explain xkcd - User contributions [en]

1795: All You Can Eat

2022-07-06T13:44:54Z

CheckPointOne: some copyedits

{{comic
| number = 1795
| date = February 6, 2017
| title = All You Can Eat
| image = all_you_can_eat.png
| titletext = After my absent-mindedness resulted in a bad posterboard-related stomachache, I learned to do the sign-making place last.
}}

==Explanation==
An all-you-can-eat {{w|buffet}} is when a restaurant will charge you once for entry and then continuously serve you more food at no additional cost until you have eaten all-you-can-eat. Part of the "[[:Category:My Hobby|My Hobby]]" series, this comic shows [[Randall]] wishes to pre-pend "all-you-can-eat" to random stores.

With the exception of the pet store, which sells pet food, these stores do not sell food, so the very idea of eating their product would be ridiculous for most humans. However, this is what Randall's stunt makes the stores he defaces seem to advertise. Most people would not seriously consider eating the products these stores sell{{Citation needed}} even with the signs suggesting they should, as they sell {{w|tires}}, {{w|hair cuts}}, {{w|lumber}} and {{w|flooring}} and {{w|pets}}.

The "all-you-can-eat" signs obscured the top line for three of the four shops signs. It is not really possible to read the obscured part of the first two signs, although it is likely that the first and last letters in the first sign are A and K. And also since the A is taller than the white sign, this first letter must be larger than the others which do not show above the white sign. There could be room for anything from 8 to many more letters hidden as it can be seen in the second line below that the I's take up much less space than the other letters. But from the letters below it seems likely there were 9 (maybe including a space) if no I's were used resulting in a word or two like "A _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ K". All letters in the comic seem to be capital, but Randall sometimes uses small caps, where the first capital letter is larger than the others. This would fit with this sign.

The third sign is fully visible, and it makes sense as it is not a name in the top line but part of the description of what the store provides.

The last sign is clearly readable even though the white sign covers the name at the top, and it says "Kevin's Pet Store". There actually exists a [http://kevinspetshopcom.weebly.com/ web page with the name "Kevin's Pet Shop"], supposedly located in Texas, but there is very limited information on the page. See more about the use of Kevin in xkcd in the [[#Kevin|trivia]] below.

In the title text, Randall seems to have fallen for his own prank. After he puts the "all-you-can-eat" sign onto the signmakers' place, he proceeds to heed his own sign literally and eat the posterboards that he is supposed to make signs from. To remind himself not to make the same mistake again, he tells himself to "do the sign-making place last."

It should also be noted that sometimes "all-you-can-eat" is used to mean "unlimited usage". An all-you-can-eat data plan, for example, is another way to say unlimited data. If this definition of the word were used, all-you-can-eat would mean "unlimited copies of our product for a one time fee". A {{w|kapsalon}} can, arguably, also be called an all-you-can-eat hair salon.

Note that some pets are considered food in some cultures; rabbits are commonly kept as pets as well as served as food, dogs are consumed in some areas in eastern Asia, guinea pigs in South America and Africa, and [http://vignette2.wikia.nocookie.net/alf/images/9/92/Cat_sandwich.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20110128060130 some fictional characters] are known for eating cat. Even more normally, a cat owner that wants to buy an "all-you-can-eat" bird feast for their cat would be happy with this last store.

Aside from pets, pet stores also sell pet food, and while frowned upon by some, it is common practice to give human nutrition supplements to pets and vice versa. Some animal snacks are considered very tasty by many people, and there even exist several brands of snacks designed to be eaten both by people and their pets so that the owners could feel somehow closer to their beloved companion. Premium pet foods are made to standards that are no worse than standards for human food, so eating them poses no health risks in the short term - long term, most pet diets would fail to deliver the right balance of nutrients needed by humans.

==Transcript==
:[The comic shows the facades of four stores next to each other on a street, with the sidewalk shown in front of them. To the top of each store's name there has been appended white signs. Three of the white signs partially cover the name part of the sign above three of the stores, but the fourth sign is placed entirely above the text of the third store. Thus that white sign's top is higher up than the building's.]

:[First store from the left. The top line of two on the store's sign is obscured by the white sign:]
:White sign: All-you-can-eat
:Store sign: Discount Tires

:[Second store from the left. The top line of two on the store's sign is obscured by the white sign:]
:White sign: All-you-can-eat
:Store sign: Hair Salon

:[Third store from the left. The white sign on this store is slightly tilted, and most of it is above the top of the store completely above the store sign:]
:White sign: All-you-can-eat
:Store sign: Lumber and
:Store sign: Flooring Depot

:[Fourth store from the left. The top line of two on the store's sign is obscured by the white sign. However, the name can still be deduced, and the top line says "Kevin's".]
:White sign: All-you-can-eat
:Store sign: Pet Store

:[Caption below the frame:]
:My hobby: Going out at night and adding "all-you-can-eat" to every store's sign

*'''Click''' to expand for a more detailed image description without any more text:
<div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed leftAlign" style="width:100%">
<br>
:[First store from the left has one small rectangular section next to the door and then a larger window. The first section may be a poster with information about the store. It could also be a small window. Through the large window (or on it) two rectangular signs can be seen with unreadable text. There are also three half circles at the bottom of the large window, possibly chairs or tires on display. On the normal sized door there hangs an open/closed sign, but no text is visible. On the stores sign the top line of text, likely with the name of the store, is obscured by the white sign so most of the letters are completely covered. Less than half of the first capital letter and ditto for the last letter is visible. It looks like the first letter is an "A", and the last a "k".]

:[Second store from the left has two posters over each other, the top one with unreadable text, the bottom a picture of a person with messy black hair, seen from the torso and up. Next to this is a double door with large windows from below the middle and up near the top. Next to the door there is a small window. On the stores sign the top line of text, likely with the name of the store, is completely obscured by the white sign. This line is shorter than the white sign, but the letters are taller, so top and bottom of the letters can be seen. But it is not easy to guess any letters.]

:[Third store from the left has two posters over each other, but the lower poster is smaller and more to the right. Both has unreadable text, and the top one also some kind of image with two tilted rectangles. Similarly there are three signs above each other with different size and text on the right side of the store. Between them is a large open door. Wider than the double doors of store two, but there is no sign of the doors. Inside the store there are two signs, one hanging down from two rods from the ceiling, both with unreadable text. The one from the ceiling is in the center the other is partly obscured by the door frame to the left. Left and right there are two rectangular structures, which both goes behind the frame. The left is taller. In the middle there is one broad but low rectangular structure with another higher rectangle on top, which does not go to either side of the one below. The white sign on this store is slightly tilted, and most of it is above the top of the store, and thus also almost completely above the store sign. Only the top of the first and last letter in the last word in the top line is touched by the sign.]

:[Fourth store from the left has a window to the left. Behind the window is a flat surface on which two rectangular structures are standing on their long sides. Over the lowest to the left there is sign with unreadable text. Below the window there is a thin sign with more text. The normal sized door has a window from below the middle and up. There are three several signs up the left sign, and possible another three small signs at the bottom of the window. The top right corner has a curved line around the corner. No text is visible on the door. Next to the door is another square. It could be a window of a place to post things. There are one large posters to the left with unreadable text and to the top right another smaller white rectangle. Below along the bottom of the square there are three small rectangles shown in full, and two more is only partly shown, which could indicate that it is a window and that they are inside the store. On the stores sign the top line of text, with the name of the store, is obscured by the white sign. The name is just a bit longer than the white sign, and as the letters are a bit higher than in store two it can be deduced that it says "Kevin's".]
</div>
<br>

==Trivia==
===Kevin===
*The name Kevin has been used twice before this comic and quite recently.
**That makes this comic the third with a Kevin in only 77 comics:
***In [[1719: Superzoom]], Kevin worked in a shop that sold superzoom cameras.
***In [[1729: Migrating Geese]], Kevin was the different goose.
***In [[1795: All You Can Eat]] (this one), Kevin has a pet shop, with his name in the shop's name.
**In the previous 1718 comics there seems to have been no use of Kevin except when referring to real persons like:
***Actors [[1412: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles|Kevin]] [[599: Apocalypse|Bacon]] or [[1555: Exoplanet Names 2|Costner]].
***[[1392: Dominant Players|Chess players]] Gariett and Durant.
**So maybe Kevin is Randall's new go to name when he just needs one!
***This has also been discussed in the Geese comic, see the last entry in the [[1729:_Migrating_Geese#Table of labels|table]].
**After this comic it took half a year and 78 comics before the next Kevin appeared but still a short span compared to before the three others:
***In [[1873: Email Reply]], Kevin is addressed in an e-mail by [[Cueball]].

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:My Hobby]]
[[Category:Animals]]
[[Category:Food]]

1783: Emails

2022-07-06T13:26:11Z

CheckPointOne: typo?

{{comic
| number = 1783
| date = January 9, 2017
| title = Emails
| image = emails.png
| titletext = Hey Rob, sorry it took me a while to get back to you! Sure, I'd love to see WALL-E opening weekend! Are you still doing that, or...?
}}

==Explanation==
In this rather late [[:Category:New Year|New Year comic]] (January 9th), [[Megan]] asks [[Cueball]] if he has any {{w|New Year's resolution}}s. New Year's is, to many people, a time for thinking about the year and coming up with resolutions to improve themselves. These kinds of resolutions {{w|New_Year's_resolution#Success_rate|hardly ever work}}.

Cueball replies that he has one resolution. It's to finish reading and replying to his backlog of emails from 2008, 9 years prior to this comic. He obviously does not read his email when they arrive in his inbox, and he now vows to at least get those e-mails from 9 years ago read.

As he further states in the caption below, he now (finally) begins to doubt his method for replying to e-mails, since his backlog now approaches 10 years. Some would probably say he should have found this out when his backlog approached 10 days, or at least when it reached a month.

A common technique for some more productive or efficient users of email is to batch reply to email instead of replying to each one individually as they come. The principle is that setting aside specific times to reply instead of always being "on call" gives the messages the attention they deserve while avoiding the urge to constantly check your email when you should be doing important work. Such a technique could be to check and answer all your emails once a day, or once a week, for instance and allocating a specific amount of time like one hour every day to do so. It is unlikely that somebody would wait years to start the task of checking emails, so obviously the time reserved per unit of time is way too short, if even existing. This would create a backlog of emails, that could soon be so large it would take years to catch up to the e-mail you just got right now.

Another technique for efficient people is ''not'' to answer certain e-mails; if a subject really is important, the sender will send a reminder a few days later. (If he does not, the sender can be presumed to have solved the problem himself, saving lots of time on the receiver's side. Of course then you have to check your e-mails to realize if someone has sent a reminder.) Cueball has possibly used this technique on a friend's request, but became remorseful after nine years.

The title text is a reply to an email in which [[Rob]] wished to see the movie ''{{w|WALL-E}}'', a film that came out in 2008, with Cueball during its opening weekend. However, the opening weekend is now far in the past, and yet Cueball doesn't realize it and trails off with "are you still doing that, or...?" Mentioning the release of a popular movie and then making it clear that it will soon be ten years ago that the movie came out, feels a lot like a hidden [[:Category:Comics to make one feel old|comic to make one feel old]], but it may be stretching it to include this directly in that category. But it is a technique often used by [[Randall]], quite clearly in most of that category, for instance [[891: Movie Ages]].

A real (and useful{{Citation needed}}) New Year's resolution would involve trying to answer his emails as they arrive (instead of spending any more time on years old emails), which would have avoided the mess he's currently in, and will stop it from getting worse in the future.

In this comic Cueball may represent [[Randall]]. He receives so many e-mail due to the xkcd comic that he may have a hard time going through them all. Then there is his [[what if?]] email, and possibly many more. Hopefully he has a separate e-mail for friends that wish to send him a request for going to the opening of new recent movie. On the [http://www.xkcd.com/about/ about page] on xkcd he does write the following for one of the e-mails he cites as contact:
:press @ xkcd.com -- Press questions, etc (may take a long time to get to me).

==Transcript==
:[Megan and Cueball are walking along.]
:Megan: Did you have any New Year's Resolutions?
:Cueball: Gonna finally finish dealing with those emails from 2008.

:[Caption below the panel:]
:As my email backlog approaches 10 years, I'm starting to have doubts about my approach.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:New Year]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Rob]] 
[[Category:Email]]

413: New Pet

2022-06-28T13:46:23Z

CheckPointOne: /* Explanation */ Python

{{comic
| number = 413
| date = April 21, 2008
| title = New Pet
| image = new pet.png
| titletext = ONE LAPTOP PER HAMSTER!
}}

==Explanation==
[[Megan]] and [[Cueball]] create a new pet by putting an {{w|Eee PC}} into a {{w|hamster ball}}, allowing it to roll around.

The {{w|Asus Eee PC}} was one of the first subnotebook computers available on the American market, noted for its small size and coming pre-installed with Linux. With a diagonal size of 11 inches, it would take a big hamster ball to carry it like this.

{{w|Omniwheel}}s are wheels with rollers mounted on the edge to allow the wheel to slide sideways. The wheels in the drawing look more like {{w|Mecanum wheel}}s, which have rollers mounted at an angle to the edge. Both omniwheels and Mecanum wheels are used in omni-directional drive systems, like you would use to drive a hamster ball from the inside. A {{w|webcam}} is connected magnetically to the top of the hamster ball, which connects to an rf link to transmit wirelessly to the computer.

TCO is {{w|total cost of ownership}}, which is exactly what it sounds like: the purchase price of something, plus all costs of keeping, operating, and/or maintaining that something. It's used in accounting to determine something's true cost-to-value evaluation. In the case of a cat, TCO would primarily consist of food, litter, veterinary care, etc. Refer to [[#Trivia|trivia for more details]]. For the device in the comic, there would be a small ongoing cost (occasional recharges for the batteries) after the initial investment.

A {{w|Roomba}} is a self-directed robotic vacuum cleaner made by iRobot, which has no feelings and cannot make friends.{{Citation needed}}

{{w|Python (programming language)|Python}} is a programming language popular among geeks running Linux. Among other features, it has a large number of easily installed 3rd-party libraries that make it easy to add features (stored in ''modules'') to programs. In this case, [[Cueball]] is importing the <code>soul</code> module to give the new pet a soul. This is a reference to [[353: Python]], in which Cueball is able to fly by importing the <code>antigravity</code> module.

The title text refers to the {{w|One Laptop per Child}} project spearheaded by Nicholas Negroponte around 2005, with the goal of building an inexpensive, durable sublaptop that could be distributed to children in developing countries to give them an educational edge.

==Transcript==
:[Megan is placing EEE PC inside hamster ball. Cueball scratches his head.]
:Cueball: What are you doing?
:Megan: Mounting your EEE PC in a hamster ball.

:Megan: Well, the TCO of a cat is like $1,000/year, so we're saving money.

:[Cueball is typing.]
:Megan: Microcontrollers are all wired up! How's the brain coming?
:Cueball: I've taught it obstacle avoidance and blogging.

:Cueball: Aww, look, it's making friends with the Roomba.
:EEE PC: ''RRRRR''
:Roomba: ''Beep!''

:[A blueprint in the background shows a webcam, RF links, bearings, omni wheels, magnets, EEE PC, omni wheels, and a battery all hooked up to Megan and Cueball's "pet."]

:[Hamster ball bounces down a flight of stairs.]
:Hamster ball: ''Bonk bonk''
:Off-panel: Man, I hope it's okay that we're laughing at this.

:[Megan picks up a ball.]
:Megan: I think my mothering instinct took a wrong turn somewhere.
:Cueball: You mean an <u>awesome</u> turn.

:[Cueball is typing.]
:Megan: Too bad we can't give it a soul.
:Cueball: Sure we can.
:Cueball types: import soul
:Megan: Oh, right. Python.

==Trivia==
*According to [http://www.peteducation.com/article.cfm?c=1+2137&aid=1542 Pet Education's list], the TCO for a cat is between 310 and 1169 USD per year.
*In January 2020, Samsung named the pet{{Citation needed}} [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c7N5UDZX7TQ "Ballie"], while Python support has not been confirmed yet.

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics with inverted brightness]]
[[Category:Comics with color]]
[[Category:Charts]]
[[Category:Hamster Ball]]
[[Category:Programming]]
[[Category:Robots]]
[[Category:Roomba]]