explain xkcd - User contributions [en]

Talk:887: Future Timeline

2023-05-31T02:03:02Z

Ban Artemisinin:

The explanation is really messed up. You can hardly tell where one year ends and the next begins. Can someone who's better at editing than me fix this, perhaps by putting a line across the page after each year? [[User:GizmoDude|GizmoDude]] ([[User talk:GizmoDude|talk]]) 19:11, 7 April 2016 (UTC)

This one slipped under the transcripting radar. I may do it. --[[User:Quicksilver|Quicksilver]] ([[User talk:Quicksilver|talk]]) 20:52, 17 August 2013 (UTC)
:Do not talk about radars, just do it. The transcript is done right now, but the explain section still does need a big radar!--[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 20:20, 18 August 2013 (UTC)

Find the song! I have no idea so far but the repeating phrase "Social security trust fund exhausted" should match a refrain.--[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 20:20, 18 August 2013 (UTC)

They now have the dogs driving cars... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BWAK0J8Uhzk Let's not wait for 2053.[[Special:Contributions/173.245.54.90|173.245.54.90]] 21:01, 20 March 2014 (UTC)

Out of curiosity (I'm new to the standards of explainxkcd), are out of date pages considered incomplete? Or is it up to editors to chose when to update a pages explination. I would assume the former, except that would make maintaining the pages significantly more difficult. Also, referencing the Linux takes over. Since Android is now a part of the libux kernel,should thia be changed? It would definently put linux over the 50% mark. [[User:Mrmakeit|Mrmakeit]] ([[User talk:Mrmakeit|talk]]) 05:03, 4 April 2014 (UTC)
:Pages can not become out of date, as they refrence the meening of the comic at the time of creation. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.216.209|108.162.216.209]] 15:24, 10 December 2014 (UTC)

I would change the 2nd paragraph to say that the entirety of the search results are a super long set-up and "All your base..." is the punch-line. [[User:Smperron|Smperron]] ([[User talk:Smperron|talk]]) 08:46, 10 November 2014 (UTC)

I would correct the entry in 2014 that says that the Taliban are the organisation responsible for the September 11th attacks. The more accurate explanation would be that The US believed Al Qaeda (the real organisation responsible) were hiding out in Afghanistan and that defeating the Taliban, and bringing stability to the country was an important stepping stone towards finding Osama Bin Laden. Of course we now know he was in Pakistan all along, but still that was the original rationale for invading Afghanistan.--[[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.192|141.101.98.192]] 15:27, 15 December 2014 (UTC)

This further details stuff is wrong about the comic. The lines are just random answers to Google searches. There is no explanation. I move to remove this table, or convert it into links or summaries of the articles in the links. This sucks. It is good enough as it is now without the table (as the table is random and the explanations on the table are incorrect. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.216.209|108.162.216.209]] 22:12, 15 December 2014 (UTC)
:Let's get to work on the table then. I'm adding suitable references to incomplete sections to aid as jumping off points, from where further expansion can be done on a case-by-case basis. Can you provide some inspiration as to which explanations are most egregiously in need of correction? [[User:Pmw57|Pmw57]] ([[User talk:Pmw57|talk]]) 01:44, 8 January 2015 (UTC)

As of 2014 I have noticed that a lot of US sites are moving from html to closed sources such as Adobe so the quote: "The prediction about GNU/Linux Operating Systems is ambiguous" is now fighting through government agencies. Users of Linux trying to access the volcano archive (once supplied by listserv using linux) now have to get access via Windows machines. This has to be the saddest computing news in a long time. [[User:Weatherlawyer|Weatherlawyer]] ([[User talk:Weatherlawyer|talk]]) 08:19, 4 January 2015 (UTC)

“The prediction about GNU/Linux Operating Systems is ambiguous, as Android (based on Linux) constitutes nearly 50% of the mobile OS market” — GNU/Linux refers to an operating system consisting of the GNU userland toolchain over the Linux kernel. Android is based on Linux but not GNU, therefore, it is irrelevant in GNU/Linux context. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.230.107|108.162.230.107]] 11:18, 23 January 2015 (UTC)

Can we change this to Incomplete explanation of the month? [[User:Foldark|Foldark]] ([[User talk:Foldark|talk]]) 22:03, 28 March 2015 (UTC)

2145:War... War never changes
(the Great War happens) {{unsigned ip|173.245.54.252}}

Is it just my reading, or does it say "ACHEIVE" instead of "ACHIEVE" where it says something about 192 UN member nations achieving millennium development goals in the comic? (It's under 2015.) --[[Special:Contributions/172.68.55.70|172.68.55.70]] 21:45, 10 November 2016 (UTC)
:No, it reads like this for me too. (Even on the original comic page, where I'd expect it to have been long fixed already.) --[[Special:Contributions/172.68.11.87|172.68.11.87]] 19:35, 11 November 2016 (UTC)

Some of these predictions seem very realistic. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.59.172|162.158.59.172]] 00:22, 25 December 2016 (UTC) Jawa457

I am not sure if this needs to be added or not since it was not happening when the comic was produced and it is not the government doing it but a private tech company microchipping its employees in 2017 [https://www.google.com/search?q=microchipping+workers&rlz=1C1OPRB_enUS709US709&oq=microchipping+workers&aqs=chrome..69i57j0.3111j0j7&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8 Google results] since I do not know which news articles will disappear over time. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.62.231|162.158.62.231]] 12:03, 17 August 2017 (UTC)

I think we can delete incomplete tag. --{{unsigned|1337-PI|04:21, 26 February 2021 (UTC)}}

I feel it would have been funny, if a bit confusing, if the first few years numbers after 2037/2038 started referring to, e.g. 1970, 1971, before suddenly "Year 2038 bug finally exterminated". You know it's gonna happen... at least to some poor schmucks somewhere in the world.--[[User:Twisted Code|Twisted Code]] ([[User talk:Twisted Code|talk]]) 12:52, 22 November 2022 (UTC)

== The link is bad ==

[//origo.hu/gazdasag/20180822-az-usa-allamadosaga-rekordot-dontott.html Here]'s a working one. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.93.27|162.158.93.27]] 14:57, 22 December 2018 (UTC)

== Smoking dying out in New Zealand? ==

If yes, that's terrible! Lots of tobacconists will lose their job and have nothing else to do. And they will lose money. What's worse, the smoking ''tradition'' will also be lost. Many countries are banning smoking in public places, but they are rather unconscious of the decline of the whole smoking tradition and the Cigarette culture. So, instead of banning smoking, we need to work to make more smoke-proof devices, including smoke-proof petrol stations. Also, to save the smoking tradition, we can also set up a Yes Smoking Day on November 31st (Yes, the No Smoking Day is right on the other side of the year) for the world to observe. We also want the Smoking Tradition in Britain to become a World Heritage. So Let's Start Now To Save Smoking. Thanks for listening.

:This can also be a chance to fight against the Carbon Peak campaign started by the [[2759: Easily Confused Acronyms|Poorly Reputed Country]].

::Don't ban smoking. Ban Artemisinin. [[User:Ban Artemisinin|Ban Artemisinin]] ([[User talk:Ban Artemisinin|talk]]) 02:03, 31 May 2023 (UTC)

Talk:1063: Kill Hitler

2023-05-16T02:08:54Z

Ban Artemisinin: BAN ARTEMISININ THROUGHOUT THE UNITED STATES

Actually, I think the joke here is that Black Hat actually did end Hitler's atrocities, but that history is not actually changeable. Hitler's "suicide" was actually Black Hat killing him. This is then layers with the impossibility of changing history. This would imply that anyone that wants to stop Hitler before he rose to power will be circumvented.

[[User:UnaSalusVictis|UnaSalusVictis]] ([[User talk:UnaSalusVictis|talk]]) 01:26, 25 November 2012 (UTC)UnaSalusVictis

:According to all reasonable time travel theories, this makes sense. You cannot go into the past to change things, because the future that exists is a future where you were in the past - you just didn't know it yet because it was in your future. This also applies to the future. Your knowledge of the future cannot possibly change it because your foreknowledge exists in this future. If your foreknowledge made that future not happen, then there would be no need to change it. But the future and the past account for the fact that you were there to change things, even before you ever knew you would be. Ergo, any attempt to ''change'' the past will merely result in ''causing'' the past to result exactly as it did before. The catch-22 of time travel stories. You can have a fatal flaw, or a fatally uncompelling story. But, all that said, this is a cartoon and not necessarily reliant on reasonable time travel theory.[[Special:Contributions/76.29.225.28|76.29.225.28]] 07:07, 23 June 2013 (UTC)

:That's exactly my opinion on this topic! Look at this video (Mercedes vs Hitler in the past): [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ytVdBLMmRno]] ~~Muessigb
::But say you could predict what the future would look like if you did nothing (or did not yet have that knowledge). Then by obtaining that knowledge you could then do something you would not have done otherwise and thus change the potential future. With a powerful enough simulator, you might get a good idea of what would happen if no one knew about it, and then decide if something should be changed based on this information. This is what happens in the book {{w|Lightning (novel)|Lightning}}. I do not believe this can be done, but as the future has not happened yet, I do not see the same problems as with traveling back in time. Of course having a good guess of the future is not the same as traveling to it... If you did that, then changing it after you had been there would be troublesome. See for instance {{w|Back to the Future 2}} and the book mentioned above. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 12:44, 6 January 2016 (UTC)

True, killing Hitler before he rose to power and committed all his atrocities would cause a Grandfather paradox... Cueball invented the time machine and send Black Hat back because he wanted Hitler dead, but if Hitler died before that, there would be no reason to invent the time machine and send Black Hat back which ergo cause the initial trip to kill Hitler not possible and ergo Hitler couldn't die before he rises to power and committed his atrocities. [[Special:Contributions/175.137.100.81|175.137.100.81]] 01:40, 5 December 2012 (UTC)
:Just for the record, it was Black Hat who invented this time machine! --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 12:51, 6 January 2016 (UTC)

Maybe in the original timeline, Hitler's atrocities extended beyond 1945. When Black Hat went back in time and assassinated Hitler in 1945, a new time-line was created. When Black Hat returned to the current date, he returned to a different timeline than the one he left. In this timeline (ours), Hitler died in 1945, and because this timeline is based on that fact, Cueball thinks that Black Hat has not changed anything, when in fact, Black Hat's actions created the new timeline. -- mwburden [[Special:Contributions/70.91.188.49|70.91.188.49]] 15:00, 7 December 2012 (UTC)
:Except that Hitler would have already been killed in 1945 by Black Hat, only it would have been thought beforehand to be Hitler killing himself as, until the time machine is invented, you wouldn't think that people from the future would be coming from the future to assassinate the opponent. People would assume that Hitler killed himself as that is more plausible than an assassin killing him and then vanishing without a trace. {{unsigned|Mulan15262}}
::Also Cueball would not know that anything had happened if anything had been changed, as his an everyone else life would have changed, and most people born say a few years after the start of the way, would probably not have been born, because everyone else would have done something different if World War II had never happened, and many more people would have lived back then, to make the chance that your parents meet and fall in love much less. And even if they still did, they might have had their children at a different time in their lives! And just a few seconds can matter in which cell will enter the egg...--[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 12:51, 6 January 2016 (UTC)

:The only flaw in that logic is that there's really no way Hitler would have survived the Russian invasion. He was in a bunker, killing himself, because his whole nation and army were crushed. He would have been put on trial and no doubt executed, if not shot by the first soldier who saw him. -HavokTheorem [[Special:Contributions/121.73.107.90|121.73.107.90]] 04:30, 9 October 2013 (UTC)
::Thank you for this answer. My faith in explainxkcd contributors was declining rapidly until I reached your comment. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.219.58|108.162.219.58]] 20:20, 30 January 2014 (UTC)
::Actually you only think that because Black Hat prevented [http://vignette4.wikia.nocookie.net/wolfenstein/images/d/d7/Hitler2forms.gif/revision/latest?cb=20090918003616 Mecha Hitler]. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.255.80|162.158.255.80]] 17:54, 16 December 2015 (UTC)

Was the explanation always as bad as it appears now?? It's awful. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.219.58|108.162.219.58]] 01:34, 1 February 2014 (UTC)

First off, in a previous time line he could have escaped to a Moon Base to rebuild his army and destroy the world and Cueball just does not remember that history, just the one where Hitler dies in the bunker. Second, there are many forms of logical time travel. You could jump to a different Now 70 years ago and kill Hitler (assuming he exists) and then come back. Your timeline would not have changed, but the other Now would have a future without Hitler. The good or bad that is achieved is the same, but you get no benefit other then the joy of killing Hitler. And you really should seek professional help for that.--[[Special:Contributions/108.162.219.18|108.162.219.18]] 18:52, 20 May 2014 (UTC)
:In many stories where this idea is used, you actually go to this alternative time yourself, so when you return the world you return to would be the one where Hitler died. Maybe you were never born in this world, but as you are from another dimension where you did get born, then you can exist in this world instead. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 12:51, 6 January 2016 (UTC)

Did Randall at least partly choose Hitler because of the old rumour that he wasn't actually dead (Because hearing the news of his death may have seemed incredulous, and because his body was removed by the Soviets, who never openly revealed information to the West). Sorry about the wordiness of this comment, I hope you'll be able to comprehend it. {{unsigned ip|108.162.250.223}}

:I recommend this short story on time travel: [http://www.abyssapexzine.com/wikihistory/ Wikihistory]. My favourite quote: "everybody kills Hitler on their first trip". Brilliant, short and nerdy.
:--[[User:Lou Crazy|Lou Crazy]] ([[User talk:Lou Crazy|talk]]) 16:37, 28 September 2015 (UTC)

You are all assuming that the time machine actually works. Why? [[Special:Contributions/162.158.202.160|162.158.202.160]] 21:50, 9 November 2017 (UTC)

If time travel were possible, you could go back in time, seduce the woman who was to become your mother — you would become your own father! Robert Heinlein wrote a story with that theme, “‘—All You Zombies—’”. Heinlein goes further, introducing a sex-change operation, so mother, father, and child are all the same person.

If I had a time machine I would go back only twenty years and kill Bush and Blair. Think of the millions of lives that would be saved! [[User:The Cat Lady|-- The Cat Lady]] ([[User talk:The Cat Lady|talk]]) 16:39, 2 September 2021 (UTC)

==Total Classical Games Death==

Kill Classical Games. Behead Classical Games. Roundhouse kick Classical Games into the concrete. Slam dunk baby Classical Games into the trashcan. Crucify filthy Classical Games. Defecate in Classical Games's food. Launch Classical Games into the sun. Stir fry Classical Games in a wok. Toss Classical Games into an active volcano. Urinate into a Classical Games's gas tank. Judo throw Classical Games into a wood chipper. Twist Classical Games's head off. Report Classical Games to the IRS. Karate chop Classical Games in half. Curb stomp Classical Games's pregnant mother. Trap Classical Games in quicksand. Crush Classical Games in the trash compactor. Liquefy Classical Games in a vat of acid. Eat Classical Games. Dissect Classical Games. Exterminate Classical Games in the gas chamber. Stomp Classical Games's skull with steel toed boots. Cremate Classical Games in the oven. Lobotomize Classical Games. Mandatory abortions for Classical Games's mother. Grind fetal Classical Games in the garbage disposal. Drown Classical Games in fried chicken grease. Vaporize Classical Games with a ray gun. Kick old Classical Games down the stairs. Feed Classical Games to alligators. Slice Classical Games with a katana. [[Special:Contributions/172.71.151.97|172.71.151.97]] 20:27, 30 April 2023 (UTC)

:I agree, I hate Classical Games. He always spams. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.23.58|172.69.23.58]] 23:53, 15 May 2023 (UTC)

Ban Artemisinin. Burn Artemisinin. Set fire to Artemisinin. Toss Artemisinin into the pit. Pour Artemisinin into the Pacific Ocean. Spill acid on Artemisinin. Smash the Artemisinin factory. Kill the doctor that feeds Artemisinin. Prohibit the import of Artemisinin into the USA. Sue the discoverer of Artemisinin. Withdraw the Nobel Prize for Artemisinin. Launch Artemisinin into the sun. Crash Artemisinin into Jupiter. Convict the Artemisinin supporters. Destroy Artemisinin plant with nuke. Crush the Artemisinin machine with a rock. Send videos saying that Artemisinin is harmful. Throw Artemisinin into the trash bin. Delete Artemisinin from the chemistry database. Put the ban on Artemisinin into the Constitution of the United States. I hate Artemisinin. ————[[User:Ban Artemisinin|Ban Artemisinin]] ([[User talk:Ban Artemisinin|talk]]) 02:08, 16 May 2023 (UTC)