explain xkcd - User contributions [en]

Talk:1018: Good Cop, Dadaist Cop

2014-01-29T19:26:38Z

108.162.212.206:

A comment from the blog that is quite on and off (you'll get the joke) the topic:

:I took a class in college, in French, and we studied (insofar as one can) dadaism, surrealism, and existentialism.
:One day, the girl next to me raised her hand and started out, “This is off the subject, but..”… Professor La Charité interrupted immediately, with, “It’s ''*never*'' off the subject. Continue.”
:We all felt we learned something that day. Giraffe. - E

Hope that explains some things. [[User:Lcarsos|lcarsos]] ([[User talk:Lcarsos|talk]]) 17:40, 20 August 2012 (UTC)

;Explanation
I think the above explanation is lacking. What's bones got to do with it? How about the language stuff? AND A Mexican bandit robbed a bank. The sheriff and his bilingual deputy captured him, and the sheriff, who couldn't speak Spanish, asked him where he'd hidden the money. "No se nada," said the bandit.
The sheriff put a gun to the bandit's head and said to his deputy: "Tell him, if he doesn't tell us where the money is, I'll blow his brains out."
Upon receiving the translation, the bandit became very animated. "Ya me acuerdo! Tienen que caminar tres cuadradas hasta ese gran arbol. Debajo del arbol, alli esta el dinero."
The sheriff leaned forward. "Yeah? Well..?"
The deputy replied: "He says he wants to die like a man." {{unsigned ip| 122.61.61.161}}
:It's Dadaism. It means unrelated random stuff. AND nice story =) [[Special:Contributions/108.162.212.206|108.162.212.206]] 19:26, 29 January 2014 (UTC)

Talk:953: 1 to 10

2014-01-26T22:47:02Z

108.162.212.206:

One of correct answers is P = 1 + 1 - |sgn(10 - 1 - 1)|

(|x| is absolute value of x, sgn(x) is 1 when x > 0, 0 when x = 0, and -1 when x < 0)

If 10 = 1 + 1, then P = 10 - |sgn(0)| = 10 - |0| = 10

If 10 > 1 + 1, then P = 1 + 1 - |sgn(10 - 1 - 1)| = 1 + 1 - |1| = 1

If 10 < 1 + 1, then P = 1 + 1 - |sgn(10 - 1 - 1)| = 1 + 1 - |-1| = 1

So P is 10 iif the question was is in binary, and 1 iif it was not in binary.

[[Special:Contributions/93.73.186.104|93.73.186.104]] 16:26, 6 February 2013 (UTC)
:The absolute value is unnecessary. When is 10 ever less than 1+1?[[Special:Contributions/108.162.219.202|108.162.219.202]] 20:28, 3 January 2014 (UTC)

I don't think the explanation is right, I mean i don't know binary but i don't think the joke is that he's saying a 4 as in 100% [[User:Lackadaisical|Lackadaisical]] ([[User talk:Lackadaisical|talk]]) 00:23, 7 November 2013 (UTC)
:A 4 is not 100%, but a 3/4 is always 75%. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.212.206|108.162.212.206]] 22:47, 26 January 2014 (UTC)

Talk:942: Juggling

2014-01-26T22:18:06Z

108.162.212.206:

But if there was no gravity, the balls would have maintained the trajectory and (neglecting air resistance) velocity that they had when they left cueball's hands! -- mwburden [[Special:Contributions/99.129.248.32|99.129.248.32]] 23:17, 7 December 2012 (UTC)

:Very true! Please do consider reworking/replacing this explanation so it isn't so misleading! [[User:Lcarsos|lcarsos]]<span title="I'm an admin. I can help.">_a</span> ([[User talk:Lcarsos|talk]]) 23:22, 7 December 2012 (UTC)

Added "or momentum" to the explanation. -- mwburden [[Special:Contributions/70.91.188.49|70.91.188.49]] 13:03, 10 December 2012 (UTC)

It doesn't look like Cueball's jumping to me--just reaching for the balls. [[Special:Contributions/96.234.173.28|96.234.173.28]] 08:45, 23 December 2012 (UTC)

:Nah I agree with the transcript. Both feet are noticeably higher than in the previous "standing" panels. And I can't picture anyone raising one leg weirdly like that if the other leg is planted on the ground - if he were looking to reach without jumping, he'd would be on tiptoes instead. [[User:Jerodast|- jerodast]] ([[User talk:Jerodast|talk]]) 13:18, 23 December 2012 (UTC)

I thought the joke was the book taught you how to levitate things, which Cueball finds useless since he wants to learn how to juggle. [[Special:Contributions/67.85.230.8|67.85.230.8]] 08:17, 25 December 2012 (UTC)

I've interpreted this as a joke on how juggling works (as in, what it always looks like) in 2D images. The title text makes a similar joke, in that throwing or dropping something in a 2D image will always make it look like the thing is floating. (Unless they add motion lines and such and such, but even then, "Why are there black lines in the air?") - Jeff

I don't think this explanation is right. I interpreted this joke like this: Cueball is so bad at juggling that the balls don't even fall after being thrown. Perhaps this joke is similar to the ones in the boomerang comics. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.212.206|108.162.212.206]] 22:18, 26 January 2014 (UTC)

Talk:886: Craigslist Apartments

2014-01-17T03:32:22Z

108.162.212.206:

The house with a house inside may be a reference to the tesseracted, 4D house from Robert Heinlein's "-And He Built A Crooked House." {{unsigned ip|‎173.225.52.131}}

I would have thought the klein stairs with the intense heat in short bursts may be a reference to a research fusion reactor. 'Net searches seem to suggest there may be connections between plasma behaviour and klein bottle mathematics. {{unsigned ip|108.162.250.5}}

The Minotaur sounds like a reference to Doctor Who The God Complex. [[Special:Contributions/173.245.52.201|173.245.52.201]] 05:05, 1 December 2013 (UTC)

The closet full of board games which play themselves could be a reference to the movie Jumanji.
Can't remember a tub full of blood from that movie, though, however surely pets won't survive long. [[Special:Contributions/173.245.53.180|173.245.53.180]] 21:13, 12 December 2013 (UTC)

I explained the third one, but I have no idea about the lack of floor. Because of this and others, I added an 'Incomplete' tag with the appropriate reason. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.212.206|108.162.212.206]] 03:32, 17 January 2014 (UTC)

886: Craigslist Apartments

2014-01-17T03:30:59Z

108.162.212.206:

{{comic
| number = 886
| date = April 15, 2011
| title = Craigslist Apartments
| image = craigslist apartments.png
| titletext = $1600 / 1386153BR 3BATH, MODERN SLIDING DOORS, GUEST ROOMS, GARBAGE DISPOSAL. FREE MANDATORY PARKING (ENFORCED). CONVENIENT TO ALDERAAN.
}}

==Explanation==
{{Incomplete|Not everything is explained (i.e. the lack of floor on the third one).}}
First and foremost, just like all {{w|Craigslist}} apartment postings, all of these posts are in all caps and some of the posts are re-posted several times, which is very annoying, but must work, otherwise the agents would not do it. Additionally, lots of posts use lots of tildes, exclamation points or asterisks as above to set their posts apart from others.

*$1600 / 2BR <nowiki>~~~</nowiki> Hardwood floors, utilities included. Cats OK, limit one per square foot.
:This ad is aimed at "crazy cat ladies/bachelors" who compulsively keep a number of animals much greater than is appropriate to the living space.

*$1100 / **** Great deal square house door in front!!! ****
:The square house must be a garage, or just a regular square house.

*$2300 / 3BR !!!!!!!! Elegant apartment permanently lit by strobe light!!!! No floor.
:A strobe light is a very bright light that, instead of remaining on, flashes very quickly. It's frequently used in parties. Living in an apartment with a constant strobe light should degrade the tenant's health.
:

*$980 / 1BR New "hammock"-style dwelling. Water and heat free from same dispenser. Viking landlord.
:Hammock style dwelling sounds like working as an oarsman on a Viking ship.

*$1550 / 2BR (one inside the other). Has running water, in a sense. Free heat in short, intense bursts. Klein stairs.
:This place is possibly a reference to {{w|Klein geometry}}.

*$3200 / 1BR W/trimmed carpet and pert fixtures. Previous tenants clean. Call now, want you inside. $120/night (no animals)
:The trimmed carpet is obviously a sex posting, because Craigslist has taken down the obvious prostitution posts after getting a lot of heat about them. So, this is a posting to get around those sort of rules.

*$2100 / 3BR on scenic Ash Tree Lane. Builder unknown; house has always existed. Walls shift; center of house may contain minotaur.
:The {{w|Minotaur}} house is a reference to the Labyrinth and Minotaur on Crete from ancient Greek mythology, as well as the novel ''{{w|House of Leaves}}''.

*$600 / 5BR Three floors w/pool, rooftop garden, beautiful glass facade, no catch, 5-min drive to historic Pripyat.
:This is a reference to the ghost town of {{w|Pripyat}}, which is near the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant in northern Ukraine. It may also be the nuclear facility itself, depending on interpretation; the pool and 3-story structure are part of the power plant's design, the rooftop now has plants growing on it after years of neglect, and the glass facade references radioactive glassy minerals created by the explosion.

*$7100 / 60BR Sleek modern w/extreme running water. Previous tenants may resist entry. Contains all new wiring and is a submarine.
:This house is a submarine, as indicated by the advertisement, presumably operated by the navy. The "previous tenants", being members of the armed forces, would undoubtedly resist entry of someone attempting to board their submarine. The sixty bedrooms refers to the crew members' bunks on board the ship, which are in extremely tight quarters and can be very uncomfortable

*$1616 / 3BR + 2Bath, tub full of blood. Closet full of board games which play themselves. Pets OK but won't survive long.
:The last one on the list does not seem to be a direct scary movie reference, but a horror movie reference in general.

*''Title text:'' $1600 / 1386153BR 3bath, modern sliding doors, guest rooms, garbage disposal. Free mandatory parking (enforced). Convenient to Alderaan.
:The title text is a reference to the {{w|Death Star}} in Star Wars. Alderaan is the home planet of Princess Leia, which was obliterated by the Death Star. Mandatory parking references the tractor beams used to drag nearby ships (such as the Millennium Falcon) into the base. It seems somewhat inconvenient that this "apartment" has over a million bedrooms but only three bathrooms.

==Transcript==
:((The comic is a single panel, presented as an apartment search.))
:[Title bar.]
:All apartments
:Search for: [_______] in: All apartments ( ) Title only (*) Entire post Search
:Rent: [Min] [Max] 0+ BR [ ] Cats [ ] Dogs [ ] Has image
:[Date bar]
:Fri Apr 15
:[Begin the apartment listings.]
:$1600 / 2BR <nowiki>~~~</nowiki> Hardwood floors, utilities included. Cats ok, limit one per square foot.
:$1100 / **** GREAT DEAL SQUARE HOUSE DOOR IN FRONT!!! ****
:$2300 / 3BR !!!!!!!! Elegant apartment permanently lit by strobe light!!!! No floor.
:$1100 / **** GREAT DEAL SQUARE HOUSE DOOR IN FRONT!!! ****
:$980 / 1BR New "hammock"-style dwelling. Water and heat free from same dispenser. Viking landlord.
:$1550 / 2BR (one inside the other). Has running water, in a sense. Free heat in short, intense bursts. Klein stairs.
:$1100 / **** GREAT DEAL SQUARE HOUSE DOOR IN FRONT!!! ****
:$1100 / **** GREAT DEAL SQUARE HOUSE DOOR IN FRONT!!! ****
:$3200 / 1BR W/trimmed carpet and pert fixtures. Previous tenants clean. Call now, want you inside. $120/night (no animals)
:$2100 / 3BR on scenic Ash Tree Lane. Builder unknown; house has always existed. Walls shift; center of house may contain minotaur.
:$1100 / **** GREAT DEAL SQUARE HOUSE DOOR IN FRONT!!! ****
:$600 / 5BR Three floors w/pool, rooftop garden, beautiful glass facade, no catch, 5-min drive to historic Pripyat.
:$7100 / 60BR Sleek modern w/extreme running water. Previous tenants may resist entry. Contains all new wiring and is a submarine.
:$1616 / 3BR + 2Bath, tub full of blood. Closet full of board games which play themselves. Pets ok but won't survive long.

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Comics with color]]

Talk:886: Craigslist Apartments

2014-01-17T03:28:59Z

108.162.212.206:

The house with a house inside may be a reference to the tesseracted, 4D house from Robert Heinlein's "-And He Built A Crooked House." {{unsigned ip|‎173.225.52.131}}

I would have thought the klein stairs with the intense heat in short bursts may be a reference to a research fusion reactor. 'Net searches seem to suggest there may be connections between plasma behaviour and klein bottle mathematics. {{unsigned ip|108.162.250.5}}

The Minotaur sounds like a reference to Doctor Who The God Complex. [[Special:Contributions/173.245.52.201|173.245.52.201]] 05:05, 1 December 2013 (UTC)

The closet full of board games which play themselves could be a reference to the movie Jumanji.
Can't remember a tub full of blood from that movie, though, however surely pets won't survive long. [[Special:Contributions/173.245.53.180|173.245.53.180]] 21:13, 12 December 2013 (UTC)

I explained the third one, but I have no idea about the lack of floor. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.212.206|108.162.212.206]] 03:28, 17 January 2014 (UTC)

886: Craigslist Apartments

2014-01-17T03:28:19Z

108.162.212.206: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 886
| date = April 15, 2011
| title = Craigslist Apartments
| image = craigslist apartments.png
| titletext = $1600 / 1386153BR 3BATH, MODERN SLIDING DOORS, GUEST ROOMS, GARBAGE DISPOSAL. FREE MANDATORY PARKING (ENFORCED). CONVENIENT TO ALDERAAN.
}}

==Explanation==
First and foremost, just like all {{w|Craigslist}} apartment postings, all of these posts are in all caps and some of the posts are re-posted several times, which is very annoying, but must work, otherwise the agents would not do it. Additionally, lots of posts use lots of tildes, exclamation points or asterisks as above to set their posts apart from others.

*$1600 / 2BR <nowiki>~~~</nowiki> Hardwood floors, utilities included. Cats OK, limit one per square foot.
:This ad is aimed at "crazy cat ladies/bachelors" who compulsively keep a number of animals much greater than is appropriate to the living space.

*$1100 / **** Great deal square house door in front!!! ****
:The square house must be a garage, or just a regular square house.

*$2300 / 3BR !!!!!!!! Elegant apartment permanently lit by strobe light!!!! No floor.
:A strobe light is a very bright light that, instead of remaining on, flashes very quickly. It's frequently used in parties. Living in an apartment with a constant strobe light should degrade the tenant's health.
:

*$980 / 1BR New "hammock"-style dwelling. Water and heat free from same dispenser. Viking landlord.
:Hammock style dwelling sounds like working as an oarsman on a Viking ship.

*$1550 / 2BR (one inside the other). Has running water, in a sense. Free heat in short, intense bursts. Klein stairs.
:This place is possibly a reference to {{w|Klein geometry}}.

*$3200 / 1BR W/trimmed carpet and pert fixtures. Previous tenants clean. Call now, want you inside. $120/night (no animals)
:The trimmed carpet is obviously a sex posting, because Craigslist has taken down the obvious prostitution posts after getting a lot of heat about them. So, this is a posting to get around those sort of rules.

*$2100 / 3BR on scenic Ash Tree Lane. Builder unknown; house has always existed. Walls shift; center of house may contain minotaur.
:The {{w|Minotaur}} house is a reference to the Labyrinth and Minotaur on Crete from ancient Greek mythology, as well as the novel ''{{w|House of Leaves}}''.

*$600 / 5BR Three floors w/pool, rooftop garden, beautiful glass facade, no catch, 5-min drive to historic Pripyat.
:This is a reference to the ghost town of {{w|Pripyat}}, which is near the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant in northern Ukraine. It may also be the nuclear facility itself, depending on interpretation; the pool and 3-story structure are part of the power plant's design, the rooftop now has plants growing on it after years of neglect, and the glass facade references radioactive glassy minerals created by the explosion.

*$7100 / 60BR Sleek modern w/extreme running water. Previous tenants may resist entry. Contains all new wiring and is a submarine.
:This house is a submarine, as indicated by the advertisement, presumably operated by the navy. The "previous tenants", being members of the armed forces, would undoubtedly resist entry of someone attempting to board their submarine. The sixty bedrooms refers to the crew members' bunks on board the ship, which are in extremely tight quarters and can be very uncomfortable

*$1616 / 3BR + 2Bath, tub full of blood. Closet full of board games which play themselves. Pets OK but won't survive long.
:The last one on the list does not seem to be a direct scary movie reference, but a horror movie reference in general.

*''Title text:'' $1600 / 1386153BR 3bath, modern sliding doors, guest rooms, garbage disposal. Free mandatory parking (enforced). Convenient to Alderaan.
:The title text is a reference to the {{w|Death Star}} in Star Wars. Alderaan is the home planet of Princess Leia, which was obliterated by the Death Star. Mandatory parking references the tractor beams used to drag nearby ships (such as the Millennium Falcon) into the base. It seems somewhat inconvenient that this "apartment" has over a million bedrooms but only three bathrooms.

==Transcript==
:((The comic is a single panel, presented as an apartment search.))
:[Title bar.]
:All apartments
:Search for: [_______] in: All apartments ( ) Title only (*) Entire post Search
:Rent: [Min] [Max] 0+ BR [ ] Cats [ ] Dogs [ ] Has image
:[Date bar]
:Fri Apr 15
:[Begin the apartment listings.]
:$1600 / 2BR <nowiki>~~~</nowiki> Hardwood floors, utilities included. Cats ok, limit one per square foot.
:$1100 / **** GREAT DEAL SQUARE HOUSE DOOR IN FRONT!!! ****
:$2300 / 3BR !!!!!!!! Elegant apartment permanently lit by strobe light!!!! No floor.
:$1100 / **** GREAT DEAL SQUARE HOUSE DOOR IN FRONT!!! ****
:$980 / 1BR New "hammock"-style dwelling. Water and heat free from same dispenser. Viking landlord.
:$1550 / 2BR (one inside the other). Has running water, in a sense. Free heat in short, intense bursts. Klein stairs.
:$1100 / **** GREAT DEAL SQUARE HOUSE DOOR IN FRONT!!! ****
:$1100 / **** GREAT DEAL SQUARE HOUSE DOOR IN FRONT!!! ****
:$3200 / 1BR W/trimmed carpet and pert fixtures. Previous tenants clean. Call now, want you inside. $120/night (no animals)
:$2100 / 3BR on scenic Ash Tree Lane. Builder unknown; house has always existed. Walls shift; center of house may contain minotaur.
:$1100 / **** GREAT DEAL SQUARE HOUSE DOOR IN FRONT!!! ****
:$600 / 5BR Three floors w/pool, rooftop garden, beautiful glass facade, no catch, 5-min drive to historic Pripyat.
:$7100 / 60BR Sleek modern w/extreme running water. Previous tenants may resist entry. Contains all new wiring and is a submarine.
:$1616 / 3BR + 2Bath, tub full of blood. Closet full of board games which play themselves. Pets ok but won't survive long.

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Comics with color]]

Talk:832: Tic-Tac-Toe

2014-01-14T23:40:36Z

108.162.212.206:

This is all wrong. The second move for X, unless O blocked it already, or started off in the centre should be the lower right corner. That way, O will use the centre to block, and then X goes in a third corner, thus sealing the game.[[Special:Contributions/76.29.225.28|76.29.225.28]] 04:59, 23 July 2013 (UTC)
:Can you tell which situation you mean? If X starts at 7 and O does not go to 5, then X forces a win with the described tactic. There might be other ways to win, but I don't think that matters. --[[User:Chtz|Chtz]] ([[User talk:Chtz|talk]]) 09:11, 23 July 2013 (UTC)
::Playing as X, you start in the upper left corner. O plays in any square other than the lower right corner (They ''might'' be able to block if they play the centre, depending on whether they anticipate this move). Then, when O blocks the centre, you play the upper right or lower left corner, depending on where O has played before, thus making it impossible to block because they only get one move. The only time this ''ever'' fails is when O knows what X is doing after the ''first'' move.[[Special:Contributions/76.29.225.28|76.29.225.28]] 19:57, 23 July 2013 (UTC)
:::If it goes X7, O5, X3, then O must play anywhere but in a corner next (result is symmetric) X has to block and O can hold a draw. Just see the ''Map for O'' part. --[[User:Chtz|Chtz]] ([[User talk:Chtz|talk]]) 21:40, 23 July 2013 (UTC)
::::I don't know the numbers for the squares. There are only nine of them. Could we just refer to them by their positions relative to the rest of the board?[[Special:Contributions/76.29.225.28|76.29.225.28]] 21:44, 23 July 2013 (UTC)

There is an error in the drawing when starting with (numpad coordinates) X7, O9, X1, O4, X3: Both O5 and O6 have the same picture. --[[User:Chtz|Chtz]] ([[User talk:Chtz|talk]]) 09:11, 23 July 2013 (UTC)

'''Tic-Tac-Toe''' is just a stupid simple game, Randall jokes about '''that'''. As the title text says "...waiting for your opponent to make a mistake". And the picture is just a part of this joke.--[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 22:04, 23 July 2013 (UTC)

I just don't want to analyze both maps, but I had a college assignment that made me look into Tic Tac Toe strategy, and I think that the explanation should start with "Each map shows every possible combination of moves which will result in that side not losing.". [[Special:Contributions/108.162.212.206|108.162.212.206]] 23:40, 14 January 2014 (UTC)

Talk:832: Tic-Tac-Toe

2014-01-14T23:39:15Z

108.162.212.206:

Talk:807: Connected

2014-01-14T21:46:54Z

108.162.212.206: Created page with "Either the incomplete tag is because the explanation is too long or the other way around. ~~~~"

Either the incomplete tag is because the explanation is too long or the other way around. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.212.206|108.162.212.206]] 21:46, 14 January 2014 (UTC)