Editing 52: Secret Worlds

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{{comic
 
{{comic
 
| number    = 52
 
| number    = 52
| date      = January 21, 2006 <!-- The comic was released two days earlier on xkcd.com than on LiveJournal (23/1 2006). We use the earliest possible day-->
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| date      = January 23, 2006
 
| title    = Secret Worlds
 
| title    = Secret Worlds
| before    = <big><big><span class="plainlinks">[https://web.archive.org/web/20060529063441/http://xkcd-drawings.livejournal.com/#:~:text=8%3A15%20am-,Secret%20Worlds,-(1%20Comment LiveJournal title</span>]: '''Secret Worlds'''</big></big>
 
 
| image    = secret_worlds.jpg
 
| image    = secret_worlds.jpg
 
| titletext = No two adjacent circles are the same color.
 
| titletext = No two adjacent circles are the same color.
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==Explanation==
 
==Explanation==
This was the fiftieth comic originally posted to [[LiveJournal]]. The previous one was [[51: Malaria]], and the next one was [[53: Hobby]]. It was among the [[:Category:Posted on LiveJournal after xkcd.com|last eleven comics]] posted both on LiveJournal and on [https://xkcd.com xkcd.com] after the new site was launched. This comic wasn't published on the same day across both sites, but most of them shared the same posting day. It was released on LiveJournal on January 23, 2006, two days after originally being posted on [https://xkcd.com xkcd.com]. See the [[#Trivia|triva section]] below.
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The quote written in the large white circles comes from the comic book series {{w|The Sandman (Vertigo)|The Sandman}}, about the anthropomorphic personification of dreams. {{w|Neil Gaiman}} is a science fiction and fantasy author who came to fame for writing Sandman.  
  
The quote written in the large white bubbles comes from {{w|The Sandman (Vertigo)|The Sandman}}, a comic book series about dreams. {{w|Neil Gaiman}} is a science fiction and fantasy author who came to fame for writing The Sandman. The interconnected bubbles represent the secret worlds of different people and how they are connected. They may have the second meaning of the neurons in our brain. The title text indicates that Randall used the {{w|Four color theorem}}, which states that a {{w|graph theory|graph}} drawn on a flat plane (like this one) requires at most four colors so that each region differs from all of its neighbors. The comic uses four colors (red, yellow, green, blue). This clearly does not include the white bubbles with text. Here is the original quote:
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The meaning of the interconnected circles is ambiguous. They could represent the numerous dream worlds inside a person, or perhaps the worlds of different people. Or they could simply be abstract decoration.
  
{{Quote|Everybody has a secret world inside of them... All of the people in the whole world, I mean everybody — no matter how dull and boring they are on the outside. Inside them they've all got unimaginable, magnificent, wonderful, stupid, amazing worlds... Not just one world. Hundreds of them. Thousands, maybe.|[https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/413047-everybody-has-a-secret-world-inside-of-them-i-mean- Neil Gaiman]}}
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The title text is probably a reference to the {{w|Four color theorem}}, which states that a {{w|graph theory|graph}} drawn on a flat plane (like this one) requires at most four colors so that each region differs from all of its neighbors. The comic uses four colors (red, yellow, green, blue) but it does not properly account for the white circles, and would need to be recolored if they were included.
  
 
==Transcript==
 
==Transcript==
:[A multitude of circles connected with several lines. Most of them are rather small and colored red, yellow, green and blue. Nine of them are white, six of these are larger than all the other circles, but one is the same size as the largest colored (green) circle, and the two smallest are smaller than a few of the colored circles. Pieces of text are written in all the white circles. Although it can be confusing at first, the reading order is still the normal one: left to right and top to bottom. Reading the circles in that order gives the following text:]
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:[Pieces of a quote in circles with lines drawn in between them.]
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:[Some of the circles are small and colored.]
 
:"Everybody has a secret world inside of them.
 
:"Everybody has a secret world inside of them.
 
:All of the people in the whole world
 
:All of the people in the whole world
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==Trivia==
 
==Trivia==
* For unknown reasons, on January 18, 2006, [[54: Science]] was posted on LiveJournal on the same day that [[51: Malaria]] was released on [https://xkcd.com xkcd.com]. Three days later, on January 21, 2006, [[51: Malaria]] was posted on LiveJournal, thus forcing the next two comics (this one and [[53: Hobby]]) to be released on [https://xkcd.com xkcd.com] two days before LiveJournal. Four days later, on January 25, 2006, [[54: Science]] was finally posted on [https://xkcd.com xkcd.com], which fixed the date discrepancies and allowed the next comic, [[55: Useless]], to be published on the same day across both sites.
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*This is the fiftieth comic originally posted to livejournal. The previous comic was [[51: Malaria]], the next is [[53: Hobby]].
* This comic was [[:Category:Saturday comics|released on a Saturday]].
 
  
 
{{comic discussion}}
 
{{comic discussion}}
 
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[[Category:Comics posted on livejournal]]
[[Category:Posted on LiveJournal| 50]]
 
[[Category:Posted on LiveJournal after xkcd.com]]
 
 
[[Category:Comics with color]]
 
[[Category:Comics with color]]
 
[[Category:Philosophy]]
 
[[Category:Philosophy]]
[[Category:Comics with lowercase text]]
 

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