explain xkcd - User contributions [en]

Talk:2299: Coronavirus Genome 2

2020-04-28T09:03:54Z

172.69.22.110:

How long is it likely to be before somebody does this? Hours? Minutes? [[User:Angel|Angel]] ([[User talk:Angel|talk]]) 23:56, 27 April 2020 (UTC)
: I'd do it myself right now if I still used Facebook... and if I knew where to find it... [[Special:Contributions/173.245.54.115|173.245.54.115]] 01:20, 28 April 2020 (UTC)
:: [https://www.facebook.com/paul.zy.zhang/posts/921162404972081 I did.] ¯\_(ツ)_/¯. [[User:In vivo veritas|In vivo veritas]] ([[User talk:In vivo veritas|talk]]) 01:54, 28 April 2020 (UTC)
::: Although, I wouldn't be surprised if someone's beaten me to the punch. [[User:In vivo veritas|In vivo veritas]] ([[User talk:In vivo veritas|talk]]) 03:32, 28 April 2020 (UTC)

I find it pretty funny that while you can't tweet it, per a recent twitter discovery, you could set that genome as your official gender on twitter (proof of character limit, as an example: https://twitter.com/FaxonFury/status/1254775943664504832). [[Special:Contributions/172.69.22.110|172.69.22.110]] 09:03, 28 April 2020 (UTC)

Talk:915: Connoisseur

2018-12-03T08:51:19Z

172.69.22.110:

Well he's right about fonts. I am hooked on Operator Mono, which costs like $200-300 if you purchase it legitimately 😗 ... --[[Special:Contributions/172.69.22.110|172.69.22.110]] 08:51, 3 December 2018 (UTC)

Let's face it: every wine connoisseur is an alcoholic. You have to drink a lot of wine over a long period of time to begin distinguishing all wine-types, flavors etc. Rule of nature. No discussion.{{unsigned ip|162.158.83.144}}
::I hope you were drunk at least when you said this 🍻 --[[Special:Contributions/172.69.22.110|172.69.22.110]] 08:51, 3 December 2018 (UTC)

This is one of those xkcd comics that I'm just constantly linking back to as an image retort. I love Randall. '''[[User:Davidy22|{{Color|#707|David}}y²²]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 01:28, 17 April 2013 (UTC)

I expanded the explanation and removed the incomplete tag. [[Special:Contributions/173.245.53.117|173.245.53.117]] 14:47, 5 December 2013 (UTC)

The current incomplete tag asks why voice 1 calls Joe Biden "the man" and voice 2 calls him J.B. As far as I can see, there is no deeper/cryptic meaning to the choice of these words, other than possible space saving. Both 'J.B.' and 'the man' are shorter than 'Joe Biden'. I personally don't believe that this requires any further explanation, but I will leave the incomplete tag for now. If there are no updates to the page or additional discussion here, I will remove the incomplete tag in due course. --[[User:Pudder|Pudder]] ([[User talk:Pudder|talk]]) 13:06, 30 July 2015 (UTC)

:The stars are named Joe Biden, though. Hmmmm... [[User:RedHatGuy68|RedHatGuy68]] ([[User talk:RedHatGuy68|talk]]) 05:20, 23 January 2016 (UTC)

This could be another 242 reference; the explanation to [[903: Extended Mind]] describes Randall's use of 242 as an old inside joke, ãnd 242 also appears in [[688: Self-Description]]. [[User:Pelosujamo|Pelosujamo]] ([[User talk:Pelosujamo|talk]]) 20:07, 5 February 2017 (UTC)

How can it be a reference to 1051 if it came before 1051[[Special:Contributions/162.158.63.106|162.158.63.106]]

:I don't see how there is a reference between these to comics anyway. especially regarding canadian surealist porn. Closest thing in there is Autoerotic Asphyxiation... I'm gonna delete that there is this reference [[User:Lupo|Lupo]] ([[User talk:Lupo|talk]]) 18:48, 4 January 2018 (UTC)
::Upon looking at it again to reread it, I notice, that the reference is not in the comic, but the explanation, as canadian surrealist porn is not a wikipedia link, but 3 of them for canada, surrealism and porn, which is basically the title text from 1051. Gonna delete it anyway, as it has no relevance. [[User:Lupo|Lupo]] ([[User talk:Lupo|talk]]) 18:50, 4 January 2018 (UTC)

All of us are connoisseurs of Randall Monroe eating a sandwich while drawing more comics.

Talk:2013: Rock

2018-11-28T11:52:26Z

172.69.22.110:

Wow, 3 paragraphs and still created by a “BOT”. Good self control today, explainers! 😂. If someone does change it, may I humbly suggest it be created by a “rock”? [[User:PotatoGod|PotatoGod]] ([[User talk:PotatoGod|talk]]) 19:40, 29 June 2018 (UTC)

Note: this explanation was written by someone who's not very good at skipping stones, if they think 1-2 skips is typical. A single skip is about the same as just throwing a rock in the water! (Just kidding around because it's Friday) [[User:Ianrbibtitlht|Ianrbibtitlht]] ([[User talk:Ianrbibtitlht|talk]]) 20:39, 29 June 2018 (UTC)

: Actually, just throwing a rock in the water would be zero skips by Randall's reckoning. The five skips in this comic are followed by a "plunk", indicating Randall does not count the rock's final entry into the water as a skip. Though you did say "ABOUT the same", so technically you're still right. 8-) [[User:Redbelly98|Redbelly98]] ([[User talk:Redbelly98|talk]]) 02:23, 16 July 2018 (UTC)

Anyone know if there could even be a rock that came from a volcano near the south pole when the world was frozen over before multicellular life began, and if so, when would that have occurred? [[User:Ianrbibtitlht|Ianrbibtitlht]] ([[User talk:Ianrbibtitlht|talk]]) 20:40, 29 June 2018 (UTC)

:Looking at {{w|Geologic temperature record}}, I suspect even the "world was frozen over before multicellular life began" is pretty bold statement not supported by actual evidence. Existence of specific volcano is likely even less supported. On the other hand, we can't disprove it either. -- [[User:Hkmaly|Hkmaly]] ([[User talk:Hkmaly|talk]]) 22:21, 29 June 2018 (UTC)

::Likely, she is holding some sort of igneous rock found at one of the locations mentioned above. How she knows the age of the rock is the real mystery. Did she pick it up just now and she is guessing? Was it catalogued in a geoarchaeologic dig site? [[Special:Contributions/172.68.65.234|172.68.65.234]] 03:48, 2 July 2018 (UTC)

"philosophical perspective". Does mean that this is the philosophers' stone?
: Only outside the US. [[User:These Are Not The Comments You Are Looking For|These Are Not The Comments You Are Looking For]] ([[User talk:These Are Not The Comments You Are Looking For|talk]]) 12:46, 1 July 2018 (UTC)

I don't think the assertion that the stone travelled from North Europe or South Africa is correct. I read it as Megan is at one of those locations, the stone's journey was from its birth at the south pole to meet her millions of years later and thousands of miles away. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.158.33|162.158.158.33]] 16:58, 2 July 2018 (UTC)

He had seen things people wouldn't believe. Attack ships on fire off the shoulder of Orion. He watched C-beams glitter in the dark near the Tannhäuser Gate. All those moments will be lost in time, like skip, skip, skip, skip, skip, plunk! Time to die.
: So it's a replicant stone! [[Special:Contributions/162.158.158.33|162.158.158.33]] 10:40, 3 July 2018 (UTC)

Very similar to an old Peanuts cartoon. https://i0.wp.com/www.overheavenshill.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/charlie-brown.jpg

How can a stone remain buried until it erodes away? Remaining buried until the Earth is swallowed by the Sun is at least theoretically possible, though highly unlikely given my probably-flawed understanding of geological and astronomical time scales, and remaining buried until it melts down into the mantle seems plausible. But if the stone erodes away, won’t it need to be unburied first? [[Special:Contributions/172.69.22.110|172.69.22.110]] 11:52, 28 November 2018 (UTC)

Talk:2061: Tectonics Game

2018-11-22T23:11:06Z

172.69.22.110: Updated a discord link

'''Please never move discussions to other sections; the chronological order has to be respected.''' --[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 19:51, 20 October 2018 (UTC)

Wrote my first transcript. Hopefully it isn't terrible, haha. [[User:IYN|IYN]] ([[User talk:IYN|talk]]) 17:13, 19 October 2018 (UTC)
:Not bad, but please do not remove the incomplete tag too soon. Even my smaller changes don't convince me right now that it's complete. --[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 17:34, 19 October 2018 (UTC)
:There's no explanation ''OR'' transcript for the Title-text, yet. Sooo...
:[[User:ProphetZarquon|ProphetZarquon]] ([[User talk:ProphetZarquon|talk]]) 18:41, 19 October 2018 (UTC)

I know very little about stars. Can anyone explain what the type in the title text is? [[Special:Contributions/162.158.63.70|162.158.63.70]] 18:23, 19 October 2018 (UTC)

The nice thing about this game is you could represent the Earth by a 1000-pixel wide map, and it would take over a decade before anyone could tell whether you'd actually implemented anything. -- [[User:Dtgriscom|Dtgriscom]] ([[User talk:Dtgriscom|talk]]) 20:53, 19 October 2018 (UTC)

In Panel 2, there is a box with the following information

<pre>
Single Multi
LT 80 GT 440 T
LM 15 GT 3 GT
LA 2 MT 0 T
LL 580 GT 0 T
</pre>

What does this mean? The measurements seem to be in gigatonnes, hence a measure of mass. CO2 releases are often measured in Gigatonnes. The geochemical carbon cycle is a significant long term negative feedback loop, so I guess these relate to CO2, but I can't guess the specifics. [[User:Zeimusu|Zeimusu]] ([[User talk:Zeimusu|talk]]) 15:00, 20 October 2018 (UTC)

:Just a guess, but I think it could be the amount of life, as a goal is to "keep your biosphere rich". Single and multi then mean single- and multicelled, and the terms on the left could be "Life-Terrestrial", "-Marine", "Aerial" and "Littoral" [[User:Emil|Emil]] ([[User talk:Emil|talk]]) 11:29, 21 October 2018 (UTC)

::And if you look at the [https://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/tectonics_game_2x.png high-DPI image] you can see that the second row of achievements in the last panel, underneath the stages of mountain, is not "{{diff|164457|achievements in the formation of an atoll}}" but evolutionary stages of life: (1) non-cellular (or cellular but prokaryotic?), (2) cellular with a nucleus (eukaryotic), (3) multicellular, and (4) what looks like a side-view of a mammalian eye. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.155.158|162.158.155.158]] 17:22, 22 October 2018 (UTC)

'''An Actual Game'''

Here is a section for people who are looking into actually developing a game. (With time warp obviously.)

Seriously though, this could actually be a fun (and educational) simulator, similar to KSP. --[[Special:Contributions/172.69.142.10|172.69.142.10]] 02:31, 20 October 2018 (UTC)

My wife is trying to physically restrain me from immediately starting to write this game...int main ( int arggggg...ow...get off [[User:SteveBaker|SteveBaker]] ([[User talk:SteveBaker|talk]]) 16:52, 19 October 2018 (UTC)
:If the comment section of this comic is anything to go by, you could sell it for a buck a pop and get...I dunno...$12 at least? [[User:GreatWyrmGold|GreatWyrmGold]] ([[User talk:GreatWyrmGold|talk]]) 19:01, 19 October 2018 (UTC)

Who wants to help me make this? [[User:Blacksilver|Blacksilver]] ([[User talk:Blacksilver|talk]]) 17:24, 19 October 2018 (UTC)

With a sufficiently large time warp, this actually sounds like it would be pretty fun. [[User:Ahiijny|Ahiijny]] ([[User talk:Ahiijny|talk]]) 18:20, 19 October 2018 (UTC)

Hey, guys reading your comments I can see several people, including myself, might be interested in making a game like this. Perhaps we should coordinate efforts to make one? [[Special:Contributions/162.158.246.100|162.158.246.100]] 23:15, 19 October 2018 (UTC)

I came here specifically to see if this game existed and I'm irritated it doesn't yet. People with better coding and geological skills than me, you have an interested party. {{unsigned ip|108.162.221.83}}

I'm fully on board. If and when this thing hypothetically gets popular, I'll be like, "Hey, I was there!" [[Special:Contributions/172.68.46.5|172.68.46.5]] 04:12, 20 October 2018 (UTC)

I have a feeling that making this game would be an awful like No Man's Sky, all the physics would be extremely difficult to manage and take years to iron out fully. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.246.88|162.158.246.88]] 15:03, 20 October 2018 (UTC)

I would love to help. I'm thinking something like https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reus_(video_game). But just with planetary modification abilities. {{unsigned ip|108.162.237.58}}

If anyone's interested I made a discord server where we can talk about making this: https://discord.gg/4MGZT7n [[User:MutedAjar|MutedAjar]] ([[User talk:MutedAjar|talk]]) 05:18, 21 October 2018 (UTC)

I'm surprised no one's brought up SimEarth, which you start out by terraforming a barren planet, making sure life forms, evolves to sentience, and watch it leave for the stars [[Special:Contributions/172.69.22.140|172.69.22.140]] 00:30, 23 October 2018 (UTC)

<big>'''It's going to happen!'''</big> Working title is "Tectonica" (yeah - in the cartoon it's "Tectonics!" but you can't have a '!' in a URL and we liked "tectonica" better). Nothing to see YET but we have [https://tectonica.fun tectonica.fun] registered and active technical discussion and the promise of some minimal "getting started" code. Plan is to have it run in-browser for portability and to be written in C++/wasm and WebGL for speed. And, yes, we'll add an "accelerated realtime" button for those more impatient players <sight>. [[User:SteveBaker|SteveBaker]] ([[User talk:SteveBaker|talk]]) 19:04, 28 October 2018 (UTC)
:This doesn't explain the comic, I've moved it to the trivia section. And if the provided link there will be not much more than a single picture it's even NOT valid for the trivia section. --[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 18:42, 29 October 2018 (UTC)
:: Oh good god no! It shouldn't even be in the trivia section at all until something is actually running and looking somewhat like a playable game. I didn't intend this to be something to go into the "explain" at all. Just that anyone else who thinks this might make a pretty decent game MIGHT come here - see this in the Talk and head over to make it happen. [[User:SteveBaker|SteveBaker]] ([[User talk:SteveBaker|talk]]) 01:53, 30 October 2018 (UTC)
:::Thanks for your reply, it's removed from the trivia section. You could have done this too. --[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 20:27, 30 October 2018 (UTC)

<big>'''Unity version!'''</big>

A (currently) small splinter group has formed that would rather use Unity to create the game. While I respect the decision to build the game in C++/wasm, I feel that the barrier to entry is slightly too high for most people to begin contribution. In contrast, Unity is well-documented and there are many tutorials available online already for those who wish to contribute. We have a discord server available here: https://discord.gg/4QP6d6q [[Special:Contributions/172.69.42.40|172.69.42.40]] 22:07, 15 November 2018 (UTC)

'''Other Real Time Games'''

This is for discussion of other real time games. (I.E. Desert Bus) --[[Special:Contributions/172.69.142.10|172.69.142.10]] 02:34, 20 October 2018 (UTC)

I have this horrible urge to find the Desert Bus source code and mod it to make "Desert Bus 2: Walt Disney Land to Walt Disney World" [[Special:Contributions/172.68.90.88|172.68.90.88]] 21:53, 19 October 2018 (UTC)SiliconWolf
:From what I gather, part of the "magic" of Desert Bus is the whole lotta hours of repetitive nothing, and I seriously doubt the trip between Disneys is filled with nothing to see. :) Otheriwse I find this to be an awesome idea, LOL! [[User:NiceGuy1|NiceGuy1]] ([[User talk:NiceGuy1|talk]]) 05:45, 5 November 2018 (UTC)

It's like playing Desert Bus for the rest of your life... :) [[Special:Contributions/162.158.63.154|162.158.63.154]] 18:23, 19 October 2018 (UTC) Scott
:As soon as I saw the headline that this was about other real time games, first and only thought was Desert Bus, LOL! Which I've only heard of (primarily from Angry Video Game Nerd). :) [[User:NiceGuy1|NiceGuy1]] ([[User talk:NiceGuy1|talk]]) 05:45, 5 November 2018 (UTC)

:I thought it appropriate to add Desert Bus to the main description as a real world example of a tedious real-time game that goes to a ridiculous extreme... though much less extreme and ridiculous than the one in the comic. [[User:N0lqu|-boB]] ([[User talk:N0lqu|talk]]) 21:17, 19 October 2018 (UTC)

Does anyone else remember the old DOS game: 688 Attack Sub? Where it felt like you were waiting forever for your torpedo to hit? I liked that they told you that, in the real world, it's much slower than it is in the game.[[Special:Contributions/172.68.65.6|172.68.65.6]] 18:46, 19 October 2018 (UTC)
:Back then I had a demo (I believe I recall it was on 1 disk and ran off the disk, so I could play on any computer I encountered). Been a while, but I believe it was one specific scenario with a bit of randomness thrown in (like the decisions other ships made), and I played it many, many times. Since it was the demo either the part about not-real-time torpedoes wasn't in there or I always jumped straight to the gameplay, LOL! [[User:NiceGuy1|NiceGuy1]] ([[User talk:NiceGuy1|talk]]) 05:45, 5 November 2018 (UTC)

Not really sure where to put this, so posting it here: Too bad the comic wasn't a bit longer. Could have had Ponytail respond to "It's real time" with "Of course not. It's a million times faster." "Whew." "Yeah, just 400 more years until your first mountain achievement." {{unsigned|Trlkly}}
: Actually, at 1 million times faster, it would only take 0.4 years, or about 5 months. {{unsigned ip|141.101.88.196}}

Are you sure the second row of achievements is about atolls? It looked more like evolution of life to me (single celled, multicellular, something, fish). -- [[Special:Contributions/162.158.62.33|162.158.62.33]] 11:35, 21 October 2018 (UTC)

I was immediately reminded of Wobbler's (or Pratchett's, depending on which side of the 4th wall you look from) "Journey to Alpha Centauri" - and it turns out it was actually made into a "real" game too. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.210.22|162.158.210.22]] 09:03, 22 October 2018 (UTC)

Didn't / doesn't have the MS Flight Simulator a real time mode? I think I somewhere read something about that some time ago. Dunno if true, wikipedia doesn't say anything about that. [[User:Elektrizikekswerk|Elektrizikekswerk]] ([[User talk:Elektrizikekswerk|talk]]) 10:23, 22 October 2018 (UTC)
:@Elektrizikekswerk: yes, it did. I recall one of the challenges on Message Boards at the time was to complete Sydney-LAX in real time (~12 hours continuous flying) in poor weather. I'm searching for evidence of this and will update once I can link it together. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.63.88|162.158.63.88]] 14:03, 22 October 2018 (UTC)
::Some facts: MS Flight Simulator (MSFS) is dead since 2009, MS closed it and they sold something to someone but not much happened since than. AND it wasn't really a game, it was a realistic simulator you couldn't use it without some general knowledge about aviation. Fifteen years ago I've flown many legs about two up to four hours, in real-time. Besides the starting and landing phase it was boring, just because the autopilot does nearly everything - the only important thing was interacting with ATC (Air Traffic Control) and following their instructions along your flight path. Four hours monitoring the radio, adjusting your flight level slightly, drinking coffee or getting a meal - just as the real thing is for a professional pilot (assisted by the autopilot). --[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 19:37, 22 October 2018 (UTC)

I think it's important to note that the 10k final achievement requires the player to "Out do" Everest (8,848m) which might not be possible under Earths gravity. Unless the achievement for mountains isn't measured from Sea-Level (in which case, Hawaii's Mauna Kea would've JUST made this achievemnt at 10,203M) or if it doesn't take place on Earth. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.237.238|108.162.237.238]] 18:05, 24 October 2018 (UTC)

Other than the aforementioned Desert Bus, the only real-time thing I can think of is part of the The Simpsons Freemium game Tapped Out. Cletus has a farm that can grow various crops which are generally silly and many related to the show, but one is titled "Corn. Actual corn", which takes 90 days to complete (most of the longest things are 24 hours, with only a handful of items being longer), the gag being that in real life corn apparently takes 90 days to grow. [[User:NiceGuy1|NiceGuy1]] ([[User talk:NiceGuy1|talk]]) 05:45, 5 November 2018 (UTC)