explain xkcd - User contributions [en]

964: Dorm Poster

2017-09-26T00:05:51Z

Soulerlunar: Made it so the explanation more explained the humor of the comic, instead of only explaining some of the ideas referenced.

{{comic
| number = 964
| date = October 14, 2011
| title = Dorm Poster
| image = dorm poster.png
| titletext = I was going to record an album with that cover under the name "PINK FTFY", so it'd come after them on the store CD rack. But at this point music stores are just rooms where CDs are set out to age before they're thrown away, so probably nobody would see it.
}}

==Explanation==
The poster on the wall is the album artwork for {{w|Pink Floyd|Pink Floyd's}} album {{w|The Dark Side of the Moon}}. It shows a beam of light passing through a {{w|dispersive prism}} and separating into a rainbow. After thinking a bit, the new student makes a poster that uses a lens to reverse the rainbow into another prism, likely to mess with his new roommate. This idea actually isn't very innovative, because the original backside of the album contained the reverse rainbow and prism (but not the lens).

In the title text, Randall make's the joke that by recording a record under the name "Pink FTFY" (fixed that for you), the name of his band would come immediately after Pink Floyd alphabetically, so the album would be to the right of Pink Floyd's album for Dark Side of the Moon, allowing for the same image seen in the back of the dorm room to be on the shelves of the record store. Since the cover of his album would be catching the light from Pink Floyd's album and forming white light once again, Randall would be "fixing" the cover of Dark Side of the Moon. However [[Randall]] makes the crack that no one would see the joke, because of the fact music can be bought and downloaded online, which has decreased the traffic the record stores in recent years.

==Transcript==
:[Cueball finds dorm room.]

:[View into the dorm room. The left half is already occupied, and a roommate has filled his side with the normal accoutrements of dorm life. There is a Pink Floyd "Dark Side of the Moon" poster hanging on the far wall, offset and only on the roommate's side.]

:[Cueball has a bit of a ponder.]

:[Cueball leaves for a bit.]

:[Cueball returns with an item.]

:[View into the dorm room. Cueball is moving in, and has placed a second Pink Floyd "Dark Side of the Moon" poster modified with a lens in the rainbow's path. The poster is placed upside down on Cueball's side of the far wall to catch the rainbow, feed it back into the prism, and turn it back into a narrow stream of white light.]

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics with color]]
[[Category:Physics]]

946: Family Decals

2017-09-24T08:57:14Z

Soulerlunar: Fixed the license plate of the right car.

{{comic
| number = 946
| date = September 2, 2011
| title = Family Decals
| image = family decals.png
| titletext = My decal set has no adults, just a sea of hundreds of the little girl figures closing in around a single cat.
}}

==Explanation==
There exists a current fashion among car owners to place {{w|decal|decals}} on their back window that represent their family. The decals consist of stick figures to depict the parents and children, perhaps shown doing a favorite activity, and even pets.

The first car window features a couple with three children, while the other shows just a couple ([[Cueball]] and [[Megan]]), with piles of dollar bills and two large bags with dollar signs on them. The humor comes from the opportunity cost implied in this — not having children allows you to avoid the expense of raising them and accumulate money for your own use.

One might expect that the cars would represent the difference in wealth, and they are identified as 'urban SUV' and 'sporty hatch back' in the [http://xkcd.com/946/info.0.json official transcript]. The larger car is a {{w|Subaru Outback}} which is a typical car used by families. The second car is a {{w|Honda Fit}}, which is a budget compact hatchback, in the comic it has a spoiler added. The Subaru Outback is more expensive now than the Honda Fit, which seems to fit perfect with the comic's implication since a family of five have to buy the large expansive hatchback. Being able to buy a smaller car that doesn't need to hold a five member family also allows you to save more money.

The title text refers to the humorous description of cats as the real masters of their household, and the little girls surrounding the cat refers to their ability to influence humans with their cuteness (as referenced in [[231: Cat Proximity]]). The implication is that any adults in the household have a limited, non-credited role. The title text could also be a reverse of the stereotypical "crazy cat lady". Instead of someone owning a very large quantity of cats it could be one cat with an ungodly number of little girls.

Also, Decals based on this comic do in fact exist.

==Transcript==
:[Close up of the rear ends of two cars parked next to each other. Both have white stickers on their black rear windows. The car on the left is an urban SUV and most of the rear is visible with all the lights and a readable license plate with gray text visible. It's stickers represent a family. From left to right they are a Cueball-like guy, a woman with white hair like Blondie (i.e. black shows through), a girl with two ponytails, a boy of the same height and a smaller boy, both boys Cueball-like. The car on the right is a sporty hatch back, only the left part until the middle is shown. The left lights and the very left part of the license plate can be seen. It's stickers shown Cueball, Megan and then a large pile of dollar notes (six piles of different hight) and two large money bags with dollar signs on them, the rear left bag is partly hidden by two piles of notes.]
:License plate SUV: ICE-LI3
:License plate sport: 4

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Blondie]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Multiple Cueballs]]
[[Category:Math]]

942: Juggling

2017-09-24T08:52:26Z

Soulerlunar: Gave a better explanation of the actual joke of the comic, instead of taking the comic literally.

{{comic
| number = 942
| date = August 24, 2011
| title = Juggling
| image = juggling.png
| titletext = Later: 'Why is there a book hovering over the trash can?'
}}

==Explanation==
In an attempt to learn to juggle [[Cueball]] begins practicing after reading an instruction book. In the third panel, it seems as though he is juggling normally after tossing the balls into their air. However, in a baffling phenomenon the balls he throws into the air seem to stop adhering to the strict laws of physics partway through his throw. As can be proven in simple demonstrations things tend to fall toward the largest center of gravity unless other forces are at play as well.

The joke here is partially making fun of the idea that in a comic, the visuals of juggling would be the same as the visuals sitting in place in the air. So at first while reading, we assume Cueball is juggling, until it is revealed he has no control over the position of the balls at all.

Cueball is understandably perplexed and decides to give up on learning from instruction book, throwing it out. The title text furthers the joke by implying the book too seems to have become caught up in this phenomenon.

Many things could be taken away from this. Perhaps Cueball is so spectacularly bad at juggling his failure breaks the laws of physics. Or perhaps the book assumes gravity and momentum are present where you choose to juggle. Or perhaps the book merely instructs you how to juggle like the picture on the front of the cover, where the balls can also be thought to hover.

However it seems that for some reason physics has only stopped acting on these objects as Cueball himself is able to jump and fall back down without any trouble and the book was previously on the floor, implying it had been dropped there.

'''How This Could Happen'''

While it is possible to reach zero gravity (or at least microgravity), there is no place in our universe where objects with mass have no momentum. Some possible explanations might be that Cueball is outside of our universe, he has just discovered something that's theoretically impossible, or he is just dreaming, or [[Randall]] has taken comedic license on the "momentum" part for the sake of the joke. Or he could be in a place where the surrounding fluid, instead of having the normal properties of earth's atmosphere, is a very thick or viscous fluid in which things simply become stuck.

This comic is part of the following unpublished comic from the [[:Category:Five-minute comics|Five-minute comics]]: [[Five-Minute Comics: Part 4]]

==Transcript==
:[The panel shows a close up of Cueball reading a book. The book is called "How To Juggle" and has a picture of a person juggling on the cover.]

:[The view now shows the entirety of Cueball. The book is splayed on the floor behind them, and he is holding some juggling balls.]

:[Cueball throws the juggling balls in the air.]

:[He lowers his arms to prepare to catch the balls. The balls are hovering in mid-air.]

:[Cueball now stands with his arms by his sides. The balls have not moved and are still suspended in mid-air.]

:[Cueball jumps, trying to grab the lowest ball. He can't reach.]

:[Cueball scratches his head and stares at the still floating juggling balls.]

:[Cueball throws the book into a trash can.]

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]