explain xkcd - User contributions [en]

Talk:1256: Questions

2016-02-07T12:45:24Z

141.101.106.107:

No idea how to edit the actual article, but it might be worth mentioning that the succession laws of the UK are no longer male-preference, and are now absolute cognatic primogenture/ absolute primogeniture. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.106.107|141.101.106.107]] 12:45, 7 February 2016 (UTC)

Another reason Poseidon is angry with Odysseus - early in the Odyssey, Odysseus blinds a cyclops who happens to be Poseidon's son.

Why did I just type the following in, when doubtless someone else has already done this..?
...a former great post just went to the main page.
They probably need error-checking/rearranging/something. And feel free to delete this entire comment if it becomes superfluous. [[Special:Contributions/178.104.103.140|178.104.103.140]] 10:19, 26 August 2013 (UTC)
:Just copied your comment into the transcript area. [[Special:Contributions/72.246.0.10|72.246.0.10]] 13:12, 26 August 2013 (UTC)
::I did delete it here, just because it's copied to the main page. Thanks for your great work!--[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 22:18, 26 August 2013 (UTC)

Although I appreciate the LOTR reference, is this really the intent? What is Randall's wife's name? Delete if this is a bridge too far into personal life. --[[Special:Contributions/131.70.204.120|131.70.204.120]] 16:29, 26 August 2013 (UTC)

I answered [http://jlandl.blogspot.se/2013/08/answers-from-top-of-my-head.html all the questions], for my amusement. Feel free to use any answers you deem appropriate or accurate enough for the wiki. [[Special:Contributions/213.66.207.152|213.66.207.152]] 20:06, 26 August 2013 (UTC)

I'm confused that answers are being presented in different formats. Is the hyperlinked transcript a temporary state before answers are transferred to the table? Or is the transcript just a cleaner and more desirable alternative?{{unsigned ip|98.166.43.28}}

All answers here: http://www.reddit.com/r/xkcd/comments/1l3na7/questions/cbvigrd -- [[User:Connectink|Connectink]]

Today's XKCD is good but it looks like the omitted the first Google suggestion when you begin to type "Why does " Go to google and begin to search that... Dont' see it in today's comic. {{unsigned|Glitch}}
:Google's suggestions can vary from user to user. At its most benign, this can be location based. For example, in Seattle, when I type "washington", I get suggestions related to Washington state and not the District of Columbia. At its most sinister, these suggestions can be based on what Google perceives your political beliefs to be. Try typing "gun" into Google. Did you get "gun show" or "gun control?"[http://dontbubble.us/ More info here.] --[[User:Rael|Rael]] ([[User talk:Rael|talk]]) 14:00, 28 August 2013 (UTC)
::How odd. I got gunbroker, and then as soon as I typed space, I got gun control as well. [[Special:Contributions/97.87.12.114|97.87.12.114]]
::: WHY do people complain about this? As long as you're going to get into a debate, in an open minded manner, and are going to critically evaluate the strength of arguments presented (regardless of source), then your starting inclinations shouldn't matter!

::: Moreover, the general internet user is only searching for zeitgeist terms so they know what websites to quote on a Facebook status, so that they can pat themselves on the back. Repeat for next topic.

::: Personalised results keep you comfy in your happy bubble.

::: In any case, the "fix" is simple. Enable do-not track requests, private browsing, or connect through proxies (Given the IPv4 saturation, most people are likely configured to have dynamic IP addresses anyway). If you're concerned about geographical location based filtering, just switch the domain name that you search on! [[Special:Contributions/220.224.246.97|220.224.246.97]]

Why doesn't Queen Anne count as a "woman who reigned as queen in her own right"? --[[User:Nick Douglas|Nick Douglas]] ([[User talk:Nick Douglas|talk]]) 21:50, 2 September 2013 (UTC)

:If I'm not mistaken, Queen Anne was queen dowager acting as a regent, rather than being queen in her own right. [[User:Sailorleo|Sailorleo]] ([[User talk:Sailorleo|talk]]) 03:54, 26 November 2014 (UTC)

:: You are mistaken. (Perhaps you're getting mixed Anne up with Mary II.) [[Special:Contributions/141.101.99.37|141.101.99.37]] 20:31, 8 January 2016 (UTC)

----
Today's Comic was brought to you by the grep "why"''!'' [[Special:Contributions/98.195.202.130|98.195.202.130]] 18:24, 27 August 2013 (UTC)

It seems that Randall is confused about the meaning of life. All the questions he asked begin with why. I like what happens when you type "where is"... I got "where is chuck norris". --[[Special:Contributions/97.87.12.114|97.87.12.114]] 11:41, 30 August 2013 (UTC)

The term "King Consort" may not have been used in the UK, but i believe it was used before in pre Act of Unification England. When Mary Tudor married Philip II of Spain, he was accepted by Parliament and the court as King of England, but was not granted any power. It may not have been elevated to an official title yet, but he was king consort. [[User:Dr Pepper|Dr Pepper]] ([[User talk:Dr Pepper|talk]]) Dr Pepper

My question is "Why do we need to answer all the questions, when the answers have nothing to do with the comic?". The answers are fun and interesting, but they should be in the trivia section. The comic is explained well without them. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.217.125|108.162.217.125]] 21:36, 8 August 2014 (UTC)
:Maybe because this is a wiki and, as such, ALL information must be present. I'm not certain whether the answers help explain the comic but, as it is, I'm not entirely sure of Randall's objective with this one. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.219.148|108.162.219.148]] 04:20, 2 November 2014 (UTC)
:: The purpose of this page is to EXPLAIN the comic. If you don't know what the comic is about you probably should not be trying to EXPLAIN the comic, and you probably should not comment as well. The purpose of this comic is to demonstrate in a visually interesting way the questions that we, users of the internet, ask. But without this EXPLAINATION it is fairly obvious that finding the answers to these questions do nothing to EXPLAIN the comic, especially since the answers do not give the readers any further understanding into the comic. Adding random information to a page does not EXPLAIN anything. Wiki does not mean “ALL information must be present”. Adding unnecessary information DISTRACTS from the EXPLAINATION and confuses readers, this impairs the ability of this wiki to EXPLAIN the comic. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.216.209|108.162.216.209]] 21:44, 24 November 2014 (UTC)

The dinosaur ghost question was duplicated in the answer boxes so I deleted the extra one. Also been filling out a ton of fields.[[User:4jonah|4jonah]] ([[User talk:4jonah|talk]]) 01:35, 22 December 2014 (UTC)

Why is there an incomplete tag? What questions are unanswered? [[User:Djbrasier|Djbrasier]] ([[User talk:Djbrasier|talk]]) 19:10, 11 March 2015 (UTC)

I answered the last 2 remaining questions in section six. Can this be closed now?[[User:4jonah|4jonah]] ([[User talk:4jonah|talk]]) 21:00, 23 March 2015 (UTC)

Under "Why is outer space so cold?" it says "space is not cold", but then for "Why is there ice in space?" it begins with "space is cold".
This is somewhat confusing. Please clarify. Is space cold or isn't it? {{unsigned ip|162.158.255.120}}

788: The Carriage

2015-05-15T13:50:48Z

141.101.106.107: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 788
| date = September 3, 2010
| title = The Carriage
| image = the carriage.png
| titletext = I learned from Achewood that since this poem is in ballad meter, it can be sung to the tune of Gilligan's Island. Since then, try as I might, I haven't ONCE been able to read it normally.
}}

==Explanation==
{{w|Emily Dickinson}} is a famous American poet, who wrote a poem called "[http://academic.brooklyn.cuny.edu/english/melani/cs6/stop.html Death]", about the personification of Death kindly stopping for her to pick her up.

{{w|Grand Theft Auto (series)|Grand Theft Auto (GTA)}} is a famous video game series, where the player frequently steals cars by grabbing their drivers and throwing them out of the car. In Xbox versions of GTA the Y-button is used to enter (steal) or exit a vehicle.

In this alternate edition of "Death" vs. Grand Theft Auto spinoff game by Emily Dickinson. Instead of [[Hair Bun Girl]] being carried off peacefully in Death's carriage, the girl violently carriage-jacks Death (as can be seen - she has pressed the Y-button) and takes over his carriage to use for her own purposes.

The title text refers to [[Randall]] learning from the web comic {{w|Achewood}} that a poem written in {{w|ballad meter}} can be sung to the tune of {{w|Gilligan's Island}}, a 1960s sitcom with a catchy [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cfR7qxtgCgY intro song]. Since then he has not been able to read the poem normally, he always begins to hum the tune... He does seem rather displeased with this.

==Transcript==
:[Death with his scythe is driving a horse-drawn carriage. The text is written in two frames above and below the carriage:]
:Because I could not stop for death
:He kindly stopped for me

:[Hair Bun Girl grabs Death by the arm and pulls him off the carriage. There is a circle with the letter Y in the lower left corner. The text above the carriage is in a frame.]
:The carriage held but just oursel-
:Death: Hey!
:Hands holding Death: ''Grab''
:Circle: Y

:[Hair Bun Girl takes off in the carriage with the scythe, leaving Death behind on the ground in the dust from the carriage taking off.]
:[Hair Bun Girl: Hyah!

:[Hair Bun Girl stands with her arms crossed, and Deaths scythe next to her. The first text above her is printed as the official logo and the text below is in a type of square brackets.]
:Grand Theft Auto
:Emily Dickinson Edition"

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Video games]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Hair Bun Girl]]
[[Category:Comics featuring real people]]

Talk:1492: Dress Color

2015-02-27T16:52:58Z

141.101.106.107: Added comment about internet being nerd-sniped

To me, they both look blue/gold [[User:Mikemk|Mikemk]] ([[User talk:Mikemk|talk]]) 06:29, 27 February 2015 (UTC)
:To me as well. The one on the right, with a lighter background, appears more bluish and the collar is a darker brown. (The collar on the left, to my eyes, matches the face on the right.) But both definitely appear bluish with a dull yellow. - Equinox [[Special:Contributions/199.27.128.120|199.27.128.120]] 16:50, 27 February 2015 (UTC)

What is the illusion supposed to be? The colors of the dress look a bit darker with the light background, but not very much. Is that the illusion? --[[Special:Contributions/141.101.80.82|141.101.80.82]] 07:07, 27 February 2015 (UTC)
: Agree. To me, it looks like it's definitely light blue (maybe "cornflower"?) with pale olive stripes. "Gold" would really be a stretch. It looks like that in all lighting conditions and in both backgrounds of the strip. Did I pass some kind of color-blindness test? Or fail? [[Special:Contributions/108.162.254.133|108.162.254.133]] 07:43, 27 February 2015 (UTC)
: This has nothing to do with color-blindness, but probably with certain arbitrary constants related to white-balance adjustment that differ brain-to-brain. Many people I know insist that even though the picture looks blue, it's a dress illuminated by a blue light, and based on this assumption their brain may essentially redden the whole picture to adjust for this light. The actual picture was taken in white light, not blue light. [[Special:Contributions/173.245.55.28|173.245.55.28]] 07:46, 27 February 2015 (UTC)

::It may also be related to white-balance of the MONITOR. I see original dress like black and blue and the one on left here as gold and light blue. -- [[User:Hkmaly|Hkmaly]] ([[User talk:Hkmaly|talk]]) 10:00, 27 February 2015 (UTC)

Apparently for some people the left-hand-side's general blueishness is adjusted against by the visual system enough to make the dress look white and gold instead of blue and brown. I am not one of those people. [[Special:Contributions/173.245.55.28|173.245.55.28]] 07:43, 27 February 2015 (UTC)

Description says left for both [[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.219|141.101.98.219]] 08:37, 27 February 2015 (UTC)
:Now changed. (Saw it myself before I saw your comment, and just lept straight in there. Hopefully I changed the right left so that it's right and not left the wrong left whilst producing the wrong right. Alright?) [[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.192|141.101.98.192]] 09:30, 27 February 2015 (UTC) (Also, "hello near-IP neighbour!"... The same digits, even. Creepy.)
::Y'all are both from London, and probably live on the same street. Congrats! You made a friend! :) [[Special:Contributions/108.162.216.192|108.162.216.192]] 16:25, 27 February 2015 (UTC)

Are they really the same colour? 'Cause to me on the blue side it looks blue and black- while on the white side it looks white and gold. Is this normal? {{unsigned|FlyingPiggy}}

The figure on the right definitely has a beard. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.249.182|108.162.249.182]] 09:38, 27 February 2015 (UTC)

I checked with ColorZilla and the RGB values are identical. From my perspective, in the one on the left the dress appears pale blue with darker brown/gold stripes, and the one on the right appears a darker blue with lighter brown/gold stripes. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.63|141.101.98.63]] 10:10, 27 February 2015 (UTC)

This is just a polychromatic version of that checker shadow illusion, right? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Checker_shadow_illusion [[Special:Contributions/108.162.231.38|108.162.231.38]] 10:12, 27 February 2015 (UTC)
:That's what I thought too. But it looks the same (doesn't it?) and is the same (that, thankfully is non-subjective and verifiable with as little as MSPaint), so I'm at loss as to why this deserves a comic. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.104.136|141.101.104.136]] 10:47, 27 February 2015 (UTC)
: This is a common optical illusion (at least I've seen this many times) - most peoples eyes perform a white balance adjustment automatically which affects the perceived colours. If your eyes don't do this then you will do well in the paint colour matching business. http://www.moillusions.com/hue-optical-illusion/ I apologise for the jarring colours in the link.
:Here's a particularly good demonstration of the underlying "color perception" illusion (i.e. the Checker-Shadow illusion referred to above): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z9Sen1HTu5o [[User:Arcanechili|Arcanechili]] ([[User talk:Arcanechili|talk]]) 15:45, 27 February 2015 (UTC)

The comic is a reference to the debate around the coloration of [http://amd.c.yimg.jp/amd/20150227-00000070-zdn_n-000-2-view.jpg this dress]. The band in the middle of the image shows some of the material of the dress. To some people, including me, the dress is obviously, unquestionably black and blue. But to others, including my wife, it's obviously, unquestionably, black and gold.
:And to others it's apparently a number of other combinations - I've seen claims of white/gold and blue/orange. However, surprisingly few people seem to have seen [http://www.romanoriginals.co.uk/invt/70931?colour=Royal-Blue this link] to the manufacturer's page for what appears to be the same dress; available in 4 colour combinations which according to the manufacturers' descriptions are ivory/black, scarlet/black, pink/black and royal-blue/black, with pictures available of all versions. As such I'm happy to accept the pictures doing the rounds are probably the blue/black variant (although most of the over-exposed versions I've seen appear light-blue/goldish-brown to me.

Our eyes are too efficient, which makes this illusion work. In dim light we dilate our eyes, so an enclosed room with one lamp seems bright, though it is a cave compared to the outdoors. If the bulb in our lamp is of a warm tone, our eyes adjust so we believe we see colours as though in daylight. I think that's what's happening in the dress illusion -- we are trying to allow for perceived lighting conditions in the photo -- so the actual illusion is in our guess as to what those light conditions actually are. And finally an artist quote: "I can paint you the skin of Venus with mud, provided you let me surround it as I will." - Eugene Delacroix [[Special:Contributions/108.162.242.84|108.162.242.84]] 13:28, 27 February 2015 (UTC)

Some Notes on camera color correction: it's worse than, and is not just an optical illusion. It's a camera screwup.

* [http://40.media.tumblr.com/a391a1b4b46dd6b498d379e50f96ecbc/tumblr_nkcjuq8Tdr1tnacy1o1_500.jpg Here is the original photo] as [http://swiked.tumblr.com/post/112159166305/katze-geht-meow-ijustloveyoutubers seen here]

* [http://media.tumblr.com/ec387ec0bb03230268a9e905d74097d9/tumblr_inline_nkeezsjAuH1svicb3.jpg Here is a second photo of the same dress in normal light] As [http://swiked.tumblr.com/post/112164479015/can-we-have-more-pictures-of-the-dress-please-we seen here]

* [http://www.romanoriginals.co.uk/invt/70931?colour=Royal-Blue Here is the online store where you can buy the dress]

* [http://www.romanoriginals.co.uk/content/ebiz/romanoriginals/invt/70931/70931rbl_zoom1.jpg Here is a high quality photo of the dress from the store]

* [http://imgur.com/RY2dTnW.jpg Here is an example of the color "correction" that happens when you calibrate things so that Dark Blue = White.] NOTE: This is a major readjustment of colors and there is no real color matching between the two images. White is not actually blue in this image, and up is not down, and you are not going crazy

Cheap cameras will try to adjust colors based on formulas that guess what the correct color scheme is.

If you take a photo while in the shade on a sunny day, you likely get most of your light from the bright *BLUE* sky. This can make you look awful. The camera is set up to guess the correct exposure. In this case the camera follows the rules, and guesses, wrongly, that the the overall majority color in the center of the photo is white, and transforms the rest of the colors to match

It's a camera screwup. It also depends on how bad your viewing device is behaving, because, based on how dark the screen is, you then get the optical illusion effect that Randall posted.

This is a secondary effect, and not the real reason why behind what is going on in the first place. The correct rendering of the camera screwup is going to be, on most devices with normal color rendition, white with gold. Because some monitors are lighter or darker depending on viewing angle, this also impacts color perception.

We can then get the actual optical illusion after all that. But as we have seen with good photos of the actual dress in normal light, the camera got it wrong.

TL;DR: It's a cell phone camera screwup. [[Special:Contributions/173.245.52.170|173.245.52.170]] 14:22, 27 February 2015 (UTC)ruary 2015 (UTC)

Is it possible that there's a connection between this comic and [[690: Semicontrolled Demolition]]? Some discussions I've seen about this topic involve the choice between white/gold and blue/black, so Randall coloured his dress gold/blue. --[[Special:Contributions/108.162.216.122|108.162.216.122]] 16:20, 27 February 2015 (UTC)

I'm reminded of [[356: Nerd Sniping]], only the perpetrator has managed to snipe the entire interwebs

Talk:402: 1,000 Miles North

2015-01-01T19:06:44Z

141.101.106.107:

+1 for 'a tornado that likes to chase people'
[[Special:Contributions/108.162.216.8|108.162.216.8]] 14:16, 24 January 2014 (UTC) marvis

. . . Years before sharknado!{{unsigned ip|173.245.54.167}}

Does the title refer to anything. I can't find any analogy such as "1000 Miles West" etc. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.106.107|141.101.106.107]] 19:06, 1 January 2015 (UTC)

Talk:87: Velociraptors

2015-01-01T00:32:36Z

141.101.106.107:

I know the knowledge of dinosaurs is growing and changing daily. Was it widely understood that Velociraptors were feathers back in the early 1990s? [[User:Tryc|Tryc]] ([[User talk:Tryc|talk]]) 17:33, 13 June 2013 (UTC)

Nope. The confirmation came quite later.
Wikipedia: In 2007, paleontologists reported the discovery of quill knobs on a well-preserved Velociraptor mongoliensis forearm from Mongolia, confirming the presence of feathers in this species.
[[User:SaMa|SaMa]] ([[User talk:SaMa|talk]]) 13:31, 20 June 2013 (UTC)we

However, the size of the velociraptor was well known when the book and the film were produced. The dinosaurs in the film are similar to Utahraptor in size. Utahraptor was also feathered. HNY [[Special:Contributions/141.101.106.107|141.101.106.107]] 00:32, 1 January 2015 (UTC)

Talk:1423: Conversation

2014-09-19T11:28:02Z

141.101.106.107:

I have tried to think of what I could put in here, but I can't think of anything. Awkward.
----
Oh god, she's me. Someone please help her! [[Special:Contributions/141.101.93.206|141.101.93.206]] 09:28, 19 September 2014 (UTC)
----
By coincidence, on a Facebook Asperger syndrome group that I'm a member of, there was this bit of dialog, purportedly from a party someone had attended: A: So, what do you work at? B: I have an invalid pension. A. Ah, I see. What's wrong with you? B: I'm not capable of lying. --[[User:RenniePet|RenniePet]] ([[User talk:RenniePet|talk]]) 11:14, 19 September 2014 (UTC)
Surely no one would actually say "What's wrong with you?" in that situation, perhaps someone with Asperger syndrome wouldn't notice, but that's so rude. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.106.107|141.101.106.107]] 11:28, 19 September 2014 (UTC)