explain xkcd - User contributions [en]

Talk:1326: Sharks

2014-02-05T19:56:25Z

Thegreatsasquatch:

Um... Are the sharks the prisoners? [[Special:Contributions/108.162.222.227|108.162.222.227]] 11:00, 5 February 2014 (UTC)
:Yeah, it's awfully quiet... looks like nobody gets this one? :) --[[Special:Contributions/108.162.254.179|108.162.254.179]] 12:05, 5 February 2014 (UTC)

No - a real prisoner escapes - and then the evil guy has a reason to release the sharks. And as the sharks are just happy to be free, they escape instead of going for the prisoner. So he can release more sharks ad ifinitum - except that his hang-man can see the problem with the plan - to release sharks into an ocean - that humans are emptying of sharks to use only their fin... [[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 12:50, 5 February 2014 (UTC)

Makes me wonder if Randall recently watched Despicable Me 1 and/or 2... [[User:Condor70|Condor70]] ([[User talk:Condor70|talk]]) 13:01, 5 February 2014 (UTC)
:Yeah, or a Sean Connery-era James Bond film... [[Special:Contributions/173.245.55.62|173.245.55.62]] 13:51, 5 February 2014 (UTC)Pat
::Even still, I feel this one is lacking a bit. It would have been better if there was a stick-minion in one of the frames. ;) [[User:Jarod997|Jarod997]] ([[User talk:Jarod997|talk]]) 13:52, 5 February 2014 (UTC)
::Thunderball, Licence to Kill and Despicable Me 1 all feature sharks. But none of them have the same setting as this comic. [[User:Condor70|Condor70]] ([[User talk:Condor70|talk]]) 14:11, 5 February 2014 (UTC)

A quick google search reveals that "Doom Island" is a location in a game called "Fish Wrangler": http://fishwrangler.wikia.com/wiki/Doom_Island. This may tie into the sharks theme...? [[User:Thegreatsasquatch|TheGreatSasquatch]] ([[User talk:Thegreatsasquatch|talk]]) 19:56, 5 February 2014 (UTC)

Talk:1250: Old Accounts

2013-08-12T17:15:15Z

Thegreatsasquatch: I agree with Eqdw

Kind of reminds me of all these movies where someone deletes something from a computer by dramatically backspacing everything. Like in Daredevil, for example. [[Special:Contributions/95.35.60.227|95.35.60.227]] 07:34, 12 August 2013 (UTC)

:Ugh. I hated that scene. [[User:Lcarsos|lcarsos]]<span title="I'm an admin. I can help.">_a</span> ([[User talk:Lcarsos|talk]]) 08:49, 12 August 2013 (UTC)

:Ugh. I hated that movie. [[User:DreamingDaemon|DD]] ([[User talk:DreamingDaemon|talk]]) 10:14, 12 August 2013 (UTC)

::I hate it when CTRL+Backspace doesn't work as expected, or starts adding non-printable characters instead. [[User:Saibot84|Saibot84]] ([[User talk:Saibot84|talk]]) 12:42, 12 August 2013 (UTC)

It wouldn't surprise me if FB kept a list of all the people who unfriended you. I know that they don't delete accounts that have been deleted. [[User:Hax|Hax]] ([[User talk:Hax|talk]]) 14:45, 12 August 2013 (UTC)

The reference to defriending in reverse order could be a joke about memory management in programming: You free up memory in reverse of the order you allocated it --[[User:Eqdw|Eqdw]] ([[User talk:Eqdw|talk]]) 16:49, 12 August 2013 (UTC)

:I agree with Eqdw on the memory management reference; the title text especially seems to reference memory leak problems. Unfortunately, I lack sufficient technical knowledge to provide a good explanation of this for the description. [[User:Thegreatsasquatch|TheGreatSasquatch]] ([[User talk:Thegreatsasquatch|talk]]) 17:15, 12 August 2013 (UTC)

31: Barrel - Part 5

2013-07-26T06:53:27Z

Thegreatsasquatch: /* Explanation */ Reworded Randall's status as a Le Petit Prince fan

{{comic
| number = 31
| date = November 16, 2005
| title = Barrel - Part 5
| image = barrel_part_5.jpg
| titletext = Too good not to happen.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete}}
This gives a happy ending to the [[:Category:Barrel|Barrel series]]. The flying ferret is from [[20: Ferret]]. The humor is derived from the juxtaposition of two unlike elements - in this case, the contemplative and even dark nature of the Barrel series being resolved through the timely intervention of a comical flying mammal.

The series is probably inspired by the novella {{w|The Little Prince}} by {{w|Antoine de Saint-Exupéry}}. [[Randall]] is well known to be a fan of this book.

The full series is:
*[[1: Barrel - Part 1]]
*[[11: Barrel - Part 2]]
*[[22: Barrel - Part 3]]
*[[25: Barrel - Part 4]]
*[[31: Barrel - Part 5]]

==Transcript==
:[Boy floating on barrel in ocean.]

:[Zoomed out view of boy floating on barrel in ocean.]

:[Ferret with airplane wings and tail above the ocean.]

:[The empty ocean.]

:[Flying ferret carrying the boy to safety.]

:[Ocean with ferret carrying boy in distance, sun on the horizon.]

==Trivia==
*Original [[Randall]] comment: "The ferret got to fly, in the end!"
*This is the thirty-third comic posted to livejournal. The previous was [[28: Elefino]]. The next was [[32: Pillar]].

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Comics posted on livejournal]]
[[Category:Comics with color]]
[[Category:Barrel|05]]
[[Category:Ferret]]

1189: Voyager 1

2013-03-22T20:43:49Z

Thegreatsasquatch: Added explicit reference to the Ptolemaic model

{{comic
| number = 1189
| date = March 22, 2013
| title = Voyager 1
| image = voyager_1.png
| titletext = So far Voyager 1 has 'left the Solar System' by passing through the termination shock three times, the heliopause twice, and once each through the heliosheath, heliosphere, heliodrome, auroral discontinuity, Heaviside layer, trans-Neptunian panic zone, magnetogap, US Census Bureau Solar System statistical boundary, Kuiper gauntlet, Oort void, and crystal sphere holding the fixed stars.
}}

==Explanation==
''{{w|Voyager 1}}'' is a U.S. space probe launched in 1977 to study the outer reaches of the Solar System and beyond. Popular press has on several occasions announced that it “has left the solar system” – at each point when a boundary has been confirmed or a major event has taken place – the fact is that there is no strictly defined and recognizable boundary of the solar system.

The alt-text lists several such possible boundaries, together with fictive humorous ones:

*The {{w|termination shock}} – the point in the heliosphere where the solar wind slows down to subsonic speed (relative to the star) because of interactions with the local interstellar medium.
*The {{w|heliopause}} – the theoretical boundary where the Sun’s solar wind is stopped by the interstellar medium.
*The {{w|heliosphere}} – a region of space dominated by Earth’s Sun, a sort of bubble of charged particles in the space surrounding the Solar System.
*The {{w|heliosheath}} – the region of the heliosphere beyond the termination shock.
*Heliodrome – yet another composition of ''helios'' "sun," here together with ''dromos'' "course". There is no astronomical object with this name, but it has been used variously in other contexts. One that became famous is a sports hall which was used as a concentration camp in the Bosnian war, see {{w|Heliodrom camp}}.
*Auroral discontinuity - another fictitious astronomic object, for ''auroral'' see {{w|Aurora (astronomy)}}.
*{{w|Heaviside layer}} – a layer of ionized gas occurring between roughly 90–150 km (56–93 mi) above the ground in the Earth's atmosphere. Popularly recognized for its use as a reference to Heaven in the writings of {{w|T. S. Eliot}} adapted into {{w|Andrew Lloyd Webber}}'s musical ''{{w|Cats (musical)|Cats}}''.
*Trans-Neptunian panic zone – this fictional zone combines the word from two subject: “Trans–Neptunian” is used in astronomy to describe stuff that occurs beyond the planet Neptune. In {{w|Outdoor education}} the “panic zone” is the opposite of the {{w|comfort zone}} when trying to learn new stuff.
*{{w|Ignition magneto|Magnetogap}} – part of an {{w|ignition system}}.
*US Census Bureau Solar System statistical boundary – a fictive boundary defined by the {{w|United States Census Bureau}}, similarly to how it defines {{w|Census tract|census areas}} for the purpose of processing statistical data about regions in the United States.
*Kuiper gauntlet – this is a play on the {{w|Kuiper belt}}, which is region of the Solar System beyond the planets, extending from the orbit of Neptune (at 30 AU) to approximately 50 AU from the Sun, notable for being full of asteroids; replacing the word “belt” with “{{w|gauntlet (glove)}}” (often spelled 'gantlet') which is a protective glove as well as “{{w|gauntlet (punishment)}}” which is a medieval punishment where one would be forced to run through two lines of men who would hit the punishee.
*Oort void – refers to the {{w|Oort cloud}}, a gigantic “cloud” of materials (mainly composed of ice) which ends around a light-year from The Sun and is deemed the (current) “edge” of the solar system.
*Crystal sphere holding the fixed stars – this refers to historical ideas about the universe, particularly the {{w|Ptolemaic system}}, in which the stars were supposed to be fixed on a {{w|Celestial spheres|large crystal sphere}} around the Earth.

==Transcript==
:Number of times ''Voyager 1'' has left the Solar System
:[22 tally marks.]

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Physics]]
[[Category:Charts]]