explain xkcd - User contributions [en]

Talk:1268: Alternate Universe

2013-09-24T03:32:40Z

68.97.21.122:

This reminds me of that conspiracy theorist thing where a bunch of people thought that New Zealand was, like, to the west or north of Australia (I can't quite remember), only to check on a map and see it was definitely to the east... And as such convinced themselves that they somehow travelled to an alternate version of Earth were everything was basically the same except NZ was in a new place. Anyone else remember/know about those guys?
EDIT: Found one of 'em, so hopefully I sound less crazy (than them): [http://www.abovetopsecret.com/forum/thread543455/pg1 NZ conspiracy nut in action]
[[Special:Contributions/67.71.33.122|67.71.33.122]] 01:29, 24 September 2013 (UTC)

I thought Earth Prime was a reference to Sliders... but Wikipedia says it's been used much more widely. [[User:Saibot84|Saibot84]] ([[User talk:Saibot84|talk]]) 04:40, 23 September 2013 (UTC)

Wait, wait ... only "some of you" change your clocks? In the universe I just came from, MOST of them changed their clocks at unsynchronized times for no good reason anyone has ever been able to demonstrate. Only the Third World along with Hawaii and Saskatchewan were holdouts where I came from.{{unsigned ip|72.68.9.56}}

Neither India nor China are having this obscure idea of occasionally changing their clocks for no obvious reasons. So even "most" might be a bit of a stretch. [[User:Pmakholm|Pmakholm]] ([[User talk:Pmakholm|talk]])

:Sure they do -- they're just more occasional about it than others! China last did it in '91, and India in '45.{{unsigned ip|72.68.9.56}}

:Neither does Indonesia. Apparently, according to [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:DaylightSaving-World-Subdivisions.png this map], neither does a good deal of the world (particularly those near equator) as well. [[User:Goldstein-Izayoi|Goldstein-Izayoi]] ([[User talk:Goldstein-Izayoi|talk]]) 13:57, 23 September 2013 (UTC)

Iceland (definitely NOT Third World) does not changes its clocks. It remains on GMT throughout the year, despite being way west of the Greenwich Meridian [[Special:Contributions/95.131.110.106|95.131.110.106]] 09:53, 23 September 2013 (UTC)

:In my universe, Iceland was a small, inbred fishing community -- prone to collapsing the world's economies with banking phishing scams {{unsigned ip|72.68.9.56}}

Yeah I think it's a Sliders reference. Randall says he was transported in the late 1990s and Sliders aired from 1995-2000. [[Special:Contributions/184.56.86.168|184.56.86.168]] 06:02, 23 September 2013 (UTC)

:Didn't we already had discussion about Earth Prime on [[1184:_Circumference_Formula]]? Hmmm ... should we prepare category for comics mentioning Earth Prime? :-) -- [[User:Hkmaly|Hkmaly]] ([[User talk:Hkmaly|talk]]) 10:02, 23 September 2013 (UTC)

They eat spiders in some parts of this world, e.g. Cambodia. [[User:Geevade|Geevade]] ([[User talk:Geevade|talk]]) 06:54, 23 September 2013 (UTC)

Reminds me a little bit of this Married to the Sea strip: http://www.marriedtothesea.com/index.php?date=111008 [[Special:Contributions/213.86.4.78|213.86.4.78]] 10:38, 23 September 2013 (UTC)

Reminds me of this bit from [http://www.miamiherald.com/2010/06/27/1680102/the-lobster-rebellion.html a Dave Barry column]: "I personally see no significant difference between a lobster and, say, a giant Madagascar hissing cockroach, which is a type of cockroach that grows to approximately the size of William Howard Taft (1857-1930). If a group of diners were sitting in a nice restaurant, and the waiter were to bring them each a freshly killed, steaming-hot Madagascar hissing cockroach, they would not put on silly bibs and eat it with butter. No, they would run, retching, directly from the restaurant to the All-Nite Drive-Thru Lawsuit Center." [[User:SteveMB|SteveMB]] ([[User talk:SteveMB|talk]]) 10:46, 23 September 2013 (UTC)

Has this guy never heard of Bear Grylls? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1WVcSufp3Fw http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cJRpXYs1pQA (Just occasionally!) [[Special:Contributions/121.74.169.237|121.74.169.237]] 11:01, 23 September 2013 (UTC)

I wonder how amount of meat compares, and meat-to-shell ration, and taste of meat. BTW Wikipedia says that {{w|Spider#Benefits_to_humans|''Cooked tarantula spiders are considered a delicacy in Cambodia''}}. --[[User:JakubNarebski|JakubNarebski]] ([[User talk:JakubNarebski|talk]]) 11:56, 23 September 2013 (UTC)

Personally, I don't think spiders to lobsters is a good comparison. Spiders are carnivores, while lobsters are carrion eaters. Personally, I would never want to eat a carrion eater. (Of course, I would never want to eat a spider either, but that's different...) --[[User:Divad27182|Divad27182]] ([[User talk:Divad27182|talk]]) 13:53, 23 September 2013 (UTC)

I always compared Lobster to cockroaches. But, maybe calling them "The cockroaches of the sea" was just me. --[[User:Jeff|<b><font color="orange">Jeff</font></b>]] ([[User talk:Jeff|talk]]) 16:22, 23 September 2013 (UTC)

So, this alternate universe has a restaurant chain called "Red Spider"? [[User:SteveMB|SteveMB]] ([[User talk:SteveMB|talk]]) 21:28, 23 September 2013 (UTC)

On this one episode of Game Grumps on of the guys on that show mentioned some comedian or something making a comment along the lines of "Realizing you really are getting old is like seeing a teenager eat a spider like it's nothing. You can't explain to him why it's wrong, you just know it is, but his generation doesn't get why it isn't okay." That was the first thing I thought of when I saw read this, does anyone know who said this? [[Special:Contributions/74.110.143.25|74.110.143.25]] 21:42, 23 September 2013 (UTC)

I read: "where people occasionally ARE spiders"!
...and though Megan was about to kiss her spider boyfriend. [[Special:Contributions/205.151.118.100|205.151.118.100]] 00:41, 24 September 2013 (UTC)

Can someone explain why occasionally eating spiders is weird? The universe that I come from has people eating on average 8 spiders a year while sleeping, though I can't seem to find a source of that information on this universe's Internet. Spiders being not okay to eat occasionally and the Internet failing me must surely be signs I'm in a parallel universe. --[[Special:Contributions/68.97.21.122|68.97.21.122]] 03:32, 24 September 2013 (UTC)

Talk:798: Adjectives

2013-07-15T06:20:27Z

68.97.21.122: Created page with "The continued validity of some of these results is stochastic as shit, but to believe that they won't eventually change is just jejune as shit. (2 down, 4 more to go) --~~~~"

The continued validity of some of these results is stochastic as shit, but to believe that they won't eventually change is just jejune as shit. (2 down, 4 more to go) --[[Special:Contributions/68.97.21.122|68.97.21.122]] 06:20, 15 July 2013 (UTC)

1238: Enlightenment

2013-07-15T05:45:59Z

68.97.21.122: /* Explanation */ I added links to appropriate pages for "idea's" and "ideas."

{{comic
| number = 1238
| date = July 15, 2013
| title = Enlightenment
| image = enlightenment.png
| titletext = But the rules of writing are like magic spells. If you never acquire them, then not using them says nothing.
}}

==Explanation==


This comic is a reference to a scene from {{w|Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace}} in which {{w|Yoda}} expresses doubt in a young {{w|Anakin Skywalker|Anakin}}'s potential to join the {{w|Jedi}} order. Yoda delivers a speech similar to the one that [[Ponytail]] gives here, except that the end of the sequence he presents is {{w|Dark side (Star Wars)|the dark side}}. (Yoda is ultimately correct; Anakin's fears lead him to join the dark side so that he may keep his loved ones from dying; this is at the expense of the stability of the galaxy, however, and his actions are in vain, as {{w|Padmé Amidala|his wife}} dies nonetheless.)

Here, [[Randall]] compares Anakin's decision to join the dark side to the propensity of many Internet commenters to correct others on their spelling and grammar. Randall's point is that correcting people, like joining the dark side, ultimately stems from insecurity.

Ponytail and [[Cueball]] challenge [[Megan]] to type the sentence "I heard you're idea's and their definately good", which contains four {{w|Commonly misspelled words|common misspellings}}: ''{{w|wikt:you're|you''''re'''}}'' instead of ''{{w|wikt:your|you'''r'''}}''; ''{{w|possessive|idea'''''''s}}'' instead of ''{{w|wikt:ideas|ideas}}'' (see {{w|greengrocers' apostrophe}}), ''{{w|wikt:their|the'''ir'''}}'' instead of ''{{w|wikt:they're|the'''y're'''}}''; and ''{{w|wikt:definately|defin'''a'''tely}}'' instead of ''{{w|wikt:definitely|defin'''i'''tely}}''. Megan, however, can't bring herself to do it, having spent so much time judging others for their trivial errors, even when they're saying helpful things like the sentence in question (a sentence many software developers long to hear). Instead, she smashes the computer and runs away. Cueball and Ponytail remark on this, both failing to use {{w|apostrophe}}s. (Or, since, of course, you <s>don't</s> dont use apostrophes when you talk, you could think of it as Randall himself who's dropping them, to put his money where his mouth is.)

==Transcript==
:

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

Talk:640: Tornado Hunter

2013-07-08T02:51:00Z

68.97.21.122: Created page with "I'm not sure if Randall knew this, but the "EF" in the Enhanced Fujita ratings is still pronounced the same as the letter F.--~~~~"

I'm not sure if Randall knew this, but the "EF" in the Enhanced Fujita ratings is still pronounced the same as the letter F.--[[Special:Contributions/68.97.21.122|68.97.21.122]] 02:51, 8 July 2013 (UTC)

Talk:903: Extended Mind

2013-07-06T05:17:44Z

68.97.21.122:

Title text is true - unless you happen to stumble upon any one of: {{w|Fact}}, {{w|Proof (truth)}}, {{w|Evidence}}, or {{w|Truth}}. Then you'll be stranded in an eternal loop.
:What do you mean? {{w|Fact}} works fine, you get there in 7 steps. Proof gets you there in 6 - you go to {{w|Necessity and Sufficiency}} not {{w|Evidence}}. Same for {{w|Evidence}}. {{w|Truth}} leads you to {{w|Fact}}. So all of your examples actually work.
--[[User:T0IVI|T0IVI]] ([[User talk:T0IVI|talk]]) 09:27, 28 December 2012 (UTC)

Yeah, I hit a loop on the page Community. Went right from National community to Community again. {{unsigned|69.91.105.111}}

These infinite loops seem to be 'fixed', I went through fact and other stuff right to philosophy.{{unsigned|141.35.48.11}}

Another loop is "England". It goes right to "Countries of the United Kingdom" which returns immediately to England.

Finally we all end up in {{w|Reality}}. [[Special:Contributions/85.178.28.173|85.178.28.173]] 21:16, 29 May 2013 (UTC)

I do have to say that the best loop that doesn't feed to Philosophy is {{w|Sand Fence}} and {{w|Snow Fence}}. The first sentence of each article is identical except for switching the instances of sand and snow. --[[Special:Contributions/68.97.21.122|68.97.21.122]] 05:17, 6 July 2013 (UTC)

==What can we learn?==
I've learned that memorizing facts is so yesteryear. Over next few years facts will be even easier to find, understand, use, reference and forget. When in school we should concentrate not on memorizing facts we can look up later, but rather new methods to think outside the box full of facts others placed inside it. (Thank you Mr. XKCD) - [[User:E-inspired|E-inspired]] ([[User talk:E-inspired|talk]]) 13:42, 28 February 2013 (UTC)