https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/api.php?action=feedcontributions&user=173.245.55.29&feedformat=atomexplain xkcd - User contributions [en]2024-03-29T00:30:30ZUser contributionsMediaWiki 1.30.0https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=Talk:1491:_Stories_of_the_Past_and_Future&diff=85196Talk:1491: Stories of the Past and Future2015-02-26T02:13:20Z<p>173.245.55.29: Why did Randall exclude 1984 film The Terminator?</p>
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<div>http://xkcd.com/1491/large/ will take you to the large version, which the comic currently doesn't have a link to. I expect that will be fixed shortly. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.210.177|108.162.210.177]] 05:30, 25 February 2015 (UTC)<br />
:I just realized he has a text link for it in the top banner. I'd delete my comment, but that's rude on a wiki. Whatever. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.210.177|108.162.210.177]] 05:35, 25 February 2015 (UTC)<br />
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The bottom diagonal seems to be mislabelled? Shouldn't it be "Stories written X years and set X years ago" instead of "set 2X years ago"?<br />
--[[Special:Contributions/108.162.250.175|108.162.250.175]] 05:38, 25 February 2015 (UTC)<br />
:It is correct, if you see both relative from now. The middle line is written X years ago and set X years ago and thus contemporary. Sebastian --[[Special:Contributions/108.162.231.68|108.162.231.68]] 06:46, 25 February 2015 (UTC)<br />
::Correct, but could be clearer. I thought it was a bug at first. 'Stories written X years ago and set X years before publication' [[User:Jbalcorn|Jbalcorn]] ([[User talk:Jbalcorn|talk]]) 16:21, 25 February 2015 (UTC)<br />
I'm not sure where to open bug tickets, but Lest Darkness Fall actually takes place ~1500 years ago, not ~500. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.80.121|141.101.80.121]] 06:35, 25 February 2015 (UTC)<br />
: I'll second that -- [[User:Brettpeirce|Brettpeirce]] ([[User talk:Brettpeirce|talk]]) 12:36, 25 February 2015 (UTC)<br />
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Kind of reminds of a Minkowski diagram. Sebastian --[[Special:Contributions/108.162.231.68|108.162.231.68]] 06:50, 25 February 2015 (UTC)<br />
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More and more science fiction works wander into the category obsolete science fiction, and more and more historical works are not recognisable as such by the average viewer as the movies have been filmed such a long time ago anyway. Sebastian --[[Special:Contributions/108.162.231.68|108.162.231.68]] 06:55, 25 February 2015 (UTC)<br />
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There seems to be a mistake with the large diagonal line. It says "Stories written X years ago and set 2X years ago." It should say, "... and set X years ago." Am I missing something here? [[User:Effy|Effy]] ([[User talk:Effy|talk]]) 09:35, 25 February 2015 (UTC)<br />
:Nevermind, I see now that the y-axis is date relative to publication, not absolute dates relative to today. My bad. [[User:Effy|Effy]] ([[User talk:Effy|talk]]) 09:37, 25 February 2015 (UTC)<br />
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I may have missed it, but can't see {{w|Paris in the Twentieth Century}}, written in 1863, about 1960, but only published in 1994. Which would have been an interesting addition. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.192|141.101.98.192]] 10:13, 25 February 2015 (UTC)<br />
:In fact, I'm thinking it could have been represented as a (dotted?) ''diagonal'' arrowed line between "1960 in 1863"/future-trending and "1960 in 1994"/past-trending points. But never mind. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.192|141.101.98.192]] 10:38, 25 February 2015 (UTC)<br />
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... this is why experienced sci-fi writers don't date their stories. On the other hand, many sci-fi became obviously obsolete even without the date. -- [[User:Hkmaly|Hkmaly]] ([[User talk:Hkmaly|talk]]) 11:00, 25 February 2015 (UTC)<br />
:I have experience with this. Back in 1995 I advised a prospective author-friend (prospective author; already and still a friend, surprisingly) on the latest computing matters to help a plot device in a "five minutes into the future" story. Even two years later, it sounded so dated and... naff. ('Luckily', it didn't sell too well anyway (bad choice of publishers), so my failure-as-futurologist - uncredited as it also fortunately was - wasn't so wildly known.) [[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.192|141.101.98.192]] 13:04, 25 February 2015 (UTC)<br />
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I've been trying and trying to figure out what the heck his point might be, as IMO there usually seems to be some point he's trying to make or way he's trying to be clever, beyond the interesting nature of the observation - and I think I might have seen one (though there is probably something else) - anyone notice that the area under the "Stories set in 2015" line is awfully bare? at least compared to the areas on either side of the 'x / 2x' line. that could simply be his particular selection of works(?) anyone have some ideas of things that might deserve to go in there that were not included? -- [[User:Brettpeirce|Brettpeirce]] ([[User talk:Brettpeirce|talk]]) 12:45, 25 February 2015 (UTC)<br />
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:I think the point here is that there are a lot of books one hasn't read yet. I, for one, sought out ''Memoirs of the Twentieth Century'' and ''The Pillow Book'' after reading this strip. --[[User:Koveras|Koveras]] ([[User talk:Koveras|talk]]) 13:30, 25 February 2015 (UTC)<br />
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::He has done stuff like that before, right? Putting the age of some books and movies into perspective, to make the reader feel old. --[[Special:Contributions/173.245.53.151|173.245.53.151]] 15:16, 25 February 2015 (UTC)<br />
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As for writing a transcript or explanation, concerning order, I would think it would make some sense to flatten it on one axis (probably the y-axis, starting from Star Wars?) or if it is practical enough, the best might be some sort of "radial"(?) axis (is that a thing?), where the axis would be anchored at "this chart", and swing like a radar beam around from the bottom (Downton Abbey, Mad Men, and Star Wars, up through the 'x / 2x' line, through the 'contemporary' line and then the 'set in 2015' line, to finish with '3001', possibly making a small attempt to keep related works (like Star Wars) together in the listing. Any comments? -- [[User:Brettpeirce|Brettpeirce]] ([[User talk:Brettpeirce|talk]]) 12:55, 25 February 2015 (UTC)<br />
:Whatever the fixation, I started work on something, but other people will get there before me. So here's my ideas. Five columns: "Story (and format description/author?)", "First Published/Premiered", "Date offset(s)", "Featured date(s)" and "Notes", with sorting on each potentially numerical one (although ranges/freetext/vagueness may play havoc with such sorting, by past experience).<br />
:I already have a complete list of listed titles (in case anyone needs it), though maybe not error-free and not yet been ordered other than by "input order".<br />
...excised by original author...<br />
:(Do cut that out of this Talk Page when no longer necessary!)<br />
:What I've so far put together (but not yet checked my link formats or WikiTabled) is...<br />
...excised by original author...<br />
:...but I'm probably duplicating someone else's efforts so by the time I get back to it you'll have a complete and better version online. FYI if you're determined to build on this while I'm absent, however. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.192|141.101.98.192]] 14:22, 25 February 2015 (UTC)<br />
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This appears to be a log-log graph, but with abrupt changes in scale along one axis yielding cusps in the "still possible / obsolete" line. Is there a name for that? -- [[Special:Contributions/108.162.210.169|108.162.210.169]] 14:29, 25 February 2015 (UTC)<br />
:Hello, me again. I'd also played with a 'transcript description' part. Use (or don't, or ''correct'' and then use) what I was writing, if you want. I'm taking the liberty of deleting my prior inserts while I'm here, to avoid the clutter.<br />
X-axis represents "date of publication" of a work and is irregularly split into 1000s (3000BCE to 1000CE) and then decreasing periods of time until 1955, at which point it becomes every five years up to the present day (2015) and one devision of possibly five years into the future (the upcoming "third Star Wars Trilogy" is indicated by an arrow as lying on-or-beyond 'now', with Episode 7 itself due out not long after the comic date).<br />
Y-axis represents "years ahead/behind publication date in which a story is set" with the 'zero axis' being "set at the time of publication. "Years in the future" spreads above, by decades until "30 years" then in a metalogarithmic manner through various orders of ten to top-out at 1 billion years. The "Years in the past" scale, below this, extends by five years down to 60 years and then similarly quickly speeds through to 1 billion years in the past, and the time of the Big Bang as lowest limit.<br />
Above the 'here and now', a region is shaded within a line to represent the border between future settings that should have happened by this date, and below we find a similar shading/line that represents set twice as long ago as was written. Both lines continue into "2015+" territory in a manner similar to a "light cone".<br />
:...ok? [[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.192|141.101.98.192]] 15:43, 25 February 2015 (UTC)<br />
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I created a basic table using 141.101.98.192's data - bits corrected. [[User:Jarod997|Jarod997]] ([[User talk:Jarod997|talk]]) 14:46, 25 February 2015 (UTC)<br />
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I'm in the process of writing a transcript myself. Mine is not formatted as a table; I am under the impression that this is the preferred approach to transcripts on this site. However, the existing table would be ''perfect'' in another section, where we can give more detail than a true transcript can/should provide (e.g. "this is a book written by X, here's the wikilink", "this is an error, it should be X", etc.) -- [[User:Peregrine|Peregrine]] ([[User talk:Peregrine|talk]]) 14:55, 25 February 2015 (UTC)<br />
:Meh, I created the table as a starting point. If people want to use it and add to it, great. If something better is created, that's fine too. :) [[User:Jarod997|Jarod997]] ([[User talk:Jarod997|talk]]) 15:12, 25 February 2015 (UTC)<br />
::I've moved the table to its own section and put in my more minimalistic, list-style transcript (based on what I found in other "large drawing" articles. I have only included dates in the transcript as an indication of the coordinates at which each item is located (and I found several that seem misplaced vertically, perhaps to accommodate other labels, e.g. ''Next Generation''). Also, it isn't finished; everything's listed, in (more or less) the right order, but the last bunch don't have their dates/coordinates. I got as far as ''Les Mis'' before stopping. -- [[User:Peregrine|Peregrine]] ([[User talk:Peregrine|talk]]) 15:45, 25 February 2015 (UTC)<br />
:::Looks good Peregrine! I like it. =8o) [[User:Jarod997|Jarod997]] ([[User talk:Jarod997|talk]]) 17:02, 25 February 2015 (UTC)<br />
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Not sure of the protocol here, but the trivia section currently states that "Rip Van Winkel" is a misspelling of "Rip Van Winkle." The use of Winkel in the comic can be correct. (http://i.imgur.com/Z0adeEJ.jpg) The transcription also lists "Rip Can Winkel [sic]" but the comic actually uses "Rip Van Winkel." {{unsigned ip|108.162.238.181}}<br />
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This Comic seems to follow the tradition of [[647: Scary]], [[891: Movie Ages]], [[973: MTV Generation]], [[1393: Timeghost]], and [[1477: Star Wars]]. Making people feel old. --[[Special:Contributions/173.245.53.151|173.245.53.151]] 16:14, 25 February 2015 (UTC)<br />
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Seems like it might have been useful to include some kind of indication of related subject matter from the upper left to the lower right in the "Stories set in the past" section. Mostly looking at the WW II related works. (Bridge/Kwai, Catch-22, Patton, Schindler, Ryan, Pearl Harbor) all seem to make a pretty straight line. Similarly, seeing that relationship between Apocalypse Now and Platoon. Finally, calling the earlier WW II era works 'former period pieces' seems odd. I think I'd still understand which parts were supposed to sound old in those (or maybe it's just that I am old). [[Special:Contributions/199.27.128.215|199.27.128.215]] 18:50, 25 February 2015 (UTC)<br />
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did nobody see 2001 or was the title text forgotten about? i didnt see 2001 so i cant explain the joke. im pretty sure its just a joke about how it sounds similar, but i dont want to add that explanation if its wrong.[[User:TheJonyMyster|TheJonyMyster]] ([[User talk:TheJonyMyster|talk]]) 22:55, 25 February 2015 (UTC)<br />
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Does Randall exclude the 1984 film The Terminator because the main portion occurs in 1984, or do you suppose it's because the film is not technically obsolete, given the wandering date of the predicted Judgement Day (as well as actual existence of killbots, advanced tactical simulation systems & a large broadband computer network named SkyNet)? It has often occurred to me that the only thing fictional about The Terminator is the existence of a device enabling time travel. ("The Vulcan Science Directorate has determined that time travel is impossible." T'Pol, Enterprise ;) He seems to have left out many notable predictive works which in fact came true, rather than becoming "obsolete".</div>173.245.55.29https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=Talk:1490:_Atoms&diff=85123Talk:1490: Atoms2015-02-25T14:32:17Z<p>173.245.55.29: </p>
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<div>"My dad FORM the dog"? Typo in the actual comic or just the wiki?<br />
[[Special:Contributions/199.27.128.240|199.27.128.240]] 05:47, 23 February 2015 (UTC)Anonymous<br />
: The actual comment, the wiki just grabs what the website has listed.--[[Special:Contributions/108.162.216.24|108.162.216.24]] 05:56, 23 February 2015 (UTC)<br />
:: Generally in cases like this, it's customary to add ''[sic]'' to indicate any typoes ''[sic]'' or grammarization ''[sic]'' mistakes in the original techs. ''[sic]''. [[User:KieferSkunk|KieferSkunk]] ([[User talk:KieferSkunk|talk]]) 19:55, 23 February 2015 (UTC) ''[sic]''<br />
plutonium = radiation exposure, or pacemaker?<br />
: Radiation exposure wouldn't give you plutonium, maybe the byproducts of its fission. I'm thinking that, whatever it is, it mutated Beret Guy in the womb, hence why he has this strange superpower.--[[User:Druid816|Druid816]] ([[User talk:Druid816|talk]]) 06:52, 23 February 2015 (UTC)<br />
: Referencing Pink Floyd's 1970 album 'Atom Heart Mother' I think.--[[Special:Contributions/108.162.225.122|108.162.225.122]] 07:25, 23 February 2015 (UTC)<br />
this guy sees by which elements are contained, not by which visible light?<br />
--[[Special:Contributions/199.27.128.172|199.27.128.172]] 06:14, 23 February 2015 (UTC)<br />
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Are the elements actually representing their atomic symbols? Be, O, S, Z? Not sure what the metal-in-the-face comment is about.<br />
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--[[Special:Contributions/108.162.250.156|108.162.250.156]] 07:47, 23 February 2015 (UTC)<br />
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: A deliberate BeOS reference? [[Special:Contributions/141.101.99.4|141.101.99.4]] 14:12, 23 February 2015 (UTC)<br />
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: Metal in the face might be a comment on braces, and how uncomfortable people are about having noticable ones. --<br />
[[Special:Contributions/141.101.104.41|141.101.104.41]] 08:37, 23 February 2015 (UTC)<br />
::Are there braces that aren't very noticeable? I can see adults being a little uncomfortable, but they're ocmmon enough on kids that kids aren't going to be uncomfortable with them. {{unsigned ip|108.162.215.98}}<br />
: (Dental) fillings are explicitly mentioned as a possible source of metal. --[[Special:Contributions/188.114.102.75|188.114.102.75]] 09:26, 23 February 2015 (UTC)<br />
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: Makeup and powers may contain a variety of metals and rare earths [[User:Spongebog|Spongebog]] ([[User talk:Spongebog|talk]]) 18:16, 24 February 2015 (UTC)<br />
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Perhaps the plutonium is coming from his mother smoking? [[Special:Contributions/141.101.99.102|141.101.99.102]] 08:51, 23 February 2015 (UTC)<br />
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Possibly a reference to [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karen_Silkwood Silkwood]?<br />
[[User:DaveHowe|DaveHowe]] ([[User talk:DaveHowe|talk]]) 20:36, 23 February 2015 (UTC)<br />
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:: I like the Karen Silkwood explanation i.e. she worked at an enrichment plant and stole plutonium pellets by swallowing them. The other read I had was that of The Stepford Wives -- I.e. she is a plutonium powered robot. [[User:Spongebog|Spongebog]] ([[User talk:Spongebog|talk]]) 18:27, 24 February 2015 (UTC)<br />
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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unethical_human_experimentation_in_the_United_States#Plutonium_experiments [[User:Andries|Andries]] ([[User talk:Andries|talk]]) 09:02, 23 February 2015 (UTC)<br />
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I read it as both his mother and him beeing a robot or cyborg, which she never told him. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.75.77|141.101.75.77]] 09:30, 23 February 2015 (UTC)<br />
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: Yes, I rather thought it might be a Terminator 2 reference (based on the scene in which the T-1000 replaces John Connor's mother.) [[Special:Contributions/141.101.99.4|141.101.99.4]] 14:12, 23 February 2015 (UTC)<br />
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:: The first thing I thought was Terminator, but in looking at their wiki there's no plutonium reference for their fuel cells, as far as I can tell (http://terminator.wikia.com/wiki/Fuel_cell). {{unsigned ip|108.162.215.98}}<br />
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: I also assumed it was a reference to some kind of nuclear powered cyborg. Being partially composed of electronic parts could also account for his unusually high levels of Zinc and could explain why he sees people as a list of their constituent particles. {{unsigned ip|173.245.55.29}}<br />
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-- did the radiation give him those superpowers? [[Special:Contributions/108.162.222.204|108.162.222.204]] 11:05, 23 February 2015 (UTC)<br />
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He can't distinguish Dad and Dog, so he wasn't a genious back then. So what if the Plutonium wasn't a super complex mysterium, just one of the most important things for an infant, her breasts (in this case maby big ons).<br />
[[Special:Contributions/141.101.92.108|141.101.92.108]] 11:44, 23 February 2015 (UTC) Pietro<br />
:Seen as purely clumps of chemicals (which it appears that White Hat has been restricted to, at least whilst growing up) mammals (if not animals in general or even wider!) look pretty much the same. A whole lot of carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, calcium, phospohorous, some iron, [http://www.indiana.edu/~ensiweb/chem.life.intro.html etc], and if WH sees predominately in "amounts of chemicals", it won't just be fine facial features that might get lost in amongst all this irregular information but ''species'' as well. The dog could about the same mass as the father and mother (if that was ever a distinguishing factor, rather than just ratios), and it took a while to learn a method other than that of the 'obvious' presence of plutonium in the mother to differentiate his father from all other humans/creatures/hogroasts... (I suspect he's learnt the trick of differentiating individuals, since then, but his abnormal primary sense of 'elements' could very well be the source of some of his other otherworldy 'powers', how he has become rich, why he has somehow found it necessary to contrive a 'soup-dispensing socket', etc. Kind of like a Dr Manhattan like omniscience and unusual understanding of everyday physics. Maybe or maybe not in the various other ways, though.) [[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.192|141.101.98.192]] 10:04, 25 February 2015 (UTC)<br />
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I agree with 141.101.80.53. Beret Guy is answering Megan's question about what is wrong with him, not being arrogant. Arrogant would be out of character for Beret Guy, but giving an unusual answer to a rhetorical question would be true to character. [[User:Mwburden|mwburden]] ([[User talk:Mwburden|talk]]) 12:42, 23 February 2015 (UTC)<br />
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Perhaps too oddball a theory, but maybe his mom was actually a spacecraft powered by plutonium (e.g. [[Wikipedia:Galileo (spacecraft)#Electrical_power | Galileo(spacecraft)]]), making his father a planet and the dog a moon.<br />
[[Special:Contributions/173.245.56.182|173.245.56.182]] 12:43, 23 February 2015 (UTC)<br />
:Wouldn't the dog need to be a dwarf planet? :) [[Special:Contributions/108.162.250.156|108.162.250.156]] 12:54, 23 February 2015 (UTC)<br />
:What would that make him? [[User:Mikemk|Mikemk]] ([[User talk:Mikemk|talk]]) 21:48, 23 February 2015 (UTC)<br />
::Pluto! [[Special:Contributions/108.162.250.156|108.162.250.156]] 13:57, 24 February 2015 (UTC)<br />
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When I read the alt text the first time around, I read it as platinum and figured Randall meant an IUD... perhaps that was a typo on his part as well (much like the "form" typo mentioned above)? Can't figured out another reasonable plutonium explanation. --[[User:Canned Soul|Canned Soul]] ([[User talk:Canned Soul|talk]]) 14:28, 23 February 2015 (UTC)<br />
: If you Google "plutonium in IUDs" you get some interesting results. Perhaps early copper IUDs contained a small amount of incidental plutonium?[[Special:Contributions/108.162.216.191|108.162.216.191]] 19:26, 23 February 2015 (UTC)<br />
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I like the plutonium experiments reverence, but are strongly against the suggestion in the explanation that Pu is not found in nature: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plutonium#Occurrence Do NOT diss Oklo! Oklo is badass! [[User:Tier666|Tier666]] ([[User talk:Tier666|talk]]) 15:23, 23 February 2015 (UTC)<br />
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Putting in my own two bits, my first thought reading the title text was that she had a pacemaker. The fact that there were plutoniu pacemakers and the fact he mentioned that they were "in her middle" make me think "pacemaker". But I digress. As far as the "too much zinc", ??? [[Special:Contributions/199.27.128.186|199.27.128.186]] 02:20, 24 February 2015 (UTC)<br />
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Not sure if it's an inspiration, but this is an example of people not knowing what common human experiences they are missing (see: http://slatestarcodex.com/2014/03/17/what-universal-human-experiences-are-you-missing-without-realizing-it/). Also, "or she was the victim of unethical medical experimentation. Thus the probable reason for his abnormality." is ridiculous - no amount of medical experimentation will cause this. The probable reason for his abnormality is magic. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.241.17|108.162.241.17]] 15:35, 23 February 2015 (UTC)<br />
:Agree: I removed "Thus the probable reason for his abnormality." {{unsigned ip|141.101.98.217}}<br />
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I believe that the "Too Much Zinc?" - is an answer to what might be wrong with him, not a retort to Megan's tone. In fact, zinc is linked to eyesight, see for instance https://www.nei.nih.gov/news/pressreleases/101201 and other sources, and this "zinc overdose" might be believed by white beret guy to relate to his "super-human" eyesight? [[Special:Contributions/141.101.80.53|141.101.80.53]]<br />
: Can this be added to the explanation? [[User:Djbrasier|Djbrasier]] ([[User talk:Djbrasier|talk]]) 21:58, 24 February 2015 (UTC)<br />
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The link to the UPPU club (You Pee Pu) appears to be broken. EDIT: fixed now, thanks whoever fixed it. {{unsigned ip|108.162.249.181}}<br />
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Did anyone else notice that this is the second comic in a row about elementary particles? I suspect a series coming up. [[User:Mikemk|Mikemk]] ([[User talk:Mikemk|talk]]) 21:48, 23 February 2015 (UTC)<br />
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Pacemakers are usually implanted round the clavicle, so I'm not satisfied with the theory that the plutonium is from a pacemaker. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.104.46|141.101.104.46]] 08:40, 24 February 2015 (UTC)<br />
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The "form"/"from" mistake was corrected in the original strip, I applied the changes to the article. -- [[User:guest|guest]] ([[User talk:guest|talk]]) 17:40, 24 February 2015 (UTC)<br />
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Can someone elaborate on this: "The presence of plutonium in his mother may be an explanation or source of his own differences."? How does plutonium in the mother explain him having elemental eyesight (or vacuum energy harnessing or soup-from-an-outlet, etc.) abilities? [[User:Djbrasier|Djbrasier]] ([[User talk:Djbrasier|talk]]) 22:01, 24 February 2015 (UTC)<br />
:I would say, quite simply, that radiation or radioactive chemistry is typically offered as a means of activating/creating abnormal powers (Hulk, Spiderman, Daredevil, etc, etc) in the appropriate fictional genres. And whilst it might have inexplicably failed to create any obvious illness in either mother or child (as would normally happen outside of comic-book franchises) it could have "activated his X-gene" or whatever was required to produce this particularly strange person. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.192|141.101.98.192]] 10:04, 25 February 2015 (UTC)<br />
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I read bits of a book my mother has, written by a woman who worked for a few years at a plutonium enrichment plant near Denver. It seems the safety and containment systems were faulty, and she has "smokers patches" in her lungs, caused by minute specks of plutonium she inhaled while there.<br />
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radioactive_contamination_from_the_Rocky_Flats_Plant<br />
A little late, I know, but I really figured someone else would mention this before the day was up.[[Special:Contributions/173.245.55.29|173.245.55.29]] 14:32, 25 February 2015 (UTC)</div>173.245.55.29https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=Talk:1490:_Atoms&diff=85122Talk:1490: Atoms2015-02-25T14:31:36Z<p>173.245.55.29: </p>
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<div>"My dad FORM the dog"? Typo in the actual comic or just the wiki?<br />
[[Special:Contributions/199.27.128.240|199.27.128.240]] 05:47, 23 February 2015 (UTC)Anonymous<br />
: The actual comment, the wiki just grabs what the website has listed.--[[Special:Contributions/108.162.216.24|108.162.216.24]] 05:56, 23 February 2015 (UTC)<br />
:: Generally in cases like this, it's customary to add ''[sic]'' to indicate any typoes ''[sic]'' or grammarization ''[sic]'' mistakes in the original techs. ''[sic]''. [[User:KieferSkunk|KieferSkunk]] ([[User talk:KieferSkunk|talk]]) 19:55, 23 February 2015 (UTC) ''[sic]''<br />
plutonium = radiation exposure, or pacemaker?<br />
: Radiation exposure wouldn't give you plutonium, maybe the byproducts of its fission. I'm thinking that, whatever it is, it mutated Beret Guy in the womb, hence why he has this strange superpower.--[[User:Druid816|Druid816]] ([[User talk:Druid816|talk]]) 06:52, 23 February 2015 (UTC)<br />
: Referencing Pink Floyd's 1970 album 'Atom Heart Mother' I think.--[[Special:Contributions/108.162.225.122|108.162.225.122]] 07:25, 23 February 2015 (UTC)<br />
this guy sees by which elements are contained, not by which visible light?<br />
--[[Special:Contributions/199.27.128.172|199.27.128.172]] 06:14, 23 February 2015 (UTC)<br />
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Are the elements actually representing their atomic symbols? Be, O, S, Z? Not sure what the metal-in-the-face comment is about.<br />
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--[[Special:Contributions/108.162.250.156|108.162.250.156]] 07:47, 23 February 2015 (UTC)<br />
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: A deliberate BeOS reference? [[Special:Contributions/141.101.99.4|141.101.99.4]] 14:12, 23 February 2015 (UTC)<br />
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: Metal in the face might be a comment on braces, and how uncomfortable people are about having noticable ones. --<br />
[[Special:Contributions/141.101.104.41|141.101.104.41]] 08:37, 23 February 2015 (UTC)<br />
::Are there braces that aren't very noticeable? I can see adults being a little uncomfortable, but they're ocmmon enough on kids that kids aren't going to be uncomfortable with them. {{unsigned ip|108.162.215.98}}<br />
: (Dental) fillings are explicitly mentioned as a possible source of metal. --[[Special:Contributions/188.114.102.75|188.114.102.75]] 09:26, 23 February 2015 (UTC)<br />
<br />
: Makeup and powers may contain a variety of metals and rare earths [[User:Spongebog|Spongebog]] ([[User talk:Spongebog|talk]]) 18:16, 24 February 2015 (UTC)<br />
<br />
Perhaps the plutonium is coming from his mother smoking? [[Special:Contributions/141.101.99.102|141.101.99.102]] 08:51, 23 February 2015 (UTC)<br />
<br />
Possibly a reference to [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karen_Silkwood Silkwood]?<br />
[[User:DaveHowe|DaveHowe]] ([[User talk:DaveHowe|talk]]) 20:36, 23 February 2015 (UTC)<br />
<br />
:: I like the Karen Silkwood explanation i.e. she worked at an enrichment plant and stole plutonium pellets by swallowing them. The other read I had was that of The Stepford Wives -- I.e. she is a plutonium powered robot. [[User:Spongebog|Spongebog]] ([[User talk:Spongebog|talk]]) 18:27, 24 February 2015 (UTC)<br />
<br />
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unethical_human_experimentation_in_the_United_States#Plutonium_experiments [[User:Andries|Andries]] ([[User talk:Andries|talk]]) 09:02, 23 February 2015 (UTC)<br />
<br />
I read it as both his mother and him beeing a robot or cyborg, which she never told him. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.75.77|141.101.75.77]] 09:30, 23 February 2015 (UTC)<br />
<br />
: Yes, I rather thought it might be a Terminator 2 reference (based on the scene in which the T-1000 replaces John Connor's mother.) [[Special:Contributions/141.101.99.4|141.101.99.4]] 14:12, 23 February 2015 (UTC)<br />
<br />
:: The first thing I thought was Terminator, but in looking at their wiki there's no plutonium reference for their fuel cells, as far as I can tell (http://terminator.wikia.com/wiki/Fuel_cell). {{unsigned ip|108.162.215.98}}<br />
<br />
: I also assumed it was a reference to some kind of nuclear powered cyborg. Being partially composed of electronic parts could also account for his unusually high levels of Zinc and could explain why he sees people as a list of their constituent particles. {{unsigned ip|173.245.55.29}}<br />
<br />
-- did the radiation give him those superpowers? [[Special:Contributions/108.162.222.204|108.162.222.204]] 11:05, 23 February 2015 (UTC)<br />
<br />
He can't distinguish Dad and Dog, so he wasn't a genious back then. So what if the Plutonium wasn't a super complex mysterium, just one of the most important things for an infant, her breasts (in this case maby big ons).<br />
[[Special:Contributions/141.101.92.108|141.101.92.108]] 11:44, 23 February 2015 (UTC) Pietro<br />
:Seen as purely clumps of chemicals (which it appears that White Hat has been restricted to, at least whilst growing up) mammals (if not animals in general or even wider!) look pretty much the same. A whole lot of carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, calcium, phospohorous, some iron, [http://www.indiana.edu/~ensiweb/chem.life.intro.html etc], and if WH sees predominately in "amounts of chemicals", it won't just be fine facial features that might get lost in amongst all this irregular information but ''species'' as well. The dog could about the same mass as the father and mother (if that was ever a distinguishing factor, rather than just ratios), and it took a while to learn a method other than that of the 'obvious' presence of plutonium in the mother to differentiate his father from all other humans/creatures/hogroasts... (I suspect he's learnt the trick of differentiating individuals, since then, but his abnormal primary sense of 'elements' could very well be the source of some of his other otherworldy 'powers', how he has become rich, why he has somehow found it necessary to contrive a 'soup-dispensing socket', etc. Kind of like a Dr Manhattan like omniscience and unusual understanding of everyday physics. Maybe or maybe not in the various other ways, though.) [[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.192|141.101.98.192]] 10:04, 25 February 2015 (UTC)<br />
<br />
I agree with 141.101.80.53. Beret Guy is answering Megan's question about what is wrong with him, not being arrogant. Arrogant would be out of character for Beret Guy, but giving an unusual answer to a rhetorical question would be true to character. [[User:Mwburden|mwburden]] ([[User talk:Mwburden|talk]]) 12:42, 23 February 2015 (UTC)<br />
<br />
Perhaps too oddball a theory, but maybe his mom was actually a spacecraft powered by plutonium (e.g. [[Wikipedia:Galileo (spacecraft)#Electrical_power | Galileo(spacecraft)]]), making his father a planet and the dog a moon.<br />
[[Special:Contributions/173.245.56.182|173.245.56.182]] 12:43, 23 February 2015 (UTC)<br />
:Wouldn't the dog need to be a dwarf planet? :) [[Special:Contributions/108.162.250.156|108.162.250.156]] 12:54, 23 February 2015 (UTC)<br />
:What would that make him? [[User:Mikemk|Mikemk]] ([[User talk:Mikemk|talk]]) 21:48, 23 February 2015 (UTC)<br />
::Pluto! [[Special:Contributions/108.162.250.156|108.162.250.156]] 13:57, 24 February 2015 (UTC)<br />
<br />
When I read the alt text the first time around, I read it as platinum and figured Randall meant an IUD... perhaps that was a typo on his part as well (much like the "form" typo mentioned above)? Can't figured out another reasonable plutonium explanation. --[[User:Canned Soul|Canned Soul]] ([[User talk:Canned Soul|talk]]) 14:28, 23 February 2015 (UTC)<br />
: If you Google "plutonium in IUDs" you get some interesting results. Perhaps early copper IUDs contained a small amount of incidental plutonium?[[Special:Contributions/108.162.216.191|108.162.216.191]] 19:26, 23 February 2015 (UTC)<br />
<br />
I like the plutonium experiments reverence, but are strongly against the suggestion in the explanation that Pu is not found in nature: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plutonium#Occurrence Do NOT diss Oklo! Oklo is badass! [[User:Tier666|Tier666]] ([[User talk:Tier666|talk]]) 15:23, 23 February 2015 (UTC)<br />
<br />
Putting in my own two bits, my first thought reading the title text was that she had a pacemaker. The fact that there were plutoniu pacemakers and the fact he mentioned that they were "in her middle" make me think "pacemaker". But I digress. As far as the "too much zinc", ??? [[Special:Contributions/199.27.128.186|199.27.128.186]] 02:20, 24 February 2015 (UTC)<br />
<br />
Not sure if it's an inspiration, but this is an example of people not knowing what common human experiences they are missing (see: http://slatestarcodex.com/2014/03/17/what-universal-human-experiences-are-you-missing-without-realizing-it/). Also, "or she was the victim of unethical medical experimentation. Thus the probable reason for his abnormality." is ridiculous - no amount of medical experimentation will cause this. The probable reason for his abnormality is magic. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.241.17|108.162.241.17]] 15:35, 23 February 2015 (UTC)<br />
:Agree: I removed "Thus the probable reason for his abnormality." {{unsigned ip|141.101.98.217}}<br />
<br />
I believe that the "Too Much Zinc?" - is an answer to what might be wrong with him, not a retort to Megan's tone. In fact, zinc is linked to eyesight, see for instance https://www.nei.nih.gov/news/pressreleases/101201 and other sources, and this "zinc overdose" might be believed by white beret guy to relate to his "super-human" eyesight? [[Special:Contributions/141.101.80.53|141.101.80.53]]<br />
: Can this be added to the explanation? [[User:Djbrasier|Djbrasier]] ([[User talk:Djbrasier|talk]]) 21:58, 24 February 2015 (UTC)<br />
<br />
The link to the UPPU club (You Pee Pu) appears to be broken. EDIT: fixed now, thanks whoever fixed it. {{unsigned ip|108.162.249.181}}<br />
<br />
Did anyone else notice that this is the second comic in a row about elementary particles? I suspect a series coming up. [[User:Mikemk|Mikemk]] ([[User talk:Mikemk|talk]]) 21:48, 23 February 2015 (UTC)<br />
<br />
Pacemakers are usually implanted round the clavicle, so I'm not satisfied with the theory that the plutonium is from a pacemaker. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.104.46|141.101.104.46]] 08:40, 24 February 2015 (UTC)<br />
<br />
The "form"/"from" mistake was corrected in the original strip, I applied the changes to the article. -- [[User:guest|guest]] ([[User talk:guest|talk]]) 17:40, 24 February 2015 (UTC)<br />
<br />
Can someone elaborate on this: "The presence of plutonium in his mother may be an explanation or source of his own differences."? How does plutonium in the mother explain him having elemental eyesight (or vacuum energy harnessing or soup-from-an-outlet, etc.) abilities? [[User:Djbrasier|Djbrasier]] ([[User talk:Djbrasier|talk]]) 22:01, 24 February 2015 (UTC)<br />
:I would say, quite simply, that radiation or radioactive chemistry is typically offered as a means of activating/creating abnormal powers (Hulk, Spiderman, Daredevil, etc, etc) in the appropriate fictional genres. And whilst it might have inexplicably failed to create any obvious illness in either mother or child (as would normally happen outside of comic-book franchises) it could have "activated his X-gene" or whatever was required to produce this particularly strange person. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.192|141.101.98.192]] 10:04, 25 February 2015 (UTC)<br />
<br />
I read bits of a book my mother has, written by a woman who worked for a few years at a plutonium enrichment plant near Denver. It seems the safety and containment systems were faulty, and she has "smokers patches" in her lungs, caused by minute specks of plutonium she inhaled while there.<br />
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radioactive_contamination_from_the_Rocky_Flats_Plant<br />
A little late, I know, but I really figured someone else would mention this before the day was up.</div>173.245.55.29https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=Talk:1490:_Atoms&diff=85016Talk:1490: Atoms2015-02-23T23:08:58Z<p>173.245.55.29: I agree: a cybernetically enhanced mother and son seem to be the most apt explanation.</p>
<hr />
<div>Did anyone else notice that this is the second comic in a row about elementary particles? I suspect a series coming up. [[User:Mikemk|Mikemk]] ([[User talk:Mikemk|talk]]) 21:48, 23 February 2015 (UTC)<br />
<br />
"My dad FORM the dog"? Typo in the actual comic or just the wiki?<br />
[[Special:Contributions/199.27.128.240|199.27.128.240]] 05:47, 23 February 2015 (UTC)Anonymous<br />
: The actual comment, the wiki just grabs what the website has listed.--[[Special:Contributions/108.162.216.24|108.162.216.24]] 05:56, 23 February 2015 (UTC)<br />
:: Generally in cases like this, it's customary to add ''[sic]'' to indicate any typoes ''[sic]'' or grammarization ''[sic]'' mistakes in the original techs. ''[sic]''. [[User:KieferSkunk|KieferSkunk]] ([[User talk:KieferSkunk|talk]]) 19:55, 23 February 2015 (UTC) ''[sic]''<br />
plutonium = radiation exposure, or pacemaker?<br />
: Radiation exposure wouldn't give you plutonium, maybe the byproducts of its fission. I'm thinking that, whatever it is, it mutated Beret Guy in the womb, hence why he has this strange superpower.--[[User:Druid816|Druid816]] ([[User talk:Druid816|talk]]) 06:52, 23 February 2015 (UTC)<br />
: Referencing Pink Floyd's 1970 album 'Atom Heart Mother' I think.--[[Special:Contributions/108.162.225.122|108.162.225.122]] 07:25, 23 February 2015 (UTC)<br />
this guy sees by which elements are contained, not by which visible light?<br />
--[[Special:Contributions/199.27.128.172|199.27.128.172]] 06:14, 23 February 2015 (UTC)<br />
<br />
Are the elements actually representing their atomic symbols? Be, O, S, Z? Not sure what the metal-in-the-face comment is about.<br />
<br />
--[[Special:Contributions/108.162.250.156|108.162.250.156]] 07:47, 23 February 2015 (UTC)<br />
<br />
: A deliberate BeOS reference? [[Special:Contributions/141.101.99.4|141.101.99.4]] 14:12, 23 February 2015 (UTC)<br />
<br />
: Metal in the face might be a comment on braces, and how uncomfortable people are about having noticable ones. --<br />
[[Special:Contributions/141.101.104.41|141.101.104.41]] 08:37, 23 February 2015 (UTC)<br />
::Are there braces that aren't very noticeable? I can see adults being a little uncomfortable, but they're ocmmon enough on kids that kids aren't going to be uncomfortable with them. <br />
: (Dental) fillings are explicitly mentioned as a possible source of metal. --[[Special:Contributions/188.114.102.75|188.114.102.75]] 09:26, 23 February 2015 (UTC)<br />
Perhaps the plutonium is coming from his mother smoking? [[Special:Contributions/141.101.99.102|141.101.99.102]] 08:51, 23 February 2015 (UTC)<br />
<br />
Possibly a reference to [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karen_Silkwood Silkwood]?<br />
[[User:DaveHowe|DaveHowe]] ([[User talk:DaveHowe|talk]]) 20:36, 23 February 2015 (UTC)<br />
<br />
<br />
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unethical_human_experimentation_in_the_United_States#Plutonium_experiments [[User:Andries|Andries]] ([[User talk:Andries|talk]]) 09:02, 23 February 2015 (UTC)<br />
<br />
I read it as both his mother and him beeing a robot or cyborg, which she never told him. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.75.77|141.101.75.77]] 09:30, 23 February 2015 (UTC)<br />
<br />
: Yes, I rather thought it might be a Terminator 2 reference (based on the scene in which the T-1000 replaces John Connor's mother.) [[Special:Contributions/141.101.99.4|141.101.99.4]] 14:12, 23 February 2015 (UTC)<br />
<br />
:: The first thing I thought was Terminator, but in looking at their wiki there's no plutonium reference for their fuel cells, as far as I can tell (http://terminator.wikia.com/wiki/Fuel_cell).<br />
<br />
: I also assumed it was a reference to some kind of nuclear powered cyborg. Being partially composed of electronic parts could also account for his unusually high levels of Zinc and could explain why he sees people as a list of their constituent particles.<br />
<br />
-- did the radiation give him those superpowers? [[Special:Contributions/108.162.222.204|108.162.222.204]] 11:05, 23 February 2015 (UTC)<br />
<br />
He can't distinguish Dad and Dog, so he wasn't a genious back then. So what if the Plutonium wasn't a super complex mysterium, just one of the most important things for an infant, her breasts (in this case maby big ons).<br />
[[Special:Contributions/141.101.92.108|141.101.92.108]] 11:44, 23 February 2015 (UTC) Pietro<br />
<br />
I agree with 141.101.80.53. Beret Guy is answering Megan's question about what is wrong with him, not being arrogant. Arrogant would be out of character for Beret Guy, but giving an unusual answer to a rhetorical question would be true to character. [[User:Mwburden|mwburden]] ([[User talk:Mwburden|talk]]) 12:42, 23 February 2015 (UTC)<br />
<br />
Perhaps too oddball a theory, but maybe his mom was actually a spacecraft powered by plutonium (e.g. [[Wikipedia:Galileo (spacecraft)#Electrical_power | Galileo(spacecraft)]]), making his father a planet and the dog a moon.<br />
[[Special:Contributions/173.245.56.182|173.245.56.182]] 12:43, 23 February 2015 (UTC)<br />
:Wouldn't the dog need to be a dwarf planet? :) [[Special:Contributions/108.162.250.156|108.162.250.156]] 12:54, 23 February 2015 (UTC)<br />
:What would that make him? [[User:Mikemk|Mikemk]] ([[User talk:Mikemk|talk]]) 21:48, 23 February 2015 (UTC)<br />
<br />
When I read the alt text the first time around, I read it as platinum and figured Randall meant an IUD... perhaps that was a typo on his part as well (much like the "form" typo mentioned above)? Can't figured out another reasonable plutonium explanation. --[[User:Canned Soul|Canned Soul]] ([[User talk:Canned Soul|talk]]) 14:28, 23 February 2015 (UTC)<br />
: If you Google "plutonium in IUDs" you get some interesting results. Perhaps early copper IUDs contained a small amount of incidental plutonium?[[Special:Contributions/108.162.216.191|108.162.216.191]] 19:26, 23 February 2015 (UTC)<br />
<br />
I like the plutonium experiments reverence, but are strongly against the suggestion in the explanation that Pu is not found in nature: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plutonium#Occurrence Do NOT diss Oklo! Oklo is badass! [[User:Tier666|Tier666]] ([[User talk:Tier666|talk]]) 15:23, 23 February 2015 (UTC)<br />
<br />
Not sure if it's an inspiration, but this is an example of people not knowing what common human experiences they are missing (see: http://slatestarcodex.com/2014/03/17/what-universal-human-experiences-are-you-missing-without-realizing-it/). Also, "or she was the victim of unethical medical experimentation. Thus the probable reason for his abnormality." is ridiculous - no amount of medical experimentation will cause this. The probable reason for his abnormality is magic. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.241.17|108.162.241.17]] 15:35, 23 February 2015 (UTC)<br />
:Agree: I removed "Thus the probable reason for his abnormality." {{unsigned ip|141.101.98.217}}<br />
<br />
I believe that the "Too Much Zinc?" - is an answer to what might be wrong with him, not a retort to Megan's tone. In fact, zinc is linked to eyesight, see for instance https://www.nei.nih.gov/news/pressreleases/101201 and other sources, and this "zinc overdose" might be believed by white beret guy to relate to his "super-human" eyesight? [[Special:Contributions/141.101.80.53|141.101.80.53]]</div>173.245.55.29https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=Talk:1372:_Smartwatches&diff=79948Talk:1372: Smartwatches2014-11-29T18:39:58Z<p>173.245.55.29: </p>
<hr />
<div>I like how much detail Randall put into the damage of the smartphone and smartwatches.<small>[[User:MrGameZone|0100011101100001011011010110010101011010011011110110111001100101]] ([[User talk:MrGameZone|talk page]])</small> 09:44, 23 May 2014 (UTC)<br />
<br />
About the transcript, it seems that I added one at the same time someone else did. I like mine better, but I won't be offended if someone else changes it back to the first revision. Also, feel free to re-format.[[User:Jarod997|Jarod997]] ([[User talk:Jarod997|talk]]) 13:19, 23 May 2014 (UTC)<br />
<br />
:I am reminded of this:<br />
:http://thedoghousediaries.com/4974<br />
:...even so, I still would like a Samsung SWatch Note III complete with a watch app (downloaded by the Play Store or F-Droid, of course)! [[User:Greyson|Greyson]] ([[User talk:Greyson|talk]]) 14:55, 23 May 2014 (UTC)<br />
::It's a space-statoin![[User:Jarod997|Jarod997]] ([[User talk:Jarod997|talk]]) 12:35, 26 May 2014 (UTC)<br />
<br />
Maybe it's just me, but the explanation regarding the */# keys on Bell phone seems irrelevent. There's nothing inherent about those keys that make a comparison to cellular phones logical, at least not that I'm aware of.--[[Special:Contributions/108.162.216.61|108.162.216.61]] 16:35, 23 May 2014 (UTC)<br />
:It's especially irrelevant because Randall says he modded a handset, not an entire phone. There exist novelty bluetooth handsets of a similar style on the market; Randall's artistic touch is to have a cord dangling from it with a frayed end.--[[Special:Contributions/108.162.218.83|108.162.218.83]] 02:48, 25 May 2014 (UTC)<br />
::To make it clearer: the standard handset on a WE2500 (12 key touch-tone), the WE1500 (10 key touch-tone; they didn't make a lot of these, but they're out there) and the WE500 (dial with the numbers outside around the dial) was a G1 handset. This handset replaced the F1, standard on the WE302 (dial with the numbers inside the finger-holes; commonly called the "Lucy" phone since the only place it's seen these days is on "I Love Lucy" re-runs). The G1 handset is still (imho) the most comfortable handset ever made to cradle between your shoulder and your ear to free up your hands. And the WE500 is (again imho) one of the greatest examples of industrial design ever created. {{unsigned|Faboofour}}<br />
<br />
I question the assumption that the smartwatches are working. The watch keeps displaying the time of 10:13. Even if it had just turned 10:13 I don't think the entire mod could be done in sub 60 seconds. That said, I love the reuse of the sawn screen protector to protect the screen on the smartwatches.<br />
:The watches also defy gravity. I question the assumption that they aren't just a dream. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.237.218|108.162.237.218]] 08:23, 26 May 2014 (UTC)<br />
:Perhaps each frame represents exactly 12 hours of work? [[Special:Contributions/108.162.216.36|108.162.216.36]] 20:04, 26 May 2014 (UTC)<br />
:: +1, but don't forget the careful attention shown to maintaining the battery at the same level for those 12 hour periods -- [[User:Brettpeirce|Brettpeirce]] ([[User talk:Brettpeirce|talk]]) 13:40, 28 May 2014 (UTC)<br />
<br />
The phone mentioned was one of the earliest ([http://xkcd.com/1368/ One of]) to present the # and * keys and the format has been unchanged since the implementation of cellular phones. It could be argued that the user has the same presented interface for dialing as on cellular phones so modding a 2500 should be completely reasonable.<br />
[[Special:Contributions/199.27.128.106|199.27.128.106]] 20:07, 23 May 2014 (UTC)<br />
<br />
Just a side note: While this could well be the world's first flip iPhone, it would not be the first flip smartphone.--[[Special:Contributions/108.162.218.83|108.162.218.83]] 02:54, 25 May 2014 (UTC)<br />
<br />
:Perhaps the whole comics is just a long lead to "flip <b>i</b>Phone" pun (on "flip phone") --[[User:JakubNarebski|JakubNarebski]] ([[User talk:JakubNarebski|talk]]) 10:34, 25 May 2014 (UTC)<br />
<br />
<br />
No mention of the cringe factor? The entire operation, from the second frame to the title text suggests crude handling of equipment, resulting in damaged and unrefined products. Rendall spared no time in detailing the broken and damaged aspect of each component used in this "procedure". I strongly believe he did so on purpose.[[User:Dulcis|Dulcis]] ([[User talk:Dulcis|talk]]) 16:46, 29 May 2014 (UTC)<br />
<br />
The warning mentions that sawing through your phone could be harmful due to battery acid, but what about screwing on hinges? That could be just as dangerous. [[Special:Contributions/173.245.54.13|173.245.54.13]] 19:02, 11 June 2014 (UTC)justsayin<br />
<br />
The warnings at the end are entirely irrelevant! first of all, nowhere does it say (or show) that randall is in fact cutting through the glass or the battery of the iphone, and were i do this project, i would certainly use a hacksaw to cut through the case of the iphone after removing the screen and battery and any other components. using a household hinge in place of a more elegant design hilights the hilarity and DIY nature of the project. as far as the comment above regarding the apparent 'broken clock', the illustration is merely a proposal on a possible methodology. when i draw a diagram or even a set of instructions for someone, i don't take the time to change minute details from frame to frame![[Special:Contributions/173.245.55.29|173.245.55.29]] 18:39, 29 November 2014 (UTC)</div>173.245.55.29https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=1416:_Pixels&diff=751521416: Pixels2014-09-04T16:41:49Z<p>173.245.55.29: Explained reference to "The Lion King" in "Sky"</p>
<hr />
<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 1416<br />
| date = September 3, 2014<br />
| title = Pixels<br />
| image = pixels.png<br />
| titletext = It's turtles all the way down.<br />
}}<br />
'''NOTE: The above is only a zoomed out version of the this interactive comic.''' For a collection of images that appear when zooming in on this comic, see [[1416: Pixels/Images]].<br />
<br />
==Explanation==<br />
{{incomplete|Individual panels need explanations}}<br />
This interactive comic begins with a panel where [[Cueball]] is stacking turtles. This is a reference to the idiom "turtles all the way down," which refers to the problem of infinite recursion: if everything in the universe is "on top of" something else, so to speak, there must be a "bottom." A joking solution to the paradoxical nature of such a bottom is the proposition that {{w|Turtles_all_the_way_down|the world rests on a semi-infinite stack of turtles}}.<br />
<br />
As can be read you should "scroll to zoom". This can be done by placing the cursor inside the panel of the comic. When scrolling up (using the mouse wheel) the picture zooms in until the pixels are visible. When you continue to scroll on each pixel then resolves into another comic picture, with black-on-white comic panels making up the white pixels and white-on-black panels making up the black pixels. Scrolling on until you can see the pixels of the comic picture you are now zooming into the process is repeated again and will be so for all subsequent sets of comic panels. Not all white and all black panels are the same; some sets involve more than two different panels, but all involve repetitive tiling.<br />
<br />
==Themes==<br />
*Below are all the themes relevant to cover all the images found when zooming in. <br />
*They are sorted in the same order as in the gallery: [[1416: Pixels/Images]].<br />
**Open the gallery in another window - zoom out and then you can see the pictures in this window as you read about them here below:<br />
<br />
===Turtles===<br />
Apart from the first image there are two more with a single turtle in them. In one of these the turtle thinks "I am a turtle".<br />
It may say so to the Cueball that is seen standing all alone in another picture.<br />
<br />
===What if?===<br />
There is a picture of the book, as it looks and big enough that all text is visible on the front cover. But there is also another version where the authors name is crossed out and replaced with Stephen King and also the word Spooky has been added above the title and below the word xkcd has been crossed and replaced with being afraid.<br />
<br />
===Book Launch===<br />
This comic was released on September 3rd, 2014, the day after [[Randall|Randall's]] book ''[http://whatif.xkcd.com/book/ What If]'' was launched. The book is shown and referred to in a number of frames, for example it is [[:File:pixels-upgoer.png|'''literally''' launched]] as a part of an <strike>rocket</strike> [[1133:_Up_Goer_Five|''up goer'']] built by Cueball. There are also a picture with Cueball holding "his book" and telling he is exited about book the launch.<br />
<br />
The model ''up goer'' is [[:File:pixels-assembly-1.png|made of Rocket Parts from KSP]]. KSP is the {{w|Kerbal Space Program}}, a spaceflight simulator which was also [[1350: Lorenz#Themes|part]] of the latest interactive comic [[1350: Lorenz]]. Perhaps XKCD's 'parts' refers to KSP's large community of mod developers who contribute 'parts' to the game. The frames showing the book launch use URLs that include the text "upgoer" in reference to the [[Up Goer Five]] comic.<br />
<br />
In the end the upgoer leaves the Earth after one orbit and then flies through space.<br />
<br />
===Needs More Struts===<br />
{{w|Strut|Struts}} are structural members in engineering, and are are one of the components used in Kerbal Space Program to construct rockets. 'Needs More Struts' seems to be a meme amongst players of Kerbal Space Program, along the lines of 'When in doubt, overengineer'. Megan deems Cueball's rocket to be insufficiently structurally sound, and declares that it "[[:File:pixels-assembly-4.png|Needs More Struts]]"<br />
<br />
===The Only Copy===<br />
Cueball & Megan turn to each other having just launched the What-If book rocket into space (construction and launch are seen in other panels). perhaps Megan realises they may have misunderstood the term 'book launch' and that they may have just lost ''[[:File:pixels-upgoer-6.png|the only copy]]'' of the book.<br />
<br />
===Space objects===<br />
There are both the Moon, the Sun, Saturn and two images just with stars.<br />
<br />
===Sky===<br />
In four pictures Cueball and Megan is sitting below the stars. In the second the following conversation takes place:<br />
:Cueball: Someone once told me the great kings of the past look down on us...<br />
:Megan: From the stars?<br />
:Cueball: Just in general.<br />
The second panel is a reference to Disney's [http://lionking.wikia.com/wiki/The_Great_Kings_of_the_Past The Lion King]. Early in the film, Mufasa tells Simba that the great kings of the past look down on them from the stars. Later on, Simba recalls this to his companions, Timon and Pumba (who don't take him seriously). In the film, the kings of the past literally look down on--and watch over--the characters, which is how Megan interprets Cueball's initial statement. Cueball's reply that they just look down on us in general shows that he means the kings of the past figuratively look down on us (they view us as inferior or beneath them).<br />
<br />
In the next image a shooting star is seen above them. The final picture looks to identical to the first?<br />
<br />
===Mario===<br />
A series of 8 images are called ''Mario''. One is also called ''entry'' has a picture only of a PC. The next four has Megan in front of the PC (Maybe she is Mario? Or she is playing Mario Brothers? She has a control in her hand so probably the last...) She sits on her knees in the first picture, then she sits on the floor. In the third picture she is laying down in front of the PC. Then there is one picture which is an inverse of the sitting picture. The last three pictures is all with a view of the starlit night sky with the same two clouds in place. During the night (and these three pictures) a giant galaxy rises above the horizon. It does not look like the Milky Way would look anywhere from Earth (also it does not much look like a spiral galaxy like the Milky Way). There is something square protruding into the picture - this could be brick wall hanging in the air (Mario Brothers?) Or it could be part of the roof hanging out from the building Megan is inside. Maybe the rise of the galaxy shows how long Megan plays her game. Maybe this is why Cueball wish to [[#Shut Down the Server|throw water on the server]].<br />
<br />
===Shut Down the Server===<br />
Cueball tells an offscreen character that he is going to [[:File:pixels-server-1.png|shut down the server]], while carrying a bucket of water.<br />
<br />
Usually shutting down a {{w|Server (computing)|server}} is done via the operating system or software, or (not recommended) turning it off or pulling the power plug. But in this case it appears that cueball is simply going to douse it with water, likely resulting in serious water damage to the hardware.<br />
<br />
===Clouds===<br />
In five pictures Megan is floating in the clouds. Only two pictures with Megan, two only with clouds and one only with birds as seen from a distance.<br />
<br />
===Cantor Set===<br />
[[:File:pixels-cantor.png|One panel]] contains a number of lines and dots, which are in fact a depiction of the first 5 steps of a {{w|Cantor set|Cantor Ternary Set}}, mirrored about the horizontal centreline. The Cantor ternary set is constructed by repeatedly deleting the open middle thirds of a set of line segments. The Cantor Set is one of the canonical examples of a fractal, a shape whose individual parts resemble the whole. The use of the Cantor Set in this comic is self-referential, in that the comic, itself, is composed of parts of the same shape as the whole.<br />
<br />
===Walking===<br />
In two images Cueball and Megan is seen walking. One normal black on white close up, and one inverse seen from afar. These may be relevant to the two next ([[#Time Turners]] and [[#Stockholm Syndrome]]) where they are seen talking while walking.<br />
<br />
===Time Turners===<br />
The time turner is a device from the {{w|Harry Potter}} series of novels by {{w|JK Rowling}}. It allows the user to re-live a period of time over again. In the third novel Hermione is given the time-turner to allow her to take extra classes, however it is eventually used to spare Buckbeak the hippogryph from execution. This prompted many questions regarding why time-turners weren’t used on other occasions to save people's lives (among other things). <br />
<br />
While J.K Rowling has “[http://pottermore.wikia.com/wiki/Time-Turner solved the problem to her own satisfaction]” she admits that she entered into the subject of time-travel too lightly.<br />
<br />
[[:File:pixels-time-turner.png|This panel]] jokes that if the real life JK Rowling had a fictional time-turner which worked, she would have gone back and removed the time-turner plotline from the book, saving her all the hassle of dealing with the resulting time-travel questions. This act would result in a time-travel paradox.<br />
<br />
===Stockholm Syndrome===<br />
{{w|Stockholm syndrome}} is the name for a psychological phenomenon, in which hostages develop sympathy, empathy and/or positive feelings towards their captors. These feelings are usually seen as irrational, seeing as the hostage is held against their wishes, usually with the threat of physical harm or death.<br />
<br />
[[:File:pixels-stockholm.png|This panel]] asks "How do we know anyone really ''wants'' to live in Stockholm?", questioning whether everyone who lives in the city of Stockholm is in fact held hostage there and only stays because they have developed to like life there (due to Stockholm Syndrome).<br />
<br />
===Fire Hydrant===<br />
[[Black Hat]] is talking to a fireman, with a fire engine on fire in the background, he asks "To be fair, what else would you expect to come out of a "[[:File:pixels-fire-hydrant.png|fire hydrant]]"?"<br />
<br />
Black Hat appears to have managed to replace the usual water supply to the {{w|fire hydrant}} with actual fire. Thus when the hydrant is used, the result is, quite literally, fire. In Black Hat's logic, a hydrant which delivers water should be called a water hydrant.<br />
<br />
===Eeee===<br />
Megan hears a very long stretched ''EEEEEEEEEEEEE'' sound which goes over 6 images. It turns out it is a large letter '''E''' that shouts ''EEEEEEE!!!''. In total there are 64 small E emanating from the big one. There is also a picture with two big white E on black background. Those E are larger than the E that shouts. <br />
<br />
===Evolution===<br />
The {{w|March of Progress}} image is a famous and instantly recognisable image showing the stages of human evolution by way of a series of primate figures as if marching in a line. The panel parodies the March of Progress image, with [[:File:pixels-evolution.png|5 ducklings following an adult duck]]. In this case they don’t actually ‘evolve’ into the adult duck however. The comic has some resemblance to [[537: Ducklings]].<br />
<br />
===Rope===<br />
Four ropes cross diagonally across this black picture. Looks good when there are many of them in the same place.<br />
<br />
===Chess===<br />
There are two chess boards on black and white background with smaller chessboards drawn upon them<br />
<br />
===Atom etc===<br />
There is both particles, and atom and a string.<br />
<br />
===Holism, Reductionism, Mu===<br />
These three words refer to "A MU offering", an essay by {{w|Douglas Hofstatder}} in his book {{w|Godel, Escher, Bach}} (which was referenced by Randall in [[24: Godel, Escher, Kurt Halsey ]]). It includes a similar multiple level drawing: {{w|Mu (negative)|the word MU}} is composed of copies of the words [[:File:pixels-holism.png|HOLISM]] and [[:File:pixels-reductionism.png|REDUCTIONISM]], each of which are in turn made of smaller copies of the other, which are in turn made of [http://newtonexcelbach.wordpress.com/2011/02/16/two-more-letters/ tiny copies] of the word [[:File:pixels-mu.png|MU]].<br />
<br />
===du===<br />
"[[:File:pixels-du.png|du]]" is a {{w|Linux}} command to indicate the "disk usage" of a file or directory.<br />
<br />
~$ du -s video/<br />
4170882256<br />
<br />
This is a command that shows how large all the files are in this user's "video" directory - presumably where they store their personal videos. The units of the result is probably kilobytes (depending on settings)<br />
<br />
This number is clearly large and difficult to parse, and the units are not clear. More appropriate units would be gigabytes rather than bytes. The du command offers an option to display units in "human readable format", which will adapt to use kilobytes, megabytes, gigabytes, terabytes, etc. as appropriate. The next command purports to request the same result in more human-readable form.<br />
<br />
~$ du -hs video/<br />
A lot.<br />
~$<br />
<br />
It seems that the computer, rather than giving a specific answer, simply says that the size of the video directory is "A lot."<br />
<br />
The final line indicates the computer is now ready to accept a new command.<br />
<br />
==Transcript==<br />
:[Cueball is stacking turtles, and is about to put the fourth turtle on his pile. At the bottom right there is a small panel. Inside this is written:]<br />
:Scroll to zoom<br />
<br />
:[When zooming in there will be several panels with text. The transcript of these may not be possible to complete - but add the transcript of these panels here: [[1416: Pixels/Transcript|interactive transcript]]]<br />
<br />
==Trivia==<br />
===Gallery===<br />
[[1416: Pixels/Images|This gallery]] contains the [http://azttm.wordpress.com/2014/09/03/xkcd-com-1416-pixels/ 79 images used in this comic]. The images are related in a [http://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/images/3/37/1416_Pixels_layout.png directed graph].<br />
<br />
===Images Database===<br />
This google sheet describes all possible images, their associated codes, and what possible images can be used as sub-images for each zoom level: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1nldKAkeVcK606CY12KI9bah9rDmK9E7CZOyinsEj2Lo/edit?usp=sharing<br />
<br />
===Image scraping script===<br />
This gist recursively downloads all possible images:<br />
https://gist.github.com/Aaron1011/d3b56325881cd639506a<br />
<br />
===Bugs===<br />
*Doesn't seem to work properly in all browsers (e.g. Firefox and Safari on MacOSX), giving "TypeError: this.data is null" in line 173 of zoom.js: "var item = this.data.get(dims)"<br />
*Doesn't seem to work in IE8, comic is blank, but title text works.<br />
*Does not work on xkcd.org neither www.xkcd.org in Firefox and Chrome. Currently you should visit http://xkcd.com for this comic to work properly.<br />
*Also, it doesn't work on HTTPS.<br />
<br />
{{comic discussion}}<br />
[[Category:Interactive comics]]<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Black Hat]]</div>173.245.55.29