https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/api.php?action=feedcontributions&user=76.105.123.48&feedformat=atomexplain xkcd - User contributions [en]2024-03-28T12:15:35ZUser contributionsMediaWiki 1.30.0https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=1186:_Bumblebees&diff=312961186: Bumblebees2013-03-27T12:48:45Z<p>76.105.123.48: /* Explanation */</p>
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<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 1186<br />
| date = March 15, 2013<br />
| title = Bumblebees<br />
| image = bumblebees.png<br />
| titletext = Did you know sociologists can't explain why people keep repeating that urban legend about bumblebees not being able to fly!?<br />
}}<br />
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==Explanation==<br />
There is an {{w|Bumblebee#Flight|often repeated legend}} that according to the laws of aerodynamics, {{w|Bumblebee|bumblebees}} cannot fly. In fact, it would be more accurate to say that all the mechanics of bumblebee flight are not known and that the approximations to the aerodynamics equations which work well for fixed-wing aircraft, do not work for bumblebees. In recent years, there have been more sophisticated computer models of bumblebee flight, and they have found that bumblebee wings do indeed produce adequate lift.<br />
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This strip is a reference to {{w|Bee Movie}}, in which the main character, Barry B. Benson, enlists the help of other bees to land a plane with the last reserves of pollen on earth. The opening quote of the movie repeats the Bumblebee legend, followed by saying, "The bee, of course, flies anyway, because bees don't care what humans think is impossible."<br />
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The strip also creates a fallacy that because experts can't explain something, they must not be able to understand it (when in reality, the fact in question should be verified first). For example, in this case, it is stated as fact that bumblebees ''can'' fly planes. Since physicists can't seem to be able to explain why that is, physicists have more to learn. Without the knowledge that bumblebees can't fly planes (the knowledge physicists are implied to lack), it's assumed physicists would continue working on the problem ad infinitum until a layman pointed out the assumption is not true.<br />
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==Transcript==<br />
:Science fact:<br />
:[A bumblebee is perched on the yoke (control column) of an airplane.]<br />
:Physicists still can't explain how bumblebees can fly airplanes.<br />
<br />
{{comic discussion}}<br />
[[Category:Comics with color]]</div>76.105.123.48https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=Talk:1139:_Rubber_and_Glue&diff=20145Talk:1139: Rubber and Glue2012-11-26T19:42:30Z<p>76.105.123.48: </p>
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<div>I am not a native speaker, but after some research, I found that rubber/glue refers to the rhyme "I am rubber, you are glue, whatever you say bounces off of me and sticks to you." If that's true, the current explanation that the topos is meant "to imply that insults of another person are an indication of their own insecurity and weakness" is just plain wrong. [[User:BKA|BKA]] ([[User talk:BKA|talk]]) 15:51, 26 November 2012 (UTC)<br />
*It's really not wrong, it's just a clarification. [[Special:Contributions/76.105.123.48|76.105.123.48]] 19:42, 26 November 2012 (UTC)<br />
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The in-joke here is presumably that CRC stands (or stood?) for the Chemical Rubber Company, and the handbook - found in many a physics and chemistry lab - is often referred to as the "Rubber Bible".<br />
[[Special:Contributions/131.251.254.81|131.251.254.81]] 16:07, 26 November 2012 (UTC)<br />
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Of note is probably that the book young black hat is reading is known as the "Rubber Bible". From wikipedia: The CRC Handbook of Chemistry and Physics is in its 93rd edition. It is sometimes nicknamed the 'Rubber Bible' or the 'Rubber Book', as CRC originally stood for "Chemical Rubber Company". http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CRC_Handbook_of_Chemistry_and_Physics<br />
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As an aside, this is the first time Black Hat has ever been referred to by a name of any kind. Should we consider calling him "Hatman" now? --[[Special:Contributions/76.105.123.48|76.105.123.48]] 19:42, 26 November 2012 (UTC)</div>76.105.123.48https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=Talk:1139:_Rubber_and_Glue&diff=20143Talk:1139: Rubber and Glue2012-11-26T19:40:59Z<p>76.105.123.48: </p>
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<div>I am not a native speaker, but after some research, I found that rubber/glue refers to the rhyme "I am rubber, you are glue, whatever you say bounces off of me and sticks to you." If that's true, the current explanation that the topos is meant "to imply that insults of another person are an indication of their own insecurity and weakness" is just plain wrong. [[User:BKA|BKA]] ([[User talk:BKA|talk]]) 15:51, 26 November 2012 (UTC)<br />
*It's really not wrong, it's just a clarification.<br />
<br />
The in-joke here is presumably that CRC stands (or stood?) for the Chemical Rubber Company, and the handbook - found in many a physics and chemistry lab - is often referred to as the "Rubber Bible".<br />
[[Special:Contributions/131.251.254.81|131.251.254.81]] 16:07, 26 November 2012 (UTC)<br />
<br />
Of note is probably that the book young black hat is reading is known as the "Rubber Bible". From wikipedia: The CRC Handbook of Chemistry and Physics is in its 93rd edition. It is sometimes nicknamed the 'Rubber Bible' or the 'Rubber Book', as CRC originally stood for "Chemical Rubber Company". http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CRC_Handbook_of_Chemistry_and_Physics</div>76.105.123.48https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=475:_Further_Boomerang_Difficulties&diff=11815475: Further Boomerang Difficulties2012-09-13T00:23:42Z<p>76.105.123.48: /* Explanation */</p>
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<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 475<br />
| date = September 12, 2008<br />
| title = Further Boomerang Difficulties<br />
| image = further_boomerang_difficulties.png<br />
| imagesize = <br />
| titletext = An eternity later, the universe having turned out to have positive curvature and lots of mass, the boomerang hits him in the back of the head.<br />
}}<br />
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==Explanation==<br />
This comic is a sequel of sorts to [[445: I Am Not Good with Boomerangs]], as it deals with the same subject manner with the same panel layout.<br />
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The first strip has a man throwing a boomerang, which doesn't come back. (It's implied to have come back to either him or another man 464 comics later in [[939: Arrow]].)<br />
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The second strip has the man throwing another boomerang, which somehow hurts the {{w|ozone layer}} (as indicated by an offscreen voice).<br />
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The third strip has the man throwing what ''appears'' to be a boomerang, but then [[Megan]] appears and reveals that it was their last banana. "You're such an asshole," she notes.<br />
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The final strip has the man throwing one last boomerang, which breaks the window of his spaceship.<br />
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The title text notes that the boomerang would return and hit him in the back of the head thanks to the universe's {{w|curvature}} and {{w|mass}}.<br />
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==Transcript==<br />
[The man throws a boomerang, which doesn't come back.]<br />
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[The man throws another boomerang.]<br />
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Offscreen voice: Oh god<br />
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Offscreen voice: The ozone layer!<br />
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[The man seems shocked.]<br />
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[The man throws what appears to be a boomerang, but then Megan arrives.]<br />
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Megan: That was our last banana.<br />
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Megan: You're such an asshole.<br />
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[The man throws the final boomerang, which smashes through the panel and into space somehow.]<br />
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==Trivia==<br />
* Part of this comic and [[939: Arrow]] is the picture for the [http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/BrickJoke Brick Joke] page on TV Tropes.<br />
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{{comic discussion}} <br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]<br />
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[[Category:Boomerangs]]</div>76.105.123.48