1093: Forget

Explain xkcd: It's 'cause you're dumb.
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Discussion

I remember Pluto but nothing before or after that. Also this is a terrible comment system --172.68.54.16 16:04, 27 April 2017 (UTC)

I know our IP friend is long gone, but for the record: this is not a comment system. Nitpicking (talk) 16:00, 10 October 2021 (UTC)

How far off the top of that list is the death of JFK? SteveB (talk) 10:55, 10 August 2012‎ (UTC)

Looking at the time table, my guess would be around 2000. ~JJ (talk) 11:01, 10 August 2012‎ (UTC)
Assuming that the median age growed monotonically in the past, that was around '98/'99. 178.15.226.170 13:05, 14 August 2012 (UTC)

Ah, the seventies. Bell Bottoms. The Bicentennial. The Munich Olympics. The original Star Wars movie. Except for Star Wars, I suppose much of that could be forgotten. Especially Bell Bottoms.-- IronyChef (talk) 13:50, 10 August 2012 (UTC)

Lorena Bobbitt is misspelled in the comic. It should have two "t's." Source: http://www.cbsnews.com/2100-500185_162-4207517.html [Goingtotryscience, 10 Aug 2012] --Goingtotryscience (talk) 14:59, 10 August 2012 (UTC) Uploaded corrected version. Both still available if you click on the image and view upload history.--B. P. (talk) 15:46, 17 August 2012 (UTC)

The cold war was after World War II, not World War I. --Ralfoide (talk) 16:18, 10 August 2012 (UTC)

He didn't say the cold war was after World War I, he said the Soviet Union began after World War I and was the advesary of the United States during the cold war. --Enginesoul (talk) 18:10, 10 August 2012 (UTC)

Let's not forget 2035 when the majority of people will not remember a world berift of XKCD! Loeb (talk) 17:17, 10 August 2012 (UTC)

When Coca-Cola change the formula to New Coke, they kept the name "Coca-Cola" for the reformulated beverage, and discontinued the old formula. Because of the backlash, they reintroduced the old formula as "Coca-Cola Classic" and kept the new formula as "Coca-Cola". After a while, with "Coca-Cola Classic" being by far the biggest seller, the new formula was rebranded "Coke II", and eventually discontinued (I believe). The can I have in front of me is marked simply "Coca-Cola", so I guess "Coca-Cola Classic" was eventually rebranded back to the original name. --Blaise Pascal (talk) 17:55, 10 August 2012 (UTC)

Coke II was produced and distributed in some Midwestern markets as late as 2002. Supposedly it's still available in the Marshall Islands, or somewhere like that. Daniel Case (talk) 21:22, 14 August 2012 (UTC)

Am I the only one who thinks that there are some other things needing explaining here? I have no idea what "Forgot About Dre" or "Baby Got Back" are about. (Well, not without a little googling.) And Pluto still exists, even if it's not currently classified as a planet (last I heard, they were considering classifying it and Charon as a twin planet system) so people are unlikely to forget about the name.--Joe Green (talk) 07:26, 11 August 2012 (UTC)

Actually, Pluto is still a planet. To say Pluto is not a planet is the same thing as saying little people aren't people, which is incredibly bigoted against little people. Only a true sociopath would say that Pluto isn't a planet. "Dwarf planet" has planet right in the name. Of COURSE a dwarf planet is a planet.76.29.225.28 15:07, 18 June 2013 (UTC)
By that logic, "candy corn" is still corn because it has the word corn right in the name. Call me a sociopath if you want to, but I say Pluto is not (and never was) a planet. There was a brief time in history when we mistakenly THOUGHT it was a planet, until we corrected our mistake. The same thing happened with Ceres. It was initially announced to be a planet, until further measurements showed it to be much smaller than we thought, so we reclassified it as an "asteroid". Nowadays, we correctly recognize that Ceres and Pluto belong in the same category as each other. Both of them are rocks floating in a band of other rocks, albeit unusually large examples of such rocks. This comic refers to the fact that we look back with nostalgia on the time when lists of "the planets" included Pluto. Now, the list does not include Pluto.199.27.133.121 15:42, 21 February 2015 (UTC)
Highly recommend this book for the fascinating inside account of how Pluto became a not-planet. ("Planetoid" would be a much better descriptor, but Pluto's "demotion" was so upsetting, they used "dwarf planet" to soften the blow!): How I Killed Pluto and Why It Had It Coming L-Space Traveler (talk) 13:49, 6 December 2022 (UTC)

Oh and if Chernobyl is considered worthy of explanation, surely so is Challenger? Columbine too. Jeff's initial selection seems a little arbitrary, and while he justifiably never claims to provide a comprehensive explanation, we usually fill in the gaps.--Joe Green (talk) 07:34, 11 August 2012 (UTC)

Gaps: Filled. By the way, none of the explanation was actually Jeff's. It's the collaboration of multiple users (feel free to pitch in). For example, I made the first revision of the article, with a basic explanation, Jjhuddle added information about the title text (which I skipped over, as I wasn't sure about it), Jilkscom56 added the bit about Eyjafjallajökull, IronyChef added eight more years, MrFlibble fixed an error in one of the dates, AHT expanded the Berlin Wall section, and I filled in the rest of the blanks. Omega TalkContribs 08:18, 11 August 2012 (UTC)

The Berlin Wall was constructed by East Germany, not the USSR and it preceded the reunification of Germany. I've sort of fixed it, but it could do with more work. Jeremyp (talk) 10:35, 13 August 2012 (UTC)

Good. I was just writing a comment about exactly these two points. Although the role of the soviets is not entirely clear, it was the Eastern German (aka German Democratic Republic) Government that decided and (mostly) Eastern German soldiers who built the Wall. And while the "Fall of the Wall" usually refers to the day where suddenly after a very confusing press conference, people could cross the border from east to west, the November 9, 1989, the reunification was a political and formal act in 1990, almost a year later. 178.15.226.170 10:51, 13 August 2012 (UTC)
Also, the wall was technically not torn down by anyone and especially not from both sides. After a series of weekly demonstrations in Eastern Germany (by a lot of courageous people in different cities), the Government made a decision to lift the travel restrictions, effectively allowing travelling to the West. On November 9, 1989, they made this official in a press conference which did not even receive a lot of attention at first. In this conference, someone raised the question when these new regulation would take effect, and seemingly unprepared, the speaker said "as far as I can see, it's effective immediately". Although there were so many people up that night in both East and West, and although maybe the mass of people prevented a shooting by the unprepared soldiers at the checkpoint, the revolution was not a spontaneous tearing of the wall, it was the demonstrations in the preceeding weeks by the Eastern German People. 178.15.226.170 11:30, 13 August 2012 (UTC)

It seems whoever wrote the explanation for 9/11 has already forgotten the other two planes that crashed that day: one into the Pentagon, and one in a field outside of Shanksville, PA (Presumably on its way to crashing into the Capitol Building)

Well go change it then!

Actually I found the most crucial part, the math, was done poorly: Why do we have a 32 years gap today and a 35 years gap in the future, when the current median age is "around 35"?. I fixed it, but I'm not a native speaker, so I'd be happy if someone could go over the first paragraph (again). BKA (talk) 13:40, 13 August 2012 (UTC)

"He lost all popularity after he controversially boycotted the 1980 Olympics, in Moscow" Well, this just proves the point of the comic. Anyone old enough to remember the Carter administration would not have written this. The Olympic boycott was actually supported by most of the American people at the time, albeit a little grudgingly. It was, in fact, one of the few things Carter did at that point that was popular.

The explanation would be more accurate if it read "He lost popularity due to continual high inflation during his administration, failure to resolve the Iran hostage crisis, a speech that was interpreted as blaming the American people for his administration's failings, and a growing perception that he was in over his head." Daniel Case (talk) 21:19, 14 August 2012 (UTC)

I've rewritten that section to include more information. Wikipedia does say that the Olympic boycott was controversial, and my memory concurs. The real error about the boycott was that it wasn't generally a cold-war issue, but rather a direct response to the Afghanistan invasion. Which is why it was so controversial, as such a boycott was purely political when the spirit of the games was intended to overcome such political differences. Blaisepascal (talk) 21:51, 14 August 2012 (UTC)
This comic makes me feel young. The first event I actually remember is 9/11, and I only remember it because it was my first day of kindergarten. 108.162.219.7 04:21, 14 March 2014 (UTC) I have extremely vague memories of 9/11 which happened when I was 4, mainly through a dream I had where I built two Lego towers and had them fall on me. I have a few memories of a time before facebook, but I do remember Katrina. I feel so young. Also like. Pokemon's TV show came out when I was born, and I unashamedly still watch it now and then. Literally can't get a show I've watched for a longer period of time than Pokemon haha xD so xkcd makes me feel old and young simultaneously. International Space Station (talk) 15:41, 22 April 2016 (UTC) Seems like that Chernobyl thing isn't quite right after all. 173.245.52.165 15:12, 8 April 2021 (UTC) </div>