explain xkcd - User contributions [en]

Talk:1036: Reviews

2017-08-26T01:44:49Z

162.158.255.160:

Even better is when reviewers start talking about other products that they've used in the past, and you're suddenly investigating and comparing capacity, weight and compartment placement between 20-odd messenger bags. [[User:Davidy22|Davidy22]][[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 10:03, 23 December 2012 (UTC)

I'm surprised they didn't find any bobcats. Black Hat should have expanded his enterprise beyond eBay by now. Anonymous 17:57, 5 December 2013 (UTC)

I do this too, but I mainly look for trends in the bad reviews (DOA, Stopped working after a few months, etc), rather then one bad review spoiling a large number of positive ones. [[Special:Contributions/173.245.55.66|173.245.55.66]] 16:55, 5 June 2014 (UTC)
I was shopping on Amazon for a 25' fiber-optic cable. One cable had mostly 5-star reviews, but one knocked 2 stars off because, in the reviewer's words, "it was a little too long for my needs." They why did you order a 25-foot cable??? Idiot.

The title text seems to refer to some horror movie. [[User:Arifsaha|Arifsaha]] ([[User talk:Arifsaha|talk]]) 19:25, 3 December 2014 (UTC)

Before I edited it, the explanation contained "For comparison, one can get a decent lamp at IKEA for only about US$15!" We're all geeks here; I can't be the only one who read that as a factorial. (In which case, the Swiss lampmaker's lamps are cheap enough to be well worth the trip.)[[Special:Contributions/108.162.216.56|108.162.216.56]] 18:05, 4 September 2015 (UTC)

1033: Formal Logic

2017-08-25T23:54:26Z

162.158.255.160: The second sentence was completely wrong in its description of iff. The last sentence was also wrong, saying "you may still honk." That makes no sense, so I removed it.

{{comic
| number = 1033
| date = March 23, 2012
| title = Formal Logic
| image = formal_logic.png
| titletext = Note that this implies you should NOT honk solely because I stopped for a pedestrian and you're behind me.
}}

==Explanation==
This comic is a riff on bumper stickers that say "honk if you love ____". Here, the subject is {{w|Mathematical logic|formal logic}}, but the word "if" is replaced with a formal logic term "{{w|If and only if|iff}}," which means "if and only if".

"If and only if" sets a condition which must be met before a procedure is allowed. In this case, you must love formal logic (condition) in order to be allowed to honk (procedure). The title text further elaborates on this, saying in essence: "Don't honk at me just you're impatient because I stopped for a pedestrian."

The joke is the contained self-reference. You have to love formal logic to take the sticker seriously and honk for exclusively that reason. The title text reveals the sticker is actually there to stop people from honking at him altogether, because Randall understandably hates it when he yields for pedestrians only to get honked at by some impatient driver behind him; the ONLY reason you're allowed to honk is to declare your love for formal logic.

==Transcript==
:[The rear end of a car (with an unreadable license plate), with a bumper sticker over the tailpipe to the right:]
:Honk iff you love
:<big>formal logic</big>

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Logic]]
[[Category:Math]]

511: Sleet

2017-08-13T02:40:59Z

162.158.255.160: Grammar corrections in the last two sentences: "which tends to produces..." changed to "which tends to produce..." and "is it her that would be doing..." to "it is she that would be doing..."

{{comic
| number = 511
| date = December 1, 2008
| title = Sleet
| image = sleet.png
| titletext = I mean, I can barely hear myself complaining about Battlestar Galactica.
}}

==Explanation==
[[Megan]] is seen leaving an apartment, trudging through freezing temperatures and {{w|Sleet|foul weather}}, when she could be in a warm, cozy bed. The dialog is likely her thoughts, rather than speech. She is fed up with the second person's endless discussion of {{w|Digital rights management}} (DRM). She probably agrees with his position, but would rather face the weather than his endless rehashing of the issue.

The words in the first panel are the opening lyrics of the Christmas standard, {{w|Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Let It Snow!}}.

In the last panel, {{w|Free Culture (book)|Free Culture}} refers to a book by {{w|Lawrence Lessig}}, who advocates for fewer restrictions in many areas. Randall had previously advocated this title himself in [[86: Digital Rights Management]] and [[129: Content Protection]], and mentioned Lessig in [[343: 1337: Part 3]].

In the title text, it is revealed that Megan herself is also guilty of droning on about 'boring' subjects, likely to the annoyance of those around her. In this case complaining about science-fiction TV series {{w|Battlestar Galactica}} which tends to produce strong reactions among {{w|Geek|geeks}}. She has gone outside to avoid the boring rant, however given the opportunity, it is she that would be doing the ranting.

==Transcript==
:[Rainy, cold, windy street; Megan is walking along street; narration is from Megan's point-of-view.]
:The weather outside is frightful.
:I hate trudging through the icy slush and biting sleet.
:But it beats lying in our warm, cozy bed
:Listening to you talk about DRM for hours on end.
:Offscreen: Come back! Just listen to this one quote from ''Free Culture!''

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]

Talk:1812: Onboarding

2017-05-28T04:29:09Z

162.158.255.160: jabba flow

[[Special:Contributions/162.158.255.160|162.158.255.160]] 04:29, 28 May 2017 (UTC) It should be Jabba Flow from The Force Awakens!
"Ba Ba Boo Too Moony Moony..."

Carbon actually is used a lot in servers. Plastics, which are heavily used in electronics, are made of carbon chains. [[Special:Contributions/172.68.54.40|172.68.54.40]] 14:05, 27 March 2017 (UTC)

Uff, Americans really say "carbon-neutral". Taking this literally and there is no greenhouse problem, only some black dirt... Nevertheless bismuth is an important element in electronics, not only IBM.--[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 08:43, 17 March 2017 (UTC)

:Given that this is Beret Guy, it doesn't have to mean solder. It's entirely possible one of his mysterious shops has sold him a generator that burns bismuth powder or something; in which case "produces bismuth" would really mean releasing it into the atmosphere in the same was most power plants release carbon. Or some kind of nuclear process that does actually produce bismuth. Or maybe someone's told him to use a server once then recycle it, and due to not knowing what they're doing the recycling team has ended up with a massive surplus of one metal. All crazy options, but this is a guy who's plumbed soup into the electrical system, so… who knows? -- [[Special:Contributions/162.158.154.187|162.158.154.187]] 13:42, 17 March 2017 (UTC)
::Carbon is a solid like bismuth. No power plant releases carbon, this American inaccuracy about "carbon-neutral" is part of the joke because "carbon-'''dioxide'''-neutral" would be correct. More on bismuth see below.--[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 03:47, 18 March 2017 (UTC)
:::Fie. The oxygen in carbon-dioxide comes from the atmosphere and is returned to the atmosphere. The carbon in the carbon-dioxide, however is _added_ from another source by the power plant (similarly, in the reverse direction a plant removes carbon from the atmosphere into it's cells, but returns the oxygen from the carbon-dioxide). It's the carbon that's added or removed, the oxygen isn't relevant.

Considering Beret Guy has shown that he was able to [[1293: Job Interview|get soup from an electric outlet]], maybe those all-digital restrooms are actually able to digitize bodily waste to dispose of it easily.--[[Special:Contributions/141.101.88.22|141.101.88.22]] 08:52, 17 March 2017 (UTC)

Digital Restrooms - no pipes.
You have to move the wase by hand, and a hand has fingers == digits? [[Special:Contributions/162.158.91.233|162.158.91.233]] 10:09, 17 March 2017 (UTC)
: Is it just me? Digital restrooms with no pipes together with the mention of cursed WiFi did remind me of those tubes the internet is made of [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Series_of_tubes]... ;-) --[[User:Felis Catus|Felis Catus]] ([[User talk:Felis Catus|talk]]) 11:04, 17 March 2017 (UTC)
:: Yes, that was my reaction also. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.222.10|108.162.222.10]] 11:38, 17 March 2017 (UTC)

Lin-Manuel Miranda did some skits on PBS's The Electric Company. I suspect that is the reference to the mistake. 00:53, 18 March 2017 (UTC)

;Bismuth?
Might this be over complicating things a bit? Carbon is an element. Bismuth is another element, albeit a more improbable one.

That may be the only joke: they have no carbon footprint but instead spew massive amounts of bismuth, which what?

To suggest this is a joke about nuclear reactor technology or (very old) mainframe assembly technology seems to be a stretch. 14:20, 17 March 2017 (UTC) Skeptic

I'm inclined to agree with Skeptic; I actually think the sole point of using bismuth might have been to make the horrible pun in the alt-text. 15:09, 17 March 2017 (UTC) CGH

Antimony is used as a replacement for lead in common solder. Bismuth is used in low temperature solder. I have some coils of it somewhere on the desk here. (It's tough soldering to LEDs on star boards!) [[User:ExternalMonolog|ExternalMonolog]] ([[User talk:ExternalMonolog|talk]]) 14:35, 17 March 2017 (UTC)

TBH I was wondering if the bismuth/business joke was also a slight reference to Steven Universe, since the comic Hoverboard would indicate Randall is familiar with the show.{{unsigned ip|108.162.246.185}}
: I read bismuth as a pun on bi-monthly (or bi-month) for short. Most teams within a business will have a regular meeting every week or fortnight - the latter happening (typically) twice a month. 'Business' sounds closer, but doesn't fit so well logically for me. -- Ray

I don't think the SU connection is very likely because there's no real connection made to the show. I think that the first mention is just for the surrealism of it producing something unrelated to (and much less common than) carbon, and the second just for the pun (which, if I'm honest, probably made me laugh harder than all the actual good jokes on xkcd over the years).{{unsigned ip|162.158.155.68}}

: I actually mentioned the SU thing because that specific pun (bismuth/business) is used several times by the character Bismuth.{{unsigned ip|108.162.246.185}}

There are in fact two possibilities for the source of bismuth:
*Since 2006 in the European Union the usage of lead is restricted (see: {{w|Restriction of Hazardous Substances Directive|RoHS}}). Like many other manufacturers IBM adopts this regulations on its [https://www.ibm.com/ibm/environment/products/46g3772_oct2016.pdf Baseline Environmental Requirements For Supplier Deliverables to IBM] for "Lead in solders for servers, storage and storage array systems." A common replacement is bismuth. Furthermore tin-bismuth has the advantage of its low melting point when used as solder.
*The smallest lead-bismuth cooled reactor {{w|Gen4 Energy}} would not fit into a server room. But a coal plant doesn't either so the statement needs some rework.
So both possibilities make sense but only the solder is actually in use. No such reactor is build yet, it's only a design proposal.--[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 03:47, 18 March 2017 (UTC)

I'd agree with those above to remove reference to bismuth coming from mainframe solder - that would be 'extracting,' not producing. Whatever the mechanism, IMO the reasons are for the pun and ... because bismuth is [https://goo.gl/images/rTNpXJ ''stunningly beautiful!'' [[User:Miamiclay|Miamiclay]] ([[User talk:Miamiclay|talk]]) 18:59, 18 March 2017 (UTC)]

I'm amazed how far discussions can go to find the hidden meaning of a nonsensical sentence. Shirluban [[Special:Contributions/141.101.88.106|141.101.88.106]] 12:27, 21 March 2017 (UTC)

I agree with Shirluban, LOL! Remember, this is Beret Guy. He often mentions impossible things. I understand this to mean that something about how the server works makes it literally magically eject pieces of bismuth. And so does (presumably) Ponytail, as she predicts that metal piles up in the server room, which Beret Guy confirms. It seems pointless to try to figure out how this could realistically happen, Beret Guy is by nature unrealistic. :)

As for "carbon-neutral", it's my understanding that this is a widely accepted shortcut for the term "carbon-dioxide-neutral", just that this shortcut has the unintended side effect of leaving less intelligent people unaware that the "dioxide" is implied, and therefore thinking there's something wrong with carbon itself. I'm certain that this comic by no means is referencing carbon - the solid metal - itself. - NiceGuy1 [[Special:Contributions/162.158.126.76|162.158.126.76]] 04:38, 22 March 2017 (UTC)

Maybe the turning to dirt bit is that all of Beret Guy's atoms turn into dirt. Like, Beret Guy will still be alive, but all of the atoms that were him a while ago have all been lost through pee or whatever, turning back into dirt. [[Special:Contributions/173.245.50.192|173.245.50.192]] 19:41, 1 April 2017 (UTC)

Miranda mistake: This could be a reference to the UserFriendly webcomic, where Miranda Cornielle is one of the Techs. http://www.userfriendly.org/cartoons/miranda/ [[Special:Contributions/172.68.51.28|172.68.51.28]] 18:18, 14 April 2017 (UTC)

Talk:1388: Subduction License

2017-05-25T03:15:01Z

162.158.255.160:

"In the end, much to Cueball's consternation, these mountains turn his desk and chair over. Cueball actually falls out of the frame in the final panel, where Beret Guy is already halfway down beneath the floor. This would not be possible in real life. [citation needed]"
...Hoping this is a joke...

I'm assuming "subduction license" is being comically reinterpreted here from some other meaning. What is a subduction license, normally speaking? [[User:Jevicci|Jevicci]] ([[User talk:Jevicci|talk]]) 15:20, 30 June 2014 (UTC)

Um, you're making it too easy to make me normal and rub away very fast {{unsigned ip|108.162.221.9}}

I'm thinking the closest real term to "subduction license" is probably "Subversion License" - Subversion being a popular source code repository system. (Edit: Created a new account) [[User:KieferSkunk|KieferSkunk]] ([[User talk:KieferSkunk|talk]]) 21:02, 30 June 2014 (UTC)

:Nah, that's not it ... there's got to be some pun on ''license'', or perhaps a term that sounds like ''-uction license''. [[Special:Contributions/173.245.54.159|173.245.54.159]] 23:14, 30 June 2014 (UTC)
::Could be the ''seduction license'' he should have applied for instead. He wishes to seduce his roommate, and has applied for a license for this. However he misunderstood the word and has applied for the other license, and has also read about it on Wikipedia ;-) [[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 13:31, 1 July 2014 (UTC)
::: Given Beret Guy's past and future expressions of unusual or impossible power, it's probably best to assume that it is literally a license that allows him to perform subduction. That it. -Pennpenn [[Special:Contributions/108.162.250.162|108.162.250.162]] 05:59, 5 January 2016 (UTC)

Google supplies http://www.cafepress.ca/+subduction+license-plate-frames which offers "Subduction License Plate Frames", which I believe is an accidental verbal conjunction. I believe it's in the context of the web site selling a range of images and designs printed on various objects. In this case the object is a license plate frame, and the image is a diagram of subduction. Since the centre is cut out of the image in order to display the license plate, the combination is pretty useless. But, here it is, a subduction license plate frame, in which to place your subduction license. So why is that funny? Well, maybe it was the web site's special offer of the day, or, it was a Googlewhack. But now, a few days later, the Internet is awash with people asking "Why is 'subduction license' funny?" rja.carnegie@excite.com [[Special:Contributions/141.101.99.192|141.101.99.192]] 08:45, 5 July 2014 (UTC)

My second theory: by the time he sobered up and realised it wasn't funny after all, there wasn't time to draw a new comic. Although I could draw one of these in five minutes (lettering takes longer), so that doesn't work. Maybe he's ill, badly ill. rja.carnegie@excite.com [[Special:Contributions/141.101.99.192|141.101.99.192]] 08:45, 5 July 2014 (UTC)

My third theory: did someone make earthquakes illegal? Or make them legal with a license? It's in the news that scientists are satisfied with the evidence that licensed fracking is causing earthquakes in Oklahoma, but it seems to be pretty easy to get a license or permit to do fracking. But the news story appeared after this comic was published - if you get your geology news from regular newspapers. And obviously the question had been asked earlier. So, the comic may be based on that. rja.carnegie@excite.com [[Special:Contributions/141.101.99.192|141.101.99.192]] 08:45, 5 July 2014 (UTC)

Alternate explanation for the title text: A fault is a break between two blocks of the lithosphere (or the crust if you want to be more vernacular). The two blocks move in one of three ways: laterally side-by-side (making it a transform fault), away from each other (a normal fault) or toward each other (a reverse fault, which is the kind involved in subduction). If Beret Guy were normal, he'd have to be moving away from Cueball. [[User:Fewmet|Fewmet]] ([[User talk:Fewmet|talk]]) 15:15, 1 July 2014 (UTC)

Also, "AUGH!" reminds me of [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peanuts Peanuts]: [[File:https://fenetreovale.files.wordpress.com/2015/01/charliebrownlucy-rugby.png]] [[Special:Contributions/108.162.229.232|108.162.229.232]] 19:02, 14 February 2017 (UTC)Mandel

Why does the mini mountain range have snow on the peaks? [[Special:Contributions/172.68.65.138|172.68.65.138]] 15:45, 26 April 2017 (UTC)

Talk:1233: Relativity

2017-05-22T03:55:07Z

162.158.255.160:

OH NO!!! TVTROPES!!!!

Should be "Gedankengang" (Plural, it's "Gedanke" + "n"). Means: chain/train/line of thought(s)
[[Special:Contributions/91.66.205.94|91.66.205.94]] 05:52, 3 July 2013 (UTC)
:Interesting idea, because it matches the text more closely, but he really wasn't that famous for his "chain of thought" - more famous for his Gedankenexperimente, for example, chasing a light beam (leading to Special Relativity) or the thought experiments that lead to the EPR paradox. --[[Special:Contributions/196.35.92.54|196.35.92.54]] 09:52, 3 July 2013 (UTC)
::Anyway, "Gedankedank" does not really make sense, it's not a word. [[Special:Contributions/130.60.152.125|130.60.152.125]]
:::Might be refering to "Badonkadonk", even though "Gedankedank" isnt a german word. [[Special:Contributions/178.26.88.31|178.26.88.31]]
::That's what I think: He's taken "Gedankenexperiment", which sounds funny in English, and taken the "Gedanken" part and reduplicated it to match the sound of "badonkadonk", without worrying about whether it makes sense in German. --[[Special:Contributions/196.35.92.54|196.35.92.54]] 12:22, 3 July 2013 (UTC)
:"chain of thought" might be a too literal translation. I think "Gedankengang" is a bit broader than just meaning "chain of thought". Its literal translation would be "go of the thoughts" or "way the thoughts are going". If Randall has done some research before creating the word, then this is also a possiblity. In German one could really say, that Albert Einstein is famous for his "Gedankenexperimente", "Gedanken" or "Gedankengänge". Maybe we should offer both explanations? --[[Special:Contributions/212.255.32.112|212.255.32.112]] 13:35, 6 July 2013 (UTC)

Also, from reading http://forums.xkcd.com/viewtopic.php?f=7&t=103423, in last week's "what if" there was:
::20 meters per second is about how fast an average person with a good arm could throw a bouncy ball. Therefore, to determine the result of an impact, we can make use of what Einstein called a gedankenexperiment, or "thought experiment"

[[Special:Contributions/196.35.92.54|196.35.92.54]] 10:02, 3 July 2013 (UTC)

I'm not sure what the "Lorentz contraction" in the title text is referring to, should this be added to the description? [[Special:Contributions/96.228.23.74|96.228.23.74]] 14:06, 3 July 2013 (UTC)

Side note: Logical conclusion -- Shakira's hips must like big butts. [[User:JamesCurran|JamesCurran]] ([[User talk:JamesCurran|talk]]) 15:30, 3 July 2013 (UTC)

" it is unlikely that he pondered how relativistic velocity would affect the appearance of his butt. " This, ladies and gentlemen, is why i read this! Funnier than xkcd sometimes... Way too many times, sometimes... [[Special:Contributions/189.5.99.20|189.5.99.20]] 03:43, 4 July 2013 (UTC)

I just realized the number of this comic. Friday will be comic 1234. I doubt there will be a joke about it since I think only 404 and 1000 had any self-reference. [[Special:Contributions/76.106.251.87|76.106.251.87]] 14:37, 4 July 2013 (UTC)
:Also, as part of a discussion for THIS comic, there was a bit of [http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/MagnificentBastard magnificent basterdry] on Randall's part in seeding within his What If all the information needed to get the joke. Almost anyone that read it would get an immediate chuckle out of it. For me, I had even forgotten the source of where I had learned what "gedankenexperiment" meant. [[Special:Contributions/76.106.251.87|76.106.251.87]] 05:20, 5 July 2013 (UTC)

AIUI, Einstein shouldn't notice any change himself - well unless he's suddenly also Mr. Fantastic... the MARVEL Mr. Fantastic of the Fantastic Four, and only his lower body is travelling that fast, and his head is in a different frame, where the relative velocities between the two frames is ~c. (But that's stupid. If he was Mr. Fantastic, he'd just fix his butt. Or.. is this superfast motion how Mr. Fantastic gets his powers (and Mystique)? Does that mean Quicksilver and Flash can also exhibit these shape-shifting powers?). Anyway, coming back to the point - I didn't get what the title text states... so I employed some Google-fu and found this: http://faraday.physics.utoronto.ca/PVB/Harrison/SpecRel/Flash/ContractInvisible.html
I think you'd only see the edge of the disk though, and not a ring... given the camera is a 2 dimensional thing in the plane of the disk. Reason I mention that is, I'm still unsure how this works for a 3D object where the object is moving across your FOV. Anyone have any ideas?
[[Special:Contributions/220.224.246.97|220.224.246.97]] 10:45, 5 July 2013 (UTC)

Talk:1203: Time Machines

2017-05-22T02:15:27Z

162.158.255.160: My thoughts

I was thinking that the time machine made time continue at normal speed. It makes you travel through time, but at one second per second.

This one kinda went over my head; the explanation is the best I could come up with. [[User:Alpha|Alpha]] ([[User talk:Alpha|talk]]) 05:00, 24 April 2013 (UTC)
:Examine the transcript and Cueball's movement in the second and third panel. The time machine in this comic is a time-reversing one, not a time jumping one. '''[[User:Davidy22|{{Color|#707|David}}y²²]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 05:13, 24 April 2013 (UTC)

My thoguhts:
Cueball turns on the time machine, which starts up and they start going back in time, returning to the time the machine it turned on. Time is going in perfect reverse, so the machine switches off and then he is back where he started. [[Special:Contributions/216.81.49.162|216.81.49.162]] 05:10, 24 April 2013 (UTC)

I didn't get it when I first read it, and this explanation seems to make the most sense; if it is the intended joke, I wish Randall would have reversed the sound effect "click" in the third panel ("!kcilC"), which would indicate that time is moving backwards (from the reference frame we're watching it from), which would have made this explanation more obvious for me.[[Special:Contributions/64.20.186.2|64.20.186.2]] 18:22, 24 April 2013 (UTC)larK

The Machine even turns back Cueballs actions, so maybe even his memory of turning it on, what might make him so puzzled - eventually - if he decides rational to try the machine (and if desicdes always rational) - he will get in a loop of turning it on - travelling back and forgetting that event - and turning it on again. - That might get Interesting [[Special:Contributions/212.202.64.10|212.202.64.10]] 05:32, 24 April 2013 (UTC) Lupo

I don't think he looks puzzled because nothing happened, I think he's curious b/c he just came across a Time Machine. That is, the last frame of the strip takes place seconds before the first. So the "trouble" with time machines (of this variety) is that if you go back in time you can't take the present with you, and nothing changes.
[[Special:Contributions/76.95.49.45|76.95.49.45]] 06:00, 24 April 2013 (UTC)

Alternative view: Feedback. Stephen Hawking has discussed the general problem with a whole class of time machines (namely, wormwhole based time machines), where the energy from the future is added exponentially to the system due to system feedback. More or less as a microphone cannot get too close to its speaker without having that horrible sound. This would explain who the guy in the comic turns the machine off... there is a large buildup of energy feedback and this can be observed in the EEEEE...

"In the end, I think a wormhole like this one can't exist. And the reason for that is feedback. If you've ever been to a rock gig, you'll probably recognise this screeching noise. It's feedback. What causes it is simple. Sound enters the microphone. It's transmitted along the wires, made louder by the amplifier, and comes out at the speakers. But if too much of the sound from the speakers goes back into the mic it goes around and around in a loop getting louder each time. If no one stops it, feedback can destroy the sound system.
The same thing will happen with a wormhole, only with radiation instead of sound. As soon as the wormhole expands, natural radiation will enter it, and end up in a loop. The feedback will become so strong it destroys the wormhole. So although tiny wormholes do exist, and it may be possible to inflate one some day, it won't last long enough to be of use as a time machine. That's the real reason no one could come back in time to my party.

Source: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/home/moslive/article-1269288/STEPHEN-HAWKING-How-build-time-machine.html#ixzz2RMMowXrs" {{unsigned ip|128.12.95.6}}

But with that above analogy, in a sound system, you have external power to amplify the signal - the energy the microphone takes out is not what gets put back out. In a wormhole, unless there is something to amplify the radiation that comes out the other end then it's a closed system (and if you do amplify it then where did THAT energy come from). (Nigel 08:39, 24th April (UTC))

:The wormhole itself does not need to amplify the energy, because it isn't a closed system; more enrgy is being added to it. Interestingly though, this leads to another problem: creating a time machine portal would quite lossibly lead to the instantaneous heat death of the universe. Here is the problem: the instant the portal is opened, radiation moves through. When it comes out in the past, it fractionally increases the total energy in the universe. Logically, after the time until the wormhole is created, the energy will spread out enough that there is at least a chance that the radiation passing through the wormhole will be slightly increased. This causes ian infinite loop, or at least a loop that so dramatically changes the earth that the time machine is no longer created. [[User:Athang|Athang]] ([[User talk:Athang|talk]]) 22:54, 6 May 2014 (UTC)

A more generalized flow chart explaining the problem with time machines, assuming you get to keep moving forward: http://i4.minus.com/jqqrkqg1QKp84.png --[[User:Willowy burrito|Willowy burrito]] ([[User talk:Willowy burrito|talk]]) 13:17, 24 April 2013 (UTC)

Another problem with this design of a time machine is that it draws power from the wall. What would happen if he crosses the time when there was no outlet at that location? Or no power grid at all? But that may not pose a problem here because it seems he doesn't get too far back into the past anyway. So, for our future time machine inventors: make those machines self-contained! --[[Special:Contributions/216.165.95.66|216.165.95.66]] 15:24, 24 April 2013 (UTC)

:I think that pretty much somes up why some people think you can't use a time machine to go back in time before the time machine ''itself'' existed. If it was an ancient time machine, you could go back quite far, but if one was made on February 5, 2013 you couldn't travel before that point because the time machine wouldn't exist before that time, so no time machine anymore, no travel. Hence what you said about crossing the time when there was no outlet. Cueball couldn't go back that far. --[[User:Dangerkeith3000|Dangerkeith3000]] ([[User talk:Dangerkeith3000|talk]]) 15:36, 24 April 2013 (UTC)

:: Paging <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sam_Beckett#Dr._Beckett.27s_string_theory">Dr Sam Beckett</a>... [[Special:Contributions/67.51.59.66|67.51.59.66]] 16:30, 24 April 2013 (UTC)

::The movie "Primer" deals with a similar time travel conundrum - the protagonists can never travel back in time earlier than when the time machine is turned on, thus the earliest possible date for travel into the past is the date the first machine is turned on. [[Special:Contributions/203.167.250.228|203.167.250.228]] 23:44, 1 May 2013 (UTC)

:You can always use lightning ;-) Sebastian, --[[Special:Contributions/178.26.45.117|178.26.45.117]] 16:58, 24 April 2013 (UTC)

::1.21 GIGAWATTS! --[[User:Dangerkeith3000|Dangerkeith3000]] ([[User talk:Dangerkeith3000|talk]]) 21:17, 24 April 2013 (UTC)

PRIMER!!!!!!!{{unsigned|Robot123}}

Ugh! The original explanation (going back in time by one second) is drastically over thought. It's a "time machine" that does nothing other than make a noise -- just a box with a switch. Cueball turns it on, and a second later turns it off, thus having traveled through time into the future by one second. The T numbers are incrementing, just as they always do, even prior to a rocket launch. We're all traveling through time -- "all systems ARE normal." Please reconsider. Jeff. {{unsigned ip|69.130.242.120}}

: Except that he is travelling into the *past* by one second. He goes from T-10 to T-11 - that's back in time. I think the original explanation is on the button. As soon as he starts to go back in time, he undoes the action of activating the machine, so he doesn't get anywhere. [[User:MGK|MGK]] ([[User talk:MGK|talk]]) 23:46, 24 April 2013 (UTC)

um... no. it's called "countdown" for a reason.[[Special:Contributions/212.186.64.47|212.186.64.47]] 17:47, 24 April 2013 (UTC)

: I agree with [[Special:Contributions/212.186.64.47|212.186.64.47]], I also think Cueball moved 1 second into the future, much like [[630: Time Travel]] [[User:Saibot84|Saibot84]] ([[User talk:Saibot84|talk]]) 19:12, 24 April 2013 (UTC)
: How about putting this as an alternative explanation? The current explanation makes sense to me but the forward version is just as funny. [[User:Alpha|Alpha]] ([[User talk:Alpha|talk]]) 19:37, 24 April 2013 (UTC)
:But then it wouldn't go "EEEEEeeeee *click*". It would be "*click* EEEEEeeeee"... [[Special:Contributions/162.72.40.137|162.72.40.137]] 21:03, 24 April 2013 (UTC)
:: Touché. I thought all the events in panel 3 happened at the same time. [[User:Alpha|Alpha]] ([[User talk:Alpha|talk]]) 21:46, 24 April 2013 (UTC)
:::I was thinking that too after close inspection. Good point. I think the alternative explanation had some good merits tho, because tho maybe it seems like the *click* comes at different order than the EEEEeeee's just because the sound is relatively closer to us. If it [[is]] closer to us, wouldn't we hear the click AFTER the EEEeee's if going backward??? My head hurts. Great comic, this one. --[[User:Dangerkeith3000|Dangerkeith3000]] ([[User talk:Dangerkeith3000|talk]]) 00:00, 25 April 2013 (UTC)
::::I believe you have to consider the usual reading sequence, where (Panel two) Cueball is first perceived in action of switching the switch, then he finished and we hear the "Click" noise and then the machines starting sequence is detected as eeE's. The reading sequence of Panel 3 is contextually "hardwritten" by Panel 2, just reversed; after the machine reaches its point where its traveling back in time (between Panel 2 and 3), all events are happening timereversed: Eee's, Click, Cueball (I dont think u would have a perception of that anyway, if u are an observer in the same universe) Anyway, making Cueball unintentionally switching the machine off, will imo result in an endless time loop.* (As i wrote down on this Page at the star *, wich had become a dot for some reason... Go look for that dot.)[[Special:Contributions/77.20.219.51|77.20.219.51]] 10:03, 26 April 2013 (UTC)

Huh. When I first read the comic, my thought was that the universe had caused Cueball to shut the machine off involuntarily to avoid any paradoxes -- if it had stayed on any longer, something would have happened to cause a paradox, and the only way to win is not to play. I have to say that I like your explanation much better. [[Special:Contributions/67.208.185.2|67.208.185.2]] 01:49, 25 April 2013 (UTC)

* But if the time machine "rewinds" time, wouldnt the action of turning it on result in an endless time loop where Cueball switches the switch on and off for all eternity? By "rewinding" time itself, the initial Thought of turning the machine on would also reappear in Cueballs mind. I Believe the Comic itself makes no sense considering the fact that Cueball switched the switch off unintentionally - therefore there is no way of ever reaching panel 4. [[Special:Contributions/77.20.219.51|77.20.219.51]] 17:32, 25 April 2013 (UTC)
::He and for that matter the rest of the universe would indeed get stuck in an infinite loop (short of some randomness in the universe which means there is a probability he will turn it on and a probability he won't, but I'm getting off track).. he doesn't intentionally turn the machine off, time rewinds which causes the machine to return to the 'off' state.
[[Special:Contributions/75.103.228.206|75.103.228.206]] 01:23, 1 May 2013 (UTC)

Maybe this is not a time machine, but a [[Time]] machine? [[User:DiEvAl|DiEvAl]] ([[User talk:DiEvAl|talk]]) 11:10, 26 April 2013 (UTC)

Maybe Cueball as triggered an universe wide End of Time. If the machine reverse time exactly as it was ten second before, then Cueball will activate the switch again thus creating an infinite loop forbidding the natural flow of time forever!
"Granted, that's a worse case scenario. The destruction might in fact be very localized, limited to merely our own galaxy." [[User:Twisell|Twisell]] ([[User talk:Twisell|talk]]) 14:13, 26 April 2013 (UTC)

:Given panel 4, where he looks dowb at his hands in confusion, it seems to me that he remains concious of his actions, but that his body was moving backwards in time, so he would be aware of what was taking place. As such, he couldn't start an infinite loop. [[User:Athang|Athang]] ([[User talk:Athang|talk]]) 22:54, 6 May 2014 (UTC)

Not sure if this has been covered... But is there a significance to the use of the word 'nominal' in the alt text. "all time machine systems nominal" Nominal could be used here to mean existing in name only, giving credence to the interpretation that this 'time machine' is much like the time kayak. Thoughts?[[User:Darkfield|Darkfield]] ([[User talk:Darkfield|talk]]) 04:49, 27 April 2013 (UTC)

:"All systems nominal." is a sentence of science person jargon that appears as part of a countdown. That's what 'nominal' is doing in the alt text. The absence of a copular verb, which is kind of a thing for news reports and this kind of status report type announcement, is what made your interpretation possible, but I don't think that was intended. {{unsigned ip|69.39.106.234}}

Reminds me of the "Useless Machine": http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=Z86V_ICUCD4 --[[User:Mr. I|Mr. I]] ([[User talk:Mr. I|talk]]) 03:13, 29 April 2013 (UTC)
:This was my first thought. Thanks for linking to it. --[[User:DanB|DanB]] ([[User talk:DanB|talk]]) 21:11, 29 April 2013 (UTC)

The outlet has 1 hole in the first two frames and 2 holes in the last two frames. --[[Special:Contributions/50.70.28.93|50.70.28.93]] 18:05, 30 April 2013 (UTC)
:[http://i.imgur.com/UmpOi.gif Mind. Blown.] {{unsigned ip|205.243.23.207}}

I thought perhaps that the idea was that when he flips on the time machine, time does proceed, but at normal speed. Therefore, the "time machine" is just a box with a lever on it that does nothing. {{unsigned ip|173.245.54.79}}

As pointed out above, the outlet changed (but we and Cueball are observers outside the system). It appears to be a hint that the time traveler went back to "correct" [https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/567:_Urgent_Mission Benjamin Franklin (567: Urgent Mission)], hence the power change. It's a "nominal" thing to do because the system should continue operating "normally" even if the details aren't "exact". But at least 3 other physical things changed, if we assume the switch travel was around 1 second and allow sound to change as if there's a small switch for windup/down when it begins travel: First, there's Cueball's hand positions. He actually appears to be "pulling" the lever down from the "bottom", explaining his puzzled response. Gravity's "work" is now in the opposite +/- direction. Also the outlet's cuts look like a "+" to me (instead of parallel slots as they are in the United States). Next, when NASA exceeds "0 seconds" countdowns revert to a countup ("T+1 second and counting"). Except here the comic starts at T-10s and then go up, which implies (assuming Cueball is approximately 6 feet tall - or 1 meter) that the equation for acceleration due to gravity has been flipped (instead of 9.82m/s^2 ... travel of one meter equates to approximately 10s; maybe magnitude^2 plays a part here). I think there's an additional joke in "E" (Energy/natural log, or maybe just that its volume curve inverts) but the main message in this comic is that a "nominal" change to a labeling system has had physical effects; like a universal force flipping around because we decided to flip our butterfly's measurements. The question you have to ask then is: from the perspective of anyone who stayed in-system, did anything change? The problem (or even horror) may simply be that by fixing the system for everyone except you, the problem stays the same for them while lots of little things have changed for you; and non-trivially: Cueball is the only one who knows. [[User:Elvenivle|Elvenivle]] ([[User talk:Elvenivle|talk]]) 15:42, 13 March 2016 (UTC)

Talk:1290: Syllable Planning

2016-12-28T00:56:04Z

162.158.255.160:

I remember my father telling me when I was a teenager about a scholarly paper that described this exact topic, namely the rules governing where 'fucking' can be injected into multi-syllable words. I still remember discussing the options for "fantastic" and "government". Decades later I had a dream about words like "uninstallable" (which can either mean something that can be uninstalled or something that can't be uninstalled), and discovering that someone had written a paper about that very subject (http://www.hum.au.dk/engelsk/engsv/papers/vikn08b.pdf). [[Special:Contributions/199.27.128.127|199.27.128.127]] 06:00, 13 November 2013 (UTC) Toby Ovod-Everett
: Think you mean "... can be uninstalled or .... can't be installed". --[[Special:Contributions/173.245.51.227|173.245.51.227]] 06:42, 13 November 2013 (UTC)
Surely the question is which words benefit from the effing emphasis? Fan-effing-tastic is a natural, but with 'government' I wouldn't try...I'd just say 'effing government (what a bunch of wankers, bastards, mongrels, etc)'.[[User:Anff59|Anff59]] ([[User talk:Anff59|talk]]) 07:37, 13 November 2013 (UTC)

This immediately made me think about "Legen -wait for it- dary", one of the key phrases that 'Barney' uses in {{w|How I Met Your Mother}}. [[User:Kaa-ching|Kaa-ching]] ([[User talk:Kaa-ching|talk]]) 08:31, 13 November 2013 (UTC)

In case you want to go hunting for papers, it's actually got a name in linguistics: "fucking insertion". Not a good Google word unfortunately. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.231.30|108.162.231.30]] 08:42, 13 November 2013 (UTC)

:The correct linguistical term is {{w|tmesis}}. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.208|141.101.98.208]] 09:58, 13 November 2013 (UTC)
::Darnit. Ninjaed. (With a note that this also includes phrasal infixings.) [[Special:Contributions/141.101.99.210|141.101.99.210]] 10:04, 13 November 2013 (UTC)

http://home.uchicago.edu/~vfriedm/Articles/020Friedman79.pdf for some good insight on the differences between Russian and American swearing. Including inserting fucking in between syllables.
--[[Special:Contributions/199.27.128.183|199.27.128.183]] 08:59, 13 November 2013 (UTC)

I think the title text is referring to the word absolutely, which would mean he left only one syllable again. It just seems nonsensical to think that he was saying absolute and not absolutely. --[[Special:Contributions/108.162.238.5|108.162.238.5]] 11:01, 13 November 2013 (UTC)
:Agreed, don't think anyone would ever make a tmesis out of the word 'absolute' as opposed to 'absolutely'. I've changed the explanation accordingly.[[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.228|141.101.98.228]] 12:58, 13 November 2013 (UTC)

It's generally pointless to argue as to what a "standard" pronunciation is, but I question how flatly "unbelievable" is pronounced in the general American population, as opposed to the robotic-voiced-pronunciation-aid-audio-file population. Especially when pronounced heatedly, there tends to be distinct stress placed on either the first or the third syllable - a regional difference or subtle denotative difference, maybe. I think the existence of both un-fucking-believable and unbe-fucking-lievable is simply a matter of one following the "insert between prefix and root" rule and the other following the "insert before stressed (in this case third) syllable" rule, rather than being because 'unbelievable' is somehow an abnormally flattened word. --[[Special:Contributions/173.245.54.58|173.245.54.58]] 16:40, 13 November 2013 (UTC)

So, is it time to lift the Incomplete tag? [[Special:Contributions/199.27.128.66|199.27.128.66]] 09:05, 14 November 2013 (UTC)

"This mistake, and realization of it, creates a humorous alternate meaning by saying "You absolute fucking shit!" - Uh, does it? Think that might be over-reaching for an interpretation there...[[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.228|141.101.98.228]] 13:34, 14 November 2013 (UTC)
:Wouldn't be explainxkcd without a few of those each comic. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.212.215|108.162.212.215]] 20:07, 18 November 2013 (UTC)

ri-fucking-'''''dick'''''ulous [[User:SuperSupermario24|Just some random derp]]

I wasn't aware that people had an issue with saying it as "ridicu-fucking-lous". I've been using that as my go to for years. Weird. -Pennpenn [[Special:Contributions/108.162.250.162|108.162.250.162]] 03:05, 28 August 2015 (UTC)

Ridicu-fucking-lotus!