explain xkcd - User contributions [en]

Talk:1521: Sword in the Stone

2015-05-06T11:19:37Z

141.101.88.223:

In Arthurian legend, whoever can remove the Sword in the Stone is the lawful king of England. Arthur is an orphan being raised in secret; he notices the sword, removes it, and is proclaimed king. The sword is sometimes identified as Excalibur, although in other versions Excalibur was acquired by King Arthur from the Lady of the Lake. The most familiar version of this story is ''The Sword in the Stone'' by T. H. White which is based on ''Le Mort d'Arthur'' by Sir Thomas Malory. Having a woman remove the sword would introduce difficulties. [[User:The Dining Logician|The Dining Logician]] ([[User talk:The Dining Logician|talk]]) 06:12, 6 May 2015 (UTC)

Seriously? Megan being transgender is preposterous. The comic mentions a throne, not a king. The proposition that the character needs to be a man is far fetched and a bit sexist. The legend usually mentions a ruler, not a kind per se. Even if it were a king, that is a baseless statement. Legends are up to interpretation. If a woman pulls out a sword it is possible that she be crowned Queen without having a king. Case in point, Queen Elizabeth, Queen Victoria -of England; they both have seen the glory days of Britain. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.221.152|108.162.221.152]] 07:27, 6 May 2015 (UTC)BK201

: And there was {{w|Jadwiga of Poland}}, female who was crowned '''king'''. --[[User:JakubNarebski|JakubNarebski]] ([[User talk:JakubNarebski|talk]]) 07:33, 6 May 2015 (UTC)

In a visual novel, [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saber_(Fate/stay_night) King Arthur is a girl]. --[[Special:Contributions/108.162.222.169|108.162.222.169]] 08:06, 6 May 2015 (UTC)

Should be lawful king of Britain. King Arthur was fighting against the English. --[[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.66|141.101.98.66]] 08:30, 6 May 2015 (UTC)

I doubt it's a coincidence that this comic was published the day before a UK general election that is widely predicted to be heading for the most complicated hung parliament in history. The monarch is a purely ceremonial head of state in practically all respects, but does (in theory) have the responsibility to "ask" someone to form a government (in practice, the person asked is determined by who holds the parliamentary majority, but there are huge arguments raging about who will "legitimately" hold such a majority, the leader of the party with most seats or the leader who can rustle up the biggest coalition). [[Special:Contributions/141.101.99.24|141.101.99.24]] 09:11, 6 May 2015 (UTC)

: I agree that this is a much more likely explanation for the timing of the comic. Don't have time to change the text myself right now ... --[[User:RenniePet|RenniePet]] ([[User talk:RenniePet|talk]]) 10:51, 6 May 2015 (UTC)

The punchline could also be about how it would be way too much hassle to try to lay claim to the throne in modern times, challenging the British royal family and all - Megan would probably be treated like a lunatic. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.88.223|141.101.88.223]] 11:19, 6 May 2015 (UTC)

505: A Bunch of Rocks

2014-11-05T18:25:34Z

141.101.88.223: lower precision in values, changing place of paragraph

{{comic
| number = 505
| date = November 17, 2008
| title = A Bunch of Rocks
| image = a_bunch_of_rocks.png
| titletext = I call Rule 34 on Wolfram's Rule 34.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|What is the diagram to the right of the Epitaph of Stevinus? Too many parentheses here, many items are not well explained. Language is still a major issue. This is a candidate for the "Incomplete explanation of the day."}}

[[Cueball]] awakens to find himself trapped for eternity in an endless expanse of sand and rocks. At first, he uses this time to derive all of mathematics and physics, including {{w|quantum mechanics}} and {{w|general relativity}}. The Swiss patent office line may refer to {{w|Albert Einstein}}, who supposedly came up with the idea for general relativity while mundanely employed as a Swiss patent clerk. Also there is a standing joke that very few important inventions have come from Switzerland, since the country haven't been involved in the world wars, and thus has not been part of the weapons race...

The diagrams in the "Physics, too. I worked out the kinks..." panel are, from left to right: A {{w|Gaussian function}} (probably the {{w|Normal distribution}}); the {{w|Inclined plane#History|Epitaph of Stevinus}}; a weird diagram with lines in it (something to do with thermodynamic cycles?).

Next, armed with infinite time and space (and rocks), Cueball uses the rocks to build a {{w|cellular automaton}}, a computational model based on simple rules to advance from one state to the next. Certain cellular automata are {{w|Turing-complete}}, which means that they can be used to represent any computer program (given finite-but-possibly-extremely-large time and space). He specifically seems to be running Wolfram's {{w|Rule 110}}, which is indeed capable of universal computation. Cueball then uses his enormous, hand-powered computer to simulate a universe.

When using Rule 110 for universal computation, one builds a background pattern, which can be seen in the comic (especially the "I was able to build a computer..." panel and the "The rows blur past..." panel) as the nigh-universal pattern of smaller triangles, and then performs computation by sending out "rockets" (the patterns of larger triangles seen in the "The rows blur past..." panel) to collide and interact with each other (for example, the triangular outlines in the "Sure, it's rocks instead of electricity..." panel).

The last panel then implies that the universe Cueball is simulating is, in fact, ''our'' universe. In the "I'm sorry, I must have missed a rock..." panel, Cueball mentions he must have made a mistake in the last "billions of billions of millenia." A millennium is a thousand years, which implies that the time needed to run this computer through a single step of computation is trillions of years. This means he spends much more time on a single step of computation than our universe has spent existing, and this single step of computation simulates an extremely short span of time (a {{w|Planck time}} most probably); to put this massive difference into perspective, our universe is around 13.8 billion years old, which corresponds to roughly 8*10^72 years of Cueball's computation. Suffice to say, this is a ''very'' long time.

{{w|Rule 34 (Internet meme)|Rule 34}} (see [[305: Rule 34]]) is a humorous rule of the Internet which states "If you can imagine it, there is porn of it. No exceptions." {{w|Elementary cellular automaton#Random initial state|Wolfram's Rule 34}} is a cellular automaton. Randall is suggesting that someone should make pornography featuring the cellular automaton in question. This might prove to be quite challenging, as Wolfram's Rule 34 quickly devolves into a bunch of parallel lines given almost any input - just as the lines of rocks Cueball is laying down in the sand.

==Transcript==
:[Cueball is walking alone in a desert, narrating his own situation.]
:So I'm stuck in this desert for eternity.
:I don't know why. I just woke up here one day.

:I never feel hungry or thirsty.

:I just walk.

:Sand and rocks

:stretch to infinity.
:As best as I can tell.

:[Cueball is sitting in the desert, in a contemplative position.]
:There's plenty of time for thinking out here.
:An eternity really.

:[Cueball is sketching stuff in the sand.]
:I've rederived modern math in the sand
:and then some.

:[Different graph types are depicted.]
:Physics too. I worked out the kinks in quantum mechanics and relativity.
:Took a lot of thinking, but this place has fewer distractions than a Swiss patent office.

:[Cueball is walking along the desert, laying out rocks.]
:One day I started laying down rows of rocks.

:[Cueball continues to deploy rocks.]
:Each new row followed from the last in a simple pattern.

:[Image continues to zoom out showing laid out rocks.]
:With the right set of rules and enough space,

:I was able to build a computer.
:Each new row of stones is the next iteration of the computation.

:Sure it's rocks instead of electricity, but it's the same* thing.
:Just slower.
:<nowiki>*Turing-complete</nowiki>

:[Cueball in contemplative pose.]
:After a while, I programmed it to be a physics simulator.

:[A particle labeled by binary strings.]
:Every piece of information about a particle was encoded as a string of bits written in the stones.

:[A {{w|Feynman diagram}} showing two particles interacting.]
:With enough time and space, I could fully simulate two particles interacting.

:[Cueball standing before the vastness of the desert.]
:But I have ''infinite'' time and space.

:[Depiction of various galaxies and other systems.]
:So I decided to simulate a universe.

:[Cueball is walking about his rocks, moving them around.]
:The eons blur past as I walk down a single row.

:[Zoom out of the rows of rocks.]
:The rows blur past to compute a single step.

:[Shows placement of two particles.]
:And in the simulation...

:[The two particles have moved; an after-image of their previous placement is present.]
:...another instant ticks by.

:[A person observes a mote of dust vanish.]
:So if you see a mote of dust vanish from your vision in a little flash or something

:[Cueball is holding two rocks, rearranging them.]
:I'm sorry. I must have misplaced a rock
:sometime in the last few billions and billions of millennia.

:[Cueball in front of the vastness of his infinite desert.]
:Oh and...

:[Cueball in a classroom setting with head in hands, girl and professor are present; there are apparently less than five minutes left in the class.]
:If you think the minutes in your morning lecture are taking a long time to pass for ''you''...

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Physics]]

Talk:1400: D.B. Cooper

2014-07-30T13:14:30Z

141.101.88.223:

Feels like a conspiracy(?) [[Special:Contributions/108.162.227.35|108.162.227.35]] 12:15, 28 July 2014 (UTC)

Isn't it a reference to the Malaysia Airlines conspiracy theory? http://humansarefree.com/2014/07/busted-mh-17-was-in-fact-lost-flight-mh.html?m=0
- Renee [[Special:Contributions/108.162.245.75|108.162.245.75]] 00:44, 29 July 2014 (UTC)

:No.[[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.12|141.101.98.12]] 10:31, 29 July 2014 (UTC)

Oh, this is a hilarious comic! --[[User:Dangerkeith3000|Dangerkeith3000]] ([[User talk:Dangerkeith3000|talk]]) 15:14, 28 July 2014 (UTC)

Could someone explain what "the Citizen Kane of ____" is all about? --[[User:NeatNit|NeatNit]] ([[User talk:NeatNit|talk]]) 17:05, 28 July 2014 (UTC)

: "Citizen Kane" is regarded as a masterpiece landmark film, and other films are often compared to it as a highly favorable compliment. [[Special:Contributions/173.245.52.211|173.245.52.211]] 18:08, 28 July 2014 (UTC)

: "Citizen Kane" as a reference point here is more meaningful that that. Apart from being a landmark film, "Citizen Kane" was also made by a movie-newbie at that day, namely Orson Welles, who not only played the title role, but also directed, co-wrote and co-produced the movie, very much like Wiseau did with his landmark film; the only significant difference thus being "Citizen Kane" the best and "The Room" the worst movie ever made. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.88.223|141.101.88.223]] 13:14, 30 July 2014 (UTC)

This is really just a curiosity, but what is unusual about the phrasing "You are tearing me apart"? (I'm obviously not a native speaker) [[User:Ly mar|Ly mar]] ([[User talk:Ly mar|talk]]) 17:12, 28 July 2014 (UTC)
* Beyond using "You are" instead of "You're", not much. The oddness of the line is mostly through the delivery in the film, not the grammar. [[User:ImVeryAngryItsNotButter|ImVeryAngryItsNotButter]] ([[User talk:ImVeryAngryItsNotButter|talk]]) 17:14, 28 July 2014 (UTC)

;photograph

Is this the first xkcd to feature a full color photograph of a person? [[Special:Contributions/108.162.216.52|108.162.216.52]] 17:38, 28 July 2014 (UTC)

;con·tem·po·rar·y

adjective: contemporary

1.
living or occurring at the same time.
"the event was recorded by a contemporary historian"
dating from the same time.
"this series of paintings is contemporary with other works in an early style"
synonyms: of the time, of the day, contemporaneous, concurrent, coeval, coexisting, coexistent More
"contemporary sources"
2.
belonging to or occurring in the present.
"the tension and complexities of our contemporary society"

"In 1971, a man referred to by the media as D. B. Cooper hijacked a Boeing 727 and escaped with the '''contemporary''' equivalent of over $1 million in ransom money."

So that can be either 1971 dollars (contemporary to D. B. Cooper's time) or 2014 dollars (contemporary to the present time).

(A lot of people think definition no. 2 is the only definition, but it isn't.)

--[[User:RenniePet|RenniePet]] ([[User talk:RenniePet|talk]]) 00:49, 29 July 2014 (UTC)

:I appreciate your work to improve the explanations here. But, such theatrics over a one word edit are unnecessary. [[User:Lcarsos|lcarsos]]<span title="I'm an admin. I can help.">_a</span> ([[User talk:Lcarsos|talk]]) 02:14, 29 July 2014 (UTC)

::I've changed it now so it's clearer anyway[[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.12|141.101.98.12]] 10:31, 29 July 2014 (UTC)

I created an account solely so I could remove the anomalous use of "beg the question". [http://begthequestion.info/] [[User:Gidklio|Gidklio]] ([[User talk:Gidklio|talk]]) 04:31, 29 July 2014 (UTC)

What is a "European accent"? Any accent that is not Indian, Chinese, or Japanese? --[[User:Frerin|Frerin]] ([[User talk:Frerin|talk]]) 10:15, 29 July 2014 (UTC)
: Yeah - or Australian, or Inuit, or African, or South American or any other accent that's not from a cultural/language group primary to Europe (and definitely not North American [clear from the context of the sentence]), but more specifically, not any European form of English (so, perhaps, Icelandic, Polish, Czech, Bulgarian, and many other possibilities) which might be hard for an untrained listener to specifically identify as anything but "European". Many languages have commonalities due to geographic proximity, not only in terms of accent, but also syntax and vocabulary, which would modify the learners' ability to accurately acquire and render a foreign language in the same ways. That is, someone who natively speaks Portuguese and someone who natively speaks French will have similar troubles in learning subtleties of American English but which would contrast from those troubles encountered by someone who's native language is Hindi, Tagalog, or Yoruba. [[User:Brettpeirce|Brettpeirce]] ([[User talk:Brettpeirce|talk]]) 13:41, 29 July 2014 (UTC)