1585: Similarities

2015-10-03T05:43:22Z

108.162.216.153: /* Explanation */ Correct description of Fify Shades of Grey

{{comic
| number = 1585
| date = October 2, 2015
| title = Similarities
| image = similarities.png
| titletext = I just came from The Martian, and I just have to say: Forget BB-8; I want a pet Sojourner! It's always been the cutest of our Mars rovers.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|The whole explanation needs better flow.}}

[[Ponytail]] compares two very different books, by listing their similarities for [[Cueball]] and end up concluding that they are basically the same book. Of course similar development history does not mean similar books...

''{{w|Fifty Shades of Grey}}'' began as a {{w|fan fiction}} of a well known brand (the {{w|Twilight (novel series)|Twilight book series}}). It was originally written on the internet by {{w|E. L. James}}. It was then transformed into a successful book series which was later turned into a {{w|Fifty Shades of Grey (film)|movie}} released in February 2015.

''{{w|The Martian (Weir novel)|The Martian}}'' was originally a serialized story written by {{w|Andy Weir (writer)|Andy Weir}} on his blog which was later compiled into an ebook for people to easily download, then published into a physical book, and has now had a {{w|The Martian (film)|movie}} created based on it. The movie was officially released in the US on the same day this comic was released (October 2nd 2015).

Since ''Fifty Shades'' is a romance story about a sadomasochistic relationship, and ''The Martian'' is a very technical story about surviving completely alone on a hostile planet, the two books could not be any more different, hence the joke due to the juxtaposition. Cueball continues the joke by joining the two titles using red for Mars, to make a new book title, that should cover both books: ''Fifty Shades of Red.'' Ponytail is very enthusiastic about the book concept, saying it would be irresistible (at least for her and Cueball). It is not clear from the comic if he liked the movie. Since he now compares it to a book series that has been
{{w|Fifty_Shades_of_Grey#Background|described}} as ''mommy porn'' it could indicate that he was not so satisfied with the movie. On the other hand he may just have noticed this connection and found that it would make a great joke here on the release day.

It is possible that the brand that the Martian derives from is NASA itself. The Martian has been [https://xkcd.com/1536/ compared to Apollo 13] by Randall. [http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0112384/ Apollo 13] does indeed glorify the roles of the NASA engineers; and the Martian does a similar thing.
That Randall would go see this movie as soon as it was released was already made perfectly clear back in June when he released the comic [[1536: The Martian]] showing how excited he is about the book. He then really looked forward to the movie.

[[Randall]] indicates in the title text that he has just seen the movie. This is very likely, as premiere movies often have a sneak preview after midnight on the release day, so it is possible for him to see the movie and then post this comic early on the actual release day, or he could have been invited to a preview for selected individuals.

The [http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/BB-8 BB-8] mentioned in the title text is the {{w|astromech droid}} from the upcoming movie {{w|Star Wars: The Force Awakens}}, and is available as a toy (see also BB-8 on the [http://www.starwars.com/databank/bb-8 official Star Wars] home page). {{w|Sojourner (rover)|Sojourner}} was the Mars Pathfinder robotic Mars rover used by the protagonist of ''The Martian'' ({{w|Matt Damon}} in the movie) to allow him to contact Earth. Randall indicated that he thinks the Sojourner is much more cute than BB-8, and that he would like to have one as a pet. He then states that the Sojourner has always been the cutest among all the {{w|Mars rovers}}. There have been 4 so far the other three being {{w|Opportunity (rover)|Opportunity}}, {{w|Spirit (rover)|Spirit}} and {{w|Curiosity (rover)|Curiosity}} which have already been used in xkcd comics: [[695: Spirit]], [[1091: Curiosity]] and [[1504: Opportunity]].

==Transcript==

:[Ponytail is talking to Cueball.]

:Ponytail: So it's a work of fiction about a well-known brand. written on the Internet by an enthusiast, republished as a bestselling book, and then made into a big movie.
:Cueball: Yup.

:[Ponytail holds her hand to her chin. Beat panel.]

:[Ponytail is talking to Cueball again.]
:Ponytail: Yeah, ''The Martian'' and ''Fifty Shades of Grey'' are basically the same book.
:Cueball: "''Fifty Shades of Red?''"
:Ponytail: Man, ''tell'' me you wouldn't read that.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Ponytail]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Robots]]
[[Category:Space]]

Talk:977: Map Projections

2014-12-14T18:59:54Z

108.162.216.153:

I have a Plate Carrée hanging on my wall myself. Never failed me yet. '''[[User:Davidy22|Davidy22]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 07:05, 2 February 2013 (UTC)

;Dymaxion
Dymaxion is clearly the best. There's nothing like a map made out of an unfolded d20. [[User:Alpha|Alpha]] ([[User talk:Alpha|talk]]) 19:43, 23 February 2013 (UTC)

: Makes you wonder what if a dodecahedron had been used instead of an icosahedron. --[[User:Quicksilver|Quicksilver]] ([[User talk:Quicksilver|talk]]) 18:02, 17 August 2013 (UTC)

;Quincunx
Peirce Quincuncial has 4 non-conformal points, but not the 4 corners, which are the south pole, but instead are the 4 midpoints of the sides. These are on the equator and seem to be 90 degrees apart.--DrMath 06:30, 30 August 2013 (UTC)
: I love Peirce Quincuncial, yet I slept throughout that "Inception". [[Special:Contributions/141.101.99.228|141.101.99.228]] 11:36, 27 January 2014 (UTC)
: I'm surprised nobody thought of "''really'' looking at your hands" as a hint that person that likes this projection is under influence of LSD or similar drug. As this surely is a thing that you do. (and you'll think of it next time you smoke your joint - inception!) --[[Special:Contributions/108.162.254.137|108.162.254.137]] 17:29, 7 December 2014 (UTC)

xkcd 1051's title text - "meta lucid dreaming". I really got excited that there was an article about and ironically, it leads to meta and lucid dreaming separately. [[Special:Contributions/173.245.55.67|173.245.55.67]] 21:23, 25 March 2014 (UTC)BK201
;Waterman

In actual fact, the Waterman butterfly map used a truncated octahedron based upon the mathematics of close packing of spheres and is not at all based upon any of CaHill's work/math.
-- steve waterman {{unsigned ip|65.92.20.61}}
:Perhaps the explanation should mention that Waterman himself signed up at forum.xkcd.com and vigorously denied that his map has anything to do with Cahill. At the time, it was unclear whether the account was really Waterman, or just a troll trying to make him look bad. - [[User:Frankie|Frankie]] ([[User talk:Frankie|talk]]) 21:39, 25 March 2014 (UTC)

;Kavrayskiy VII
Kavrayskiy is the best projection, despite being so far out of the mainstream that no-one west of Ukraine has seen one for the past 20 years. {{unsigned ip|173.245.54.64}}
:Wow, I looked into it and it really seems like an excellent projection. It's been a while since I've looked at projections but I think it's my new favourite as it has everything that I've been looking for in a projection. It's a more accurate (in extremes) and more pleasing Robinson projection that still has a reasonable amount cut off the top. Also, the indicatrix for it is very simple, as is the formula, and simple things please simple minds (like mine, apparently) -- without taking it to an extreme like the equirectangular projection does. I swear I've come across it before, but then again I grew up in a country which wasn't far from the Eastern Bloc. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.214|141.101.98.214]] 14:51, 5 November 2014 (UTC)

;Sphere
To be fair, what is drawn is an orthographic azimuthal projection.--[[Special:Contributions/108.162.216.153|108.162.216.153]] 18:59, 14 December 2014 (UTC)

explain xkcd - User contributions [en]

1585: Similarities

Talk:977: Map Projections