explain xkcd - User contributions [en]

Talk:159: Boombox

2015-03-16T01:57:05Z

Richmond tudor:

The issue date on this comic is not given, as i don't know one. Can anyone fix this? [[User:Rikthoff|Rikthoff]] ([[User talk:Rikthoff|talk]]) 18:08, 3 August 2012 (EDT)

This is not a reference to Romeo and Juliet. It is a reference to the 80s movie Say Anything, where John Cusack plays Peter Gabriel's "In Your Eyes" on a boombox outside the house of the girl he likes.

Just gonna leave this here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vr60RCuVUb0&feature=youtube_gdata_player [[Special:Contributions/172.56.8.215|172.56.8.215]] 14:35, 13 October 2013 (UTC)

I think this comic should refer to the male character as "Rob", since it seems from other comics (e.g. [[716: Time Machine]] and [[782: Desecration]]) that Rob and Megan have a close and possibly romantic relationship. [http://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/explain_xkcd:Community_portal/Proposals#Merge_Cueball_.26_Rob See here] for more discussion on this topic. [[User:Djbrasier|Djbrasier]] ([[User talk:Djbrasier|talk]]) 13:37, 13 March 2015 (UTC)
:I disagree. In none of the comics where Megan is named has Rob been named as well. So there is no indication that they are the same. Most of the time Megan and Cueball are not "named" character. In a few (three?) Megan is used for the xkcd Megan. And out of almost a 1000 cases Cueball has only been named Rob in 9. In a few of these he is together with the xkcd Megan. Viac versa in the three with Megans name, Cueball is also there, but then he is not named Rob. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 13:15, 15 March 2015 (UTC)

I think we need to make a distinction: the term "character" can refer to either a stick figure with distinguishing features (e.g. Black Hat, Cueball), or a real (or fictional person) which such a figure often represents (e.g. Randall, Rob). This distinction is often blurred, for example Megan is both a stick figure and a person. Hopefully this will help clear up some confusion! [[User:Richmond tudor|Richmond tudor]] ([[User talk:Richmond tudor|talk]]) 01:57, 16 March 2015 (UTC)

363: Reset

2015-03-16T01:49:33Z

Richmond tudor: Tagged as incomplete for lack of discussion of paradox and meaning of 'reset'

{{comic
| number = 363
| date = December 28, 2007
| title = Reset
| image = reset.png
| titletext = Clearance for this Sign: 11 Feet
}}

{{Incomplete| Paradoxical nature of comic ignored and/or definition of "reset"}}
==Explanation==
A common sight in workplaces is a sign reading '[XX] days since [event]' or '[XX] days without [event]', where [XX] is a two-digit number (indicated using flip cards so it may be easily changed) and [event] is some undesirable preventable occurrence. The purpose of such signs is to inspire employees by proudly displaying how long the event has been avoided or prevented. The most common version of such signs, used in industrial workplaces, displays the number of days since the last workplace accident or injury.

This version of the sign, however, simply displays the number of days since it has been reset, without assigning any significance to the number. It is thus meaningless and pointless. Why would anyone want such a sign? Or go to the trouble of updating the count every day?

The title text refers to the signs sometimes hung over roadways in front of bridges which display the clearance of the bridge for the benefit of tall vehicles. However, this one displays only its own clearance, a number which would be unimportant if the sign itself were not there.

==Transcript==
:[Cueball stands looking at a flip-counter sign posted on a wall.]
:Sign: 38 days since someone reset this sign

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

Talk:653: So Bad It's Worse

2015-03-13T05:25:38Z

Richmond tudor:

Once, I trolled my friends by "recommending" the movie to them. They won't know what hit 'em. :) (P.S. Mwhaaa Haaa Haaa) {{unsigned ip|‎173.72.159.14}}
: Mandatory... "NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOooooooooooooo........!!!!!!" [[Special:Contributions/108.162.216.79|108.162.216.79]] 18:47, 11 June 2014 (UTC)

Does anyone else take exception to Randall considering Rocky Horror to fall into this category? So it's not The Godfather, but it's not supposed to be! I think it's exactly the movie they were trying to make, and the result is low-budget brilliance. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.219.223|108.162.219.223]] 01:03, 7 January 2014 (UTC)

Does anyone else think Manos: The Hands of Fate should be below Star Wars? {{unsigned ip|108.162.238.11}}
:It's not nearly as bad, in my opinion. The MST3K version is definitely enjoyable. Birdemic, on the other hand, is definitely worse. [[User:Ad1217|Ad1217]] ([[User talk:Ad1217|talk]]) 01:36, 7 April 2014 (UTC)

You could obtain an original home videocassette recording quite legally.
Hundreds, if not thousands, still exist; otherwise, how could it be uploaded to Internet torrents? {{unsigned ip|108.162.250.217}}

The graph appears to show the graph dropping ''below'' the line that would be projected from the section before the "so bad it's good" spike. At least, the slope becomes steeper and shows no sign of decreasing, and the Christmas Special is indicated to be far down, off the screen. This seems to imply an anti-spike, a sort of inverse to the "so bad it's good" spike, which fits with the title of the comic. [[User:Richmond tudor|Richmond tudor]] ([[User talk:Richmond tudor|talk]]) 05:25, 13 March 2015 (UTC)

Talk:427: Bad Timing

2015-03-13T05:13:40Z

Richmond tudor: Created page with "Here, the red spiders appear to be able to fly, whereas in previous red spiders comics they consistently relied on the floating blocks, cooperating in forming chains to get fr..."

Here, the red spiders appear to be able to fly, whereas in previous red spiders comics they consistently relied on the floating blocks, cooperating in forming chains to get from one to the other. Even in [[126: Red Spiders Cometh]], the spiders are still just riding on the blocks. [[User:Richmond tudor|Richmond tudor]] ([[User talk:Richmond tudor|talk]]) 05:13, 13 March 2015 (UTC)

Talk:126: Red Spiders Cometh

2015-03-13T05:02:18Z

Richmond tudor:

Does anyone else think that the red spiders are supposed to be revealed as unexpectedly huge in this entry of the Red Spiders series, and that's to what the "Uh-oh" in the title text refers? That is, the humans in "[[Counter-Red_Spiders|Counter-Red Spiders]]" thought they could fight the red spiders, but the perspective in "Red Spiders Cometh" reveals the red spiders to be building-sized rather than person-sized? ...Or am I probably just over-thinking this, and the spiders' blocks are curving down from the viewer toward the city, resulting in a false apparent size, and the "Uh-oh" just refers to their arrival? Because it really seems to me that 1: the spiders are on a much larger scale than humans, and 2: this is a troubling revelation as of "Red Spiders Cometh". [[User:JET73L|JET73L]] ([[User talk:JET73L|talk]]) 07:21, 10 November 2012 (UTC)

I imagined them to be human sized. Still scary and formidable prompting the same title response. I would love to see the author do another Red Spiders comic. I want to see the fight between them.[[Special:Contributions/72.193.184.110|72.193.184.110]] 07:02, 19 May 2013 (UTC)

there's no way to tell what the size of the spiders is. the perspective has the spiders closer to the observer (us) than the buildings, so they might actually be any size (depending on how close they are). {{unsigned ip|108.162.254.85}}
:The comic "Bad Timing" indicates their bodies are about the size of a human head. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.238.177|108.162.238.177]] 14:39, 12 March 2015 (UTC)
::From which we should be able to figure out how close they are. [[User:Richmond tudor|Richmond tudor]] ([[User talk:Richmond tudor|talk]]) 05:02, 13 March 2015 (UTC)

Talk:52: Secret Worlds

2015-03-13T04:52:37Z

Richmond tudor:

Just to the left of the small circle that says something like "I mean everybody!" are two adjacent yellow circles. {{unsigned ip|199.27.128.109}}
:Nope. Red and yellow. Zoom in and you'll see it. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.242.5|108.162.242.5]] 04:13, 30 November 2014 (UTC)

The graph does indeed require four colors, since it contains four mutually connected circles in the upper left corner. [[User:Richmond tudor|Richmond tudor]] ([[User talk:Richmond tudor|talk]]) 04:52, 13 March 2015 (UTC)

36: Scientists

2015-03-13T04:27:33Z

Richmond tudor: Added that this may be a play on Randall's scientist friends making fun of him

{{comic
| number = 36
| date = 
| title = Scientists
| image = scientists.jpg
| titletext = A leading expert characterized the situation as 'retarded'
}}

==Explanation==
This comic plays on the type of statement that news reports often use: "in what [group of experts] are calling '[quote]'", to add more weight and credibility to their stories. In this case, [[Cueball]] is using the phrase to attempt to add gravitas to the (relatively mundane) fact that his shoes are missing and he thinks it's "pretty gay" by assigning this opinion to scientists (rather than it being, presumably, his friend's or his own opinion). The same joke is at play in the image text where a leading expert thinks the situation is "retarded".

There may be a second level to the joke: Randall was still working for NASA at the time the comic was posted, so his friends at that time would presumably include scientists and "leading experts". If his friends made fun of him for not being able to find his shoes, it would therefore be accurate to say that scientists had made those statements. However, since their being scientists is irrelevant to the legitimacy of their opinions about Randall's shoe problems, presenting their teasing as an expert opinion is humorously misleading; a similar joke is at play in [[1206: Einstein]].

The phrases "pretty gay" and "retarded" are politically incorrect slang for "dumb", and so they are the opposite type of speech expected of experts on news reports.

==Transcript==
:[Cueball is staring at an empty box on the floor.]
:In what scientists are calling "pretty gay", I can't find my shoes.

==Trivia==
*Comic #36 was originally posted as a duplicate of comic [[10: Pi Equals]]. This was corrected some time between [http://web.archive.org/web/20060422011355/http://www.xkcd.com/c36.html April 22, 2006] and [http://web.archive.org/web/20060705231511/http://xkcd.com/c36.html July 5, 2006] when the current version showed up.

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

Talk:57: Wait For Me

2015-03-13T03:55:25Z

Richmond tudor:

This could also be a reference to relativity, but I may be overthinking it. [[Special:Contributions/130.160.145.185|130.160.145.185]] 06:24, 9 March 2013 (UTC)

I'm going with the more fantastical route. Cueball could have gone to Narnia in the ninety seconds she was gone. He could have had an affair and a child that is her age within that time. [[Special:Contributions/72.193.184.110|72.193.184.110]] 10:51, 18 May 2013 (UTC)

And is maybe even a half-fawn? ;) [[Special:Contributions/178.98.31.27|178.98.31.27]] 23:06, 24 June 2013 (UTC)

Who is "Scott"? He is mentioned here a couple of times so, we do need a category for him at this wiki.--[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 22:27, 25 June 2013 (UTC)
:We already have [[Scott|a page for him]]. I've adjusted the two pages that refer to him in the title text to wikilink his name like the third already did. [[User:Markhurd|Mark Hurd]] ([[User talk:Markhurd|talk]]) 01:37, 26 June 2013 (UTC)

The 90 seconds could refer to time to read the comic for some people?[[Special:Contributions/87.242.215.146|87.242.215.146]] 14:13, 18 July 2013 (UTC)

I strongly feel that cueball is making a joke about relativity. [[Special:Contributions/199.107.68.166|199.107.68.166]] 19:22, 20 September 2013

The joke is about relativity. A very popular example found in books is the so-called twin paradox, where one brother stays on earth and the other travels at a speed of light. When the traveling twin returns, he finds his brother having aged years while only hours had passed for the traveler.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Twin_paradox

[[Special:Contributions/75.109.152.5|75.109.152.5]] 05:41, 22 September 2013 (UTC)

I feel pretty strongly that Cueball's hesitation is more because he is embarrassed, than because he is joking. bringing cueball's son into the situation would then pull relativity into the matter. [[User:GallantChaos|GallantChaos]] ([[User talk:GallantChaos|talk]]) 17:51, 22 September 2013 (UTC)

It seems to me more like a sketch based on the premise of the Bill Nighy film About Time where the males of the family can travel backwards in time, sometimes changing the future as a result [[Special:Contributions/141.101.99.214|141.101.99.214]] 10:57, 8 November 2013 (UTC)Pab
:How could Randall have referenced a 2013 movie in 2006? -- Oh. I see what you did there. {{unsigned|Madbadger2742}}

A woman announces: '''One minute...'''—that's the joke!--[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 21:38, 8 November 2013 (UTC)

He may be also referring to Star trek episode 'The Inner Light' {{unsigned ip|108.162.229.110}}

It is interesting to note that since the comic gradually reveals how much time has elapsed (or has been imagined/joked to have elapsed), it gives the impression of time accelerating as you read the comic. So if you read it quasi-statically, it seems that Cueball has merely been gone for long enough to have a son about Megan's age, but if you read dynamically, it seems that Cueball is getting older as he speaks, and will age and die before the conversation is over. [[User:Richmond tudor|Richmond tudor]] ([[User talk:Richmond tudor|talk]]) 03:55, 13 March 2015 (UTC)

Talk:399: Travelling Salesman Problem

2015-03-13T03:22:02Z

Richmond tudor:

Does anyone remember if the Brown Hat appears in any other comics?
: I'm not sure, so I created a category and page for him, let's see if that catches any others. --[[User:Jeff|<b><font color="orange">Jeff</font></b>]] ([[User talk:Jeff|talk]]) 22:04, 29 March 2013 (UTC)
::According to the transcript we have two different Brown Hat Guys here. I'm working on this.--[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 21:49, 5 October 2013 (UTC)
:::I'm inclined to think that Brown Hat is specific to this comic, the brown hat being the 50's style homburg or fedora common to salesmen trying to look respectable... Randall likely added the hats to depict folks from a bygone era, (one of whom has caught up with the trend.) -- [[User:IronyChef|IronyChef]] ([[User talk:IronyChef|talk]]) 01:49, 10 January 2014 (UTC)
::The second Brown Hat Guy seems similar to Black Hat both in personality and hat shape. Could he be the same character? [[User:Richmond tudor|Richmond tudor]] ([[User talk:Richmond tudor|talk]]) 03:22, 13 March 2015 (UTC)

It's probably not in the least important, but the network appears to be a collection of key cities in the US arranged by geographical location. [[Special:Contributions/130.160.145.185|130.160.145.185]] 23:07, 9 March 2013 (UTC)

added a better explanation of the title text. -- Nick,5 Oct 2013 {{unsigned ip|69.193.7.67}}

Has anyone answered the question in the title text? --[[User:Ricketybridge|Ricketybridge]] ([[User talk:Ricketybridge|talk]]) 23:55, 9 January 2014 (UTC)
:"it is bitter news that in the forty years since Held and Karp no better guarantee <nowiki>[than n^2.2^n]</nowiki> has been found for the problem" [http://www.math.uwaterloo.ca/tsp/methods/progress/progress.htm]. So whereas linear programming techinques tend to be quicker than other algorithms, they have not been shown to be better than O(n^2.2^n).[[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.55|141.101.98.55]] 17:05, 17 August 2014 (UTC)

Doesn't someone at ebay still have to solve the TSP? I guess that's the entire point though. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.85.223|141.101.85.223]] 08:48, 27 July 2014 (UTC)
:No because you can send your sales information to all customers at once because they come to you, electronically. It takes no longer for you to be viewed by 100 people than by one person. Thus O(1). [[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.55|141.101.98.55]] 17:05, 17 August 2014 (UTC)
::I never used ebay so I don't know how it works and I'm probably missing something obvious. (Maybe it should be explained at the explanation?) If you wanted to personally sell about 17 items to 17 cities like the guy on the left, you have to visit each city by car or something. How does ebay visit the 17 cities to send the items?[[Special:Contributions/141.101.85.199|141.101.85.199]] 06:34, 19 August 2014 (UTC)
:::You don't have to personally visit each buyer. You put a description of the item(s) you are selling online on eBay, and then people can decide to buy or not. If they do buy, they pay you online, any communication is done online, and you send them the item(s) in the mail. I don't think its necessary to have an explanation of how eBay works, as the majority of people would know. --[[User:Pudder|Pudder]] ([[User talk:Pudder|talk]]) 16:31, 8 December 2014 (UTC)

Talk:357: Flies

2015-02-18T00:24:36Z

Richmond tudor:

Actually, the saying was originally “A watched pot never boils ''over''.” This means that you should watch a pot to make sure the water doesn't spill out.[[Special:Contributions/68.195.76.173|68.195.76.173]] 17:57, 8 March 2013 (UTC)

Pretty sure that '''A watched pot never boils''' is an expression unto its own. If you sat and watched a pot long enough it would still boil over, on the macro scale there is no effect on observing something. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.246.117|108.162.246.117]] 09:10, 1 November 2013 (UTC)

I thought that this expression meant that the water boiling process have a Murphy law like property in it: that the pot tends to boil over when you turn away from it. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.212.196|108.162.212.196]] 21:59, 30 November 2013 (UTC)

CLEARLY the idea is that you are waiting for the pot to boil so that you can add something to it. You are not waiting for it to boil over; you are waiting for it to boil. The point is that many things that you want in life take longer to eventuate than you think, and sitting there fixating on them doesn't actually help and is a waste of time. Do something else useful in the meantime; the pot will boil when it's ready. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.219.58|108.162.219.58]] 19:48, 5 February 2014 (UTC)

Honey has a much higher sugar content than Balsamic vinegar. My hypothesis for this is that the real draw fro the flies is related to fragrance [[Special:Contributions/108.162.219.52|108.162.219.52]] 19:18, 3 April 2014 (UTC)
: I agree on this and updated the explanation. [[User:Mumiemonstret|Mumiemonstret]] ([[User talk:Mumiemonstret|talk]]) 14:10, 5 June 2014 (UTC)

Could this be a metaphor for trolling?
[[User:Richmond tudor|Richmond tudor]] ([[User talk:Richmond tudor|talk]]) 00:24, 18 February 2015 (UTC)

Talk:395: Morning

2015-01-13T06:35:35Z

Richmond tudor:

I always thought she was seeing airplanes, satellites, planets, or stars. --[[Special:Contributions/67.243.62.50|67.243.62.50]] 03:01, 28 September 2013 (UTC)

"Seeing dead pixels in the sky" seems like a rehash of an important quote in some work. Any ideas on what that work is? [[Special:Contributions/24.104.10.45|24.104.10.45]] 06:16, 21 October 2013 (UTC)

:It's like that quote from CJ in the first season of West Wing: We can all be better teachers.
:It sounds so deep you think they must have borrowed it from somewhere. But no, it's original. Kudos to Randall. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.219.223|108.162.219.223]] 21:37, 3 January 2014 (UTC)

Btw, if anyone is curious, life's resolution is approximately [http://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=1+inch+%2F+1+planck+length 1.572×10^33 DPI] [[Special:Contributions/108.162.212.213|108.162.212.213]] 16:29, 1 August 2014 (UTC)

IMO, the unspoken big picture is that during a prairie winter you can get "white out" conditions when an overcast sky matches the color of snow cover. This eliminates all shadows and you can walk face first into a snow drift without seeing it. The whole world looks like dead pixels. {{unsigned ip|108.162.216.87}}

"It is likely what she is seeing is a star or other stellar object." I'm not sure this bit fits the context of the image. It is supposed to be dead pixels, and stellar objects don't often pop out of no where (unless an infinite improbability drive is involved). [[User:Kirdneh|Kirdneh]] ([[User talk:Kirdneh|talk]]) 21:08, 30 December 2014 (UTC)

It may just be me, but I thought the dead pixels she is seeing form the words "And seeing dead pixels in the sky.", making the comic self-referential in a typical xkcd way. Does anyone agree with me? [[User:Richmond tudor|Richmond tudor]] ([[User talk:Richmond tudor|talk]]) 06:35, 13 January 2015 (UTC)