Talk:1298: Exoplanet Neighborhood

2013-12-03T07:14:22Z

The Potty 1:

Why the big empty circle around Earth??{{unsigned ip|108.162.231.42}}
:Because they're all far away and he wants to make the reader feel lonely. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.216.30|108.162.216.30]] 13:42, 2 December 2013 (UTC)
So all these other planets are close to each other, but Earth is far from them? Or does the distance between circles have no meaning besides the empty space around Earth's circle?[[Special:Contributions/108.162.216.29|108.162.216.29]] 15:16, 2 December 2013 (UTC)
: Most of these planets are hypothetical (last I checked, we knew of five such planets), and the nearest to us are in Tau Ceti, only 12 ly away. I'd say the space around Earth is metaphorical. We're kind of like Samwise as he and Frodo leave the Shire; those first few miles seem like an enormous distance. [[User:Fryhole|Fryhole]] ([[User talk:Fryhole|talk]]) 18:50, 2 December 2013 (UTC)

Why New-New-America? And why not New-New-Netherlands? [[User:Quoti|Quoti]] ([[User talk:Quoti|talk]]) 15:36, 2 December 2013 (UTC)

Changed it to New-New-World, as that makes a lot more sense than New-New-America. The Americas were commonly referred to as the 'New World', and the reference alludes to 'Sailing for the new world'. [[User:Andyd273|Andyd273]] ([[User talk:Andyd273|talk]]) 15:49, 2 December 2013 (UTC)

After staring at this graph for a while, I got a sudden urge to play Osmos... [[User:Andyd273|Andyd273]] ([[User talk:Andyd273|talk]]) 16:03, 2 December 2013 (UTC)

The title seems to have changed to "Exoplanet Neighborhood" and the mouseover text to what used to be the title... [[User:Xseo|Xseo]] ([[User talk:Xseo|talk]]) 16:36, 2 December 2013 (UTC)

[http://xkcd.com/1071/ This] is very similar. It was of June 2012, so quite a bit has been discovered since then. By [http://kepler.nasa.gov/ Kepler], I think? --[[User:Irino.|Irino.]] ([[User talk:Irino.|talk]]) 17:36, 2 December 2013 (UTC)

It may just be me, but this looks like one of those colour-blindness tests (I'm r-g colour blind). I was half-looking for some hidden message or number or sumfink in the pattern of dos, but of course I'm the one that usually misses out on those things :D Can colour-typical viewers see anything odd or unexpected in the pattern of dots? Oh, also, in the explanation of the comic here, it talks about the "reddish tone" and "grey" disks ... they all look grey to me, although some are darker than others :D Note that http://xkcd.com/1071/ does NOT remind me of a colour blindness test, except in the most superficial way - a circle of dots. I think this one, 1298, does because Randall has used pastel tones. Cheers, Jon. --[[User:Jon.|Jon.]] ([[User talk:Jon.|talk]]) 16:36, 2 December 2013 (UTC)
: Nothing odd or unexpected in the pattern of dots, Jon. No hidden "color blind test"-like message. [[Special:Contributions/199.27.128.89|199.27.128.89]] 18:53, 2 December 2013 (UTC)

Anyone else feel like perhaps we're still missing something here? Maybe I've simply become spoiled, but this straightforward graphic info, with no real puzzle nor pun nor humor (much less layers of these), seems ... incomplete and/or improbable. Also, what/where is the "New-New-America" or "New-New-World" discussed by Quoti above? Maybe I'm missing something major, somehow. BTW, 1K apologies for highly-likely noob errata in this, my 1st attempt at commenting here. [[User:Miamiclay|Miamiclay]] ([[User talk:Miamiclay|talk]]) 22:52, 2 December 2013 (UTC)

:Comics at xkcd do not always contain a joke. Look here: [[4: Landscape (sketch)]]. Maybe we do need a category for this.--[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 00:04, 3 December 2013 (UTC)

[The potty 1] I'm deeply suspicious of this infographic. For a start the resemblance to a color blindness test is obvious. Second the circle around earth must have some meaning. If it was what he says it is he would probably have labelled at least the larger planets?

1287: Puzzle

2013-11-06T08:08:50Z

The Potty 1: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 1287
| date = November 6, 2013
| title = Puzzle
| image = puzzle.png
| titletext = Prediction for Carlsen v. Anand: ... 25. Qb8+ Nxb8 26. Rd8# f6 27. "... dude." Qf5 28. "The game is over, dude." Qxg5 29. Rxe8 0-1 30. "Dude, your move can't be '0-1'. Don't write that down." [Black flips board]
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete}}

The boards of the games Chess and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Draughts|Checkers] (also called Draughts) are identical. In the comic, white has chess figures and plays against black, which uses checkers stones.

[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magnus_Carlsen|Magnus Carlsen] and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Viswanathan_Anand|Viswanathan Anand] are professional chess players.

Just want to point out that there are three white bishops, this is impossible in chess without 'queening' a pawn, in which case there should be less than 8 pawns.

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript}}

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Chess]]

explain xkcd - User contributions [en]

Talk:1298: Exoplanet Neighborhood

1287: Puzzle