Nathan Hillery|talk]]) 14:01, 21 June 2014 (UTC)

Scientific objections? But everything about Superman is already scientifically implausible anyway. [[User:Jim E|Jim E]] ([[User talk:Jim E|talk]]) 19:53, 21 June 2014 (UTC)