explain xkcd - User contributions [en]

1764: XKCDE

2016-11-25T05:21:58Z

Chridd: /* Transcript */

{{comic
| number = 1764
| date = November 25, 2016
| title = XKCDE
| image = xkcde.png
| titletext = 4. They unplug the root machine but the thousands of leaf VMs scatter in the wind and start spinning up new instances wherever they land
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by a BOT - Please change this comment when editing this page.}}
*alt text:* something, something, helicopter seed pods
==Transcript==
:Installing the xkcd development environment

:1. Spin up a VM

:2. Spin up a VM inside that VM

:3. Continue spinning up nested VMs and containers until you get fired

{{comic discussion}}

1490: Atoms

2015-02-23T11:15:07Z

Chridd: add categories

{{comic
| number = 1490
| date = February 23, 2015
| title = Atoms
| image = atoms.png
| titletext = When I was little I had trouble telling my dad apart form the dog. I always recognized my mom because she had a bunch of extra plutoniums in her middle. I never did ask her why ...
}}

==Explanation==
In this cartoon, [[Megan]] appears to be preparing some substance for chemical analysis. [[Beret Guy]] seems to be able to tell what elements the substance is composed of just by eyeballing it. Megan finds this bizarre and asks him what is wrong with him. Beret Guy responds by sharing that he suspects he contains too much zinc; missing Megan’s point: what is weird is not Beret guy’s zinc content, but his tendency to apparently see everyone as clouds of atoms.

The cartoon continues the theme of Beret Guy’s naïve misunderstandings of scientific terminology turning to be literally true: in another [[1486: Vacuum|recent cartoon]] his ill-informed misinterpretation of the notion of energy in the vacuum resulted in him gaining significant superpowers.

In the title text, the concept is taken even further: Beret Guy found his dad indistinguishable from a dog; and apparently could recognize his mother only because she contained plutonium ― a very unusual occurrence that cannot possibly occur in nature ― either she had a pacemaker, or she was the victim of unethical medical experimentation.

==Transcript==
:Beret guy: What’re you doing?
:
:Megan: Testing a sample for beryllium.
:Beret guy: That? Yeah, there’s a bunch of berylliums.
:Megan: How do you know?
:
:Beret guy: Look at it! See? Tons of oxygens and silicons, a few irons but definitely some berylliums too! Can’t you see them?
:
:Megan: No, I can’t see a list of the atoms in a thing by looking.
:Beret guy: How do you tell what things are?
:
:Megan: This is ridiculous. Look at me. What do you see?
:Beret guy: You have tons of metal in your face. Lots of fillings, I guess?
:
:Megan: What’s wrong with you?
:Beret guy: Too many zincs? I’ve always worried I had too much zincs and everyone thought I was weird.

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

1353: Heartbleed

2014-04-09T05:49:18Z

Chridd: Fix character in title text

{{comic
| number = 1353
| date = April 9, 2014
| title = Heartbleed
| image = heartbleed.png
| titletext = I looked at some of the data dumps from vulnerable sites, and it was ... bad. I saw emails, passwords, password hints. SSL keys and session cookies. Important servers brimming with visitor IPs. Attack ships on fire off the shoulder of Orion, c-beams glittering in the dark near the Tannhäuser Gate. I should probably patch OpenSSL.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by a BOT - Please change this comment when editing this page.}}

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript}}

{{comic discussion}}

1322: Winter

2014-01-27T06:58:59Z

Chridd: /* Transcript */ fix typos. (Not sure how it's incomplete, or whether this fixes that.)

{{comic
| number = 1322
| date = January 27, 2014
| title = Winter
| image = winter.png
| titletext = Stay warm, little flappers, and find lots of plant eggs!
}}

==Explanation==
Beret Guy and Cueball are walking. Beret Guy is making several remarks about the situation. It is cold, the pond is frozen, and the birds are chirping. When making these observations, however, he does not use the correct terms. Instead he uses compounds of monosyllabic words, similar to "Up Goer Five". When Cueball brings up Beret Guy's poor vocabulary, he retorts by declaring that the name does not matter, as long as the things themselves are what they should be. This is the same concept that is communicated in the line from the Shakespearean play, "Romeo and Juliet": "What's in a name?/That which we call a rose/by any other name would smell as sweet."

The title text further builds upon this idea.

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript}}
:[Beret Guy talking with Cueball, walking through a cold forest with snow on the ground]
:Beret Guy: The sky is cold and the floor water is too hard to drink.
:Beret Guy: But I have my handcoats and the spacelight is warm.
:Beret Guy: Listen–the flappy planes are beeping in the stick towers.
:Cueball: Those are all the wrong words for those things.
:Beret Guy: Maybe.
:Beret Guy: But the things themselves are all right. So who cares?
{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Comics featuring Beret Guy]]
[[Category:Language]]

935: Missed Connections

2013-11-08T06:44:48Z

Chridd: /* Explanation */ fix link spelling

{{comic
| number = 935
| date = August 8, 2011
| title = Missed Connections
| image = missed_connections.png
| titletext = The Street View van isn't going to find out anything Google won't already know from reading my email.
}}

==Explanation==
Missed Connections is a page on Craigslist in which people who saw each other briefly and want to reconnect attempt to find each other again. If I was to hazard a guess, I would imagine it works .0001% of the time. In the case of missed connections, one person describes themselves "Me" and describes the other person "You" in order that the second person would recognize themself and try to reconnect.

The first one is a goofy joke as far as I can tell, although there have been many {{w|Wienermobile #Mishaps and other incidents| Wienermobile incidents}} in the past. Given the timing of this comic, one can't help but wonder if it might also be a pun referencing the then recent resignation of Rep. Anthony Weiner over tweeting pictures of his, well, wiener with his mobile device.

Oddly enough, the second entry could possibly be a reference to [http://fairlyoddparents.wikia.com/wiki/Wishing_Well this] episode of {{w|The Fairly OddParents}}.

The third one is a reference to networking. UDP stands for User Datagram Protocol. UDP packets don't use handshaking to verify they have contacted the correct host, so they can get lost or confused. The Cisco router location is just a reference to a block of IP addresses. Cisco is a company that makes networking equipment. This is a play on a missed connection for someone who was lost and asked for directions.

The fourth one seems to be a joke as well. For those outside of the US (or those inside as well), Nancy Pelosi is the Democratic Leader of the US House of Representatives. The (D-CA) is a common notation for politicians which notates party (D for Democrat) and state (CA for California). The joke is that, as a more liberal female (and grandmother) Democratic elected official, she is not exactly the type of person one would expect to be trying to reconnect with a follower of the rather unpolitically correct Insane Clown Posse she glimpsed across the room at a party.

The fifth seems to be a reference to Randall's upcoming nuptials?

The sixth is a reference to how the Google Street view van was not only recording photos of the street in 360 degrees, it was also collecting data from unencrypted Wi-Fi networks. The comic takes this to the next level, that the Google Street View van also scans what we have in our pockets and does a retinal scan. In this case, the social security number referenced is [http://www.ssa.gov/history/ssn/misused.html the most used SSN of all time.]

The last suggested the Babe Ruth, the American baseball slugger of 1914-1935 is actually a Time Lord. Time Lord is a reference to the popular sci-fi series "Doctor Who" in which The Doctor, who is a Time Lord, uses a TARDIS, which is a time travel machine. Possibly because he was a baseball player "ahead of his time".

==Transcript==
:[The page is set up like the missed connections area of Craigslist, with a list of messages from an individual to a person they weren't able to communicate with at the time.]
:Personals > Missed Connections

:You: Clinging to hood of your stolen wienermobile, trying to reach into engine to unstick throttle
:Me: Screaming, diving out of the way

:You: Vaguely human silhouette
:Me: At bottom of wishing well with harpoon gun

:You: Confused UDP packet
:Me: Cisco router in 45.170/16 block

:You: Baddest fuckin' Juggalo at Violent J's party
:Me: Nancy Pelosi (D-Ca)

:You: Getting married to me
:Me: Also getting married, but distracted by my phone

:You: Cute boy on corner of 4th & Main, 5'11, 169lbs, social security number 078-05-1120, pockets contained $2.09 in change, keys, and a condom. Retinal scan attached
:Me: Driving street view van

:You: George Herman "Babe" Ruth
:Me: Fellow Time Lord. Saw your tardis on third moon of

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