https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/api.php?action=feedcontributions&user=162.158.159.102&feedformat=atomexplain xkcd - User contributions [en]2024-03-29T05:14:30ZUser contributionsMediaWiki 1.30.0https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=Talk:2796:_Real_Estate_Analysis&diff=317407Talk:2796: Real Estate Analysis2023-07-07T16:24:09Z<p>162.158.159.102: </p>
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I suspect the hover text is reference to the song ‘Rocket Man’ and the lyric ‘Mars ‘ain’t the kind of place to raise your kids’ but I’m not sure it’s strong enough to include. Thoughts? [[Special:Contributions/172.71.242.11|172.71.242.11]] 16:10, 30 June 2023 (UTC)<br />
:I don't know if that would be my first interpretation, but it's not necessarily wrong. Feel free to add it! (This wiki is supposed to include multiple interpretations if they exist.) [[User:DownGoer|DownGoer]] ([[User talk:DownGoer|talk]]) 17:32, 30 June 2023 (UTC)<br />
:It seems like a bit of a stretch to me. [[User:BunsenH|BunsenH]] ([[User talk:BunsenH|talk]]) 23:33, 30 June 2023 (UTC)<br />
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He omitted Pluto, but included the Moon, which isn't any kind of planet. Furthermore, the Moon should get a much higher score on proximity to shops than all the other planets (it's only 250K miles away, versus hundreds of millions of miles). [[User:Barmar|Barmar]] ([[User talk:Barmar|talk]]) 18:33, 30 June 2023 (UTC)<br />
:Massive disrespect to Pluto :( [[Special:Contributions/172.70.210.110|172.70.210.110]] 18:37, 30 June 2023 (UTC)<br />
:The Moon is okay but there's no atmosphere. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.158.50|162.158.158.50]] 21:18, 30 June 2023 (UTC)<br />
::For atmosphere, you really want to look into Venus and the gas giants (cool name for a band?). Pluto, on the other hand, has a lot of heart. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.247.42|172.69.247.42]] 12:24, 1 July 2023 (UTC)<br />
:He also omitted Sol. More people have worshipped it than Earth, so it's even more glaring than Pluto. [[Special:Contributions/172.71.147.36|172.71.147.36]] 23:53, 30 June 2023 (UTC)<br />
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Isn't "proximity to shops and restaurants" a significant contributor to most "walkability score[s]"? It seems weird that the x and y axes are confounded in such an obvious way, is there a deeper message? [[User:JohnHawkinson|JohnHawkinson]] ([[User talk:JohnHawkinson|talk]]) 21:16, 30 June 2023 (UTC)<br />
:If I live across the street from a store, but that street’s a busy highway, I’d say I lived near a store, but I wouldn’t necessarily want to walk there. [[User:Intara|Intara]] ([[User talk:Intara|talk]]) 05:42, 1 July 2023 (UTC)<br />
::Sure. It's not the ''only'' contributor. Just a significant one. [[User:JohnHawkinson|JohnHawkinson]] ([[User talk:JohnHawkinson|talk]]) 00:48, 2 July 2023 (UTC)<br />
::That reminds me of my vacation in Egypt with the hotel being "in front on a fastfood". Sure the McDonalds was right in front, but there was a double-three-lines highway, making the line-of-sight proximity totally irrelevant. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.233.11|162.158.233.11]] 07:35, 3 July 2023 (UTC)<br />
: There are several algorithms for converting a basis for an inner product space to an ortho-normal basis for the space.[[Special:Contributions/162.158.159.102|162.158.159.102]] 16:24, 7 July 2023 (UTC)<br />
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The moon and Mercury should also be pretty good in the "low noise" and "scenic" scales. Depending on whether one wants to count radio noise, and the effects of the magnetic tornadoes on Mercury. [[User:BunsenH|BunsenH]] ([[User talk:BunsenH|talk]]) 23:33, 30 June 2023 (UTC)<br />
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You really can't walk on most of the surface. More than 70% is water.<br />
:Hold my wine... -- [[User:Jesus|Jesus]] ([[User talk:Jesus|talk]]) 01:18-02:23, 25 December 1 (UTC)<br />
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I'm not convinced that the total silence of Mars would be desirable. Humans have evolved in an environment where some level of noise is expected - complete silence might well quickly lead to some significantly deleterious mental effects. (Of course, the complete isolation from other humans wouldn't help either.)[[Special:Contributions/172.70.91.200|172.70.91.200]] 09:25, 3 July 2023 (UTC)</div>162.158.159.102https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=Talk:2793:_Garden_Path_Sentence&diff=316030Talk:2793: Garden Path Sentence2023-06-24T05:10:37Z<p>162.158.159.102: </p>
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The bot didn't upload the most recent comic so I tried to do it myself, but I think I screwed it up :([[User:Szeth Pancakes|Szeth Pancakes]] ([[User talk:Szeth Pancakes|talk]]) 18:31, 23 June 2023 (UTC)<br />
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I think the term "bird strikes" should be interpreted as a plural noun, given the two Xs on the map. Something like "After bird strikes, judge ... overturned but rights and lands safely" [[Special:Contributions/172.69.59.8|172.69.59.8]] 20:30, 23 June 2023 (UTC)<br />
: Or it could be the bird strikes judge... You know, the one who was the judge in an important and well-known "bird strikes" case, possibly environmental, possibly an insurance scam case or something.[[User:Thisfox|Thisfox]] ([[User talk:Thisfox|talk]]) 21:46, 23 June 2023 (UTC)<br />
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I don't think the current interpretation is wrong, but "olive garden" could be the lower-case-when-not-a-comics-headline descriptor for, you know, an actual garden of olive trees. That makes more sense when referring to green walkways. [[User:Nitpicking|Nitpicking]] ([[User talk:Nitpicking|talk]]) 20:33, 23 June 2023 (UTC)<br />
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Can someone also parse the alt-text? I still can't figure it out. -[[Special:Contributions/162.158.154.176|162.158.154.176]] 20:39, 23 June 2023 (UTC)<br />
:I think it's saying the arboretum owner (who is appealing the case) is himself appealing. I'm still having trouble with the grounds grounds portion though. :([[User:*anonymouse*|*anonymouse*]] ([[User talk:*anonymouse*|talk]]) 20:48, 23 June 2023 (UTC)<br />
::He was ''appealing'' the lawsuit on the ''grounds'' that the ''grounds'' were ''appealing'' [[User:Ahecht|Ahecht]] ([[User talk:Ahecht|talk]]) 22:06, 23 June 2023 (UTC)<br />
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Going by the picture I think the "bird" that struck the judge may be the plane.<br />
:Disagree, "{{w|bird strike}}" is a term used for an incident where a bird strikes a vehicle, usually a plane. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.211.155|172.70.211.155]] 20:50, 23 June 2023 (UTC)<br />
:But all these conflicting interpretations proves Randall's point that this is a garden path sentence :) [[User:Natg19|Natg19]] ([[User talk:Natg19|talk]]) 20:52, 23 June 2023 (UTC)<br />
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[[User:*anonymouse*|*anonymouse*]] please reconsider your edits; before them, I think I understood the meaning, but your supposed clarification messed it up :( the paragraph you removed seemed more plausible to me, and it also contained some useful wiki links to {{w|bird strike}} and {{w|vacated judgement}}. [[User:Torzsmokus|Torzsmokus]] ([[User talk:Torzsmokus|talk]]) 20:47, 23 June 2023 (UTC)<br />
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As I understood it, birds hit the plane piloted by the judge that gave the Olive Garden path sentence, overturning it (!!!), but he righted it and managed to land. [[User:J Petry|J Petry]] ([[User talk:J Petry|talk]]) 20:49, 23 June 2023 (UTC)<br />
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A [[wikipedia:bird strike]] is an aviation thing. Given the airplane in the photo and the path to what appears to be runways, I think that these are the bird strikes it's referring to. "Rights and lands safely" also would refer to the judge piloting an airplane. "Overturned" thus should also refer to the flight, but I would expect it to be something like "overturns", not "overturned", given "rights and lands". Thus: "After bird strikes, the judge who ordered the sentence overturned in the olive garden path case, his plane overturned, but rights the aircraft and lands it safely." [[User:SheeEttin|SheeEttin]] ([[User talk:SheeEttin|talk]]) 20:53, 23 June 2023 (UTC)<br />
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I see what you're saying, and I think you're right. After (multiple) bird strikes the (plane being flown by the judge) overturned but was able to right itself. :([[User:*anonymouse*|*anonymouse*]] ([[User talk:*anonymouse*|talk]]) 20:57, 23 June 2023 (UTC)<br />
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I feel certain that "olive" refers to the shade of green, because otherwise why specify "green" walkways? This makes "Olive Garden" a red herring, which seems likely. -- [[Special:Contributions/108.162.245.244|108.162.245.244]] 21:01, 23 June 2023 (UTC)<br />
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:I disagree. I read "olive garden" as a literal garden of olive trees. Randall is exploiting our familiarity with the Olive Garden restaurant to construct the sentence. The path would be a footpath or something through this garden. What makes the walkways green? No idea, maybe they're the kind that are actually solar panels. [[User:SheeEttin|SheeEttin]] ([[User talk:SheeEttin|talk]]) 22:10, 23 June 2023 (UTC)<br />
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:I still don't like "overturned but rights and lands" - why would the first verb be in the past tense and the others present tense, if they are describing events that happened within a very short time of each other? [[Special:Contributions/162.158.159.102|162.158.159.102]] 05:10, 24 June 2023 (UTC)</div>162.158.159.102https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=Talk:2277:_Business_Greetings&diff=188308Talk:2277: Business Greetings2020-03-08T20:46:54Z<p>162.158.159.102: /* Remote work */ Non-theoretical</p>
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This comic appears to be the only one, ever, that doesn't have mouseover text<br />
[[Special:Contributions/162.158.146.160|162.158.146.160]] 05:15, 6 March 2020 (UTC)<br />
:Maybe our mice are just broken. Purely coincidental, I'm sure. [[User:SDSpivey|SDSpivey]] ([[User talk:SDSpivey|talk]]) 05:49, 6 March 2020 (UTC)<br />
::Or it is a change, to go with the time... --[[User:Lupo|Lupo]] ([[User talk:Lupo|talk]]) 08:07, 6 March 2020 (UTC)<br />
:::Technically [[404]] doesn't have an alt-text either. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.58.183|162.158.58.183]] 09:42, 6 March 2020 (UTC)<br />
::::I believe I've seen this before, where a comic _temporarily_ doesn't have title text. It may show itself yet. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.63.203|172.69.63.203]] 11:49, 6 March 2020 (UTC)<br />
:::::Maybe Randall posted it really late, staggered into bed, and will post the alt-text in the morning. I saw text but it was just the comic title. [[Special:Contributions/172.68.34.190|172.68.34.190]] 07:51, 6 March 2020 (UTC)<br />
::::::It is common for dynamic comics to have no title text - see [[:Category:No title text]]. But it is a first for a standard comic. So interesting to see if it shows up later, or if this will be an outlier. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 12:15, 6 March 2020 (UTC)<br />
:::::::It has title text now: "We have email and social media now, so we probably don't need to keep exchanging business cards by pressing them gently against each others' faces with an open palm and smearing them around."<br />
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And, in case you were wondering, yes, [https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/japan/10124306/Japanese-craze-for-eyeball-licking-leads-to-rise-in-infections.html eyeball licking is a thing] [[User:Sysin|Sysin]] ([[User talk:Sysin|talk]]) 08:22, 6 March 2020 (UTC)<br />
:According to [https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/in-the-public-eye/ Snopes] the story about Japanese eye licking is not true. I've removed it from the explanation for now. If my information turns out to be false, feel free to add it back in. [[User:Bischoff|Bischoff]] ([[User talk:Bischoff|talk]]) 11:16, 6 March 2020 (UTC)<br />
::I am surprised that people are not reporting experiences of eyeball licking. Seemed a natural thing to try for me when learning romantic behaviors, comparable to ears and other new behaviors with trusted cool people of gender of interest. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.62.244|172.69.62.244]] 15:42, 7 March 2020 (UTC)<br />
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It's possible that mouse over / touch operation is seen as another form of physical contact, that goes along the comic. {{unsigned ip|172.68.154.22}}<br />
:I think he just forgot it. Maybe he is down with the coronavirus ;-) --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 12:15, 6 March 2020 (UTC)<br />
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I don't think we should overdo it with the "citation needed" joke or it will become dull. One instance in such a short explanation is definitely enough. [[User:Bischoff|Bischoff]] ([[User talk:Bischoff|talk]]) 11:22, 6 March 2020 (UTC)<br />
:It should not be used when no citation is needed! I remove them often --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 12:15, 6 March 2020 (UTC)<br />
::No, the whole joke is that we're asking for citations for something super obvious. I agree more than one would be overkill here though. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.241.70|108.162.241.70]] 16:00, 6 March 2020 (UTC)<br />
::Kynde, that has been you? Please PLEASE stop removing them! I haven't seen one in ages, and they ALWAYS amuse me. I know I'm not alone. I know some people who feel that they've been done to death, but some of us still find them funny. :) You DO realize that if people are putting several that maybe it's just hoping you'll miss one? After all, it should be completely obvious that more than one (in ONE article) would be overkill... {{Citation needed}} [[User:NiceGuy1|NiceGuy1]] ([[User talk:NiceGuy1|talk]]) 05:45, 7 March 2020 (UTC)<br />
:::They completely ruin the reading of a serious explanation because people think it is funny they know the citation needed short cut. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 23:21, 7 March 2020 (UTC)<br />
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I thought this comic was referring to hand-shaking, which is effectively licking one another's eyeballs, as much as we humans touch our own eyes & mouths. [[User:TPS|TPS]] ([[User talk:TPS|talk]]) 12:19, 6 March 2020 (UTC)<br />
:There is a meme (by Corona-is-hoax promoters and Communists-did-it-on-purpose proclaimers, mostly, so treat it with a pinch of salt rather than antivjral handwash) that doorknob-licking is a thing. Usually as a fabled method of infecting the doorknobs (by manchurin super-spreaders?) rather than getting infected from them (that's just what happens next from knob-to-hand-to-face contact<!-- Yeah, ''not'' a double-entendre, obvious as it may seem even to me... -->). There are all kinds of wierdos though - by which I mean primarily the false-memers. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.154.217|162.158.154.217]] 15:01, 6 March 2020 (UTC)<br />
::And I though that the blinking reflex makes actually touching the eyeball almost impossible. Like, unless you hold the eyelid with other hand at least. -- [[User:Hkmaly|Hkmaly]] ([[User talk:Hkmaly|talk]]) 01:20, 7 March 2020 (UTC)<br />
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For someone who is significantly introverted, might the act of shaking hands be nearly as weird and repugnant as eyeball licking would seem to most people? [[User:Schnitz|Schnitz]] ([[User talk:Schnitz|talk]]) 19:51, 6 March 2020 (UTC)<br />
:Pretty sure that unless there's some cultural thing at play, finding the concept of shaking hands to be ''repugnant'' would indicate some form of mental disorder. Being reticent to shake hands due to avoiding human interaction is different from finding it disgusting. --[[Special:Contributions/172.69.34.238|172.69.34.238]] 21:39, 6 March 2020 (UTC)<br />
::Please don't associate being repudiated by social contact with mental disorders on a forum for a comic designed for the severely introverted. It hurts to infer that you think any of us with that attribute may be crazy. Randall's comics mostly touch on experiences only severely introverted technologists would understand. Shaking hands, eye contact, empathizing with people -- these are all things engineers share awkwardness around. For many it is extreme. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.62.244|172.69.62.244]] 15:42, 7 March 2020 (UTC)<br />
::You mean like autism? You say "some form of mental disorder" as if everyone diagnosed with mental disorder would be put to asylum, while about 10% of kids are diagnosed with ADHD. -- [[User:Hkmaly|Hkmaly]] ([[User talk:Hkmaly|talk]]) 01:20, 7 March 2020 (UTC)<br />
:::Mild ADD/ADHD is more of a disorder in my culture and perhaps most modern cultures than in other circumstances and I believe representative of a tendency to put problems on an individual rather than on systemic choices. [[Special:Contributions/172.68.34.208|172.68.34.208]] 03:20, 7 March 2020 (UTC)<br />
:Reminds me of the comic about eating spiders / lobsters. :) An effective way to communicate how you feel. [[User:NiceGuy1|NiceGuy1]] ([[User talk:NiceGuy1|talk]]) 05:45, 7 March 2020 (UTC)<br />
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Okay, seeing as this is the first Citation Needed joke I've seen in a LONG time, could the prudes who like to remove them PLEASE leave this one alone???? I find it's a particularly good one. Just because the gag has gotten stale for you doesn't mean there aren't those of us who still like them. :) [[User:NiceGuy1|NiceGuy1]] ([[User talk:NiceGuy1|talk]]) 05:45, 7 March 2020 (UTC)<br />
:::They completely ruin the reading of a serious explanation because people think it is funny they know the citation needed short cut. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 23:21, 7 March 2020 (UTC)<br />
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== Remote work ==<br />
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I'd like to add information about remote work, work-from-home, telecommuting, and similar proposals motivating the situation. I haven't thought about exactly what I want to say, but I have some ideas. I'm interested in looking for ways that [https://www.labster.com/simulations/ virologists might] work [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VhuiMRIn6GM from home] for example. I think I'll start with [https://twitter.com/krmaher/status/1236167758045261824 the good,] the [https://finance.yahoo.com/news/facebook-google-ask-san-francisco-063527587.html middling], the [https://nypost.com/2020/03/07/coronavirus-may-force-nyc-office-staffers-to-work-remotely/ hopeful], the [https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-03-06/apple-encourages-silicon-valley-staff-to-work-from-home-on-virus fine,] the [https://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2020-03-05-microsoft-asks-employees-to-work-from-home-over-coronavirus-fears mediocre,] the [https://www.oregonlive.com/silicon-forest/2020/03/intel-responding-to-coronavirus-says-many-employees-can-work-from-home.html above average], and the [https://www.latimes.com/business/technology/story/2020-03-06/coronavirus-telecommute-work-from-home interesting but questionable.] Developing.... [[Special:Contributions/172.69.22.206|172.69.22.206]] 03:50, 8 March 2020 (UTC)<br />
:Well, if you took home a DNA sequencer/printer (or RNA, of course), I imagine a virologist could easily do at least some practical work remotely with an appropriate electronic transfer of data. Though I'm not sure we're ready for people able to 'print out' actual(/potential) viral code in their own homes! [[Special:Contributions/162.158.159.102|162.158.159.102]] 20:44, 8 March 2020 (UTC)</div>162.158.159.102https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=Talk:2277:_Business_Greetings&diff=188307Talk:2277: Business Greetings2020-03-08T20:44:56Z<p>162.158.159.102: /* Remote work */</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 comic appears to be the only one, ever, that doesn't have mouseover text<br />
[[Special:Contributions/162.158.146.160|162.158.146.160]] 05:15, 6 March 2020 (UTC)<br />
:Maybe our mice are just broken. Purely coincidental, I'm sure. [[User:SDSpivey|SDSpivey]] ([[User talk:SDSpivey|talk]]) 05:49, 6 March 2020 (UTC)<br />
::Or it is a change, to go with the time... --[[User:Lupo|Lupo]] ([[User talk:Lupo|talk]]) 08:07, 6 March 2020 (UTC)<br />
:::Technically [[404]] doesn't have an alt-text either. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.58.183|162.158.58.183]] 09:42, 6 March 2020 (UTC)<br />
::::I believe I've seen this before, where a comic _temporarily_ doesn't have title text. It may show itself yet. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.63.203|172.69.63.203]] 11:49, 6 March 2020 (UTC)<br />
:::::Maybe Randall posted it really late, staggered into bed, and will post the alt-text in the morning. I saw text but it was just the comic title. [[Special:Contributions/172.68.34.190|172.68.34.190]] 07:51, 6 March 2020 (UTC)<br />
::::::It is common for dynamic comics to have no title text - see [[:Category:No title text]]. But it is a first for a standard comic. So interesting to see if it shows up later, or if this will be an outlier. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 12:15, 6 March 2020 (UTC)<br />
:::::::It has title text now: "We have email and social media now, so we probably don't need to keep exchanging business cards by pressing them gently against each others' faces with an open palm and smearing them around."<br />
<br />
And, in case you were wondering, yes, [https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/japan/10124306/Japanese-craze-for-eyeball-licking-leads-to-rise-in-infections.html eyeball licking is a thing] [[User:Sysin|Sysin]] ([[User talk:Sysin|talk]]) 08:22, 6 March 2020 (UTC)<br />
:According to [https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/in-the-public-eye/ Snopes] the story about Japanese eye licking is not true. I've removed it from the explanation for now. If my information turns out to be false, feel free to add it back in. [[User:Bischoff|Bischoff]] ([[User talk:Bischoff|talk]]) 11:16, 6 March 2020 (UTC)<br />
::I am surprised that people are not reporting experiences of eyeball licking. Seemed a natural thing to try for me when learning romantic behaviors, comparable to ears and other new behaviors with trusted cool people of gender of interest. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.62.244|172.69.62.244]] 15:42, 7 March 2020 (UTC)<br />
<br />
It's possible that mouse over / touch operation is seen as another form of physical contact, that goes along the comic. {{unsigned ip|172.68.154.22}}<br />
:I think he just forgot it. Maybe he is down with the coronavirus ;-) --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 12:15, 6 March 2020 (UTC)<br />
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I don't think we should overdo it with the "citation needed" joke or it will become dull. One instance in such a short explanation is definitely enough. [[User:Bischoff|Bischoff]] ([[User talk:Bischoff|talk]]) 11:22, 6 March 2020 (UTC)<br />
:It should not be used when no citation is needed! I remove them often --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 12:15, 6 March 2020 (UTC)<br />
::No, the whole joke is that we're asking for citations for something super obvious. I agree more than one would be overkill here though. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.241.70|108.162.241.70]] 16:00, 6 March 2020 (UTC)<br />
::Kynde, that has been you? Please PLEASE stop removing them! I haven't seen one in ages, and they ALWAYS amuse me. I know I'm not alone. I know some people who feel that they've been done to death, but some of us still find them funny. :) You DO realize that if people are putting several that maybe it's just hoping you'll miss one? After all, it should be completely obvious that more than one (in ONE article) would be overkill... {{Citation needed}} [[User:NiceGuy1|NiceGuy1]] ([[User talk:NiceGuy1|talk]]) 05:45, 7 March 2020 (UTC)<br />
:::They completely ruin the reading of a serious explanation because people think it is funny they know the citation needed short cut. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 23:21, 7 March 2020 (UTC)<br />
<br />
I thought this comic was referring to hand-shaking, which is effectively licking one another's eyeballs, as much as we humans touch our own eyes & mouths. [[User:TPS|TPS]] ([[User talk:TPS|talk]]) 12:19, 6 March 2020 (UTC)<br />
:There is a meme (by Corona-is-hoax promoters and Communists-did-it-on-purpose proclaimers, mostly, so treat it with a pinch of salt rather than antivjral handwash) that doorknob-licking is a thing. Usually as a fabled method of infecting the doorknobs (by manchurin super-spreaders?) rather than getting infected from them (that's just what happens next from knob-to-hand-to-face contact<!-- Yeah, ''not'' a double-entendre, obvious as it may seem even to me... -->). There are all kinds of wierdos though - by which I mean primarily the false-memers. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.154.217|162.158.154.217]] 15:01, 6 March 2020 (UTC)<br />
::And I though that the blinking reflex makes actually touching the eyeball almost impossible. Like, unless you hold the eyelid with other hand at least. -- [[User:Hkmaly|Hkmaly]] ([[User talk:Hkmaly|talk]]) 01:20, 7 March 2020 (UTC)<br />
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For someone who is significantly introverted, might the act of shaking hands be nearly as weird and repugnant as eyeball licking would seem to most people? [[User:Schnitz|Schnitz]] ([[User talk:Schnitz|talk]]) 19:51, 6 March 2020 (UTC)<br />
:Pretty sure that unless there's some cultural thing at play, finding the concept of shaking hands to be ''repugnant'' would indicate some form of mental disorder. Being reticent to shake hands due to avoiding human interaction is different from finding it disgusting. --[[Special:Contributions/172.69.34.238|172.69.34.238]] 21:39, 6 March 2020 (UTC)<br />
::Please don't associate being repudiated by social contact with mental disorders on a forum for a comic designed for the severely introverted. It hurts to infer that you think any of us with that attribute may be crazy. Randall's comics mostly touch on experiences only severely introverted technologists would understand. Shaking hands, eye contact, empathizing with people -- these are all things engineers share awkwardness around. For many it is extreme. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.62.244|172.69.62.244]] 15:42, 7 March 2020 (UTC)<br />
::You mean like autism? You say "some form of mental disorder" as if everyone diagnosed with mental disorder would be put to asylum, while about 10% of kids are diagnosed with ADHD. -- [[User:Hkmaly|Hkmaly]] ([[User talk:Hkmaly|talk]]) 01:20, 7 March 2020 (UTC)<br />
:::Mild ADD/ADHD is more of a disorder in my culture and perhaps most modern cultures than in other circumstances and I believe representative of a tendency to put problems on an individual rather than on systemic choices. [[Special:Contributions/172.68.34.208|172.68.34.208]] 03:20, 7 March 2020 (UTC)<br />
:Reminds me of the comic about eating spiders / lobsters. :) An effective way to communicate how you feel. [[User:NiceGuy1|NiceGuy1]] ([[User talk:NiceGuy1|talk]]) 05:45, 7 March 2020 (UTC)<br />
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Okay, seeing as this is the first Citation Needed joke I've seen in a LONG time, could the prudes who like to remove them PLEASE leave this one alone???? I find it's a particularly good one. Just because the gag has gotten stale for you doesn't mean there aren't those of us who still like them. :) [[User:NiceGuy1|NiceGuy1]] ([[User talk:NiceGuy1|talk]]) 05:45, 7 March 2020 (UTC)<br />
:::They completely ruin the reading of a serious explanation because people think it is funny they know the citation needed short cut. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 23:21, 7 March 2020 (UTC)<br />
<br />
== Remote work ==<br />
<br />
I'd like to add information about remote work, work-from-home, telecommuting, and similar proposals motivating the situation. I haven't thought about exactly what I want to say, but I have some ideas. I'm interested in looking for ways that [https://www.labster.com/simulations/ virologists might] work [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VhuiMRIn6GM from home] for example. I think I'll start with [https://twitter.com/krmaher/status/1236167758045261824 the good,] the [https://finance.yahoo.com/news/facebook-google-ask-san-francisco-063527587.html middling], the [https://nypost.com/2020/03/07/coronavirus-may-force-nyc-office-staffers-to-work-remotely/ hopeful], the [https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-03-06/apple-encourages-silicon-valley-staff-to-work-from-home-on-virus fine,] the [https://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2020-03-05-microsoft-asks-employees-to-work-from-home-over-coronavirus-fears mediocre,] the [https://www.oregonlive.com/silicon-forest/2020/03/intel-responding-to-coronavirus-says-many-employees-can-work-from-home.html above average], and the [https://www.latimes.com/business/technology/story/2020-03-06/coronavirus-telecommute-work-from-home interesting but questionable.] Developing.... [[Special:Contributions/172.69.22.206|172.69.22.206]] 03:50, 8 March 2020 (UTC)<br />
:Well, if you took home a DNA sequencer/printer (or RNA, of course), I imagine a virologist could easily do at least some work remotely with an appropriate electronic transfer of data. Though I'm not sure we're ready for people able to 'print out' actual(/potential) viral code in their own homes! [[Special:Contributions/162.158.159.102|162.158.159.102]] 20:44, 8 March 2020 (UTC)</div>162.158.159.102https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=Talk:2272:_Ringtone_Timeline&diff=187869Talk:2272: Ringtone Timeline2020-02-28T15:20:29Z<p>162.158.159.102: </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 />
Doing the Title Text. [[User:Netherin5|“That Guy from the Netherlands”]] ([[User talk:Netherin5|talk]]) 18:07, 24 February 2020 (UTC)<br />
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What about the era of "I would love to set my phone to a traditional ringing sound but this weird space garbage is the closest my phone will get"? [[Special:Contributions/173.245.54.61|173.245.54.61]] 18:53, 24 February 2020 (UTC)<br />
: What kind of phone is this? circa 2000s flip phone? [[Special:Contributions/162.158.214.82|162.158.214.82]] 08:52, 25 February 2020 (UTC)<br />
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I've got my smartphone set to the classic monophoncic Nokia 3310 tune. You can easily tell the >25y from the <25y generation apart from their reaction. [[User:Gir|-- //gir.st/]] ([[User talk:Gir|talk]]) 19:22, 24 February 2020 (UTC)<br />
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I wonder if Randal actually found some data to support his timeline or if it's more of a general observation made by him. In my subjective experience, the trend towards having the phone on vibrate all the time has been going on since at least 2017-2018 rather than the future/present time indicated in his timeline. [[User:Bischoff|Bischoff]] ([[User talk:Bischoff|talk]]) 19:41, 24 February 2020 (UTC)<br />
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: And I've not even noticed the change. I still hear ringtones going off when people get calls. I'm not even sure how it would work, since surely you'd at least need it to ring while charging or when you don't have pockets (like a lot of dressier women's clothing). And then there's the trend I have noticed of people actually playing their music out loud without headphones, which makes me think that people are not becoming more concerned about their phones making noise. [[User:Trlkly|Trlkly]] ([[User talk:Trlkly|talk]]) 10:35, 25 February 2020 (UTC)<br />
::Playing music out loud (from phone hansets or, these days, far meatier bluetooth units) is an active decision, uncaring of others and/or deliberately showing off. Even these people ''might'' baulk at a random incoming call (assuming not pre-arranged) sparking off whatever sound it creates, at otherwise inopportune moments like sitting in a toilet stall, crossing the road or window-browsing for the next model of phone. Personally, I have the vibrate-and-'ring' setting, which startx to vibrate shortly before it makes noise, usually giving me time to evaluate the incoming call and answer/mute/reject it before very much of anything audible (except for my own yelp/exclamation of surprise and quick fumbling in the pocket, in response to the sudden 'tickle') happens. I wouldn't even need that if I had one of those earpieces, but they eat battery and always seem too losable so I don't. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.159.102|162.158.159.102]] 15:20, 28 February 2020 (UTC)<br />
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Early ringers were hand-cranked generators (or perhaps magnetos), so you might be able to tell who was calling by how fast they cranked.[[Special:Contributions/172.68.206.22|172.68.206.22]] 19:51, 24 February 2020 (UTC)<br />
:No, in that period it was mostly still operators. I suppose you would know which operator was on duty, if your area was small enough. [[User:SDSpivey|SDSpivey]] ([[User talk:SDSpivey|talk]]) 22:07, 24 February 2020 (UTC)<br />
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Party lines shared the signal and differentiated the callee by ring. I grew up on 19-ring-12, i.e. line 19 (on the manual switchboard in the village) ringing one long and two short. There was a magneto, but you used it to request the operator to give you a line for an outgoing call; it signaled the switchboard, not another party.<br />
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I remember around 1982 staying over at a friend's house and hearing the electronic tweedling of their new landline phone and not knowing what it was. Prior to that all the phones I'd heard at homes, businesses, school, etc. were all normal ringers. So the cool space beeps starting around 1996 seems skewed to the right by about a decade. [[Special:Contributions/172.68.38.124|172.68.38.124]] 20:21, 24 February 2020 (UTC)Pat<br />
: There's obviously plenty of overlap, and I think the boxes represent when a particular style was prevalent, not the entire duration. [[User:Barmar|Barmar]] ([[User talk:Barmar|talk]]) 20:37, 24 February 2020 (UTC)<br />
: In the UK, the so-called trimphone was introduced in the sixties with a warbling ringtone instead of the traditional bell sound. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.159.12|162.158.159.12]] 23:12, 24 February 2020 (UTC)<br />
: The initial tones for tweedling or beeping phones were often pure sine wave tones, which are difficult for the human ear to locate. If you had five phones (not uncommon in some offices) you would need to pick up each in succession to find the one that was ringing. [[User:Snezzy|Snezzy]] ([[User talk:Snezzy|talk]]) 10:07, 25 February 2020 (UTC)<br />
: I also remember being told (in the era of mostly electromechanical bells, but echoed by the occasionally extant trimphone) that the time signature of the ringing was something weird, like 13/8 (or 8/13 - I'm not musical enough to know what the difference is, and it's probably not those numbers exactly anyway), on the basis that you couldn't subvert the rhythm into a pleasant tune (real or imagined) and so *had* to respond to it, like you possibly could with 2/4-time. And I've seen the mechanism at the (automatic, but largely mechanical) exchange that continually rotates with variously spotted electrical contacts on its axle that produce the required dialling/ringing/busy/etc signals to get 'tapped' for all currently relevent subscriber circuits (meaning that every phone in a street, neighbourhood or even whole town would be exactly in synch with any other phone also producing the same sound on either ringer or ear-speaker, notwithstanding speed-of-sound delays between the locales and audibility of each). A remarkable clockworkpunk solution to simplifying the otherwise quite complex array of Subscriber Trunk Dialling/etc mechanisms. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.159.76|162.158.159.76]] 15:09, 25 February 2020 (UTC)<br />
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Interesting contrast to [https://xkcd.com/479/ xkcd 479].<br />
[[User:LHN|LHN]]<br />
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I would like to point out that "a phone on vibrate sitting on a hard surface" may not have been receiving a call at the time of the audio recording so technically Randall's ringtone could be utter silence (or a very low coil whine). [[Special:Contributions/172.68.226.46|172.68.226.46]] 00:56, 25 February 2020 (UTC)<br />
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I can't stand people who use the old fashioned 1950s bell ringtone. It's not cute anymore, it's just boring and overused. Almost as bad as the many "default" ringtones that people are too lazy to change. These are smartphones! You can easily use just about any song or sound imaginable! [[Special:Contributions/162.158.214.82|162.158.214.82]] 08:52, 25 February 2020 (UTC)<br />
:Yeah, how dare people like something you don't You can easily use just about any song or sound imaginable, therefore you should limit certain ones because someone online might find it "boring".[[Special:Contributions/162.158.187.111|162.158.187.111]] 14:49, 26 February 2020 (UTC)<br />
:I wouldn't call it lazyness. My phone hardly ever rings, because 1st, it is usually always on vibrate anyway, and 2nd, noone calls anymore. --[[User:Lupo|Lupo]] ([[User talk:Lupo|talk]]) 15:02, 26 February 2020 (UTC)<br />
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I will definitely not switch to vibration any time soon. I hate vibration in phones so much that I have installed multiple apps and mods to get rid of every single variant of vibration on my phone (which is surprisingly difficult), at least as long as the system is running. After shutdown it sadly still vibrates. Maybe I should screw off the vibration motor one day. [[User:Fabian42|Fabian42]] ([[User talk:Fabian42|talk]]) 09:54, 25 February 2020 (UTC)<br />
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1820s to 1870s: {{w|Steamship|whistle at end of long tube}}; (me, turn of the millenium: much abbreviated monophonic '[https://nokia.fandom.com/wiki/Composer Composer]' version of a complex polyphonic MIDI file of a {{w|In_the_Hall_of_the_Mountain_King|classical tune I quite liked}}); Mid 23rdC: {{w|USS_Enterprise_(NCC-1701)|electronic version of a whistle through a long tube}}; Mid 24thC {{w|USS_Enterprise_(NCC-1701-D)|beeps}} [[Special:Contributions/162.158.159.76|162.158.159.76]] 15:09, 25 February 2020 (UTC)<br />
:I did that (entered my own ringtone Nokia's on-phone Composer thingummy) with the Thunderbirds theme tune. Learnt just enough how to extract note data from a MIDI file via a quick-and-dirty Perl script. Then had to monophonise it to get the vital trumpet refrain just right where it overlapped "Duh dah-dah-d(DAH-DAH-DAAAH!) ...". Would you believe I also tended to wear lots of very colourful/cartoony ties? Still got 'em. But my phones just (sort of) ring these days - No fun in it once you could just start to plug in sampled MP3s/etc of ''anything''. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.99.221|141.101.99.221]] 21:29, 25 February 2020 (UTC)<br />
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:Okay, now I want to change my ringtone with a slide whisle XD [[Special:Contributions/162.158.214.136|162.158.214.136]] 04:32, 26 February 2020 (UTC)<br />
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My "general" ringtone is a recording of a dialup modem in action. Freaks out the older nerds around me. I know a young woman who set the custom ringtone for when her mother called to the theme for the Wicked Witch of the North (original Oz movie). Friend of mine set the ringtone for his wife to a recording of her saying " [Marty], it's [Diane]..." [[User:Cellocgw|Cellocgw]] ([[User talk:Cellocgw|talk]]) 16:36, 26 February 2020 (UTC)</div>162.158.159.102https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=Talk:2253:_Star_Wars_Voyager_1&diff=185887Talk:2253: Star Wars Voyager 12020-01-13T09:57:47Z<p>162.158.159.102: </p>
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<div>;Rate of increase<br />
Given that the first Star Wars movie and Voyager I were "released" around the same time, and that over the years Voyager has been getting further away while more Star Wars movies have been realeased, I wonder how often the time it takes for a message to reach Voyager I has been exactly the same as the total runtime of Star Wars movies at that date. Like, how far away was Voyager when Revenge of the Sith was released? This would make for an interesting graph. <br />
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RANDALL CAN YOU HEAR ME? MAKE A GRAPH PLS {{unsigned|Alcatraz ii}}<br />
:Yes that could be interesting actually. Sadly I believe Randall keeps clear of such sites as this so he will not see you request. Remember to sign your comments, and try not to add new sections in the comments. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 08:31, 10 January 2020 (UTC)<br />
::After I made the table... If someone find out how long Voyager was away on the release of episode number 2-8 then we can easily make the graph our selves to find out how many times it has happened. For sure it must have occurred between film 3 and 4. And probably again between 6 and 7? --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 13:46, 10 January 2020 (UTC)<br />
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How accurately is the position of Voyager I known? I think this comic came out earlier in the day than usual, and I found myself wondering if there's public data precise enough to calculate this momentous occasion to within an hour, or even a minute. [[User:Angel|Angel]] ([[User talk:Angel|talk]]) 10:18, 10 January 2020 (UTC)<br />
:I believe this is known extremely precise since we are still in radio contact with it. But for sure there should be a link. Given the title text I think it is not important when it was released. Just a few seconds extra will add long time to Voyagers travel. That time should also be part of the final explanation. As what the possible longest time all episodes could reach given the longest possible calculation of the total time. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 10:32, 10 January 2020 (UTC)<br />
::Link here: [https://voyager.jpl.nasa.gov/mission/status/ Mission status]. Although I'm not sure an historic view of this data exists anywhere... [[User:Jotomicron|Jotomicron]] ([[User talk:Jotomicron|talk]]) 10:49, 10 January 2020 (UTC)<br />
:::Thanks great. I have added a screen shot of the light distance today to the explanation along with the link. I have written most of the explanation by now, table and transcript also. But could probably need some cleanup. I really tried to find a way that Randall did not come up with this comic too late, but maybe the rounding down idea is too far fetched? But then I cannot see any other way to save the title text. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 11:57, 10 January 2020 (UTC)<br />
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You know, Randall is the only person I know who regularly talks about themed parties. I've never actually known them to be a particularly common thing. Nonetheless, it seems to be a recurring theme on XKCD. [[User:Hawthorn|Hawthorn]] ([[User talk:Hawthorn|talk]]) 12:03, 10 January 2020 (UTC)<br />
:Maybe but this is not a themed party, just a party to celebrate an event. A theme party to me is when you dress like in the 20s... :p, either one. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 13:43, 10 January 2020 (UTC)<br />
: Uh oh, now you've done it. The rules of the Meta-verse require that you host an "XKCD party themes" theme party. [[User:Iggynelix|Iggynelix]] ([[User talk:Iggynelix|talk]]) 14:40, 10 January 2020 (UTC)<br />
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<br />
According to wikipedia: the title of "Auld Lang Syne" that Beret Guy signs in the last picture <<may be translated into standard English as "old long since" or, more idiomatically, "long long ago">>, this could be a reference to SW's "Long long time ago..."<br />
[[Special:Contributions/162.158.134.112|162.158.134.112]] 13:55, 10 January 2020 (UTC)<br />
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;A few additional thoughts:<br />
It shouldn't be too hard to figure the distance (and therefore radio travel time) to Voyager I back into the past because once it was beyond the last planet visited (Saturn, in 1980) - both Voyagers have mostly been in free-fall under (predominantly) the sun's gravity only - so the math isn't that hard unless you need really razor-sharp precision.<br />
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Voyager II would be a lot harder because it also did fly-by's of Uranus and Neptune in '86 and '89 - which each changed it's speed quite noticeably - and those encounters happened after the first three movies were released.<br />
<br />
But for a reasonable approximation - Wikipedia already has that chart: [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voyager_1#/media/File:Voyager_speed_and_distance_from_Sun.svg]. You can see that after about 1981 (ie roughly around episode V and certainly after VI), both distance and velocity graphs are almost a straight line. So even then, the effect of the sun's gravity was really tiny and could probably be neglected unless you need REALLY high precision.<br />
<br />
A much bigger issue for party-planning is the diameter of the Earth's orbit around the sun. That's not a negligible factor here - because it adds a variance of about +/- 500 light-seconds to any calculation...and +/-8.3 minutes of seasonal adjustment is critical in figuring out when to hold the party.<br />
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[[User:SteveBaker|SteveBaker]] ([[User talk:SteveBaker|talk]]) 17:25, 10 January 2020 (UTC)<br />
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:: Yep, as far as I can tell, right now Voyager is behind the sun and we are chasing it. The heliocentric velocity is about ten times the geocentric judging by the estimated distance tickers. Over the next six months that lightspeed delay will begin to drop down again.[[Special:Contributions/162.158.159.102|162.158.159.102]] 09:57, 13 January 2020 (UTC)<br />
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Sometimes I wonder if Randall sits around trying to think of comic ideas that will force the Explain Wiki editors to do a lot of research and table-making. (if this doesn't look like a lot of research to you, remember that "a lot" is subjective) [[Special:Contributions/108.162.219.32|108.162.219.32]] 21:20, 10 January 2020 (UTC)<br />
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;Insufficient runtime<br />
Isn't the Delta Quadrant way farther than that? We'd need at least a few more trilogies to balance that out.<br />
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^^^ that wasn't me, but I came here because it occurred to me that Star Wars Voyager is quite possibly a pun on 'Star Trek Voyager', which the above is a reference to.<br />
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[[Special:Contributions/108.162.249.76|108.162.249.76]] 03:05, 11 January 2020 (UTC)<br />
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;NTSC / PAL / physical film runtime deviations<br />
What about the runtime deviations of different formats? Films are produced for 24 frames per second, while NTSC is 29,97 fps and PAL is 25 fps. So, maybe the time diference is resulting from this? Randal has took the original theater runtimes and the table lists maybe the ntsc dvd runtimes, that are faster? --[[User:Dichter|Dichter]] ([[User talk:Dichter|talk]]) 14:03, 11 January 2020 (UTC)<br />
;Holiday special<br />
So if we account for the Holiday special (roughly 120 min of "fun" if memory serves) there's still pleeenty of time . Although the will to throw a party migh suffer from that thought<br />
::We do not talk about that! Please see that last row of this comic to know what would have happened to you saying this with fans around: [[566: MatrixRevisited]] :-) If you wish to include more there is the two spin-off movies mentioned above for many hours more. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 18:08, 11 January 2020 (UTC)<br />
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::: The comic is pretty clear on that point though - it says "Episodes I-IX". So no "special" and no movies that aren't numbered episodes. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.70.233|172.69.70.233]] 03:36, 12 January 2020 (UTC)</div>162.158.159.102https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=2249:_I_Love_the_20s&diff=1853222249: I Love the 20s2020-01-01T21:40:10Z<p>162.158.159.102: Fix quote attribution in transcript</p>
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<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 2249<br />
| date = January 1, 2020<br />
| title = I Love the 20s<br />
| image = i love the 20s.png<br />
| titletext = Billboard's "Best of the 80s" chart includes Blondie's 1980 hit "Call Me." QED.<br />
}}<br />
<br />
==Explanation==<br />
{{incomplete|Created by a PEDANT. Please add more info.}}<br />
This comic was released on the first day of {{w|2020}}. [[Megan]], [[Cueball]], and [[Ponytail]] are all happy for the beginning of the new {{w|decade}}, for a variety of reasons. However, [[White Hat]] disagrees, claiming that the "20s" don't start until 2021, citing that {{w|Century|centuries}} are "off-by-one" (for instance, the {{w|20th century}} lasted from 1901 through 2000) and attempting to draw something, presumably a number line that starts with "Year 1" as the Anno Domini / Common Era years do. Ponytail's argument is that, while centuries are numbered ordinally (i.e. the First Century starts in year 1 and ends in the year 100, the Second Century starts in the year 101 and runs through the year 200, and so on, because {{w|Zero-based numbering|zero indexing}}, like the number zero itself, was not in wide use at the time), decades are more commonly delimited by the tens digit. For example, the {{w|Roaring Twenties}} are the years whose three most significant digits are 192, running from 1920 through 1929 (sometimes said to end slightly before the end of 1929, with the onset of the {{w|Great Depression}} in October 1929). Nobody{{Citation needed}} refers to this time as "the 193rd decade", which would run from 1921 through 1930.<br />
<br />
Megan breaks up their heated argument by stating that {{w|MC Hammer}}'s song ''{{w|U Can't Touch This}}'', released in 1990, was featured in a 1990s-themed television show instead of its 1980s-themed counterpart.<br />
<br />
==Transcript==<br />
{{incomplete transcript}}<br />
<br />
:Megan: Happy new decade!<br />
:Ponytail: Welcome to the '20s!<br />
:White Hat: ''Actually--''<br />
:Ponytail: I'm excited we can name decades again. <br />
:Ponytail: "Aughts" and "teens" never caught on.<br />
<br />
:White Hat: Actually, the new decade doesn't start--<br />
:Ponytail: Mostly, I'm just glad we can go back to attributing cultural trends to decades instead of generations.<br />
<br />
:Cueball: Yeah.<br />
:Cueball: Decades were silly, but making everything about "millennials" turned out to be even worse.<br />
:Ponytail: Seriously.<br />
<br />
:White Hat: It's technically not a new decade until 2021.<br />
:Ponytail: OK, listen.<br />
:Ponytail: If you're going to be pedantic, you should at least be right.<br />
:White Hat: I ''am'' right!<br />
:Ponytail: You're ''not''.<br />
<br />
:White Hat: See, the 20th century didn't start until--<br />
:Ponytail: But decades aren't centuries. They're not cardinally numbered.<br />
:White Hat: You don't get it. Let me draw a--<br />
:Ponytail: No, ''you'' don't--<br />
:Megan (off-panel): Stop!<br />
<br />
:Megan: I can resolve this.<br />
:Megan: *ahem*<br />
:Megan: MC Hammer's ''U Can't Touch This'' (1990) was featured in ''I Love the '90s'', not '''80s''.<br />
:Ponytail: ...That settles that.<br />
:White Hat: Yeah, I accept VH1's authority.<br />
:White Hat: You win.<br />
<br />
{{comic discussion}}<br />
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[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring White Hat]]<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Ponytail]]</div>162.158.159.102https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=2234:_How_To_Deliver_Christmas_Presents&diff=1841622234: How To Deliver Christmas Presents2019-12-04T16:24:55Z<p>162.158.159.102: /* Explanation */ Came here just to add in the apostrophe, left here after reconsidering the scope of the link description too.</p>
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<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 2234<br />
| date = November 27, 2019<br />
| title = How To Deliver Christmas Presents<br />
| image = how_to_deliver_christmas_presents.png<br />
| titletext = Building codes in hurricane zones rely on studies of how easily flying debris can break residential windows. If you're looking for a science fair project idea and you hate your neighbors, I'm sure they could always use more data!<br />
}}<br />
<br />
==Explanation==<br />
{{incomplete|Created by a CHIMNEYBOT. Please mention here why this explanation isn't complete. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}<br />
This comic is [[:Category:Book promotion|yet another]] fun way to promote [[Randall|Randall's]] new book, ''[[How To]]'', released on September 3, 2019, reminding people to buy it as a {{w|Christmas present}} that could be given to a friend or family member. Giving Christmas presents is a way to celebrate the holiday of {{w|Christmas}}, celebrated in the United States on December 25th. Randall always releases a [[:Category:Christmas|Christmas comic]] on the 25th or close to that day. Having one this early is thus different, and another Christmas related comic came out two comics later; see [[2236:_Is_it_Christmas%3F#Trivia|that comic's trivia section]].<br />
<br />
The entire comic links to https://xkcd.com/how-to/, a description of his book and ways to order it. As always the [[xkcd_Header_text#2014-07-23_-_what_if.3F_book_tour|entire picture is a link]], even though he has made the {{w|URL}} blue as if it was a clickable link. Of course it will also work if you actually click on the URL. At least in this comic he does state that you can click anywhere on the comic, and if that doesn't work he also gives the URL. Many people would probably still click on the blue link-like line, having not read his text. But the objective of getting them to the [https://xkcd.com/how-to/ xkcd page about How To] would have been obtained.<br />
<br />
The rest of the comic discusses how to "deliver" this Christmas present. As mentioned in the comic, the "traditional" way that parents teach their kids about Christmas and Christmas gift giving is with the story of {{w|Santa Claus}}, a man who lives on the North Pole, who delivers gifts each Christmas Eve by riding a sleigh pulled by reindeer. He is usually depicted entering a house to deliver gifts by going down the home's chimney. Every year, the {{w|NORAD Tracks Santa|North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) tracks Santa}} as he delivers gifts around the world. Although we take that story for granted, it is no less ridiculous than the alternatives this comic explores, and in fact considerably more so, as there is no reason to believe NORAD can detect Santa in flight given his various other legendary stealth techniques.{{Citation needed}}<br />
<br />
As mentioned in the comic, fireplaces (and chimneys) are becoming less common in the United States, so Randall (drawn as Cueball) proposes 3 options for how to deliver his new book as a present:<br />
<br />
'''Option 1''': Vaporize the gift (and blow it into their house).<br />
This would allow the particles of the book to enter the air vents of the house. However, this book would be unreadable, which defeats the purpose of purchasing the book for someone. As noted by Randall using information from a [https://doi.org/10.3155/1047-3289.58.4.502 Journal of the Air & Waste Management Association study], dust particles can remain inside a house for months (with vacuuming) and decades without vacuuming. This inspires Cueball to vacuum his house.<br />
<br />
'''Option 2''': Throw the book through their window.<br />
Based on [https://www.fema.gov/previous-missile-impact-tests-wood-sheathing research by FEMA], Randall states the speed needed to throw a book-sized object through a window to be 25 mph (~40 km/h). Breaking a window is probably not an ideal way to deliver a gift, as the recipient likely would not be pleased with a hole in their window. If a house has a broken window, perhaps from a previous gift delivery, they might cover up the window with a piece of plywood. Randall notes the speed to throw a book-sized object through a piece of plywood to be 250 mph (~400 km/h), faster than a human can reasonably throw. <br />
<br />
If the book weighs about 400g, 25 mph would be enough. But the formula in the comic is wrong (inverted), see the [[#Trivia|trivia section]] below.<br />
<br />
The title text mentions that building codes in hurricane-prone areas, like the southern United States, rely on information on how easily flying debris can break windows, presumably to improve reinforcement of such windows. Randall proposes a {{w|science fair project}} contributing to these studies (by throwing books at windows). <br />
<br />
'''Option 3''': Intercept a different package.<br />
This option is to intercept an order of a different book, and replace the pages of the book with Randall's book (which Black Hat is shown doing). As the recipient, Cueball, remarks, this is similar to {{w|Spoofing attack|content spoofing}} / content injection, where information passed over the Internet is replaced before being delivered to the user. In this "real-life" case, the book's content has been "injected" and replaced with a different book.<br />
An off-screen person mentions {{w|HTTPS}}, or Hypertext Transfer Protocol Secure, an extension of regular HTTP, used for secure communication. Cueball and this person believe that "paper" needs HTTPS, so that Cueball's original book can be "securely delivered" without being intercepted by third parties such as Black Hat.<br />
<br />
This could also relate to {{w|code injection}}, where malicious code is injected into a program. An example of code injection is with the famous comic, [[327: Exploits of a Mom]], where Mrs. Roberts deletes the school's database tables.<br />
<br />
The house is very detailed and in the windows are both a cat (typical click bait) and a different figure, perhaps a Pikachu.<br />
<br />
==Transcript==<br />
:[The comic is divided into three sections. The top section contains one low panel stretching across the entire comic. It has a header (same as the title of the comic) with a sub-header beneath. Then below that is a picture of Randall’s new book ''How To''. The black book is shown standing. The blue title is readable but the white text beneath it as well as blue and white text below the image is unreadable. On the cover is a white drawing of Cueball putting in a light-bulb with a quad-copter under each foot. White Hat is watching as Megan walks in with a ladder. Next to the book is a segment of text with a blue link at the end. Beneath this is a text from where a curved arrow goes to the book.]<br />
:<big><big>How To Deliver Christmas Presents</big></big><br />
:<big>In a future without chimneys</big><br />
: <font color="blue">How To</font><br />
:For more questionable ideas for using science to solve problems, check out my new book, '''''How To!''''' Click on this comic or go to <font color="blue">xkcd.com/how-to</font><br />
:Good Christmas gift!<br />
<br />
:[The second section has three normal sized panels on the same row. In the first panel, Randall, drawn as Cueball, is presenting the problem of the comic, while holding one hand out palm up.]<br />
:Randall: The traditional way to get Christmas presents into a house is to have a large reindeer-herding man slither down the chimney with them.<br />
:Randall: Unfortunately, chimneys are becoming less common in the United States.<br />
<br />
:[The middle panel shows a line graph with one black and four gray lines. The X-axis is a time scale, with small ticks for each year and larger labeled ticks for every fifth year. The Y-axis is a percentage range with small ticks for every 5% and larger labeled ticks for every 10%. Each of the gray lines are swinging up and down quite a lot, but all but one of them clearly falls down as times passes. The black line has a clear downwards falling tendency. Each line has a label written on segments of the lines, where the lines are thus disrupted. For the gray lines the text is also gray. Above the lines are the following text:]<br />
:<big>Disappearing chimneys</big><br />
:Percentage of new homes with fireplaces<br />
:<small>Source: Census Bureau ''Survey of Construction''</small><br />
:X-Axis: 1990&nbsp;&nbsp;1995&nbsp;&nbsp;2000&nbsp;&nbsp;2005&nbsp;&nbsp;2010&nbsp;&nbsp;2015<br />
:Y-Axis: 40%&nbsp;&nbsp;50%&nbsp;&nbsp;60%&nbsp;&nbsp;70%&nbsp;&nbsp;80%<br />
:Overall<br />
:<font color="gray">West</font><br />
:<font color="gray">Midwest</font><br />
:<font color="gray">South</font><br />
:<font color="gray">Northeast</font><br />
<br />
:[In the third and last panel of this segment Randall, holding his arms out, explains that there are other ways to solve the problem.]<br />
:Randall: But that's OK; there are other ways to get a gift into a house<br />
:Randall: Here are a few options!<br />
<br />
:[The last segment has a large panel taking up the bottom half of the comic. At the bottom of this panel there are even two smaller comics which lie over this panel and break the bottom border of the panel. They relate to the information in the large panel. In the middle of this panel is a detailed drawing of a house. The tiles of the roof are all individually drawn (8 rows with about 23 tiles each for a total about 180 tiles). To the right on the roof top is a chimney indicated with a dotted line, showing where it is not present. The front of the house has two small windows to the left, a door with door knob, in the middle of the house, with a two steps stair in front of it and a large window with three segments to the right. All three windows have curtains visible and are divided in two, a top and a bottom part On the top of the middle segment there is a handle for opening the windows, all five segments of them. In the window to the left sits a cat and in the central segment of the large window to the right sits Pikachu. The foundation of the house is drawn as 4 rows of bricks to the left (about 12 in each row) and three to the right (about 16 in each row, for 48 on both sides for a total of about 96). ] <br />
<br />
:[To the left on the side of the house is a line indicating a ventilation shaft. Three arrows end there. They are coming from a bunch of particles of a disintegrating black book with part of a title still readable. Other text is visible, but not readable. Only the first word of the title can be read, but even here the last letter is already partly dissolved. The book is hanging above the grass on the ground below it to the left of the house. Above the book is a section of text marked with a large white number 1 inside a black circle. Beneath the book this text continues. Bordering this text is a one panel comic belonging to this text segment.]<br />
:'''1''' Even without chimneys, houses aren't airtight. If you vaporize the gift, parts of it will enter the house through the intake vents...<br />
:Book: How<br />
:...And it will ''stay'' there.<br />
:According to a 2008 study from Clarkson University, particles of your gift that settle in their house will remain there for an average of several months if they vacuum, and seven decades if they don’t<br />
:<small>Source: DOI 10.3155/1047-3289.58.4.502</small><br />
<br />
:[The one panel comic is on top of the large panel beneath the door to the house, but about three times as wide. In the panel, Megan and Cueball are reacting to statement 1. Cueball is walking away from her to the right.]<br />
:Megan: Seven ''decades?!''<br />
:Cueball: BRB, I need to go vacuum.<br />
:Megan: Houses are ''disgusting''<br />
<br />
:[To the right of the house a gift wrapped present is flying towards the large window, with five lines indicating its speed and direction. Beneath the book is a line indicating the ground away from the house. There is a large segment of text surrounding the book on the three sides away from the house. Above the present next to the dotted-lined chimney is a large white number 2 inside a black circle. Then follows text which goes out to the edge of the panel, and this text continues down to the level of the book where it then only continues to the right of the speed lines. And then finally two lines of text are beneath the book above the ground next to the house.]<br />
:'''2''' The critical momentum necessary for a projectile to break glass is around 4 kg*m/s. (40 for ½" plywood.)<br />
:<small>Source: fema.gov/previous-missile-impact-test-wood-sheathing</small><br />
:This means you can deliver a book-sized gift by hurling it at a window at 25+ mph<br />
:Speed = book mass/ 4 kg*m/s = 25 mph<br />
:But if they’ve put up plywood shutters, you’ll need 250mph+ delivery speeds.<br />
<br />
:[Finally beneath the house and text segment 2, there is a large white number 3 inside a black circle adjacent to the top right of the segment 1 panel comic. Next to this is the final text segment in this panel. Beneath this text is yet another comic, this time in five panels referring to the text, where the panels also break the lower border of the large panel.]<br />
:'''3''' Wait until they order a different book, then intercept the package, open the binding, and replace the pages with the ones from yours.<br />
<br />
:[The five panel comic is on top of the large panel but beneath the text segment 3. ]<br />
:[Black Hat opening a box with one hand while having his own book under the other arm.]<br />
<br />
:[The book cover is open, the pages from the original book have been removed and are interchanged with those from Black Hat’s book, two arrows indicating the switch.]<br />
<br />
:[Black Hat carrying a closed box.]<br />
<br />
:[Cueball going down to retrieving the package from the bottom of a three step stairs.]<br />
<br />
:[Cueball is standing next to the open box reading the book.]<br />
:Cueball: ...Ugh, real-life content injection. <br />
:Off-screen voice: We need HTTPS for paper.<br />
<br />
==Trivia==<br />
*The equation in the comic is incorrect, although the approximate result is correct<br />
**Speed = book mass/ 4 kg*m/s = 25 mph<br />
***The units of this formula is not m/s but s/m.<br />
**It should be 4 kg*m/s /book mass<br />
***Assuming the book weighs about 0.8lbs (360 g) this would give a speed of 11.1 m/s = 40 km/hour = 24.86 mph ≈ 25 mph.<br />
<br />
{{comic discussion}}<br />
<br />
[[Category:Comics with color]]<br />
[[Category:Book promotion]] <br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Randall Munroe]] <!--The first row is Randall promoting his book--><br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]] <!--The last row is a Cueball, and since they are in different comics they could be the same so no need for multiple Cueballs --><br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Black Hat]]<br />
[[Category:Line graphs]]<br />
[[Category:Timelines]]<br />
[[Category:Internet]]<br />
[[Category:Christmas]]<br />
[[Category:Physics]]<br />
[[Category:Hurricanes]]<br />
[[Category:Pokémon]]<br />
[[Category:Animals]]</div>162.158.159.102