explain xkcd - User contributions [en]

242: The Difference

2012-12-21T15:54:40Z

Luke1042: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 242
| date =
| title = The Difference
| image = the_difference.png
| titletext = How could you choose avoiding a little pain over understanding a magic lightning machine?
}}

==Explanation==
In this comic [[Cueball]] is seen pulling a lever. The lever causes a bolt of lightning to come down and strike him. After being dazed for a moment, the comic then takes one of two routes, the first is that of a normal person and the second is that of an engineer. A normal person would decide they shouldn't pull the lever anymore because it causes him to get struck by a bolt of lightning. An scientist on the other hand would pull the lever again to see if it was just a coincidence or if the lever actually caused the bolt of lightning. A scientist requires that results be repeatable before he accepts the results. The title text refers to the scientist's method of pulling the lever again and understanding how the machine works as opposed to the normal person's method of avoiding pain and just leaving the lever be.

==Transcript==
:[A man pulls a lever.]
:<<Pull>>
:[Lightning hits the man.]
:<<ZAP>>
:[The man still stands, obviously battered]
:[Arrow labeled "Normal Person"]
:Thinks: I guess I shouldn't do that.
:[Arrow labeled "Scientist"]
:Thinks: I wonder if that happens every time.
:[He reaches for the lever again.]

{{comic discussion}}

242: The Difference

2012-12-21T15:54:17Z

Luke1042: Created page with "{{comic | number = 242 | date = | title = The Difference | image = the_difference.png | titletext = How could you choose avoiding a little pain over understan..."

{{comic
| number = 242
| date =
| title = The Difference
| image = the_difference.png
| titletext = How could you choose avoiding a little pain over understanding a magic lightning machine?
}}

==Explanation==
In this comic [[cueball]] is seen pulling a lever. The lever causes a bolt of lightning to come down and strike him. After being dazed for a moment, the comic then takes one of two routes, the first is that of a normal person and the second is that of an engineer. A normal person would decide they shouldn't pull the lever anymore because it causes him to get struck by a bolt of lightning. An scientist on the other hand would pull the lever again to see if it was just a coincidence or if the lever actually caused the bolt of lightning. A scientist requires that results be repeatable before he accepts the results. The title text refers to the scientist's method of pulling the lever again and understanding how the machine works as opposed to the normal person's method of avoiding pain and just leaving the lever be.

==Transcript==
:[A man pulls a lever.]
:<<Pull>>
:[Lightning hits the man.]
:<<ZAP>>
:[The man still stands, obviously battered]
:[Arrow labeled "Normal Person"]
:Thinks: I guess I shouldn't do that.
:[Arrow labeled "Scientist"]
:Thinks: I wonder if that happens every time.
:[He reaches for the lever again.]

{{comic discussion}}

Talk:1024: Error Code

2012-12-21T15:41:30Z

Luke1042:

The joke is probably that "sit by a lake" is the name of the tune corresponding with motherboard error -41

Motherboard error codes are not numbered like other error codes are. Motherboard error codes are just referred to by how the beeps sound (ex. 1 long, 2 short) [[User:Luke1042|Luke1042]]

125: Marketing Interview

2012-11-25T23:14:34Z

Luke1042: Created page with "{{comic | number = 125 | date = July 7, 2006 | title = Marketing Interview | image = marketing_interview.png | imagesize = | titletext = There are a lot of bo..."

{{comic
| number = 125
| date = July 7, 2006
| title = Marketing Interview
| image = marketing_interview.png
| imagesize =
| titletext = There are a lot of books on marketing out there. I wonder if you're safest just buying the most popular one.
}}

==Explanation==
In this comic [[Black Hat]] is trying to get a job running a marketing program and the person conducting the job interview says that although the interviewer has heard that Black Hat's the best in the business, his portfolio does not show that Black Hat has run any major marketing campaigns. Black Hat asks the interviewer where he heard that rumor and the interviewer begins to respond then realizes that Black Hat has used his marketing campaign tactics to get the interviewer to hear that Black Hat is the best in the business. The image text refers to the thought that maybe the best marketing book is the most popular because if the company that made the book had the best marketing tactics, perhaps that book will teach you the best marketing tactics.

==Transcript==
:[Two people, one sitting behind a executive desk, looking at some paper, and the other one by foot using a hat.]
:Guy behind the desk: I've heard you're one of the best in marketing business, but I've got your portfolio here and looks like you've never run a major campaign. Why should I hire you to head our new initiative?
:Guy with a hat: If you don't mind asking, what gave you the idea I was one of the best in the business?
:Guy behind the desk: Hm? I don't remember. Just word of mouth or someth-- ...oh, you're good.
:Guy with a hat: Thank you. When can I start?

{{comic discussion}}

768: 1996

2012-11-25T22:56:16Z

Luke1042: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 768
| date =
| title = 1996
| image = 1996.png
| imagesize =
| titletext = College Board issues aside, I have fond memories of TI-BASIC, writing in it a 3D graphing engine and a stock market analyzer. With enough patience, I could make anything ... but friends. (Although with my chatterbot experiments, I certainly tried.)
}}

==Explanation==
As is well understood by anybody who has even a passing familiarity with the Singularity, there has been a stunning amount of progress in pretty much any measurable dimension of technology in the past 14 years. In today's comic, we laugh at our prior naivete, pointing out that what would be a non-functionally awful computer now was considered state of the art in 1996. Likewise with a Palm Pilot, arguably a precursor to today's omnipresent smartphones. Texas Instrument calculators, however, appear to have been left behind, not having made any significant advances since the newly discovered issues of Computer Shopper were published. Thus, while we groan at how awful our state of the art technologies truly were in 1996, we are reminded that some technologies have remained in relative stasis over the years.

The image text reminds us that when they were new, TI calculators (I had a TI-86, m'self) were relatively powerful tools if you knew how to use them. TI-Basic was a fairly versatile programming language that could be used to make anything from games to reference files to computational programs. If it wasn't for the ability to program a TI calculator to make it look like you didn't have any programs on it, I would have lost my copies of Tetris and Nibbles a dozen times over as my paranoid Chem professor went around deleting programs willy-nilly before tests.

The second half of the image text is a reminder to those of us who felt like Gods for knowing how to program that power comes at a price- in this case, the power to program a calculator costs friends. Since no program yet devised can truly pass a Turing test, even the most sophisticated Chatterbot (programs designed to mimic conversation) can't quite qualify as a friend. Someday, though... someday...

==Transcript==
:>[A man is going through a cardboard box marked "MISC", and finds a catalog. A woman looks on.]
:Man: Check it out -- old Computer Shoppers! Wow -- in 1996, $3,000 would get you a 100 MHz Pentium system with a parallel port, two serial ports, a 2MB video card, and "MS-Windows"
:Woman: Nice!
:
:
:[The two are face-to-face, and they each have a separate copy of Computer Shopper.]
:Woman: And $299 would get you a Palm Pilot 100- -- 16MHz, 128Kb storage, and a memo pad, calendar, and state-of-the-art address book that can store over 100 names!
:Man: Oooh!

:[The man continues to read from his.]
:Man: And $110 would get you a bulky TI graphing calculator with around 10MHz CPU, 24Kb RAM, and a 96x64-pixel B/W display!
:Woman: Times sure have... ...have... uh.

:[They both put down their catalogs.]
:Man: Okay, what the hell, T.I.?
:Woman: Maybe they cost so much now because there's only one engineer left who remembers how to make displays that crappy.

{{comic discussion}}

768: 1996

2012-11-25T22:45:48Z

Luke1042: /* Transcript */

{{comic
| number = 768
| date =
| title = 1996
| image = 1996.png
| imagesize =
| titletext = College Board issues aside, I have fond memories of TI-BASIC, writing in it a 3D graphing engine and a stock market analyzer. With enough patience, I could make anything ... but friends. (Although with my chatterbot experiments, I certainly tried.)
}}

==Explanation==
In this strip there are two people going through a box of old things and find a computer catalog. The man is fascinated at how much things have changed in 15 years. He finds an old computer that has terrible specs compared to today's standards for $3,000. The woman, also interested, finds an old palm pilot with similarly outdated specs for $299. The man then finds a TI calculator in the catalog and reads the specs. The woman begins to say how much times have changed but then stops. They then rant at TI because the specs listed for their calculator in 1996 are almost identical to the specs for their current calculators. The woman speculates that the reason their calculators still cost so much is because there is only one engineer alive who knows how to make displays that bad. This is because now displays have moved on to color displays with many more pixels yet TI calculators still have black and white, very low resolution displays. The image text is referring to programs the author made when he had a TI calculator. He could program anything except friends, even though he tried to make a program that he could have conversations with.

==Transcript==
:>[A man is going through a cardboard box marked "MISC", and finds a catalog. A woman looks on.]
:Man: Check it out -- old Computer Shoppers! Wow -- in 1996, $3,000 would get you a 100 MHz Pentium system with a parallel port, two serial ports, a 2MB video card, and "MS-Windows"
:Woman: Nice!
:
:
:[The two are face-to-face, and they each have a separate copy of Computer Shopper.]
:Woman: And $299 would get you a Palm Pilot 100- -- 16MHz, 128Kb storage, and a memo pad, calendar, and state-of-the-art address book that can store over 100 names!
:Man: Oooh!

:[The man continues to read from his.]
:Man: And $110 would get you a bulky TI graphing calculator with around 10MHz CPU, 24Kb RAM, and a 96x64-pixel B/W display!
:Woman: Times sure have... ...have... uh.

:[They both put down their catalogs.]
:Man: Okay, what the hell, T.I.?
:Woman: Maybe they cost so much now because there's only one engineer left who remembers how to make displays that crappy.

{{comic discussion}}

768: 1996

2012-11-25T22:43:42Z

Luke1042: /* Transcript */

{{comic
| number = 768
| date =
| title = 1996
| image = 1996.png
| imagesize =
| titletext = College Board issues aside, I have fond memories of TI-BASIC, writing in it a 3D graphing engine and a stock market analyzer. With enough patience, I could make anything ... but friends. (Although with my chatterbot experiments, I certainly tried.)
}}

==Explanation==
In this strip there are two people going through a box of old things and find a computer catalog. The man is fascinated at how much things have changed in 15 years. He finds an old computer that has terrible specs compared to today's standards for $3,000. The woman, also interested, finds an old palm pilot with similarly outdated specs for $299. The man then finds a TI calculator in the catalog and reads the specs. The woman begins to say how much times have changed but then stops. They then rant at TI because the specs listed for their calculator in 1996 are almost identical to the specs for their current calculators. The woman speculates that the reason their calculators still cost so much is because there is only one engineer alive who knows how to make displays that bad. This is because now displays have moved on to color displays with many more pixels yet TI calculators still have black and white, very low resolution displays. The image text is referring to programs the author made when he had a TI calculator. He could program anything except friends, even though he tried to make a program that he could have conversations with.

==Transcript==
:>[A man is going through a cardboard box marked "MISC", and finds a catalog. A woman looks on.]
:Man: Check it out -- old
:Computer Shoppers
:! Wow -- in 1996, $3,000 would get you a 100 MHz Pentium system with a parallel port,
:two serial ports, a 2MB video card, and "MS-Windows"
:Woman:
:Nice!
:
:
:[The two are face-to-face, and they each have a separate copy of Computer Shopper.]
:Woman: And $299 would get you a Palm Pilot 100- -- 16MHz, 128Kb storage, and a memo pad, calendar, and state-of-the-art :address book that can store over 100 names!
:Man: Oooh!

:[The man continues to read from his.]
:Man: And $110 would get you a bulky TI graphing calculator with around 10MHz CPU, 24Kb RAM, and a 96x64-pixel B
:W display!
:Woman: Times sure have... ...have... uh.

:[They both put down their catalogs.]
:Man: Okay, what the hell, T.I.?
:Woman: Maybe they cost so much now because there's only one engineer left who remembers how to make displays
:that crappy.

{{comic discussion}}

768: 1996

2012-11-25T22:42:44Z

Luke1042: /* Transcript */

{{comic
| number = 768
| date =
| title = 1996
| image = 1996.png
| imagesize =
| titletext = College Board issues aside, I have fond memories of TI-BASIC, writing in it a 3D graphing engine and a stock market analyzer. With enough patience, I could make anything ... but friends. (Although with my chatterbot experiments, I certainly tried.)
}}

==Explanation==
In this strip there are two people going through a box of old things and find a computer catalog. The man is fascinated at how much things have changed in 15 years. He finds an old computer that has terrible specs compared to today's standards for $3,000. The woman, also interested, finds an old palm pilot with similarly outdated specs for $299. The man then finds a TI calculator in the catalog and reads the specs. The woman begins to say how much times have changed but then stops. They then rant at TI because the specs listed for their calculator in 1996 are almost identical to the specs for their current calculators. The woman speculates that the reason their calculators still cost so much is because there is only one engineer alive who knows how to make displays that bad. This is because now displays have moved on to color displays with many more pixels yet TI calculators still have black and white, very low resolution displays. The image text is referring to programs the author made when he had a TI calculator. He could program anything except friends, even though he tried to make a program that he could have conversations with.

==Transcript==
>[A man is going through a cardboard box marked "MISC", and finds a catalog. A woman looks on.]
Man: Check it out -- old
Computer Shoppers
! Wow -- in 1996, $3,000 would get you a 100 MHz Pentium system with a parallel port,
two serial ports, a 2MB video card, and "MS-Windows"
Woman:
Nice!

[The two are face-to-face, and they each have a separate copy of Computer Shopper.]
Woman: And $299 would get you a Palm Pilot 100- -- 16MHz, 128Kb storage, and a memo pad, calendar, and state-of-the-art address book that can store over 100 names!
Man: Oooh!

[The man continues to read from his.]
Man: And $110 would get you a bulky TI graphing calculator with around 10MHz CPU, 24Kb RAM, and a 96x64-pixel B
W display!
Woman: Times sure have... ...have... uh.

[They both put down their catalogs.]
Man: Okay, what the hell, T.I.?
Woman: Maybe they cost so much now because there's only one engineer left who remembers how to make displays
that crappy.

{{comic discussion}}

768: 1996

2012-11-25T22:42:08Z

Luke1042: Created page with "{{comic | number = 768 | date = | title = 1996 | image = 1996.png | imagesize = | titletext = College Board issues aside, I have fond memories of TI-BASIC, w..."

{{comic
| number = 768
| date =
| title = 1996
| image = 1996.png
| imagesize =
| titletext = College Board issues aside, I have fond memories of TI-BASIC, writing in it a 3D graphing engine and a stock market analyzer. With enough patience, I could make anything ... but friends. (Although with my chatterbot experiments, I certainly tried.)
}}

==Explanation==
In this strip there are two people going through a box of old things and find a computer catalog. The man is fascinated at how much things have changed in 15 years. He finds an old computer that has terrible specs compared to today's standards for $3,000. The woman, also interested, finds an old palm pilot with similarly outdated specs for $299. The man then finds a TI calculator in the catalog and reads the specs. The woman begins to say how much times have changed but then stops. They then rant at TI because the specs listed for their calculator in 1996 are almost identical to the specs for their current calculators. The woman speculates that the reason their calculators still cost so much is because there is only one engineer alive who knows how to make displays that bad. This is because now displays have moved on to color displays with many more pixels yet TI calculators still have black and white, very low resolution displays. The image text is referring to programs the author made when he had a TI calculator. He could program anything except friends, even though he tried to make a program that he could have conversations with.

==Transcript==
>[A man is going through a cardboard box marked "MISC", and finds a catalog. A woman looks on.]
Man: Check it out -- old
Computer Shoppers
! Wow -- in 1996, $3,000 would get you a 100 MHz Pentium system with a parallel port,
two
serial ports, a 2MB video card, and "MS-Windows"
Woman:
Nice!

[The two are face-to-face, and they each have a separate copy of Computer Shopper.]
Woman: And $299 would get you a Palm Pilot 100- -- 16MHz, 128Kb storage, and a memo pad, calendar, and state-of-the-art address book that can store over 100 names!
Man: Oooh!

[The man continues to read from his.]
Man: And $110 would get you a bulky TI graphing calculator with around 10MHz CPU, 24Kb RAM, and a 96x64-pixel B
W display!
Woman: Times sure have... ...have... uh.

[They both put down their catalogs.]
Man: Okay, what the hell, T.I.?
Woman: Maybe they cost so much now because there's only one engineer left who remembers how to make displays
that
crappy.

{{comic discussion}}

770: All the Girls

2012-11-25T22:29:49Z

Luke1042: Created page with "{{comic | number = 770 | date = | title = All the Girls | image = all_the_girls.png | imagesize = | titletext = You know that I'll never leave you. Not as lo..."

{{comic
| number = 770
| date =
| title = All the Girls
| image = all_the_girls.png
| imagesize =
| titletext = You know that I'll never leave you. Not as long as she's with someone.
}}

==Explanation==
This comic pictures a guy hugging a girl and saying that he loves her most of any girl. Then he adds that he actually only loves her more than any other girl that loves him back. This is because everyone has those crushes on people that are out of reach. They love that person a ton, but they don't love them back. In many cases these crushes are celebrities that probably don't even know who you are. He then takes it a little further in the title text and says that he'll never leave her unless the other girl breaks up with whoever she is currently with.

==Transcript==
>[Guy and girl are standing together.]

Guy: I'm so lucky to have you.

Guy: I love you most out of all the girls in all the world

[They embrace.]
Guy: who love me back.

{{comic discussion}}

803: Airfoil

2012-11-24T17:59:20Z

Luke1042: Created page with "{{comic | number = 803 | date = | title = Airfoil | image = airfoil.png | imagesize = | titletext = This is a fun explanation to prepare your kids for; it&#3..."

{{comic
| number = 803
| date =
| title = Airfoil
| image = airfoil.png
| imagesize =
| titletext = This is a fun explanation to prepare your kids for; it's common and totally wrong. Good lines include 'why does the air have to travel on both sides at the same time?' and 'I saw the Wright brothers plane and those wings were curved the same on the top and bottom!'
}}

==Explanation==
This comic is about the common teaching that an airfoil works because the air on top of the wing must travel faster to keep up with the air flowing across the bottom of the wing. They then will say that because the air on top of the wing is traveling faster it creates an area of lower pressure above the wing and it therefore goes up because the higher pressure below the wing pushes it up more than the low pressure above the wing is pushing it down. This is how many people think an airfoil works but it is not right. The next panel is a student asking why planes can fly upside down if that is true and the teacher thinks about it. Then there are three different routes to take, the right one, the wrong one and the very wrong one. In the right one, the teacher realizes that perhaps the model is wrong and that the reason for why and airfoil works that she is teaching is wrong. In the wrong panel, the teacher basically just avoids the question and says that it's complicated. In the very wrong panel, not only does the teacher avoid answering the question she goes completely off topic and tells the kids that Santa Claus isn't real and that Santa Claus is really their parents. The title text includes ways to debunk the reason for airfoils working that is taught. It points out that it is absurd to believe the air has to get across the airfoil's two sides in the same amount of time and also points out that the Wright brothers plane's wings were curved the same amount on both sides of the airfoil and therefore it wouldn't even have a difference in the distance the air needs to travel to get across the wing.

==Transcript==
:>Handling a student who challenges your expertise with an insightful question:
:[There's a picture of the cross section of an airfoil, with an arrow above and below, pointing from right to left. Layered on top of :these arrows, pointing up and down at the cross section, are a larger arrow below and a smaller arrow above.]
:(This panel just contains text, and has a speech curlique hanging towards the person in the next panel.)
:Teacher: So, kids, the air above the wing travels a longer distance, so it has to go faster to keep up. Faster air exerts less pressure, so :the wing is lifted upward.
:
:Student: But then why can planes fly upside down?
:
:(The teacher is standing, pondering the question. Three arrows point out of this panel, leading to each of the next three panels which are :arranged vertically.)
:
:(This is a label at the top of the panel, not a character speaking.)
:Right:
:(This is the character speaking.)
:Teacher: Wow, good question! Maybe this picture is simplified -- or wrong! We should learn more.
:
:Wrong:
:Teacher: It's... complicated.
:Teacher: And we need to move on.
:
:Very wrong:
:Teacher: Santa Claus is your parents.

{{comic discussion}}

188: Reload

2012-11-24T06:30:57Z

Luke1042: Created page with "{{comic | number = 188 | date = | title = Reload | image = reload.png | imagesize = | titletext = And watch out for that guy from comic #53 }} ==Explanation..."

{{comic
| number = 188
| date =
| title = Reload
| image = reload.png
| imagesize =
| titletext = And watch out for that guy from comic #53
}}

==Explanation==
This comic is referring to the common method for reloading in arcade game type shooters where all you have to do to reload is shoot off the screen. The image text is tells you to watch out for the guy from comic #53 which is the people that randomly pop up at the police when they are performing a drug raid. This is referring to the random civilians that pop out and get shot that you lose points for.

==Transcript==
:[Four soldiers are preparing to enter a battlefield; their leader addresses them.]
:Leader: Okay men, we're going in. Stay low, keep behind cover, and if you run out of ammunition, shoot outside the battlefield to reload.

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