explain xkcd - User contributions [en]

Talk:2197: Game Show

2019-09-02T22:42:39Z

162.158.34.172:

Suggestion for comic explanation: Black Hat does the things that Black Hat always does. {{unsigned|172.68.65.90}}

I'm unable to find a single instance of any game show ever asking this sort of question. [[Special:Contributions/172.68.142.161|172.68.142.161]] 22:35, 2 September 2019 (UTC)

How about https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Desert_Island_Discs?

Talk:Header text

2019-08-30T17:57:27Z

162.158.34.172: /* localized versions */

==localized versions==
Currently to me the header text is in German (as I live in Germany):
:Triff Randall Munroe in Berlin am 15. Oktober 2019!
:Hier die deutsche Ausgabe vorbestellen!
(Meet Randall Munroe in Berlin on 15th of October 2019! Preorder the german version here) where "Hier" (here) is a link.
4 odd things I noticed about this:
*It mentions the German version, but not the German verison of what. The book isn't even mentioned.
*When I (re)load the page, for a moment I get the image about winning a stick-figure-sketch of myself.
*XKCD does not use means like other pages (e.g. [[713: GeoIP]] to identify my language. As I am using a swedish VPN, I usually get advertisements in swedish (and redirections to swedish homepages, etc.). Maybe it is my browser settings which are set to German. Can someone identify the method used?
*The link leads to "https://www.xkcd.com/%22https://www.randomhouse.de/Buch/HOW-TO-Wie-man-s-hinkriegt/Randall-Munroe/Penguin/e547637.rhd?utm_source=autorenblog&utm_medium=banner&utm_campaign=how_to\%22" - a 404 page. (getting rid of the part before the 2nd https gets you to the page of the german publisher.
Someone got an idea on how to put this into the wiki properly? Are there other language versions as well? --[[User:Lupo|Lupo]] ([[User talk:Lupo|talk]]) 06:38, 16 August 2019 (UTC)

Yeah there is, in the UK the text changes to "I'll be coming to the UK for [https://xkcd.com/how-to/#tourdates the book tour]." There is Javascript in the page which sends a request to https://c.xkcd.com/how-to/news which is simply redirected (for me to https://xkcd.com/ukNews ) presumably based on GeoIP, definitely not a browser locale setting. Not sure how you would get them all, maybe iterate country codes through the start of the URL? I tried deNews which worked. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.34.172|162.158.34.172]] 17:57, 30 August 2019 (UTC)

Talk:2192: Review

2019-08-22T10:29:25Z

162.158.34.172:

Earth : Terrible storyline, feel depressed afterward. Controls buggy.
: My advice would be to look at different storylines. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.22.44|172.69.22.44]] 14:24, 21 August 2019 (UTC)
:: There's more than one? I wish I knew what the storyline was even supposed to be; it's not like the minigames where if you ask enough NPCs you can find one to clue you in on what to do next. --[[Special:Contributions/162.158.34.172|162.158.34.172]] 10:29, 22 August 2019 (UTC)
: It is in our power to choose fear, frustration, and despair or the alternative story line of love, joy, and freedom. [[User:Rtanenbaum|Rtanenbaum]] ([[User talk:Rtanenbaum|talk]]) 15:06, 21 August 2019 (UTC)

Mostly harmless - [[User:GreenWyvern|GreenWyvern]] ([[User talk:GreenWyvern|talk]]) 13:39, 21 August 2019 (UTC)
: thank you for that :D [[User:Bischoff|Bischoff]] ([[User talk:Bischoff|talk]]) 16:26, 21 August 2019 (UTC)

New servers opening soon! [[Special:Contributions/172.68.51.124|172.68.51.124]] 13:42, 21 August 2019 (UTC)

He could discuss in greater detail at https://www.reddit.com/r/outside/ [[User:Poodlehat|Poodlehat]] ([[User talk:Poodlehat|talk]]) 13:43, 21 August 2019 (UTC)

I think the title text is alluding to controlling things like climate warming and the like, not learning to walk. [[User:Ianrbibtitlht|Ianrbibtitlht]] ([[User talk:Ianrbibtitlht|talk]]) 13:56, 21 August 2019 (UTC)
:"Huge World" would imply that the game type is first or third person, with the player taking control of a character in that world. In this sense, I think it's appropriate for the controls to be in reference to movement of the character. If the game type were management or simulation, I think you would be correct. [[User:Cgrimes85|Cgrimes85]] ([[User talk:Cgrimes85|talk]]) 14:03, 21 August 2019 (UTC)
:"Huge World" so much to explore, could take more than a lifetime. Very few ever reach master level but general satisfaction is possible for every serious player, and the game Creator is accessible at any time. [[User:Rtanenbaum|Rtanenbaum]] ([[User talk:Rtanenbaum|talk]]) 15:06, 21 August 2019 (UTC)
:Game creator accessible? Seriously? When was the last time he fixed some bug? -- [[User:Hkmaly|Hkmaly]] ([[User talk:Hkmaly|talk]]) 23:39, 21 August 2019 (UTC)
:: The Earth is abandonware...

Perhaps this is a reference to the recent Public Policy Polling survey http://publicpolicypollling.blogspot.com/2011/07/evaluating-god.html whcih asked people about God's job performance. God received his highest rating on his "handling of creating the universe" with 71% in favor of the universe and 5% opposed.
:correct link is http://publicpolicypolling.blogspot.com/2011/07/evaluating-god.html (but it’s a rather boring 8 year old fluff piece, I very much doubt that Randall was even aware of its existence) [[Special:Contributions/162.158.78.22|162.158.78.22]] 01:55, 22 August 2019 (UTC)

Dan Loeb loeb@sig.com, 11:50, 21 August 2019 (ET)

"gun violence, sexual violence, poverty", etc, are really human's problems rather than Earth's problems.
: It really depends on your point of view. If you consider Earth as just a rock flying through space global warming isn't really an issue either. [[User:Bischoff|Bischoff]] ([[User talk:Bischoff|talk]]) 16:26, 21 August 2019 (UTC)
:: Global warming is barely issue when you consider biosphere as a whole either. Neither insects nor bacteria care, and plants are looking forward to it. Now, pollution, that's different. -- [[User:Hkmaly|Hkmaly]] ([[User talk:Hkmaly|talk]]) 23:39, 21 August 2019 (UTC)

To be honest I think this comic is a bit lazy for xkcd standards. The whole joke of "I went outside today, the graphics are amazing but controls suck" is years old and was never really good in my opinion. I've seen several comics where Randal reused old jokes and put a clever spin on them or extended them in a new fashion that I'm disappointed Randall essentially copy&pasted this one. [[User:Bischoff|Bischoff]] ([[User talk:Bischoff|talk]]) 16:26, 21 August 2019 (UTC)
:Personally, I was hoping for something on the announcement of KSP 2 :P

I'm reminded of [https://www.smbc-comics.com/comic/2014-09-26 this comic] by the SMBC guy (better known as Emergency Backup Randall Munroe) which features a hypothetical site which can host such a review, and also two Black Hats. Some folks also made a subreddit that actually implements the idea. --[[Special:Contributions/172.68.11.167|172.68.11.167]] 18:03, 21 August 2019 (UTC)

Multiplayer sucks. Needs to have a single-player mode. [unsigned]

Is this the first time that Randall has explicitly drawn himself in a comic? Does this make it official that Cueball is Randall (or Randall's alter-ego)? [[User:Stevage|Stevage]] ([[User talk:Stevage|talk]]) 05:09, 22 August 2019 (UTC)

Is this serious: "Earth is a completely real object[citation needed]"? I never thought this could be fake news. :-)

Talk:2176: How Hacking Works

2019-07-16T00:09:39Z

162.158.34.172:

any idea what the title text is referring to? some smash mouth lyrics, maybe? [[User:Gir|-- //gir.st/]] ([[User talk:Gir|talk]]) 13:48, 15 July 2019 (UTC)
:The first line of their most popular song, All Star, is "Somebody once told me the world is gonna roll me". [[Special:Contributions/162.158.123.97|162.158.123.97]] 13:55, 15 July 2019 (UTC)
::welp, i could have figured that out! to my defense, ducking "roll them like this" only brought up the comic itself. Thanks! [[User:Gir|-- //gir.st/]] ([[User talk:Gir|talk]]) 14:06, 15 July 2019 (UTC)
: I think Randall is referring to this https://xkcd.com/792/ with himself is the "someone" who warned them. [[Special:Contributions/172.68.142.239|172.68.142.239]] 14:20, 15 July 2019 (UTC)
::I doubt that the title text was a reference to this comic, but I've linked to it in the section about the second panel. Thanks! [[User:Gir|-- //gir.st/]] ([[User talk:Gir|talk]]) 14:28, 15 July 2019 (UTC)
I always (not really) thought hacking was more like "My latest scan of the internet found a computer that hasn't updated it's OS or it's antivirus in two months!" "Score! Hack in and steal their money!" [[Special:Contributions/172.68.90.76|172.68.90.76]] 14:56, 15 July 2019 (UTC)SiliconWolf
:Usually, the scan immediately installs some virus. Noone is going to manually hacks thousands of machines. -- [[User:Hkmaly|Hkmaly]] ([[User talk:Hkmaly|talk]]) 22:43, 15 July 2019 (UTC)

Note that you can sort of get the best of both words if, instead of using just common password or just password written on paper, you use password combined from those two. Online hackers wouldn't be able to hack your other accounts because all accounts have different password, while family members wouldn't be able to hack anything because they wouldn't know the common prefix to those passwords written on paper. -- [[User:Hkmaly|Hkmaly]] ([[User talk:Hkmaly|talk]]) 22:43, 15 July 2019 (UTC)
:Nah... I just need to 1) obtain a list of leaked passwords, 2) break into your pad/cubicle to obtain your dead-tree-list of partial passwords, 3) successfully identify the fully expanded one in the former that is the superset of the appropriate partial in the latter, 4) thusly derive the likely transformation you used, 5) apply that to all the other partials to easily h4ck 4ll ov UR 07|-|3|2 |_°9!|\|5 !!!111!!11oneoneone ...6) Profit? [[Special:Contributions/162.158.34.172|162.158.34.172]] 00:09, 16 July 2019 (UTC)

2118: Normal Distribution

2019-03-08T22:16:09Z

162.158.34.172: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 2118
| date = March 1, 2019
| title = Normal Distribution
| image = normal_distribution.png
| titletext = It's the NORMAL distribution, not the TANGENT distribution.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by PEOPLE NEW ENOUGH TO STATISTICS TO NOT LEAVE IN ANNOYANCE. Please mention here why this explanation isn't complete. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
[[File:Standard_deviation_diagram.svg|thumb|{{w|Normal distribution}}s and the intervals of the standard deviation are a topic commonly seen in introductory statistics. Randall's chart is similar, but his lines are perpendicular.]]
In statistics, a {{w|Probability distribution|distribution}} is a representation that can be understood in terms of how much of a sample is expected to fall into either discrete bins or between particular ranges of values. For example, if you wanted to represent an age distribution using bins of ten years (0-9, 10-19, etc.), you could produce a bar chart, one bar for each bin, where the height of each bar represents a count of the portion of the sample matching that bin. To turn that bar chart into a distribution, you'd get infinitely many people (technically: a number N which tends to infinity), put them into age bins that are infinitely narrow (technically: bins whose size is O(1/sqrt(N))), and then divide each bin count by the total count so that the whole thing added up to 1. It is common to ask how much of the distribution lies between two vertical lines; that would correspond to asking what percent of people are expected to fall between two ages.

Many statistical samplings resemble a pattern called a "{{w|normal distribution}}". A theoretically perfect normal distribution would have an infinite sample size and infinitely small bins. That would produce a bar chart matching the shape of the curve in the comic.

The area between two vertical lines of the distribution represents the probability that the value is between the x-values of the lines, and the total area is 1. Randall finds the area between two ''horizontal'' lines instead, which is mathematically meaningless, because the y-axis of a probability distribution represents {{w|absolute magnitude|magnitude}} as a fraction of unity (although we do have half of the normal curve between the two lines). The items represented by the magnitude at any given horizontal position are indistinguishable, unordered, and interchangeable; the idea that one could be above another is meaningless, and the fact that two items happen to fall at the same position on the y-axis doesn't mean they have anything in common. So, the comic explores the humor of annoying people by deliberately misunderstanding their work.

An alternative explanation is that Randall has invented a new probability distribution, that we could call the ''tangent distribution'' (from the title text), the ''Munroe distribution'', or something of the sort. This distribution is defined as follows: consider the area between the curve in the comic and the horizontal axis, and consider a random point (X, Y) uniformly distributed in that region. Then X has the normal distribution and Y has the tangent distribution. Areas between vertical lines in the comic give probabilities about X, and areas between horizontal lines in the comic give probabilities about Y. So the comic gives a correct statement that the interval of Y values that is 52.682% of the range of Y centered at the midpoint of the range has probability 1/2. Great! Except this distribution has never been discussed before because it has no known application. Moreover, it makes no sense to talk about intervals centered at the midpoint of the range because the distribution of Y is not symmetric: the midpoint of the range is neither the mean, the median, nor the mode. So even if this distribution were interesting, the probability in the comic is not a good way to describe it! We do use such intervals for the normal distribution because the normal distribution is symmetric, and the center of symmetry is the mean, median, and mode.

The title text refers to the {{w|Normal (geometry)|normal line}}, which is perpendicular to the {{w|tangent}} line at a given point. Given a shape of interest, a normal line points perpendicularly away from it at a point, making a 90-degree angle with it in all directions, while a tangent line crosses a point on it and is exactly parallel to it at that point. The normal line is not at all related to the normal distribution, as the former is a geometry concept and the latter is probability/statistics one. Saying this to a statistician would only annoy the statistician further. This refers to the fact that the diagram attempts to divide the graph with horizontal lines when such a division would usually be done with perpendicular vertical lines.

And this is annoying to a probabilist or statistician not only because the terms ''normal'' and ''tangent'' are come from differential geometry and have no established meaning in probability theory. Even the word ''perpendicular'' has no established meaning in probability theory. Of course, the x and y coordinates in the comic are perpendicular (orthogonal) coordinates, but X and Y are not "perpendicular" or "orthogonal" random variables. Even if we give "perpendicular" or "orthogonal" a probabilistic meaning, and the most obvious such meaning is either {{w|Independence (probability theory)|independent}}, which even uses a symbol related to the geometric symbol for perpendicularity, or {{w|Uncorrelatedness (probability theory)|uncorrelated}}, which makes X and Y orthogonal vectors in the Hilbert space of random variables that are square integrable with respect to Lebesgue measure, X and Y are not perpendicular in either of these senses.

So the more probability and statistics you know, the more annoying (ha, ha) this comic becomes. It is not just about confusing novices.

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

:[A bell curve of a normal distribution, with the area between two horizontal lines shaded.]

:[The center of the chart is marked between the two lines:]
:Midpoint

:[The distance between the lines is marked to the right of the midpoint, with the label:]
:52.7%

:[A label on the outside of the graph, describing the distance between the two lines:]
:"Remember, 50% of the distribution falls between these two lines!"

:[Caption below the panel:]
:How to annoy a statistician

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Charts]]
[[Category:Statistics]]

2088: Schwarzschild's Cat

2018-12-22T19:33:47Z

162.158.34.172: /* Explanation */ Added one detail to explain how the graph joke is a play on another graph related to black holes and the Schwarzschild radius, i.e. Figure 1 in this article http://people.bu.edu/pbokulic/blackholes/

{{comic
| number = 2088
| date = December 21, 2018
| title = Schwarzschild's Cat
| image = schwarzschilds_cat.png
| titletext = Cats can be smaller than the critical limit, but they're unobservable. If one shrinks enough that it crosses the limit, it just appears to get cuter and cuter as it slowly fades from view.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by a SMALL CAT WITH NO CONCEPT OF FIELD EQUATIONS. Please mention here why this explanation isn't complete. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
This comic is primarily a wordplay joke about the {{w|Schwarzschild radius}}, or the radius surrounding a black hole corresponding to the {{w|event horizon}}. The event horizon, in turn, is the limit from which nothing can leave a black hole. The joke is that, apparently, smaller cats are cuter, and there is a limit below which a sufficiently small cat (but larger than zero) will approach infinite cuteness, in a similar pattern to the way time's rate for an observer will approach infinity, the closer they get to the event horizon of a black hole.

It's also a reference to the {{w|Schrödinger's cat}} thought-experiment, since the names (Erwin) "Schrödinger" and (Karl) "Schwarzschild" are somewhat similar and both men were interested in quantum physics.

The title text makes multiple allusions. First, it alludes to what happens when an object falls into a black hole. From an outside observer's point of view, such objects appear to slow down and take an infinite amount of time to cross the Schwarzschild radius due to the time dilation of {{w|General relativity}}. The object's photons will become increasingly red-shifted, fading as they lose energy to the black hole's gravity well.

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
:[A graph is shown. The x-axis is labeled "Cat size" and the y-axis, "Cat cuteness". Parallel to and a short distance from the y axis is a dashed line the same length as the y-axis line; the space between the y axis and the dashed line is labelled "Critical Limit". Graphed is a function coming down from infinity, starting close to the dashed line; it then levels off and does not reach zero on-screen. At the top end of the graph is the text "Schwarzschild's Cat" and an arrow pointing upwards outside of the graph.]
{{comic discussion}}

Talk:2080: Cohort and Age Effects

2018-12-13T22:19:18Z

162.158.34.172:

I'm going to assume the millennial injuries were covered on a news network. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.63.94|162.158.63.94]] 16:36, 3 December 2018 (UTC)

Eh, millenials spend their entire lives sitting in front of a screen (yes, like you are right now), unlike the boomers that actually went out and did stuff. Millenial joints never get used, so they will never get replaced. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.90.36|162.158.90.36]] 18:11, 3 December 2018 (UTC)
:Not true. Ok, true with the screen, but not true with the sitting. The smartphones and tablets ARE getting usable now ... although that will more influence the generation after millenials I guess ... -- [[User:Hkmaly|Hkmaly]] ([[User talk:Hkmaly|talk]]) 23:21, 4 December 2018 (UTC)

Anyone else notice the grammar error in the title text? There's an extra word in the headline text: 'Why are millennials are getting...', where an extra "are" is inserted in the text. [[User:Ianrbibtitlht|Ianrbibtitlht]] ([[User talk:Ianrbibtitlht|talk]]) 18:54, 3 December 2018 (UTC)
:There's also a missing "on" -- "depending which trend...". Wait, the comic has just been updated to fix both issues. The original was "Younger people get very few joint replacements, yet they're also getting more than older people did at the same age. This means you can choose between 'Why are millennials are getting so (many/few) joint replacements?' depending which trend fits your current argument better." 19:53, 3 December 2018 (UTC)
::I have added the corrected text to the comic explanation and made a trivia about it. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 22:08, 3 December 2018 (UTC)

Is there a hidden attempt to make us feel old again, by noting that there are actually people from the millenials that are getting joints replaced already?`Or am I just looking for it? ;-) --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 22:02, 3 December 2018 (UTC)

:I just assumed those were non-aging related injuries (ski crashes, extreme sports injuries, suicide attempts, kneecappings, that kind of thing). 1982 isn't that old. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.219.244|108.162.219.244]] 22:25, 4 December 2018 (UTC)

Us Millennials are going to solve a lot of today's problems by about the time our kids become instant-gratification 30-somethings and robot apocalypse and genetically engineered supervirus terrorism become a significant possibility. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.63.22|162.158.63.22]] 23:05, 4 December 2018 (UTC)
:Ehmmm ... robot apocalypse in traditional sense is unlikely to ever be a possibility - see [https://what-if.xkcd.com/5/ What-if 5]. Programming errors with causalities in millions, on the other hand ... -- [[User:Hkmaly|Hkmaly]] ([[User talk:Hkmaly|talk]]) 23:21, 4 December 2018 (UTC)

There was yet another round of articles about millennials killing certain markets by not buying the product; The overriding correlation? Lack of money. There are ''some'' products & services younger generations just aren't interested in, but economically speaking, millennials ''have less to spend'' overall.

I have made an attempt at fixing the table in the transcript. Not sure if this is what you had in mind, but it's quite difficult to find a way to express the information without using a table - I understand the reasons why tables in the transcript are bad, but there is also reason why tables are good for communicating information! [[Special:Contributions/162.158.34.172|162.158.34.172]] 22:19, 13 December 2018 (UTC)

2080: Cohort and Age Effects

2018-12-13T22:14:33Z

162.158.34.172: Converted table in transcript into text. Corrected spelling of Millennials.

{{comic
| number = 2080
| date = December 3, 2018
| title = Cohort and Age Effects
| image = cohort_and_age_effects.png
| titletext = Younger people get very few joint replacements, yet they're also getting more than older people did at the same age. This means you can choose between 'Why are millennials getting so (many/few) joint replacements?' depending on which trend fits your current argument better.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Transcript tables are bad. not really sure how to replace this one Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
Another of [[Randall|Randall's]] [[238: Pet Peeve 114|many]] [[:Category:Pet Peeves|Pet Peeves]], this time it's statistics. It is the first in more than four years, since [[1368: One Of The]].

"{{w|Millennials}}" are the generation of Westerners who were born between the early 1980s and the late 1990s, whereas {{w|baby boomers}} are the generation born during the "baby boom", a period of high birth rates from the late 1940s to early 1960s. A common headline on news websites is "Millennials are killing the X industry" where X is a product whose sales have dropped in recent years, such as [https://ezplaytoys.com/pages/products jungle gyms for kids]. One of the most famous is the {{w|diamond industry}}, where a combination of the {{w|wage gap}}, stigma over {{w|Blood diamond|conflict diamonds}}, and less desire to get married early has seen millennials buying less diamond jewelry than previous generations.

Randall spoofs this idea. In the comic, [[Cueball]], as a [[:Category:News anchor|news anchor]], presents a heading which opens his story by asking if millennials are killing the industry of surgical {{w|Joint replacement|joint replacements}}, illustrating it with numbers of joint replacement procedures among millennials compared to baby boomers. The joke is that millennials are simply too young for most of them to need joint replacements (which are usually used to treat senile {{w|osteoarthritis}}), so most people will see that so there really isn't a news story here. Randall is using this example to highlight that this kind of story is ridiculous. Millennials will likely need joint replacements in the future as they get older, potentially keeping sales of joint replacements at close to their current rate.

A '''{{w|cohort effect}}''' is a cultural difference between generations (such as buying fewer diamonds), whereas an '''age effect''' is one that is simply related to getting older (such as getting arthritis). Joint replacement rates are an age effect, but the newscast is presenting them as if they were a cohort effect. (More correctly, the table rows would be labelled e.g. “people aged 50–70” and “people aged 25–35”.)

The title text points out that although numbers of millennials receiving joint replacements are low, they are higher than the numbers of baby boomers who received them ''at the same age''—i.e. in their 20s—due to advances in medical diagnosis and technology in the last 50 years, as well as (in some countries at least) better access to healthcare. This statistic can be used to create a headline which is the reverse of the one in the comic, namely "millennials are getting more joint replacements than ever". Randall notes that you could therefore use either headline to back up your argument, depending on the agenda you are trying to present.

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript|Tables in transcript are bad. please read faq}}
:[Cueball as a news anchor is sitting at a desk with hands folded in front of him on the table.]
:Cueball: Tonight: Are Millennials killing the joint replacement industry?

:[To the left of Cueball is a presentation which includes a two by two table with a header above the table. Each of the two rows and columns are labeled, with rows entitled 'Baby Boomers' and 'Millennials', and columns entitled 'Knee' and 'Hip']

:[Header:] Operation rate per 100,00
:[First row:] Baby Boomers: {Knee = 720}, {Hip = 390}
:[Second row:] Millennials: {Knee = 1}, {Hip = 3}

:[Caption below the panel:]
:Stats Pet Peeve: People mixing up cohort effects and age effects.

==Trivia==
*In the original title text there were two mistakes which were soon corrected. Here are the original title text with the removed word in ''italics'' and the final version with the added word in '''bold''':
**Younger people get very few joint replacements, yet they're also getting more than older people did at the same age. This means you can choose between 'Why are millennials ''are'' getting so (many/few) joint replacements?' depending which trend fits your current argument better.
**Younger people get very few joint replacements, yet they're also getting more than older people did at the same age. This means you can choose between 'Why are millennials getting so (many/few) joint replacements?' depending '''on''' which trend fits your current argument better.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Pet Peeves]]
[[Category:News anchor]]
[[Category:Charts]]
[[Category:Statistics]]

Talk:2084: FDR

2018-12-13T18:46:54Z

162.158.34.172:

I didn't know about the Guy Fawkes date. I thought the title text might have been referring to the song {{w|Try to Remember}}, but it refers to September and December, but not November.
[[User:Barmar|Barmar]] ([[User talk:Barmar|talk]]) 16:02, 12 December 2018 (UTC)
:You clearly aren't from the UK, still a pretty big thing here. Known as Bonfire Night or Fireworks Night and is a part of everyone's primary (elementary?) education
:[[User:Zbrown|Zbrown]] ([[User talk:Zbrown|talk]]) 16:50, 12 December 2018 (UTC)
::I'm not from UK and I know about that from english lessons in primary school, but I didn't know about the Pearl Harbor date. --[[Special:Contributions/188.114.102.220|188.114.102.220]] 16:55, 12 December 2018 (UTC)
:::Then you're probably not from the US [[Special:Contributions/172.68.143.174|172.68.143.174]] 17:19, 12 December 2018 (UTC)
::::I'm from the US, but I couldn't tell you right now without scrolling up what date Pearl Harbor day was. Then again, I have trouble remembering the dates of anything but Christmas, New Year's, & 4th of July. Measurements of time are really weird & arbitrary perceptual artifacts, for me. [[User:ProphetZarquon|ProphetZarquon]] ([[User talk:ProphetZarquon|talk]]) 21:08, 12 December 2018 (UTC)
:::::I always found it weird that they celebrate the 4th of July on the 7th of April. --[[Special:Contributions/162.158.111.145|162.158.111.145]] 13:17, 13 December 2018 (UTC)
The Crete earthquake raise the island by 3 to 9 meters. You go out on a beach in Crete, it is obvious, especially if there are ruins of an ancient city nearby where the docks are well inland [[Special:Contributions/172.68.143.174|172.68.143.174]] 17:32, 12 December 2018 (UTC)

Incidental, this month I made the weird mistake of writing a date as "2016" ... I really have no idea why that happened, or that I didn't catch it to correct it in time. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.74.135|162.158.74.135]] 17:52, 12 December 2018 (UTC) Sam
:Me too! For some reason I've recently written the date as a couple years ago a few times over the last month or so, and I normally never do! Also in response to the above discussion, I've never heard of Guy Fawkes day, and don't particularly remember the date of Pearl Harbor other than by comic [[821]] [[User:PotatoGod|PotatoGod]] ([[User talk:PotatoGod|talk]]) 07:09, 13 December 2018 (UTC)

FYI, the hovertext appears to be wrong. The Med quake was July 21, AD365 -- not June 21. [[Special:Contributions/173.245.54.13|173.245.54.13]] 20:25, 12 December 2018 (UTC)Andrew K[[Special:Contributions/173.245.54.13|173.245.54.13]] 20:25, 12 December 2018 (UTC)
::I don't think it's deliberate; he didn't get the other date in the title-text / alt-text wrong. I think the alt-text contains an unintentional error. [[User:ProphetZarquon|ProphetZarquon]] ([[User talk:ProphetZarquon|talk]]) 22:00, 12 December 2018 (UTC)

So he's not using THE date format: https://xkcd.com/1179/
:'''''Thank''''' '''you.''' Writing it the correct way (yyyy-mm-dd) would probably confuse most people though, & I think ISO-8601 does allow provision for dates written long-hand (MMM d, yyyy). I'm just glad someone else remembers that the ''proper'' way to numerically specify a date is year first, then two-digit month (01 thru 12, not 1 thru 12), & ''then'' day. This keeps the numbers in correct left-to-right sequence & will sort alphabetically too. m-d-yy is just '''''wrong''''' on so many levels. [[User:ProphetZarquon|ProphetZarquon]] ([[User talk:ProphetZarquon|talk]]) 22:00, 12 December 2018 (UTC)
:: Don't worry, month, day then year is pretty much only found in one country, like spelling colour without the u. It should die out eventually. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.165.238|162.158.165.238]] 22:32, 12 December 2018 (UTC)
::Personally, when it's not for archival purposes I write dates d/m-yy. I don't care if it's wrong, it's how I say them in daily speech. The slash should make it clear which one is day and which one is month and the dash should make it clear that the last part is the year. I don't see myself signing any contracts that last longer than the average human lifespan, so including the century and millennia feels unnecessary. [[User:Kapten-N|Kapten-N]] ([[User talk:Kapten-N|talk]]) 12:03, 13 December 2018 (UTC)

I don't see any explanation for the "19" in the comic. Could that be a reference to 7:19 (the time of the Mexico City earthquake and the name of the movie about it)? [[User:Madfrog768|Madfrog768]] ([[User talk:Madfrog768|talk]]) 21:26, 12 December 2018 (UTC)
:It's the year, 1941. Time would not appear in a '''Date:''' field. In the comic, Randall got all the way to writing the 4 before he realized he was putting the wrong date in. [[User:ProphetZarquon|ProphetZarquon]] ([[User talk:ProphetZarquon|talk]]) 22:00, 12 December 2018 (UTC)

I work for a bus company and work on the schedules for the next service change which usually takes place in december. Since I have this job, from the end of summer on I regularly miswrite dates a year ''ahead''. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.111.55|162.158.111.55]] 21:31, 12 December 2018 (UTC)

Any Hardcore History fans with Dan Carlin? [[User:Capncanuck|Capncanuck]] ([[User talk:Capncanuck|talk]]) 07:28, 13 December 2018 (UTC)

As for catchy date mnemonics, you can't beat "the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month" for the armistice of The Great War. Note it wasn't called World War 1 until there was a second world war 35 years later. [[User:Rtanenbaum|Rtanenbaum]] ([[User talk:Rtanenbaum|talk]]) 14:29, 13 December 2018 (UTC)
:I'm trying to work out where you got the 35 for your 35 years later. WW2 started 20(-ish) years after WW1 ended, WW2 ended 31 years after WW1 started. Not sure... [[Special:Contributions/162.158.111.145|162.158.111.145]] 14:49, 13 December 2018 (UTC)

I'm still writing "1987" on my checks. [[User:JamesCurran|JamesCurran]] ([[User talk:JamesCurran|talk]]) 16:25, 13 December 2018 (UTC)

It was actually called "the first World War" in 1914. However it wasn't called "The First World War", as the name was to show that it was a world war, not to point out that another would happen in 20 years. And the name "Great War" referred to the Napoleonic War, not the First World War. And now to leave a message beginning with four tildes. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.34.172|162.158.34.172]] 18:46, 13 December 2018 (UTC)