explain xkcd - User contributions [en]

Talk:569: Borders

2019-08-05T09:35:04Z

172.68.58.53: I suggested a location for the setting of this comment.

Unfortunately, yarbis is not a Turkish word. Its only relation with Turkish is as an acronym for "'''Y'''ıldız '''AR'''astirmaci '''BI'''lgi '''S'''istemi" which means "Yildiz Researcher Information System" in English. Yildiz is the name of a university in Turkey.{{unsigned|88.247.98.10}}

I don't think the last paragraph is correct. I think they're just random fantasy sounding names like one might find in many modern games. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.221.28|108.162.221.28]] 07:33, 6 March 2014 (UTC)
:While I don't think it's a reference to something Turkish, I doubt it's just a random fantasy name. --[[User:Alex|Alex]] ([[User talk:Alex|talk]]) 20:49, 25 June 2014 (UTC)

Are there actually any computer games that allow carrying multiple flags at once, enabling a player to get "a kajillion points" in one run? Usually CTF is played with only two teams anyway, but some games do offer multi-team setups. I'm not aware of any game that allows a player to carry more than one flag at once, though. --[[User:YMS|YMS]] ([[User talk:YMS|talk]]) 21:12, 12 January 2019 (UTC)

Isn't the scenery in the background Jerusalem? I noticed some landmarks like the Holy Sepluchre, the Hurva, the Church of the Redeemer and Dor Mition, as well as the building with the flag seems to be situated in place of the Dome of the Rock.

Talk:890: Etymology

2018-11-15T18:28:43Z

172.68.58.53:

It always bothered me how an independent gunslinger with no team of engineers or assistants has a faster ship than the entirety of the empire and all it's technical expertise. Where did he get his funding and kit from? '''[[User:Davidy22|{{Color|purple|David}}y²²]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 10:09, 9 March 2013 (UTC)

The same place as the Falcon.... gambling with people like Lando? (Also Falconry, by whatever name, was practiced in Mesopotamia and by the Bedouin in arguably at least partially desert-planet-like areas. It's quite possible that the ancestral 'Falcons' or equivalent translator-microbe-referenced creatures originated ''on'' Tatooine. A long, long time later, in a galaxy (and planet) much, much less far away (basically, here... and now) our Earth falcons are at least one branch of descendents.) Now, no doubts "Millenium" refers to the Imperial (previously Republican) standard years, but it begs the question of what the length and nature of the Tattooine 'year' is, given it's a binary-star orbitter, eh? ;) [[Special:Contributions/178.99.81.144|178.99.81.144]] 16:51, 30 April 2013 (UTC)

He won the ship from Lando, that guy owned his own city. Military ships carry much more equipment and are less manoeuvrable. [[Special:Contributions/184.66.160.91|184.66.160.91]] 19:21, 16 July 2013 (UTC)
:Plus, most commercial and government ships have extra equipment for safety and reliability. If you take a car, strip everything out of it, and put a nitrous oxide injection system in it, it will be faster than any cop car. The cop car will be able to withstand an accident much better (they are often rated for 70-mph rear-end collisions) and will typically start every time the key is turned.
: Oh, and I think Lando did not yet run Cloud City when Han won the Falcon from him. I recall Han being surprised to find out Lando had won Cloud City, in The Empire Strikes Back. [[User:Tryc|Tryc]] ([[User talk:Tryc|talk]]) 16:45, 23 July 2013 (UTC)

:I've heard this question a few times before, I always just assumed he was lying. He was a rogue and a scoundrel, trying to talk up his knackered old ship. The stuff in the Extended Universe always seemed to take it as gospel that the ship was this amazing super vessel, but I still think it's more likely that he was just spinning a tale. [[User:Elaverick|Elaverick]] ([[User talk:Elaverick|talk]]) 13:48, 12 December 2016 (UTC)

In George Lucas' novelization of the first movie (which I have heard was ghosted by Alan Dean Foster), Obi-Wan remarks to Luke that "Even a duck must be taught how to swim." And Luke replies, "What's a duck?" In another place, Luke was thinking "about a dog he had once owned" right before another event (I believe it was a ship going into hyperspace). [[Special:Contributions/108.162.221.246|108.162.221.246]] 22:08, 22 April 2015 (UTC)

Making the Kessel Run in less than 12 parsecs actually makes sense. The Kessel Run is a run that travels near a black hole, as well as multiple drops into and out of light speed. Therefore, the shorter the distance it took for a pilot to make the run, the faster the ship was (to negate the gravitational pull of the black hole) and the better the pilot was (to be able to maneuver the ship more tightly). So the Kessel Run was actually a race to do it in the shortest ''distance'' possible, not the shortest time. 24 October 2016 [[Special:Contributions/162.158.69.100|162.158.69.100]] 17:38, 24 October 2016 (UTC)

This same sort of thing also comes up when you think about the names of many rebel/alliance fighters. The Star Wars universe does not use our alphabet. You can probably justify the X-wing since an X is a pretty common symbol outside of being a letter, but one must wonder about all those other letter-wings, like the Y, A, B, H, etc. Fighters shaped after letters that don't seem to exist in Star Wars.

Talk:2071: Indirect Detection

2018-11-13T10:19:55Z

172.68.58.53:

Genius reference in the title text to 'throwing shade', linking modern slang with something 2,400 years earlier! --[[User:OliReading|OliReading]] ([[User talk:OliReading|talk]]) 13:33, 12 November 2018 (UTC)
:Should I be concerned that I got the Plato reference from >2K years ago, but had to look up what "throwing shade" is? I feel so old now.[[User:Daemonik|Daemonik]] ([[User talk:Daemonik|talk]]) 15:26, 12 November 2018 (UTC)
::You're not the only one, if that makes you feel better![[Special:Contributions/162.158.94.32|162.158.94.32]] 16:51, 12 November 2018 (UTC)

Sorry, first time entry editor, turned out I really couldn't add that much but I just really wanted to at least put this. I mean, what an awesome joke! [[User:Lheticus|Lheticus]] ([[User talk:Lheticus|talk]]) 13:50, 12 November 2018 (UTC)

Remember that other comic strip where he was imagining a bad opinion, looked up to see if other people had it, and then preemptively writing online about how horrible an opinion it is? This could be a callback to it, except as viewed from somebody who is friends with the person writing about it. I'd mention this in the explanation part of this strip, except I can't remember which comic that comes from. Does anybody remember? Or even what the title was so I can search the title? [[User:Jeudi Violist|Jeudi Violist]] ([[User talk:Jeudi Violist|talk]]) 17:31, 12 November 2018 (UTC)
:"Bad Opinions" (https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/2051:_Bad_Opinions). I did a site search on the word "Opinions" to find it. [[User:N0lqu|-boB]] ([[User talk:N0lqu|talk]]) 18:49, 12 November 2018 (UTC)

I dunno if it's such a terrible opinion. Sounds like a perfectly reasonable use of the animals -- make them productive (albeit for a limited time) rather than a (lengthy) drain on resources.
<----You must have some awful friends! [[Special:Contributions/172.68.58.53|172.68.58.53]] 10:19, 13 November 2018 (UTC)

Talk:2071: Indirect Detection

2018-11-13T10:18:34Z

172.68.58.53:

Genius reference in the title text to 'throwing shade', linking modern slang with something 2,400 years earlier! --[[User:OliReading|OliReading]] ([[User talk:OliReading|talk]]) 13:33, 12 November 2018 (UTC)
:Should I be concerned that I got the Plato reference from >2K years ago, but had to look up what "throwing shade" is? I feel so old now.[[User:Daemonik|Daemonik]] ([[User talk:Daemonik|talk]]) 15:26, 12 November 2018 (UTC)
::You're not the only one, if that makes you feel better![[Special:Contributions/162.158.94.32|162.158.94.32]] 16:51, 12 November 2018 (UTC)

Sorry, first time entry editor, turned out I really couldn't add that much but I just really wanted to at least put this. I mean, what an awesome joke! [[User:Lheticus|Lheticus]] ([[User talk:Lheticus|talk]]) 13:50, 12 November 2018 (UTC)

Remember that other comic strip where he was imagining a bad opinion, looked up to see if other people had it, and then preemptively writing online about how horrible an opinion it is? This could be a callback to it, except as viewed from somebody who is friends with the person writing about it. I'd mention this in the explanation part of this strip, except I can't remember which comic that comes from. Does anybody remember? Or even what the title was so I can search the title? [[User:Jeudi Violist|Jeudi Violist]] ([[User talk:Jeudi Violist|talk]]) 17:31, 12 November 2018 (UTC)
:"Bad Opinions" (https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/2051:_Bad_Opinions). I did a site search on the word "Opinions" to find it. [[User:N0lqu|-boB]] ([[User talk:N0lqu|talk]]) 18:49, 12 November 2018 (UTC)

I dunno if it's such a terrible opinion. Sounds like a perfectly reasonable use of the animals -- make them productive (albeit for a limited time) rather than a (lengthy) drain on resources.
You must have some awful friends! [[Special:Contributions/172.68.58.53|172.68.58.53]] 10:18, 13 November 2018 (UTC)

Thing Explainer

2018-05-31T20:37:12Z

172.68.58.53: /* The ten hundred words people use the most */

{{TOC}}
[[File:ThingExplainerBookCover.png|frame|right|General book cover]]

''Thing Explainer: Complicated Stuff in Simple Words'' is a book by [[Randall|Randall Munroe]] where things are explained in the style of [[Up Goer Five]] (which is also included in the book), using only {{w|blueprint}} like drawings and a vocabulary of the 1,000 (or ''ten hundred'') most common words in the English language. Randall found his own method to determine which words would go on his list, a list that is revealed in the book.

The book will explore, among other things, computer buildings (datacenters), the flat rocks we live on (tectonic plates), the things you use to steer a plane (airliner cockpit controls), and the little bags of water you're made of (cells). See a summary below and also the [[#Things in this book by page|entire index from the book]] listing all the 45 different explanations.

''Thing Explainer'' is Randall's second published book, not including xkcd comic books, which he announced on May 13th, 2015 in [http://blog.xkcd.com/2015/05/13/new-book-thing-explainer/ the blag] following the amazing success of his [[what if%3F#The book|what if? book]] based on the [[what if?]] blog.

The book is a collection of diagrams and line drawings similar in style to the Up Goer Five comic, which can also be purchased as a poster. It was [[#Release day|published]] by {{w|Houghton Mifflin Harcourt}} on November 24th and is available from among others {{w|Amazon.com|Amazon}} to which [http://amzn.to/1GCXMJ5 a link] has been posted on xkcd for a long time.

When the book was released Randall had ''Minute Physics'' do a "commercial" [https://youtu.be/2p_8gx-XHJo version of the Upgoer comic].

==Release day==
On the day of the book's release (even though it was a Tuesday) Randall also released the comic '''[[1608: Hoverboard]]''', which was a direct celebration of the book's release (it says so in the comic). But it was far from being a small or normal comic! It was the first "real" game comic released on xkcd (albeit not the first [[:Category:Interactive comics|interactive comic]]). In the style of [[1110: Click and Drag]] it was possible to move around in a very much larger picture than what was shown in the frame. But this is '''not done''' by clicking and dragging though, instead the user controls [[Cueball]] on a {{w|hoverboard}} (hence the title of the comic) by using the arrow keys, assuming that the user is on a desktop computer or a laptop. If he/she is on a mobile device such as a smartphone, [[Cueball]] is controlled by tilting the device.

There are many themes and references throughout the game, but the two main themes are {{w|Star Wars}} (the largest part to the right part) and {{w|The Lord of the Rings}} to the left. Several references goes back to the book from this comic. These are [[1608:_Hoverboard#Reference_to_Thing_Explainer|listed in the explanation]] for the hoverboard comic.

On the release day Randall also released a '''[http://www.xkcd.com/simplewriter/ simple writer]''' that would only accept the thousand words listed at the back of the book under ''The ten hundred words people use the most''. In this way others can try to create simple explanations themselves.

==Summary==
Have you ever tried to learn more about some incredible thing, only to be frustrated by incomprehensible jargon? Randall Munroe is here to help. In ''Thing Explainer'', he uses line drawings and only the thousand (or, rather, “ten hundred”) most common words to provide simple explanations for some of the most interesting stuff there is, including:

*food-heating radio boxes (microwaves)
*tall roads (bridges)
*computer buildings (datacenters)
*the shared space house (the International Space Station)
*the other worlds around the sun (the solar system)
*the big flat rocks we live on (tectonic plates)
*the pieces everything is made of (the periodic table)
*planes with turning wings (helicopters)
*boxes that make clothes smell better (washers and dryers)
*the bags of stuff inside you (cells)

How do these things work? Where do they come from? What would life be like without them? And what would happen if we opened them up, heated them up, cooled them down, pointed them in a different direction, or pressed this button? In ''Thing Explainer'', Munroe gives us the answers to these questions and so many more. Funny, interesting, and always understandable, this book is for anyone—age 5 to 105—who has ever wondered how things work, and why.

==Things in this book by page==
Below is the complete index of the book called ''Things in this book by page''. First is the simple title listed. Then follows the translation of this to normal language in brackets, with a wiki link to the most relevant page, based on the books material rather than the actual title. After "…" follows the page number for the start of that title as listed in the book:
*Pages before the books starts ({{w|Introduction (writing)|Introduction}}) … vii
*Shared space house ({{w|International Space Station}}) … 1
*Tiny bags of water you’re made of ({{w|Animal cell}}) … 2
*Heavy metal power building ({{w|Nuclear reactor}}) … 3
*Red world space car ({{w|Curiosity Rover}}) … 4
*Bag of stuff inside you ({{w|Human torso}}) … 6
*Boxes that make clothes smell better ({{w|Washing machine}} and {{w|Clothes dryer|dryer}}) … 7
*Earth’s surface ({{w|World map|Physical map of the Earth}}) … 8
*Under a car’s front cover ({{w|Car engine}}) … 11
*Sky boat with turning wings ({{w|Helicopter}}) … 13
*The US’s laws of the land ({{w|US Constitution}}) … 14
*The US<strike>’</strike>S ''Laws of the Land'' ({{w|USS Constitution}}) … 15
*Food-heating radio box ({{w|Microwave oven|Microwave}}) … 16
*Shape checker ({{w|Padlock}}) … 17
*Lifting room ({{w|Elevator}}) … 18
*Boat that goes under the sea ({{w|Submarine}}) … 19
*Box that cleans food holders ({{w|Dishwasher}}) … 20
*Big flat rocks we live on ({{w|Tectonic plates}}) … 21
*Cloud maps ({{w|Weather maps}}) … 22
*Tree ({{w|Tree}}) … 23
*Machine for burning cities ({{w|Thermonuclear weapon|Nuclear bomb}}) … 24
*Water room ({{w|Bathroom|Toilet and sink}}) … 25
*Computer building ({{w|Data center}}) … 26
*US Space Team's Up Goer Five ({{w|Saturn V rocket}}) … 28
*Sky boat pusher ({{w|Jet engine}}) … 30
*Stuff you touch to fly a sky boat ({{w|Cockpit}}) … 31
*Big tiny thing hitter ({{w|Large Hadron Collider}}) … 32
*Power boxes ({{w|Battery (electricity)|Batteries}}) … 33
*Hole-making city boat ({{w|Oil platform|Oil-rig}}) … 34
*Stuff in the Earth we can burn ({{w|Mining|Mines}}) … 35
*Tall roads ({{w|Bridges}}) … 36
*Bending computer ({{w|Laptop}}) … 37
*Worlds around the sun ({{w|Solar system}}) … 38
*Picture taker ({{w|Camera}}) … 40
*Writing sticks ({{w|Pen}} and {{w|pencil}}) … 41
*Hand computer ({{w|Smart phone}}) … 42
*Colors of light ({{w|Electromagnetic spectrum}}) … 43
*The sky at night ({{w|Night sky}}) … 44
*The pieces everything is made of ({{w|Periodic table}}) … 47
*Our star ({{w|Sun}}) … 49
*How to count things ({{w|International System of Units|Units and measurement}}) … 50
*Room for helping people ({{w|Hospital bed}}) … 51
*Playing fields ({{w|Pitch (sports field)|Athletic fields}}) … 52
*Earth’s past ({{w|Period (geology)|Geologic periods of Earth}}) … 53
*Tree of life ({{w|Tree of life (biology)|Life’s family tree}}) … 54
*The ten hundred words people use the most ({{w|Most common words in English|The ten hundred most common words}} in {{w|English language|our language}}) … 57
*Helpers ({{w|Acknowledgment (creative arts and sciences)|Acknowledgments}}) … 63
*Sky toucher ({{w|Skyscraper}}) … 65

There are 48 entries, but with the introduction, the list of used words and the acknowledgments taking up three, the total ends up at 45 explanations.

==The ten hundred words people use the most==
*Since ''thousand'' is not among the 1000 most common words in the English language, he has to write it like ''ten hundred''.
**Also common is also not a common word (ironically enough).
*It is possible to check if a word is allowed by using his [http://www.xkcd.com/simplewriter/ simple writer].
*He does not use numbers like 1, 5 or 1000 in the book. He writes them out with words. So he could not have written ''1000 words...''
**Not even in the ''How to count things'' explanation.
**Interestingly enough neither ''zero'' or ''nine'' is in the list
***But the other numbers from one to ten can be used as well as twenty, thirty and hundred. No other numbers work.
***Zero is thus written ''none'' and nine like ''the one after eight''.
**In the simple writer you can write numbers without getting an error.
***But except in the index (called the ''[[#Things in this book by page|Things in this book by page]]'') and on the page just before this, with the publication details, numbers are only used for page numbers at the bottom of the page, which is also the only numbers referenced to in the index.
*The list has been made by Randall himself from extensive searches of the use of words in different types of sources.
**Especially fiction texts was used, but he also searched through the text messages he had received from people as another source.
**He writes directly: ''This is '''my''' list of the ten hundred words people use the most.''
*He only included one version of a word in the list. But all the different forms/endings of those words are allowed, but they are not written in the list and thus also not counted towards the 1000 allowed words.
**Thus many more different words than 1000 can be used, but only words with 1000 different meanings are used!
**He mentions as an example the word ''talk'', which is on the list, and thus also ''talking'' and ''talked'' would be allowed.
***He also allows words that do not exist if they sound funny enough like ''talker''.
***This is similar to ''goer'' like in [[1133: Up Goer Five]] or ''Sky '''toucher''''' from the last explanation in the book.
**Another example is the word ''be'' which is in the list.
***This then allows for instance ''Am'', ''are'' and ''is'' to be used.
***Those words are thus not in the list.
***See example [[#References to comics|below]] regarding words used in an xkcd comic featured in the book.
*Some common swear words have been left out even though they would be in most "real" list with the top 1000 common words
**For instance ''fuck'' would most likely have made the cut and maybe also ''shit'', and probably also some less harsh swear words.
**As he writes in the notes at the bottom of the last page with the list of words:
***''I didn't want to use those words anyway.''
*In the section '''Helpers''' he specifically notes that he wants to thank people, even though their names are not in the list.
**So he writes them out anyway!

==References to comics==
*These obvious references have already been mentioned above:
**[[1133: Up Goer Five]]. But apart from the entire comic being in the book there are other references to the comic:
***The tip of the Saturn V rocket can be seen at the top of ''Sky Toucher''
***The moon lander (and two astronauts) can been seen on the Moon in ''Worlds Around the Sun''.
***In the explanation for ''The pieces everything is made of'' hydrogen is similarly "named" by showing a picture of the burning Hindenburg and using the same quote as in the comic, "Oh, the humanity", which becomes "Oh the Humans!" in the book vs. "Oh, the [Humans]!" in the comic.
**[[1608: Hoverboard]]. (See this [[1608:_Hoverboard#Reference_to_Thing_Explainer|extensive list]] of connections).
*But there are also other comics that are directly or indirectly references in the book.
**[[1388: Subduction License]] is one of the most obvious examples is this comic which is directly featured in the book:
***It is included as part of the explanation of the ''Big flat rocks we live on.''
***But it is only the three last panels after the first panel which is displayed.
***The reason the first panel is not included is of course the words ''Subduction License'' which would not be allowed in the book.
***The normal words in the two middle panels are all found in the list at the back of the book. That is some form of the words are.
****Here is what is written in these panels and below this a "translation" to the version of these words that can be found on the list (see [[#The ten hundred words people use the most|above]] for an explanation on this):
****What are you doing? Stop it! Stop it!
****What '''be''' you '''do'''? Stop it! Stop it!
****All versions of these words would be allowed in the book. But the last word, ''Augh'' is of course not on the list, mainly because it is not a real word but just a sound word for an exclamation. But it is left in for the sake of the comic.
**[[526: Converting to Metric]].
***It is just a more funny version of ''How to count things'' where only the volume segment has been left out.
***The only item going again in both is the weight of a cat, although this is listed as 4 kg in the comic and 5 kg in the book...
**[[1314: Photos]].
***There is a small drawing that is just a different version of the idea behind the comic (see more explanation on the comics explanation).
**[[1110: Click and Drag]].
***A very direct reference is found in ''Stuff you touch to fly a sky boat'' where Cueball with his balloon can be seen floating just outside the cockpit.
***But there are other less indirect references like the radio controlled helicopter chase across several longer and longer bridges in ''Tall roads'' where [[Megan]] in the end catches it with a fishing rod. In Click and Drag [[Beret Guy]] is [http://imgs.xkcd.com/clickdrag/1n1e.png chasing an RC helicopter] with a butterfly net. And butterfly nets are also used in the book for catching other strange tings, see more below.
**[[1655: Doomsday Clock]] as well as [[1626: Judgment Day]].
***Both came out shortly after the book, both concerns the weapons of mass destruction humanity has created.
***This is referenced both directly in ''Machine for burning cities'' and are also mentioned in ''Boat that goes under the sea''.
**[[1619: Watson Medical Algorithm]].
***In the explanation ''Colors of light'' for the electromagnetic spectrum, [[Ponytail]] as a doctor looks at a full body x-ray of [[Cueball]] and exclaims that ''... It looks like your body is full of bones'' to which Cueball replies ''Oh no! Is there any cure?'' Well if he meets Watson he might have them all removed.
***That comic came out about a month after the book so it may be viewed as a kind of reference to the problem with too many bones.
**[[1135: Arachnoneurology]].
***In the comic spiders weave a shirt for [[Beret Guy]] and under one of the bridges in ''Tall roads'' there is a ship whose sail is a spider web. [[:Category:Spiders|Spiders]] are also shown in ''Tree of Life'' where they are called ''Biters with eight legs''.
**[[1376: Jump]].
***Has some similarities to what happens with Cueball in ''Playing fields'' when he jumps to score with his basketball, but then just keeps floating up along a straight line until twice the height of the hoop he yells ''Help!''
*There are also several items that are more generally just often used in xkcd comic, and thus not specially a reference to a given comic but rather to an entire category. Here is a list of some of the categories that are referenced in the book:
**There are two [[:Category:Butterfly net|Butterfly nets]].
***Both in relation to catching a {{w|Ball (association football)|soccer football}}, both in ''Playing fields'' and in ''Hole-making city boat''.
**There are several [[:Category:Space probes|Space probes]] including all the [[:Category:Mars rovers|Mars rovers]] (see much more detail on these two category links).
***In ''Red world space car'' the {{w|Curiosity Rover}} is explained in details. But the rower is also shown inside the skyscraper in ''Sky Tougher''.
***In ''The sky at night'' {{w|Voyager 1}} is shown.
***Both of these as well as several other probes including all other successful missions to Mars are listed in ''Worlds around the sun''.
**There are several references to [[:Category:Sport|Sport]], including all the main ones with their own category as well.
***Especially in ''Playing fields'' where all of these major sports are mentioned:
****[[:Category:American football|American football]] aka ''Foot Ball (My country)''.
****[[:Category:Baseball|Baseball]] aka ''Stick Ball''. This is also played inside the skyscraper in ''Sky toucher''.
****[[:Category:Basketball|Basketball]] aka ''Circle Ball''.
****[[:Category:Soccer|Soccer]] aka ''Foot Ball (Most other countries)''. This is also played on top of the Oil rig in ''Hole-making city boat''
***Other sports mentioned in that explanation are:
****{{w|Volleyball}} aka ''Hand and Arm Ball''
****{{w|Tennis}} aka ''Circle-Stick Ball''
****{{w|Ice Hockey}} aka ''Sliding around with sticks''
***Finally a few more sports is just depicted without names:
****{{w|Pole vaulting}}
****{{w|Karate}}
****{{w|Poohsticks}}, i.e. throwing sticks in the water from a bridge to see which comes first to the other side of the bridge...
***Other explanation with sport are
****''Hole-making city boat'' with both soccer, {{w|table tennis}} and {{w|Pool (cue sports)|pool}}
****{{w|Ten pin bowling}} is depicted three times with bowling alleys in the hull of the ship in ''The USS Laws of the Land'' and on the suspension of the longest bridge in ''Tall roads'' and a bowling alley is used for measuring length in ''How to count things.''
****''Heavy metal power building'' with two people {{w|fencing}}.
**[[:Category:Animals|Animals]] are a big part of several comics:
***''Tree of life'' is "simply" about all life, and here almost all animals used regularly in xkcd are mentioned.
***''Tree'' shows lots of the life that can live in or near a tree and thus also several animals.
***A {{w|pegasus}} like horse, but with helicopter wings instead of bird wings are shown in ''Sky boat with turning wings''.
***{{w|Octopuses}} are used in six explanations:
****''Shared space house'', ''The USS Laws of the Land'' (two), ''Big flat rocks we live on'', ''Picture taker'', ''Writing sticks'' and ''Tree of life''.
***[[:Category:Sharks|Sharks]] are used in six explanations:
****''Heavy metal power building'', ''The USS Laws of the Land'', ''Big tiny thing hitter'', ''Hole-making city boat'', ''Tree of life'' and ''Sky toucher'' (two).
****The shark's situation in ''Big tiny thing hitter'' reminds a little of the shark in [[585: Outreach]].
***[[:Category:Giraffes|Giraffes]] are used twice
****Four wight weight and length in ''How to count things'' and of course in the ''Tree of life''.
***[[:Category:Dinosaurs|Dinosaurs]] are not prominently featured but they are in two explanations:
****In ''Tree of life'' three types of dinosaurs are shown, including both [[:Category:Velociraptors|Velociraptors]] and [[:Category:Apatosaurus|Apatosaurus]].
****The latter type, Apatosaurus, has also managed to sneak into the ''Sky toucher'', even though it is ''not allowed''.
***[[:Category:Squirrels|Squirrels]] are used in four explanations.
****The most noticeable is in the explanation for ''Boxes that make clothes smell better'' where the drawing of the squirrel at the bottom right even have a notation. Above the squirrel there is an arrow pointing to it and this text:
::::"'''Wait'''
::::Why is this in your house?"
:::*The other squirrels are under the the pipe at the bottom of the explanation for ''Big tiny thing hitter'', in the top of the ''Tree'' and of course in the ''Tree of life''.
::*There are plenty of other animals including for instance {{w|Whales}} and {{w|ants}} who appear in several explanations

==Book Cover==
[[Cueball]] can be seen on the cover overlooking some of the labeled pictures. It was thus already early clear that the book would explore the themes labeled on the front cover which includes astronomy, constellations, and geology.

There are several funny "explanations" on the cover, like labels on arrows pointing to the title and to Randall's name explaining that this is:
*Big words that tell you what this book is
*My name

The back cover of the book was also available: 
[[File:ThingExplainerBookBackCover.png]]

==Preview pages==
*Part of the Curiosity entry (note that red was not used inside the book, only blue):
[[File:Space Car.jpeg]]

== Promotion at the xkcd home page ==
*Already on [http://web.archive.org/web/20150514053623/http://www.xkcd.com/ May 14th 2015] the first promotion of the book appeared at the top in the header text of the xkcd home page. This was more than half a year before the release of the book.
*While [[1611: Baking Soda and Vinegar]] was on the front page (2015-12-03), and until the comic [[1612: Colds]] came out, the top part of xkcd had been changed to [http://web.archive.org/web/20151203234149/http://xkcd.com/ promote the book], (see the image here below).
**The entire section was a link to [http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0544668251/ref=as_li_qf_sp_asin_il_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=0544668251&linkCode=as2&tag=thekcs-20&linkId=S4XRZJJKSMHOWEQU the book on amazon.com]
*Already later on the release day of Colds, (2015-12-04) it was moved to [http://web.archive.org/web/20151204190925/http://xkcd.com/ bottom section] of xkcd.
*But a [http://web.archive.org/web/20160401175527/https://www.xkcd.com/ commercial stayed at the top in the header] all the way until the problems with the [http://web.archive.org/web/20160401204749/https://xkcd.com/ April 1st comics release] in 2016, [[1663: Garden]].
**The commercial from above still stayed at the bottom below the comics even after April 1st 2016, until [http://web.archive.org/web/20160418061448/http://xkcd.com/ April 18th 2016].
**From [http://web.archive.org/web/20160418185337/http://xkcd.com/ April 19th 2016] the last reference to Thing Explainer disappeared from main page.
[[File:Thing Explainer promoted on xkcd.PNG]]

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Meta]]
[[Category:Simplified language]]

1926: Bad Code

2017-12-11T16:47:59Z

172.68.58.53: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 1926
| date = December 8, 2017
| title = Bad Code
| image = bad_code.png
| titletext = "Oh my God, why did you scotch-tape a bunch of hammers together?" "It's ok! Nothing depends on this wall being destroyed efficiently."
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by a bad coder, very incomplete, added (possibly excessive) explanation for load-bearing wall. Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

[[Ponytail]] has caught [[Cueball]] in the act of writing some messy code - code in the form of a spreadsheet formula, which in turn produces another program in a language called {{w|Haskell (programming language)|Haskell}}.

Haskell is a somewhat obscure programming language by itself, as referenced in [[1312: Haskell]].

It is explained that ''this'' code will in turn interpret ''more'' source code, specifically markup in {{w|HTML}}.
After Cueball excuses his bad code by stating that "nothing depends on this" (meaning that no other projects rely on this code being good to operate properly), Ponytail uses the analogy of breaking a non-load-bearing wall to ridicule Cueball's excuse.

A load-bearing wall is the wall that supports main structure of the building. Damaging it may cause serious issues. Typically, not all walls in the building are load-bearing; as such, they can be destroyed fairly safely, because "a building doesn't depend on it". However, supporting the building is just ''one'' of the functions which depends on having an intact wall; walls serve many other important purposes, from creating opaque and soundproof barriers (desirable for privacy purposes, particularly for bedrooms and bathrooms{{Citation needed}}), to containing and protecting water pipes and electrical wiring. Thus Ponytail's analogy does not bear much relation to Cueball's code, which really does have no consequence beyond upsetting Ponytail.

Immediately after, Ponytail appears to have realized that she's only ''inspired'' Cueball to go ahead and break the wall, instead of swaying him away from writing ugly code. If left unchecked, this will only end in tragedy. [[905: Homeownership|Hilarious, knee-slapping tragedy.]]

This is most likely a continuation of the [[:Category:Code Quality|Code Quality]] series, but it differs slightly. For one thing, all of the previous strips were name "Code Quality <number>", with the exception of the first, which was just named "Code Quality". Also note that, unlike the previous Code Quality strips, Ponytail does not start using similes like "This is like being in a house built by a child using nothing but a hatchet and a picture of a house". It's also the longest explanation of Cueball's code by Cueball himself.

The title text suggests that Cueball's approach to breaking the wall, scotch-taping a bunch of hammers together, is as good as his code. And his excuse is similar.

==Transcript==
:[Cueball is at his desk in a swivel chair, using his computer. Ponytail walks towards him.]
:Ponytail: That's the ugliest mess of code I've ever seen! What on earth are you working on?

:[Cueball swivels his chair to face Ponytail in a frameless panel.]
:Cueball: It's nothing weird this time, I swear.
:Cueball: It just looks bad because it's a spreadsheet formula.

:[Cueball is facing his computer again.]
:Cueball: ...which assembles a Haskell function.
:Ponytail: Uhhh.
:Cueball: ...for parsing HTML.
:Ponytail: ...oh my God.

:[Ponytail is pointing away from the scene.]
:Cueball: It's ok! Nothing depends on this.
:Ponytail: That wall isn't load-bearing. Does that mean we can just throw hammers at it?
:Cueball: ...I mean...
:Ponytail: Wait. Crap.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Ponytail]]
[[Category:Programming]]
[[Category:Computers]]
[[Category:Cueball Computer Problems]]

Talk:1861: Quantum

2017-07-11T22:22:19Z

172.68.58.53:

The final paragraph probably should note that Magnets are directly on the ICP "Miracles" axis. [[User:JamesCurran|JamesCurran]] ([[User talk:JamesCurran|talk]]) 18:34, 10 July 2017 (UTC)

And now I have to listen to "Miracles" again. Thanks explainxkcd. [[User:OldCorps|OldCorps]] ([[User talk:OldCorps|talk]]) 19:03, 10 July 2017 (UTC)

Unless Randall includes Quantum Field Theory in Quantum Mechanics (which is unusual), General Relativity certainly must be on the right of QM, but on the chart they are almost same level, why? All physics students learn QM, but only small minority take GR course, because mathematically it's much more demanding.
:If you look closely, General Relativity ''is'' slightly to the right of Quantum Mechanics. [[Special:Contributions/172.68.141.94|172.68.141.94]] 20:33, 10 July 2017 (UTC)

_I'M_ extremely intrigued by Special Relativity being depicted as requiring not much more math than Basic Physics (the only thing I've studied on this chart - I'm not counting magnets as all I know are the grade school basics), but as being vastly more exciting (I enjoyed the physics courses I took, as far as I remember). :) [[User:NiceGuy1|NiceGuy1]] ([[User talk:NiceGuy1|talk]]) 04:46, 11 July 2017 (UTC)

:It's interesting that special relativity is to the left of magnets when you can explain magnetism as a consequence of special relativity, from each charged particle's frame of reference, it's experiencing an electrostatic attraction or repulsion due to length contraction or an altered electric current due to time dilation.[[Special:Contributions/172.68.141.214|172.68.141.214]] 05:11, 11 July 2017 (UTC)

::That's way more complicated than special relativity, at least to me.--[[User:Gjgfuj|TheSandromatic]] ([[User talk:Gjgfuj|talk]]) 07:55, 11 July 2017 (UTC)

He forgot entropy. Maybe around where Special Relativity is? [[Special:Contributions/172.68.58.53|172.68.58.53]] 22:22, 11 July 2017 (UTC)

The Maxwell equations are more complicated than the Lorenz equations. That is why Magnets are to the right of special relativity. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.92.106|162.158.92.106]] 08:33, 11 July 2017 (UTC)

Now I'm listening to "Highway To The Danger Zone". Thanks, upper-right corner! [[Special:Contributions/162.158.62.15|162.158.62.15]] 13:03, 11 July 2017 (UTC)