explain xkcd - User contributions [en]

Talk:2350: Deer Turrets

2020-08-27T20:13:44Z

JSekula71:

There's no "next" button on [[2349]]? --[[Special:Contributions/108.162.219.250|108.162.219.250]] 18:44, 24 August 2020 (UTC)
:The reason there's no Next button is that it's the newest comic. --[[Special:Contributions/162.158.158.43|162.158.158.43]] 21:04, 24 August 2020 (UTC)

Is this about something? I mean, it could be a commentary on the way politics handled Covid, some politicians taking terrible decisions, then saying it was a mistake and that science is still learning, but then still taking terrible decisions afterwards. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.69.83|141.101.69.83]] 21:02, 24 August 2020 (UTC)

:That's definitely my take on this comic. The similarity with certain political meetings in the covid situation is quite abvious, in my opinion. [[Special:Contributions/90.127.120.72|90.127.120.72]] 16:02, 25 August 2020 (UTC)

:I saw it as a send up of the agile development practices of Silicon Valley and many other businesses today. The principle is that if an idea is going to fail, you want it to fail fast, so you can learn and pivot quickly to a better idea. This can ideally result in a culture that values constructive failure. If taken too far, it can lead to sloppy practices, waste, and outright harm to customers and to the public. [[User:JSekula71|JSekula71]] ([[User talk:JSekula71|talk]]) 20:12, 27 August 2020 (UTC)

The thing about icebergs, is that 9/10ths of them would be ''on fire'', if they weren't kept underwater. Truth! [[Special:Contributions/162.158.155.192|162.158.155.192]] 22:17, 24 August 2020 (UTC)

(to the tune of “Do-Re-Mi”) ''Does are near, now flee in fear; The ray will boil everyone; The antlered gun is taking aim; Now it’s vaporised my lung...'' [[User:Lightcaller|Lightcaller]] ([[User talk:Lightcaller|talk]]) 22:43, 24 August 2020 (UTC)

Deer don't gallop. Are you sure that's about the deer? [[Special:Contributions/172.69.33.187|172.69.33.187]] 22:54, 24 August 2020 (UTC) Dear IP_address, deer most certainly do gallop. Since I'm a nice guy (rarely), I LMGTFYed that to confirm. [[User:Cellocgw|Cellocgw]] ([[User talk:Cellocgw|talk]]) 12:35, 25 August 2020 (UTC)
:No deer run. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.34.210|172.69.34.210]] 02:25, 26 August 2020 (UTC)

I don't think you can build an iceberk-proof airship. Or at least, you won't get it into air because it would be too heavy. -- [[User:Hkmaly|Hkmaly]] ([[User talk:Hkmaly|talk]]) 00:21, 25 August 2020 (UTC)

You make a ship iceberg proof by making it fly. You can't be sunk if you fly over. [[User:Hax|Hax]] ([[User talk:Hax|talk]]) 07:16, 25 August 2020 (UTC)

I think the "Is it really??" means "Is it really okay?", not "Is it really a mistake?". [[Special:Contributions/162.158.183.137|162.158.183.137]] 11:03, 25 August 2020 (UTC)

Gotta keep on trying 'til you run out of cake. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.210.188|108.162.210.188]] 13:18, 25 August 2020 (UTC)

== When Mao went to clear the sparrow but for the locust, it was 42% as deadly as fauna-mounted autocannons ==

Just saying. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.34.150|172.69.34.150]] 07:17, 25 August 2020 (UTC)

Didn't the designer of the Titanic go down with ship? SanFranSam [[Special:Contributions/172.69.35.53|172.69.35.53]] 04:25, 26 August 2020 (UTC)

== Laughed ==

The part that made me laugh the hardest was the Citation Needed on the claim that there are no flying icebergs! Well played.
[[User:BlakeFelix|BlakeFelix]] ([[User talk:BlakeFelix|talk]]) 11:03, 26 August 2020 (UTC)

Talk:2350: Deer Turrets

2020-08-27T20:12:14Z

JSekula71: Comment on agile practices.

There's no "next" button on [[2349]]? --[[Special:Contributions/108.162.219.250|108.162.219.250]] 18:44, 24 August 2020 (UTC)
:The reason there's no Next button is that it's the newest comic. --[[Special:Contributions/162.158.158.43|162.158.158.43]] 21:04, 24 August 2020 (UTC)

Is this about something? I mean, it could be a commentary on the way politics handled Covid, some politicians taking terrible decisions, then saying it was a mistake and that science is still learning, but then still taking terrible decisions afterwards. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.69.83|141.101.69.83]] 21:02, 24 August 2020 (UTC)
:That's definitely my take on this comic. The similarity with certain political meetings in the covid situation is quite abvious, in my opinion. [[Special:Contributions/90.127.120.72|90.127.120.72]] 16:02, 25 August 2020 (UTC)
:I saw it as a send up of the agile development practices of Silicon Valley and many other businesses today. The principle is that if an idea is going to fail, you want it to fail fast, so you can learn and pivot quickly to a better idea. This can ideally result in a culture that values constructive failure. If taken too far, it can lead to sloppy practices, waste, and outright harm to customers and to the public. [[User:JSekula71|JSekula71]] ([[User talk:JSekula71|talk]]) 20:12, 27 August 2020 (UTC)

The thing about icebergs, is that 9/10ths of them would be ''on fire'', if they weren't kept underwater. Truth! [[Special:Contributions/162.158.155.192|162.158.155.192]] 22:17, 24 August 2020 (UTC)

(to the tune of “Do-Re-Mi”) ''Does are near, now flee in fear; The ray will boil everyone; The antlered gun is taking aim; Now it’s vaporised my lung...'' [[User:Lightcaller|Lightcaller]] ([[User talk:Lightcaller|talk]]) 22:43, 24 August 2020 (UTC)

Deer don't gallop. Are you sure that's about the deer? [[Special:Contributions/172.69.33.187|172.69.33.187]] 22:54, 24 August 2020 (UTC) Dear IP_address, deer most certainly do gallop. Since I'm a nice guy (rarely), I LMGTFYed that to confirm. [[User:Cellocgw|Cellocgw]] ([[User talk:Cellocgw|talk]]) 12:35, 25 August 2020 (UTC)
:No deer run. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.34.210|172.69.34.210]] 02:25, 26 August 2020 (UTC)

I don't think you can build an iceberk-proof airship. Or at least, you won't get it into air because it would be too heavy. -- [[User:Hkmaly|Hkmaly]] ([[User talk:Hkmaly|talk]]) 00:21, 25 August 2020 (UTC)

You make a ship iceberg proof by making it fly. You can't be sunk if you fly over. [[User:Hax|Hax]] ([[User talk:Hax|talk]]) 07:16, 25 August 2020 (UTC)

I think the "Is it really??" means "Is it really okay?", not "Is it really a mistake?". [[Special:Contributions/162.158.183.137|162.158.183.137]] 11:03, 25 August 2020 (UTC)

Gotta keep on trying 'til you run out of cake. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.210.188|108.162.210.188]] 13:18, 25 August 2020 (UTC)

== When Mao went to clear the sparrow but for the locust, it was 42% as deadly as fauna-mounted autocannons ==

Just saying. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.34.150|172.69.34.150]] 07:17, 25 August 2020 (UTC)

Didn't the designer of the Titanic go down with ship? SanFranSam [[Special:Contributions/172.69.35.53|172.69.35.53]] 04:25, 26 August 2020 (UTC)

== Laughed ==

The part that made me laugh the hardest was the Citation Needed on the claim that there are no flying icebergs! Well played.
[[User:BlakeFelix|BlakeFelix]] ([[User talk:BlakeFelix|talk]]) 11:03, 26 August 2020 (UTC)

Talk:1417: Seven

2014-09-06T08:46:19Z

JSekula71:

Guacamole = 7-layer dip ingredient
[[Special:Contributions/108.162.215.81|108.162.215.81]] 05:08, 5 September 2014 (UTC)Anonymous XKCD reader

Seventh Seal more likely to be a reference to Book of Revelation (I think he's brought it up before?) or the film? [[Special:Contributions/199.27.133.96|199.27.133.96]] 05:17, 5 September 2014 (UTC)

Arctic Ocean is one of the modern Seven "Seas" of the world.
Green is the 4th color of seven in the Arthur Hamilton song "I Can Sing a Rainbow". {{unsigned ip|108.162.249.212}}

I guess the title text is a play on the fact that the dwarves in the new Snow White (2001) movie are called Monday, Tuesday, ... That is the connection between Snow White dwarves and days of the week. The filmmakers decided to intermix sets of seven in the first place. Sebastian --[[Special:Contributions/108.162.254.90|108.162.254.90]] 06:27, 5 September 2014 (UTC)

There could be a pattern with order.

*Sneezy: 1st dwarf of the seven dwarves in Snow White.
*Phylum: 2nd rank in the Seven Taxonomic Ranks
*Europe: 3rd continent of the world
*Sloth: 4th sin of the Seven Deadly Sin
*Guacamole: 5th Layer in a 7 Layer Bean Dip
*Data Link: 6th Layer in the OSI Model
*Collosus of Rhodes: 7th Wonder of the Ancient World

*Monday: 1st Day of the Week (American).
*Arctic: 2nd ocean in the modern Seven "Seas" of the world.
*Wellesley: 3rd college of the Seven Sister colleges
*Green: 4th color in the Arthur Hamilton song "I Can Sing a Rainbow".
*Electra: 5th sister of the Pleiades, the Seven Sisters.
*Synergize: 6th Habit in the Stephen R. Covey self-help book "Seven Habits of Highly Effective People".
*Seventh Seal: 7th Seal of the Seven Seals in the Book of Revelations

{{unsigned ip|108.162.249.212}}

:The list on the page needs to be fixed to show Europe third. --[[Special:Contributions/141.101.99.213|141.101.99.213]] 11:15, 5 September 2014 (UTC)

The Pleiades is Randall's favorite constellation. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.237.161|108.162.237.161]] 08:40, 5 September 2014 (UTC)

It sure is nice seeing the explanation getting more refined and complete every time I visit... [[Special:Contributions/103.22.201.168|103.22.201.168]] 10:37, 5 September 2014 (UTC)

I've always been told there are only six continents. North America and South America are one continent. The seventh continent sometimes refers to this gigantic area filled with plastic rubbish in the Pacific Ocean. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.229.143|108.162.229.143]] 11:47, 5 September 2014 (UTC)
: See here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3uBcq1x7P34 But no one talks about the Great Pacific garbage patch as a continent. 7 continents is the most common model, with some (mainly Latin Americans) considering the Americas a single continent. Some others consider Eurasia a single continent (personally that's what I prefer, it makes the most sense). --[[User:Zagorath|Zagorath]] ([[User talk:Zagorath|talk]]) 12:12, 5 September 2014 (UTC)
: I've only ever heard folks say there are seven continents. By strict definition of the word, North and South America do form a single continent (at least did prior to the Panama Canal cutting them apart) the vast majority of people see then as two separate continents. Dividing the Eurasian landmass in two, however, that one never made much sense. [[Special:Contributions/199.27.128.117|199.27.128.117]] 16:53, 5 September 2014 (UTC)

: I think the garbage patch confusion stems from the mislabeled picture of a bunch of floating garbage. In fact it's very spread out and in no way possible to confuse with a landmass. See [http://io9.com/5911969/lies-youve-been-told-about-the-pacific-garbage-patch http://io9.com/5911969/lies-youve-been-told-about-the-pacific-garbage-patch] --[[User:JSekula71|JSekula71]] ([[User talk:JSekula71|talk]]) 08:46, 6 September 2014 (UTC)

Guacamole may also be a reference to a famous joke which made the rounds about 15 years ago, where somebody had compared the 7 layers of the OSI network model to Taco Bell's 7-layer burrito. Guacamole was the 5th layer, which lends credence to this idea. It's still available on the WayBack Machine: http://web.archive.org/web/19990826193318/http://www.europa.com/~dogman/osi/ [[Special:Contributions/108.162.219.151|108.162.219.151]] 11:59, 5 September 2014 (UTC)

I suspect Electra is from the list of extant complete plays of Sophocles: Ajax, Antigone, The Women of Trachis, Oedipus the King, Electra, Philoctetes and Oedipus at Colonus. [[User:Besimmons|Besimmons]] ([[User talk:Besimmons|talk]]) 13:42, 5 September 2014 (UTC)

I find it interesting that although Randall is American he lists Monday as the first day of the week. That's where it's positioned in most cultures outside the USA, but Americans normally consider Sunday to be the first day. --[[User:RenniePet|RenniePet]] ([[User talk:RenniePet|talk]]) 13:51, 5 September 2014 (UTC)
: I can't speak for anyone outside the US, but as someone who has spent 99.9% of my life within US borders (few weeks in Canada, if you think that should essentially count...), I only acknowledge that the first day listed on any monthly calendar I see around here is most often Sunday. If you were to ask me what the first day of the week is, I would very quickly and easily say "Monday". That is what I'm teaching my 4- and 2-year olds... There are a few reasons I would give to explain that other than "I think of it as the first day of the week". It's the first work day of the "work week", and since life is for most people centered around one form of work or another, that gives the "work week" high importance. By extension, Sunday is the last day in the "weekend". By Judeo-Christian beliefs, God rested on the "seventh" Day - most Christians believe that to be Sunday; others (I believe mostly Jewish) believe it to be Saturday - I think, though that even those who consider Saturday to be a holy day, if you were to ask them in casual conversation what the first day of the week is (I may be wrong, but), I think they would say "Monday"... (?) Any other "Americans" or "Non-Americans" (I'd ask for you to clearly identify with one or the other) want to weight in on this? - [[User:Brettpeirce|Brettpeirce]] ([[User talk:Brettpeirce|talk]]) 15:51, 5 September 2014 (UTC)
::I can't really comment on anything talked about by Brettpeirce, but I can say a few words about the "first day of the week" problem as seen by a computer programmer. It causes huge problems when your program displays a calendar because you have to take into account that Americans want it one way and most other people want it a different way. And supposedly simple things like scheduling an appointment "first work day next week" has a completely different result if it is done on a Sunday in the USA or on a Sunday in Europe. And then there's the problem of week numbers (used a lot in Europe but not so much in the USA). Week numbers depend on which week is designated as the first week of the year, which in most countries is defined as the first week with at least 4 days in the year. Now if January 3rd is Sunday, then in the USA it is the start of week 1, while in Europe it is the last day of the last week of the previous year (week 52 or 53). It's enough to drive you to drink (which is OK on Sunday some places but not others). --[[User:RenniePet|RenniePet]] ([[User talk:RenniePet|talk]]) 20:36, 5 September 2014 (UTC)
:::Oh, and then there are the incompatibilities in programming languages. American-developed computer languages like C and Basic and C++ and C# number the week days 0 - 6 meaning Sunday - Saturday. Meanwhile Java numbers week days 1 - 7 meaning Sunday - Saturday, except that the newest version, Java 8, has improved date/time facilities, and if you use them then week days are numbered 1 - 7 meaning Monday - Sunday. --[[User:RenniePet|RenniePet]] ([[User talk:RenniePet|talk]]) 20:52, 5 September 2014 (UTC)

I find instead interesting that he makes no mention of the seven notes, while mentioning other sets less ubiquitous --[[Special:Contributions/108.162.229.163|108.162.229.163]] 14:13, 5 September 2014 (UTC)

OMFG, the second picture of a dwarf in the list is Dopey, why the hell did somebody say it's Fievel!? http://www.bing.com/images/search?q=seven+dwarfs+dopey&qpvt=Seven+Dwarves+Dopey&FORM=IGRE
[[Special:Contributions/108.162.216.40|108.162.216.40]] 19:44, 5 September 2014 (UTC)
:The Dwarfs here are drawn somewhat off-model, with bigger noses than in Disney artwork. Perhaps someone is confusing the second figure's nose, which is drawn much larger than Dopey's, with Fievel's other ear. It's similar to the [http://www.funnyjunk.com/funny_pictures/1543622/Gardevoir/ Gardevoir nose illusion]. --[[User:Tepples|Tepples]] ([[User talk:Tepples|talk]]) 20:16, 5 September 2014 (UTC)
::To be fair, the dwarves are more on-model than the people. -[[Special:Contributions/173.245.56.186|173.245.56.186]] 03:09, 6 September 2014 (UTC)

Arctic is the second ocean alphabetically. Someone should change the list to reflect that, I think. [[User:Zweisteine|Zweisteine]] ([[User talk:Zweisteine|talk]]) 19:53, 5 September 2014 (UTC)

Talk:853: Consecutive Vowels

2013-07-18T05:33:42Z

JSekula71:

Present tense, or {{w|gerund}}? -- [[User:IronyChef|IronyChef]] ([[User talk:IronyChef|talk]]) 14:52, 16 November 2012 (UTC)

I always thought the voyeur reference was to the statistical voyeurism is http://xkcd.com/563/

I don't think '''y''' is a vowel in that word. [[Special:Contributions/184.66.160.91|184.66.160.91]] 05:17, 8 July 2013 (UTC)

:Y is ''always'' a vowel.[[Special:Contributions/76.29.225.28|76.29.225.28]] 15:21, 17 July 2013 (UTC)
::No --[[User:JSekula71|JSekula71]] ([[User talk:JSekula71|talk]]) 05:33, 18 July 2013 (UTC)

Talk:705: Devotion to Duty

2013-06-09T23:36:54Z

JSekula71:

This is very clearly a Die Hard parody. {{unsigned|‎70.12.4.193}}
Indubitably --[[User:JSekula71|JSekula71]] ([[User talk:JSekula71|talk]]) 23:36, 9 June 2013 (UTC)

Talk:398: Tap That Ass

2013-04-27T20:29:28Z

JSekula71:

no, "tap" in the first frame means "pick," as in, "today the mayor tapped Mike Smith to be interim head of the planning department." No idea where you got the borrowing money bit from. [[User:MR|MR]] ([[User talk:MR|talk]]) 22:27, 5 March 2013 (UTC)MR
Agreed. Someone who is better at life than us should correct it.--[[User:JSekula71|JSekula71]] ([[User talk:JSekula71|talk]]) 20:29, 27 April 2013 (UTC)

373: The Data So Far

2013-04-22T00:31:30Z

JSekula71: /* Transcript */

{{comic
| number = 373
| date = January 21, 2008
| title = The Data So Far
| image = the_data_so_far.png
| titletext = But THIS guy, he might be for real!
}}

==Explanation==
This comic states that, although every claim of superpowers cannot be tested, the ones that are tested have always been disproven.

==Transcript==
:[Bar graph titled "Claims of Supernatural Powers" and has two sets of data. The first data set is labeled "Confirmed By Experiment", and is empty. The second data set is "Refuted By Experiment" and goes to the top of the graph.]

{{comic discussion}}

Talk:363: Reset

2013-04-21T15:03:14Z

JSekula71:

I thought this was mostly referencing the impracticality of a sign like this. It is only correct for one day for each reset, meaning you would have to reset it daily back to zero, but then you could just leave it zero without resetting it. However, then since you didn't actually reset it, it would actually be wrong. My brain hurts. Edit: I guess the assumption is that it is an electronic sign where the numbers change themselves, and that "reset" means only back to zero, but to me it looks like a manual sign which must be "reset" to change the numbers even upward.--[[User:JSekula71|JSekula71]] ([[User talk:JSekula71|talk]]) 14:56, 21 April 2013 (UTC)

Talk:363: Reset

2013-04-21T14:56:07Z

JSekula71: Created page with "I thought this was mostly referencing the impracticality of a sign like this. It is only correct for one day for each reset, meaning you would have to reset it daily back to z..."