explain xkcd - User contributions [en]

701: Science Valentine

2014-02-22T10:37:24Z

Lau-ra: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 701
| date = February 12, 2010
| title = Science Valentine
| image = science_valentine.png
| titletext = You don't use science to show that you're right, you use science to become right.
}}

==Explanation==
[[Cueball]] is taking a scientific approach to creating a valentine card. Based on the first chart, the recipient may be his fiancée or spouse. However, his rigorous approach makes him realize that the happiness he derives from the relationship is declining, which presents him with a choice. Will he be a true scientist by accepting data that he doesn't like, or will he be romantic and just make a cute card. He decides that he is a scientist, resulting in a sort of anti-valentine.
The title text seems to be him trying to console himself that he did the right thing.

==Transcript==
:I wanted to make you a science valentine
:with charts and graphs of my feelings for you.
:[A graph shows romance and happiness. Romance cuts off, indicating a breakup before the meeting of Cueball and his current significant other, and happiness dips accordingly.
:A line indicates where the couple first met; romance is jagged thereafter, initially upwards but later down.
:Happiness climbs slightly more steadily and then dips again.
:More lines indicate a period of dating and then one of engagement.]
:and the happiness you've brought me.

:But the more I analyzed
:[Cueball works at a computer.]
:r0 = 0.20
:r1 = -0.61
:r2 = -0.83
:the harder it became to defend my hypothesis.

:In science, you can't publish results you know are wrong
:and you can't withhold them because they're not the ones you wanted.

:So I was left with a question: do I make graphs because they're cute and funny,
:[Cueball sits, looking at a sheet of paper.]
:or am I a *scientist*?

:Enclosed are my results.
:I hope you can find somebody else
:[A jagged, declining graph is superimposed over a red heart.]
:to be your valentine.

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Comics with color]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Valentines]]
[[Category:Math]]
[[Category:Statistics]]
[[Category:Science]]

470: The End is Not for a While

2014-01-30T09:34:24Z

Lau-ra: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number =470
| date =September 1, 2008
| title =The End is Not for a While
| image =the_end_is_not_for_a_while.png
| titletext =I THINK EVERYONE INVOLVED HERE IS CUTE.
}}

==Explanation==
People show up at protests because they're angry about something and want to use peaceful means or otherwise to effect political change. It's very much a groupthink, "mob" mentality, bringing to mind the credo, "If you're not with us, you're against us."

Hardly anyone goes to a protest because they're happy about the way things are, and thus, someone holding up signs saying how happy he is would, to say the least, be very out of place at a protest.

The title text shows another sign [[Cueball]] is carrying.

The title of the comic refers to the oft-seen protest placard which probably reads "The end is now", signifying that person's belief that we live in the end times and it's time to start getting right with (insert religious figure of your choice here).

==Transcript==
:[Cueball with two picket signs. Ponytail with a picket sign stands partially out of the frame, staring at Cueball.]
:I get in trouble for showing up contented at protests.
:Sign 1: Things are pretty okay!
:Sign 2: Anyone up for scrabble later?

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

338: Future

2014-01-26T07:13:34Z

Lau-ra: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 338
| date = November 5, 2007
| title = Future
| image = future.png
| titletext = But the past was much too cramped!
}}

==Explanation==
To understand this comic you have to do some back-and-forth reading. [[Cueball]], in the last panel, is telling [[Megan]] in the first panel to come explore the future with him. Since the panels appear in chronological order, he is literally in the future. [[Megan]] replies that she can't, since she is not drawn in the last panel, a.k.a. the future. She is stuck, and it may be implied that she had passed away before the future came.

Cueball is sad about the past, shown in the title text, because Megan had a relationship with [[Hairy]] and not himself.

==Transcript==
:[The comic has three panels. In the first panel, Hairy and Megan are holding hands. There is a voice bubble originating from Cueball standing in the third panel.]
:Cueball: Come explore the future with me!
:[And Megan says something which goes to the third panel.]
:[The two voice bubbles cross in the middle of the second panel.]
:[The voice of Megan says…]
:Megan: I can't.
{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Physics]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Hairy]]
[[Category:Romance]]

166: Misusing Slang

2013-12-20T10:05:43Z

Lau-ra: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 166
| date = October 4, 2006
| title = Misusing Slang
| image = misusing_slang.png
| titletext = It slowly dawns on us that our parents knew exactly what they were doing.
}}

==Explanation==
[[Randall]] expresses excitement for the time in the future where he can intentionally misuse modern-day slang in order to make nearby teenagers feel uncomfortable. He illustrates the using the word "pwned", the past tense of "pwn" (from "own", as in to defeat completely): "The new player was pwned by the veteran."

Many teenagers believe their parents to be not "with the times", but Randall suggests that parents actually ''do'' know what the words mean, but are acting otherwise in order to mess with their heads. The title text reinforces this, as every generation has had some form of slang that they used, and it could be possible that this practice has been continued for a good while. It also suggests that the parents of teenagers may be "pwning" their children by intentionally misusing these modern-day slang.

==Transcript==
:The best part of getting older is gonna be intentionally misusing slang around teenagers just to watch them squirm.
:Cueball: Oh man, that song is so pwned!

:[The adolescent twitches.]

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

166: Misusing Slang

2013-12-20T10:00:53Z

Lau-ra: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 166
| date = October 4, 2006
| title = Misusing Slang
| image = misusing_slang.png
| titletext = It slowly dawns on us that our parents knew exactly what they were doing.
}}

==Explanation==
[[Randall]] expresses excitement for the time in the future where he can intentionally misuse modern-day slang in order to make nearby teenagers feel uncomfortable. He illustrates the using the word "pwned", the past tense of "pwn" (from "own", as in to defeat completely): "The new player was pwned by the veteran."

Many teenagers believe their parents to be not "with the times", but Randall suggests that parents actually ''do'' know what the words mean, but are acting otherwise in order to mess with their heads. The title text reinforces this, as every generation has had some form of slang that they used, and it could be possible that this practice has been continued for a good while.

The alternate text also suggests that the parents of teenagers may be "pwning" their children by intentionally misusing these modern-day slang.

==Transcript==
:The best part of getting older is gonna be intentionally misusing slang around teenagers just to watch them squirm.
:Cueball: Oh man, that song is so pwned!

:[The adolescent twitches.]

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