https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/api.php?action=feedcontributions&user=108.162.249.191&feedformat=atomexplain xkcd - User contributions [en]2024-03-19T04:57:02ZUser contributionsMediaWiki 1.30.0https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=Talk:1589:_Frankenstein&diff=103248Talk:1589: Frankenstein2015-10-12T04:45:37Z<p>108.162.249.191: Added moon landing WTF question</p>
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<div>I get all that—I came here to find out what the moon landing reference is all about. Any ideas? [[Special:Contributions/108.162.249.191|108.162.249.191]] 04:45, 12 October 2015 (UTC)</div>108.162.249.191https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=1540:_Hemingway&diff=960451540: Hemingway2015-06-21T01:30:40Z<p>108.162.249.191: /* Explanation */</p>
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<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 1540<br />
| date = June 19, 2015<br />
| title = Hemingway<br />
| image = hemingway.png<br />
| titletext = Instead of bobcat, package contained chair.<br />
}}<br />
<br />
==Explanation==<br />
{{Incomplete|Finished with Edit Conflict assimilation, but prior author(s) invited to rejig}}<br />
<br />
This comic is a reference to the six-word short story ''{{w|For sale: baby shoes, never worn}}'', which has been commonly attributed to famous author {{w|Ernest Hemingway}}; however, [[Randall|Randall Munroe]] explicitly states that this might not be the case at all. The comic plays on the fact that the original story takes the form of a short advertisement that might have been seen in a newspaper, and for these examples uses various modern 'standards' that did not exist in Hemingway's time. In keeping with the original, each example remains six words long. The title text obeys this rule, too.<br />
<br />
In short: It is urban legend that Hemingway once wrote a story in just six words ("For sale: baby shoes, never worn.") and allegedly called it his best work.<br />
<br />
The various drafts offered in the comic are:<br />
*"For Sale: This gullible baby's shoes": This suggests the seller somehow tricked the baby out of its shoes. This pokes fun at the tragedy that the original story suggests. With the original (For Sale: Baby shoes, never worn), readers could infer that the baby who would have worn the shoes must have died. Randall tries to make the reader infer other, more absurd things instead.<br />
*"Baby shoes for sale by owner": This suggests that a very intelligent baby is somehow selling its own shoes, or that someone is selling an old pair of shoes they had as a baby.<br />
*"Free shoes, provided you overpower baby": This suggests the person posting the ad doesn't in fact own the shoes, but rather is asking people to forcibly steal shoes from a baby wearing them.<br />
*"For Sale: Weird baby's toe shoes: This might be a reference to [[1065: Shoes]], where shoes with toes were considered "creepy".<br />
*"For Sale: Baby shoes / Prime eligible": This is a reference to Amazon, which offers Prime as a paid service to expedite shipping of items ordered on its website.<br />
*"This weird trick covers baby feet!": This is modeled after common 'click bait' wording designed to get users to visit web pages, typically using words such as "This weird trick" or "secrets they don't want you to know" to artificially increase its apparent appeal. XKCD has previously parodied click bait in [[1283: Headlines]].<br />
*"For Sale: Baby shoes, just hatched": This plays on the meaning of the phrase "baby shoes", reframing it to mean a newly-born shoe (similar to "baby bird"), rather than its typical meaning of footwear designed for babies.<br />
*"Sale: Seven-league boots (expedited shipping)": {{w|Seven-league boots}} are mythical boots that allow their user to move seven leagues (about 25 miles) per step. The "expedited shipping" part suggests that the boots will be shipped to the customer on the feet of a walking person, thus allowing the boots to be shipped much faster than if by airplane (except, of course, if the boots had to be shipped overseas).<br />
*"Complete this survey for free shoes": This is another reference to common internet marketing campaigns, where users are incentivized to take surveys in exchange for small compensation such as free samples or coupons.<br />
*"''Shoes'', by Ernest Hemingway [Citation needed]": This is a reference to Wikipedia. "Citation needed" is used to mark claims that require additional evidence to justify as true. In this case, Randall is using this to question whether the short story was really written by Hemingway.<br />
*"This is my greatest short story": This is a completely different style that could also have been used to write a short story in six words. Rather than telling a story about shoes, this is more "meta" by referencing itself and being a self-fulfilling (or self-defeating) prophecy. (The sequel was titled "Don't bother reading my other stories").<br />
*"For Sale: Baby shoes (-1) [Cursed]": This is written like a description of a virtual item typically found in Roguelike games or MMOs. "-1" and "Cursed" are attributes of the item, which usually produce negative consequences that reduce its wearer's stats or abilities.<br />
*"<Blink><Marquee>Baby shoes!</Marquee></Blink>": This is reminiscent of the style of HTML widely used in the 1990s. Both the <Blink> and <Marquee> tags make the text content ("Baby shoes!") appear more prominent and attention-grabbing. The normally invisible-and-rendered tag elements can be seen and are part of the six words count. This could have been due to 'sanitising' of uploaded text where HTML tags (other than any that are specifically allowed, like it appears Strikethrough formatting might be) are deliberately deactivated by the server. An interesting note: When this comic was first posted to xkcd.com, the '/' in the </Blink> tag was missing. This was fixed between the 19th and 20th of June, 2015, showing that this was, indeed, unintentional.<br />
*"For Sale: Baby-sized saddle, bobcat": This is a reference to [[A-Minus-Minus|325: A-Minus-Minus]] in which [[Cueball]] says: 'Instead of office chair, package contained bobcat'. The 'Baby-sized saddle', a very small saddle, is an item only usable if one was to try to ride a small animal such as a bobcat, and was a baby.<br />
*"Hemingway busted for Craigslist shoe scam": This is written like a news headline where Hemingway supposedly wrote about shoes in order to perpetrate a scam. {{w|Craigslist}} is a website where users can advertise and seek goods and services.<br />
<br />
The title text continues the reference to [[A-Minus-Minus|325: A-Minus-Minus]], but inverts the situation. Rather than unexpectedly receiving a bobcat by package, this time the package contains a regular item instead of the expected bobcat.<br />
<br />
==Transcript==<br />
:[Caption above comic]<br />
:Hemingway's Rough Drafts<br />
<br />
:[A list of rough draft stories]<br />
:For sale: This Gullible Baby's Shoes<br />
:Baby Shoes For Sale By Owner<br />
:<strike>Actually, There's no evidence Hemingway wrote</strike><br />
:Free Shoes, Provided You Overpower Baby<br />
:For Sale: Weird Baby's Toe Shoes<br />
:For Sale: Baby Shoes <span style='color: #FF9900; font-style: italic;'>✓</span> <span style='color: #4DA3C5; font-style: italic;'>Prime</span> eligible<br />
:<strike>Though popularly attributed to Hemingway, the</strike><br />
:This Weird Trick Covers Baby Feet!<br />
:For Sale: Baby Shoes, Just Hatched<br />
:Sale: Seven-League Boots (Expedited Shipping)<br />
:Complete this survey for free shoes!<br />
:''Shoes'', by Ernest Hemingway <sup>[<span style='color: #0645ad; font-style: italic;'>citation needed</span>]</sup><br />
:This is my greatest short story.<br />
:For sale: Baby shoes (-1) [cursed]<br />
:<span style='color: #727272;'>&lt;blink&gt;&lt;marquee&gt;</span>Baby Shoes!<span style='color: #727272;'>&lt;/marquee&gt;&lt;/blink&gt;</span><br />
:For Sale: Baby-sized Saddle, Bobcat<br />
:Hemingway Busted for Craigslist Shoe Scam<br />
<br />
{{comic discussion}}<br />
[[Category:Comics|Color]]</div>108.162.249.191https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=Talk:1529:_Bracket&diff=94196Talk:1529: Bracket2015-05-26T11:27:30Z<p>108.162.249.191: </p>
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<div>Interesting to me that no one has noted the order of the doctors. Doctor Octopus is from a comic, Doctor Manhattan is from a graphic novel and, trying to avoid spoilers here, the atomic bomb plays a key role in the story. The atomic bomb was the product of the Manhattan project (a fact not lost on Alan Moore), and the subject of the movie referenced by the next line, Dr Strangelove ("or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb"). I can't believe this order is arbitrary. [[Special:Contributions/173.245.48.108|173.245.48.108]] 04:55, 26 May 2015 (UTC)<br />
<br />
What's the connection between Rip Torn and Natalie Imbruglia? {{unsigned ip|108.162.238.183}}<br />
:Answer: Her song, Torn: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VV1XWJN3nJo-{{unsigned|Stumpy}} <br />
Rip Torn could have a preliminary match with Prof. Lance Rips {{16:34, 25 May 2015 (UTC)Mitch Marks uchicago}}<br />
<br />
Any pairings that you'd add, given the opportunity? Personally I always confuse [[wikipedia:Wilson Pickett|Wilson Pickett]] and [[wikipedia:Wilson Phillips|Wilson Phillips]]. [[User:Studley|Studley]] ([[User talk:Studley|talk]]) 08:28, 25 May 2015 (UTC)<br />
[[wikipedia:Will Ferrell|Will Ferrell]] and [[wikipedia:Pharrell Williams|Pharrell Williams]] for me! -{{unsigned|Stumpy}}<br />
Bill Paxton should be followed by Bill Bixby... [[Special:Contributions/108.162.254.92|108.162.254.92]] 09:10, 26 May 2015 (UTC)<br />
<br />
How about George Washington and George Washington Carver? and the George Washington Bridge?<br />
<br />
At one time, the White House had both a Donald Regan and a Ronald Reagan.[[Special:Contributions/108.162.215.190|108.162.215.190]] 17:14, 25 May 2015 (UTC)<br />
<br />
Why do some first round pairings have more than two people? Beyoncé starts at the third round, so it can't be just because of the number of people. There has to be a joke in them but I don't see it. --[[Special:Contributions/141.101.104.176|141.101.104.176]] 08:45, 25 May 2015 (UTC)<br />
:Possibly an in-joke at the NCAA bracket's First Four round. Mister/Fred Astaire/Rogers is a more "traditional" reference to the First Four. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.219.103|108.162.219.103]] 10:32, 25 May 2015 (UTC)<br />
<br />
Perhaps it's worth adding to a trivia section that (assuming every person/thing has an equal chance of winning every matchup, Beyonce has the highest odds of winning (1/32 = 3.125%) while Kurt Russell, Russell Crowe, Russell Brand, and Russell Simmons are all tied for having the worst starting odds (1/256 = .391%).[[Special:Contributions/108.162.219.91|108.162.219.91]] 09:19, 25 May 2015 (UTC)<br />
<br />
I may be worth mentioning that the bracketing trees resemble hierarchical clustering dendrograms in which some string similarity metric was used as a distance function. {{unsigned ip|141.101.91.7}}<br />
<br />
Although the comic is formatted as a tournament bracket, there are hints that it is in fact a dendrogram based on string similarity, in a similar way to how trees of evolutionary relationships between proteins are formed. We see this especially in the "Russell" group where there is equal similarity between any name containing "Russell" and so that group is not resolved into two separate forks. If readers wish to recreate such an analysis for themselves they can take the text on [http://pastebin.com/DRqjaDHH here] paste it into a [http://www.ebi.ac.uk/Tools/msa/clustalw2/ multiple sequence aligner], press Submit, then after processing click Phylogenetic Tree and scroll down. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.99.74|141.101.99.74]] 12:46, 25 May 2015 (UTC)<br />
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Somewhat disagree. There is no "string similarity" between domino and checker. The connection between the names seems to be that there are games named Dominos and Checkers. They would not be together if it was based on strictly on string similarity or generated automatically by software without human intervention.[[Special:Contributions/108.162.215.190|108.162.215.190]] 17:09, 25 May 2015 (UTC)<br />
<br />
Is there any significance to the number of entries? 52 on the left side but only 51 on the right? {{unsigned ip|108.162.216.84}}<br />
<br />
;Title text<br />
Changed the reference of the Title Text from Doctor Who (who is already listed in the comic) to Dr. Dre, as the phrasing of the Title Text seems like a very direct reference to the 2001 song "Forgot About Dre." {{unsigned|Conquistador}}<br />
:Probably would have been better to add it as an option since we're clearly far from certain -{{unsigned|Stumpy}} <br />
<br />
Why not Zoidberg? --RhyvenNZ [[Special:Contributions/198.41.238.41|198.41.238.41]] 09:55, 25 May 2015 (UTC)<br />
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Pretty sure Doctor Who is covered by "The Doctor". He doesn't go by "Who" in the show. He's just the Doctor. I think the missing doctor is House. {{unsigned ip|108.162.215.127}}<br />
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Dr. Pepper, maybe? Does "staring" or "forgotten" have to do with it? {{unsigned ip|108.162.237.156}}<br />
<br />
Whatagainnow? {{unsigned ip|108.162.222.178}}<br />
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Dr. Oz? Dr. Phil? Dr. Watson? Dr. Kavorkian? Dr. Seuss? Wasn't there a famous literary work, The Lost Island of Dr. Moreau? I agree that Dr. House and/or house calls could be a missing candidate for the bracket. But then, there are a ton of 'Sirs' that didn't make the list. <!--GAKDragon 06:43, 25 May 2015 (UTC)GAKDragon--> {{unsigned|GAKDragon||please sign your posts appropriately with the appropriate user and talk page links using <nowiki>~~~~</nowiki>}}<br />
:[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dr._Teeth_and_The_Electric_Mayhem Doctor Teeth!] [[User:Jarod997|Jarod997]] ([[User talk:Jarod997|talk]]) 13:50, 25 May 2015 (UTC)<br />
:Pete Docter? [[Special:Contributions/108.162.249.191|108.162.249.191]] 11:27, 26 May 2015 (UTC)<br />
<br />
Or is "The Doctor" http://en.memory-alpha.wikia.com/wiki/The_Doctor? {{unsigned ip|108.162.215.108}}<br />
:The Doctor is already in the bracket. --[[Special:Contributions/141.101.99.49|141.101.99.49]] 10:40, 25 May 2015 (UTC)<br />
<br />
It's Doctor House - definitely and finally! {{unsigned|Raydleemsc}}<br />
<br />
Definitely "Doc" Brown: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emmett_Brown {{unsigned ip|108.162.221.171}}<br />
<br />
::It's clearly Dr. Doolittle. Can't imagine why no one has realized this yet. {{unsigned ip|108.162.238.193}}<br />
<br />
Could the joke simply be "there are way too many famous doctors", so even though it's arguably the most numerous category in the bracket, some are still "forgotten"? {{unsigned ip|108.162.254.164}}<br />
<br />
Probably not talking about doctor who, however he could be referencing The Silence, which is a an alien race, on that show, which you immediately forget about after losing sight of it. {{unsigned|KroniK907}}<br />
<br />
I immediately thought of Amy's wedding in Dr Who S5Ep13 where she needed to remember the doctor to bring him back. Too obscure? [[User:Blu003|Blu003]] ([[User talk:Blu003|talk]]) 13:07, 25 May 2015 (UTC)<br />
:Hardly. You want obscure, try The Doctor's granddaughter. Yep, he had/has one. --[[Special:Contributions/108.162.237.144|108.162.237.144]] 13:41, 25 May 2015 (UTC)<br />
<br />
:Dr. Martha Jones, from Doctor Who? The Doctor Donna? Even the companions on the show are Doctors. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.222.178|108.162.222.178]] 03:55, 26 May 2015 (UTC)<br />
<br />
Y'know, I can't help but feel that this is a little to bland and unfinished for xkcd. I'm willing to bet that the picture updates with winners. May be sorely disappointed though. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.219.119|108.162.219.119]] 15:02, 25 May 2015 (UTC)<br />
<br />
Can't help but feel that there's a better way to lay this explanation out, but I haven't been able to come up with it. Maybe some sort of table listing all the different groups, with people allowed to be in more than one group? [[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.232|141.101.98.232]] 15:18, 25 May 2015 (UTC)<br />
<br />
:I personally don't love the large listing of people. It is a bit bland, but more importantly, it doesn't really show the linkages between the participants (though most people ought to be able to figure out these overt links Jeff Gordon... Jeff Daniels... it doesn't need explanation. That said, the current format doesn't quite demonstrate the chain-link nature of some matchups like:<br />
:*'''Body''' Shop<br />
:*'''Bath''' and '''Body''' Works<br />
:*Bed '''Bath''' & '''Beyond'''<br />
:*'''Beyond''' Thunderdome<br />
:* '''Beyon'''cé.<br />
:I wouldn't mind a format with that kind of bolding. I think that shows the chain of links better than the first to being grouped "businesses with the word "body" and the second two "things with the word beyond" and "Beyoncé" separately. Similarly, Jeff Daniels belongs to both the "Jeff"s and the "J. Daniels"es. [[User:TheHYPO|TheHYPO]] ([[User talk:TheHYPO|talk]]) 15:48, 25 May 2015 (UTC)<br />
<br />
I wouldn't categorize Fats Domino and Chubby Checker (just) as games. Given that they're directly under Ryan Adams and Bryan Adams, I'd have identified them as 50's singers, with some physical similarities. [[User:KenWhitesell|KenWhitesell]] ([[User talk:KenWhitesell|talk]]) 16:17, 25 May 2015 (UTC)<br />
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Agree. I put in the identification about games without knowing who Chubby Checker was.[[Special:Contributions/108.162.215.190|108.162.215.190]] 17:09, 25 May 2015 (UTC)<br />
:Then you are one of today's lucky 10,000! [[1053]] {{w|Chubby Checker}}[[User:Zeimusu|Zeimusu]] ([[User talk:Zeimusu|talk]]) 21:32, 25 May 2015 (UTC)<br />
<br />
;celebrity deathmatch<br />
<br />
This reminds me of Celebrity Deathmatch. Then have:<br />
* Charles Manson vs. Marilyn Manson<br />
* Backstreet Boys vs. Beastie Boys<br />
* The Three Stooges vs. The Three Tenors<br />
* Kevin Costner vs. Kevin Smith<br />
* John Cusack vs. John Malkovich<br />
* David Blaine vs. David Copperfield<br />
* Corey Feldman vs. Corey Haim<br />
* Jack Black vs. Jack White<br />
<br />
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Celebrity_Deathmatch_episodes {{unsigned|Bart9h}}<br />
<br />
Who is Jeff Gordan? There's an extremely famous NASCAR driver named Jeff Gordon, but I don't know of a Jeff Gordan. Significant or typo? [[Special:Contributions/108.162.238.182|108.162.238.182]] 16:07, 25 May 2015 (UTC)<br />
<br />
Where is Colin Furze? And Arnold Swarzenegger? And all other people I never heard of? -- [[Special:Contributions/141.101.104.116|141.101.104.116]] 21:12, 25 May 2015 (UTC)<br />
<br />
What about my favourite triple: Robbie Williams, Robin Williams and Robyn Williams? -- Ian N. {{unsigned ip|162.158.3.11}}<br />
<br />
And who can forget Dermot Mulroney and Dylan mcDermott?[[Special:Contributions/108.162.254.164|108.162.254.164]] 09:34, 26 May 2015 (UTC)<br />
<br />
This is a major "Get Out Of My Head, Randall" comic for me. The day before this comic was posted, my friend and I were discussing a "Hunger Games" type simulation being done on 8chan involving loads and loads of characters across genres, and he had asked me about the probability of a particular match-up occurring with a desired outcome. It led to a long and detailed math conversation. The original match-up has been bumped out of existence, but [http://i.imgur.com/ESeMXOI.jpg this image] still lives on. Appropriately, the comic was posted on my birthday. 2spooky4me. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.210.177|108.162.210.177]] 06:01, 26 May 2015 (UTC)<br />
<br />
I would have added Amanda Plummer. Will confuse Plummer with Palmer any day. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.249.191|108.162.249.191]] 23:19, 25 May 2015 (UTC)</div>108.162.249.191https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=Talk:1529:_Bracket&diff=94123Talk:1529: Bracket2015-05-25T23:19:39Z<p>108.162.249.191: </p>
<hr />
<div>I would have added Amanda Plummer. Will confuse Plummer with Palmer any day. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.249.191|108.162.249.191]] 23:19, 25 May 2015 (UTC)<br />
<br />
What's the connection between Rip Torn and Natalie Imbruglia? {{unsigned ip|108.162.238.183}}<br />
:Answer: Her song, Torn: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VV1XWJN3nJo-{{unsigned|Stumpy}} <br />
Rip Torn could have a preliminary match with Prof. Lance Rips {{16:34, 25 May 2015 (UTC)Mitch Marks uchicago}}<br />
<br />
Any pairings that you'd add, given the opportunity? Personally I always confuse [[wikipedia:Wilson Pickett|Wilson Pickett]] and [[wikipedia:Wilson Phillips|Wilson Phillips]]. [[User:Studley|Studley]] ([[User talk:Studley|talk]]) 08:28, 25 May 2015 (UTC)<br />
[[wikipedia:Will Ferrell|Will Ferrell]] and [[wikipedia:Pharrell Williams|Pharrell Williams]] for me! -{{unsigned|Stumpy}}<br />
<br />
How about George Washington and George Washington Carver? and the George Washington Bridge?<br />
<br />
At one time, the White House had both a Donald Regan and a Ronald Reagan.[[Special:Contributions/108.162.215.190|108.162.215.190]] 17:14, 25 May 2015 (UTC)<br />
<br />
Why do some first round pairings have more than two people? Beyoncé starts at the third round, so it can't be just because of the number of people. There has to be a joke in them but I don't see it. --[[Special:Contributions/141.101.104.176|141.101.104.176]] 08:45, 25 May 2015 (UTC)<br />
:Possibly an in-joke at the NCAA bracket's First Four round. Mister/Fred Astaire/Rogers is a more "traditional" reference to the First Four. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.219.103|108.162.219.103]] 10:32, 25 May 2015 (UTC)<br />
<br />
Perhaps it's worth adding to a trivia section that (assuming every person/thing has an equal chance of winning every matchup, Beyonce has the highest odds of winning (1/32 = 3.125%) while Kurt Russell, Russell Crowe, Russell Brand, and Russell Simmons are all tied for having the worst starting odds (1/256 = .391%).[[Special:Contributions/108.162.219.91|108.162.219.91]] 09:19, 25 May 2015 (UTC)<br />
<br />
I may be worth mentioning that the bracketing trees resemble hierarchical clustering dendrograms in which some string similarity metric was used as a distance function. {{unsigned ip|141.101.91.7}}<br />
<br />
Although the comic is formatted as a tournament bracket, there are hints that it is in fact a dendrogram based on string similarity, in a similar way to how trees of evolutionary relationships between proteins are formed. We see this especially in the "Russell" group where there is equal similarity between any name containing "Russell" and so that group is not resolved into two separate forks. If readers wish to recreate such an analysis for themselves they can take the text on [http://pastebin.com/DRqjaDHH here] paste it into a [http://www.ebi.ac.uk/Tools/msa/clustalw2/ multiple sequence aligner], press Submit, then after processing click Phylogenetic Tree and scroll down. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.99.74|141.101.99.74]] 12:46, 25 May 2015 (UTC)<br />
<br />
Somewhat disagree. There is no "string similarity" between domino and checker. The connection between the names seems to be that there are games named Dominos and Checkers. They would not be together if it was based on strictly on string similarity or generated automatically by software without human intervention.[[Special:Contributions/108.162.215.190|108.162.215.190]] 17:09, 25 May 2015 (UTC)<br />
<br />
Is there any significance to the number of entries? 52 on the left side but only 51 on the right? {{unsigned ip|108.162.216.84}}<br />
<br />
;Title text<br />
Changed the reference of the Title Text from Doctor Who (who is already listed in the comic) to Dr. Dre, as the phrasing of the Title Text seems like a very direct reference to the 2001 song "Forgot About Dre." {{unsigned|Conquistador}}<br />
:Probably would have been better to add it as an option since we're clearly far from certain -{{unsigned|Stumpy}} <br />
<br />
Why not Zoidberg? --RhyvenNZ [[Special:Contributions/198.41.238.41|198.41.238.41]] 09:55, 25 May 2015 (UTC)<br />
<br />
Pretty sure Doctor Who is covered by "The Doctor". He doesn't go by "Who" in the show. He's just the Doctor. I think the missing doctor is House. {{unsigned ip|108.162.215.127}}<br />
<br />
Dr. Pepper, maybe? Does "staring" or "forgotten" have to do with it? {{unsigned ip|108.162.237.156}}<br />
<br />
Whatagainnow? {{unsigned ip|108.162.222.178}}<br />
<br />
Dr. Oz? Dr. Phil? Dr. Watson? Dr. Kavorkian? Dr. Seuss? Wasn't there a famous literary work, The Lost Island of Dr. Moreau? I agree that Dr. House and/or house calls could be a missing candidate for the bracket. But then, there are a ton of 'Sirs' that didn't make the list. <!--GAKDragon 06:43, 25 May 2015 (UTC)GAKDragon--> {{unsigned|GAKDragon||please sign your posts appropriately with the appropriate user and talk page links using <nowiki>~~~~</nowiki>}}<br />
:[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dr._Teeth_and_The_Electric_Mayhem Doctor Teeth!] [[User:Jarod997|Jarod997]] ([[User talk:Jarod997|talk]]) 13:50, 25 May 2015 (UTC)<br />
<br />
Or is "The Doctor" http://en.memory-alpha.wikia.com/wiki/The_Doctor? {{unsigned ip|108.162.215.108}}<br />
:The Doctor is already in the bracket. --[[Special:Contributions/141.101.99.49|141.101.99.49]] 10:40, 25 May 2015 (UTC)<br />
<br />
It's Doctor House - definitely and finally! {{unsigned|Raydleemsc}}<br />
<br />
Definitely "Doc" Brown: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emmett_Brown {{unsigned ip|108.162.221.171}}<br />
<br />
::It's clearly Dr. Doolittle. Can't imagine why no one has realized this yet. {{unsigned ip|108.162.238.193}}<br />
<br />
Could the joke simply be "there are way too many famous doctors", so even though it's arguably the most numerous category in the bracket, some are still "forgotten"? {{unsigned ip|108.162.254.164}}<br />
<br />
Probably not talking about doctor who, however he could be referencing The Silence, which is a an alien race, on that show, which you immediately forget about after losing sight of it. {{unsigned|KroniK907}}<br />
<br />
I immediately thought of Amy's wedding in Dr Who S5Ep13 where she needed to remember the doctor to bring him back. Too obscure? [[User:Blu003|Blu003]] ([[User talk:Blu003|talk]]) 13:07, 25 May 2015 (UTC)<br />
:Hardly. You want obscure, try The Doctor's granddaughter. Yep, he had/has one. --[[Special:Contributions/108.162.237.144|108.162.237.144]] 13:41, 25 May 2015 (UTC)<br />
<br />
Y'know, I can't help but feel that this is a little to bland and unfinished for xkcd. I'm willing to bet that the picture updates with winners. May be sorely disappointed though. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.219.119|108.162.219.119]] 15:02, 25 May 2015 (UTC)<br />
<br />
Can't help but feel that there's a better way to lay this explanation out, but I haven't been able to come up with it. Maybe some sort of table listing all the different groups, with people allowed to be in more than one group? [[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.232|141.101.98.232]] 15:18, 25 May 2015 (UTC)<br />
<br />
:I personally don't love the large listing of people. It is a bit bland, but more importantly, it doesn't really show the linkages between the participants (though most people ought to be able to figure out these overt links Jeff Gordon... Jeff Daniels... it doesn't need explanation. That said, the current format doesn't quite demonstrate the chain-link nature of some matchups like:<br />
:*'''Body''' Shop<br />
:*'''Bath''' and '''Body''' Works<br />
:*Bed '''Bath''' & '''Beyond'''<br />
:*'''Beyond''' Thunderdome<br />
:* '''Beyon'''cé.<br />
:I wouldn't mind a format with that kind of bolding. I think that shows the chain of links better than the first to being grouped "businesses with the word "body" and the second two "things with the word beyond" and "Beyoncé" separately. Similarly, Jeff Daniels belongs to both the "Jeff"s and the "J. Daniels"es. [[User:TheHYPO|TheHYPO]] ([[User talk:TheHYPO|talk]]) 15:48, 25 May 2015 (UTC)<br />
<br />
I wouldn't categorize Fats Domino and Chubby Checker (just) as games. Given that they're directly under Ryan Adams and Bryan Adams, I'd have identified them as 50's singers, with some physical similarities. [[User:KenWhitesell|KenWhitesell]] ([[User talk:KenWhitesell|talk]]) 16:17, 25 May 2015 (UTC)<br />
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Agree. I put in the identification about games without knowing who Chubby Checker was.[[Special:Contributions/108.162.215.190|108.162.215.190]] 17:09, 25 May 2015 (UTC)<br />
:Then you are one of today's lucky 10,000! [[1053]] {{w|Chubby Checker}}[[User:Zeimusu|Zeimusu]] ([[User talk:Zeimusu|talk]]) 21:32, 25 May 2015 (UTC)<br />
<br />
;celebrity deathmatch<br />
<br />
This reminds me of Celebrity Deathmatch. Then have:<br />
* Charles Manson vs. Marilyn Manson<br />
* Backstreet Boys vs. Beastie Boys<br />
* The Three Stooges vs. The Three Tenors<br />
* Kevin Costner vs. Kevin Smith<br />
* John Cusack vs. John Malkovich<br />
* David Blaine vs. David Copperfield<br />
* Corey Feldman vs. Corey Haim<br />
* Jack Black vs. Jack White<br />
<br />
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Celebrity_Deathmatch_episodes {{unsigned|Bart9h}}<br />
<br />
Who is Jeff Gordan? There's an extremely famous NASCAR driver named Jeff Gordon, but I don't know of a Jeff Gordan. Significant or typo? [[Special:Contributions/108.162.238.182|108.162.238.182]] 16:07, 25 May 2015 (UTC)<br />
<br />
Where is Colin Furze? And Arnold Swarzenegger? And all other people I never heard of? -- [[Special:Contributions/141.101.104.116|141.101.104.116]] 21:12, 25 May 2015 (UTC)</div>108.162.249.191https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=1086:_Eyelash_Wish_Log&diff=939261086: Eyelash Wish Log2015-05-24T11:09:24Z<p>108.162.249.191: /* Explanation */</p>
<hr />
<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 1086<br />
| date = July 25, 2012<br />
| title = Eyelash Wish Log<br />
| image = eyelash wish log.png<br />
| titletext = Ooh, another one. Uh... the ability to alter any coefficients of friction at will during sporting events.<br />
}}<br />
<br />
==Explanation==<br />
This comic is based on a common belief/superstition that when someone's eyelash falls out, that person can make a wish on it. This comic appears to be a page from the fictitious Wish Bureau in charge of granting said wishes. And of course the wisher is [[Black Hat]] and he has quite a few wishes, most of them based on the previous wish. A common trope in fiction is that wishing for more wishes is prohibited and for many of his wishes [[Black Hat]] attempts to circumvent that.<br />
<br />
;January 9: That wishing on eyelashes worked<br />
:This wish is pointless. If wishing on eyelashes worked, then this would do absolutely nothing (because it already works) and if it didn't then nothing would happen because wishing on eyelashes wouldn't work.<br />
<br />
;January 12: A pony<br />
:This wish functions as a test to see whether or not previous wish worked. It can be assumed that it did, as Black Hat then continued to make additional wishes.<br />
<br />
;January 15: Unlimited wishes<br />
:This appears to have failed, due to the typical ban of wishing for additional wishes in conventional folklore.<br />
<br />
;January 19: Revocation of rules prohibiting unlimited wishes<br />
:An attempt to circumvent the ban in the previous wish. <br />
<br />
;January 20: A finite but arbitrarily large number of wishes<br />
:Another attempt to circumvent the ban on unlimited wishes.<br />
<br />
;January 28: The power to dictate the rules governing wishes<br />
:Yet another attempt to circumvent the ban on unlimited wishes.<br />
<br />
;February 5: Unlimited eyelashes<br />
:This wish likely caused Black Hat to grow unlimited eyelashes, which could be quite inconvenient and painful. And, yes, one more attempt to circumvent the ban on unlimited wishes.<br />
<br />
;February 6: That wish-granting entities be required to interpret wishes in accordance with the intent of the wisher<br />
:This wish is likely a response to the previous day's misguided wish. It's actually quite a common problem that people making wishes leave them open for misinterpretation.<br />
<br />
;February 8: That wish-granting entities be incapable of impatience<br />
:An attempt to prevent whatever being is powerful enough to grant wishes from becoming angry with Black Hat while he tries to manipulate the system.<br />
<br />
;February 12 #1: Unlimited breadsticks<br />
:The first wish of this day seems to be a reference to the unlimited {{w|breadsticks}} offered at {{w|Olive Garden}}.<br />
<br />
;February 12 #2: Veto power over others' wishes<br />
:A power that could be interesting to have. It also very much fits with Black Hat's character.<br />
<br />
;February 19: Veto power over others' wishes and all congressional legislation<br />
:An improvement of the previous wish. This would be very interesting to have indeed, especially if you are Black Hat, because you could veto any federal law, a power normally entrusted only to the President.<br />
<br />
;February 23: The power to override any veto<br />
:This wish would allow Black Hat to override vetoes which in addition to the previous wish would effectively make him control the US legislature and, to some extent, also all other governing bodies. (Notably the UN, where the veto powers wielded by the "big 5" cannot be overridden and can have large impacts on global politics.) Note that it will not allow him to turn laws off (veto them) and on again (override the veto) at any moment, as once a bill becomes law it cannot be vetoed. Without the ability to propose legislation, Black Hat's powers are still limited. The wish may also refer back to the February 19 wish: by granting himself veto power over wishes, Black Hat just made vetoes more powerful than wishes; now he is trying to control other people's vetoes as well, lest they one-up him.<br />
<br />
;February 27: The power to see where any shortened URL goes without clicking<br />
:This wish relates to a common practice especially in tweets or other short length media where full length specific HTML addresses such as <tt>www.somewhere.com/articles/specificdate/the page.html</tt> would not be feasible. So a more compressed but nonsensical string of seemingly random characters is used which links to a link of the full text address. This creates some problems for people who are security or privacy conscious and prefer to be informed beforehand where they will be traveling on the Internet. <br />
<br />
;February 29: The power to control the direction news anchors are looking while they talk<br />
:This wish likely appeals to Black Hat's mischevious side, allowing him to cause news anchors to look at the wrong camera during live broadcast. Repeatedly switching to the incorrect camera would cause havoc in the studio.<br />
<br />
;March 7: The power to introduce arbitrary error into Nate Silver's predictions<br />
:A reference to {{w|Nate Silver}}, who is a former writer for {{w|Baseball Prospectus}} working on predicting baseball players' stats and now writes for {{w|Five Thirty Eight}} in which he predicts the outcome of elections based on polling data. This would grant Black Hat the power to influence the result of elections. This would tighten the Black Hat's control of the US even more.<br />
<br />
;March 15: A house of stairs<br />
:This wish refers to the {{w|lithograph}} {{w|Relativity (M. C. Escher)|Relativity}} by {{w|M. C. Escher}}, or perhaps another of his lithographs, {{w|House of Stairs}}<br />
<br />
;March 23: A universe which is a replica of this one sans rules against meta-wishes<br />
:Another attempt to circumvent the rules against wishing for more wishes.<br />
<br />
;March 29: Free transportation to and from that universe<br />
:While the previous wish appears to have worked, Black Hat notes a problem with it: he is still in our universe with no ways to get to the new one.<br />
<br />
;April 2: A clear explanation of how wish rules are structured and enforced<br />
:It appears that one or both of the previous two wishes failed, so Black Hat tries to discover exactly what is offending the Bureau. Having clear rules and how they work helps anyone finding loopholes in them.<br />
<br />
;April 7: The power to banish people into the TV show they are talking about<br />
:Black hat is obviously fed up of hearing people talking about certain TV shows, and would like to be able to banish them into the show, thus prevent him having to listen to those people.<br />
<br />
;April 8: Zero wishes<br />
:An attempt to hack the wish-granting system by using a quite common vulnerability in input validation: an unexpected value. There may be multiple vectors this can work:<br />
:* in many computer systems, 0 is reserved for unlimited<br />
:* the number may be used as a divisor in some equation and this will make the system divide by zero and probably crash<br />
:* there also may be an assertion like “number of wishes granted == 1” which would fail, again crashing the system<br />
:However it seems the eyelash wish-granting system does proper input validation on zero because it did not crash or grant unlimited wishes<br />
:This wish may also be a reversal of the January 9 wish. Black Hat is attempting to win his game by introducing a logical contradiction: if he gets "zero wishes", this is one wish granted; however, if it is not granted, then, de facto, he will have been granted zero wishes. This is a common technique used in logical proofs to show that an earlier assumption does not hold (in this case, the possibility of eyelash wishing to work).<br />
<br />
<br />
;April 15: Veto power over clocks<br />
:Midnight, April 15 is the deadline for filing income tax returns in the United States.<br />
:It may also be that Black Hat, now in control of all human legislation, is attempting to extend this to further control also rules of nature -- in this case: time. The strange wording is likely to be due to Black Hat having consulted with the wish-hacking manual he acquired April 2.<br />
<br />
;April 22: A pokéball that works on strangers' pets<br />
:A reference to the cartoon and video game series {{w|Pokémon}}. A Pokéball can be thrown at a Pokémon (or in this case, a pet that the Pokéball thrower finds either annoying or cute) to capture/contain it and/or achieve ownership of it. Unless cheats are used, Pokéballs cannot be used on Pokémon owned by other people in the Pokémon games. Many players wish to obtain the often high-level Pokémon of NPCs, and black hat guy may also be interested in pranking other players by stealing their powerful Pokémon<br />
<br />
The title text is another yet another mischievous wish. The coefficients of friction, though usually not noticed as they are unchanging, are all-important when performing physical activities -- imagine trying to play hockey on a field of sand or sprinting over a sheet of ice. In addition to the difficulty going where you want or getting any balls that might be in play where you want them to go in a changing friction environment, angular momentum would also be very difficult to control.<br />
<br />
==Transcript==<br />
:{|<br />
! align="left" colspan="2" |<font size="+1">Eyelash Wish Log</font><br />
|-style="color: gray;"<br />
|<br />
|align="right"|Wish bureau ID#:<br />
|-<br />
|<br />
|align="right"|21118378<br />
|-style="color: gray;"<br />
|<br />
|align="right"|Date range:<br />
|-<br />
!scope="row" style="color: gray;"|Wisher<br />
|align="right"|Jan-Apr 2012<br />
|}<br />
<br />
:{|<br />
!align="left" width="50px"|Date<br />
!align="left"|Wish<br />
|-<br />
|Jan 09<br />
|That wishing on eyelashes worked<br />
|-<br />
|Jan 12<br />
|A pony<br />
|-<br />
|Jan 15<br />
|Unlimited wishes<br />
|-<br />
|Jan 19<br />
|Revocation of rules prohibiting unlimited wishes<br />
|-<br />
|Jan 20<br />
|A finite but arbitrarily large number of wishes<br />
|-<br />
|Jan 28<br />
|The power to dictate the rules governing wishes<br />
|-<br />
|Feb 05<br />
|Unlimited eyelashes<br />
|-<br />
|Feb 06<br />
|That wish-granting entities be required to interpret wishes in<br>accordance with the intent of the wisher<br />
|-<br />
|Feb 08<br />
|That wish-granting entities be incapable of impatience<br />
|-<br />
|Feb 12<br />
|Unlimited breadsticks<br />
|-<br />
|Feb 12<br />
|Veto power over others' wishes<br />
|-<br />
|Feb 19<br />
|Veto power over others' wishes and all congressional legislation<br />
|-<br />
|Feb 23<br />
|The power to override any veto<br />
|-<br />
|Feb 27<br />
|The power to see where any shortened URL goes without clicking<br />
|-<br />
|Feb 29<br />
|The power to control the direction news anchors are looking while they talk<br />
|-<br />
|Mar 07<br />
|The power to introduce arbitrary error into Nate Silver's predictions<br />
|-<br />
|Mar 15<br />
|A house of stairs<br />
|-<br />
|Mar 23<br />
|A universe which is a replica of this one sans rules against meta-wishes<br />
|-<br />
|Mar 29<br />
|Free transportation to and from that universe<br />
|-<br />
|Apr 02<br />
|A clear explanation of how wish rules are structured and enforced<br />
|-<br />
|Apr 07<br />
|The power to banish people into the TV show they're talking about<br />
|-<br />
|Apr 08<br />
|Zero wishes<br />
|-<br />
|Apr 15<br />
|Veto power over clocks<br />
|-<br />
|Apr 22<br />
|A Pokéball that works on strangers' pets<br />
|}<br />
<br />
{{Comic discussion}}<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Black Hat]]<br />
[[Category:Pokémon]]</div>108.162.249.191