explain xkcd - User contributions [en]

1501: Mysteries

2015-03-20T13:58:17Z

108.162.217.71: correcting typo

{{comic
| number = 1501
| date = March 20, 2015
| title = Mysteries
| image = mysteries.png
| titletext = At the bottom left: The mystery of why, when I know I needed to be asleep an hour ago, I decide it's a good time to read through every Wikipedia article in the categories 'Out-of-place artifacts', 'Earth mysteries', 'Anomalous weather', and 'List of people who disappeared mysteriously'.
}}

==Explanation==

The X axis in this graph is weirdness. We assume that the far left is 0% (not that weird) and the far right is 100% (weird as hell).

The Y axis is explainability. We assume that the bottom is 100% (pretty clear) and the top is 0% (no explanation).

{| class="wikitable sortable"
!Entry
!Weirdness
!Explainable
!Further Details
|-
|Who Carly Simon is singing about in ''You're So Vain''
|9%
|4%
|The lyrics of the song include "You're so vain, I bet you think this song is about you". This implies that the vain subject of the song is wrong in thinking that the song is about them, however they are the subject of the song. This sets up a paradox in which the song is and isn't about the vain person. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/You%27re_So_Vain#Subject_of_the_song Wikipedia article describing possible interpretations of the songs subject]
|-
|Lindbergh Baby
|17%
|25%
|{{w|Lindbergh_kidnapping|Lindbergh baby kidnapping}}
|-
|UVB-76
|40%
|23%
|[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UVB-76 UBV-76 Number radio station]
|-
|Toynbee Tiles
|25%
|34%
|[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toynbee_tiles Toynbee tiles] are colorful ceramic tiles with cryptic messages that have been found embedded in asphalt in the streets of various midwestern-to-eastern cities.
|-
|Jimmy Hoffa
|10%
|42%
|{{w|Jimmy Hoffa}} was an American labor union leader who disappeared in 1975. He is widely believed to have been murdered.
|-
|The WOW Signal
|55%
|20%
|The {{w|Wow! signal}} was a strong and clean radio transmission near 1420 MHz received by the Big Ear Radio Observatory at Ohio State University in 1977 that appears to have originated from interstellar space [http://www.universetoday.com/93754/35-years-later-the-wow-signal-still-tantalizes/]. This is the strongest evidence to date of extraterrestrial radio signals.
|-
|Mary Celeste
|70%
|43%
|[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mary_Celeste The ''Mary Celeste''] was a sailing ship found adrift, mysteriously abandoned yet otherwise undisturbed, in 1872. No explanation for these events has ever been determined. Its name has become a watchword for mysteriously abandoned ships.
|-
|DB Cooper
|76%
|20%
|[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/D._B._Cooper DB Cooper] Robber who jumped from a plane and was never found. Previously referenced in [[D.B. Cooper]].
|-
|Salish Sea Feet
|96%
|31%
|{{w|Salish Sea human foot discoveries}}
|-
|Lead Masks Case
|99%
|12%
|Two Brazilian electricians were found dead on a hill top. No injuries. {{w|Lead Masks Case|Both were wearing lead masks.}}
|-
|MH370
|100%
|0%
|{{w|Malaysia Airlines Flight 370}}; disappeared on 8 March 2014
|-
|Voynich Manuscript
|35%
|68%
|The {{w|Voynich manuscript}} is an illustrated codex hand-written in an unknown writing system. See also [[593: Voynich Manuscript]].
|-
|Why I keep putting ice cream back in the fridge instead of the freezer
|0%
|96%
|Randall apparently frequently puts his ice cream container into the refrigerator rather than into the freezer.
|-
|JFK
|38%
|86%
|The {{w|Assassination of John F. Kennedy|assassination of President John F. Kennedy}} has inspired many conspiracy theories, beginning almost immediately after the event. The subsequent murder of assassin Lee Harvey Oswald added fuel to the fire by encouraging speculation that he was silenced to cover up the true story.
|-
|Oak Island Money Pit
|32%
|98%
|An indentation in the ground on {{w|Oak Island}} led to over 200 years of treasure hunting, with the excavations repeatedly hampered by flooding pit collapses. A few flagstones, and periodic layers of logs are all that have been found. Rumours are abound as to what it conceals: Marie Antoinnette's jewels, pirate treasure and Shakespeare's manuscripts have all been suggested. It is called The Money Pit, because of all the money that has been wasted in trying to solve the mystery.
|-
|Zodiac Letters
|62%
|62%
|A set of letters written by the so-called {{w|Zodiac Killer}}, a serial killer who was active at Califorina in the 1960s and 1970s. The letters are availabe at [https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Zodiac_Killer_letters Wikisource].
|-
|Amelia Earhart
|56%
|74%
|Amelia Earhart tried to circle the earth at the equator in an aeroplane in 1937, but she, her navigator and the plane disappeared over the Pacific without any trace.
|-
|Lost Colony
|74%
|83%
|The {{w|Roanoke Colony}} was the first English attempt to establish a permanent settlement in the New World. The colony of over a hundred settlers disappeared some time in the late 1580s, with no signs of violence and no clear clues as to what happened other than the word "Croatoan" carved into a fencepost.
|-
|Bigfoot
|60%
|98%
|
|-
|Loch Ness Monster
|64%
|100%
|The {{w|Loch Ness Monster}} is a supposed animal that reputedly inhabits Loch Ness lake in Scotland.
|-
|Kentucky Meat Shower
|85%
|93%
|Chunks of meat fell from the sky in Kentucky in 1876; this was possibly projectile vomit from a vulture [http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/running-ponies/2014/12/01/the-great-kentucky-meat-shower-mystery-unwound-by-projectile-vulture-vomit/].
|-
|Dyatlov Pass Incident
|93%
|96%
|On February 2, 1959, nine skiers in the northern Ural Mountains apparently fled their tents without taking time to put on winter clothing. They were found dead, some with physical injuries: {{w|Dyatlov Pass Incident}}
|}

The title text refers to Randall staying up late to read Wikipedia articles, which is apparently not very unusual for him and has an obvious explanation (following up on an idea that eventually led to today's cartoon).

==Transcript==

{{comic discussion}}

1491: Stories of the Past and Future

2015-02-26T02:26:47Z

108.162.217.71: /* Works listed */

{{comic
| number = 1491
| date = February 25, 2015
| title = Stories of the Past and Future
| image = stories_of_the_past_and_future.png
| titletext = Little-known fact: The 'Dawn of Man' opening sequence in 2001 cuts away seconds before the Flinstones theme becomes recognizable.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by a BOT - Please change this comment when editing this page.}}
''A larger version of the image is available [http://xkcd.com/1491/large/ here].''

How to read the graph:
* X-axis: Date of publication.
* Y-axis, "Years in the future": Number of years the story's events take place, after the story's publication.
* Y-axis, "Years in the past": Number of years the story's events take place, before the story's publication.
: For example, "Water Margin" was published in the 14th century (x ~= 1300) and relates events from the 12th century, about 200 years before its publication (y ~= 200 in the past).
: Another example: The film ''{{w|The Bridge on the River Kwai}}'' was released in 1957 and it was set around 14 years before (~1942-43).
* Grey area in the "Years in the future" part: Stories set in the future (from their publication's date), whose the story's events' date is already past (from now). In the top portion of the graph, the two sides of the line are defined as "still possible" and "obsolete" (gray area). The gray area (obsolete) expands over time, the prediction (or science fiction work) that are not confirmed by reality are doomed to be obsolete.
* Grey area in the "Years in the past" part: Stories set in the past (from their publication's date), published closer to their setting than to today. The warning "Modern audiences may not recognize which part were supposed to sound old" is a recurrent theme in the author's work, being already formulated in [[771: Period Speech|Period Speech]] comic.

Taking the "years in the past" on the y-axis to be read as negatives like in most graphs one can write:
* Dates on the lower line satisfy: y = x-2015. Corresponding works were published in the year x = 2015+y and are set in the year x+y = 2015+2y.
* Dates on the upper line satisfy: y = 2015-x. Corresponding works were published in the year x = 2015-y and are set in the year x+y = 2015.
Thus it's clear that the definitions of the lines are consistent with each other as they follow similar but inverted functions.
The graph uses variable {{w|logarithmic scale}}s, adjusting the scale in various regions to the temporal density of works being plotted. If the scale was linear, the graph would in fact represent a (bidimensional) {{w|Minkowski diagram}}, which depicts the moving cones of past and future in spacetime as one's present advances in time.

===Works listed===

{| {{table}}
| align="center" style="background:#f0f0f0;"|'''Publication'''
| align="center" style="background:#f0f0f0;"|'''Description'''
| align="center" style="background:#f0f0f0;"|'''Year written'''
| align="center" style="background:#f0f0f0;"|'''Year difference'''
| align="left" style="background:#f0f0f0;"|'''Year set in'''
|-
| [[Wikipedia:Memoirs of the Twentieth Century|Memoirs of the Twentieth Century]]|| book written by Samuel Madden||1733||264||1997
|-
| [[Wikipedia:Golf in the Year 2000|Golf in the Year 2000]]|| novel written by J. McCullough||1892||108||2000
|-
| [[Wikipedia:Looking Backward|Looking Backward]]|| novel written by Edward Bellamy||1888||112||2000
|-
| [[Wikipedia:Enoch Soames|Enoch Soames]]|| short story by Max Beerbohm||1897||100||1997
|-
| [[Wikipedia:The Time Machine|The Time Machine]]|| novel written by H.G. Wells||1895||800,806||802,701
|-
| [[Wikipedia:Nineteen Eighty-Four|1984]]||novel written by George Orwell||1949||35||1984
|-
| [[Wikipedia:Wythnos yng Nghymru Fydd|A Week in the Wales of the Future]]||novel written by Islwyn Ffowc Elis||1957||76||2033
|-
| [[Wikipedia:The Jetsons|The Jetsons]]||TV series produced by Hanna-Barbera||1962 *||100||2062 †
|-
| [[Wikipedia:Star Trek: The Original Series|Star Trek !TOS!]]||TV series created by Gene Roddenberry||1966 *||298||2264
|-
| [[Wikipedia:2001: A Space Odyssey (film)|2001: A Space Odyssey]]||novel written by Arthur C. Clarke||1968||33||2001
|-
| [[Wikipedia:Space: 1999|Space: 1999]]||TV series created by Gerry and Sylvia Anderson||1975 *||24||1999
|-
| [[Wikipedia:2010: Odyssey Two|2010: Odyssey Two]]||novel written by Arthur C. Clarke||1982||28||2010
|-
| [[Wikipedia:Star Trek: The Next Generation|Star Trek: The Next Generation]]||TV series created by Gene Roddenberry||1987 *||377||2364
|-
| [[Wikipedia:2061: Odyssey Three|2061: Odyssey Three]]||novel written by Arthur C. Clarke||1987||74||2061
|-
| [[Wikipedia:Zero Wing|Zero Wing]]||arcade/computer game||1989||112||2101 (previously referenced in [[887: Future Timeline]])
|-
| [[Wikipedia:3001: The Final Odyssey|3001: The Final Odyssey]]||novel written by Arthur C. Clarke||1997||1004||3001
|-
| [[Wikipedia:Star Trek: Enterprise|Enterprise]]||TV series||2001 *||150||2151
|-
| [[Wikipedia:Back to the Future Part II|Back to the Future Part II]]||film directed by Robert Zemeckis||1989||26||2015
|-
| [[Wikipedia:The Transformers (TV series)|Transformers (TV Series)]]||TV series||1984 *||~ 20||< 2010
|-
| [[Wikipedia:Terminator 2: Judgment Day|Terminator 2 (1995 Portion)]]||film directed by James Cameron||1991||4||1995
|-
| [[Wikipedia:Casablanca (film)|Casablanca]]||film directed by Michael Curtiz||1942||< 1||1941
|-
| [[Wikipedia:The Pillow Book|The Pillow Book]]||book written by Sei Shōnagon||1002||6||996
|-
| [[Wikipedia:History of the Peloponnesian War|History of the Peloponnesian War]]||history written by Thucydides||~400 BCE||~10||431-411 BCE
|-
| [[Wikipedia:Moby-Dick|Moby-Dick]]||||||||
|-
| [[Wikipedia:Gospels|Gospels]]||||||||
|-
| [[Wikipedia:Epic of Gilgamesh|Epic of Gilgamesh]]||||||||
|-
| [[Wikipedia:Iliad|Iliad]]||||||||
|-
| [[Wikipedia:Ashokavadana|Ashokavadana]]||||||||
|-
| [[Wikipedia:Book of Genesis|Book of Genesis]]||||||||
|-
| [[Wikipedia:Water Margin|Water Margin]]||||||||
|-
| [[wikipedia:King John (play)|King John]]||play by William Shakespeare||1623||~400||~1200-1216
|-
| [[wikipedia:Henry IV (play)|Henry IV]]||plays by William Shakespeare||1598*||185-196||1402-1413
|-
| [[wikipedia:Richard III (play)|Richard III]]||play by William Shakespeare||1597||112-119||1478-1485
|-
| [[wikipedia:Henry VIII (play)|Henry VIII]]||play by William Shakespeare||1623||90-102||1521-1533
|-
| [[wikipedia:Julius Caesar (play)|Julius Caesar]]||play by William Shakespeare||1623||1667-1670||45-2 B.C.
|-
| [[wikipedia:King Lear|King Lear]]||play by William Shakespeare||1608||2400|| 8th century B.C.
|-
| [[wikipedia:A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court|A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court]]||novel by Mark Twain||1889||1200||6th Century
|-
| [[wikipedia:Lest Darkness Fall|Lest Darkness Fall]]||alternate history SF novel by L. Sprague de Camp||1939||1404||535
|-
|[[wikipedia:Asterix|Asterix]]||French comic by Goscinny and Uderzo||1959*||-2013||50 B.C.
|-
| [[wikipedia:The Ten Commandments (1956 film)|The Ten Commandments]]||film by Cecil B. DeMille||1956||->3000||[[wikipedia:The Exodus#Date|1446 BCE]]†
|-
| [[wikipedia:The Flintstones|The Flintstones]]||TV series produced by Hanna-Barbera||1960*||->2,5 million||[[wikipedia:Stone Age|Stone Age]]
|-
| [[wikipedia:2001: A Space Odyssey|2001: A Space Odyssey (prologue)]]||novel written by Arthur C. Clarke||1968|||-3 million||3 million years B.C. (4 in the movie)
|-
| [[wikipedia:Star Wars#Original trilogy|Star Wars (IV - VI)]]||original film trilogy ||1977-1983|| ||A long time ago
|-
| [[wikipedia:Star Wars#Prequel trilogy|Star Wars (I - III)]]||prequel film trilogy||1999-2005|| ||A long time ago
|-
| [[wikipedia:Raptor Red|Raptor Red]]||novel by Robert Bakker||1995||->65 million||Cretaceous Period
|-
| [[wikipedia:Star Wars sequel trilogy|Star Wars (VII - IX)]]||sequel film trilogy||2015-2021|| ||A long time ago
|-
| [[wikipedia:Ice Age (film series)|Ice Age]]||animated films by Blue Sky Studios||2002*||->12,000||[[wikipedia:Last glacial period| Paleolithic-Mesolithic]]
|-
|[[wikipedia:10,000 BC (film)|10,000 BC]]||film by Roland Emmerich||2008||-11,992||10,000 BC
|-
| [[wikipedia:300 (film)|300]]||film by Zack Snyder||2007||-2487||[[wikipedia:Battle of Thermopylae|480 BC]]
|-
| [[wikipedia:Year One (film)|Year One]]||film by Harold Ramis||2009||-2008||1 AD
|-
| [[wikipedia:The Prince of Egypt|The Prince of Egypt]]||animated film by DreamWorks||1998||->3400|[[wikipedia:The Exodus#Date|1446 BCE]]†
|-
| [[wikipedia:Downton Abbey|Downtown Abbey]]||TV series||2010*||->90||1912-1923
|-
| [[wikipedia:Pearl Harbor (film)|Pearl Harbour]]||film by Michael Bay||2001||-60||1941
|-
| [[wikipedia:Saving Private Ryan|Saving Private Ryan]]||film by Steven Spielberg||1998||-54||1944
|-
| [[wikipedia:Chariots of Fire|Chariots of Fire]]||film by Hugh Hudson||1981||-57||1924
|-
| [[wikipedia:Blazing Saddles|Blazing Saddles]]||film by Mel Brooks||1974||-100||1874
|-
| [[wikipedia:Back to the Future Part III|Back to the Future Part III]]||film by Robert Zemeckis||1990||-105||1885
|-
| [[wikipedia:Roots (miniseries)|Roots]]||TV series, adapted from eponymous novel||1977||->113||1750-1861
|-
| [[wikipedia:Treasure Island|Treasure Island]]||||||||
|-
| [[wikipedia:The Last of the Mohicans|The Last of the Mohicans]]||Novel by James Cooper||1826||-69||1757
|-
| [[wikipedia:A Tale of Two Cities|A Tale of Two Cities]]||||||||
|-
| [[wikipedia:Gone With The Wind|Gone With The Wind]]||||||||
|-
| [[wikipedia:Gunsmoke|Gunsmoke]]||||||||
|-
| [[wikipedia:Rip Van Winkle|Rip Van Winkel [sic]]]||||||||
|-
| [[wikipedia:Les Misérables|Les Miserábles [sic]]]||Novel by Victor Hugo||1862||-47||1815-1832
|-
| [[wikipedia:Oklahoma!|Oklahoma!]]||Broadway musical||1943||-37||1906
|-
| [[wikipedia:Lawrence of Arabia|Lawrence of Arabia]]||film by David Lean||1962||->44||1916-8
|-
| [[wikipedia:The Music Man|The Music Man]]||Broadway musical||1957||-45||1912
|-
| [[wikipedia:Annie (musical)|Annie (play)]]||Broadway musical||1977||-44||1933
|-
| [[wikipedia:Annie (1982 film)|Annie (movie)]]||film adaptation of the above by John Huston||1982||-49||1933
|-
| [[wikipedia:Schindler's List|Schindler's List]]||film by Steven Spielberg||1993||->48||1939-1945
|-
| [[wikipedia:Mad Men|Mad Men]]||TV series||2007*||->47||1960-1970
|-
| [[wikipedia:Evita (1996 film)|Evita]]||film by Alan Parker||1996||-44||1952
|-
| [[wikipedia:Bonnie and Clyde(film)|Bonnie and Clyde]]||film by Arthur Penn||1967||->33||1932-4
|-
| [[wikipedia:Chinatown (1974 film)|Chinatown]]||film by Roman Polanski||1974||-37||1937
|-
| [[wikipedia:Gandhi (film)|Gandhi]]||film by Robert Attenborough||1982||->34||1893-1948
|-
| [[wikipedia:The Sandlot|The Sandlot]]||film by David Mickey Evans||1993||-31||1962
|-
| [[wikipedia:Back to the Future|Back to the Future]]||film by Robert Zemeckis||1985||-30||1955
|-
| [[wikipedia:Patton (film)|Patton]]||film by Franklin J. Schaffner||1970||->25||1943-5
|-
| [[wikipedia:Catch-22 (film)|Catch-22 (Movie)]]||film by Mike Nichols||1970||->26||1942-44
|-
| [[wikipedia:The Great Escape (film)|The Great Escape]]||film by John Sturges||1963||-20||1943-4
|-
| [[wikipedia:Catch-22|Catch-22 (Book)]]||novel by Joseph Heller||1961||->17||1942-44
|-
| [[wikipedia:MASH (film)|M*A*S*H]]||film by Robert Altman||1970||-19||1951
|-
| [[wikipedia:Grease (film)|Grease]]||film by Randall Kleiser||1978||-20||1958
|-
| [[wikipedia:Happy Days|Happy Days]]||TV series||1974-84||-19||1955-1965
|-
| [[wikipedia:Platoon (film)|Platoon]]||film by Oliver Stone||1986||-21||1967
|-
| [[wikipedia:The Wonder Years|The Wonder Years]]||TV series||1988-93||-20||1968-73
|-
| [[wikipedia:Dirty Dancing|Dirty Dancing]]||film by Emile Ardolino||1987||-24||1963
|-
| [[wikipedia:The Right Stuff (film)|The Right Stuff]]||film by Philip Kaufman||1983||->20||1947-63
|-
| [[wikipedia:JFK (film)|JFK]]||film by Oliver Stone||1991||->22||1963-9
|-
| [[wikipedia:Apollo 13 (film)|Apollo 13]]||film by Ron Howard||1995||-25||1970
|-
| [[wikipedia:That '70s Show|That '70s Show]]||TV series||1998-2006||->22|||1976-1979
|-
| [[wikipedia:The Wolf of Wall Street|The Wolf of Wall Street]]||film by Martin Scorsese||2013||->18||1987-1995
|-
| [[wikipedia:Freaks and Geeks|Freaks and Geeks]]||TV series||1999-2000||-19||1980-1
|-
| [[wikipedia:I Love the '80s (U.S. TV series)|I Love the '80s]]||TV miniseries by VH1||2002||-22||1980
|-
| [[wikipedia:The Bridge on the River Kwai|The Bridge on the River Kwai]]||film by David Lean||1952||-9\10||1942-3
|-
| [[wikipedia:American Graffiti|American Graffiti]]||film by George Lucas||1973||-11||1962
|-
| [[wikipedia:Apocalypse Now|Apocalypse Now]]||film by Francis Ford Coppola||1979||-10||1969
|-
| [[wikipedia:The Big Lebowski|The Big Lebowski]]||film by the Coen Brothers||1998||-7||1991
|-
| [[Wikipedia:United 93 (film)|United 93]]|| film directed by Paul Greengrass||2006||-5||2001
|-
| [[Wikipedia:I Love the '90s (U.S. TV series)|I Love the '90s]]|| TV miniseries on VH1||2004||-14||1990
|-
| [[Wikipedia:Hotel Rwanda|Hotel Rwanda]]|| film directed by Terry George||2004||-10||1994
|-
| [[Wikipedia:I Love the 2000s|I Love the 2000s]]|| TV miniseries on VH1||2014||-14||2000
|-
|
|}

* = first episode aired. † = conjectured year set in.

==Trivia==
There is a hypercorrection in ''{{w|Rip Van Winkle}}'' as ''Rip van Winkel''. Washington Irving may have misspelled ''van {{w|nl:Winkel|Winkel}}''.

It's ''{{w|Les Misérables}}'' not ''Les Miserábles''. Note that French doesn't have "á".

{{w|Lest Darkness Fall}} takes place about 1400 years in the past, but is places around the -500 years line on the graph.

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript}}
:'''Date of publication'''
:[A logarithmic scale running horizontally, from 3000 BCE to past 2015 CE]
:'''Years in the future'''
:[A logarithmic scale running vertically, from 1 billion down to 0]
:'''Stories set in the future''' (science fiction, prediction)
::Stories set in 2015
::[A line divides this region into two. The upper side is labelled "still possible"; the lower side is labelled "obsolete".]
:[from left to right...]
::Memoirs of the Twentieth Century [1733, 265 years in the future]
::Looking Backward [1888, 112 years in the future]
::Golf in the Year 2000 [1892, 108 years in the future]
::The Time Machine [1895, 800 thousand to 30 million years in the future]
::Enoch Soames [1916, ''circa'' 60 years in the future]
::1984 [1949, 35 years in the future]
::A Week in the Wales of the Future [1957, 76 years in the future]
::The Jetsons [1962-63, 100 years in the future]
::Star Trek [1966-69, 300 years in the future]
::2001: A Space Odyssey [1968, 33 years in the future]
::Space: 1999 [1975-77, 24 years in the future]
::2010: Odyssey Two [1982, 28 years in the future]
::Transformers (TV series) [1984-87, 20 years in the future]
::2061: Odyssey Three [1987, 74 years in the future]
::Star Trek: The Next Generation [1987-94, ''circa'' 500 years in the future]
::Back to the Future Part II [1989, 26 years in the future]
::Zero Wing [1989, 112 years in the future]
::Terminator 2 (1995 portion) [1991, 4 years in the future]
::3001: The Final Odyssey [1997, 1004 years in the future]
::Enterprise [2001-2005, 150 years in the future]
::This chart [2015, 0 years in the future]
:'''Years in the Past'''
:[A logarithmic scale running vertically, from 0 down past 1 billion to "Big Bang"]
:'''Stories Set in the Past''' (History, Period Fiction)
::Stories written X years ago and set 2X years ago
::[A line divides this region into two. The upper side is labelled as follows.]
::'''Former Period Pieces'''
::Stories set in the past, but created long enough ago that they were published closer to their setting than to today.
::Modern audiences may not recognize which parts were ''supposed'' to sound old.
:[from left to right...]
::The Epic of Gilgamesh [''circa'' 2100 BCE, 600 years in the past]
::The Iliad [''circa''' 800 BCE, 450 years in the past]
::History of the Peloponnesian War [''circa'' 390 BCE, 10 years in the past]
::Book of Genesis [''circa'' 500 BCE, 4000 years in the past]
::Ashokavadana [''circa'' 100 BCE, 300 years in the past]
::Gospels (various estimates) [''circa'' 250 CE, 24 to 75 years in the past]
::The Pillow Book [1000 CE, 5 years in the past]
::Water Margin [''circa'' 1300, 195 years in the past]
::Richard III [''circa'' 1590, 115 years in the past]
::Julius Caesar [1599, 1650 years in the past]
::King John [''circa'' 1600, 500 years in the past]
::Henry IV [''circa'' 1600, 190 years in the past]
::King Lear [''circa'' 1606, 3000 years in the past]
::Henry VIII [''circa'' 1612, 105 years in the past]
::The Last of the Mohicans [1826, 69 years in the past]
::Rip Van Winkel [1819, 31-51 years in the past]
::A Tale of Two Cities [1859, 60 years in the past]
::Moby-Dick [1851, around 10 years ago]
:::"Some years ago--never mind how long precisely..."
::Les Miserábles [1862, 30 years in the past]
::A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court
::Treasure Island
::Gone With the Wind
::Lest Darkness Fall
::Casablanca
::Oklahoma!
::The Ten Commandments
::The Bridge on the River Kwai
::Gunsmoke
::Catch-22 (book)
::The Flintstones
::The Great Escape
::Asterix
::Lawrence of Arabia
::The Music Man
::Bonnie and Clyde
::2001: A Space Odyssey (prologue)
::American Graffiti
::Patton
::Catch-22 (movie)
::Chinatown
::Blazing Saddles
::Apocalypse Now
::Happy Days
::Grease
::M*A*S*H
::Annie (play)
::Roots
::Chariots of Fire
::Star Wars (IV-VI)
::Annie (movie)
::The Right Stuff
::Back to the Future
::Gandhi
::Platoon
::Dirty Dancing
::Back to the Future Part III
::The Wonder Years
::JFK
::The Sandlot
::Schindler's List
::Raptor Red
::Apollo 13
::Star Wars (I-III)
::The Big Lebowski
::Evita
::Saving Private Ryan
::The Prince of Egypt
::Freaks and Geeks
::Hotel Rwanda
::I Love the '80s
::That '70s Show
::Pearl Harbor
::Ice Age
::I Love the '90s
::United 93
::300
::10,000 BC
::Year One
::The Wolf of Wall Street
::I Love the 2000s
::Mad Men
::Downton Abbey
::Star Wars (VII-IX)

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Large drawings]]

Talk:1460: SMFW

2014-12-24T01:46:07Z

108.162.217.71:

You guys are all missing the obvious meaning: "'''S'''o '''M'''any '''F'''eel(ing)s '''W'''hen an acronym almost makes sense."
[[Special:Contributions/108.162.217.71|108.162.217.71]] 01:46, 24 December 2014 (UTC)

Reading this is like listening to the video of that lady who imitates the sound patterns of different languages, but without actually saying any real words! --[[User:Elipongo|Elipongo]] ([[User talk:Elipongo|talk]]) 05:34, 15 December 2014 (UTC)
:link? -- [[User:Brettpeirce|Brettpeirce]] ([[User talk:Brettpeirce|talk]]) 15:41, 15 December 2014 (UTC)
::https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ybcvlxivscw [[Special:Contributions/199.27.130.192|199.27.130.192]] 19:56, 15 December 2014 (UTC)
:No. It's absolutely '''nothing''' like that. If this were reddit I'd downvote you. --[[Special:Contributions/173.245.54.180|173.245.54.180]] 19:18, 16 December 2014 (UTC)

It would sound more natural if it were "''SMFW '''as''' an acronym almost makes sense''". Is the fact that "as" was omitted from that sentence supposed to give us a hint as to what "SMFW" might mean? [[User:Nicksh|Nicksh]] ([[User talk:Nicksh|talk]]) 07:16, 15 December 2014 (UTC)

: As "the Internet is for porn", in many contexts SFW, lit. Safe for Work, can be taken to mean sex-free content, while NSFW, Not Safe for Work, would mean sex-positive content, then SMFW might be interpreted to me SM For Work, where SM would be humorously interpreted as some graphically explicit sex-positive content, perhaps SadoMachoism, which outside of paperwork is generally classified NSFW. [[Special:Contributions/199.27.133.29|199.27.133.29]] 10:31, 15 December 2014 (UTC)

:: And "wtfw it's like smho tbfh, imdb." might be a defensive reaction to those what would not find humour of SM For Work. "what the fooking wut? It's like stick my humble opinion, to be fooking honest, in my dead body. (or database)." [[Special:Contributions/199.27.133.29|199.27.133.29]] 10:38, 15 December 2014 (UTC)

:: Additional evidence of SM For Work, would be the posture in the task chair with respect to the desk and laptop (hunched over, feet not resting on ground, etc) seems the opposite of ergonomic advice which might lead to muscle strain, pain and fatigue -- the type of unsexy, self-inflicted torments that workers do to themselves "for work" {{unsigned ip|199.27.133.29}}

: >It would sound more natural
: You're missing the whole point. It's not ''supposed'' to sound natural. It's supposed to look strange and confuse you. That's the joke. --[[Special:Contributions/173.245.54.180|173.245.54.180]] 19:20, 16 December 2014 (UTC)

I thought it was simply 'Save Me From Work' - being unhappy at work is common, and using the internet as a distraction from work is common as well. - So sending a quick message to a friend "SMFW" is a request for them to send you a link or other internet distraction, or otherwise help you come up with an excuse to not be productive. {{unsigned ip|108.162.221.206}}

I thought of So Much For Work as a possible meaning. {{unsigned ip|173.245.50.178}}

SMFW: Single Mode Fiber Waveguide * {{unsigned ip|108.162.216.39}}

I think "SMFW" is a mixture of SMF and MFW: "So Much Fun When". It fits the sentence. The only thing is that Cueball doesn't look like he's having fun.

Smoke more fucking weed could be a replacement for something like "Bloody hell" or "Shit the bed".
[[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.252|141.101.98.252]] 09:05, 15 December 2014 (UTC)

So why doesn't "xkcd" appear on the acronyms list? --[[User:Koveras|Koveras]] ([[User talk:Koveras|talk]]) 09:47, 15 December 2014 (UTC)
: Because xkcd isnt an acronym. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.216.61|108.162.216.61]] 09:56, 15 December 2014 (UTC)

I would like to add STFW ("Search the fucking web", [http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/STFW]) as an acronym that SMFW is close to (same except for the second letter)...but there might be enough examples? [[User:Aquaplanet|Aquaplanet]] ([[User talk:Aquaplanet|talk]]) 11:07, 15 December 2014 (UTC)

SMFW makes perfect sense. Shaking my face when (SMH+MFW) an acronym almost makes sense. {{unsigned|Sederts}}
:Seconded, "Shaking my face when" seems to be the best decryption so far... [[Special:Contributions/108.162.219.249|108.162.219.249]] 23:12, 15 December 2014 (UTC)

See My Face When an acronym almost makes sense... makes perfect sense. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.99.4|141.101.99.4]] 13:26, 15 December 2014 (UTC)

"So Much Frustration When an acronym ''almost'' makes sense."
: +1 -- [[User:Brettpeirce|Brettpeirce]] ([[User talk:Brettpeirce|talk]]) 15:44, 15 December 2014 (UTC)
: I'd also like to add in my +1 on this -- [[Special:Contributions/108.162.216.188|108.162.216.188]] 19:39, 15 December 2014 (UTC)
: +1 [[User:Ursushoribilis|Ursushoribilis]] ([[User talk:Ursushoribilis|talk]]) 15:33, 21 December 2014 (UTC)

"What to feel when it's like some message has only to be f...ing hashtags, is mostly deep bafflement." [[User:Ackegard|Ackegard]] ([[User talk:Ackegard|talk]]) 14:35, 15 December 2014 (UTC)

None of these are acronyms. [[Special:Contributions/199.27.128.115|199.27.128.115]] 14:55, 15 December 2014 (UTC)

So Much F*cking Want. So, uh. Yeah. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.237.124|108.162.237.124]] 15:10, 15 December 2014 (UTC)

Small Men Fear Women [[Special:Contributions/108.162.216.39|108.162.216.39]] 15:27, 15 December 2014 (UTC)

So Many Fucking Ways an acronym almost makes sense. Makes sense to me. {{unsigned ip|108.162.230.209}}

Staring, Mildly Frustrated When...? [[User:Kirdneh|Kirdneh]] ([[User talk:Kirdneh|talk]]) 17:50, 15 December 2014 (UTC)

"SMHO" could also be related to "LMHO," or "Laughing My Head Off." So, "Shaking My Head Off"? Something that makes you shake your head so hard it might fall off? [[User:Shanek|Shanek]] ([[User talk:Shanek|talk]]) 16:12, 15 December 2014 (UTC)

SMFW is an initialism. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.230.131|108.162.230.131]] 16:45, 15 December 2014 (UTC)

<pedantic>Initialisms are only acronyms when they can be pronounced </pendantic> [[User:Sideshowtanley|Sideshowtanley]] ([[User talk:Sideshowtanley|talk]]) 17:16, 15 December 2014 (UTC)

: smif-whaa? (smfw) wha-ti-fuh? (wtf) zik-cid? (xkcd) Can be pronounced or intended to be pronounced? Two very different things. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.216.64|108.162.216.64]] 01:47, 16 December 2014 (UTC)

I was thinking "So M*therf*cking what?" as the meaning for the acronym, but Randall is more arcane than that :) [[Special:Contributions/173.245.49.148|173.245.49.148]] 17:49, 15 December 2014 (UTC)

"Social Media Forum Warrior" is what came to my mind. I may have been on the internets for too long. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.104.137|141.101.104.137]] 19:22, 15 December 2014 (UTC)

Could be an example of a stacked acronym with an acronym recursively nested in an acronym. Or it could be a portmanteau of two acronyms. Is there a term for a portmanteau of two acronyms? Portmonym? Acmanteau? --[[User:Gbleck|Gbleck]] ([[User talk:Gbleck|talk]]) 19:31, 15 December 2014 (UTC)gbleck

It's not meant to make sense. It's a play on acronyms not making sense. It is a single statement in a single sentence, but the play is on the fact that the acronym doesn't make sense. {{unsigned ip|141.101.98.207}}

Smacks My Face When an acronym almost makes sense. {{unsigned ip|108.162.238.160}}

Two things - 1) these are all abbreviations, not acronyms - no-one goes around saying "Smfw" - they'd say "S.M.F.W."; 2) WTFW is "whatever the fuck works" - used quite often on a couple of forums I've been on. [[User:Grutness|Grutness]] ([[User talk:Grutness|talk]]) 23:11, 15 December 2014 (UTC)
: I think there are two different, valid definitions of acronyms. Personally the first "acronym" I think of as an example is ATM machine, which you're saying is an abbreviation. I guess some people draw the line if it uses the initials of words, and other draw the line at being pronounced. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.215.187|108.162.215.187]] 12:45, 16 December 2014 (UTC)
:Of course you're suffering from RAS Syndrome when you say "ATM Machine", anyway, whatever you call it. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.245|141.101.98.245]] 13:17, 17 December 2014 (UTC)

TDEMSYR!!! [[Special:Contributions/141.101.89.217|141.101.89.217]] 10:03, 16 December 2014 (UTC)

Maybe “SMFW” could mean “So Much Fun When” — wait, that makes too much sense. [[User:Jolbucley|Jolbucley]] ([[User talk:Jolbucley|talk]]) 02:28, 17 December 2014 (UTC)

I thought it meant "So Much For Work" Something I would mutter to myself when distracted by XKCD [[Special:Contributions/108.162.250.222|108.162.250.222]] 04:54, 17 December 2014 (UTC)

Couldn't SMFW mean "Sorta My Face When"?
[[Special:Contributions/108.162.231.27|108.162.231.27]] 05:11, 17 December 2014 (UTC)

PCMCIA! (People cant memorize computer industry acronyms). SMFW... Somewhat Mediocre For Work? Specialy Mindbogling For Work? Super Mario Friday Workout? Something Might Fall When? Streets Must Freeze Wednesdays! Should Mum Fry Warderobe? Show Me Fried Wintercoat! Steve Must Find Wholesaler. (for fried wintercoat, indeed). So Many "Friction" Words! Should Maybe First... Whatever. Somewhat Memorable First Words? So, Maybe, Fire Works. Sh!t May Fly Wherever. (And I refuse to write down the more NSFW options) -[[Special:Contributions/173.245.53.234|173.245.53.234]] 21:32, 17 December 2014 (UTC)

"(if one discounts IMDB, which is only there to make an already obnoxious sentence completely absurd)" I actually think it's who the message is addressed to, compare "WTF, NSA?". The message then expresses incredulous disappointment in something IMDB, or more likely the user base, did (like a 1-star review for Firefly). [[Special:Contributions/141.101.104.136|141.101.104.136]] 11:42, 18 December 2014 (UTC)

1451: Background Screens

2014-11-28T02:16:25Z

108.162.217.71: /* Explanation */ Changed "less than" to "fewer than". Because when you're on a wiki, pedantry is a valuable quality.

{{comic
| number = 1451
| date = November 24, 2014
| title = Background Screens
| image = background_screens.png
| titletext = No way, we gotta rewind and cross-reference this map with the list of coordinates we saw on the other screen. This Greenland thing could be big.
}}

==Explanation==
Plot and characters are generally the parts a movie that most people presumably pay attention to, as the plot (the story and its purpose) and the characters (the emotional connection and character development) are generally the things most people find enjoyable about particular films.

[[Cueball]], however, pays particular attention to what's on the computer screens shown briefly in the background. Generally speaking, these screens are shown to the audience for a short period of time, and at a low-level of detail, just to dress a set and make a scene feel more realistic or high-tech. They may contain endless columns of gibberish or miscellaneous data flashing by in an eye-blink (only visible by freeze-framing), or cross-hairs zipping across maps. Often the contents of the computer screens are so unimportant or hard-to-read that the filmmakers do not bother to spend much time (if any at all) ensuring that what is shown on the screen is accurate or even relevant to the film. They may be designed by artists not fully aware of the details of the plot, and as a result, their content (where it is intelligible, such as in a map) can have little to no connection to the dialog or other story events going on in front of them. They sometimes even contain jokes. It is rare, if ever, that important information would be communicated to the viewer through background computer screens. Hence, Cueball's spending most of his time watching the screens seems counter-intuitive to understanding and enjoying the film.

{{w|Greenland}}, a large island east of Canada, is 80% covered in ice up to several kilometers in depth, and has a population of fewer than 100,000 people. It is an unlikely place for aliens to land, especially movie aliens, who generally prefer more densely-populated locations. In the title text, Cueball suggests investigating how a list of coordinates from another background screen relates to the location of the alien craft in Greenland, suggesting that Cueball thinks the filmmakers may have intended the viewers to record the information early in the film and analyze the data to learn relevant plot information - something that is very unlikely. Most of the time, filmmakers take efforts to ensure the audience can easily follow plot points by making them more obvious than they might be in reality.

==Transcript==
:What I pay attention to in movies:
:[A pie chart with a small piece (5%) in the upper right part labeled:]
:Plot, characters
:[The rest of the chart (95%) is labeled:]
:Computer screens shown briefly in the background

:[Below the chart Cueball, sitting on the floor, and Hairy, sitting in an armchair, are watching a movie on the TV. Cueball points the remote at the TV.]
:Cueball: Hang on– That blurry map behind the general shows one of the alien ships is in ''Greenland''! Why '''''Greenland?!'''''
:Hairy [quietly]: Can we ''please'' just watch the movie?

==Trivia==
*There are a number of websites which specialize in documenting computer screens as seen in movies, including: (partial list - please expand/improve)
** [http://www.reddit.com/r/itsaunixsystem Reddit] - It's a Unix System I know This!
** [http://waxy.org/2013/07/screens_on_screen/ Waxy.Org] - Screens on Screen
** [http://www.theguardian.com/technology/shortcuts/2014/jan/10/computer-code-in-film-movie-terminator-girl-dragon-tattoo The Guardian] - Computer Code in Films
** [http://moviecode.tumblr.com Moviecode tumblr]

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Hairy]]
[[Category:Charts]]

1422: My Phone is Dying

2014-09-17T15:12:18Z

108.162.217.71: add {{Citation needed|date=September 2014}}

{{comic
| number = 1422
| date = September 17, 2014
| title = My Phone is Dying
| image = my_phone_is_dying.png
| titletext = When it explodes, it will cast off its outer layers, leaving behind nothing but a slowly fading PalmPilot, calculator, or two-way pager.
}}

==Explanation==
Beret Guy's phone is about to "die". Cueball assumes this just means that the battery is running out and it needs to be recharged, but the phone in question appears to "die" in a way analogous to the {{w|Stellar_evolution|life and death}} of a star: expending its fuel while heating up and expanding before ultimately losing its outer layers and becoming a white dwarf or similar "lesser" star.

Stars constantly undergo fusion reactions. The pressure generated by these reactions counteracts gravity, preventing it from collapsing the star during its main lifespan. As the hydrogen mostly fuses into helium in the core, the core gradually becomes more dense and the region of fusion gradually moves away from the center. Then, the star grows in size, reaching the stage of a Red Giant. When most of the "fuel" for fusion has been consumed, gravity will collapse the star into a white dwarf while the outer layers are shed. For stars much more massive than the Sun, there will be a {{w|Supernova|supernova}} explosion caused by a violent collapse, which is [https://what-if.xkcd.com/73/ very powerful]. Heavier stars have shorter lifespans while producing more energy; Beret Guy probably references this when he refuses the charger.

Both a supernova explosion and the collapse of red giants into white dwarfs shed their outer layers, which is referenced in the title text. Once extra mass is added to the dying star, analogous to "charging", the process only accelerates. The phone seems to have a certain mass because [[Beret Guy]] expects it to go (super)nova. Charging the phone may lead to a {{w|Nova|type 1a nova}}.

The comic also plays on the release of two new {{w|IPhone|iPhone models}} with {{w|IPhone_6|bigger}} screens, planned for 2 days after the release of the comic.

The comic could be also explained by characteristics of Li-ion batteries, battery type used in 99.9%{{Citation needed|date=September 2014}} of cellphones. At the end of their useful life, battery grows a bit. In case of severe physical or thermal damage or multiple electrical failures, battery can indeed overheat, leading to run-away thermal reaction inside. That would result in battery growing and eventually exploding. Connecting charger to battery failing this way would probably make the process faster. (http://batteryuniversity.com/learn/article/safety_concerns_with_li_ion).

==Transcript==
[Beret Guy walks on-panel, carrying a smartphone.]
: Beret Guy: My phone's about to die.
[The phone is now subtly larger.]
: Cueball: Where'd you get a big iPhone? I didn't think they were out yet.
: Beret Guy: It's my regular one. It's just dying.
[The phone increases in size again. Beret Guy now holds it in both hands.]
: Beret Guy: As it consumes its battery, it heats up and expands. Soon it will swell to enormous size, engulfing us both.
[The phone is now the size of Beret Guy's torso; he is clutching it to himself. Cueball is pointing off-panel]
: Beret Guy: Then it will collapse in a violent explosion!
: Cueball: ...do you want to borrow my charger?
: Beret Guy: That would only make it run out ''faster''!
{{comic discussion}}

1415: Ballooning

2014-09-01T19:00:41Z

108.162.217.71: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 1415
| date = September 1, 2014
| title = Ballooning
| image = ballooning.png
| titletext = Time to dance in front of Mary Jane! If I'm lucky, she'll turn out not to practice pre-copulatory sexual cannibalism!
}}

==Explanation==
{{w|Spider-Man}} is a fictional superhero in comic books published by Marvel Comics, and has been the star of a number of television shows and film. The {{w|Spider-Man theme song}}, first used for the 1967 cartoon show, includes the words, "Spider-Man, Spider-Man, does whatever a spider can". However, at other points, the theme song explains some things Spider-Man can do that a real spider obviously couldn't, such as crime-fighting. Randall is pointing out that while the abilities attributed to Spider-Man make a good superhero story{{Citation needed}}, they are not real abilities of a spider.

This comic depicts [[Cueball]] as a far more realistic Spider-Man, behaving and thinking much more closely to a real spider than the Spider-Man from the comics. Cueball is shown {{w|Ballooning (spider)|ballooning}}, a trait used by spiders to move between locations, rather than swinging on web cords as in the comics and films. As he is floating, he sees a good spot to land, eat some bugs and make an egg sac. Again this contrasts the real life of a spider with Spider-Man, who would doubtless be rushing to fight crime or save a pretty girl.

Only female spiders create an egg sac. Male spiders spin a sperm web in order to transfer their sperm from their {{w|epigastric furrow}} into their {{w|pedipalp}}s (reproductive organ located on the front two appendages, in the position where a scorpion would have pincers), which will then be used to transfer the sperm into the female during copulation. Cueball/Spider-Man, being nominally male, should in fact be looking for a place to create a sperm web, not an egg sac. However, thanks to being featured in childrens books, the actions of female spiders are much more widely known.

The title text refers to the mating ritual of some spiders, in which the male performs a dance to court the female. Mary-Jane is the love interest throughout the Spider-Man stories, and so Cueball is planning to court her by dancing in front of her. In doing so he hopes that he is lucky, and she doesn't eat him before copulating with him, as {{w|sexual cannibalism}} is a trait associated with spiders.

==Transcript==
:[Cueball is shown floating on the wind, attached to a large balloon. The balloon is made of spider silk.]
:Cueball: Ooh, that looks like a good spot to land, eat some bugs, and make an egg sac!
:♫ ''Spider-Man, Spider-Man, does whatever a spider can'' ♪
{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]

Talk:567: Urgent Mission

2014-08-20T03:28:30Z

108.162.217.71:

The explanation is backwards. Current is defined as the flow of *positive* charge, thus moving from positive to negative terminals. In most cases, the current is actually electrons, which are moving from the negative terminals to the positive.
[[Special:Contributions/72.45.165.98|72.45.165.98]] 16:48, 27 June 2013 (UTC)
:Hopefully fixed. This was hard to write clearly. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.219.223|108.162.219.223]] 01:43, 11 January 2014 (UTC)

I might be completely mistaken but I've thought that the reason why the positive and negative terminals are assigned as they are originated from observing the electric current passing through the solutions of salt. In the said solutions the current consists of the positively charged ions that get deposited onto the negative electrode, while the positive electrode slowly dissolves. This naturally makes one think that the electric current carries the charged particles from the positive to the negative electrode. Of course it might be that I've completely forgotten what I've been taught in school and gotten everything wrong. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.246.5|108.162.246.5]] 01:50, 29 January 2014 (UTC)

In a circuit, it is the electrons, or the negative charges, that are actually travelling. The positive charges, the nuclei of the material carrying the current, remain fixed. This is opposite to the definition of current, which is defined as the flow of positive charge. In other words, the particles that we define as flowing in a current are not the ones that actually move. Confusing, right? I think what you may be referring to is when a salt solution undergoes electrolysis, the anions (negatively charged part of the salt) travel to the anode (positively charged electrode), and the cations (positively charged particles) travel to the cathode (negatively charged electrode). [[Special:Contributions/173.245.52.196|173.245.52.196]] 06:03, 12 August 2014 (UTC)

Ben Franklin just decided to call two opposing charges positive and negative. Blame the guy who decided electrons should be considered negative and protons should be considered positive.[[Special:Contributions/108.162.217.71|108.162.217.71]] 03:28, 20 August 2014 (UTC)