explain xkcd - User contributions [en]

Talk:2904: Physics vs. Magic

2024-03-08T23:33:18Z

Phlaxyr:

Isn't the first law of thermodynamics a conservation law? [[Special:Contributions/172.69.134.217|172.69.134.217]] 21:27, 8 March 2024 (UTC)

In Lagrangian Mechanics,the Lagrangian is a function of time, position and speed. The action of the system is defined as the integral of the Lagrangian between the initial and final time. Movement equations are derived as those that minimize action. In that sense it can be loosely interpreted that by only setting initial condition and outcome you can get the full picture of all intermediate events. [[Special:Contributions/198.41.230.215|198.41.230.215]] 22:46, 8 March 2024 (UTC)

This is why statistics is magical [[User:Phlaxyr|Phlaxyr]] ([[User talk:Phlaxyr|talk]]) 23:33, 8 March 2024 (UTC)

Talk:2896: Crossword Constructors

2024-02-21T18:12:16Z

Phlaxyr: mr weeknd

The top ten most common letters in the Concise Oxford English Dictionary, and the percentage of words they appear in, are:
E – 11.1607%
A – 8.4966%
R – 7.5809%
I – 7.5448%
O – 7.1635%
T – 6.9509%
N – 6.6544%
S – 5.7351%

source: https://www.rd.com/article/common-letters-english-language/ [[Special:Contributions/172.69.58.187|172.69.58.187]] ([[User talk:172.69.58.187|talk]]) 22:29, 19 February 2024 ''(please sign your comments with <nowiki>~~</nowiki>~~)''

At least one of those "words" is already available
...oreta is a genus of moths: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oreta [[Special:Contributions/162.158.154.64|162.158.154.64]] ([[User talk:162.158.154.64|talk]]) 22:36, 19 February 2024 ''(please sign your comments with <nowiki>~~</nowiki>~~)''

: {Yoko} "ONO" was over-played in crosswords a few years back. "ORONO" (university town in Maine) was over-favored by one constructor. Not to mention a sandwich cookie. [[User:PRR|PRR]] ([[User talk:PRR|talk]]) 22:39, 19 February 2024 (UTC)
:: "ONO" has also entered English from Hawaiian, where it means (a) good to eat, delicious; (b) the {{w|Wahoo}} (Acanthocybium solandri), a species of fish. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.245.247|108.162.245.247]] 02:21, 20 February 2024 (UTC)
:”Eni” is an Italy-based oil company.[[Special:Contributions/141.101.68.36|141.101.68.36]] 02:50, 20 February 2024 (UTC)

In contrast to crosswords in german newspapers, those in american newspapers are typically not dense, right?
“Our” crosswords rarely have a single unused square.
And this is obviously easier to compose if you can choose from more words. --[[Special:Contributions/172.71.123.39|172.71.123.39]] 22:48, 19 February 2024 (UTC)
: "crosswords in german newspapers, those in american newspapers are typically not dense, right?"
For a quick overlook, Search Engine "NY Times Crossword", images.
https://www.google.com/search?q=ny+times+crossword&tbm=isch
The NY Times puzzles are as dense as commonly seen in the US. Much simpler puzzles abound, and brain-busters can be found, but the NYT puzzles are very typical well-done puzzles.
:I was looking around the internet for an example, and I found this example: https://www.50plus.de/spiele/raetsel/kreuzwortraetsel-1.html
:If this is what you are talking about, Games World of Puzzles calls this a "Pencil Pointer" puzzle. I think technically the name is "Swedish Style" according to Wikipedia. They aren't typically the kind you'd find in an :American newspaper, but I do see them on occasion.
:Generally, the American style ones are less dense than Swedish but more dense than British cryptics.[[Special:Contributions/172.70.175.195|172.70.175.195]] 00:49, 20 February 2024 (UTC)
::Also, American puzzles almost always have rotational symmetry (at least 180 degrees, sometimes all four 90-degree turns)[[User:Mathmannix|Mathmannix]] ([[User talk:Mathmannix|talk]]) 01:49, 20 February 2024 (UTC)
::Thanks, 172.70.175.195, that is exactly what I meant. --[[Special:Contributions/172.71.94.236|172.71.94.236]] 14:20, 20 February 2024 (UTC)

I'm confused, on reading the Explanation, as to whether these words are wanted for crossword ''clues'' or crossword ''answers''. I thought I knew, but it looks like other people might have the other idea. Either:
#In order to fit something perpendicular to several other words, in a dense and/or symmetrically-gridded puzzle, it ends up asking for a (currently) fictional string of letters that cannot be given a valid 'Easy' clue. They're seeking to make "2024 Nicki Minaj hit song (5)", or similar, to become that, soon enough that they can publish the whole puzzle that they're otherwise happy with. Or,
#For a cryptic clue with an anagram/subselection element, they want a way to include, letters that they've found them unable to mix in otherwise. e.g. "Taylor Swift's 'Oreta' with Tenacious D's initial spin (7)" -> "rotated" (ok, awkward example, but best I could back-contrive at a moment's notice... As opposed to something like "Turned a bit of carrot at Edinburgh (7)", which would ''already'' work Ok for the exact same answer), using various typical tricksy and misleading mannerisms of a Cryptic...
#...or both? Being only a(n unskilled) ''doer'' of crosswords, not usually a compiler of them, I might well be missing the details that someone deeper into crossword-lore takes for granted. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.195.143|172.69.195.143]] 02:01, 20 February 2024 (UTC)
:Most likely Cueball and friends are constructing American-style crosswords and want to use ORETA, ENTA, and similar words as answers in their puzzles, so that they could clue them with "2024 Nicki Minaj album", for example. (I imagine that when John Lennon entered into his second marriage, crossword constructors of America rejoiced since they now had a well-known person that they could use as a clue for ONO.) Since the letters in their proposed album titles are common, I doubt that a cryptic crossword constructor would be hoping for such "words" to exist so that they could use them in clues. --[[Special:Contributions/108.162.216.150|108.162.216.150]] 04:06, 20 February 2024 (UTC)
:My initial reading was that these were awkward series of letters that appear within words that they're otherwise struggling to find clues for, but I guess why not all three.[[Special:Contributions/141.101.99.24|141.101.99.24]] 09:38, 20 February 2024 (UTC)

did any of yoy check out the new fnf rodentrap mod? i think it ws peak :) --[[Special:Contributions/172.69.79.188|172.69.79.188]] 08:06, 20 February 2024 (UTC)

Should main page include possibilty that there is no intended meaning in these words? {{unsigned ip|172.71.94.236|14:20, 20 February 2024}}
:If you can explain what you mean (I'm not entirely certain, you leave it somewhat ambiguous), you can possibly include itself.
:(Unless you mean to edit the [[Main Page]] itself, which wouldn't be either right or technically possible, as you stand.) [[Special:Contributions/172.70.91.166|172.70.91.166]] 15:45, 20 February 2024 (UTC)

Are there existing albums by the named artists that are like the words suggested? --[[Special:Contributions/172.69.6.107|172.69.6.107]] 18:20, 20 February 2024 (UTC)
:^^^^^That was what I wondered. When I have time I might pop Ed Sheeran's albums into a crossword generator and see what I come up with... [[Special:Contributions/172.69.60.177|172.69.60.177]] 21:56, 20 February 2024 (UTC)
::None of these artists' albums have names anything like the "words" suggested by Cueball and friends in this cartoon. The most unusual names among them, I would say, are {{w|Ed Sheeran discography|Ed Sheeran's albums}}, most of which are named after mathematical symbols. --[[Special:Contributions/172.69.59.102|172.69.59.102]] 05:33, 21 February 2024 (UTC)
:::I think the point being that these are pop-culture artists ('pop' as still rooted in the original 'popular', rather than necessarily the specific subset that defines 'pop music' culture itself, naturally). Even *I* have heard of these prolofic artistes, though I might have miswritten as "Minage" and (ridiculous as it sounds!) "Weekend", etc. I couldn't tell you what their songs/albums were named as (doesn't one of them call her albums a number, the age at which she created them?), but I could look them up. By contrast, some of the other fields wherein such constructed names might be introduced would be a bit more obscure or untimely, e.g. scientific instrument acronymical names on space probes/landers. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.99.117|141.101.99.117]] 13:58, 21 February 2024 (UTC)
:For the NYT crossword, there's a good database of clues and answers at https://www.xwordinfo.com. Some (partial) album names that have been used in the crossword in the past couple years are YAYAS from the Rolling Stones' "Get Yer Yayas Out!", RASTAMAN from Bob Marley's "Rastaman Vibrations", Steely Dan's "AJA", Nas's "I AM", Radiohead's "KID A", Alicia Keys' "AS I AM", Kanye West's "YEEZUS", Beck's "ODELAY", ELO's "OLE ELO", and Genesis's "ABACAB". None of these by those specific artists, but the point is more that they're some of the biggest active artists right now than that they're known specifically for making album names with weird letter combinations.[[Special:Contributions/162.158.158.67|162.158.158.67]] 17:00, 21 February 2024 (UTC)

Is no one going to mention "Mr. Weeknd"? The thought of going up to him and addressing him by "Mr. Weeknd" is really funny to me [[User:Phlaxyr|Phlaxyr]] ([[User talk:Phlaxyr|talk]]) 18:12, 21 February 2024 (UTC)

Talk:114: Computational Linguists

2023-07-12T03:36:15Z

Phlaxyr:

Why {{w|Ryan North}}? [[Special:Contributions/108.233.253.211|108.233.253.211]] 21:49, 8 January 2013 (UTC)

First of all, Ryan North happened to specialize in computational linguistics in his masters degree. He was mentioned because he was a computational linguist. On a side note, Ryan North's father was called Randall (though he was not the Randall whose comics this wiki explains). This may have somehow influenced Ryan's name appearing on this list.--[[User:Commarchinin|Commarchinin]] ([[User talk:Commarchinin|talk]]) 12:44, 30 August 2013 (UTC)

: It may also be a joke on Ryan's webcomic name: "Dinosaur Comics" [[Special:Contributions/121.44.164.207|121.44.164.207]] 09:52, 20 October 2013 (UTC)

Don't particle physicists have the same issue: string theorists, Bohmians, Many-worldsians, Copenhagen-interpretians, all-possible-pathians, etc.? [[User:Djbrasier|Djbrasier]] ([[User talk:Djbrasier|talk]]) 02:55, 1 March 2017 (UTC)

Having multiple theories and models is literally what makes science science in any field, as mentioned above physics is the same. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.110.231|172.70.110.231]] 23:45, 11 October 2022 (UTC)

Even though this comic was made in jest, I actually think old-school computational linguists' days are numbered, with their complicated theoretical models outperformed by softmax(QK^T/sqrt(d_k))V. "Every time I fire a linguist, the performance of the speech recognizer goes up." Perhaps computational linguists are the new easy target? [[User:Phlaxyr|Phlaxyr]] ([[User talk:Phlaxyr|talk]]) 03:36, 12 July 2023 (UTC)

1710: Walking Into Things

2016-07-22T18:19:29Z

Phlaxyr: /* Transcript */

{{comic
| number = 1710
| date = July 22, 2016
| title = Walking Into Things
| image = walking_into_things.png
| titletext = A childhood spent walking while reading books has prepared me unexpectedly well for today's world.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Still not complete. Still needs a review.}}
[[Cueball]] comments on the rate of his walking into things while distracted by various stimuli, comparing it to a controlled study where the aim is to research whether he is most likely to bump into something while looking at a book, at his phone, or staring at the sky.

[[Megan]] replies that if this is the case, the rate of the "control group" colliding with things is also weirdly high. In Cueball's metaphor, the "control group" would be his walking around without being distracted, so you would expect him not to collide with anything when able to give his full attention to where he's going. Thus, Megan is implying that Cueball is simply clumsy, and that his walking into things has little to do with whether he's looking at his phone. Cueball responds defensively, saying that "walking [without bumping into anything] is hard, okay?"

At the time the comic was released, {{w|Pokémon Go}} has been gaining popularity, with many people raising concerns about the dangers of walking around while staring at a phone screen.

In the title text, [[Randall]] remarks that a childhood spent walking around with his nose in a book has prepared him "unexpectedly well" for today's world. Years ago, walking around while staring at something in your hands - such as a book - was considered odd, antisocial and dangerous, and was mostly the province of bookworms and nerds. Yet now, it's commonplace for people to walk around staring at their phones. This, ironically, makes those "antisocial" people who grew up used to walking around while reading the best-adapted to navigating while using a smartphone.

==Transcript==
:[Meagan and Cueball walk behind a stump of a tree while he holds a smartphone in his hand.]
:Cueball: My life is basically a big controlled trial of whether I'm more likely to walk into something while looking at a book, my phone, or the sky.

:[Zoom in to Megan and Cueball while they're still walking, no background is shown.]

:[Megan and Cueball still walking.]
:Megan: The weird thing is that the rate for the control group is so high.
:Cueball: ''Walking is hard, okay?''

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Smartphones]]

Talk:252: Escalators

2016-07-21T20:47:18Z

Phlaxyr:

I just wanted to point out that I think it's funny how in-depth some of these wiki's are and how others aren't. In this one we have good hearted contributors explaining what an escalator is, while in [[Appropriate Term|the last article I read]] the author uses NSFW as if it's common parlance. My rhetorical question is this: who, reading this article, immediately recognizes the acronym NSFW yet has no previous knowledge of escalators? Although not an Explain XKCD reader, my kindergartener has less knowledge of work ethics (let alone Internet slang regarding work ethics) yet has a basic understanding of escalators in popular culture, including the phenomenon of "running up the down". That is all ;) [[Special:Contributions/71.154.215.156|71.154.215.156]] 17:51, 10 May 2013 (UTC)
:Welcome to public wiki's ;-) You get what people are willing to write. Both articles could do with some wikilinks. [[User:Markhurd|Mark Hurd]] ([[User talk:Markhurd|talk]]) 18:37, 10 May 2013 (UTC)
:Haha! I suppose someone who spends all his time indoors on the internet would understand NSFW but not an escalator. Maybe that's who I was writing for. And maybe that says too much about my life. ;) --[[User:Druid816|Druid816]] ([[User talk:Druid816|talk]]) 21:54, 16 May 2013 (UTC)
----
I've confirmed "tangent graph" is from the official transcript, but it doesn't look like a tangent graph, except perhaps on its side. It looks more like a bell curve to me. [[User:Markhurd|Mark Hurd]] ([[User talk:Markhurd|talk]]) 10:18, 26 May 2013 (UTC)
:I have to assume by "tangent graph" he doesn't literally mean a graph of the trigonometric tangent function, but a graph that shows an asymptotic approach to a particular value (in this case, probably zero). [[Special:Contributions/108.162.219.223|108.162.219.223]] 19:14, 17 January 2014 (UTC)

I changed the explanation to make it less about what an escalator is, and more about the intent behind the joke. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.219.223|108.162.219.223]] 19:14, 17 January 2014 (UTC)

It depends on what kind of escalators it is. If you are running up the 70-meter-long down escalator which has a [[Chin-Up Bar]] at the end of it, you should feel like what you was supposed to feel.--[[User:Handbug|Handbug]] ([[User talk:Handbug|talk]]) 04:19, 11 September 2014 (UTC)

It also depends on whether you have need of doing this, for example if you are rushing to the metro station finding an overcrowded upward escalator and a sparsely crowded downward escalator every day, then you will have much strong urge to put in that chart.--[[User:Handbug|Handbug]] ([[User talk:Handbug|talk]]) 04:23, 11 September 2014 (UTC)

I've actually run up a down escalator. It was: 1) exciting, and 2) actually pretty hard to do. [[User:Leafy Greens|Leafy Greens]] ([[User talk:Leafy Greens|talk]]) 02:40, 16 November 2014 (UTC)

One could also interpret the graph as the y axis as the altitude on an escalator and the x axis as time. If someone started running up the down elevator as soon as they got on, their altitude would remain at the top, whereas if someone rode the elevator down, their altitude would go down as shown in the graph. [[User:Phlaxyr|Phlaxyr]] ([[User talk:Phlaxyr|talk]]) 20:47, 21 July 2016 (UTC)

Talk:1391: Darkness

2016-06-04T03:17:21Z

Phlaxyr:

http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/MundaneMadeAwesome --[[User:JakubNarebski|JakubNarebski]] ([[User talk:JakubNarebski|talk]]) 07:07, 7 July 2014 (UTC)
:Ugghhh, you just HAD to link to TVTropes... Now I'm gonna get sucked into the vortex! [[Special:Contributions/108.162.216.49|108.162.216.49]] 02:16, 8 July 2014 (UTC)

This narrative was actually the very first story I've read in The Onion back in 2006: [http://www.theonion.com/articles/rotation-of-earth-plunges-entire-north-american-co,1905/] -- [[User:Xorg|Xorg]] ([[User talk:Xorg|talk]]) 08:28, 7 July 2014 (UTC)

Will Eno has a play, "TRAGEDY: a tragedy", which has a very similar set-up (reporters reporting on the fall of night as if they'd never known it before), but never explains how the situation came about --- now thanks to XKCD, we know how come! -- awhyzip, 7 July 2014

Isn't there a problem with the wish formulation? If the genie does not remember ever granting any wishes, how come the one in the comic is labelled as his "last wish". {{unsigned ip|173.245.49.181}}

"There usually is an added stipulation" ... really? Most time I read about genies, it's about someone using some clever way to overcome the limit on number of wishes, if there IS any limit to start with - but what I read may not be representative. This may require more research ... what is the most "traditional" genie story? -- [[User:Hkmaly|Hkmaly]] ([[User talk:Hkmaly|talk]]) 12:47, 7 July 2014 (UTC)

:The most traditional would be the character simply carefully choosing all three wishes, using the last one at the very end of e story. Again, not representative either, but from what I've read the concept of "getting around the three-wish limit" seems to be a more recent take on the 'traditional' version. [[User:Zowayix|Zowayix]] ([[User talk:Zowayix|talk]]) 13:00, 7 July 2014 (UTC)
::The most traditional would be the character simply carefully choosing all three wishes, using the last one at the very end of e story. Again, not representative either, but from what I've read the concept of "getting around the three-wish limit" seems to be a more recent take on the 'traditional' version. [[User:Zowayix|Zowayix]] ([[User talk:Zowayix|talk]]) 13:00, 7 July 2014 (UTC)
:I'm pretty well-read in folklore. The three-wishes tale that I have seen come up most often involves a man getting three wishes, wishing for a sausage, his wife complaining, him wishing the sausage were on her nose and then wishing it were off her nose. There are several variants of that [//www.pitt.edu/~dash/type0750a.html here].

::I know that three-wishes tales are old and numerous. I was specifically asking for the traditional GENIE story - that is, if the traditional GENIE story is a three-wishes one (or if the traditional genie story is without limit). -- [[User:Hkmaly|Hkmaly]] ([[User talk:Hkmaly|talk]]) 10:35, 9 July 2014 (UTC)
:::Traditional ''1,001 Nights'' genies, of which there are several, are more likely to grant one wish than three (and more likely to do something else than grant wishes, for that matter) but the most famous genies, from ''Aladin and the Magic Lamp'' would both grant unlimited wishes, but in a strictly hierarchical manner, where the genie of the ring could do much less than the genie of the lamp, and the former's magic could never interfere with the latter's. [[Special:Contributions/199.27.128.76|199.27.128.76]] 10:10, 14 July 2014 (UTC)

:I agree the ruse of getting more wishes is a modern device, not a folk one. In a ''Godel, Escher, Bach'' dialogue, for example, it is explained that genies only cast wishes, not metawishes (wishes about wishes). That requires a metagenie. [[User:Fewmet|Fewmet]] ([[User talk:Fewmet|talk]]) 03:03, 8 July 2014 (UTC)
Um... If the genie cannot remember that each wish was NOT his first, that does not preclude him from keeping track of or remembering how many wishes he has made. It doesn't keep him from remembering other wishes, he simply can't remember which one was NOT first. Perhaps I'm over-thinking this, but the genie would probably say, "I may remember your last wish was only your first, but I distinctly remember the 3 wishes you've made so far, especially the one to screw with my head. So... no more wishes for you." XP -naginalf [[Special:Contributions/108.162.216.40|108.162.216.40]] 13:17, 7 July 2014 (UTC)
:I was more wondering about the genie having pause for thought when (remembering no previous wishes) he hears "for my ''last'' wish...". But with genies generally being the 'manual workers' of the magical world, generally being unimaginative (except for those that tend to twist wishes into causing unintended consequences, possibly something that Wish #1 was used to explore the possibility of) and working to rule (perhaps "twist the wish" is one of the rules?), they don't notice. [i]Or[/i] they're so fed up with "bottled servitude" that they'd be quite happy to go along with this new guy with the new attempt at rules-lawyering, at least until they get bored... [[Special:Contributions/141.101.99.192|141.101.99.192]] 14:07, 7 July 2014 (UTC)

::Considering the alternative is to stay in bottle (which looks definitely more boring to me) I'm surprised there IS a limit at all - or more exactly, that it's the GENIE forcing that limit, as opposed to some outside force. -- [[User:Hkmaly|Hkmaly]] ([[User talk:Hkmaly|talk]]) 10:28, 9 July 2014 (UTC)

I took this to be a reference to [//wisegeek.com/what-is-a-news-cycle.htm#didyouknowout news cycles]. The wisher was irritated that news reporting is influenced by an artificial constraint like the [//en.wikipedia.org/wiki/24-hour_news_cycle 24 hour news cycle] and wished the media would forget about it. In classic form, a poorly-worded wish is inconveniently interpreted. [[User:Fewmet|Fewmet]] ([[User talk:Fewmet|talk]]) 15:34, 7 July 2014 (UTC)

I think this is more about the media getting into a frenzy about things that are basic properties of living. (car accidents, breakins, starvation, murder, war, etc.) So they might as well get bent out of shape about something like the day/night cycle which is an absurd reduction of their usual retarded mannerisms. [[User:Chorb|Chorb]] ([[User talk:Chorb|talk]]) 21:51, 10 July 2014 (UTC)

This makes so much more sense than how I'd always read this comic before: that the sun literally disappeared, which would certainly upset the normal news cycle.[[Special:Contributions/108.162.221.64|108.162.221.64]] 19:26, 26 August 2015 (UTC)

I thought that the first wish was the hamster ball wish (https://xkcd.com/152/). [[User:Phlaxyr|Phlaxyr]] ([[User talk:Phlaxyr|talk]]) 03:17, 4 June 2016 (UTC)