explain xkcd - User contributions [en]

Talk:1056: Felidae

2013-08-21T18:27:42Z

Dawfedora: /* this page is useless without a table of cat names to osx versions */

I'm pretty sure there's the saber-toothed tiger in the smilodon category too. That's gonna be ''faaar'' to the right. [[User:Davidy22|Davidy22]][[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 10:05, 23 December 2012 (UTC)
::@davidy: saber-toothed tiger == saber-toothed cat. Same animal, different name. [[Special:Contributions/189.135.115.199|189.135.115.199]] 21:38, 11 April 2013 (UTC)

If I'm not mistaken, Dracorex hogwartsia was specifically named for Hogwarts, so the name isn't disturbingly similar.[[User:Kdesltd|Kdesltd]] ([[User talk:Kdesltd|talk]]) 06:13, 16 February 2013 (UTC)

== this page is useless without a table of cat names to osx versions ==

cause where else am i going to go for that information?
obviously [explain]xkcd. [[Special:Contributions/68.201.90.115|68.201.90.115]] 22:43, 30 June 2013 (UTC)

{{w|OS X#Versions|Here!}} [[User:Dawfedora|Dawfedora]] ([[User talk:Dawfedora|talk]]) 18:27, 21 August 2013 (UTC)

Talk:933: Tattoo

2013-08-07T15:50:04Z

Dawfedora:

So it kills her appendix, spleen and what else? I'm pretty sure bad attitude isn't an organ. '''[[User:Davidy22|{{Color|purple|David}}y²²]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 09:14, 9 March 2013 (UTC)
I think the parts holding her back are the cancer cells [[User:Dawfedora|Dawfedora]] ([[User talk:Dawfedora|talk]]) 15:50, 7 August 2013 (UTC)

737: Yogurt

2013-07-20T23:27:10Z

Dawfedora: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 737
| date = May 7, 2010
| title = Yogurt
| image = yogurt.png
| titletext = I am firmly of the opinion that if something doesn't have a year on it, every time the expiration date rolls around it is good again for the two weeks preceding that date.
}}

==Explanation==
Most packaged food has an {{w|shelf life|expiration date}} that indicates when the food will probably no longer be suitable for consumption. This could be due to any number of reasons; most products will rot or grow mold after their expiration date passes, but some processed foods will dry out or just generally become unpleasant long before they actually spoil. (The expiration date is sometimes called a "best by" or "use by" date for this reason.)

Some products don't list the year as part of the expiration date, on the assumption that by the time the year becomes an issue, the food will obviously be spoiled. [[Cueball]] is encountering this issue; clearly the yogurt has gone bad - it's raising "stink lines" and appears to have visible mold - but the expiration date only lists "May 12th" and it's currently May 7th, so the characters reason that it must still be good since the expiration date hasn't passed yet.

The {{w|Gregorian calendar}} was initially adopted in the Catholic European countries in 1582 to correct the slow drift of the seasons relative to the calendar year that occurred under the Julian calendar. The Protestant and Orthodox countries were slower to adopt it. The British Empire, including the American colonies, adopted the Gregorian calendar in 1752. Cueball sarcastically wonders whether the expiration date might have been printed under the Julian Calendar, i.e., several hundred years ago.

The {{w|Gregorian calendar}} (our current calendar is mostly the same as the {{w|Julian calendar}} with two major differences:

*The Julian calendar overestimated the length of a year by 10 minutes 48 seconds or about 1 day every 128 years. The Gregorian calendar has 97 leap days every 400 years instead of 100, which reduces the error to about 1 day in 3300 years.
*As each country adopted the Gregorian calendar, it was necessary to skip the appropriate number of days to realign the {{w|Vernal Equinox}} with March 21. When the British Empire adopted the Gregorian calendar in 1752, 11 days had to be skipped, so in the English-speaking countries, September 2, 1752 under the Julian calendar was immediately followed by September 14, 1752 under the Gregorian calendar; there was no September 3–13 in that year.

==Transcript==
:[Cueball is holding a cup at arm's length. Waves of stink are rising from it.]
:Cueball: Oh God, how old is this yogurt in your fridge?
:[Someone speaks from off-panel.]
:Person: What's the expiration date?

:[Cueball holds up the cup to look at the bottom.]
:Cueball: May 12th, but there's no year.
:[From off-panel again.]
:Person: It's May 7th. So it's fine.

:[Now the second person is on panel, and Cueball speaks from off-panel. The second person is sitting down working on a laptop.]
:Cueball: I'm not sure. When it was packaged, was civilization using the Gregorian or Julian calendar?
:Person: Okay, I'll throw it out.
:Cueball: No, it might still be good!

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]

Talk:748: Worst-Case Scenario

2013-07-20T21:40:57Z

Dawfedora:

"frothy mix" is a reference to Rick Santorum. [[Special:Contributions/75.60.27.102|75.60.27.102]] 03:17, 29 March 2013 (UTC)
:The comic was published on June 2, 2010. I strongly doubt it was a reference to Santorum. [[Special:Contributions/166.182.3.247|166.182.3.247]] 17:36, 17 July 2013 (UTC)

The original {{w|Campaign for "santorum" neologism|"frothy mix"}} incident occurred in 2003 and came back into the news during Rick Santorum's Presidential primary campaign in 2013. So frothy mix could still be a reference to that incident. [[User:Dawfedora|Dawfedora]] ([[User talk:Dawfedora|talk]]) 21:40, 20 July 2013 (UTC)

706: Freedom

2013-07-16T17:03:51Z

Dawfedora: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 706
| date = February 24, 2010
| title = Freedom
| image = freedom.png
| titletext = Sometimes I'm terrified to realize how many options other people have.
}}

==Explanation==
In this comic, Randall comments on the absence of physical enforcement for social norms. [[Cueball]] goes through a list of possible things he could do that only his conscience and learned social mores prevent him from doing, before promptly receiving a punch to the face justified with his own reasoning.

The image text is a restatement of the first line of the comment, but reversed to show Cueball's newfound realization that the same freedoms apply to other people, to his physical detriment.

This is also an ironic reference to {{w|Zechariah Chafee}}'s oft-quoted line, "Your right to swing your arms ends just where the other man's nose begins."

==Transcript==
:First Man: Sometimes I'm shocked to realize how many options I have.
:Second Man: Oh?

:[First Man shakes his fist.]
:First Man: Like, at any moment in any conversation, I could just punch the person I was talking to, and all these potentially life-changing events would unfold.

:First Man: It's only my mental rules that stop me from punching you, or stripping naked, or getting on a plane to Fiji. Sure, rules have reasons. But shouldn't you exercise that freedom at least once before you die?

:''WHAM''

:[First man is knocked down on the ground, dazed and bruised.]
:First Man: Okay, I should have seen that coming.
:Second Man: But you ''couldn't''! That's the beauty!

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]

Talk:652: More Accurate

2013-07-11T16:38:33Z

Dawfedora:

MOST? You mean some aren't?

Our current level of artifical intelligence research is not really far and I doubt anyone would be trying to advance it inside armed machines. -- [[User:Hkmaly|Hkmaly]] ([[User talk:Hkmaly|talk]]) 09:03, 25 February 2013 (UTC)

The current level of our artificial intelligence research is high enough for Google to be testing {{w|google driverless car|driverless cars}} on the streets of the Bay Area. Given that, I'm sure the military is at least testing autonomous drones. [[User:Dawfedora|Dawfedora]] ([[User talk:Dawfedora|talk]]) 16:38, 11 July 2013 (UTC)

557: Students

2013-06-30T18:54:40Z

Dawfedora: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 557
| date = March 18, 2009
| title = Students
| image = students.png
| titletext = The same goes for the one where you're wrestling the Green Ranger in the swimming pool full of Crisco. You guys all have that dream, right? It's not just me. Right?
}}

==Explanation==
Students often dream they have assessments they have forgotten about that are due in a very short time period. This comic suggests these dreams continue well after graduation.

The title text refers to the Green Ranger from the {{w|Mighty Morphin Power Rangers}}.

==Transcript==
:[A teacher speaks in a crowded classroom, one of the students seems confused.]
:Teacher: Your projects are due today by 5:00 PM.
:Student: ((...I didn't even know we had one.))
:Student: ((Wait. I don't think I've been attending. I must have forgotten I had this class. Shitshitshit.))
:Student: ((Okay, I'm gonna fail. Will it hold me back? I just want to get out of here. I thought I had finished my requirements already.))
:Student: ((In fact, I think I remember graduating.))
:Student: ((What the hell is--))
:[Scene fades to the 'student' waking up.]
:Fun Fact: Decades from now, with school a distant memory, you'll still be having this dream.

{{comic discussion}}

492: Scrabble

2013-06-24T14:41:55Z

Dawfedora:

{{comic
| number = 492
| date = October 22, 2008
| title = Scrabble
| image = scrabble.png
| imagesize =
| titletext = A veteran Scrabble player will spot the "OSTRICH" option.
}}

==Explanation==
This comic depicts a game of {{w|Scrabble}}, a popular board game where the goal is to form words with the letters in your hand. The joke here is that the obvious option here is the word "clitoris" (a part of the female genitalia), which is an inappropriate word for a family Scrabble game, but gives a 50 poing bonus for using all seven tiles. The title-text points out that the letters in the hand can also form the word "OSTRICH," which is family friendly but much lower scoring.

==Trivia==
Randall uses the word "Ostrich" as an alternate word, but "Historic" or "[http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/coistril Coistril]" would gain more points.

==Transcript==
:[A first-person view of a family scrabble game at a table. The two letters on the board are 'HI' and the letters in your hand are 'CLTORIS']
:This always happens to me in family Scrabble games.

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

482: Height

2013-06-23T14:34:38Z

Dawfedora: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 482
| date = September 29, 2008
| title = Height
| image = height.png
| titletext = Interestingly, on a true vertical log plot, I think the Eiffel Tower's sides would really be straight lines.
}}

==Explanation==
The comic contains a chart shows several objects in the universe, from farthest (top) to closest (bottom) on a logarithmic scale. The comic starts with [[Black Hat]] throwing a cat off the edge of the universe, probably a reference to {{w|Schrodinger's cat}}. The top of the universe is shown as the distance from which the oldest rays of light reach Earth. Several celestial objects are shown for scale, and some fictional ones. The latter include, from top to bottom:
*{{w|Ford Prefect}}, character from {{w|The Hitchiker's Guide to the Galaxy (franchise)}}.
*The [http://en.memory-alpha.org/wiki/Romulan_Neutral_Zone Romulan Neutral Zone], marking the edge of the {{w|Star Trek}} Federation.
*[http://knowyourmeme.com/memes/cat-on-a-keyboard-in-space Catonakeyboardinspace].
*{{w|Federation Sector 0-0-1}}, the sector of space assigned to earth in {{w|Star Trek}}.
*"missing WMDs", a reference to the controversy over the {{w|Presidency of George W. Bush|George W. Bush administration}}'s allegations that {{w|Iraq and weapons of mass destruction|Iraq possessed weapons of mass destruction}}
*A comet scheduled to hit earth in 2063, to coincide with the latest date for the Biblically prophesized end of the world. [http://www.askelm.com/prophecy/p971105.htm 1] (fictionality disputed; included here for legibility.)
*Life on the moons of Jupiter and Saturn, which may or may not exist given that they seem to have all the necessary conditions to harbor it.
*The {{w|Discovery One}} from {{w|2001: A Space Odyssey}}.
*A spaceplane finding a bowl of salt. (disputed, see below.)
*{{w|Cory Doctrow}}'s balloon. (first referenced in [[239]].)
*[[Cueball]], who is apparently still using Python as shown in comic [[353]].

Some theories about the spaceplane finding the bowl of salt:
*A bowl left behind by the Planet Express spaceplane in a {{w|Futurama}} episode which Fry refers to as "a big heaping bowl of salt."
*The Quasi-elemental plane of Salt from the {{w|Inner Plane}} in {{w|Dungeons and Dragons}}.
*The Great Salt Vampire from Star Trek TOS [http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/archive/index.php/t-485523.html 2].

Non-fictional points of note:
*{{w|Eris (dwarf planet)|Eris}}, a {{w|dwarf planet}} named after the {{w|Eris (mythology)|Greek goddess of discord}}.
*{{w|Pluto}}, demoted from {{w|definition of planet|planet}} to {{w|dwarf planet}}.

==Transcript==
:[Map of the universe from observable universe to Earth. Each area of item is labelled.]
:Lables [Left to Right, Up to Down]:
:[Man in Hat is throwing a black kitty down] Black Cat: mrowl!
::Top of Observable Universe
::46 Billion Light Years Up
::Hubble Deep Field Objects
:-One Billion Light Years-
::Great Attractor
:Antanne Galaxies (Colliding)
:Andromeda
:::Holy Crap Lots of Space
::- One Million Light Years-
::Magellanic Clouds
::Edge of Galaxy
::Galactic Center
::Crab Nebula
::Orion Nebula
::Horsehead Nebula
::Romulan Neutral Zone
:::The PLEIADS, Duh.
::Rigel
::Bete (Geuse)
::Ford Prefect
::- Expanding Shell of Radio Transmissions [Arrows are pointing up] -
::Edge of Federation Sector 0-0-1
::Pollux
::Arcturus
::Missing WMDs
::Alpha Centauri
::Sirius
::Barnard's Star
:- One Parsec -
::- One Light Year -
::Oort Cloud (?)
::Bupkis
::Comet Which will destroy Earth in late 2063
::Pioneer 10
::Eris (All hail Discordia!)
::Voyager I
::Pluto (Not a planet. Neener neener.)
::Neptune
::Uranus
:Saturn
::Asteroids
:::<~life~>
::Jupiter
::Venus
::Mars
::Sun
::Mercury
::Aircraft: Hey a heaping bowl of salt!
::"Open the fridge door, Hal."
::Moon
::Human Altitude Record (Apollo 13)
::2nd Place: Snoop Dogg
::Space Elevator - One of these days, promise!
::- Geosynchronous Orbit-
::GPS Satellites
::Aircraft 2: I have no idea how to land
::Aircraft 2[continued]: In retrospect, they shouldn't have sent a poet
::International Space Station
::Space Junk
::- Official Edge of Space (100 km) -
::Meteors
::- 1
:10 ATM -
::High Altitude Balloons
::Airliners
::- 1
:2 ATM -
::Cory Doctrow
::Shuttle Columbia Lost
::Everest
::Helicoptors
::Man: Woo Python!
::- 800 m -
::- 1 km -
::[Height progressivly gets smaller and smaller]
::Burj Dubai (~800 m)
::Eiffel Tower (325 m)
::Kites
::Great Pyramid (140 m)
::Redwood (115 m)
::Pop Fly
::Oak (20 m)
::"Hey Squirrels!"
::Tallest Stilts
::Brachiosaur (13 m)
::Giraffe (8 m)
::[A man and a woman] Folks
:The Observable Universe, from Top to Bottom ~ On a log scale~
:Sizes are not to scale, but heights above the Earth's surface are accurate on a log scale (that is, each step up is double the height.)

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Charts]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Black Hat]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Cory Doctorow]]