Difference between revisions of "Main Page"

Explain xkcd: It's 'cause you're dumb.
Jump to: navigation, search
(calc fix (thanks Omega!))
(try DISPLAYTITLE)
Line 1: Line 1:
 
__NOTOC__
 
__NOTOC__
 +
{{DISPLAYTITLE:explain xkcd}}
  
 
<center>
 
<center>

Revision as of 21:24, 11 August 2012


Welcome to the explain xkcd wiki! We already have 12 comic explanations!

(But there are still 2913 to go. Come and add yours!)

Latest comic

Go to this comic

Earth Formation Site
It's not far from the sign marking the exact latitude and longitude of the Earth's core.
Title text: It's not far from the sign marking the exact latitude and longitude of the Earth's core.

Explanation

In this comic, Cueball stands in front of a sign that declares itself to be a historical location. Typically, these signs are placed at precise locations where historical events happened (such as where battles have been fought, or where people of note were born/died). However, the event in question on the sign is the formation of the Earth, which cannot be pinned down to one precise location on Earth, and therefore this sign could be placed just as well anywhere on Earth.

It may also be of interest to note that due to the Sun's 225-million year long orbit around the center of the Milky Way galaxy, the sign is misleading, as the exact location at the time of formation within the galaxy is unclear.

The title text refers to the 'coordinates of the Earth's core'. Since all coordinates, when superimposed on a globe, converge at the Earth's core, this reinforces the idea that no singular location can be picked as the exact location where the Earth formed.

Transcript

Ambox notice.png This transcript is incomplete. Please help editing it! Thanks.

(Cueball is standing in front of a sign in a field of grass. The sign reads:)

HISTORICAL MARKER

EARTH FORMATION SITE

~ 4,450,000,000 BCE ~

At this location in the year 4,450,000,000 BCE, a cloud of dust and gas gravitationally collapsed to form the Earth.



New here?

Feel free to sign up for an account and contribute to the explain xkcd wiki! We need explanations for comics, characters, themes, memes and everything in between. If it is referenced in an xkcd web comic, it should be here.

  • List of all comics contains a complete table of all xkcd comics so far and the corresponding explanations. The red links (like this) are missing explanations. Feel free to help out by creating them!

Rules

Don't be a jerk. There are a lot of comics that don't have set in stone explanations, feel free to put multiple interpretations in the wiki page for each comic.

If you want to talk about a specific comic, use its discussion page.

Please only submit material directly related to—and helping everyone better understand—xkcd... and of course only submit material that can legally be posted (and freely edited.) Off-topic or other inappropriate content is subject to removal or modification at admin discretion, and users posting such are at risk of being blocked.

If you need assistance from an admin, feel free to leave a message on their personal discussion page. The list of admins is here.

Explain xkcd logo courtesy of User:Alek2407.