explain xkcd - User contributions [en]

Talk:2436: Circles

2021-03-12T18:56:48Z

172.68.206.92:

AS for the overlapping edits, it is because this just showed up in my RSS reader. I was surprised to see that there wasn't anything written yet. [[Special:Contributions/172.68.206.92|172.68.206.92]] 18:56, 12 March 2021 (UTC)

2436: Circles

2021-03-12T18:54:00Z

172.68.206.92: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 2436
| date = March 12, 2021
| title = Circles
| image = circles.png
| titletext = ( MSTE ( AR ) CD )
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by Circular References. Please mention here why this explanation isn't complete. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
The comic depicts five overlapping circles, themselves encircled by circles of various sizes which enclose two, four, or all five of the smaller overlapping circles. Several well-known logos consist of overlapping circles, and the larger circles reference these logos. These are: Mastercard, which consists of two side-by-side overlapping circles; Audi, which is four side-by-side overlapping circles, and the Olympic Rings, which are five overlapping circles in a "W" shaped pattern.

The title text is a textual representation of the Mastercard logo as a Venn diagram containing the letters of "Mastercard" — A and R are shared by both halves, while MSTE and CD are unique to "master" and "card".

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

{{comic discussion}}

Talk:2394: Contiguous 41 States

2020-12-05T12:37:40Z

172.68.206.92: Explaining an edit

Missing contiguous states: Delaware, Kansas, Nebraska, New Mexico, North Dakota, Pennsylvania, South Dakota
[[Special:Contributions/172.69.42.92|172.69.42.92]] 23:57, 4 December 2020 (UTC)
:I knew something was off, but I couldn't pinpoint anything until reading the explanation. That's so weird. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.22.66|172.69.22.66]] 07:54, 5 December 2020 (UTC)

'''Contiguous''' has more specific meaning that "share borders" - it means that you can travel (on land in the case of map) from any point to any point, and there would be no breaks and spaces in the territory. --[[User:JakubNarebski|JakubNarebski]] ([[User talk:JakubNarebski|talk]]) 09:56, 5 December 2020 (UTC)

I know acting like descriptivism is the objectively correct approach to language is all the rage these days, but I don't think you can describe a linguistic event (a word catching on) as "descriptivist" or "prescriptivist", as the page proposed for "conterguous". That's like referring to an economic occurrence as "normative" or "positive". It's not either of those, it just happens. Descriptivism refers to a quality of linguistics itself, not to language; it means, well, describing language. It doesn't stand for organic growth (or the explicit endorsement thereof, which would actually be prescriptive, and there's nothing wrong with that). So I nixed the reference to it; I think the supplied top-down and bottom-up are apt enough to stand on their own for that tangent. [[Special:Contributions/172.68.206.92|172.68.206.92]] 12:37, 5 December 2020 (UTC)

150: Grownups

2020-10-09T05:15:29Z

172.68.206.92: There are currently six footer comics.

{{comic
| number = 150
| date = August 30, 2006
| title = Grownups
| image = grownups.png
| titletext = I've looked into this, and I can't figure out a way to do it cheaply. And I guess it wouldn't be sanitary.
}}

==Explanation==
[[Randall]] is again playing with the child/grownup mental setup. During childhood, adults ("grownups") make most of the decisions and put constraints on what their children do. As children age and eventually become grownups, there are some things that they do not do anymore, as they see them as childish.

[[Megan]] has taken these thoughts seriously, and realizes that with her newfound freedom as a grownup, she gets to define what her adulthood means. Free from constraints, she goes ahead and creates a {{w|ball pit}} in her apartment of colored plastic balls. [[Cueball]] admires this spirit and enters the ball pit. It is difficult to decipher Randall's true intent behind this somewhat cryptic comic, but it seems from the heart that the two are engaging in sexual activity in the pit.

The trend with adults participating in children's activities is continued in [[219: Blanket Fort]], and with adults who feel like children while doing adult things as in [[616: Lease]], which references this comic in the title text.

The title text reveals that [[Randall]] also would like to make his own ball pit, but he finds it [http://playpenballs.com/index.php?route=product/category&path=60 expensive to buy] and also [http://www.reddit.com/r/mildlyinteresting/comments/1q6bru/this_is_how_they_clean_the_plastic_balls_from_the/ hard to keep clean]. Both of these are true - see links. Most public ball pits can easily become very dirty, as many children and toddlers play in them.

==Transcript==
:[Cueball is talking to Megan who is behind a waist-high screen across a doorway with colorful playpen balls behind her.]
:Cueball: Hey, I was wondering if you had plans for-- holy crap, what happened to your apartment?
:Megan: I filled it with playpen balls!
:Cueball: I... what? Why?

:[Megan is seen from the front through the door with the colored balls behind her.]
:Megan: Because we're grown-ups now, and it's our turn to decide what that means.

:[Cueball is seen from the side standing next to the open door. Megan cannot be seen, except her hands on the screen, but some of the coloured balls can be seen through the door. A beat panel.]

:[Same view but both have entered into the apartment, removing the screen so coloured balls have been spilling out into the corridor. A big pink love heart drifts out the door.]

==Trivia==
*This is one of the [[:Category:Footer comics|six footer comics]] linked at the bottom part of the {{xkcd}} website.
*Randall, author of the comic, actually built one in his apartment, which he talks about and shows pictures of at [http://blog.xkcd.com/2007/11/19/growing-up/ here] and [http://blog.xkcd.com/2008/02/27/ballpit-phase-ii/ here].
*The Website [http://www.chiliahedron.com/ballroom/ chiliahedron.com] provides a calculator for how much it would cost to make your own ball pit.
*China takes the cake for this, though. China currently holds the record for the worlds largest ballpit: a [http://www.mymodernmet.com/profiles/blogs/china-worlds-largest-ball-pit swimming pool filled with 1 million balls].
*This comic is available as a signed print in the [https://store.xkcd.com/products/signed-prints xkcd store].

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Footer comics]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]
[[Category:Comics with color]]
[[Category:Romance]]
[[Category:Sex]]
[[Category:Playpen balls]]
[[Category:Comics with xkcd store products]]

Talk:2167: Motivated Reasoning Olympics

2020-09-02T15:55:29Z

172.68.206.92:

Reminds me of the Monty Python Argument Clinic :) [[User:Hawthorn|Hawthorn]] ([[User talk:Hawthorn|talk]]) 16:50, 24 June 2019 (UTC)

It certainly DOESN'T remind you of the Monty Python Argument Clinic, you gormless git! [[Special:Contributions/162.158.214.28|162.158.214.28]] 17:46, 24 June 2019 (UTC)
:Yes it DOES![[Special:Contributions/141.101.105.192|141.101.105.192]] 17:57, 24 June 2019 (UTC)
::No it doesn’t.
:::You're just being contrary. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.214.136|162.158.214.136]] 20:14, 24 June 2019 (UTC)
::::No I'm not. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.54.141|172.69.54.141]] 08:25, 25 June 2019 (UTC)
:::::''Dinggggg''...Your 5 minutes is up! [[User:Ianrbibtitlht|Ianrbibtitlht]] ([[User talk:Ianrbibtitlht|talk]]) 13:26, 25 June 2019 (UTC)
:::::: That was never 5 minutes! [[User:N0lqu|-boB]] ([[User talk:N0lqu|talk]]) 13:59, 25 June 2019 (UTC)
:::::::Quite ironic, I see...[[Special:Contributions/162.158.74.139|162.158.74.139]] 16:24, 20 November 2019 (UTC)
“Rationalizations are more important than sex. When’s the last time you went a week without a rationalization?” - Woody Allen [[User:Miamiclay|Miamiclay]] ([[User talk:Miamiclay|talk]]) 05:06, 27 June 2019 (UTC)

... wait. that was Monty Python? I thought that was a BBC documentary... [[User:Brettpeirce|Brettpeirce]] ([[User talk:Brettpeirce|talk]]) 14:11, 19 December 2019 (UTC)

Missed opportunity to refer to it as "mental gymnastics". [[Special:Contributions/172.68.206.92|172.68.206.92]] 15:55, 2 September 2020 (UTC)

== Explain "Motivated Reasoning"? ==

Shouldn't the explanation include some contextual explanation of "[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Motivated_reasoning Motivated Reasoning]" as pertaining to Cueball's behavior shown in the comic?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Motivated_reasoning
[[User:ProphetZarquon|ProphetZarquon]] ([[User talk:ProphetZarquon|talk]]) 20:37, 24 June 2019 (UTC)

: I added a Wikipedia link to Motivated Reasoning in the title text explanation earlier, but I'm wondering if some of that detail should be moved earlier in the explanation. [[User:Ianrbibtitlht|Ianrbibtitlht]] ([[User talk:Ianrbibtitlht|talk]]) 23:10, 24 June 2019 (UTC)

:: Yeah, I'd never heard of "Motivated Reasoning" before, so came here expecting the explanation to begin "Motivated reasoning is ...", before going into the details of the comic. A lot of the text at the moment feels more like an extended transcript than an explanation (e.g. "Ponytail rightly points out that the trophy says he only got second place."). It would be great if someone who's familiar with the term could add a better summary. - (too lazy to create an account right now) [[Special:Contributions/141.101.105.192|141.101.105.192]] 10:32, 25 June 2019 (UTC)

== Better quality images? ==

This probably isn't the right place but I figured this would get the most visibility. I noticed that the image here made it really hard for me to see the "2" engraved on the trophy, but the image on xkcd.com was much clearer. Yada yada yada, turns out there's much higher quality images on xkcd.com for all comics starting with [[1084]], for example for this comic:

https://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/motivated_reasoning_olympics.png is the normal image,

https://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/motivated_reasoning_olympics_2x.png is the higher resolution image.

Shouldn't the wiki start using the higher quality images?

--[[User:NeatNit|NeatNit]] ([[User talk:NeatNit|talk]]) 17:53, 24 June 2019 (UTC)

: While there is a higher quality image available on the XKCD site, it's not the one displayed on the comic on xkcd.com. The same lower-quality image is displayed on both sites by default. [[User:Ianrbibtitlht|Ianrbibtitlht]] ([[User talk:Ianrbibtitlht|talk]]) 18:44, 24 June 2019 (UTC)

:: I am seeing the higher-quality image on xkcd.com. I guess it has to do with screen DPI. The HTML on xkcd.com is:
:: <pre><img src="//imgs.xkcd.com/comics/motivated_reasoning_olympics.png" title="..." srcset="//imgs.xkcd.com/comics/motivated_reasoning_olympics_2x.png 2x"/></pre>
:: So it probably selects it automatically only when it'd be useful. This wiki doesn't, obviously, since it doesn't have the higher-quality image and, best I can tell, there doesn't seem to be a way to make a template do this.

:: I'm trying to figure this out right now on [[User:NeatNit/Template/comic]] but I can't find a way to make it display an image at half of its resolution, without me knowing its resolution in advance. I also can't find any parser function that returns an image's dimensions. So annoying. --[[User:NeatNit|NeatNit]] ([[User talk:NeatNit|talk]]) 18:52, 24 June 2019 (UTC)

:::I would expect this can't work correctly without support for srcset in mediawiki itself. -- [[User:Hkmaly|Hkmaly]] ([[User talk:Hkmaly|talk]]) 22:13, 24 June 2019 (UTC)

:::: Turns out MediaWiki supports srcset natively but only when an image is embedded at a smaller size, i.e. you have to upload the 2x image and embed it at half size, and let the wiki take care of everything else.

:::: If we want to do this we'll have to teach the bot some new tricks. I'll talk about this in [[User talk:DgbrtBOT]]. --[[User:NeatNit|NeatNit]] ([[User talk:NeatNit|talk]]) 13:54, 25 June 2019 (UTC)

:I have also noticed that this wiki displays lower resolution images than the official xkcd site, when viewing at high DPI. I had previously assumed it was just a moderate resolution copy chosen to conserve explainxkcd server resources. I would love to see a higher resolution when available. [[User:ProphetZarquon|ProphetZarquon]] ([[User talk:ProphetZarquon|talk]]) 20:18, 24 June 2019 (UTC)

== Olympics vs Splinter League ==

I removed the newly added paragraph suggesting the competition was being held by the splinter league. The Olympics should include representation from all leagues and likely includes the best from the state-sponsored league in addition to Cueball's splinter league. [[User:Ianrbibtitlht|Ianrbibtitlht]] ([[User talk:Ianrbibtitlht|talk]]) 13:18, 25 June 2019 (UTC)

: "I mean ''technically'' it's not actually the Olympics, but when you consider..." [[Special:Contributions/162.158.58.227|162.158.58.227]] 21:02, 25 June 2019 (UTC)
:: Is this more motivated reasoning? I mean ''Olympics'' is right there in the name! How much more technical can you get than the name? However, I think what you're saying is it's not the actual ''Olympics'', as in the one held every 4 years in the summer. Oh, and the other one held every 4 years in the winter. There's another one for physically-challenged people (like my wife) too, the Paralympics. So, I don't see any problem with treating this Olympics like all of the others. [[User:Ianrbibtitlht|Ianrbibtitlht]] ([[User talk:Ianrbibtitlht|talk]]) 06:13, 26 June 2019 (UTC)
::: We only have his word for it that ''Olympics'' is in he name; that carries as much weight as his claim that his trophy is for 1st place... [[Special:Contributions/172.68.46.227|172.68.46.227]] 17:43, 26 June 2019 (UTC)

: I definitely read this as being his splinter league's "Olympics" because he says he's surprised by the corruption. If it were held by the statewide league (or a larger one) then I'd expect the motivated reasoner to conclude that this is a case of the general corruption his splinter league was protesting. {{unsigned ip|162.158.118.80|06:37, 26 June 2019 (UTC)}}
:: (Moved unsigned comment to end of thread per suggested practice and added unsigned wikitext markup) I think he's surprised by the corruption because he expected his splinter league's protest action to improve the corruption, but he thinks the corruption has instead gotten worse rather than better. [[User:Ianrbibtitlht|Ianrbibtitlht]] ([[User talk:Ianrbibtitlht|talk]]) 14:05, 26 June 2019 (UTC)
::: I also read it as being the splinter "Olympics", with the implication that similar splits had happened several times previously and are the reason why the previous league was only statewide in the first place.<br />(For what it's worth, I'm used to that kind of competition being known as the such-and-such Olympiad rather than the such-and-such Olympics, as in the assorted branches of the International Science Olympiad, but I think that's just a dialectal difference.) [[Special:Contributions/172.68.182.46|172.68.182.46]] 16:34, 26 June 2019 (UTC)