explain xkcd - User contributions [en]

User:PeFu

2016-02-11T17:43:47Z

PeFu:

I'm a long time fan of XKCD living in northern germany.

Some of my favorites here:

*[[10: Pi Equals]]
*[[12: Poisson]]
*[[14: Copyright]]
*[[534: Genetic Algorithms]]
*[[538: Security]]
*[[541: TED Talk]]
*[[936: Password Strength]]
*[[1024: Error Code]]
*[[1488: Flowcharts]] (This one I've printed out and pinned to my office wall)

but there are so many more...

User:PeFu

2016-02-11T17:37:06Z

PeFu: Created page with "I'm a long time fan of XKCD living in northern germany. Some of my favorites here: *10: Pi Equals *12: Poisson *14: Copyright *534: Genetic Algorithms *[[538..."

1641: Hot Dogs

2016-02-11T16:52:34Z

PeFu:

{{comic
| number = 1641
| date = February 10, 2016
| title = Hot Dogs
| image = hot_dogs.png
| titletext = Okay, I'm just gonna order pizza, and let's never talk about this again.
}}

==Explanation==
A common staple of trite comedy is "why do hot dogs come in packages of ten but hot dog ''buns'' in bags of eight?" The phenomenon is mildly frustrating as it often leaves leftover food. (This can be avoided. The remaining hot dogs can be eaten by persons on low-carb diets, or can result in the subsequent purchase of more buns, followed by more hot dogs, followed by more buns, over and over again until forty total hot dogs have been eaten in a cycle similar to that shown in [[140: Delicious]].)

Here, [[Cueball]] attempts to raise the question as he is standing with a package of {{w|hot dogs}} in one hand and a bag of {{w|Hot dog bun|buns}} in the other hand (presumably for their dinner), but a person offscreen interrupts him mid sentence and mentions {{w|condoms}} instead of buns. Cueball mulls the subject over in his mind, and when he realizes his friend is putting hot dogs in condoms, he is promptly grossed out—maybe from considering why they would do this.

Another possibility: May be the person offscreen is a girl with some expectations about how many condoms could be used in one night which [[Cueball]] feels uneasy to fullfill.

The title text makes it clear that Cueball's new found association of [http://www.snopes.com/college/risque/hotdog.asp hot dogs with sexual activity], has put him totally off the idea of eating any of them this evening, and he suggests ordering {{w|pizza}}, which he then can hope will not be used for [http://www.cosmopolitan.com/sex-love/advice/a5943/pizza-sex-tip/ similar comparisons]… Cueball also asks that he and his friend never discuss this conversation again, due to the situation's awkwardness and uncomfortable subject matter.

The actual reason for the mismatch between hot dogs and buns, according to both [http://www.todayifoundout.com/index.php/2014/11/dont-hot-dogs-hot-dog-buns-come-packs-number-start/ Karl Smallwood] and [http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/560/why-do-hot-dogs-come-10-to-a-pack-while-buns-are-8-to-a-pack Cecil Adams], is that meat packers like things that come in pounds and bakers hate things that come in tens.

==Transcript==

:[Cueball is standing in the frame holding a bag and a package of hot dogs.]
:Cueball: Hey, why do hot dogs come in packages of ten-
:Offscreen: -But condoms come in strips of six? I know, right?!
:Cueball: ...Eww.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Sex]]
[[Category:Food]]

1521: Sword in the Stone

2015-05-06T09:45:29Z

PeFu: Add reference to birth of british princess

{{comic
| number = 1521
| date = May 6, 2015
| title = Sword in the Stone
| image = sword in the stone.png
| titletext = That seems like an awful lot of hassle when all I wanted was a cool sword.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|New page}}

This comic references the fables of {{w|King Arthur}} and the {{w|Knights of the Round Table}}. In Arthurian legend, whoever can remove the Sword in the Stone is the lawful king of {{w|England}}. Arthur is an orphan being raised in secret; he notices the sword, removes it, and is proclaimed king. The sword is sometimes identified as Excalibur, although in other versions Excalibur was acquired by King Arthur from the {{w|Lady of the Lake}}. The most familiar version of this story is {{w|The Sword in the Stone}} by {{w|T. H. White}} which is based on {{w|Le Morte d'Arthur}} by {{w|Sir Thomas Malory}}. Traditional Arthurian Legend states the sword can only be retreived by "{{w|List of English monarchs|the true king}}", so a woman retreiving it is unexpected. But Randall likes to debunk sexist stereotypes.

[[Megan]] pulls out {{w|Excalibur#Excalibur_and_the_Sword_in_the_Stone|The Sword in the Stone}}. A flash of light comes down and music plays, and a heavenly voice tells her she is heir to the throne of England. Megan then pulls out her phone, which is very much unlike the Medieval King Arthur and searches on Wikipedia for England and begins to replace the sword into the rock. The title text furthers this plot, having Megan comment on the hassle when the only thing she was interested in was the sword. Apparently Megan is not enthusiastic about power, and her choice is made when she sees how awful England is as a country to reign over.

It should be noted that in Arthurian Legend, it is stated that Arthur would return when England most needed him. It is possible that Megan is the reincarnation of Arthur.

The timing of this comic might be a pun on the excitement of the yellow press about the birth of princess {{w|Princess_Charlotte_of_Cambridge|Charlotte Elizabeth Diana}} this week and the burden of a royal of having a whole life in public shaking hands of strangers.
==Transcript==

:[Megan walks up to The Sword in the Stone]
:[Megan tries to pull out The Sword in the Stone]
:[A flash of light and music plays as she removes The Sword in the Stone]
:Heavenly voice: The Throne of England is yours
:Megan: Wikipedia. England.
:[Megan starts to place The Sword of the Stone back into the stone]

{{comic discussion}}


[[Category:Wikipedia]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]

1492: Dress Color

2015-02-27T15:55:53Z

PeFu: Added link to wikipedia explaination of this kind of optical illusion.

{{comic
| number = 1492
| date = February 27, 2015
| title = Dress Color
| image = dress_color.png
| titletext = This white-balance illusion hit so hard because it felt like someone had been playing through the Monty Hall scenario and opened their chosen door, only to find there was unexpectedly disagreement over whether the thing they'd revealed was a goat or a car.
}}

==Explanation==
This comic shows two images of [[Megan]] with different background color. The two images are split with a strip of colors.

The comic strip refers to a dress whose image went viral the day before the strip was posted, showing up on [http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/2xaprc/eli5why_does_this_dress_appear_whitegold_to_some/ Reddit,] [https://twitter.com/hashtag/thedress?src=hash Twitter,] [http://www.wired.com/2015/02/science-one-agrees-color-dress/ Wired,] and originally on [http://swiked.tumblr.com/post/112174461490/officialunitedstates-unclefather Tumblr].

Due to the dress's particular color scheme and the exposure of the photo, it forms a sort of optical illusion causing viewers to disagree on what color the dress actually seems to be. The xkcd strip sandwiches a cropped segment of the photographed dress between two images with different white balance schemes, demonstrating how the dress can appear different colors in different light.

Both dresses have exactly the same colors actually:
* RGB 113, 94, 58 (orange) <div style="display:inline-block; height:1em; width:1em; background-color: #715E3A"></div>
* RGB 135, 154, 189 (blue) <div style="display:inline-block; height:1em; width:1em; background-color: #879ABD"></div>

A similar type of illusion can be seen [http://www.echalk.co.uk/amusements/OpticalIllusions/colourPerception/colourPerception.html here.] (requires Flash®player) Other example images which don't require Flash can be found [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Optical_illusion#Color_and_brightness_constancies here].

Since the color of the dress seems immediately "obvious", to any given viewer of it, they feel it is so weird that other people cannot see it that way, that all these arguments spring up online. This is probably because people generally do not know much about these kind of optical illusions. The title text refers to the {{w|Monty Hall problem}}, a brain teaser based on the ''Let's Make a Deal'' TV show. [[Randall]] states that people find the dress color issue just as baffling as if upon opening the chosen door no one can agree if the item behind the door is a car or a goat. This just shows how ridiculous this outrage people feel about the color is. This is a typical kind of prank that Randall enjoys.

==Related==
The Monty Hall problem previously appeared in [[1282: Monty Hall]], where [[Beret Guy]] decides to take the goat.

==Transcript==
:[Two images of Megan in a dress on each side of an image of a close up of a real dress with the same colors. On the left, she is coloured blue on a dark blue background, while on the right, she is yellow against a buttercup background. Her dress is the same colour in each panel - the same as the real on in-between.]

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics with color]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]

1492: Dress Color

2015-02-27T15:46:05Z

PeFu: linked page not useful on devices without Adobe Flash®player

{{comic
| number = 1492
| date = February 27, 2015
| title = Dress Color
| image = dress_color.png
| titletext = This white-balance illusion hit so hard because it felt like someone had been playing through the Monty Hall scenario and opened their chosen door, only to find there was unexpectedly disagreement over whether the thing they'd revealed was a goat or a car.
}}

==Explanation==
This comic shows two images of [[Megan]] with different background color. The two images are split with a strip of colors.

The comic strip refers to a dress whose image went viral the day before the strip was posted, showing up on [http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/2xaprc/eli5why_does_this_dress_appear_whitegold_to_some/ Reddit,] [https://twitter.com/hashtag/thedress?src=hash Twitter,] [http://www.wired.com/2015/02/science-one-agrees-color-dress/ Wired,] and originally on [http://swiked.tumblr.com/post/112174461490/officialunitedstates-unclefather Tumblr].

Due to the dress's particular color scheme and the exposure of the photo, it forms a sort of optical illusion causing viewers to disagree on what color the dress actually seems to be. The xkcd strip sandwiches a cropped segment of the photographed dress between two images with different white balance schemes, demonstrating how the dress can appear different colors in different light.

Both dresses have exactly the same colors actually:
* RGB 113, 94, 58 (orange) <div style="display:inline-block; height:1em; width:1em; background-color: #715E3A"></div>
* RGB 135, 154, 189 (blue) <div style="display:inline-block; height:1em; width:1em; background-color: #879ABD"></div>

A similar type of illusion can be seen [http://www.echalk.co.uk/amusements/OpticalIllusions/colourPerception/colourPerception.html here.] (requires Flash®player)

Since the color of the dress seems immediately "obvious", to any given viewer of it, they feel it is so weird that other people cannot see it that way, that all these arguments spring up online. This is probably because people generally do not know much about these kind of optical illusions. The title text refers to the {{w|Monty Hall problem}}, a brain teaser based on the ''Let's Make a Deal'' TV show. [[Randall]] states that people find the dress color issue just as baffling as if upon opening the chosen door no one can agree if the item behind the door is a car or a goat. This just shows how ridiculous this outrage people feel about the color is. This is a typical kind of prank that Randall enjoys.

==Related==
The Monty Hall problem previously appeared in [[1282: Monty Hall]], where [[Beret Guy]] decides to take the goat.

==Transcript==
:[Two images of Megan in a dress on each side of an image of a close up of a real dress with the same colors. On the left, she is coloured blue on a dark blue background, while on the right, she is yellow against a buttercup background. Her dress is the same colour in each panel - the same as the real on in-between.]

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics with color]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]