explain xkcd - User contributions [en]

629: Skins

2021-04-18T22:06:05Z

172.69.63.135:

{{comic
| number = 629
| date = August 28, 2009
| title = Skins
| image = skins.png
| titletext = There's Livejournal drama between those who want to wear human suits over fursuits and those who just take off the fursuits.
}}

==Explanation==
{{w|furry|Furries}}, which have been discussed in [[471|a previous comic]], are people who really like anthropomorphic animals and may enjoy drawing them or dressing up as them. One of the most prominent elements of the furry community is furry conventions, where furries meet-and-greet each other, show off and engage in activities in their fursuits, sell furry-related media, and so on.

Here, [[Cueball]] mentions furry identities. The grand majority of furries have a "fursona", that is, a furry animal with which they associate themselves. While there are different approaches towards creating a fursona, they tend to be an animal representation of either themselves or what they wish to be. These fursonas sometimes have quite a bit of background that explains their origins, their abilities, where they live, and their interests... even if their interests involve pretending to be humans. According to Cueball, "skins" are furries who have fursonas that like to pretend to be humans. In other words, skins are humans who pretend to be animals ''who pretend to be humans''. The 4th panel magnifies the ridicule of the concept of skins, the skins at the convention behaving excitedly about events that actual humans usually consider mundane. This is further emphasized by the grammatically-correct but unnatural sounding phrases that they use (which could be similar to how humans imitating animal calls could sound). It is atypical to consider "having a job" to be an activity to emphasize doing in a day (it is more a description of a state of being rather than an activity as such), and even stranger to say that in response to a question about the weather. This concept would be repeated in the title text of [[1530|comic 1530]].

If this comic satirizes furry conventions, then the title text satirizes fursuits. In this case, there are skins who wear fursuits of their fursonas, but, since their fursonas like to pretend that they are humans, these skins wear human suits ''over'' their fursuits. Such a setup would seem unwieldy, so there are skins who avert this by simply taking off their fursuits, going to the conventions as their human selves, thus technically integrating into the whole "skin atmosphere". Possible problems from this can include the "wear a human suit" skins getting angry at the "take off the fursuit" skins for "ruining the fantasy atmosphere" (since, technically, the real-life skin is not the same that would be the fursona's human facade, especially if the skin makes no effort to change the appearance to fit the human facade), or again, because they are too "cheap" or "lazy" to make or otherwise obtain the two suits. This clash of ideals would cause a lot of drama, something that furries ([[1095|or all other subcultures]]) are no stranger to.

==Transcript==
:[Cueball is packing luggage.]
:Voice: Where are you going?
:Cueball: Convention.

:Voice: What for?
:Cueball: Well, you know furries, right?
:Voice: Sure...
:[Cueball closes suitcase.]

:Cueball: We're furries whose animal identities have a thing for pretending to be humans.
:Voice: I see.

:[A convention. People sit behind booths in the background.]
:Cueball, with glasses and a mug: How's the weather?
:Megan: Great! I've been driving my car and having a job all day!
:Cueball: Did you meow?
:Megan: Not once!

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

Talk:2400: Statistics

2020-12-19T08:28:30Z

172.69.63.135:

This is a representation of the actual graph showing the efficacy of the Pfizer/BioNTech coronavirus vaccine, based on data from Deutsche Bank AG and the FDA as published in John Authers' Bloomberg Opinion column. And yes, the results are just that clear and graphically obvious (pun unintended). [[User:RAGBRAIvet|RAGBRAIvet]] ([[User talk:RAGBRAIvet|talk]]) 00:51, 19 December 2020 (UTC)

:So, the value on bottom right of the graph ... is it three days? -- [[User:Hkmaly|Hkmaly]] ([[User talk:Hkmaly|talk]]) 03:55, 19 December 2020 (UTC)
::The corresponding graph in the FDA report covers about 100 days. [[User:Barmar|Barmar]] ([[User talk:Barmar|talk]]) 05:00, 19 December 2020 (UTC)

When I saw this comic I immediately thought of this bit about doublespeak in graphs. Not saying I inherently believe or disbelieve numbers/statistics about covid but an impressive graph with no numbers...Apparently it is actually that clear though.
https://youtu.be/qP07oyFTRXc?t=292
[[User:DarkVex9|DarkVex9]] ([[User talk:DarkVex9|talk]]) 01:05, 19 December 2020 (UTC)

The graph really is a scientist's dream. It's so pretty that I had to add it to the explanation, but I'm not sure my upload worked (permissions?). Someone should screen grab fig 2 from [https://www.fda.gov/media/144434/download the FDA briefing] and add it. [[User:Mperrotta|Mperrotta]] ([[User talk:Mperrotta|talk]]) 03:56, 19 December 2020 (UTC)

I dispute that graphs are only a way of visualizing data; this graph is actually the platonic graph talked about in a textbook about graphs which funnily I found on xkcd. tldr: a good graph makes the truth obvious. This is everything working out as it should be.
http://faculty.salisbury.edu/~jtanderson/teaching/cosc311/fa20/files/tufte.pdf
[[Special:Contributions/172.69.63.135|172.69.63.135]] 08:28, 19 December 2020 (UTC)

623: Oregon

2020-09-26T05:32:21Z

172.69.63.135: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 623
| date = August 14, 2009
| title = Oregon
| image = oregon.png
| titletext = A century later, the harrowing flight of the survivors from Oregon was dramatized in a popular video game.
}}

==Explanation==
This comic relates to the computer game ''{{w|The Oregon Trail (video game)|The Oregon Trail}}'', and humorously depicts the consequences to real-world Oregon if everyone had arrived in the same manner they did in the game.

''The Oregon Trail'' was an educational computer game released in 1971, but the version referred to is likely the more popular 1985 version. In the game, players would play as a character taking a trek west along the {{w|Oregon Trail}} from Missouri to Oregon. The player's journey starts in 1848 and typically takes less than one year to complete. Along the way, the player must manage resources (food, spare parts, etc.) {{tvtropes|DoomedExpedition|and face risks and dangers (starvation, disease, etc.)}}. Most players at the time were grade-school students. The game was very popular, and thousands of players played it monthly.

The game made it very easy to hunt for food. Large animals (bison, bears, etc.) were very easy and rewarding targets, where spending a single bullet could be enough to collect enough food for multiple days. There were also smaller prey available (rabbits, squirrels, etc.) which were harder to catch and provided less food. Since bullets are much lighter and cheaper than food, it was a good strategy to bring the minimum amount of food and plan to hunt for meals. Extra food can even be traded for money or other supplies, so it wasn't necessary to start the journey with anything except bullets.

The comic tries to document, as though in a historical fashion, what would have been the result if all the players had been real settlers who really had prepared for their journey on the Oregon Trail in that way. The parts before 1848 are historically accurate. Starting from 1848, however, players of the game would form an unbelievably large influx of people arriving nearly simultaneously, with very little food or supplies being brought along. Massive overhunting would soon strip the land bare, all large game slaughtered for meat, with hunger, starvation and disease soon to follow. {{w|Dysentery}} in particular was very common in the original game and perhaps the most infamous way to die, hence its listing as the most prominent epidemic.

The title text makes things rather recursive. In this alternate reality, thousands upon thousands of people fleeing ''from'' the overpopulated, devastated Oregon becomes the focus of another video game, much like ''The Oregon Trail'' in our universe.

==Transcript==
:History of 19th-century Oregon

:[Timeline, with relevant images next to various dates.]

:1805
::[Two men stand at the edge of a cliff. One has a walking staff.]
::Arrival of Lewis & Clark

:1825
::Early settlers arrive

:1841
::Oregon Trail established

:1843
::Larger western migration begins

:1848
::[A horse is pulling a covered wagon. A gun peeks out the back.]
::Huge wave of 500,000+ settlers arrives from Missouri. Largely children and adolescents, most bring nothing but cartloads of bullets for hunting.

:1849
::[Cueball and Megan with rifles aim at something.]
::Overhunting begins to devastate ecosystem
::Dysentery epidemic.

:1850
::[Tombstones and bodies.]
::Shooting deaths skyrocket
::Typhoid epidemic
::Measles epidemic
::Cholera epidemic

:1851
::All mammals larger than squirrels wiped out by overhunting
::Massive famine

:1852
::[Sun low over a land, devoid of life. Scattered remains of corpses and skeletons.]
::Last survivors flee
::Oregon territory abandoned

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Video games]]

2363: Message Boards

2020-09-24T01:36:17Z

172.69.63.135: Restoring text that I assume was deleted by accident.

{{comic
| number = 2363
| date = September 23, 2020
| title = Message Boards
| image = message_boards.png
| titletext = (c) You can have a scooter when you pay for it yourself, and (d) if you can't learn to start a new thread rather than responding to an old one, you'll be banned. [thread locked by moderator]
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by Julian's kid in 2040, who wants a hover-scooter. Please mention here why this explanation isn't complete. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

The joke of this comic lies in the dates of the forum posts and the (presumed) relation between the posters.

The initial post was made in 2000 by an, at the time, teenaged girl (likely 14-15 years old given her username ends in 85), complaining that her mother did not want her to get a Vespa. Vespa is brand of scooters and mopeds produced by the Italian manufacturer Piaggio. Most U.S. states require motorcycle licenses for any vehicle with an engine size over 50 cubic centimeters. Most Vespas are larger than this, although 49 CC models (classified as mopeds) do exist.

The reply was written in 2020 (twenty years later) by the now-adult woman's son, Julian. "Julz" complains about his mother refusing to allow him to get an electric scooter, which doesn't require a licence. He is implicitly pointing out the hypocrisy of his mother, as a 15 year old, thinking that teenagers with scooters are perfectly reasonable, while as a 35 year old, being against the idea.

The humour derives partially from the fact that this isn't really hypocrisy: we expect teenaged viewpoints to evolve into mature adult viewpoints, and don't hold adults to promises made or beliefs held when they were teenagers. Humour also results from the unexpected situation of the child tracking down his mother's old forum post, and his mother still being active in the same niche forum 20 years later.

In the title text, the parent is apparently a mod on that board now and threatens banning if the kid doesn't learn to post a new thread for stuff like this instead of dredging up dead threads from years ago, a common complaint on message boards, except in this case it seems to be more about hiding her hypocrisy from other users on the board than for the usual reason of letting dead threads stay dead.

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
:[View of the "MopedPro" forum on a message board]
:NIN85 (posted December 5, 2000): So mad that my mom won't let me get a Vespa. I'm old enough for a moped license and they're really not that dangerous.
:JULZ (posted September 23, 2020): At least she's not stopping you from getting an electric scooter you don't even need a license for
:NIN85 (posted September 23, 2020): Okay, Julian, (A) you know we talked about this, and (B) how the heck did you find this thread

:Subtitle: I love that message boards are now old enough for this to happen.

:Title text: (c) You can have a scooter when you pay for it yourself, and (d) if you can't learn to start a new thread rather than responding to a new one, you'll be banned. [thread locked by moderator]

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Social networking]]

2359: Evidence of Alien Life

2020-09-18T00:51:50Z

172.69.63.135: /* Description of responses */

{{comic
| number = 2359
| date = September 14, 2020
| title = Evidence of Alien Life
| image = evidence_of_alien_life.png
| titletext = Both too cautious AND not cautious enough: "I'm skeptical that those are aliens, so I'm going to try pulling off their masks."
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by an APPROPRIATELY CAUTIOUS ALIEN BOT. ''Needs a table explaining each panel of the alignment chart like other such comics''. And more on the bottom panels. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
This comic depicts a table of possible responses to new information on the possibility of alien life. It is presented in table form, with the columns representing three categories of reaction to new evidence, and the rows representing the strength of new evidence, increasing down the table. Each intersection then shows a small scenario of what the response would be. The left and right-hand column scenarios are hyperbolic in either their acceptance or denial. The center column represents a reasonable course of action.

This comic was a reaction to [https://www.nytimes.com/2020/09/14/science/venus-life-clouds.html the discovery of phosphine gas on Venus], which is where Ponytail's "V" figure in the second row comes from (a representation of the phosphine absorption feature). {{w|Phosphine}} is a molecule whose presence in the Venusian atmosphere came as a surprise. Light breaks phosphine down, meaning something must be producing it. However, there is no known abiotic mechanism on Venus that would produce the gas in the quantities observed. The phosphine could therefore be a sign of life on Venus, but more evidence is needed. Venus was also an unexpected place to find a possible sign of life — although it was {{w|Venus in fiction|a common pulp fiction setting in the early 20th-century }}, the arrival of the space probe era dashed hopes that the hidden surface might be, say, an exotic jungle. More recent efforts at finding life in the Solar System have mostly focused on Mars and various ice moons with suspected {{w|Ocean#Natural_satellites|subsurface oceans}}, but life more-or-less as we know it could exist within the upper atmosphere of Venus, which has more Earth-like conditions than the surface. However, while the discovery of phosphine is interesting, it is not nearly enough evidence to claim that "life has been found" on Venus, and likewise, it is comically understated to refer to the paper as "evidence of molecules" in Venus's atmosphere.

The title text refers to an action which is simultaneously too cautious and not cautious enough: the speaker is skeptical that aliens exist, which is usually an appropriate belief, except that presumably Megan and Cueball are in the situation presented in the bottom row, where aliens have landed right in front of them. Rather than modifying his belief (presumably it's Cueball, who was the one to approach the aliens in the other panels), he expresses an intention to approach the alleged aliens and attempt to remove their masks. He believes that he will expose a human wearing a costume, perpetrating a {{tvtropes|ScoobyDooHoax|"Scooby-Doo"-style hoax}}, but no matter what the outcome is, he's acting rashly. If the beings before him are aliens, he will be initiating a very aggressive first contact and will likely receive a violent response, and even if the alien is not violent, Cueball might end up removing an environmental apparatus that is protecting it from Earth's environment (or vice versa). On the other hand, even if the "aliens" really are fakes, Cueball might end up injuring someone who is just playing a harmless joke (and who'd want to keep ''some'' kind of mask on to reduce the spread of {{w|COVID-19}}).

===Description of responses===
In the first row, an asteroid looks like an "alien probe". The "least cautious" response immediately jumps to the conclusion that the asteroid '''is''' an alien probe. The "too cautious" response simply ignores the asteroid, while the "appropriately cautious" response seeks to discover more information about the asteroid.

The "alien probe" asteroid refers to {{w|'Oumuamua}}, which passed through the Solar System in 2017. 'Oumuamua's {{w|trajectory|hyperbolic trajectory}} indicated interstellar origin. Because of the unusual elongated shape suggested by its {{w|albedo}} (the object was never visualized as more than a point source of light) and indications of a slight non-gravity related acceleration, there were many wild speculations about 'Oumuamua's origin, including it being an alien probe similar to the one presented in the science fiction classic {{w|Rendezvous_with_Rama|Rendezvous with Rama}}. The image of an astronomer looking through a telescope and being alarmed by seeing "something huge" which is actually very small and very close is [https://www.shutterstock.com/image-vector/men-pleased-fake-ufo-293395676 an old comic gag], but the difference in parallax would immediately distinguish a close asteroid from a far one.

The second row refers to the discovery of phosphine gas on Venus, with the "least cautious" response to simply conclude that there '''is''' life on Venus. The "appropriately cautious" and "too cautious" responses provide more general conclusions about "molecules" on Venus.

In the final row, aliens have arrived on Earth. The insufficiently cautious approach is to immediately hug them. Cueball might make a new friend, but he might also be mistaken as an attacker, or perhaps the aliens are {{tvtropes|ToServeMan|intending to make a meal}} of whoever approaches them. The more responsible approach is to (consider attempting to) communicate at a distance. In the final panel, the United Nations building is being vaporized by energy beams. This is technically "just" a "possible biosignature", as there are abiotic stellar events that produce energetic beams (although those are usually the size of planets or stars rather than buildings) and the beams could also be {{w|The Pink Panther Strikes Again|of human origin}}, but debating such semantics in the face of such destructive power seems excessively pedantic. For that matter, even though that panel is presented as "too cautious", it's only "too cautious" in the sense of "discussing the possibility of alien life"; Megan and Cueball are showing extreme ''lack'' of caution by remaining in the vicinity of an alien attack.

The destruction of human governmental buildings is a common trope in science fiction films, as a way of aliens removing the ability of humanity to co-ordinate a response to an attack. The United Nations building is [https://nypost.com/2017/12/11/former-uk-official-reveals-plan-in-case-of-alien-invasion/ allegedly] the co-ordination centre for a worldwide response to an extraterrestrial incursion. However, since popular culture in the USA currently doesn't pay much attention to the United Nations, in American movies it is more commonly the White House or larger cities like New York or Los Angeles that get blown up by aliens.

==Transcript==

The comic is laid out like a grid, with implements down the left-hand side (Weak Evidence of Alien Life/ Promising Evidence/ Definite Evidence) and the type of "reaction" across the top (Not Cautious Enough / Appropriately Cautious/ Too Cautious). The grid illustrates the "match-ups".

From the top left corner, going from left to right, top to bottom, with each first item being on its own line in the grid, the squares are as follows:

Row 1: Cueball, looking through a telescope
 
 
Weak Evidence of Alien Life/Not Cautious Enough: Cueball - "That asteroid is probably an alien probe"
 
Weak Evidence of Alien Life/Appropriately Cautious: Cueball - "This asteroid is weird and we should take a closer look; It's not aliens"
 
Weak Evidence of Alien Life/Too Cautious: Cueball - "This asteroid appears to be far away, but it could also be nearby and just very small"

Row 2: Ponytail, holding a tablet or pad with "V" on it, approaches Cueball
 
 
Promising Evidence/Not Cautious Enough: Ponytail to Cueball - "They found life on Venus!"
 
Promising Evidence/Appropriately Cautious: Ponytail to Cueball - "Theses molecules might be produced by life or by weird high-heat chemistry"
 
Promising Evidence/Too Cautious: Ponytail to Cueball - "There is growing evidence that the atmosphere on Venus contains molecules"

Row 3: Flying saucers descend on Earth
 
 
Definite Evidence/Not Cautious Enough: Cueball - "I'm going to go give those aliens a hug!"
 
Definite Evidence/Appropriately Cautious: Cueball - "Oh wow, aliens! Should we try to communicate?"
 
Definite Evidence/Too Cautious: Megan - "The energy beams vaporizing the United Nations could be a possible biosignature"
 
 

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Ponytail]]
[[Category:Space]]

Talk:750: Book Burning

2020-08-17T14:39:57Z

172.69.63.135: comment

"...the Kindle edition is the preferred method of buying a book."? A bit subjective, really. Needs more qualifications to make that sound right. (Except for the aforementioned price, I'm not sure what argument would convince ''me'', however technophilic I am. I just like all my dead-tree publications, as a glance at my bookshelves and multiple other 'flat' surfaces around the house would confirm.)

Oh yeah, and as I forgot to sign the above, can I also add that I'm sure there's also a joke in that in an attempt to eradicate a book, the protesters are actually ''increasing'' the apparent demand for it. And, unlike a physical volume the misguided destruction of the electronic copy (or at least the medium it exists on) does not deplete any extant stocks. (In fact, the person who bought and downloaded the eBook can probably re-download the eBook if the download mechanism allows that for previously authorised purchases.) And do it enough and they may even print extra ''physical'' copies. (Soon to be coming to a remaindered book shop near you, and you, and you as well sir... Way to go to spread the Word!) "Epic Fail", anyone? [[Special:Contributions/178.98.192.132|178.98.192.132]] 23:44, 4 May 2013 (UTC)

;Book-burning incidents

While the joke is about burning a Kindle, I'm still sad about burning books. Look here: {{w|List of book-burning incidents}}. Burning a book is a kind of violence, this should be mentioned here. This comic is marked as incomplete.--[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 20:36, 29 July 2013 (UTC)

The comic is obviously mocking the intelligence of those radicals that would really like to see "heretical" books burn.--[[User:Qwach|Qwach]] ([[User talk:Qwach|talk]]) 19:04, 31 August 2013 (UTC)
:The German Nazis did state Jewish and critical books as "heretical". But I'm still searching for some proper statements at this comic. Does Randall refer to the gas chambers at the concentration camps? By the end the Nazi empire did die in 1945. Nevertheless, burning books reminds me always on that historical incidents.--[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 19:51, 6 September 2013 (UTC)

There should be some mention about how the digital copy wouldn't affect the market as much, thereby making their intent null, and also the fact that burning a kindle as opposed to burning a book would actually increase the cost. --[[User:Lackadaisical|Lackadaisical]] ([[User talk:Lackadaisical|talk]]) 18:25, 22 November 2013 (UTC)

:Buy it, but put it on a cheap, $1.00 flash drive then it costs less, but still emits fumes

I guess they should have just pirated the digital copy around (thus 'burning' it and spreading it at the same time)[[Special:Contributions/141.101.99.195|141.101.99.195]] 07:19, 22 January 2014 (UTC)

",,,most of which were based on violent actions against minorities." Actually, most of the recent ones were violent actions performed by radical minorities. At least in the US. -- [[Special:Contributions/172.69.63.135|172.69.63.135]] 14:39, 17 August 2020 (UTC)