explain xkcd - User contributions [en]

1627: Woosh

2016-01-08T06:22:50Z

Lacedemonian: Referenced similar comic

{{comic
| number = 1627
| date = January 8, 2016
| title = Woosh
| image = woosh.png
| titletext = It also occasionally replies with 'Comment of the year', 'Are you for real', and 'I'm taking a screenshot so I can remember this moment forever'.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Very hasty draft}}
Replying to a comment with "woosh" generally indicates that there was a joke, and their comment failed to recognize it -- "woosh" is onomatopoeia for the joke metaphorically "flying over their head". A bot replying to comments with "woosh" at random would be very confusing, as people would search for the nonexistent joke they missed. This is similar to [[559: No Pun Intended]].

The title text expands on this idea, with other comments that would cause similar confusion.

==Transcript==
[Online comment thread]

Person 1: This video looks fake to me. 
Bot: Woosh 
Person 1: Huh? Everyone's acting like it's real! 
Person 1: If it's a joke lots of people aren't getting it. 
Person 1: What am I missing?!! 
Person 1: Answer me

[Below the frame] Nothing creates more confusion than my bot that replies to random Internet comments with "Woosh".

{{comic discussion}}

1598: Salvage

2015-11-02T14:51:18Z

Lacedemonian: Made some aspects more clear, expanded the parentheses into full sentences so that they don't interrupt the paragraph.

{{comic
| number = 1598
| date = November 2, 2015
| title = Salvage
| image = salvage.png
| titletext = My hobby: Taking advantage of the rice myth by posting articles on "how to save your wet phone" which are actually just elaborate recipes for rice pilaf.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Maybe the title text needs an extra explanation.}}
The "rice myth" mentioned in the title text is the belief that putting rice in a wet electronic device (often a cellphone) will salvage it. The rice is said to quickly and efficiently absorb water and restore function to the device. However, Randall seems to disagree with this theory in the title text, by calling it a myth.

The comic shows the {{w|RMS Titanic}} being salvaged with rice. The rice container is scaled up to fit the massive ship, presumably to get the water out of it. However, the amount of time the Titanic has spent underwater has rusted most of the material, which drying the ship out will not solve.

The comic plays on the scale of the word "salvage." It can mean something as simple as saving a broken or lost personal item, but the original meaning is to collect the remains of a vessel or structure that has been destroyed.

==Transcript==
:[Megan is shown standing at the rail of a ship with a microphone reporting the event shown in the background. A small helicopter and a larger two rotor model, lowering a rope with hook, are hovering over a crane ship with it's hook down line going down in the water. It is depicted like a new screen as seen on TV. Below Megan are two headings. The first in a white insert with double frame, and the other written in white over the gray ocean water.]
:Historic Salvage
:Live

:[Four crane ships are shown lifting the bow part of the RMS Titanic. There are pontoons beneath the ship to help it float up. The name of the ship can be seen.]
:RMS Titanic

:[Both parts of the Titanic are now flown by helicopters, four for the stern and five for the bow. One helicopter for each part is a two rotor model. Ropes go from the helicopters down on each side of the ship parts to pontoons below them. Below in the ocean there are two crane ships.]

:[The two parts of the ship is now lowered in to a huge bowl of rice (labeled) standing at the coast just out of the ocean, which can be seen to the left. One of the five helicopters for the bow is missing. For scale there are drawn two trees to the left, and something is parked to the right, maybe a truck.]
:Rice

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]
[[Category:My Hobby]]

Talk:1449: Red Rover

2014-11-19T05:26:02Z

Lacedemonian: my limitations

I don't know the exact rules or premise of "Red Rover", nor do I know the date of the Orogeny depicted here.

1449: Red Rover

2014-11-19T05:23:13Z

Lacedemonian: early bird here to outline the basics and get us on the right tracks!

{{comic
| number = 1449
| date = November 19, 2014
| title = Red Rover
| image = red_rover.png
| titletext = I just learned about the Slide Mountain Ocean, which I like because it's three nouns that sound like they can't possibly all refer to the same thing.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Early Bird Edit. Add links and details.}}

Shown in the comic is what the landmasses of Earth were hypothesized to have looked like due to continental drift, the process by which landmasses moving over the Earth's mantle collide and separate. It shows a landmass declaring "Red rover, red rover, bring India over!" As if the continents were playing the game Red Rover (link?). An isolated landmass then drifts towards the continent and collides with it, forming the penninsula where India is located. It is accepted that the Hymalayas, the highest elevated mountain range on earth, formed by the collision of India into what is now Asia. Though probably not because of a game of Red Rover.

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript}}

{{comic discussion}}

User:Lacedemonian

2014-08-22T04:46:52Z

Lacedemonian: Created page with "Placeholder text. Profile indev."

Placeholder text. Profile indev.

Talk:1411: Loop

2014-08-22T04:45:46Z

Lacedemonian: Created page with "First explanation. How did I do, veterans? ~~~~"

First explanation. How did I do, veterans? [[User:Lacedemonian|Lacedemonian]] ([[User talk:Lacedemonian|talk]]) 04:45, 22 August 2014 (UTC)