Editing 446: In Popular Culture
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==Explanation== | ==Explanation== | ||
− | + | Wikipedia is a popular online encyclopedia with articles that are created and edited by the general public. Wikipedia entries have many sections, with the first few explaining the general concept and details behind the subject. | |
− | + | Many Wikipedia articles also have a section at the end entitled "in popular culture", listing TV shows, movies, songs and so on which make reference to the subject at hand. In many cases, this list is extensive, possibly because the people editing the articles are such fans of the subject or the pop culture in which it is referenced, they can't help but go into great detail, listing many esoteric and seemingly irrelevant elements of pop culture which are peripherally related to the subject of the article. | |
− | The joke in this case is that even such a mundane article such as one on | + | The joke in this case is that even such a mundane article such as one on wood will eventually have an "in popular culture" section and obviously, wooden items are common enough that there are any number of instances of popular culture which could be considered to "reference it", even if that's something as basic as a wooden item being used as a prop in a TV show. Such information would be of little or no use to anybody and only somebody obsessed with wood, a particular element of pop culture in which wood makes an appearance or the concept of placing pop culture references in encyclopedia articles would bother to create or maintain such a section. |
− | Also, wood being such a popular material, the list of references could be virtually endless. This is a reference to the fact that the "in popular culture" sections of many Wikipedia articles | + | Also, wood being such a popular material, the list of references could be virtually endless. This is a reference to the fact that the "in popular culture" sections of many Wikipedia articles contain dozens of items, even for articles on fairly arcane subjects. Note that the end of this particular "in popular culture" section is not visible so we don't know how long it is. |
− | The title text | + | The title text references the fact that xkcd is itself part of popular culture and thus a future Wikipedia article which may be created on the subject of the "in popular culture" sections in Wikipedia itself could reference xkcd, which references "in popular culture" - a circular reference. This could be considered a form of infinite loop which is one way to cause a computer to crash (lock up). The joke is that the blogosphere could follow this endless train of circular links and itself crash, causing an "implosion", akin to the effect of a black hole sucking in all the matter surrounding it. |
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==Transcript== | ==Transcript== | ||
− | :[A fictional screen capture of the Wikipedia article for | + | :[A fictional screen capture of the Wikipedia article for "wood" is shown] |
− | : | + | :Wood is a hard, fibrous tissue found in many plants. It has been used for centuries for both fuel and as a construction material for [cut in page] |
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:In popular culture: | :In popular culture: | ||
− | :In episode 6 of | + | :In episode 6 of Firefly, "Our Mrs. Reynolds," Jayne is given a wooden rain stick by a villager |
− | :In the | + | :In the Buffyverse, Buffy often slays Vampires using stakes made of wood. |
− | :The | + | :The wand used by Harry Potter is made of wood from a holly tree. |
− | :The fence around the back yard of the | + | :The fence around the back yard of the house in The Simpsons is wooden. |
− | :In the 2004 TV series | + | :In the 2004 TV series Battlestar Galactica [rest of page is cut] |
{{comic discussion}} | {{comic discussion}} | ||
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