explain xkcd - User contributions [en]

1380: Manual for Civilization

2014-06-12T18:11:09Z

Vaxine19: The empire was to collapse in 300 years and he had a plan to rebuild in 1000.

{{comic
| number = 1380
| date = June 11, 2014
| title = Manual for Civilization
| image = manual_for_civilization.png
| titletext = We will have an entire wing of the library devoted to copies of book #26, because ohmygod it's the one where Jake and Cassie finally KISS!!!
}}

==Explanation==
{{w|Brian Eno}} is a musician and a co-founder of the {{w|Long Now Foundation}}. He is explaining to an audience that one of the missions of the Long Now is a [http://blog.longnow.org/02010/04/06/manual-for-civilization/ Manual for Civilization] - a collection of reference materials that can help rebuild society in case it collapses. But in Randall's version, the experts have made a list composed of many books from the {{w|Animorphs}} series.

Animorphs is a series of books written by {{w|K.A. Applegate}}. It follows a group of five children (later, an alien joins as the sixth member), that try to stop the parasitic aliens, the Yeerks, by transforming into animals. A Yeerk that enters a human has complete control over their host, and can read their memories. Because the Yeerks can imitate their host almost perfectly, humanity is slowly being taken over without knowing it, and for this reason the children cannot contact the authorities and are on their own in the battle against the Yeerks.

When asked if all the books on the experts list are from the Animorph series, Eno misses the point of the question by saying ''No!'', only to mention the {{W|List_of_Animorphs_books#Companion_books|Megamorphs}} books and {{W|The Andalite Chronicles}}, both of which are side stories to the Animorph universe.

There are other books like these which aren't mentioned here — but it is clear from the last two panels that it is a quite long list — and it seems to be written in two columns, so maybe all {{w|List_of_Animorphs_books#Animorphs_main_series|54 Animorphs books}} and all {{W|List_of_Animorphs_books#Companion_books|ten side stories}} could be included on the list.

In suggesting that a series of children's novels make up the blueprint for rebuilding civilization, [[Randall]] is spoofing the idea of such libraries (since such books would be largely useless in terms of providing the detailed instructions that would be necessary). At the same time, he may also be sending up a recent [http://www.slate.com/articles/arts/books/2014/06/against_ya_adults_should_be_embarrassed_to_read_children_s_books.single.html controversial article] from ''{{W|Slate (magazine)|Slate}}'', which suggested that adults should be ashamed of reading children's literature, by having a popular children's work be considered crucial to rebuilding civilization.

The title text makes it completely ludicrous by saying an entire wing of the library will be devoted to the {{w|The Attack (Animorphs)|book (#26)}} where {{w|Animorphs#Animorphs|Jake and Cassie}} finally KISS!!!

This comic may also be inspired by {{w|Isaac Asimov}}'s {{w|The_Foundation_Series|Foundation series}}, where Harry Seldon claimed that the Galactic Empire is going to collapse in three hundred years, there is no way to stop it but his group of scientists are writing Encyclopedia Galactica to help people rebuild civilization.

*The Long Now Foundation was mentioned recently in [[1340: Unique Date]].
*Animorphs was referenced before in the title texts of [[1360: Old Files]] and [[1187:_Aspect_Ratio]].

==Transcript==
:[Brian Eno is talking to an unseen audience.]
:Brian Eno: Hi. I'm music's Brian Eno, co-founder of the Long Now Foundation.

:[Panel 2 shows he is standing on a stage.]
:Brian Eno: As part of our mission to promote long-term thinking, we've asked experts to help us assemble a collection of books from which civilization can be rebuilt if it ever collapses.

:[Panel 3 shows he is holding a manuscript with a long list of book titles.]
:Brian Eno: Today we're sharing the results — the first ever ''Manual for Civilization''.

:[Panel 4 shows him reading from the manuscript.]
:Brian Eno: *Ahem*
::''Animorphs #1: The Invasion''
::''Animorphs #2: The Visitor''
::''Animorphs #3: The Encounter''
:Unseen Audience member: ...are they ''all'' Animorphs Books?
:Brian Eno: No! There's also ''Megamorphs'' and ''The Andalite Chronicles''.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring real people]]
[[Category:Animorphs]]

Talk:1090: Formal Languages

2012-08-03T14:39:14Z

Vaxine19: new theory...

==Where to dicuss (moved from article body)==

Is it possible that the word crash is some sort of play on the computer term 'crash'? I know that formal linguistics is important to computer science... Just throwing that out there.

You know, either:

a) I'm REALLY dumb (98% probability) and I simply can't find the comments on this comic (or any other for that matter now "it's come to this" (the Wiki). Or...

b) (2% probablity) nobody else has managed to work out how to comment yet either. Is this the way to do it? (seems logical) or is option a) corect? In which case, can someone give me a Noddy's Guide to how to find the comments and add them, please?
(Obviously kindly delete this if option a) is indeed correct!) Steve B. -- ''The explaination is up now. Basically it's a big play on the words 'context free grammar' ''

If only there were some sort of Discussion page where comics could be discussed. There could be a convenient link at the top of the page right next to a link back to the comic page itself. Maybe it could be colored red to stand out from the rest of the page. ''-- It's a blue button next to "Prev"''

==Formal Language==
I'm thinking the page needs a brief description of what a "formal language" is. I linked to the wikipedia article on formal languages, but we should probably add a summary relevant to the comic here. --[[User:DanB|DanB]] ([[User talk:DanB|talk]]) 10:39, 3 August 2012 (EDT)

Talk:1090: Formal Languages

2012-08-03T14:37:10Z

Vaxine19: /* Where to dicuss (moved from article body) */

==Where to dicuss (moved from article body)==
You know, either:

a) I'm REALLY dumb (98% probability) and I simply can't find the comments on this comic (or any other for that matter now "it's come to this" (the Wiki). Or...

b) (2% probablity) nobody else has managed to work out how to comment yet either. Is this the way to do it? (seems logical) or is option a) corect? In which case, can someone give me a Noddy's Guide to how to find the comments and add them, please?
(Obviously kindly delete this if option a) is indeed correct!) Steve B. -- ''The explaination is up now. Basically it's a big play on the words 'context free grammar' ''

If only there were some sort of Discussion page where comics could be discussed. There could be a convenient link at the top of the page right next to a link back to the comic page itself. Maybe it could be colored red to stand out from the rest of the page. ''-- It's a blue button next to "Prev"''

1090: Formal Languages

2012-08-03T14:31:55Z

Vaxine19: Clarifying the explaination

{{ComicHeader|1090|August 2, 2012}}

[[File:Formal_languages.png|[audience looks around] 'What just happened?' 'There must be some context we're missing.']]

== Image Text ==
[audience looks around] 'What just happened?' 'There must be some context we're missing.'

== Description ==
[[Megan]] is standing at the podium of the 10th Annual Symposium on Formal Languages (as per the banner behind her). [[Cueball]] crashes in through a glass pane and shouts "GRAMMAR!" and dashes off. Megan remains at the podium looking perplexed.

This is a reference to the phrase [[wikipedia:Context-free grammar|context-free grammar]], which is a technical term used in formal language theory. The play on words is that Cueball does not provide any context for his statement.

User:Vaxine19

2012-08-03T14:28:15Z

Vaxine19: Created page with "I'm Anthony. I love xkcd. Hopefully I will be a valuable member in this community."

I'm Anthony. I love xkcd. Hopefully I will be a valuable member in this community.