explain xkcd - User contributions [en]

Talk:1521: Sword in the Stone

2015-05-06T14:39:32Z

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In Arthurian legend, whoever can remove the Sword in the Stone is the lawful king of 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 Lady of the Lake. The most familiar version of this story is ''The Sword in the Stone'' by T. H. White which is based on ''Le Mort d'Arthur'' by Sir Thomas Malory. Having a woman remove the sword would introduce difficulties. [[User:The Dining Logician|The Dining Logician]] ([[User talk:The Dining Logician|talk]]) 06:12, 6 May 2015 (UTC)

Seriously? Megan being transgender is preposterous. The comic mentions a throne, not a king. The proposition that the character needs to be a man is far fetched and a bit sexist. The legend usually mentions a ruler, not a kind per se. Even if it were a king, that is a baseless statement. Legends are up to interpretation. If a woman pulls out a sword it is possible that she be crowned Queen without having a king. Case in point, Queen Elizabeth, Queen Victoria -of England; they both have seen the glory days of Britain. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.221.152|108.162.221.152]] 07:27, 6 May 2015 (UTC)BK201

: And there was {{w|Jadwiga of Poland}}, female who was crowned '''king'''. --[[User:JakubNarebski|JakubNarebski]] ([[User talk:JakubNarebski|talk]]) 07:33, 6 May 2015 (UTC)

: It's clearly Megan. Perhaps Aurthur has returned in female form (definitely not transgender), but it's unmistakably Megan. [[User:Djbrasier|Djbrasier]] ([[User talk:Djbrasier|talk]]) 13:01, 6 May 2015 (UTC)

In a visual novel, [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saber_(Fate/stay_night) King Arthur is a girl]. --[[Special:Contributions/108.162.222.169|108.162.222.169]] 08:06, 6 May 2015 (UTC)

Should be lawful king of Britain. King Arthur was fighting against the English. --[[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.66|141.101.98.66]] 08:30, 6 May 2015 (UTC)

If there were a real Arthur (dux bellorum or whatever) this is true, however in the legends things are much more complicated and inconsistent, so England is as good as anything else. -richardelguru

Minor point, but Vallum Aelium was built to control the Picti, the Scots of the Dál Riata came much later and Scotland (Rìoghachd na h-Alba) is traditionally founded in the late C9CE. -richardelguru

I doubt it's a coincidence that this comic was published the day before a UK general election that is widely predicted to be heading for the most complicated hung parliament in history. The monarch is a purely ceremonial head of state in practically all respects, but does (in theory) have the responsibility to "ask" someone to form a government (in practice, the person asked is determined by who holds the parliamentary majority, but there are huge arguments raging about who will "legitimately" hold such a majority, the leader of the party with most seats or the leader who can rustle up the biggest coalition). [[Special:Contributions/141.101.99.24|141.101.99.24]] 09:11, 6 May 2015 (UTC)

: I agree that this is a much more likely explanation for the timing of the comic. Don't have time to change the text myself right now ... --[[User:RenniePet|RenniePet]] ([[User talk:RenniePet|talk]]) 10:51, 6 May 2015 (UTC)

The punchline could also be about how it would be way too much hassle to try to lay claim to the throne in modern times, challenging the British royal family and all - Megan would probably be treated like a lunatic. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.88.223|141.101.88.223]] 11:19, 6 May 2015 (UTC)

Arthur is a long haired boy [http://vignette4.wikia.nocookie.net/lemondededisney/images/4/47/Moustique.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20130715192648&path-prefix=fr], [http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51US9KARtXL._SY344_BO1,204,203,200_.jpg]. The comic shows a boy, not a woman. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.221.201|108.162.221.201]] 12:56, 6 May 2015 (UTC)

I just thought that the joke was how distracting Wikipedia can be and that Megan/Arthur here gets addicted to reading Wikipedia articles of even the most obvious things in the least appropriate moment. "Oh cool, the throne of England? Isn't that that European country. Let's see how big it is. Oh, wow, 120,000 square kilometers. What's that in miles? Hmm, alright. Huh, kilometres is spelled like this according to the international spelling? What is that?" etc etc, you get the idea :p [[User:Maplestrip|Maplestrip]] ([[User talk:Maplestrip|talk]]) 12:59, 6 May 2015 (UTC)

: The title text would seem to go against that explanation.[[Special:Contributions/141.101.99.24|141.101.99.24]] 13:21, 6 May 2015 (UTC)

It's Megan. The new princess is the first woman who can inherent the throne without being leapfrogged by younger brothers. Before the Succession to the Crown Act (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Succession_to_the_Crown_Act_2013) if Megan had pulled the sword out one of her brothers would have gotten to be King. (signed by jan)

She put it back because she discovered this country is a shithole. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.143|141.101.98.143]] 14:23, 6 May 2015 (UTC)

I think it's Megan. - [[User:RecentlyChanged|RecentlyChanged]] ([[User talk:RecentlyChanged|talk]])

Talk:1452: Jurassic World

2014-11-26T15:24:58Z

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Uh ... maybe, just maybe, is Megan referring to the ACTUAL tyrannosaurus, the animal which lived several millions years ago? -- [[User:Hkmaly|Hkmaly]] ([[User talk:Hkmaly|talk]]) 11:47, 26 November 2014 (UTC)

Any reason why "white hat" is not wearing his hat in the final panel? [[Special:Contributions/173.245.54.194|173.245.54.194]] 12:20, 26 November 2014 (UTC)
: Good catch. [[User:Jarod997|Jarod997]] ([[User talk:Jarod997|talk]]) 14:31, 26 November 2014 (UTC)
: none that I feel confident about - perhaps the T-Rex ate it or blew it off swinging his tail around? -- [[User:Brettpeirce|Brettpeirce]] ([[User talk:Brettpeirce|talk]]) 14:35, 26 November 2014 (UTC)

Is it just me, or does this particular episode of xkcd just not come off as funny? [[User:Jarod997|Jarod997]] ([[User talk:Jarod997|talk]]) 14:31, 26 November 2014 (UTC)
: I suppose not particularly, but that happens regularly - it's not always supposed to be funny... -- [[User:Brettpeirce|Brettpeirce]] ([[User talk:Brettpeirce|talk]]) 14:35, 26 November 2014 (UTC)
::I really enjoyed this comic. It's probably because I did not see the punchline coming on my small smartphone screen. [[User:RecentlyChanged|RecentlyChanged]] ([[User talk:RecentlyChanged|talk]])

Talk:1430: Proteins

2014-10-07T09:25:47Z

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'''If this comic has motivated anyone to join in with the Folding@Home project, you can get started [http://folding.stanford.edu/ here].''' --[[User:Pudder|Pudder]] ([[User talk:Pudder|talk]]) 09:28, 6 October 2014 (UTC)
:I've been folding for about a year now. Before that it was the SETI@Home project - but I decided to switch to something that could have more direct and beneficial results. [[User:Jarod997|Jarod997]] ([[User talk:Jarod997|talk]]) 13:58, 6 October 2014 (UTC)
::Is there an xkcd team on any of the distributed computing projects? Or does someone want to put one together? [[User:Nealmcb|Nealmcb]] ([[User talk:Nealmcb|talk]]) 22:02, 6 October 2014 (UTC)
:::I would like to join a team [[User:RecentlyChanged|RecentlyChanged]] ([[User talk:RecentlyChanged|talk]])

This comic has some similarities to [[1425: Tasks]]. It can be difficult for the public (or experts for that matter) to grasp the complexity of a task for a computer. --[[User:Pudder|Pudder]] ([[User talk:Pudder|talk]]) 09:13, 6 October 2014 (UTC)

Surely if you were folding yourself a crane out of paper then you would need to fold yourself a pair of scissors in order to be able to make cuts. --[[Special:Contributions/141.101.99.49|141.101.99.49]] 10:27, 6 October 2014 (UTC)

Surely the "pull the tail" is referring to the flapping bird origami, which is similar to the crane but lacks one set of folds that make the figure narrower.{{unsigned ip|108.162.219.116}}

Thanks for adding that "your actually donating your electricity" part - I had not considered it to that extent. I realized that the program is using more CPU/GPU "loading" while the screen saver is active, but for some reason I didn't translate that into more money out via my electricity bill. :) [[User:Jarod997|Jarod997]] ([[User talk:Jarod997|talk]]) 13:58, 6 October 2014 (UTC)

No mention yet of the fact that Megan (and Randall) thinks this is the hardest problem! I have added some where it only aims at other science questions. But she did not say anything about science. Solving all human crises like overpopulation, climate, pollution, hunger, war and death could also be seen as either several or just one (unified) problem. She would then still think her problem harder... Should that be added as well in some form? I will leave that for others to decide. [[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 18:31, 6 October 2014 (UTC)

I think it is clear that Megan means computational problems - unifying gravity or solving human crises have not been reduced to computational terms - so the comparison is not appropriate and the comment in the explaination is unwarranted. {{unsigned ip|173.245.52.157}}

The Title Text made me think of Rembrandt's painting The Anatomy Lesson, where the lecturer was pulling a tendon in a cadaver's forearm, making a finger move. It might make an appropriate metaphor: Today's scientists are taking baby steps in learning the "anatomy" of proteins through trial and error, much like the scholars of the past deciphering the basics of the human anatomy. [[User:Aiw|Aiw]] ([[User talk:Aiw|talk]]) 21:38, 6 October 2014 (UTC)

Talk:1363: xkcd Phone

2014-05-02T15:51:44Z

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I really dislike the tone of the explanation. I mean it's so negative about the features! Not that they are all useful, but isn't this a wiki and should be neutral? It takes also the fun out of it. I would like a screaming while falling phone and the relativity thing would be great for teaching relativity! [[User:RecentlyChanged|RecentlyChanged]] ([[User talk:RecentlyChanged|talk]])

Where can i get one of these? :D [[User:UniTrader|UniTrader]] ([[User talk:UniTrader|talk]]) 04:11, 2 May 2014 (UTC)

I'm pretty sure the "scream when falling" thing and the "flightaware" stuff can be done somehow with Tasker. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.103.206|141.101.103.206]] 04:23, 2 May 2014 (UTC)

;Designer?

I suspect it was either Black Hat or Beret Guy, but I'm not sure which. A collaboration? [[Special:Contributions/173.245.54.45|173.245.54.45]] 04:47, 2 May 2014 (UTC)

This sounds like something straight out of aperture. {{unsigned ip|108.162.221.55}}

;Simulates alternate speeds of light

Yes, useless as a feature on all the time; but it would be a cool app. [[User:Markhurd|Mark Hurd]] ([[User talk:Markhurd|talk]]) 05:57, 2 May 2014 (UTC)
:Absolutely. Where can I get an app like that?[[Special:Contributions/108.162.225.157|108.162.225.157]] 06:22, 2 May 2014 (UTC)

Travelling at above the simulated speed of light should give an imaginary time dilation, not a negative time dilation.
gamma = 1/sqrt{1-v^2/c^2}
Thus, after such travel, the value of the clock would be a complex number. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.219.35|108.162.219.35]] 15:42, 2 May 2014 (UTC)

'''Changed the speed of light to 2.99x10^8'''
:You guys should probably clarify that the relativisic affects actually depend on how long your trip is or how long you wait to sync your phone. For relativity to be observable on a 12 hour trip, Minimum speed for a phone would have to be 300 m/s or 3000 m/s for the clock to measure even a microsecond/millisecond difference in time. This is well known thanks to the certain [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Time_dilation#Velocity_and_gravitational_time_dilation_combined-effect_tests time dilation experiments with planes]. Your GPS chip helps account for an error of [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Error_analysis_for_the_Global_Positioning_System#Relativity 7 to 47 microseconds per day]. My point is in terms of time dilation, relativity mattering depends on how long a trip or waiting for synchronization is. By synching, I literally mean with the atomic time clock or with a GPS satellite. The synchronization of your phone with satellites is actually a couple of hundred microseconds, so normally even a light changing clock might not have as noticable changes as you might think. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.238.225|108.162.238.225]] 13:49, 2 May 2014 (UTC) --[[Special:Contributions/108.162.238.225|108.162.238.225]] 13:49, 2 May 2014 (UTC)
Yeah sorry forgot to login. does anyone know how to do the indices formatting other than eg 2.99x10(littlex) rather then 2.99x10^x? [[User:Jonv4n|Jonv4n]] ([[User talk:Jonv4n|talk]]) 06:29, 2 May 2014 (UTC)
: Whas<sup>sup</sup>? [[Special:Contributions/141.101.89.220|141.101.89.220]] 07:43, 2 May 2014 (UTC)

About the attracting insects ... I would expect this to be normal feature in night. Trapping, however ... -- [[User:Hkmaly|Hkmaly]] ([[User talk:Hkmaly|talk]]) 09:08, 2 May 2014 (UTC)
: There are other indications that the phone is at least partly biological, this being the strongest evidence of that. Insects could be the power source for the biological part(s). [[Special:Contributions/173.245.54.45|173.245.54.45]] 14:07, 2 May 2014 (UTC)

'''Siri'''

Could the Siri bit be a reference to Portal? When I first read it, I remembered this GLaDOS quote: "Your Aperture Science Weighted Companion Cube will never threaten to stab you, and in fact cannot speak. If your Weighted Companion Cube does speak, please disregard its advice." Could be completely wrong; just a thought. [[Special:Contributions/173.245.54.51|173.245.54.51]] 10:09, 2 May 2014 (UTC)
:Perhaps Siri is beling likened to the "ATMOS" device in the Doctor Who episode "The Sontaran Stratagem" [[User:Esp666|Esp666]] ([[User talk:Esp666|talk]]) 11:20, 2 May 2014 (UTC)

Lamest. Comic. Ever. And I'm not just saying that because he doesn't mention the Ubuntu Touch OS. ''– [[User:Tbc|tbc]] ([[User talk:Tbc|talk]]) 12:22, 2 May 2014 (UTC)''

'''Realistic case'''

Car telephones and the first cellphones were rather expensive, at least in Germany fake "realistic cases" were sold without any working electronics in it. Usage was to impress silly friends.

I thought this was aimed at the iPhone. Apparently these have an elegant case, but I have never actually seen one. Everyone I know covers their iPhone with some hideous plastic monstrosity, since the design is not practical.--[[Special:Contributions/108.162.218.59|108.162.218.59]] 14:10, 2 May 2014 (UTC)

'''Screaming when in free fall: my first Android app!'''

I love the bit about screaming when in free fall: that was the first Android app I hacked together back in 2009 (based on the tricorder app). [[User:Nealmcb|Nealmcb]] ([[User talk:Nealmcb|talk]]) 13:49, 2 May 2014 (UTC)

'''Title Text'''

Hover-over title text was truncated; love it.
14:43, 2 May 2014 (UTC)[[User:Pocono Chuck|Pocono Chuck]] ([[User talk:Pocono Chuck|talk]])

Talk:388: Fuck Grapefruit

2013-11-26T13:26:50Z

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Why are seeded grapes deemed more tasty than seedless grapes? Them seeds taste awful and bitter when you accidentally bite into them. [[User:Davidy22|Davidy22]] ([[User talk:Davidy22|talk]]) 12:22, 14 October 2012 (UTC)
*Yeah! And red apples are clearly more tasty than green (unless you're using them for cooking), and bananas are the tastiest fruit ever! In other words, it's all subjective. (You might argue that the seeds add to the flavour, much like a small amout of fat in meat; obviously the fact that they're less easy implies pulling all the seeds out first to make sure you don't bite one.) [[Special:Contributions/94.0.161.247|94.0.161.247]] 10:34, 28 November 2012 (UTC)
*Seedless grapes (and seedless versions of other fruits) are often considered to be slightly less tasty than their seeded counterparts because a compromise was made: putting all efforts toward being tasty and easy to grow, versus dividing the effort between those and making them seedless. Additionally, some seedless fruits (including certain brands or breeds) are simply less mature versions of their seedless equivalent (this is part of why some bunches of seedless grapes have seeds in many of the fruits, albeit smaller and/or fewer seeds than the seeded equivalent). It's also possible that the y-axis difference between the two was unintentional, but there's enough of a difference that I'm strongly in favor of interpreting it as intentional. [[User:JET73L|JET73L]] ([[User talk:JET73L|talk]]) 17:34, 8 February 2013 (UTC)
I disagree with the placement of bananas and pears. They are both really easy and reasonably tasty (although taste is a matter of personal preference).[[Special:Contributions/75.69.96.225|75.69.96.225]] 21:54, 11 March 2013 (UTC)
*Problem is, pomegranates burn calories instead of adding to them. Unless you get pre-picked. There should be a third axis, but alas, with a webcomic, it is not possible. {{unsigned ip|108.162.216.45}}
Fyi to open a coconut, do not smash a rock against the coconut, smash the coconut against the rock! [[Special:Contributions/193.188.240.138|193.188.240.138]] 14:30, 26 July 2013 (UTC)
:A rock? Is this a deserted island scenario you're describing? Most households have something called a hammer. [[User:Tharkon|Tharkon]] ([[User talk:Tharkon|talk]]) 03:24, 23 November 2013 (UTC)
Is there a program do make charts looking like these? With the little pictures in the chart. [[User:RecentlyChanged|RecentlyChanged]] ([[User talk:RecentlyChanged|talk]]) 13:26, 26 November 2013 (UTC)