https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/api.php?action=feedcontributions&user=172.68.211.184&feedformat=atomexplain xkcd - User contributions [en]2024-03-29T00:12:48ZUser contributionsMediaWiki 1.30.0https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=712:_Single_Ladies&diff=180665712: Single Ladies2019-09-30T20:39:11Z<p>172.68.211.184: /* Explanation */ wlink</p>
<hr />
<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 712<br />
| date = March 10, 2010<br />
| title = Single Ladies<br />
| image = single_ladies.png<br />
| titletext = Using a ring to bind someone you covet into your dark and twisted world? Wow, just got the subtext there. Also, the apparently eager Beyoncé would've made one badass Nazgûl.<br />
}}<br />
<br />
==Explanation==<br />
The character in armor is {{w|Sauron}}, the main villain in ''{{w|The Lord of the Rings}}'' trilogy. In the backstory of the ''{{w|The Silmarillion}}'', he takes control of Middle-earth by giving several {{w|Rings of Power}} as "gifts" to the great kings of men after teaching the craft to dwarves and elves. However, he also forged a master ring, the {{w|One Ring}}, to control the {{w|Rings of Power}} and ultimately rule over the kings. However, the elves were not deceived by his plan and took off their rings. Enraged, Sauron starts {{w|War of the Elves and Sauron}}. After losing that war Sauron started a religion in {{w|Númenor}}. After using his influence to convince Númenóreans to attack {{w|Aman}}, the island is destroyed by {{w|Eru}}. Then Sauron starts {{w|Last Alliance of Elves and Men|War against the Last Alliance}}. Sauron is eventually defeated in said war by {{w|Isildur}} who cuts off his ring finger. The books tell the story of a small group of adventurers who rediscover the lost Ring and attempt to destroy it, as Sauron's army gathers its forces to attempt to reclaim the Ring for their master.<br />
<br />
{{w|Gil-galad}} is a high Elven-king, and {{w|Galadriel}} is an Elf of royal blood who serves as a matriarch of sorts to the remnants of the Elven race. {{w|Lindon}} is a location on the westernmost side of the continent, serving as the final transition point for Elves passing on to the Undying lands. Sauron refers to an actual event in the first panel, when he tried to gain control of Lindon through deceit; Galadriel and Gil-galad saw through his disguise and cast him out. <br />
<br />
In the second panel Sauron is talking about {{w|Eru Ilúvatar}}, the creator in Tolkien's Middle-earth legendarium. While Eru created elves and men it was {{w|Aulë}} who created Dwarves, Eru gave them life. Orcs were Elves twisted by {{w|Morgoth}} so Sauron, being his principal lieutenant, would be a natural leader to orcs by the time he created the One Ring.<br />
<br />
The song playing in the background is "All the Single Ladies" by Beyoncé, which includes the line "If you liked it then you should have put a ring on it," referring to ''{{w|wedding rings}}''. This is shown as being what inspired Sauron to devise his plan to control others through the gift of rings.<br />
<br />
The title text refers to an often-suggested fan theory that the One Ring ''is'' actually meant to be symbolic of marriage. The {{w|Nazgûl}}, also known as ringwraiths, are the former nine human kings who were bound by the rings, now a band of nine servants to Sauron who constantly seek out the Ring for him.<br />
<br />
==Transcript==<br />
:[Beret Guy is talking to Sauron; Sauron is wearing his trademark helmet, but his head is downcast. Music plays in the background.]<br />
:''Music: All the single ladies, All the single ladies''<br />
:Beret Guy: Hey Sauron, why so glum?<br />
:Sauron: Gil-galad saw through me and threw me out of Lindon. Galadriel as well. I'll never rule ''anyone'' at this rate.<br />
<br />
:''Music: All the single ladies, All the single ladies''<br />
:Sauron: Eru created such beautiful creatures - Elves and men and dwarves - and all I've got are these stupid orcs.<br />
<br />
:''Music: 'Cause if you liked it then you should have put a ring on it''<br />
:Sauron: I mean, I-<br />
<br />
:[Sauron is suddenly quiet.]<br />
:''Music: If you liked it then you should have put a ring on it''<br />
<br />
==Trivia==<br />
* Randall used the wrong "û" character when editing the title text; the character he used was U+0217 LATIN SMALL LETTER U WITH INVERTED BREVE, but the correct character is U+00FB LATIN SMALL LETTER U WITH CIRCUMFLEX. They look very similar at standard font sizes, but the inverted breve is curved, while the circumflex is pointed.<br />
<br />
{{comic discussion}}<br />
[[Category:Romance]]<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Beret Guy]]<br />
[[Category:LOTR]]<br />
[[Category:Songs]]</div>172.68.211.184https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=2209:_Fresh_Pears&diff=1806642209: Fresh Pears2019-09-30T20:26:34Z<p>172.68.211.184: /* Explanation */ copyedit</p>
<hr />
<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 2209<br />
| date = September 30, 2019<br />
| title = Fresh Pears<br />
| image = fresh_pears.png<br />
| titletext = I want to sell apples but I'm still working on getting the machine to do the cutting and grafting.<br />
}}<br />
<br />
==Explanation==<br />
{{incomplete|Created by a VENDING MACHINE. Please mention here why this explanation isn't complete. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}<br />
[[Megan]] tries to purchase "fresh pears" from a vending machine. She asks [[Beret Guy]], presumably the creator of said machine why it's not working. He explains that it just takes a while to work.<br />
<br />
To the left (hidden from Megan), we see the machine dispensing a seed into the dirt. Above it is a robotic arm and a hopper for collecting and dispensing the ripened pears. The term "a while" is ambiguous, but in the context of waiting for a vending machine to dispense food, it's usually assumed to be a matter of seconds. Beret Guy, in his usually surrealist approach, seems to consider it reasonable to wait at a machine years for a tree to sprout, grow to maturity and begin bearing fruit. While such a pear would indeed be "fresh", it's implausible that anyone would accept that kind of lag time in buying a pear, particularly considering that any number of factors could interfere with the production of pears in the meantime.<br />
<br />
The title text refers to the increased difficulty in cultivating desirable apples, as compared to other fruits. Apples cannot be reliably produced from seeds, seedlings often don't survive, and even when they do, they don't generally reflect the characteristics of the parent plant. As a result, apple orchards are created by grafting tissue from desirable trees onto suitable rootstock. This process is more complex and labor-intensive than simply planting seeds. <br />
<br />
The joke, then, is that the next planned version of the machine would not only require the user to wait years, but would also involve as-yet unavailable technology to automatically perform the grafting process as to create an apple tree that produces desirable fruit.<br />
<br />
==Transcript==<br />
[Megan rattles a machine that is supposed to dispense fresh pears]<br />
:Machine: [Plants a pear seed]<br />
:Megan: I put in my quarters. Is the machine broken?<br />
:Beret Guy: It just takes a while to work.<br />
<br />
{{comic discussion}}<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Beret Guy]]<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]<br />
[[Category:Beret Guy's Business]]<br />
[[Category: Food]]</div>172.68.211.184https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=2206:_Mavis_Beacon&diff=1803562206: Mavis Beacon2019-09-23T19:16:49Z<p>172.68.211.184: /* Explanation */ title text brief</p>
<hr />
<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 2206<br />
| date = September 23, 2019<br />
| title = Mavis Beacon<br />
| image = mavis_beacon.png<br />
| titletext = There are actually lowercase-like 'oldstyle' forms of normal numbers with more pronounced ascenders and descenders, which is why some numbers like '5' in books sometimes dangle below the line. But the true capital numbers remain the domain of number maven Mavis Beacon.<br />
}}<br />
<br />
==Explanation==<br />
{{incomplete|Created by an END BOSS. Please mention here why this explanation isn't complete. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}<br />
<br />
''{{w|Mavis Beacon Teaches Typing}}'' is a computer game first released in 1987, with the goal of teaching touch-typing and improving typing speed on a computer keyboard. Unlike many video games, ''Mavis Beacon'' contains no combat and therefore does not feature any "{{w|Boss_(video_gaming)#Final_boss|end boss}}" (a very powerful enemy encountered as the final challenge of the game). In many video games, defeating major opponents "unlocks" special features, such as improved weapons. Also, playing ''Mavis Beacon'', although it may improve typing skill, has no effect on how typing works on one's computer.<br />
<br />
However, [[Cueball]] asserts that after 30 years of playing ''Mavis Beacon'', he encountered and defeated such a boss. In this case, Cueball claims that defeating this "end boss" unlocked an ability to type esoteric "capital numbers," which Randall depicts as more extravagant versions of the familiar numerals. (Although Latin letters have different capital and lower-case forms, numerals do not.)<br />
<br />
Typing such numerals is said to require pressing the Alt, tilde (~), Scroll Lock, and numeral keys at the same time. Most keyboard layouts do not have a scroll lock key or a separate tilde key, and in any event pressing four keys at once would be quite difficult. In addition to this, many keyboards are incapable of pressing certain combinations of keys, especially combinations of more than 3.<br />
<br />
In the title text, Cueball states that [https://www.bamagazine.com/Text-type-typeface-s/105.htm lowercase numerals do exist], however, "capital numerals" are a guarded secret of Mavis Beacon. {[w|Mavis Beacon (character)|Mavis Beacon}} was the character created as the typing instructor for the ''Mavis Beacon'' game, and does not actually exist as a real-life person. Additionally, as a typing instructor, this person (even if she actually existed) would not be able to change typographical standards.<br />
<br />
==Transcript==<br />
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}<br />
:[Cueball is sitting in an office chair at his desk in front of his computer.]<br />
:Computer: Congratulations.<br />
:Computer: Use this power wisely.<br />
:Computer: Key Code (Secret!!): <span style="border: 1px solid black">Alt</span> <span style="border: 1px solid black">Tilde</span> <span style="border: 1px solid black">Scroll Lock</span> + Number<br />
:[stylized versions of the arabic numerals 0-9]<br />
<br />
:[Caption following the comic]<br />
:After 30 years, I finally beat the end boss of ''Mavis Beacon'' and unlocked the ability to type capital numbers.<br />
<br />
{{comic discussion}}<br />
<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]<br />
[[Category:Computers]]</div>172.68.211.184https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=2206:_Mavis_Beacon&diff=1803542206: Mavis Beacon2019-09-23T19:11:30Z<p>172.68.211.184: /* Transcript */ ce</p>
<hr />
<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 2206<br />
| date = September 23, 2019<br />
| title = Mavis Beacon<br />
| image = mavis_beacon.png<br />
| titletext = There are actually lowercase-like 'oldstyle' forms of normal numbers with more pronounced ascenders and descenders, which is why some numbers like '5' in books sometimes dangle below the line. But the true capital numbers remain the domain of number maven Mavis Beacon.<br />
}}<br />
<br />
==Explanation==<br />
{{incomplete|Created by an END BOSS. Please mention here why this explanation isn't complete. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}<br />
<br />
''{{w|Mavis Beacon Teaches Typing}}'' is a computer game first released in 1987, with the goal of teaching touch-typing and improving typing speed on a computer keyboard. Unlike many video games, ''Mavis Beacon'' contains no combat and therefore does not feature any "{{w|Boss_(video_gaming)#Final_boss|end boss}}" (a very powerful enemy encountered as the final challenge of the game). In many video games, defeating major opponents "unlocks" special features, such as improved weapons. Also, playing ''Mavis Beacon'', although it may improve typing skill, has no effect on how typing works on one's computer.<br />
<br />
However, [[Cueball]] asserts that after 30 years of playing ''Mavis Beacon'', he encountered and defeated such a boss. In this case, Cueball claims that defeating this "end boss" unlocked an ability to type esoteric "capital numbers," which Randall depicts as more extravagant versions of the familiar numerals. (Although Latin letters have different capital and lower-case forms, numerals do not.)<br />
<br />
Typing such numerals is said to require pressing the Alt, tilde (~), Scroll Lock, and numeral keys at the same time. Most keyboard layouts do not have a separate tilde key, and in any event pressing four keys at once would be quite difficult.<br />
<br />
==Transcript==<br />
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}<br />
:[Cueball is sitting in an office chair at his desk in front of his computer.]<br />
:Computer: Congratulations.<br />
:Computer: Use this power wisely.<br />
:Computer: Key Code (Secret!!): <span style="border: 1px solid black">Alt</span> <span style="border: 1px solid black">Tilde</span> <span style="border: 1px solid black">Scroll Lock</span> + Number<br />
:[stylized versions of the Arabic numerals 0-9]<br />
<br />
:[Caption below the panel:]<br />
:After 30 years, I finally beat the end boss of ''Mavis Beacon'' and unlocked the ability to type capital numbers.<br />
<br />
{{comic discussion}}<br />
<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]<br />
[[Category:Computers]]</div>172.68.211.184https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=2204:_Ksp_2&diff=1800912204: Ksp 22019-09-18T18:11:52Z<p>172.68.211.184: /* Explanation */ wlink</p>
<hr />
<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 2204<br />
| date = September 18, 2019<br />
| title = Ksp 2<br />
| image = ksp_2.png<br />
| titletext = "The committee appreciates that your 2020 launch is on track, but the 'human capital/personnel retention' budget includes a lot more unmarked cash payments than usual. What are th--" "Public outreach."<br />
}}<br />
<br />
==Explanation==<br />
{{incomplete|Created by a BOT. Please mention here why this explanation isn't complete. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}<br />
''{{w|Kerbal Space Program}}'' (KSP for short) is a space flight simulation video game with a realistic orbital physics engine, allowing for real-life orbital maneuvers. KSP has been previously mentioned in [[1356: Orbital Mechanics]] and other comics. A sequel, abbreviated here as KSP 2, is planned to be released in 2020.<br />
<br />
Also planned for 2020 is a Mars rover mission, {{w|Mars 2020}}. The joke in the comic comes as engineers are both involved in KSP2, and in the Mars 2020 mission, and NASA is worried about the Mars 2020 mission being delayed, or failing, because the engineers are too focused on KSP2. Cueball is represented here as being in charge of KSP2, and the other characters are pleading with him to delay the release of KSP2 until the Mars rover program is complete, even being willing to "give [him] a moon".<br />
<br />
Literally giving a moon to Cueball is impossible.{{Citation needed}} But it is possible to {{w|Naming of moons|name a moon}} after Cueball, so that may be what is implied instead.<br />
<br />
The title text seems to claim that NASA engineers are being paid off in "unmarked cash payments" as a form of bribery to keep them working on the Mars mission, and preventing them from leaving to work on KSP2 instead.<br />
<br />
==Transcript==<br />
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}<br />
<br />
:[Cueball sitting at a desk in front of a computer, surrounded to his left and right by Hairy, Ponytail, another Cueball, and Hairbun]<br />
:Hairy: Please hold off until the end of summer. We can't afford the personnel hit right before the late July launch window.<br />
:Ponytail: People have ''already'' started calling in sick!<br />
:Hairbun: Do you want a moon? ''We'll give you a moon!''<br />
<br />
:[Caption below the panel:]<br />
:NASA tries desperately to get the Kerbal Space Program team to delay ''KSP 2'' until after the ''Mars 2020'' mission launches.<br />
<br />
{{comic discussion}}<br />
<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Hairy]]<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Ponytail]]<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Hairbun]]<br />
[[Category:Multiple Cueballs]]<br />
[[Category:Space]]<br />
[[Category:Mars rovers]]<br />
[[Category:Video games]]</div>172.68.211.184https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=2204:_Ksp_2&diff=1800902204: Ksp 22019-09-18T18:11:11Z<p>172.68.211.184: /* Explanation */ more</p>
<hr />
<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 2204<br />
| date = September 18, 2019<br />
| title = Ksp 2<br />
| image = ksp_2.png<br />
| titletext = "The committee appreciates that your 2020 launch is on track, but the 'human capital/personnel retention' budget includes a lot more unmarked cash payments than usual. What are th--" "Public outreach."<br />
}}<br />
<br />
==Explanation==<br />
{{incomplete|Created by a BOT. Please mention here why this explanation isn't complete. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}<br />
''{{w|Kerbal Space Program}}'' (KSP for short) is a space flight simulation video game with a realistic orbital physics engine, allowing for real-life orbital maneuvers. KSP has been previously mentioned in [[1356: Orbital Mechanics]] and other comics. A sequel, abbreviated here as KSP 2, is planned to be released in 2020.<br />
<br />
Also planned for 2020 is a Mars rover mission, {{w|Mars 2020}}. The joke in the comic comes as engineers are both involved in KSP2, and in the Mars 2020 mission, and NASA is worried about the Mars 2020 mission being delayed, or failing, because the engineers are too focused on KSP2. Cueball is represented here as being in charge of KSP2, and the other characters are pleading with him to delay the release of KSP2 until the Mars rover program is complete, even being willing to "give [him] a moon".<br />
<br />
Literally giving a moon to Cueball is impossible.{{Citation needed}} But it is possible to name a moon after Cueball, so that may be what is implied instead.<br />
<br />
The title text seems to claim that NASA engineers are being paid off in "unmarked cash payments" as a form of bribery to keep them working on the Mars mission, and preventing them from leaving to work on KSP2 instead.<br />
<br />
==Transcript==<br />
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}<br />
<br />
:[Cueball sitting at a desk in front of a computer, surrounded to his left and right by Hairy, Ponytail, another Cueball, and Hairbun]<br />
:Hairy: Please hold off until the end of summer. We can't afford the personnel hit right before the late July launch window.<br />
:Ponytail: People have ''already'' started calling in sick!<br />
:Hairbun: Do you want a moon? ''We'll give you a moon!''<br />
<br />
:[Caption below the panel:]<br />
:NASA tries desperately to get the Kerbal Space Program team to delay ''KSP 2'' until after the ''Mars 2020'' mission launches.<br />
<br />
{{comic discussion}}<br />
<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Hairy]]<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Ponytail]]<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Hairbun]]<br />
[[Category:Multiple Cueballs]]<br />
[[Category:Space]]<br />
[[Category:Mars rovers]]<br />
[[Category:Video games]]</div>172.68.211.184https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=Talk:2204:_Ksp_2&diff=180088Talk:2204: Ksp 22019-09-18T18:05:38Z<p>172.68.211.184: create category?</p>
<hr />
<div><!--Please sign your posts with ~~~~ and don't delete this text. New comments should be added at the bottom.--><br />
Can someone create a KSP category? I don't have the rights to do that. Comics for that category include this one, [[1356:_Orbital_Mechanics]], [[1350:_Lorenz]], [[1244: Six Words]], [[1106: ADD]]. There may be others as well. [[Special:Contributions/172.68.211.184|172.68.211.184]] 18:05, 18 September 2019 (UTC)</div>172.68.211.184https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=2204:_Ksp_2&diff=1800862204: Ksp 22019-09-18T17:58:05Z<p>172.68.211.184: /* Explanation */ short explanation</p>
<hr />
<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 2204<br />
| date = September 18, 2019<br />
| title = Ksp 2<br />
| image = ksp_2.png<br />
| titletext = "The committee appreciates that your 2020 launch is on track, but the 'human capital/personnel retention' budget includes a lot more unmarked cash payments than usual. What are th--" "Public outreach."<br />
}}<br />
<br />
==Explanation==<br />
{{incomplete|Created by a BOT. Please mention here why this explanation isn't complete. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}<br />
''{{w|Kerbal Space Program}}'' (KSP for short) is a space flight simulation video game with a realistic orbital physics engine, allowing for real-life orbital maneuvers. KSP has been previously mentioned in [[1356: Orbital Mechanics]] and other comics. A sequel, abbreviated here as KSP 2, is planned to be released in 2020.<br />
<br />
Also planned for 2020 is a Mars rover mission, {{w|Mars 2020}}. The joke in the comic comes as engineers are both involved in KSP2, and in the Mars 2020 mission, and NASA is worried about the Mars 2020 mission being delayed, or failing, because the engineers are too focused on KSP2. <br />
<br />
The title text seems to claim that NASSA engineers are being paid off in "unmarked cash payments" as a form of bribery to keep them working on the Mars mission, and preventing them from leaving to work on KSP2 instead.<br />
<br />
==Transcript==<br />
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}<br />
<br />
:[Cueball sitting at a desk in front of a computer, surrounded to his left and right by Hairy, Ponytail, another Cueball, and Hairbun]<br />
:Hairy: Please hold off until the end of summer. We can't afford the personnel hit right before the late July launch window.<br />
:Ponytail: People have ''already'' started calling in sick!<br />
:Hairbun: Do you want a moon? ''We'll give you a moon!''<br />
<br />
:[Caption below the panel:]<br />
:NASA tries desperately to get the Kerbal Space Program team to delay ''KSP 2'' until after the ''Mars 2020'' mission launches.<br />
<br />
{{comic discussion}}<br />
<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Hairy]]<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Ponytail]]<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Hairbun]]<br />
[[Category:Multiple Cueballs]]<br />
[[Category:Space]]<br />
[[Category:Mars rovers]]<br />
[[Category:Video games]]</div>172.68.211.184https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=2204:_Ksp_2&diff=1800852204: Ksp 22019-09-18T17:51:26Z<p>172.68.211.184: /* Transcript */ ce</p>
<hr />
<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 2204<br />
| date = September 18, 2019<br />
| title = Ksp 2<br />
| image = ksp_2.png<br />
| titletext = "The committee appreciates that your 2020 launch is on track, but the 'human capital/personnel retention' budget includes a lot more unmarked cash payments than usual. What are th--" "Public outreach."<br />
}}<br />
<br />
==Explanation==<br />
{{incomplete|Created by a BOT. Please mention here why this explanation isn't complete. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}<br />
<br />
==Transcript==<br />
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}<br />
<br />
:[Cueball sitting at a desk in front of a computer, surrounded to his left and right by Hairy, Ponytail, another Cueball, and Hairbun]<br />
:Hairy: Please hold off until the end of summer. We can't afford the personnel hit right before the late July launch window.<br />
:Ponytail: People have ''already'' started calling in sick!<br />
:Hairbun: Do you want a moon? ''We'll give you a moon!''<br />
<br />
:[Caption below the panel:]<br />
:NASA tries desperately to get the Kerbal Space Program team to delay ''KSP 2'' until after the ''Mars 2020'' mission launches.<br />
<br />
{{comic discussion}}<br />
<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Hairy]]<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Ponytail]]<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Hairbun]]<br />
[[Category:Multiple Cueballs]]<br />
[[Category:Space]]<br />
[[Category:Mars rovers]]<br />
[[Category:Video games]]</div>172.68.211.184https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=2204:_Ksp_2&diff=1800842204: Ksp 22019-09-18T17:50:42Z<p>172.68.211.184: /* Transcript */ add category</p>
<hr />
<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 2204<br />
| date = September 18, 2019<br />
| title = Ksp 2<br />
| image = ksp_2.png<br />
| titletext = "The committee appreciates that your 2020 launch is on track, but the 'human capital/personnel retention' budget includes a lot more unmarked cash payments than usual. What are th--" "Public outreach."<br />
}}<br />
<br />
==Explanation==<br />
{{incomplete|Created by a BOT. Please mention here why this explanation isn't complete. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}<br />
<br />
==Transcript==<br />
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}<br />
<br />
:[Cueball sitting at a desk in front of a computer, surrounded to his left and right by Hairy, Ponytail, another Cueball, and Hairbun]<br />
:Hairy: Please hold off until the end of summer. We can't afford the personnel hit right before the late July launch window.<br />
:Ponytail: People have ''already'' started calling in sick!<br />
:Hairbun: Do you want a moon? ''We'll give you a moon!''<br />
<br />
:[Caption under the panel]<br />
:NASA tries desperately to get the Kerbal Space Program team to delay ''KSP 2'' until after the ''Mars 2020'' mission launches.<br />
<br />
{{comic discussion}}<br />
<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Hairy]]<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Ponytail]]<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Hairbun]]<br />
[[Category:Multiple Cueballs]]<br />
[[Category:Space]]<br />
[[Category:Mars rovers]]<br />
[[Category:Video games]]</div>172.68.211.184https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=2204:_Ksp_2&diff=1800832204: Ksp 22019-09-18T17:49:56Z<p>172.68.211.184: /* Transcript */ brief transcript</p>
<hr />
<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 2204<br />
| date = September 18, 2019<br />
| title = Ksp 2<br />
| image = ksp_2.png<br />
| titletext = "The committee appreciates that your 2020 launch is on track, but the 'human capital/personnel retention' budget includes a lot more unmarked cash payments than usual. What are th--" "Public outreach."<br />
}}<br />
<br />
==Explanation==<br />
{{incomplete|Created by a BOT. 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 />
<br />
:[Cueball sitting at a desk in front of a computer, surrounded to his left and right by Hairy, Ponytail, another Cueball, and Hairbun]<br />
:Hairy: Please hold off until the end of summer. We can't afford the personnel hit right before the late July launch window.<br />
:Ponytail: People have ''already'' started calling in sick!<br />
:Hairbun: Do you want a moon? ''We'll give you a moon!''<br />
<br />
:[Caption under the panel]<br />
:NASA tries desperately to get the Kerbal Space Program team to delay ''KSP 2'' until after the ''Mars 2020'' mission launches.<br />
<br />
{{comic discussion}}<br />
<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Hairy]]<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Ponytail]]<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Hairbun]]<br />
[[Category:Multiple Cueballs]]<br />
[[Category:Space]]<br />
[[Category:Video games]]</div>172.68.211.184https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=1965:_Background_Apps&diff=1541351965: Background Apps2018-03-11T03:16:49Z<p>172.68.211.184: Discussion of whether the airplanes are too close and how this is analogous to computers that crash for the same reason as these planes will</p>
<hr />
<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 1965<br />
| date = March 9, 2018<br />
| title = Background Apps<br />
| image = background_apps.png<br />
| titletext = My plane banner company gets business by flying around with a banner showing a &lt;div&gt; tag, waiting for a web developer to get frustrated enough to order a matching &lt;/div&gt;.<br />
}}<br />
<br />
==Explanation==<br />
Background apps (apps in the recently used list) on both iOS and Android are in one of several paused states and do not usually consume much battery power; they only take up some memory. Closing them means that if you want to use the app again later, it will need to reload fully which likely uses up "very slightly" more battery. ''Wired'' had a [https://www.wired.com/2016/03/closing-apps-save-battery-makes-things-worse/ detailed article] on this topic a couple years ago. However, a much better reason to close the apps are to free up RAM/Memory to make the programs run faster or even prevent them from crashing. Ultimately, whether or not you should close your apps depends on whether you prioritize battery lifetime or performance. (In [[Randall]]'s case, low batteries tend to be something of a problem, and references this in [[1373: Screenshot]], [[1802: Phone]], [[1872: Backup Batteries]], and other comics.)<br />
<br />
The joke at first is that the misconception is so prevalent and irritating that a person would go to the trouble of renting a banner plane just to dispel it. However, the reasoning behind such an extreme action is then questioned by a second person, not only for the extreme measure of renting a plane but also for feeling the need to correct the misconception at all; however, following the internal logic of the comic, the second person also communicates via banner plane. (This is arguably hypocritical, as they themselves are chartering a plane for an equally, if not more, inane reason.) The first person responds, again via plane, once again just to apologize to the second person and explain their actions.<br />
<br />
At this point, the comic has left the initial joke about battery use entirely behind, and becomes a commentary about the logic of a world where people can converse via banner planes. In the final panel, the second person rents the plane yet again to respond to the first person's response, being no less smug or hypocritical than before. Meanwhile, four more people have chartered four different planes:<br />
* One to urge the first two people to have their conversation somewhere private (typical comment in on-line forums)<br />
* Another to comment on how surprisingly cheap the banners are to rent, thus explaining how the logic of the comic is possible in the first place<br />
* A third just to show off their own banner<br />
* A fourth displaying the HTML "{{w|Marquee element|Marquee}}" tag, a standard but obsolete<ref>[https://html.spec.whatwg.org/multipage/rendering.html#the-marquee-element-2 HTML Living Standard]</ref> tag that many web organizations advise against using, which is used to cause a message to scroll across the web page, much as the plane is flying across the sky.<br />
<br />
The fairly obvious parallel here is to using various Internet forums for "unsolicited tech advice to strangers," smug responses, comments on others' advice, off-topic rejoinders, and all the other things that go on there constantly. It seems ludicrous to rent airplane banners for such trivial purposes, but there are non-trivial resources involved in the global distribution of electronic communication, as well, and their use for purposes such as this seems ludicrous once Randall makes one think about it, and underlines that none of what is written on the banner may have anything to do with Randall's own opinions. <br />
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Participants in online discussions sometimes become so focused on pointing out the perceived mistakes of others that they neglect good online practices and their computers crash.<br />
<br />
In the comic, the third plane is pointing at the second plane. The fourth plane is pointed at the third plane. The third and fourth plane have no vertical separation and far less than the three miles of horizontal separation normally required for uncoordinated airplanes flying without vertical separation. It seems likely that the planes may also be about to crash because their operators are more concerned with pointing out each other's mistakes and participating in a silly discussion than they are with safety. In other words, they are like the computers used for the discussions.<br />
<br />
The title text is spoken by a plane banner company owner, who uses the insidious tactic of flying around with a banner of an unmatched HTML, just to compel obsessive people into renting banner space to make it syntactically correct. This may be a reference to [[859: (]] or [[1144: Tags]].<br />
<br />
The theme of the mis/use of airplanes and banners has previously been explored in [[1355: Airplane Message]].<br />
<br />
==Transcript==<br />
:[A small airplane with a trailing banner is flying across the panel from left to right with four small clouds spread out beneath the banner. The long banner reads:]<br />
:Banner: People! Closing background apps when you're not using them makes your phone battery drain ''faster'', not slower! Stop it!<br />
<br />
:[A beat panel without a plane, but just the sky with two birds to the left and three clouds.]<br />
<br />
:[The same airplane flies back from right to left, trailing a new banner with clouds both above and beneath the banner/plane, and a bird to the right.]<br />
:Banner: What kind of person charters a plane to give unsolicited tech advice to strangers?<br />
<br />
:[A second beat panel follows without a plane, but just the sky with three clouds.]<br />
<br />
:[The plane returns once again from the left with another banner. Two clouds are in front/below the plane and two birds can be seen.]<br />
:Banner: OK, fair. Sorry. I guess I'm just angry about other stuff and it's coming out here.<br />
<br />
:[Without a beat panel the original plane returns at the top of the panel, once again returning from right to left with another very long banner. But no less than four other planes, each with smaller and smaller banners are also shown flying beneath it among three clouds and three birds. The planes alter direction so the second plane below the original planes banner is flying to the right, the third plane is right below the second flying the other way towards left, and just beneath that is the fourth plane flying to the right. A final plane is flying to the left, beneath the third planes banner, at the same height as the fourth, they look as if they are on a collision course. This last planes banner is very short and the bottom end is partly beneath the panels frame, partly obscuring the text. All five planes are clearly different types, thus making it clear that the plane from the first three panels and the top one in this panel are the same plane, hired by two different persons.]<br />
:Banner 1: No worries. Just maybe spend as much time reflecting on your own motivation for correcting people as you have on theirs for closing apps.<br />
:Banner 2: Can you two please have this conversation somewhere else?<br />
:Banner 3: Wow, these banners are surprisingly cheap to rent.<br />
:Banner 4: Haha, I got one, too!<br />
:Banner 5: <Marquee><br />
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==References==<br />
<references/><br />
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{{comic discussion}}<br />
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[[Category:Social networking]] <br />
[[Category:Animals]] <!--birds--></div>172.68.211.184