explain xkcd - User contributions [en]

Talk:866: Compass and Straightedge

2013-06-29T13:23:01Z

213.203.138.251:

No, the comic is funny because many geometrical theorems prove something along the lines of "With a compass and straightedge you cannot construct..." (e.g. a square and a circle with the same area) If you have knowledge of this type of proof, the humor is that you think he's about to talk about something that is impossible in geometry, but really he's talking about the inapplicability of geometry to real life. This is often a difficulty with nerds and brainy people, they try to apply their theoretical knowledge to human relationships and fail. [[Special:Contributions/75.103.23.206|75.103.23.206]] 19:53, 13 December 2012 (UTC)
:And then there's the converse: people who are able to apply theoretical knowledge and succeed. [[Special:Contributions/76.106.251.87|76.106.251.87]] 04:33, 5 June 2013 (UTC)

The explanation mentions that there are "three such constructions", but doesn't go any further. What they are should at least be addressed (or linked to), even if we're not going to elaborate on the "why" of their impossibility. For the uninitiated, they are squaring the circle, trisecting any angle, and doubling the cube. [[Special:Contributions/76.106.251.87|76.106.251.87]] 04:33, 5 June 2013 (UTC)

If such constructions are "impossible with the use of modern algebraic techniques," then why don't we just use older algebraic techniques? ;)

Talk:821: Five-Minute Comics: Part 3

2013-06-16T13:20:20Z

213.203.138.251: alternate explanation for centrifuge

Regarding Lucy, Peter, et al, the four children in The Lion, The Witch And The Wardrobe... They're not ''foster'' children (except in the broadest possible parallel), but ''Evacuees''. A huge number of children from many of the major cities of the UK were packed off in WW2 to be temporarily housed in more rural places, to escape The Blitz. (Many more, but a minor fraction, had been packed off to British Oversees Territories, and other friendly territories... Some part of this oversees cohort were children of richer parents who could afford to send their kids on 'holiday' well out of harm's way when things looked like they may get "a bit sticky", quite a lot of the rest were mostly orphans and the like, possibly ''including'' children currently in provisional foster-care, with few links to real family to keep them in the UK who were basically herded off to The Colonies, e.g. Australia, Canada...) From personal reading of the Narnia books I'd definitely say that the children (and their contemporaries) are upper-middle class at worst (not inner-city ne'er-do-wells... the classic quote apparently being of a city teacher saying as how his kids had left him for Evacuation saying "We is...", but returned after the general threat had lessened saying the rural variation of "Us be..."... The Pevensies, Eustace Scrub and Jill Pole were definitely of a higher-class than these stereotypes, although Prof. Kirke, in his youth and Polly Plummer sound at least ''financially'' lower in class... yet above the status King Frank the First had, whilst still a hansom-cab driver in our world), and there's most definitely living parents in the picture (see The Last Battle for how things ''stood''). And it just occurs to me that a family of four kids, in fact, would have been dreadfully lucky to have been either fostered ''or'' Evacuated to to the same place... Good job Prof. Diggory was there with space for them, eh? ;) ...Anyhow, just saying. Don't even know if it's worth changing this one word in the explanation, but FYI. [[Special:Contributions/31.110.91.76|31.110.91.76]] 00:01, 3 May 2013 (UTC)

A further note on the Narnia panel:
At an earlier point in xkcd (#665), a woman (who appears to be Megan) discovers the wardrobe and begins conducting experiments. So Randall could be refering to her, and not the original children of the story, thus making some of these points arbitrary. On the other hand, in neither drawing are the subjects clearly identified, though the presence of computing would indicate a later time period than WWII. [[Special:Contributions/75.101.102.252|75.101.102.252]] 09:58, 5 May 2013 (UTC)

And a final one on Narnia: SETI is looking for signs of extraterrestrial life. Doing your computation in a whole other world full of non-human sentients is...ironic, to say the least. [[Special:Contributions/209.6.194.68|209.6.194.68]] 21:18, 7 May 2013 (UTC)

I think the centrifuge panel could also be a reference to sperm washing or sperm washing for gender selection, which are used in methods like IVF to select certain sperm for insemination.

752: Phobia

2013-05-30T12:16:01Z

213.203.138.251: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 752
| date = June 11, 2010
| title = Phobia
| image = phobia.png
| titletext = Oh God, the tornado picked up snakes!
}}

==Explanation==
This comic is about phobia and being afraid of specific and non-specific things. The blonde is afraid of snakes, while [[Megan]] is not afraid of snakes, but instead afraid of putting off personal relationships for too long. Instead of being afraid, both women decide to take advantage of the time they have in life and chase tornadoes.

This comic may have references to the movies: [http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0417148/?ref_=sr_1 Snakes on a plane], [http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0117998/?ref_=sr_1 Twister], and [http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0103074/?ref_=sr_1 Thelma & Louise].

==Transcript==
:[A blonde woman and Megan observe a snake on the ground.]
:Blonde: Whoa, a snake!
:Megan: Cool!
:Blonde: I'm afraid of snakes.

:[The brunette looks pensive.]
:Megan: I'm afraid of saying "Everything's complicated right now, but maybe next year" until there are no :more years left.

:[The blonde considers her response.]

:[Megan cuts her off mid-sentence.]
:Blonde: Do you--
:Megan: I want to be a storm chaser.

:[A tornado reaches from the black storm clouds to the earth, kicking up a sizable cloud of debris at its base. The blonde woman is at the wheel of a car, Megan hanging out the window and holding a camera.]

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

703: Honor Societies

2013-05-26T18:32:30Z

213.203.138.251: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 703
| date = February 15, 2010
| title = Honor Societies
| image = honor_societies.png
| titletext = Hey, why do YOU get to be the president of Tautology Clu-- wait, I can guess.
}}

==Explanation==
{{w|Tautology}} is an unnecessary repetition of meaning, using dissimilar words that effectively say the same thing. "The first rule of _ Club" is a reference to {{w|Fight Club}} (see also [[Fight Club]] comic).

The answer to the title text would be a tautology. Thus, he gets to be the president because he is the president.

==Transcript==
:[Cueball sits at a desk, while a teacher or counselor out of frame advises]
:Cueball: Wait. I should join this honor society to show colleges I'm honorable, and I'm honorable because I'm in an honor society?
:Teacher: Basically, yes.

:[Tighter shot of Cueball.]
:Cueball: Sounds like I could save time by joining the Tautology Club directly.
:Teacher: That's not a real club.
:Cueball: Then I'm starting it.

:TAUTOLOGY CLUB
:[Seven individuals appear: Ponytail, a man, a shorter male with glasses that bears a striking resemblance to Jason Fox, a taller man with a buzz cut, a brunette woman with curly hair in a ponytail, Megan and Cueball standing on a box.]
:Ponytail: So how'd you learn about us?
:Man: From your Facebook group, "If 1,000,000 People Join This Group, It Will Have 1,000,000 People In It."
:Cueball: LISTEN UP! The first rule of Tautology Club is the first rule of Tautology Club.

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

607: 2038

2013-05-15T18:53:44Z

213.203.138.251: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 607
| date = July 8, 2009
| title = 2038
| image = 2038.png
| titletext = If only we'd chosen 1944-12-02 08:45:52 as the Unix epoch, we could've combined two doomsday scenarios into one and added a really boring scene to that Roland Emmerich movie.
}}

==Explanation==
The {{w|2038 problem}} is a well-known problem with 32-bit Unix-based operating systems. {{w|Unix time}} is stored as a 32-bit signed integer on these systems, counting the number of seconds since 1970. In 2038, we overflow the highest number we can store in 32-bit integers, leading to unexpected behavior. The switch to 64-bit operating systems will most likely be complete by the year 2038, which is why the speaker is relieved. The reference to {{w|Y2K}} is a throwback to the year 2000 problem, in which people were concerned that computers storing digits as two numbers (e.g.: 99 to represent 1999) would cause problems when the year 2000 began. In both situations, the situation is largely resolved before the actual event, leading to little if no practical problems for users.

The title text is a reference to the film "2012" which is about the world ending in December of 2012, at the end of the Mayan calendar. If the designers of the UNIX operating system had used 1944 as their epoch instead of 1970, then the UNIX crash due to a variable overflow would coincide with the end of the Mayan calendar. Thus, the implication is that there could have been a boring scene in the movie where the UNIX time rolls over and nothing happens (and no one cares, since the world is ending).

==Transcript==
:I'm glad we're switching to 64-bit, because I wasn't looking forward to convincing people to care about the Unix 2038 problem.
:Person: What's that?
:Cueball: Remember Y2K? This could be even ''worse!''

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

Talk:531: Contingency Plan

2013-05-12T09:02:46Z

213.203.138.251: Created page with "I don't think the idea is that the parents would kill the child if something went wrong (that would not be responsible parenting.) I think the idea is that the child would no..."

I don't think the idea is that the parents would kill the child if something went wrong (that would not be responsible parenting.) I think the idea is that the child would not be able to run away from home and there would be no incentive for someone to kidnap the child, since it could not live without insulin from the parents.

66: Abusive Astronomy

2013-05-01T18:28:50Z

213.203.138.251: More likely explanation of the comic

{{comic
| number = 66
| date = February 20, 2006
| title = Abusive Astronomy
| image = abusive_astronomy.jpg
| imagesize =
| titletext = Medium: Pencil on paper
}}
==Explanation==
A constellation (more formally known as an {{w|asterism}}) is a pattern of stars which form some sort of perceived shape in the night sky. Different cultures have created different patterns from the same groups of stars going back at least as far as the Babylonians. The {{w|Pleiades}}, {{w|Orion's belt}} and the {{w|Big Dipper}} are among the most common constellations that we recognise today and are among the first taught to people with an interest in astronomy. The Big Dipper can be used to help find the north pole star {{w|Polaris}} and this can be a useful aid to night time navigation.

During planetarium tours, the tour guide will point out popular constellations and stars, sometimes they will ask a question to get the audience involved in the presentation. Usually these people are big on showing the wonder of the galaxy and are all smiles, but people have bad days. Randall might also be reflecting on the fact that the grouping and naming of constellations varies from culture to culture and how easy it is for an expert to fail to realise that what is basic knowledge to them might be completely new to someone else.

I don't think the above is quite it. When astronomers are showing stars to people, there will frequently be someone who points to the Pleiades and says, "There's the Big Dipper!" This gets frustrating about the 100th time that you encounter this error. So, this comic shows someone releasing their frustration on the mis-informed public by pointing out that what they just pointed at is actually the Pleiades. Then, pointing out that you can always locate the Pleiades by following the line of the stars in the belt of Orion. Then, pointing out the REAL Big Dipper.

==Transcript==
:Identifying star clusters:
:[Image of a star cluster.]
:This is the Pleiades, asshole.

:Orion's Belt:
:[Image of a Orion's Belt.]
:Only a moron couldn't find it.

:This is the Big Dipper:
:[Image of the Big Dipper.]
:What the hell is wrong with you?

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