explain xkcd - User contributions [en]

1711: Snapchat

2016-07-28T02:49:38Z

108.162.249.159: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 1711
| date = July 25, 2016
| title = Snapchat
| image = snapchat.png
| titletext = For obvious reasons, the prize is awarded at a different time of year from the others, while it's still fresh in the committee's memory.
}}

==Explanation==
''{{w|Snapchat}}'' is a photo-sending app that allows the receiving user to only view the photo (known as a "snap") within 24 hours of its posting, and for only 10 seconds before it is deleted. The {{w|Pulitzer Prize}} is famously awarded for exceptional journalism and photojournalism (there are many categories; see {{w|Pulitzer Prize#Categories|here}}).

[[Cueball]] reads that the ''Snapchat Pulitzer Prize'' has just been awarded but then, when [[Megan]] states that she heard the picture was really good, Cueball becomes disappointed because he realises he has already missed out on the chance to see the prize winning entry due to the temporary nature of Snapchat. Note that Megan also missed the opportunity to see the snap.

A given snap can be sent to a semi-public "Story" and the user decides how long any user can see the snap in a range from {{w|Snapchat#Core_functionality|1-10 s}}. In principle, any specific snap is only accessible for {{w|Snapchat#Stories_and_Discover|24 hours}} even if it is a story. A committee of users could have more than 10 seconds to access the snap, by viewing in sequence. Given the time it might take for a committee to decide which snap wins the prize, it is realistic that Cueball learns about the winner after the 24 hours is up; Thus even a user following the outcome might not be able to see the winning entry after that time. In practice it is possible to circumvent the Snapchat rule and {{w|Snapchat#Screenshots_and_FTC|take a screen shot}} or in other ways save the content of the snap. In the case of a Pulitzer Prize winning photo, someone would probably have saved it, if it was in real life. On the other hand, the only way for the photo to be recognised as a snap, eligible to win the prize, would be if no one could see it for more than 10 seconds. So one of the possible rules might be that any picture which was saved would not be able to win the prize. (This would be effectively impossible to enforce.)

The title text extends this ephemeral nature of Snapchat's content to the prize awarded for it: The other Pulitzer prizes are announced annually in April and awarded in May (except for 2016, the centennial year, when an awards dinner will be held in October). The Snapchat Pulitzer Prize alone must be awarded as quickly as possible after the winner has been decided, before the prize committee forgets what the winning picture looked like. This of course underlines how silly this idea is, because only images seen during the assembly of the prize committee can be seen and remembered, and it is not possible to arrange this based on any knowledge of when a Pulitzer Prize "worthy" snap will be released.

[[Randall]] could be making fun of Snapchat (see the title), and the idea that you cannot save the images for later; As mentioned regarding screenshots, it is actually very easy to save pictures from Snapchat. (Too many a user's regret after having sent something very personal, such as naked pictures of themselves.) The comic could also be seen as mocking the Pulitzer Prize for having too broad a spectrum of categories. Alongside the (photo)journalistic and prose awards, the Pulitzers also honor a variety of artistic pursuits, including Poetry, Drama and Music.

The new medium of Snapchat is certainly a hybrid form of art and information/opinion dispersal, both at its best and at its worst, but arguably its popularity may be too short lived to make the awarding of prizes bear any ongoing noteworthiness whatsoever.

==Transcript==
:[Cueball and Megan standing together. He holds a smartphone in his left hand and looks at it.]
:Cueball: Oh, the Pulitzer Prize for Snapchat was just awarded.
:Megan: Yeah.
:Megan: I hear the photo was really good.
:Cueball: Aw, ''maaaan''...

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]
[[Category:Smartphones]]
[[Category:Social networking]]

1622: Henge

2016-01-17T11:18:33Z

108.162.249.159: /* Explanation */ Grammer

{{comic
| number = 1622
| date = December 28, 2015
| title = Henge
| image = henge.png
| titletext = I've got the Craigslist post ready to go! I wasn't sure what category it should go in, so I listed it as property and put that it has 'good sun exposure.'
}}

==Explanation==
[[Ponytail]] and [[Cueball]] walks in from the left to meet [[Megan]] who comes from the right. They are walking in between two trees while Ponytail tells Cueball that ''One day a year, the sun sets directly between these two trees.''

Cueball's reply: ''Oh, cool - like the Manhattan thing'', is a reference to {{W|Manhattanhenge}}, a phenomenon occurring twice a year that causes the setting sun to align with the east-west streets of the main grid of {{w|Manhattan}}, {{W|New York City|New York}}, causing a very special light display. Manhattanhenge is itself named after {{W|Stonehenge}}, an ancient monument consisting of several large stones, where the heel stone and the embanked avenue are aligned to the sunset of the {{W|winter solstice}} and the opposing sunrise of the {{W|summer solstice}} (thus creating on purpose the effect seen today in Manhattan, on specially intended dates). Hence the title of the comic, which was released less than a week after the winter solstice which fell on 2015-12-22.

After a beat panel Cueball, however, realizes that one could make the setting sun line up with almost any two arbitrary trees on any given day. This is due to the fact that the trees are effectively zero-dimensional points on the surface rather than one-dimensional lines like street grids. So any two trees that are close together with one tree further north would allow a setting sun to set between them; the viewer of the sunset could simply move themselves to make the alignment work. This is opposed to Stonehenge/Manhattanhenge, which requires the sun to align with a straight line, and only works on a few days a year.

The twist comes when Ponytail and Megan actually attempt to capture the setting sun with a {{w|butterfly net}}, as it is revealed that the sun is somehow setting at the actual point between the two trees rather than behind the trees when viewed from the east side. This is of course not possible in real life, but in the comic's last panel and in the title text the girls continue with their successful though surrealistic plan.

The title text refers to {{w|Craigslist}}, a web site where the girls plans to offer the sun for sale in hopes of getting rich. Craigslist is a {{w|classified advertisements}} website with sections devoted to jobs, housing, personals, for sale, items wanted, etc. One of the girls tells that she was uncertain as to under which category she should list a "Sun for sale". But she put it under property (as in real estate). To advertise the "property" she put "''that it has 'good sun exposure''", a common description of real estate. Being the sun itself you could claim that it is well located compared to the Sun, but it will never really see any sun light itself as the only "sun" light that hits the Sun is the light from other stars which is very dim.

The title text may also be a reference to a woman who was stopped by eBay after attempting to sell plots of "land" on the Sun on the site.

==Transcript==
:[Ponytail and Cueball are walking towards two trees from the left (Cueball has just passed the first tree) and Megan is walking towards them from the right. Ponytail spreads her arms while talking.]
:Ponytail: One day a year, the sun sets directly between these two trees.
:Cueball: Oh, cool - like the Manhattan thing.

:[Beat panel without a frame border. Cueball stands alone.]

:[Cueball looks at Ponytail and Megan, while shining light appears at the top of the frame. Ponytail walks straight under the light looking up and Megan standing to the right looks up and points at the light.]
:Cueball: Wait, isn't that true every day for pretty much any two trees?
:Megan: Shh, here it comes!

:[Cueball lifts both arms up and look on as Ponytail bending back suddenly holds a butterfly net up towards the "setting" sun that approaches the net while Megan is holding a bag open. Both are looking at the sun.]
:Cueball: Wait, what?
:Ponytail: OK, got the bag?
:Megan: Yup, grab it!
:Ponytail: We're gonna be ''rich!''

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Ponytail]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]
[[Category:Astronomy]]

Talk:1608: Hoverboard

2015-11-24T22:38:00Z

108.162.249.159:

Well, this will be the next incomplete explanation for a while. -[[Special:Contributions/162.158.90.165|162.158.90.165]] 21:58, 24 November 2015 (UTC)
Yes, one thing to note is how to get the hell out of the cave near the volcano [[Special:Contributions/108.162.249.159|108.162.249.159]] 22:38, 24 November 2015 (UTC)

1605: DNA

2015-11-20T07:08:50Z

108.162.249.159: /* Explanation */ added non-genetic factors

{{comic
| number = 1605
| date = November 18, 2015
| title = DNA
| image = dna.png
| titletext = Researchers just found the gene responsible for mistakenly thinking we've found the gene for specific things. It's the region between the start and the end of every chromosome, plus a few segments in our mitochondria.
}}

==Explanation==
Because we have pretty much {{w|Human Genome Project|mapped the entire human genome}}, it's tempting to think we now know what makes our bodies tick and can start changing things. But just knowing what the individual pieces are, doesn't mean we know how they interact and behave in a complex system like our bodies.

In the comic, [[White Hat]] thinks that mapping the human genome is the same as knowing the {{w|source code}} for a {{w|computer program}}. By studying the source code for a program, a person can often understand why it does what it does, and make effective and fundamental changes to the program's operation. [[Megan]] tries to point out to him, that while in theory that could be the case with the human body, the reality is the human body is of such a magnitude more complicated than the kinds of programs we have running that the comparison is not valid. White Hat is not ready to listen to her even though she states that {{w|DNA}} has been developed in the most aggressive optimization process in the universe, running for billions of years. White Hat's thought process is similar to the physicist in [[793: Physicists]] who assumes that any other field is simple because it's similar to something he's seen before.

Finally Megan {{w|Hacker koan|enlightens}} White Hat by making him look at {{w|Google}}'s source code. On the surface, it looks like a very plain white page with a search box in the middle plus a few text links and icons, and indeed back in the 1990s Google's {{w|HTML}} was quite simple. But in less than 20 years, Google developers have vastly expanded it with over 300 kilobytes of {{w|Minification (programming)|minified}} Javascript and CSS. This analogy causes White Hat to consider how much more complexity could evolve over billions of years through the relentless forces of nature.

What makes this even worse for DNA is that although it can be thought of 'source code' it isn't for a comprehensive language, and that this code was generated through various natural mechanisms such as {{w|natural selection}}, feedback loops like {{w|homeostasis}}, etc., possibly even including processes that are not currently known to science. Additionally, there are many other non-genetic factors such as {{w|epigenetics}}, {{w|maternal_effect}} and [[wikipedia:environment_(biophysical)|environment]], which change how the genetic code is read. This means that not all parts make sense and that there may be all kinds of side effects and things that have several purposes. Looking at some obfuscated source code may make it clearer how misleading even simple looking code can be and how unreadable correct and well working code can be.

The title text reference to finding the gene that is responsible "for mistakenly thinking we've found the gene for specific things" is a reference to the tendency of news organizations to run headlines making similar claims, often by oversimplifying or misrepresenting the actual study. These claims are based off the common belief that since DNA is a 'source code' for our body it should be possible to pin point the effect of individual genes in much the same way that we could describe the effect each line of code has on a program; leading to people expecting one gene to be associated with each observable human trait. In reality even small traits are the results of hundreds of genes, sometime spread across multiple chromosomes, interacting together through complex mechanisms; making it rare that a single gene, or gene sequence, can be definitively stated to be the sole, or primary, cause of a given trait.

The joke of the title text is that the responsible gene is located in ''the region between the start and the end of every {{w|chromosome}}'' meaning that the whole genome, not any one gene or DNA segment, must be considered responsible for the referenced trait, since the interconnected nature of DNA and environment during development means that every gene is at least partially responsible in generating any complex traits. [[Randall]] even includes the {{w|mitochondria}}, correctly recognizing that the short DNA sequences present in these organelles, which are located outside the cell-nucleus, also contribute to development. The organismal chromosome or chromosomes are located in the nucleus, but mitochondria have their own tiny independent genome, reflecting their distant ancestry as separate but symbiotic organisms. This means that the DNA segments coding for any given human trait are not even necessarily all found on the main chromosomes in the nucleus.

Technically a gene is "a locus (or region) of DNA that encodes a functional RNA or protein product", which means that it is a single discrete unit of DNA, with human DNA containing over 20,000 genes. Thus the theoretical gene could not include the entire ''region between the start and the end of every chromosome'' since that region contains thousands of genes, any more then it's possible to say that the ace of clubs is the card everywhere from the top of the full deck of cards to the bottom of it.

Of course if such a gene actually did exist, then we would never be able to correctly identify where it was since we would make a mistake every time we thought we found a gene for something specific. So the whole title text is either a {{w|contradiction}} (they could never find this gene if it was there) and/or it is a {{w|Tautology (logic)|tautology}} since if the gene did exist, then of course it has to be part of our entire DNA. (If it is a tautology it is the second title text using this in just two weeks, the last being [[1602: Linguistics Club]].)

==Transcript==
:[White Hat, holding a laptop, is talking to Megan who looks at her smart phone.]
:White Hat: Biology is largely solved. DNA is the source code for our bodies. Now that gene sequencing is easy, we just have to read it.
:Megan: It's not just "source code". There's a ton of feedback and external processing.

:[White Hat, opening his laptop, walks toward a desk and chair past Megan who holds her arms out.]
:Megan: But even if it were, DNA is the result of the most aggressive optimization process in the universe, running in parallel at every level, in every living thing, for four billion years.
:White Hat: It's still just code.

:[White Hat sits down at the desk with his opens laptop, while Megan looks over his shoulder.]
:Megan: OK, try opening google.com and clicking "View Source."
:White Hat: OK,I-...Oh my god.
:Megan: That's just a few years of optimization by Google devs. DNA is thousands of times longer and way, way worse.
:White Hat: Wow, biology is ''impossible''.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring White Hat]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]
[[Category:Programming]]
[[Category:Computers]]
[[Category:Biology]]
[[Category:Science]]

Category:LOTR

2015-10-23T02:00:56Z

108.162.249.159:

{{w|The Lord of the Rings}} is a fantasy trilogy by {{w|J.R.R. Tolkien}} which was made into a {{w|The Lord of the Rings (film series)|series of three films}} by {{w|Peter Jackson}}. The LOTR trilogy forms the main piece of an expanded Middle Earth universe which also includes the novels {{w|The Hobbit}}, which has also been adapted into three movies, and {{w|The Silmarillion}} as well as other works.

[[Category:Fiction]]

291: Dignified

2015-05-12T02:57:52Z

108.162.249.159: /* stable -> staple */

{{comic
| number = 291
| date = July 18, 2007
| title = Dignified
| image = dignified.png
| titletext = 'I don't know, why is your beret staying on your head?' 'Staples.'
}}

==Explanation==
[[Beret Guy]] is hanging upside down a tree, usually something you might have done in your a childhood. As an adult it is not very dignified. [[White Hat]] probably made a comment on this and the fact that Beret Guy has his head down. But then Beret Guy gives him an answer, regarding where White Hats head once came through, and asks him why he is still acting so {{w|dignified}}?

Here, Beret Guy is referring to the process of {{w|childbirth}}. Put in the way he mentions said process, the fact that White Hat came into this world in such a fashion would be very deflating.

In the title text White Hat replies that he does not know, but then continues to ask why Beret Guy's beret stays on his head, even when upside down (in which gravity would tend to make a beret fall off). Beret Guy explains that he has stapled the beret onto his head.

Such a process is similar to that of closing a wound after major head surgery, using {{w|surgical staples}}. Normally, the stapling of the head would be conducted with anesthetic and removed after the incision has healed, and only an insane person would do this to himself.

Beret Guy is never seen without his hat (although it has been hidden under a green helmet once in [[769: War]]). And later in [[478: The Staple Madness]] is turns out that he likes to staple anything to everything, so maybe also his hat to his head. This comic may very well be a prequel to the staple madness comic.

In the teaser trailer of Indiana Jones And The Last Crusade, Indy [http://youtu.be/DZNlwJV5RRo?t=32s staples a hat to his head] (or at least pretends to) to prevent it from blowing off, a similar situation to the one Beret Guy is in here.

==Transcript==
:[Beret Guy swinging upside-down from tree branch talking to White Hat walking by.]
:Beret Guy: You were once shoved headfirst through someone's vagina. Why are you acting so dignified?

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Comics featuring Beret Guy]]
[[Category:Comics featuring White Hat]]

1496: Art Project

2015-03-09T05:51:26Z

108.162.249.159: /* Transcript */ Wrong line for character dialogue

{{comic
| number = 1496
| date = March 9, 2015
| title = Art Project
| image = art project.png
| titletext = It's my most ambitious project yet, judging by the amount of guacamole.
}}

==Explanation==
This comic appears to be satirizing art in two different ways. From one perspective, the author Randall is describing various art forms in unusual ways (e.g. a portrait for the first character, a video for the second, and perhaps live action in the third). From another perspective, Randall might be making fun of modern art. A common colloquial definition of modern art is "something you could have created but did not create." In each case the art described would be useless. A picture of oneself "every hundred years" will only happen once; a "picture every 1/24th of a second" is the standard framerate for most small cameras for video, and "watching my face age in real time" is simply conducting a discussion, interview, or observation with and of someone.

The final character, Megan, pokes fun at all of them by simply watching their attempts at "art" while she eats a burrito. Randall may also be referencing the many perspectives on art by leaving this comic open to several interpretations.
==Transcript==

(Please add character names. Thanks!)
Cueball: I'm doing an art project where I take a picture of myself every hundred years.

I'm doing an art project where I take a picture of myself every 1/24th of a second.

I'm doing an art project where you can come to my house and watch my actual face age in real time.

Megan: I'm doing an art project where you all do those things while I eat a burrito

[Title Text] - It's my most ambitious project yet, judging by the amount of guacamole.

{{comic discussion}}