explain xkcd - User contributions [en]

1027: Pickup Artist

2013-02-25T14:36:14Z

217.18.21.194:

{{comic
| number = 1027
| date = March 9, 2012
| title = Pickup Artist
| image = pickup_artist.png
| titletext = Son, don't try to play 'make you feel bad' with the Michael Jordan of making you feel bad.
}}

==Explanation==
[[Black Hat]] and [[Danish]] appear to be out on a date! A character with hair wants to try some {{w|pickup artist}} tactics on Danish and chooses "[http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=negging negging]". However, as Danish is the "Michael Jordan" of making other people feel bad about themselves, his negging pales in comparison to hers.

{{w|Michael Jordan}} is the greatest {{w|basketball}} player ever to play in the {{w|NBA}}. He played for the {{w|Chicago Bulls}} and the {{w|Washington Wizards}}. His name is often used as a noun to notate that someone is the best in their field.

The line "I need to go home and think about my life" may be a shout-out to [http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Elan_Sel%27Sabagno|Elan Sel'Sabagno] from Star Wars.

[[Randall]]'s message goes out clearly through [[Cueball]]: "Pickup artists are dehumanizing creeps who see relationships as adversarial and women as sex toys. Just talk to them like a fucking human being."

==Transcript==
:[Man and Cueball sitting at a table.]
:Man: I've been learning tricks from pickup artist forums.
:Cueball: Pickup artists are dehumanizing creeps who see relationships as adversarial and women as sex toys.

:[Close-up of man's head, with a faint outline of Black hat and Danish sitting at a table in the background.]
:Man: No, it's just a bunch of tips! Like ''negging'': you belittle chicks to undermine their self-confidence so they'll be more vulnerable and seek your approval.

:[Close-up of Cueball's head.]
:Cueball: Just talk to them like a fucking human being.
:Man: Nah, that's a sucker's game.
:Ok- wish me luck!

:''Meanwhile''
:[Black hat and Danish at a table. Black hat is standing up with a bowling ball under his arm.]
:Black hat: I'm going to the bathroom to roll a bowling ball under the line of stalls.
:Danish: Cool.

:[Close up of Cueball's head, with man approaching Danish's table in the background.]
:Cueball: Oh no.

:[Man and Danish at a table. Man is standing up and leaning on the table.]
:Man: You look like you're on a diet. That's great!
:How's the fruit plate?

:[Close-up of Danish's head]
:Danish: Ooh- are we negging?
:Let me try!

:[Close-up of Danish's head, with her hand raised]
:Danish: You look like you're going to spend your life having one epiphany after another, always thinking you've finally figured out what's holding you back, and how you can finally be productive and creative and turn your life around.
:But nothing will ever change. That cycle of mediocrity isn't due to some obstacle. It's who you ''are''.
:The thing standing in the way of your dreams
:Is that the person having them is ''you''.

:[Man and Danish at a table. Man is standing up.]
:Danish: Ok, your turn! Ooh, try insulting my hair!
:Man: I think I need to go home and think about my life.
:Danish: It won't help.

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Black Hat]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Danish]]
[[Category:Romance]]

585: Outreach

2013-02-20T17:44:31Z

217.18.21.194:

{{comic
| number =585
| date =May 18, 2009
| title =Outreach
| image =outreach.png
| titletext =Completely implausible? Yes. Nevertheless, worth keeping a can of shark repellent next to the bed.
}}

==Explanation==
Scientific animal tracking is commonly used to learn more about other species, particularly endangered ones, as a way of better understanding their physiology, behavior, and what risks they face in the wild. It's used in a wide variety of sciences, including wildlife biology, conservation, wildlife management and zoology.

The scientists in this comic are working on a rather limited budget and can't afford the cost of hiring someone to retrieve a tracking tag from the water. So they create one that will pop free, float to the surface, and inflate a giant helium balloon, causing it to gradually drift over land. Eventually the balloon will slowly deflate, soft-land, and with any luck someone will find it and mail it back to the scientists.

But it goes horribly, hilariously wrong. The tag can't quite pop free from the shark, and proceeds to inflate the balloon ''while the shark is still attached''. The shark rises right along with the tracker tag, drifts back over land, and goes right after the scientists that had been tracking it.

The young girl, seeing two scientists running frantically from a flying shark, no doubt has never seen anything more awesome in her whole life, and figures that if such excitement is a daily part of a scientist's job, ''that's'' the job for her!

The title text suggests keeping shark repellent by one's bed to account for the quite-unlikely event of something like this happening. Because you never know. It may be a reference to the Adam West Batman film where Batman just happened to have some.

==Transcript==
:[A group of scientists with goggles and labcoats stand around a pair of beakers.]
:Ponytail: The tracking tag will record the shark's movement and habits.

:[The capsule floats upward.]
:Ponytail (narrated): Then, it will pop free and float to the surface.

:[A coast is shown, with arrows directed from water to land.]
:Ponytail (narrated): We can't afford a recovery program, so the capsules will inflate helium balloons, drift over land,

:Ponytail (narrated): And hopefully be found and mailed to us. Any questions?
:[The capsule has a caption on it.]
:If found please call

:[The scientist is standing over a groggy shark.]
:''Chunk''

:[The shark is dropped off a boat, into the water.]
:''Sploosh''
:Shark: !!!

:[The course of the shark is shown, weaving around islands.]

:[The capsule is shown sticking out of the shark.]
:''Click''

:[The capsule remains attached to the shark.]

:[The balloon starts to inflate, still attached to the shark and underwater.]
:''Hissss''

:[As the balloon inflates, it starts to pull the shark to the surface.]
:Shark: ??

:[The balloon breaks the surface, pulling the shark with it.]

:[A man and a child are standing together.]

:[Two scientists run past, screaming. One is holding a microscope.]
:Scientists: AAAAAAAA

:[A shark attached to a huge balloon floats past following the scientists.]
:Shark: ''Chomp chomp''

:Child: Daddy?
:Father: Yes?
:Child: I want to be a scientist.

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Ponytail]]
[[Category:Biology]]

523: Decline

2013-02-20T13:44:49Z

217.18.21.194:

{{comic
| number = 523
| date = December 29, 2008
| title = Decline
| image = decline.png
| titletext = 'There is also a spike on the Fourier transformation at the one month mark where--' 'You want to stop talking right now.'
}}

==Explanation==
{{Incomplete}}
Following the flow of the comic, the reader is led to think that [[Cueball]] is angry at his wife about their relationship, accentuated by the "relationship graph." Subsequently, the wife says that the decline is actually due to Cueball's out-of-control fascination with graphing, to which he responds (unwittingly?) with [[552: Correlation|"correlation does not mean causation"]].

A Fourier transform breaks down the graph into periodic components. A spike at 1-month on the Fourier transform would mean that something happens every month that causes the relationship to decline. This is unlikely to be related to lunar cycles.

[[26: Fourier|Fourier transformations were mentioned previously in ''xkcd''.]]

==Transcript==
:[Cueball is pointing at a line graph at a specific point where it slopes down. The Y Axis shows that as Y increases, Love increases.]
:Cueball: "Our relationship entered its decline at this point."
:Megan: "That's when you started graphing everything."
:Cueball: "Coincidence!"

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]
[[Category:Charts]]
[[Category:Romance]]

323: Ballmer Peak

2013-02-20T09:57:00Z

217.18.21.194: Added a note about Balmer peaks.

{{comic
| number = 323
| date = October 1, 2007
| title = Ballmer Peak
| image = ballmer peak.png
| titletext = Apple uses automated schnapps IVs.
}}

==Explanation==
{{w|Steve Ballmer}} is a key figure of {{w|Microsoft}} (and its CEO since 2000), which employs a lot of programmers. He is known for energetic outbursts and outlandish (drunken?) behavior in public ([http://onsoftware.en.softonic.com/the-best-and-worst-of-barmy-steve-balmer videos of which] tend to go viral).

A Balmer Peak (with one 'L') is a common term used to refer to an [[wikipedia:Balmer_series|emission line in chemical spectra]].

The curve in the comic states that, while generally decreasing with drunkenness (BAC; {{w|blood alcohol concentration}}), the skill of a programmer gets terrific with just the right level. The peak has been named after Steve Ballmer, presumably because it depicts a relationship between drunkenness and competence that Ballmer, in his state of seemingly constant intoxication, would fit well.

Programmers sometimes have a reputation for heavy drinking habits. {{w|Hackfest}}s and programmer conferences tend to offer copious amounts of alcohol. The comic suggests a reason, but it is turned into a sideways jab at {{w|Windows ME}} (a version of {{w|Microsoft Windows}} widely criticized for its bugs and general lack of usability) as [[Cueball]] uses it as an example of what badly controlled alcohol intake leads to.

As stated by [[Randall]] later on in [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zJOS0sV2a24#t=10m03s this speech] (at about 10:00), the peak occurs at a BAC of 0.1337%, which is a reference to {{w|leet}}.

The title text suggests that {{w|Apple Inc.|Apple}} is delivering alcohol ({{w|schnapps}}) directly to the bloodstream of its programmers, in precise quantities, via automated IV; {{w|Intravenous therapy}}.

==Transcript==
:[A graph with "programming skill" on the X-axis and "blood alcohol concentration" on the Y one.]
:[Cueball is making a presentation with the graph.]
:Cueball: Called the Ballmer Peak, it was discovered by Microsoft in the 80's. The cause is unknown but somehow a B.A.C between 0.129% and 0.138% confers superhuman programming ability.
:Cueball: However, it's a delicate effect requiring careful calibration – you can't just give a team of coders a year's supply of whiskey and tell them to get cracking.
:Spectator: ...Has that ever happened?
:Cueball: Remember Windows ME?
:Spectator: I <u>knew</u> it!

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Programming]]
[[Category:Comics with color]]
[[Category:Charts]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]

394: Kilobyte

2013-02-20T09:46:34Z

217.18.21.194: Kibibytes weren't mentioned.

{{comic
| number = 394
| date = March 10, 2008
| title = Kilobyte
| image = kilobyte.png
| titletext = I would take 'kibibyte' more seriously if it didn't sound so much like 'Kibbles N Bits'.
}}

==Explanation==
This comic takes advantage of the confusion over the definition of a kilobyte. Some interpret the prefix literally, meaning a kilobyte is 1000 bytes. Others, however, define it as 2<sup>10</sup>, or 1024, bytes because it is computationally easier to deal with.

The first row of the table is simply mocking this discrepancy.

The second row is Randall's interpretation on how [[wikipedia:Stan Kelly-Bootle|Kelly-Bootle]] would approach this problem. Kelly-Bootle is known for writing ''The Computer Contradictionary'' which satirizes the jargon and language of the computer industry. Kelly-Bootle was likely motivated to write this work after working for several years at IMB, a company infamous for its excessive use of acronyms in the work place. Averaging the two definitions together to get 1012 bytes is simply a humorous approach that Kelly-Bootle would likely have taken.

The [[wikipedia:Imaginary number|imaginary]] kilobyte simply plays on the fact that complex analysis is required in quantum computing in relation to quantum mechanics. The imaginary number is represented as ''i'' and has a value of the square root of -1. This is a pun on the fact that KiB is used for the "binary kilobyte" (occasionally "[[wikipedia:Binary_prefix|kibibyte]]") which is standardized at 1024 bytes.

The Intel kilobyte mocks the Pentium floating point unit which, in 1994, was notorious for having a [[wikipedia:Pentium FDIV bug|major flaw]] in its floating point division algorithm that gave slightly erroneous results.

The smaller, drivemaker's kilobyte mocks a business model for handling higher prices that keeps prices constant but reduces quantity. The food industry has been notorious for decreasing quantity of food and keeping prices the same instead of increasing prices and keeping quantity the same. Randall is suggesting that if the computer industry tried to do this with hard drives, it could have humorous results such as smaller number of bytes in a kilobyte. In this analogy, food price is to number of kilobytes as food quantity is to bytes in a kilobyte. A value of 908 indicates that drivemakers have been decreasing the value for 23 years (if they started with 1000) or 29 years (if they started with 1024), which means a starting year of either 1985 or 1979. Continuing this trend would cause the drivemaker's kilobyte to become zero in the year 2235.

The baker's kilobyte is a play on the [[wikipedia:Dozen#Baking|baker's dozen]], which is 13 instead of 12. A baker's byte with 9 bits to the byte would result in a total of 9216 bits in a 1024 byte kilobyte. Converting this into "normal" bytes (with 8 bits), we divide 9216 bits by 8 bits per byte to get 1152 8-bit bytes to the baker's kilobyte.

==Transcript==
:There's been a lot of confusion over 1024 vs 1000,
:kbyte vs kbit, and the capitalization for each.
:Here, at last, is a single, definitive standard:
:[table of various kinds of kilobytes]
{| border="1" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="1" class="wikitable" style="width: 50%; text-align: left;"
|-
|SYMBOL
|NAME
|SIZE
|NOTES
|-
|kB
|Kilobyte
|1024 bytes OR 1000 bytes
|1000 bytes during leap years, 1024 otherwise
|-
|KB
|Kelly-Bootle standard unit
|1012 bytes
|compromise between 1000 and 1024 bytes
|-
|KiB
|Imaginary kilobyte
|1024 √-1 bytes
|used in quantum computing
|-
|kb
|Intel kilobyte
|1023.937528 bytes
|calculated on Pentium F.P.U.
|-
|Kb
|Drivemaker's kilobyte
|currently 908 bytes
|shrinks by 4 bytes each year for marketing reasons
|-
|KBa
|Baker's kilobyte
|1152 bytes
|9 bits to the byte since you're such a good customer
|}
{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Charts]]
[[Category:Computers]]

501: Faust 2.0

2013-02-20T09:42:09Z

217.18.21.194: Expanded somewhat on the relevance of Mephistopheles as opposed to any other demon.

{{comic
| number = 501
| date = November 7, 2008
| title = Faust 2.0
| image = faust_20.png
| titletext = The only blood these contracts are signed in is from me cutting my hand trying to open the goddamn CD case.
}}

==Explanation==
E.U.L.A. is short for {{w|End-user license agreement}}, a license that software makers often attach to their software but people do not usually read. Agreement to a E.U.L.A. is assumed when a user uses the software or service that the E.U.L.A. is attached to, which has led to cases where users have unknowingly [http://www.foxnews.com/tech/2010/04/15/online-shoppers-unknowingly-sold-souls/ actually agreed to give away their immortal souls] because of a clause in a E.U.L.A.

A {{w|Faustian deal}} is done by someone who sells his soul to the devil for something desired in this life, a textbook example of wanting instant gratification. The mortal will get the things he wanted, but when he dies, have to suffer eternal torment. As the span of a human lifetime is an eyeblink compared to the lifetime of the universe, this is a really stupid thing to do.

In this instance, Cueball turns a E.U.L.A. around on {{w|Mephistopheles}} (the demon from Christopher Marlowe's version of Faust), by posting a sign saying that anyone entering the room agrees to turn over their ''own'' immortal soul rather than negotiate with Cueball for his. (It's unknown whether this clause applies only to demons, or to ''everyone''.)

The alt-text makes reference to how easy it is to cut open one's own hand while trying to open a newly-bought CD case. (Incidentally, a pen works just fine, though the blood is referencing how Satanic contracts are signed in blood.)

==Transcript==
:Satan: Mortal! I come offering a deal -
:Cueball: Read the sign.
:Satan: "By entering this room, you agree to forfeit your own soul rather than negotiate with the mortal residing therein..." Wait, you can't -
:Cueball: Too late.
:Caption: Mephistopheles encounters the E.U.L.A.

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]