1757: November 2016
| November 2016 |
 Title text: Once you've done this, make a note of how old they were. Then, when their age reaches double that, show them this chart again. |
Explanation
|
This explanation may be incomplete or incorrect: Need individual explanations. If you can address this issue, please edit the page! Thanks. |
This is yet another comic designed to make you feel old. It lists ages between 16 and 41, and a major event that happened a little over half their life ago. So, for an age of 16 (people born in 2000), it lists the release of GTA IV, which happened in 2008. Thus, GTA IV has been around for the majority of their life.
The titletext points out that the same chart can be used for the same person much later in their life. However, the major event shifts earlier and earlier into their life; when their age has doubled, the event in the chart has happend in the year of their birth.
year of event(age) = 2016 - age/2 year of event(2*age) = 2016 - (2* age)/2 = 2016-age = year of birth
Table
| Age | Birthyear | Release date | Thing | Explanation |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 16 | 2000 | 2008 | Grand Theft Auto IV | |
| 17 | 1999 | Rickrolling | ||
| 18 | 1998 | Aqua Teen Hunger Force, Colon Movie Film for Theaters | ||
| 19 | 1997 | 2006 | The Nintendo Wii | |
| 20 | 1996 | |||
| 21 | 1995 | The Xbox 360, xkcd | ||
| 22 | 1994 | Chuck Norris Facts | ||
| 23 | 1993 | Opportunity's Mars Exploration | ||
| 24 | 1992 | |||
| 25 | 1991 | Gmail, Pirates of the Caribbean | ||
| 26 | 1990 | In da Club | ||
| 27 | 1989 | Firefly | ||
| 28 | 1988 | The War in Afghanistan | ||
| 29 | 1987 | 2001 | The iPod | |
| 30 | 1986 | Shrek, Wikipedia | ||
| 31 | 1985 | Those X-Men movies | ||
| 32 | 1984 | The Sims | ||
| 33 | 1983 | Autotuned hit songs | ||
| 34 | 1982 | The Star Wars Prequels | ||
| 35 | 1981 | The Matrix | ||
| 36 | 1980 | 1998 (outside Japan) | Pokémon Red & Blue | |
| 37 | 1979 | Netflix, Harry Potter, Google | ||
| 38 | 1978 | Deep Blue's Victory | ||
| 39 | 1977 | Tupac's Death | ||
| 40 | 1976 | The last Calvin and Hobbes strip | ||
| 41 | 1977 | Toy Story | ||
| >41 | Before 1977 | n/a | [Don't worry, they've got this covered] |
Transcript
The November 2016 Guide to making people feel old
[In rectangle] If they're [age], you say: "Did you know [thing] has been around for the majority of your life?"
| Age | Thing |
|---|---|
| 16 | Grand Theft Auto IV |
| 17 | Rickrolling |
| 18 | Aqua Teen Hunger Force Colon Movie Film for Theaters |
| 19 | The Nintendo Wii |
| 20 | |
| 21 | The Xbox 360, xkcd |
| 22 | Chuck Norris Facts |
| 23 | Opportunity's Mars Exploration |
| 24 | |
| 25 | Gmail, Pirates of the Caribbean |
| 26 | In da Club |
| 27 | Firefly |
| 28 | The War in Afghanistan |
| 29 | The iPod |
| 30 | Shrek, Wikipedia |
| 31 | Those X-Men movies |
| 32 | The Sims |
| 33 | Autotuned hit songs |
| 34 | The Star Wars Prequels |
| 35 | The Matrix |
| 36 | Pokémon Red & Blue |
| 37 | Netflix, Harry Potter, Google |
| 38 | Deep Blue's Victory |
| 39 | Tupac's Death |
| 40 | The last Calvin and Hobbes strip |
| 41 | Toy Story |
| >41 | [Don't worry, they've got this covered] |
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Ok transcript hopefully complete, but please check it over, as I did it while tired and staying up late waiting for the election results. Wyrme (talk) 05:43, 9 November 2016 (UTC)
- Spoiler alert: Trump won. --JayRulesXKCD (talk) 16:16, 9 November 2016 (UTC)
The main idea of the comic is stated in the first sentences "If they're [age], you say: "Did you know [thing] has been around for the majority of your life?" The majority of your life means "more than half your life". For each of the age stated in the comic, something that happened more than half the age ago is stated. As an example for the first two: Grand Theft Auto IV was released in 2008, which is 8 years ago. More than 8 years is at the same time more than half of 16 years, which means "the majority of a 16 year old's life" The next one goes for Rickrolling, which is "a prank and an Internet meme involving an unexpected appearance of the music video for the 1987 Rick Astley song 'Never Gonna Give You Up'. The meme is a type of bait and switch using a disguised hyperlink." according to wikipedia. Even if the first reference is from 2007, the same Wiki page says that 'By May 2008, the practice had spread beyond 4chan and became an Internet phenomenon'. May 2008 is more than 8 and a half years ago which is more than half of 17 years. It goes on and on, with "Aqua Teen Hunger Force Colon Movie Film for Theaters" which is a 2007 American Flash animated surreal comedy film", which again is more than 9 years ago and so on. Sorry if I'm not clear enough but I hope you got it. Anarhistu (talk) 11:19, 9 November 2016 (UTC)
- Yeah, the "majority part" is a bit confusing. I looked up 35 and saw "The Matrix" and I was like "wait, that didn't come out 35 years ago?!". Well, it didn't and that's not what the comic implys. However, it has been around for a MAJORITY (= more than half) of my life. 162.158.202.141 12:37, 9 November 2016 (UTC)
I'm only 32, but saddened at the entry for 40. C&H was (and still is) one of my favorites. I say we all just take off today and play some Calvinball. Who's with me? 162.158.69.100 12:48, 9 November 2016 (UTC)
There is this last thing "over 41, we don't care" which I cannot really explain. Maybe the 40+ year olds seen all of these later in their life but why stop at this point? (which is around 1996, according to the "rules")? The internet has been around since way before that and if we take the first popular browser this was about 1993 or so. That would take us to 46. Is there any specific event which might be a reason to stop at 41? Anarhistu (talk) 13:12, 9 November 2016 (UTC)
- No, people above 40 already feel old, no need for a chart --162.158.88.204 13:18, 9 November 2016 (UTC)
- Jurassic Park, Mrs. Doubtfire, Robin Hood Men In Tights 162.158.69.100 13:21, 9 November 2016 (UTC)
- He has previously stopped at a given age and stated that anyone older should feel old already --Kynde (talk) 20:43, 9 November 2016 (UTC)
- What's worse is... I knew several years had passed since this comic came out, so I back-dated my age to its release (as if I don't have to work out my current age, with the current year, pretty much... Every. Single. Time.) and found out that... ...I was already in the 'overflow' entry at the end, even then! Six and a half more years don't alter things that much. 172.71.242.191 05:09, 11 May 2023 (UTC)
- He has previously stopped at a given age and stated that anyone older should feel old already --Kynde (talk) 20:43, 9 November 2016 (UTC)
- Jurassic Park, Mrs. Doubtfire, Robin Hood Men In Tights 162.158.69.100 13:21, 9 November 2016 (UTC)
But if I look in x years, then the entry at current age + x will have been there for (current age +x)/2 + x years, so if I look at it again after my age has doubled, the thing has been there for my entire life. --162.158.88.204 13:17, 9 November 2016 (UTC)
- Sorry your are completely wrong. If you are 20 now and look at something happening 10 years ago. Then when you are twice as old (40) you look at the same ting and that will then be 30 years old. It will always be 10 years younger than you. There was a mistaken explanation of the title text saying something like what you say, and now I have corrected it. He just means that if you show them this chart again when their age has doubles, you can say that this chart has now existed in the majority of your life. --Kynde (talk) 20:43, 9 November 2016 (UTC)
Heh. Randall isn't always prompt in posting new comics early on M/W/F, but this one went up promptly at 12:01am. He deserves to be embarrassed after the communist comic he posted on Monday. 172.68.55.83 13:31, 9 November 2016 (UTC)
- How the hell did you make out Clinton to be a communist? It's Trump who likes Putin, where Clinton would be more against him... I guess he just thought people needed something that could distract them from the election, since most of his readers (especially after his previous comic) would have rooted for Clinton because of their fear that Trump won. On the other hand most people probably feels old today, after the election, so in that way the comic is a bit of a waste... --Kynde (talk) 20:43, 9 November 2016 (UTC)
- Sorry, but we Americans disagree with you. Too bad, so sad. 172.68.55.83 (talk) (please sign your comments with ~~~~)
- Actually, we Americans chose Clinton, probably by a margin of >1M votes once CA and OR finish counting. Miamiclay (talk) 22:40, 11 November 2016 (UTC)
- Almost three million, as it turned out; the margin in the popular vote was greater than the entire population of Chicago. Whoop whoop pull up (talk) 18:04, 4 January 2018 (UTC)
- shush shush troll, nobody wants to hear your toxic lies 42.book.addict (talk) 22:40, 25 February 2024 (UTC)
- Having just seen your effective mass vandalism of two other pages (maybe more), and so having a good idea where your 'sympathies' lie, you're probably going not going to acknowledge this (for whatever reason), but: Popular vote for Him: 62,984,828; Popular vote for Her: 65,853,514, a difference of 2,868,686 in her favour. And you randomly reply to a six-year-old comment? Yes, I think we know where you're at. 162.158.33.131 23:44, 25 February 2024 (UTC)
- Actually, we Americans chose Clinton, probably by a margin of >1M votes once CA and OR finish counting. Miamiclay (talk) 22:40, 11 November 2016 (UTC)
- Sorry, but we Americans disagree with you. Too bad, so sad. 172.68.55.83 (talk) (please sign your comments with ~~~~)
I don't understand how this is supposed to work. If I wanted to make someone feel old, I would pick an event that they think is fairly ancient and tell them: "do you realize you're *more* than twice as old as this?" Here, Randall does the opposite, he says: "did you know you're *less* than twice as old as this", so what? E.g. "Twitter has been around for a majority of your life" is true of anyone who is 0 to 20, so how is it supposed to make a 20-year-old feel old? Did Randall get his comic backwards or am I missing something? Zetfr 14:26, 9 November 2016 (UTC)
- The idea is that you don't pick events that they think are ancient, you pick events that they think are recent. 162.158.222.138 16:46, 9 November 2016 (UTC)
The explanation says "The titletext points out that the same chart can be used for the same person much later in their life. However, the major event shifts earlier and earlier into their life; when their age has doubled, the event in the chart has happend in the year of their birth."
This makes no mathematical sense - the major event would shift earlier into their life, but not in time, and would remain the same distance from their birth year. What is probably intended is that now the chart itself will be around for a majority of their life (though I agree with the above commenter that it would probably make one feel young, not old). --172.68.10.90 14:54, 9 November 2016 (UTC)
- Exactly, what I wrote above to the other comment on this, and I have tried to correct it in the explanation. --Kynde (talk) 20:43, 9 November 2016 (UTC)
I fixed the rest of the blank explanations, such as Gmail, Nintendo Wii, and others. Please fill in the 'Aqua Teen Hunger Force', as I was not able to find information about it anywhere and I have not seen that show, nor the movie itself, so I cannot answer. --JayRulesXKCD (talk) 15:14, 9 November 2016 (UTC)
Actually Randall may be wrong with some of those entries at the current moment. Let's say that somebody is 19 years old, but their 20th birthday is on the 10th of November. The entry for their age is the Nintendo Wii which came 9 years, 11 months and 20 days ago (as of November 9), which is not more than half of the subject's age. I think this occurs on quite a few of those entries, so either the chart is intended to be addressed only to people during their birthdays, or one can make fun of any geek who parades this list for not being rigorous with their maths. 108.162.246.35 15:38, 9 November 2016 (UTC)
- That's pretty pedantic. We're so close to the end of the year that we can reasonably assume it means "people who turned X years old in 2016" 141.101.98.165
- Pedantic? This is xkcd we're talking about. Not only that there's a post commenting on this comic's timing regarding the MWF pattern, as on every other similar comic, a fact that should be taken even less seriously, but Randall has greatly shown his support of pedants partly by repeatedly depicting them as empowered in his comics. I think that pedants have to either take responsibility for their demeanour or admit to the fact that their peculiarity does not even have the tradeoff of accuracy it should have. In other words, anyone who bothers others with a list like this better have precise information to offer if they expect to have any reason not to waste others' time. 108.162.246.35 05:25, 10 November 2016 (UTC)
36 years old: Half-life has been around half of your life. 18000 years old: Half of the curium-250 atoms have been around half of your life. 108.162.219.82 17:58, 9 November 2016 (UTC)
You might be old if you remember watching the Berlin Wall being torn down on television. You would be even older if you remember reading about the Berlin Wall at the time it was being built. I remember both ... I read about the wall being built in elementary (primary) school current events. Rtanenbaum (talk) 21:30, 9 November 2016 (UTC)
- Interesting, but not strange, to bring that wall up today. Since it is today the anniversary for it's destruction in 1989 (17 years ago so would have been good for the 34 years old). And very ironic that a man is then elected on this very day who has promised to build and even bigger wall between his country and another. --Kynde (talk) 22:14, 9 November 2016 (UTC)
- If you want to feel really old, just remember that The Hoff sang "Looking for Freedom" in front of the Berlin Wall. ;) 198.41.242.242 11:01, 10 November 2016 (UTC)
- Correction, 1989 is 27 years ago, half the life of a 54 year-old Rtanenbaum (talk) 15:02, 10 November 2016 (UTC)
- Speaking of 1989, Taylor Swift's musical debut would be a viable alternative to the Wii RTM. Whoop whoop pull up (talk) 18:04, 4 January 2018 (UTC)
- Auch I feel old now, that I could make such a mistake. Thanks for correcting it. But at least I'm not 54 yet, but I do remember the day very well. Just happy Randall raised the bar since his movie ages, so my age is still on the list and so I'm not just in the "rest above 41 group" ;-) --Kynde (talk) 15:06, 10 November 2016 (UTC)
- It happened to me. Twice now, thanks to this comic. The first time was in grad school, when I was a student over the traditional age, Another student put out a survey which asked age at the end, offering various check boxes where I had to check the last one. I howled, "The next box is a pine box!" Ke4roh (talk) 18:46, 16 November 2016 (UTC)
Randall seems to be confused. If you think Twitter is young, then finding out that it's existed for a majority of your life would make you feel young. If you think Twitter is old, then of course it's been around for a majority of your life, it's old.
The right one would be: such-and-such has been around for less than 50% of your life.141.101.98.112 15:52, 3 April 2020 (UTC)
Grand Theft Auto IV was merely "popular"? It set the record for highest first-day earnings across all media types until The Dark Knight was released that summer. Fun fact: The Dark Knight was added to the National Film Registry last year (2020), along with Shrek. As of that year, there are six 2000s theatrically-released movies on the registry (Memento, Shrek, Real Women Have Curves, Brokeback Mountain, The Dark Knight, and The Hurt Locker).
Just thought I'd mention: the huge edit I did a few days ago was a mixture of fixing incorrect usage (e. g. verb-subject agreement), oddly formal language (was a previous editor perhaps a non-native speaker?), and mostly philosophical.
By philosophical, I mean this: a lot of the material I removed changed the purpose of this wiki (as I perceive it). It's Explain xkcd, not rate xkcd. A great deal of what I removed was the past editor saying how good he/she thought each age-reminder was, not explaining the meaning of it. I don't think I completely fixed the article, but I do think I ameliorated that. Nitpicking (talk) 01:56, 3 March 2022 (UTC)
Today is May 11th, the day of Deep Blue's victory. I guess it's the time for humans to fight back. 172.71.154.229 NaN:NaN, NaN undefined NaN (UTC)
GTA IV: Just because people who were 8 years old at the time of its release shouldn't have played it doesn't mean that they didn't. The regulation of video game classification & restriction of mature content that the Hot Coffee debacle caused was established enough that it was getting flouted by anti-authoritarians, and some kids could manipulate older adults into buying it for them. As well the game's impact on pop culture was inestimable, now-dated though it may seem today (it held the Guinness World Record for the single highest-earning piece of media on launch day until Avatar came out the following year, and it retained that record for the video-game sector until its sequel dethroned it). Kids would have obviously gone to any length to play it or at least watch their friends do so. 162.158.178.42 21:19, 2 November 2023 (UTC)
