https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/api.php?action=feedcontributions&user=172.68.142.201&feedformat=atomexplain xkcd - User contributions [en]2024-03-29T02:23:23ZUser contributionsMediaWiki 1.30.0https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=2498:_Forest_Walk&diff=2160492498: Forest Walk2021-08-05T01:00:10Z<p>172.68.142.201: </p>
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<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 2498<br />
| date = August 5, 2021<br />
| title = Forest Walk<br />
| image = forest_walk.png<br />
| titletext = The only other person to walk by was a linguist back in the 80s, but she just spent a while dissecting the phrase 'help me down' before getting distracted by a squirrel and wandering off.<br />
}}<br />
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==Explanation==<br />
{{incomplete|Created by D. B. COOPER. Please mention here why this explanation isn't complete. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}<br />
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==Transcript==<br />
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}<br />
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{{comic discussion}}</div>172.68.142.201https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=406:_Venting&diff=215952406: Venting2021-08-03T08:53:23Z<p>172.68.142.201: /* Explanation */ fixed incorrect word</p>
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<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 406<br />
| date = April 4, 2008<br />
| title = Venting<br />
| image = venting.png<br />
| titletext = P.P.S. I can kill you with my brain.<br />
}}<br />
<br />
==Explanation==<br />
This is yet another xkcd comic referencing ''{{w|Firefly (TV series)|Firefly}}'', but it's not so much about ''Firefly'' itself as about {{w|Summer Glau}}. Summer Glau is an American actress best known for playing {{w|River Tam}} in ''Firefly'' and ''{{w|Serenity (film)|Serenity}}'', as well as Cameron in the ''{{w|Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles}}'' series.<br />
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[[Cueball]] claims that he gives a long and seemingly well-researched reply to a stupid comment on a blog, just to let out his anger. In this particularly long comment, at first he becomes what is known over the internet as a 'Grammar Nazi'. Then, he proceeds to rip apart the commenter by citing their historical and political ignorance. He signs his comment as 'Summer Glau', after which he reminds the blogger to watch the next season of ''Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles series''.<br />
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One likely reason that he uses 'Summer Glau' is that she is worshiped by geeks the world over, even those incapable of writing coherent blog posts. CrackMonkey74 would not risk responding negatively to the post, just in case it was actually written by Summer Glau, and by so doing, he would ruin any kind of respect by everyone. In this way, Cueball is assured of the last word in this argument, which makes for a most satisfying vent.<br />
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Another possible explanation is that River Tam has a genius-level intellect and is also mentally disturbed. Given xkcd's trend of comparing ''Firefly'' characters to their respective actors (Especially 577-581), Cueball is probably using Summer Glau's name simply because an exhaustively researched blog comment seems like something River Tam -- and thus possibly Summer Glau -- would do.<br />
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The title text refers to the famous dialogue delivered by River Tam in ''Firefly'' Episode 11: "{{w|Trash (Firefly)|Trash}}".<br />
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==Transcript==<br />
:When I need to blow off steam, I find a particularly stupid blog comment and reply with an exhaustively researched word-by-word rebuttal, which I sign 'Summer Glau'.<br />
:Cueball (typing): In conclusion, on examining the above post by CrackMonkey74, after carefully working my way through the haze of spelling errors (documented in section 3), abuse of capitalization (section 4), and general crimes against grammar and syntax (sections 7-8), I have demonstrated that, beneath it all, the work betrays the author's staggering ignorance of the history and the workings of our electoral system. While the author's wildly swerving train of thought did at one point flirt with coherence, this brief encounter was more likely a chance event (see statistical analysis in table 5) than a result of even rudimentary lucidity.<br />
::-Summer Glau<br />
:P.S. Don't forget to check out the next season of the ''Sarah Connor Chronicles'' this fall on Fox!<br />
<br />
==Trivia==<br />
*Cueball's statement has been widely reused by many bloggers after the release of this comic.<br />
*The name ''CrackMonkey74'' also appears in [[202: YouTube]] as one of the clueless YouTube commentators, and later appears in [[574: Swine Flu]].<br />
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{{comic discussion}}<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Summer Glau]]<br />
[[Category:Language]]<br />
[[Category:Terminator]]</div>172.68.142.201https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=Talk:2407:_Depth_and_Breadth&diff=204025Talk:2407: Depth and Breadth2021-01-04T22:15:53Z<p>172.68.142.201: </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 />
where did the quality go<br />
[[Special:Contributions/172.69.34.24|172.69.34.24]] 19:34, 4 January 2021 (UTC)<br />
: I noticed this too. As discussed at [[User:DgbrtBOT]] there are two sizes of each comic. The default (smaller) size of [https://xkcd.com/2407/ 2407] looks much worse than the original, which you can find at [https://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/depth_and_breadth_2x.png https://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/depth_and_breadth_2x.png] I suggest we use the larger version for this comic. [[User:Alchemistmatt|Alchemistmatt]] ([[User talk:Alchemistmatt|talk]]) 20:18, 4 January 2021 (UTC)<br />
: I tried to upload the higher quality PNG but I do not have permission; we'll have to wait for an editor to provide their opinion. [[User:Alchemistmatt|Alchemistmatt]] ([[User talk:Alchemistmatt|talk]]) 20:35, 4 January 2021 (UTC)<br />
It would appear that the first version of the picture of this day's cartoon presents artifacts due to an unusual export method. <br />
The image seems to have been exported using the 'nearest neighbor' resampling method, which would explain the jaggy edges.<br />
Usually, the images appear to be exported using bilinear downsampling from an white-grey-black original, resulting in a published version with a larger color palette.<br />
[[Special:Contributions/162.158.111.161|162.158.111.161]] 20:17, 4 January 2021 (UTC)<br />
: Randall has uploaded a new image: [https://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/depth_and_breadth.png], which I uploaded to explainxkcd. [[User:Natg19|Natg19]] ([[User talk:Natg19|talk]]) 21:48, 4 January 2021 (UTC)<br />
In the breadth-first, for the second node on the right, the right branch is searched first, while everywhere else, the left branch is.<br />
And in deadth-first, the nodes are searched multiple times (e.g. left-most node of layer 3 is search 3 times, assuming a search is at the end of a continuous line). Alternatively, maybe the search goes up first sometimes (it's not actually clear when a node is being looked at), but that doesn't explain the order of the left-most node of layer 2. [[Special:Contributions/172.68.142.201|172.68.142.201]] 22:15, 4 January 2021 (UTC)</div>172.68.142.201https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=370:_Redwall&diff=203431370: Redwall2020-12-17T04:53:52Z<p>172.68.142.201: /* Explanation */</p>
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<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 370<br />
| date = January 14, 2008<br />
| title = Redwall<br />
| image = redwall.png<br />
| titletext = My Redwall/Jurassic Park crossover fanfic is almost complete!<br />
}}<br />
<br />
==Explanation==<br />
This comic references {{w|Brian Jacques|Brian Jacques'}} series of books, ''{{w|Redwall}}'', which star sapient woodland animals in various high fantasy adventures.<br />
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The first panel shows the similarity between the story of Martin the Warrior (from the book ''{{w|Mossflower}}'') and {{w|Aragorn}} from ''{{w|The Lord of the Rings}}'' by {{w|J. R. R. Tolkien}}. The joke is that while Martin and Aragorn introduce themselves separately, they then go on to describe their particular story, which turns out to be exactly the same for both of them. Subsequently Martin jinxes Aragorn. {{w|Jinx (children's game)|Jinx}} is a common children's game, which is initiated by shouting "Jinx" after somebody speaks the same word or sentence at the same time as you. That person is then jinxed, with one form of the rules dictating that they are then not permitted to speak until unjinxed by some specific action (usually somebody saying their name), or more commonly someone would say “Jinx! You owe me a soda,” and then the other person would owe them a soda. For a similar children’s game, see [[392: Making Rules]].<br />
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In LOTR, orcs are unequivocally and without exception the bad guys, capable only of hate and violence (although to be fair, in some of Tolkien's unpublished writing orcs are corrupted elves, so it is clear that they are not intrinsically bad). Similarly, Redwall's rats, foxes, ferrets, ermine, and weasels are mostly evil manipulators while mice, rabbits, squirrels, hedgehogs, and badgers are always the good guys. On several occasions, characters explicitly state that "vermin stays vermin." This is the overarching rule, notwithstanding the rare exception (e.g. Grubbage from {{w|Triss}}. Conversely, one of the so-called "good species" has never become evil in this book series. Though it is more likely than not that this is simply the result of a {{tvtropes|PlanetOfHats|planet of hats}} - where a single species all share the same characteristics and personality, so that authors / readers don't have to spend time fleshing out / getting to know every new character - Randall nevertheless points out that this "moral absolute" is problematic and has some "racist undertones," regardless if it's intentional or not.<br />
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The second panel deals with the fact that ''Redwall'' mentions the name of {{w|Satan}} or {{w|The Devil}} 4 times, while it never mentions {{w|God}} or {{w|Jesus}}--somewhat surprisingly, given that the book is set in an abbey, and many of the inhabitants are religious brothers and sisters. [[Randall Munroe|Randall]] then points out that people who {{w|Religious debates over the Harry Potter series|protest against Harry Potter because of the series' witchcraft}}, should take note that Redwall explicitly mentions Satan, although it has had little to no negative feedback from more conservative readers.<br />
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In the third panel, Randall comments on ''Redwall'''s often-used theme of critical messages being left in riddles throughout the Abbey for the occupants to find when they are in need. Randall suggests that he would use {{w|Public-key cryptography|public-key cryptography}} to encode the messages, instead of the elaborate riddles used in the books (some of which are ridiculously easy, which doesn't exactly make for good security when dealing with sensitive information).<br />
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In the title text, Randall jokes that he is making a crossover {{w|Fan fiction|fan-fiction}} with ''Redwall'' and ''{{w|Jurassic Park}}''.<br />
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Redwall was also referenced in [[1688: Map Age Guide]] and [[1722: Debugging]].<br />
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==Transcript==<br />
:Notes from reading Redwall books for the first time since childhood.<br />
<br />
:Some of this feels familiar.<br />
:Aragorn: Hi, I'm Aragorn.<br />
:Martin: I'm Martin.<br />
:Aragorn and Martin: I'm here to reforge my broken sword so I can lead an army against the tyrant threatening my people. I live in a world of moral absolutes and racist undertones.<br />
:Martin: Jinx!<br />
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:It startled me when characters mentioned Satan.<br />
:Redwall: "By Satan's whiskers..."<br />
:Redwall mentions God/Jesus 0 times.<br />
:Redwall mentions Satan/The Devil 4 times.<br />
:(Harry Potter protesters, take note.)<br />
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:Even as a kid this bothered me: Why does everyone leave critical secret messages as simple riddles? It's silly to assume the intended recipient will be the only one to find and solve them. I would do things differently.<br />
:Matthias: The inscription is a message from Martin!<br />
:Brother Methuselah: What does it say?<br />
:Matthias: Hang on, it's encrypted with my public key.<br />
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{{comic discussion}}<br />
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[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]<br />
[[Category:Bar charts]]<br />
[[Category:LOTR]]<br />
[[Category:Religion]]<br />
[[Category:Cryptography]]<br />
[[Category:Animals]]<br />
[[Category:Fiction]]<br />
[[Category:Harry Potter]]</div>172.68.142.201