https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/api.php?action=feedcontributions&user=108.162.212.179&feedformat=atomexplain xkcd - User contributions [en]2024-03-29T16:00:43ZUser contributionsMediaWiki 1.30.0https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=Talk:2104:_Biff_Tannen&diff=168713Talk:2104: Biff Tannen2019-01-28T18:53:53Z<p>108.162.212.179: </p>
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<div>I thought Biff jumped from 2015 to 1955, not 1985...? Young Biff had the Almanac in his pocket at the High School dance and the tower he built was already in place in 1985.<br />
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Collusion with a time traveler would bring a few things into focus. [[Special:Contributions/173.245.54.25|173.245.54.25]] 15:24, 28 January 2019 (UTC)<br />
:You inspire ''one'' house painter to change careers & suddenly everyone blames you for everything. <br />
:[[User:ProphetZarquon|ProphetZarquon]] ([[User talk:ProphetZarquon|talk]]) 16:23, 28 January 2019 (UTC)<br />
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hillbilly_Elegy<br />
[[Special:Contributions/172.68.65.198|172.68.65.198]] 15:39, 28 January 2019 (UTC)<br />
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Do we keep the “cheat at sports betting” wording? I don’t know if this is cheating. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.210.136|108.162.210.136]] 17:22, 28 January 2019 (UTC)<br />
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If anyone questions the fact that newspapers in real life did attempt to assert that the rise of Trump was inevitable, various newspaper articles may easily be found as proof with a Google Search for [Donald Trump inevitable], preferably restricted to results before 2017, so as to remove results about things he did later. I don't know how best to incorporate such results as a source in the article, as the number of citations could easily be made too big, and also I don't know if anyone cares. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.210.136|108.162.210.136]] 17:30, 28 January 2019 (UTC)<br />
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I am from Europe, and I do not understand the issue. If event X happens while you predicted Y, isn't researching and hypothising a good way to find out why, possibly learning new things in the process? Saying you don't want to debate the issue is like hating politics. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.104.131|141.101.104.131]] 18:27, 28 January 2019 (UTC)<br />
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: Many people who understand politics hate it. On behalf of my fellow continenteans, I apologize for 141.101.104.131, who apparently believes that politics overlaps with political science. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.114.40|162.158.114.40]] 18:51, 28 January 2019 (UTC)<br />
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:Note that ''Hillbilly Elegy'' could not have been intended to explain the Trump election, having been written before it. However, it was interpreted this way. I have attempted to make this clear in the explanation.[[Special:Contributions/108.162.212.179|108.162.212.179]] 18:53, 28 January 2019 (UTC)</div>108.162.212.179https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=2104:_Biff_Tannen&diff=1687032104: Biff Tannen2019-01-28T17:51:15Z<p>108.162.212.179: Undo revision 168702 by 108.162.212.179 (talk) GOD DAMN SMART QUOTES ADDON</p>
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<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 2104<br />
| date = January 28, 2019<br />
| title = Biff Tannen<br />
| image = biff_tannen.png<br />
| titletext = I can't help myself; now I want to read a bunch of thinkpieces from newspapers in Biff's 1985 arguing over whether the growth of the region into a corporate dystopia was inevitable.<br />
}}<br />
<br />
==Explanation==<br />
<br />
This comic is based on ''{{w|Back to the Future II}}''. In this movie, the character Biff Tannen steals the time machine, which is the main plot device, and uses it to go back in time from 2015 to 1955. He then gives Marty MacFly’s sports almanac, containing the outcomes of 50 years (1950–2000) worth of sporting events, to his younger self. His younger self uses this sports almanac to make millions by successfully betting on {{w|horse races}}. He then forms a company, and calls it [https://backtothefuture.fandom.com/wiki/BiffCo BiffCo]. While in the movie the protagonists reverse this, by stealing the almanac back, Cueball imagines the universe where BiffCo. exists as continuing to exist in parallel. This is consistent with the {{w|multiverse}} theory.<br />
<br />
The movie is set in the fictional town of Hill Valley, California. When the protagonists return to 1985, they find that Biff has turned the town’s “Courthouse Square” into a 27-story casino, and generally taken over Hill Valley. Cueball interprets this as “the decline of the city, and general social decay”.<br />
<br />
''[https://www.amazon.com/Hillbilly-Elegy-Memoir-Family-Culture/dp/0062300547 Hillbilly Elegy: A Memoir of a Family and Culture in Crisis.]'' is a book, published in June 2016, that gives an account of growing up in a poor Rust Belt town, and offers a broader, probing look at the struggles of America’s white working class. This comic is a play on the title of this book, which has been described as explaining the “social, regional, and class” issues in white working-class America. The white American working class was a key factor in the election of U.S. President Donald Trump, and many critics have interpreted the book as an explanation of his election, which was deemed improbable by many analysts before it happened.<br />
<br />
Cueball is proposing a similarly-titled book, set in the ''Back to the Future II'' universe where BiffCo. exists, that would describe the supposed factors leading to the rise of Biff Tannen in Hill Valley. In that universe, while the rise of Biff—and the subsequent decay of the city—is the result of his using a future sports almanac to cheat at sports betting, the rest of the population would have to guess at the structural societal issues that might have caused Biff’s otherwise inexplicable success. Thus, Cueball compares such blind guessing with the analysis contained in ''Hillbilly Elegy''.<br />
<br />
This makes White Hat Guy angry, because it’s such a painfully long setup for a really stupid pun. There is also a decent chance that the book White Hat Guy is currently reading is ''Hillbilly Elegy'', which would make the joke more insulting to him, as it compares the book to useless theorizing about an event which was really caused by time traveling. After seeing similar symptoms in our society, perhaps he would consider that we are living in such a world predetermined to negative effects. It would probably frustrate him that being optimistic for the future and hoping for a changing society would be an effort in vain, when the universe is similarly tampered with by time-travellers.<br />
<br />
Randall is known to have [[1756: I'm With Her|supported the opposing candidate before Trump was elected]], having made a comic just to promote her, and particularly [[1756:_I'm_With_Her#Sad_comics|sad comics]] following his election. Therefore, he may have made this comic as an insult to a book which supposedly explains the election of the candidate he opposed, by comparing it to useless (and wrong) theorizing. It may also be intended as an insult to Trump himself, by comparing the dystopian universe where Biff rose to power (albeit not as President) to the actual universe where Trump rose to power.<br />
<br />
The title text continues this comparison by mentioning thinkpieces from newspapers that would appear in the ''Back to the Future II'' universe where BiffCo. exists. Various thinkpieces did appear in real life newspapers in an attempt to explain Trump’s rise to power after his election, and asking whether it was inevitable.<br />
<br />
==Transcript==<br />
<br />
[Cueball talks while walking up to White Hat, who is reading in an armchair.]<br />
<br />
Cueball: You know, in the universe where Biff Tannen took Marty McFly’s sports almanac back in time, the people wouldn’t have any counterfactuals to work with. <br />
<br />
Cueball: Their world would be ''the'' world.<br />
<br />
[White Hat turns to look at Cueball as he keeps talking.]<br />
<br />
Cueball: They would have spent decades debating which structural problems enabled the rise of BiffCo, the decline of the city, and general social decay. <br />
<br />
Cueball: Everyone would find reasons it confirmed their pet theory.<br />
<br />
Cueball: I'm going to write a book set in that universe. I'll call it ''Hill Valley Elegy''.<br />
<br />
[White Hat turns away in disgust.]<br />
<br />
White Hat: ... I ''hate'' you.<br />
<br />
{{comic discussion}}</div>108.162.212.179https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=2104:_Biff_Tannen&diff=1687022104: Biff Tannen2019-01-28T17:50:34Z<p>108.162.212.179: ATTEMPT TO FIX A LINK I COPIED FROM AN OLDER EXPLANATION</p>
<hr />
<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 2104<br />
| date = January 28, 2019<br />
| title = Biff Tannen<br />
| image = biff_tannen.png<br />
| titletext = I can’t help myself; now I want to read a bunch of thinkpieces from newspapers in Biff’s 1985 arguing over whether the growth of the region into a corporate dystopia was inevitable.<br />
}}<br />
<br />
==Explanation==<br />
<br />
This comic is based on ''{{w|Back to the Future II}}''. In this movie, the character Biff Tannen steals the time machine, which is the main plot device, and uses it to go back in time from 2015 to 1955. He then gives Marty MacFly’s sports almanac, containing the outcomes of 50 years (1950–2000) worth of sporting events, to his younger self. His younger self uses this sports almanac to make millions by successfully betting on {{w|horse races}}. He then forms a company, and calls it [https://backtothefuture.fandom.com/wiki/BiffCo BiffCo]. While in the movie the protagonists reverse this, by stealing the almanac back, Cueball imagines the universe where BiffCo. exists as continuing to exist in parallel. This is consistent with the {{w|multiverse}} theory.<br />
<br />
The movie is set in the fictional town of Hill Valley, California. When the protagonists return to 1985, they find that Biff has turned the town’s “Courthouse Square” into a 27-story casino, and generally taken over Hill Valley. Cueball interprets this as “the decline of the city, and general social decay”.<br />
<br />
''[https://www.amazon.com/Hillbilly-Elegy-Memoir-Family-Culture/dp/0062300547 Hillbilly Elegy: A Memoir of a Family and Culture in Crisis.]'' is a book, published in June 2016, that gives an account of growing up in a poor Rust Belt town, and offers a broader, probing look at the struggles of America’s white working class. This comic is a play on the title of this book, which has been described as explaining the “social, regional, and class” issues in white working-class America. The white American working class was a key factor in the election of U.S. President Donald Trump, and many critics have interpreted the book as an explanation of his election, which was deemed improbable by many analysts before it happened.<br />
<br />
Cueball is proposing a similarly-titled book, set in the ''Back to the Future II’' universe where BiffCo. exists, that would describe the supposed factors leading to the rise of Biff Tannen in Hill Valley. In that universe, while the rise of Biff—and the subsequent decay of the city—is the result of his using a future sports almanac to cheat at sports betting, the rest of the population would have to guess at the structural societal issues that might have caused Biff’s otherwise inexplicable success. Thus, Cueball compares such blind guessing with the analysis contained in ''Hillbilly Elegy’'.<br />
<br />
This makes White Hat Guy angry, because it’s such a painfully long setup for a really stupid pun. There is also a decent chance that the book White Hat Guy is currently reading is ''Hillbilly Elegy’', which would make the joke more insulting to him, as it compares the book to useless theorizing about an event which was really caused by time traveling. After seeing similar symptoms in our society, perhaps he would consider that we are living in such a world predetermined to negative effects. It would probably frustrate him that being optimistic for the future and hoping for a changing society would be an effort in vain, when the universe is similarly tampered with by time-travellers.<br />
<br />
Randall is known to have [[1756: I’m With Her|supported the opposing candidate before Trump was elected]], having made a comic just to promote her, and particularly [[1779: 2017|sad comics]] following his election. Therefore, he may have made this comic as an insult to a book which supposedly explains the election of the candidate he opposed, by comparing it to useless (and wrong) theorizing. It may also be intended as an insult to Trump himself, by comparing the dystopian universe where Biff rose to power (albeit not as President) to the actual universe where Trump rose to power.<br />
<br />
The title text continues this comparison by mentioning thinkpieces from newspapers that would appear in the ''Back to the Future II’' universe where BiffCo. exists. Various thinkpieces did appear in real life newspapers in an attempt to explain Trump’s rise to power after his election, and asking whether it was inevitable.<br />
<br />
==Transcript==<br />
<br />
[Cueball talks while walking up to White Hat, who is reading in an armchair.]<br />
<br />
Cueball: You know, in the universe where Biff Tannen took Marty McFly’s sports almanac back in time, the people wouldn’t have any counterfactuals to work with. <br />
<br />
Cueball: Their world would be ''the’' world.<br />
<br />
[White Hat turns to look at Cueball as he keeps talking.]<br />
<br />
Cueball: They would have spent decades debating which structural problems enabled the rise of BiffCo, the decline of the city, and general social decay. <br />
<br />
Cueball: Everyone would find reasons it confirmed their pet theory.<br />
<br />
Cueball: I’m going to write a book set in that universe. I’ll call it ''Hill Valley Elegy’'.<br />
<br />
[White Hat turns away in disgust.]<br />
<br />
White Hat: … I ''hate’' you.<br />
<br />
{{comic discussion}}</div>108.162.212.179https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=Talk:2097:_Thor_Tools&diff=167998Talk:2097: Thor Tools2019-01-11T18:46:18Z<p>108.162.212.179: Added comment for (aero)plane</p>
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<div><!--Please sign your posts with ~~~~ and don't delete this text. New comments should be added at the bottom.--><br />
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I think the comment about the axis direction is based on how you interpret the terms Best and Worst - either for Thor or those who encounter him. [[User:Ianrbibtitlht|Ianrbibtitlht]] ([[User talk:Ianrbibtitlht|talk]]) 17:15, 11 January 2019 (UTC)<br />
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I'm surprised light saber did not make the list [[Special:Contributions/108.162.241.196|108.162.241.196]] 18:09, 11 January 2019 (UTC)<br />
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Many nail-guns use cartridges filled with a combustible material (gunpowder or similar) rather than a supply of compressed air. A blank load of a .22 rimfire pistol cartridge is typical. See: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Powder-actuated_tool [[Special:Contributions/50.202.80.200|50.202.80.200]] 18:35, 11 January 2019 (UTC)<br />
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Is there a possibility that the reversed axis suggests an (aero)plane as the worst weapon? Bad taste rules it out I suppose. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.212.179|108.162.212.179]] 18:46, 11 January 2019 (UTC) Nic</div>108.162.212.179https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=Talk:1925:_Self-Driving_Car_Milestones&diff=148841Talk:1925: Self-Driving Car Milestones2017-12-06T22:30:49Z<p>108.162.212.179: </p>
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<div><!--Please sign your posts with ~~~~ and don't delete this text. New comments should be added at the bottom.--><br />
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This page is, without offense to the creator, a mess. We're gonna need a table for this. [[Special:Contributions/172.68.47.78|172.68.47.78]] 19:14, 6 December 2017 (UTC)<br />
* Or at least a list. I have created one, but it could use fleshing out.[[User:WingedCat|WingedCat]] ([[User talk:WingedCat|talk]]) 19:55, 6 December 2017 (UTC)<br />
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I'm going to go with a [citation needed] on that "sex in a self-driving car has probably already happened." Are there stats suggesting the amount of coitus per vehicle in the relevant counties?<br />
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"This a joke about Boolean satisfiability, as evaluating an arbitrarily complex bumper sticker and determining whether to honk is NP-complete." What? Determining whether to honk has nothing to do with the satisfiability problem; this is more of a joke about getting a computer to evaluate the truth of Boolean expressions that it may have no information about. [[User:Checkmate|Checkmate]] ([[User talk:Checkmate|talk]]) 22:07, 6 December 2017 (UTC)Checkmate<br />
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I believe the "Autonomous canyon jumping" is related to the self-loathing; a self-loathing car is likely to autonomously jump off a cliff. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.212.179|108.162.212.179]] 22:30, 6 December 2017 (UTC)</div>108.162.212.179https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=1831:_Here_to_Help&diff=1394681831: Here to Help2017-05-02T00:44:34Z<p>108.162.212.179: CONNECTION!!</p>
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<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 1831<br />
| date = May 1, 2017<br />
| title = Here to Help<br />
| image = here_to_help.png<br />
| titletext = "We TOLD you it was hard." "Yeah, but now that I'VE tried, we KNOW it's hard."<br />
}}<br />
<br />
==Explanation==<br />
{{incomplete|No details are included. Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}<br />
This comic is a satire of computer programmers, who sometimes forget that not everything can be solved with an algorithm. In the first panel, [[Megan]] talks about how the field that she and [[Hairy]] works in has a difficult problem that many people have been working on. [[Cueball]], believing that algorithms can solve their problem, tries to help. In the next panel, Megan and Hairy silently watch Cueball working on the problem on his laptop. Finally, six months later, Cueball concedes, and an exasperated Megan retorts sarcastically, pointing out that she had explained its difficulty six months ago with the timeline.<br />
<br />
The title text furthers Cueball's apparent arrogance by showing a dialogue. Megan or Hairy says, "We TOLD you it was hard," referring to the first panel, but Cueball, still confident in his own ability's superiority, says, "Yeah, but now that I'VE tried, we KNOW it's hard." The joke is that Cueball believes that, even though he has just failed, it was his attempt which proved the difficulty, and not Megan and Hairy's work for years.<br />
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The satire, however, applies far beyond computer programmers. It can be read as a political commentary. ("Who knew healthcare was hard.") It is what we'd all like to see when well-meaning advice givers provide the "simple" solution to all our problems, or management provides glib advice from ten thousand feet. It is a commentary on the universal tendency to see problems as simple because we don't know what makes them hard.<br />
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This comic may also be a subtle reference to xkcd 793: Physicists.<br />
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==Transcript==<br />
{{incomplete transcript|Is this complete?}}<br />
'''Megan:''' (speaking to Hairy) Our field has been struggling with this problem for years.<br />
<br />
'''Cueball:''' Struggle no more! I'm here to solve it with ''algorithms!''<br />
<br />
''[beat panel]''<br />
<br />
'''Caption:''' Six months later:<br/><br />
'''Cueball:''' Wow, this problem is really hard.<br/><br />
'''Megan:''' ''You don't say.''<br />
<br />
{{comic discussion}}<br />
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[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]</div>108.162.212.179https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=1831:_Here_to_Help&diff=1394521831: Here to Help2017-05-01T22:54:31Z<p>108.162.212.179: /* Explanation */</p>
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<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 1831<br />
| date = May 1, 2017<br />
| title = Here to Help<br />
| image = here_to_help.png<br />
| titletext = "We TOLD you it was hard." "Yeah, but now that I'VE tried, we KNOW it's hard."<br />
}}<br />
<br />
==Explanation==<br />
{{incomplete|Created by a harried kid with no time to add links or detail - Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}<br />
This comic is a satire of computer programmers, who sometimes forget that not everything can be solved with an algorithm. In the first panel, Megan tells Hairy that her field has been working on a problem for years as Cueball walks up. Cueball, believing that he knows what they don't, says, "Struggle no more! I'm here with ALGORITHMS!" In the next panel, Megan and Hairy silently watch Cueball working on the problem on his laptop. Finally, six months later, Cueball concedes, "Wow, this problem is really hard." An exasperated Megan retorts sarcastically, "You don't say." <br />
The title text furthers Cueball's apparent arrogance by showing a dialogue. Megan or Hairy says "We TOLD you it was hard.", referring to the first panel, but Cueball, still confident in his own ability's superiority, says, "Yeah, but now that I'VE tried, we KNOW it's hard."<br />
<br />
==Transcript==<br />
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}<br />
<br />
{{comic discussion}}</div>108.162.212.179https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=1831:_Here_to_Help&diff=1394511831: Here to Help2017-05-01T22:53:28Z<p>108.162.212.179: Summary</p>
<hr />
<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 1831<br />
| date = May 1, 2017<br />
| title = Here to Help<br />
| image = here_to_help.png<br />
| titletext = "We TOLD you it was hard." "Yeah, but now that I'VE tried, we KNOW it's hard."<br />
}}<br />
<br />
==Explanation==<br />
{{incomplete|Created by a BOT - Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}<br />
This comic is a satire of computer programmers, who sometimes forget that not everything can be solved with an algorithm. In the first panel, Megan tells Hairy that her field has been working on a problem for years as Cueball walks up. Cueball, believing that he knows what they don't, says, "Struggle no more! I'm here with ALGORITHMS!" In the next panel, Megan and Hairy silently watch Cueball working on the problem on his laptop. Finally, six months later, Cueball concedes, "Wow, this problem is really hard." An exasperated Megan retorts sarcastically, "You don't say." <br />
The title text furthers Cueball's apparent arrogance by showing a dialogue. Megan or Hairy says "We TOLD you it was hard.", referring to the first panel, but Cueball, still confident in his own ability's superiority, says, "Yeah, but now that I'VE tried, we KNOW it's hard."<br />
<br />
<br />
==Transcript==<br />
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}<br />
<br />
{{comic discussion}}</div>108.162.212.179