explain xkcd - User contributions [en]

Talk:2452: Aviation Firsts

2021-04-22T09:41:56Z

Baldrickk:

Someone got into editing just as I thought I'd start, so I'll leave it in case there's population of explanation afoot. But I'm waiting for both ''uncontrolled'' powered flight (I don't mean retrothrusted landing procedure) and controlled ''unpowered'' flight (ditto, not for parachute descents, at least until they make the subsonic ones full parasails). [[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.192|141.101.98.192]] 01:56, 20 April 2021 (UTC)

Is there a well-defined distinction between circumnavigation and orbit? [[Special:Contributions/172.69.33.249|172.69.33.249]] 04:13, 20 April 2021 (UTC)
:given that the Wikipedia entry for “circumnavigation” includes a section for orbital circumnavigation, and that there exists a book with the title “Round About the Earth: circumnavigation from Magellan to Orbit” I think that there is not a well-defined distinction. Intuition is that circumnavigations could be split into two disjoint sets, those done at orbital speed, and those done slower, and that would provide a distinction most could agree with, but I found nothing official to support such a bifurcation.[[Special:Contributions/162.158.63.122|162.158.63.122]] 04:35, 20 April 2021 (UTC)
:I'd instinctively suggest that a true circumnavigation would need to be bookended by touching the surface at the same point (or trivially near - different dock of the same port, hard-landed on a companion runway to that taken off from), or beyond and over its starting track before it finishes (like obviously hard to 'navigate' circumnavigating balloons - and not allowed to be too circumpolar). If a future orbit-inserted Mars-flier eventually 'lands' beyond the point it first started to achieve level flight below Mars's equivalent Karmen-line, having travelled all round the planet in the interim, I might accept that as a special case.
:So far nothing (''but'' Ingenuity) has taken off from Mars, never mind (ditto) landed again, so all the orbiters clearly cannot be counted by this metric, and no rover has driven far enough to have attempted a surface-bound circumnavigation. A long-endurance rover with an advanced version of Ingy for look-ahead might ''jointly'' earn the benchmark as first surface and first (punctuated) flown circumnavigations.
:A suborbital semi-ballistic non-stip circumnavigation might be achievable while trying out sample-return technology (though wouldn't be useful, probably only a failure mode of an orbital insertion attempt).
:A surface-launched 'Martian weather balloon' might actually be the first success, though. It might be one designed to touch down, at least daily, for opportunistic sampling, but at the the risk of damage due to dragging/snagging. Or a non-stop trip, until it cannot maintain height/bumps into Olympus Mons. The engineering risks of a free-drifting balloon (capable of Martian flight) are probably being looked at by several teams right now for a future lander payload. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.99.109|141.101.99.109]] 12:06, 20 April 2021 (UTC)

where in the comic is the mile high club referenced???? [[Special:Contributions/108.162.219.69|108.162.219.69]] 13:35, 20 April 2021 (UTC)Bumpf
:In the title text, along eith Amelia Earhart and the Hudson River. [[User:Barmar|Barmar]] ([[User talk:Barmar|talk]]) 14:19, 20 April 2021 (UTC)

In my new favorite sci-fi series, DB Cooper, who got to know the local bigfoot tribe as a kid, and who is called in adulthood Falls-From-Sky, moves to the planet the sasquatch came from to live with the Starfoot and grow garlic with his grandson Charlie. Jerry Boyd's Bob & Nikki series. And their story is a *subplot*.[[User:Seebert|Seebert]] ([[User talk:Seebert|talk]]) 12:57, 20 April 2021 (UTC)

''Flight, Landing and Controlled Landing were variously achieved by some or all of the prior landers, depending upon your definition of flight.'' I would argue that not '''all''' landers achieved a controlled landing. I recall a couple that did not do enough aerobraking and ended up doing too much lithobraking instead and were not functional afterwards. Should that '''all''' remain in the sentence? [[User:Nutster|Nutster]] ([[User talk:Nutster|talk]]) 02:06, 21 April 2021 (UTC)
:"variously achieved by some or all" means that different landers achieved different subsets. The ones you recall achieved flight (from Earth to Mars) and (crash) landing, but not controlled landing. [[User:Barmar|Barmar]] ([[User talk:Barmar|talk]]) 03:51, 21 April 2021 (UTC)

Hmmm... Reading about how the explanation says "the notion of them [skeletal remains of Amelia Earhart] somehow ending up on the surface of Mars is practically impossible outside the remit of certain conspiracy theories." I immediately had to think on https://what-if.xkcd.com/53/ and https://what-if.xkcd.com/54/ [[User:Elektrizikekswerk|Elektrizikekswerk]] ([[User talk:Elektrizikekswerk|talk]]) 08:33, 21 April 2021 (UTC)
:Thinking about Amelia - her remains were supposedly found, dismissed, and lost. So really, there should be a tick on the Earth side there too [[User:Baldrickk|Baldrickk]] ([[User talk:Baldrickk|talk]]) 09:41, 22 April 2021 (UTC)

Adding a table to organize everything might be a good idea because right now the description is a bit confusing. --[[Special:Contributions/108.162.216.12|108.162.216.12]] 13:21, 21 April 2021 (UTC)

Talk:2247: Weird Hill

2019-12-27T13:45:47Z

Baldrickk:

(obligatory comment about how the explanation I made was my first) but seriously, first time actually doing something after a long time checking here for comics I didn't get. Hope it's good. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.216.222|108.162.216.222]] 06:55, 27 December 2019 (UTC)

Maybe there should also be a comparison between this and https://xkcd.com/386/? [[User:Baldrickk|Baldrickk]] ([[User talk:Baldrickk|talk]]) 13:45, 27 December 2019 (UTC)

Talk:2207: Math Work

2019-09-26T09:39:54Z

Baldrickk: Comment

== Image of Blackboard ==

I was looking at the blackboard and was wondering if there were any Easter eggs on it. <br>
Here is the result of my badly cropped photoshopping skills.
[https://drive.google.com/open?id=1kGCrQehNGksE2cSK1WvTJcgdwaZ5cdWe] <br>
idk if it would help to sharpen the image. <br>

--[[User:DarkAndromeda31|DarkAndromeda31]] ([[User talk:DarkAndromeda31|talk]]) 01:25, 26 September 2019 (UTC)

This makes me think of my profession (software engineer) - Normie: "Oh wow, that looks complicated!" Me: wires two pre-existing libraries together and calls it a day [[User:Baldrickk|Baldrickk]] ([[User talk:Baldrickk|talk]]) 09:39, 26 September 2019 (UTC)

Talk:2183: Icon Swap

2019-08-01T09:35:18Z

Baldrickk:

Re: hovertext: That's a really brilliant marketing campaign, right there... {{unsigned|162.158.126.46}}

I'm not sure if it would have any marketing effect, but it definitely sounds as good idea. It doesn't need to be that clever at first either - just posting random sentence from next page is not that likely to be interesting, but even with 2% of success it would help a lot. -- [[User:Hkmaly|Hkmaly]] ([[User talk:Hkmaly|talk]]) 22:07, 31 July 2019 (UTC)

I wouldn't be very surprised to see a book where each chapter actually started with a breaking news story.
The reader would generally be following the protagonist around, but the articles would show what the rest of the world knows and so either show that something the reader knows is not widely known, or fill the reader in on events that are part of the plot, but where the protagonist was not present.
[[User:Baldrickk|Baldrickk]] ([[User talk:Baldrickk|talk]]) 09:35, 1 August 2019 (UTC)

Talk:2137: Text Entry

2019-04-16T11:07:11Z

Baldrickk: /* Smart TV Keyboards */

== Dvorak ==

''Title text: I like to think that somewhere out there, there's someone whose personal quest is lobbying TV providers to add an option to switch their on-screen keyboards to Dvorak.''

Using the Dvorak layout when you have to scroll through letters is particularly bad. Since Dvorak is optimized to alternate strokes between hands (by putting all vowels on one side), you would have to spend even more time navigating between letters. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.106.102|162.158.106.102]] 16:03, 15 April 2019 (UTC)

:I suspect that's at least part of the joke in the title text, as Randall is likely aware of that fact. [[User:Ianrbibtitlht|Ianrbibtitlht]] ([[User talk:Ianrbibtitlht|talk]]) 16:22, 15 April 2019 (UTC)
I of course had to wonder what TV show they were headed for so I started OUR_PL in Google and got "Our Planet Netflix" so now I know . . .I think. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.214.82|162.158.214.82]] 16:25, 15 April 2019 (UTC)
My Netflix interface takes entries from a keyboard. Found out about 2 weeks ago... It is a Samsung TV and I think the feature was not there from the beginning.[[Special:Contributions/172.68.50.52|172.68.50.52]] 16:59, 15 April 2019 (UTC)

Should it be clarified that Ponytail and Cueball are sitting in one chair? The drawing seemed unclear to me at first. --[[User:Youforgotthisthing|Youforgotthisthing]] ([[User talk:Youforgotthisthing|talk]]) 18:03, 15 April 2019 (UTC)

I use Dvorak on all my devices when possible and often find myself wishing for Dvorak on-screen keyboards. Sure, there's more absolute distance between consecutive characters on average, but that's offset by me not having to try to remember how QWERTY is laid out. I don't think that the joke here is "Dvorak on-screen keyboards are pointless", I think it's "Dvorak users are such a small percentage of the population that the odds of anyone bothering to cater to them is slim to none, and anyone lobbying for it is wasting their time". [[User:Undergroundmonorail|Undergroundmonorail]] ([[User talk:Undergroundmonorail|talk]]) 18:23, 15 April 2019 (UTC)

== Smart TV Keyboards ==
Randall probably doesn't know / have or use [https://tehnoblog.org/review-wireless-usb-mini-keyboard-for-pc-raspberry-pi-ubuntu-windows-android-xbox-playstation/ these little keyboards] that can literally save you from trouble and excruciating pain from one-by-one letter "typing": {{unsigned|172.68.154.88}}
:This has to be an ad, right? I'm pretty sure Randall "literally" knows about USB keyboards, regardless of form factor.[[Special:Contributions/108.162.216.172|108.162.216.172]] 22:08, 15 April 2019 (UTC)
::Not necessarily, and since the IP's not blatantly vandalizing pages or spamming links to external sites, and this is the talk page, there's no need to remove it for now. But I've collapsed the URL in case it's an attempt at advertising, as we've seen a lot of (fill in the blank)Review accounts created for that purpose, and some are vandalizing pages. [[User:Herobrine|Herobrine]] ([[User talk:Herobrine|talk]]) 07:16, 16 April 2019 (UTC)
:In my case, my smart TV has a remote control app that allows the phone's keyboard to be used. It also provides a trackpad for issuing a cursor more easily. [[User:Baldrickk|Baldrickk]] ([[User talk:Baldrickk|talk]]) 11:07, 16 April 2019 (UTC)

2123: Meta Collecting

2019-03-14T10:21:27Z

Baldrickk: noted that the page in question was locked

{{comic
| number = 2123
| date = March 13, 2019
| title = Meta Collecting
| image = meta_collecting.png
| titletext = I'm trying to get the page locked because some jerk keeps adding "Yachts".
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by a YACHT. Please mention here why this explanation isn't complete. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

This is another comic in the "[[:Category:My Hobby|My Hobby]]" series.

Many people's hobbies involve {{w|collecting}} many items of the same category: Post stamps, collectable cards, painted dolls, wine, and so on. Just about anything can be collected, however, some things are collected much more often than others. Wikipedia has a page listing the most popular categories of such {{w|collectable}} items.

In Randall's usual style of going meta with everything, he decided to start a meta-collection—a collection of examples of different things that people can collect. He uses Wikipedia's {{w|list of collectables}} for reference. In the comic, [[Cueball]] is showing to his friend his collection of various items that have nothing in common except that they're all popular collectibles. So while most people try to collect everything in one narrow category of collectibles, Cueball's collection will only be complete if he can get one item from each of the list of collectible items as cataloged by Wikipedia's list, so he has a collection of collections.

In the title text, Randall complains about a wiki editor who keeps adding {{w|yacht}}s to the list of collectables, probably because it would force him to buy a yacht if he ever wanted to complete his collection of collectables. Yachts are traditionally considered immensely expensive and the vast majority of people own zero yachts, let alone a collection of them. Note that Randall does not specify how he is trying to get the page locked, and the comic itself might be a rather meta way of doing so: xkcd fans have a history of making lots of edits to Wikipedia articles Randall mentions, resulting in them being protected or locked. The article has in fact been edited and reverted about 50 times by these fans over the course of a single day.

==Transcript==

:[The comic depicts Cueball reading from a list to White Hat, standing next to a case filled with collectables including an urn, a model ship, a compact disc, a vinyl record, a doll or figurine, a martini glass, and a teapot.]
:Today we're looking for a lunchbox, a snow globe, a Maytag dryer, a Harley Davidson, and a stamp.

:[Caption below the frame:]
:My hobby: Collecting one item from every category listed on Wikipedia's "List of collectables."

==Trivia==

As of 13 March 2019 at 6:44 PM ET, there ''was'' a debate on the Wikipedia [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talk:List_of_collectables#May_consider_a_temporary_editing_protection talk] tab about locking this page.
This has now been upheld, and the page was temporarily locked.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:My Hobby]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring White Hat]]
[[Category:Wikipedia]]

Talk:2098: Magnetic Pole

2019-01-14T22:06:37Z

Baldrickk:

GPS relies on satellites not the magnetic pole, so it wouldn't be affected.

I was wondering about that. Just added {{Citation needed}} to that and a couple of other alleged facts that should really be cited if true, and removed if not. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.216.208|108.162.216.208]] 20:35, 14 January 2019 (UTC)

It was speculated that reversals were linked to mass extinctions. This would make the alt-text appear to be a bit blase - but " Statistical analysis shows no evidence for a correlation between reversals and extinctions." so it seems we will probably be OK.
It does seem odd that GPS wouldn't be calibrated against fixed ground positions. [[User:Baldrickk|Baldrickk]] ([[User talk:Baldrickk|talk]]) 22:06, 14 January 2019 (UTC)

2057: Internal Monologues

2018-10-10T14:27:59Z

Baldrickk: changed the edit tag

{{comic
| number = 2057
| date = October 10, 2018
| title = Internal Monologues
| image = internal_monologues.png
| titletext = Haha, just kidding, everyone's already been hacked. I wonder if today's the day we find out about it.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by an internal monologue. Please edit the thoughts below until complete. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

{{comic discussion}}

Talk:2053: Incoming Calls

2018-10-03T12:57:33Z

Baldrickk: comment with link to recorded "yes" question on skeptics

The "other scammers" section is far too small. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.216.166|108.162.216.166]] 16:54, 1 October 2018 (UTC)

We have two title texts explanations. With slightly conflicting information. Combine and brush up or should we just do one or the other for now? I like the CBS source in the first so I think we should absolutely preserve that at least. [[User:Lukeskylicker|Lukeskylicker]] ([[User talk:Lukeskylicker|talk]]) 17:15, 1 October 2018 (UTC)

: Supposing that you are correct, I have to add that I have never heard of the headset trick being used to buy time to connect you to a real scammer. But then again, I don't get scammed that often. [[User:Kwonunn|Kwonunn]] ([[User talk:Kwonunn|talk]]) 17:44, 2 October 2018 (UTC)

He forgot bill collectors. {{unsigned ip|162.158.63.52}}

As the link from the first title text explanation points out, they don't *need* your credit card or social security number as many phone companies, especially mobile companies, will allow a third party to add charges to your phone bill if you've agreed to pay the money. With that in mind, I don't think the second explanation flies. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.186.90|162.158.186.90]] 17:42, 1 October 2018 (UTC)

This only makes sense if it’s proportional or percentage based. But then that makes one wonder if some of this might be because the number of calls dropped over time. {{unsigned|Mr.Dude}}

There's a contradiction between "it's safe to assume that calls from his family didn't decrease over the years", and "Over time, Randall's friends and family have been less likely to make phone calls to him, likely due to the use of text messages and other messaging apps.". I'd suggest rephrasing the first part to say "it's possible the calls from family didn't decrease over the years, in which case they only make up a smaller fraction as the number of total calls increases since 1990.", or simply "some of the categories like family calls appear to be occurring less often but may only be decreasing in frequency in proportion to total calls" [[Special:Contributions/162.158.142.28|162.158.142.28]] 21:10, 1 October 2018 (UTC)
:I know for me personally family calls have decreased as texting and other messaging apps have become more common, and the same might have happened for him. It is clear that this graph excludes texting as by the present the only friend calling is that one friend that hates texting. That person may be the best way to figure out if the absolute volume of calls has increased...it appears the volume of total calls has increased, at least recently, as that one friend originally took up a larger proportion of the vertical space (of course the frequency of correspondence with that friend may also have changed).[[Special:Contributions/172.68.46.5|172.68.46.5]] 16:51, 2 October 2018 (UTC)
::Thanks for your written thoughts. You also can enhance the explanation. But for now I've added a new paragraph about texting, just because it's not part of the comic. And, sorry I missed it, I also hate tex...ng ;) --[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 17:29, 2 October 2018 (UTC)

At least not being British he missed the PPI calls. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.154.235|162.158.154.235]] 21:16, 1 October 2018 (UTC)
:Along with the current spate of automated calls telling me that my IP address needs to be changed as it has been "compromised in multiple countries". [[User:Gearoid|Gearóid]] ([[User talk:Gearoid|talk]]) 06:44, 3 October 2018 (UTC)

The trick is not always just to get you thinking you're talking to a real person. More likely it is to get a recording of you saying "yes", which can be used maliciously.--[[Special:Contributions/162.158.94.20|162.158.94.20]] 08:19, 2 October 2018 (UTC)

AFAIK, that has only been done once, there is a question on it here: https://skeptics.stackexchange.com/questions/42050/have-phone-scammers-recorded-yes-statements-to-fraudulently-authorise-payments (I was going to say that it was probably a myth, but the accepted answer had not been written when I last read that page. Pays to check sources I guess, be it for updated webpages, or to counter scammers [[User:Baldrickk|Baldrickk]] ([[User talk:Baldrickk|talk]]) 12:57, 3 October 2018 (UTC)

Referencing "the famous WhatsApp" seems unnecessary. It could be replaced with something like "various mobile messaging apps" [[Special:Contributions/172.68.133.168|172.68.133.168]] anonanon

Could someone please provide more information about that "auto insurance scammer" part? From my foreign perspective, this means nothing at all and it seems odd that Randall's scammer calls were so numerous and so single-minded in their focus for such a long time. Were these calls really the only scams during that time? Did other scammers then copy their methods? It may seem obvious to you but it certainly isn't for me.[[Special:Contributions/141.101.88.196|141.101.88.196]] 09:30, 3 October 2018 (UTC)

Talk:2047: Beverages

2018-09-17T13:44:12Z

Baldrickk:

Randall Munroe needs to be less existential ... oh wait. {{unsigned ip|162.158.155.146|05:22, 17 September 2018‎ (UTC)}}

Wouldn’t it warrant being freaked out *more* if it were shaped like lungs? Now that would freak me out.
(Choking on food is but one example that even nature can not get a dual function, single endpoint API perfectly right. Luckily nature was unaware of GraphQL - or we’d have one orifice, 1 endpoint for all bodily functions. {{unsigned ip|172.69.130.70|05:36, 17 September 2018‎ (UTC)}}

:(Responding to the above unsigned) Aren’t there some animals where that is the case? Jellyfish and starfish (I think) are the examples that comes to mind, but I’m sure there are others (especially among sea life). Also wow, humanity (at least the English speaking portion) really likes naming things that aren’t fish “fish” 😂 [[User:PotatoGod|PotatoGod]] ([[User talk:PotatoGod|talk]]) 07:19, 17 September 2018 (UTC)

: But there's 'No Such Thing as a Fish' :-) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/No_Such_Thing_as_a_Fish --[[User:OliReading|OliReading]] ([[User talk:OliReading|talk]]) 12:31, 17 September 2018 (UTC)

: Well you can think yourself lucky that you are not designed like a flatworm which only has one opening to its digestive cavity... [[Special:Contributions/162.158.166.191|162.158.166.191]] 11:17, 17 September 2018 (UTC)

:Isn't that a cloaca?
:https://www.youtube.com/embed/_y4DbZivHCY
:[[User:ProphetZarquon|ProphetZarquon]] ([[User talk:ProphetZarquon|talk]]) 13:25, 17 September 2018 (UTC)

Isn't the stream of beverages interrupted in intervals by swallowing? Sebastian --[[Special:Contributions/172.68.110.10|172.68.110.10]] 06:16, 17 September 2018 (UTC)
: The bulge in the middle of the vertical portion of the flow (oesophagus) is from the effects of peristalsis, which does not cut off the flow entirely in order to push stuff down, but leaves a little gap. That is part of the reason you can belch and barf. [[User:Nutster|Nutster]] ([[User talk:Nutster|talk]]) 12:37, 17 September 2018 (UTC)

I think what he means with "if I wait a while" the beverage at the end of digestion is then connected to the toilet, sewers and oceans... {{unsigned|Benjamin3005}}

Radiotopia's recently released "Everything is alive" podcast 's Premiere episode, [https://www.everythingisalive.com/episodes/louis-can-of-cola Louis Can of Cola], is about this experience from the perspective of the beverage. The episode was featured 5 podcasting Rockstar Roman Mars on his own Radiotopia show "99 perecent invisible" earlier this summer. [[User:Iggynelix|Iggynelix]] ([[User talk:Iggynelix|talk]]) 12:24, 17 September 2018 (UTC)

'''What are the two organs beneath the stomach?'''

Liver makes sense because they are involved in the digesting process; but kidneys are ruled out because they filter blood where the liquid hasn't arrived yet. Any ideas? --[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 13:31, 17 September 2018 (UTC)

Looks to me like that is the stomach. The "bulge" above looks like peristalsis. [[User:Baldrickk|Baldrickk]] ([[User talk:Baldrickk|talk]]) 13:44, 17 September 2018 (UTC)

Talk:1960: Code Golf

2018-02-26T09:59:44Z

Baldrickk:

What's the programming language? It seems to me like a special reverse golf variant of Python, where <code>def</code> is replaced by <code>define</code>, just to make it longer. Or is there a real language with that syntax? --[[Special:Contributions/172.68.110.106|172.68.110.106]] 08:40, 26 February 2018 (UTC)
Lisp/some derivatives (I'm most familiar with scheme) use <code>define<define> as does Slate, however both have a different syntax. Most likely, this is just pseudo-code. [[User:Baldrickk|Baldrickk]] ([[User talk:Baldrickk|talk]]) 09:59, 26 February 2018 (UTC)