explain xkcd - User contributions [en]

Talk:3014: Arizona Chess

2024-11-21T12:21:56Z

172.70.85.126:

I added a basic explanation, how did I do? [[Special:Contributions/172.70.115.129|172.70.115.129]] 14:56, 20 November 2024 (UTC)
:''pat pat'' Good job. [[User:Fephisto|Fephisto]] ([[User talk:Fephisto|talk]]) 15:28, 20 November 2024 (UTC)
I guess chess timers work based on the IERS. [[Special:Contributions/172.71.223.126|172.71.223.126]] 15:32, 20 November 2024 (UTC)
: See "{{w|Chess_clock|chess clocks}} don't work that way" comment, below. If they did, they would almost certainly reference {{w|Coordinated_Universal_Time|Zulu time}}, which doesn't recognize daylight saving or other local time adjustments. This would go badly for Cueball. Moreover, White Hat could be forgiven for thinking that he had won the game when the clock went "beep" in the third panel, because beeping/flag falling in a chess clock should signal end of match because Cueball's time had run out (the fourth panel asserts that Cueball's time did not, in fact, expire). A minor additional irregularity in what is already a seriously contrived situation. [[Special:Contributions/172.68.23.91|172.68.23.91]] 20:34, 20 November 2024 (UTC)
:: The "beep" is probably triggered by the clock falling back from DST rather than going to zero, since we can see in the 4th panel that there are more than 60 minutes left after the change.[[Special:Contributions/172.71.122.111|172.71.122.111]] 11:39, 21 November 2024 (UTC)
:No, chess clocks don't work that way. They are simple timers that do not refer to actual time of day in any way, any more than a stopwatch does. Randall just made it work that way for the sake of the joke. {{unsigned ip|172.71.194.17|20:17, 20 November 2024}}
::Speaking from the experience of one in a sport where some are seeking to "improve" upon the use of a manual stopwatch/timer process with a computerised replacement (anything from a smartphone to a home-computer, often with a live online connection), I'm seeing several cases where time differences between equipment (e.g. GPS time vs. 'radio'/time-signal time) has caused confusion, never mind the possibility of random external events (...OS Update notifications, AV scans going active, etc) or other external interferences. In ways that would never happen to a dedicated timing device that's not even listening out for a national time-signal broadcast (which I know for certain can suffer from interference).
::Also, in case anybody is bothered, it's not really a "clock" if it doesn't have a bell (or bells), as per the German "Glocke"/French: "Cloche". Although possibly a single-match "chess clock" could have such a bell for an audible alert, as well as other mechanical 'flag' indicators. But, often, what most people might call a clock is perhaps more just a "timepiece". (Watches/stopwatches/timers/etc, is another matter of sub-distinction, which I try not to be too confusing, or even wrong, about.) [[Special:Contributions/172.69.194.226|172.69.194.226]] 00:53, 21 November 2024 (UTC)

If white hat had conserved 20 seconds through the course of the game, they would have won. Cueball must have been sweating if they were relying on this strategy. [[User:Radialsymmetry|Radialsymmetry]] ([[User talk:Radialsymmetry|talk]]) 15:35, 20 November 2024 (UTC)
:Cueball may have been deliberately letting the time run down on this move for quite a while, so that it would have greater effect when the change happened at almost the last second.[[Special:Contributions/172.70.85.126|172.70.85.126]] 12:21, 21 November 2024 (UTC)

Here's one building that might qualify (it appears to be a shed or outbuilding belonging to a house in Mesquite, Nevada): https://www.google.com/maps/@36.808703609641505,-114.05009436731552,55m
 I believe that's the only one that straddles the Arizona border with a Pacific Time Zone state (California and Nevada), so (head-)canonically, that's where the comic is set. {{unsigned ip|172.69.6.190|17:15-26, 20 November 2024}}
: It could be in a temporary structure - a marquee or something.[[Special:Contributions/172.70.90.118|172.70.90.118]] 10:34, 21 November 2024 (UTC)

Is the neighbouring state {Utah or New Mexico} or {Nevada or California}? I'm not from the US so I'm not sure how your rules work. 172.69.6.190 above seems to think it's the latter but aren't they both on Mountain Time before the clocks change? {{unsigned|Mtcv}}

One difference between the way parts of North America change time and the way parts of Europe do is that the various North American time zones fall back/jump forward at 2AM local time, while European time zones all change at the same instant (01:00 UTC/WET (02:00 CET, 03:00 EET). That means that the same "trick" could work by sitting on the line between any American time zones at the changeover, but not by sitting on the European lines. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.47.138|172.70.47.138]] 15:37, 20 November 2024 (UTC)

A related oddity occurs in the City of The Gold Coast, in Australia, which straddles the Queensland/New South Wales border. The border runs through a built up area, and as NSW has DST but Queensland does not, there are places that are, for one hour each year, in different years, despite being only a few metres apart. You can celebrate the New Year at a bar in Tweed Heads, then cross the road to a bar in Coolangatta, and celebrate the New Year all over again an hour later. I believe this is the only border in the world that runs through a built up area and has different timezones at New Year; New Year being in winter in the Northern Hemisphere means that such DST related anomolies are strictly a Southern Hemisphere phenomenon. [[Special:Contributions/172.68.64.206|172.68.64.206]] 00:09, 21 November 2024 (UTC)

Should the comment about Hawaii be kept? It seems irrelevant. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.111.129|172.70.111.129]] 15:42, 20 November 2024 (UTC)
:removed [[user talk:lettherebedarklight|youtu.be/miLcaqq2Zpk]] 16:15, 20 November 2024 (UTC)

Which songs would go well with this scene? His World comes to mind... [[User:CalibansCreations|'''Caliban''']] ([[User talk:CalibansCreations|talk]]) 17:13, 20 November 2024 (UTC)
:''...con Lentitud Poderosa'' right as the crazy part starts. 100%. -[[User:Psychoticpotato|P?sych??otic?pot??at???o ]] ([[User talk:Psychoticpotato|talk]]) 02:03, 21 November 2024 (UTC)

17: What If

2024-11-14T12:47:36Z

172.70.85.126: Undo revision 356684 by CalibansCreations (talk) Restoring to informative (and unredirected) form of the template. Though an actual citation perhaps ought to be found, too!

<noinclude>:''For other instances of this title, see [[What If (disambiguation)]].</noinclude>
{{comic
| number = 17
| date = October 7, 2005
| title = What If
| before = <big><big>[https://web.archive.org/web/20070927001941/http://xkcd-drawings.livejournal.com/?skip=40#:~:text=10%3A41%20am-,Friday%20drawing!,-One%20of%20my Original title]: '''Friday drawing!'''</big></big>
| image = what_if.jpg
| titletext = I once made an anniversary card for my then-girlfriend with this layout. [https://web.archive.org/web/20070927001941/http://xkcd-drawings.livejournal.com/?skip=40#:~:text=10%3A41%20am-,Friday%20drawing!,-One%20of%20my Original caption]: One of my best friends just got engaged. I really, truly think they're going to be very happy together.
}}

==Explanation==
This was the sixteenth comic originally posted to [[LiveJournal]]. The previous one was [[16: Monty Python -- Enough]], and the next one was [[18: Snapple]].

The comic features a man and a woman in a romantic setting, surrounded by a {{w|fractal}} combination of love and doubts; an arrangement based on the {{w|Apollonian gasket}} construction. Three circles are drawn tangent to each other, then additional circles are added that are tangent to three existing circles (without overlapping), ad infinitum. [[Randall Munroe|Randall]] hadn't standardized his character designs yet, so it's hard to say if the comic features [[Megan]] and [[Cueball]] or [[Hairy]].

In the original caption, Randall reports that one of his best friends recently got engaged. The friends he's referring to are [[Scott]] and Sarah.{{Actual citation needed}}

==Transcript==
:[A large black circle (drawn on grid paper) with white bubbles inside it, filled with hearts, question marks, and stick figure couples. The hearts are colored red.]
:[Bottom left circle - stick figure couple with a heart]
:[Top right circle - with couple:]
:what if this isn't everything it should be?
:[Two circles left of top-right:]
:i'm not even sure how i feel
:[One circle right of top-right:]
:what if i'm making a mistake?

==Trivia==
* This is the first xkcd comic featuring [[Scott]].
* Randall's later blog and books have the same name as this comic, ''[[what if? (blog)|what if?]]'', but it's just a coincidence.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Posted on LiveJournal| 16]]
[[Category:First day on xkcd.com]]
[[Category:Checkered paper]]
[[Category:Comics with color]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Scott]]
[[Category:Romance]]
[[Category:Comics with lowercase text]]

2910: The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald

2024-03-22T12:30:44Z

172.70.85.126: /* Explanation */ the merging of salient details

{{comic
| number = 2910
| date = March 22, 2024
| title = The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald
| image = the_wreck_of_the_edmund_fitzgerald_2x.png
| imagesize = 463x672px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = You know that asteroid that almost destroyed Earth in the 90s? Turns out the whole thing was secretly created by Michael Bay, who then PAID Bruce Willis and Ben Affleck to look heroic while blowing it up!
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by a ONE OF THE FBI'S MOST WANTED, FOR CRIMES AGAINST SHIPPING - Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

The comic features a character identifiable as a {{w|minstrel}}, {{w|bard}} or {{w|Folk music|folk singer}}, performing a {{w|narrative song}} on a jetty. The words appear to recount the fate of the {{w|SS Edmund Fitzgerald}}, a famously wrecked vessel and thus seemingly an ideal subject for a musical retelling in a traditional way that is often found in the form of a {{w|sea shanty}} and tells of events familiar to those who associate with ships.

The words of the song start off very much in the manner of such a nostalgic recounting, but soon becomes a difect reference to the art of songwriting itself. Rather than describing in song how a disaster occured, it turns out to be a description of how a disaster occured for ''the sake of'' a song.

The reason for sinking is still unknown, but it's speculated that her hull broke up in the rough waters of the Great Lakes. This xkcd is implying that the ''real'' reason for her sinking is that a songwriter bribed a mechanic to intentionally put a flaw in the ship's hull which would cause her to sink and give him sufficient material for a new song about it.

As a punchline, the verse goes on to reveal that another even greater {{w|Sinking of the Titanic|maritime disaster}} had already occured for the sake of a {{w|Titanic (1997 film)|film}}. The title text continues this particular cycle by suggesting that an even bigger potential disaster was orchestrated {{tvtropes|RecycledInSpace|in space}}, as the 'real life' basis for {{w|Armageddon (1998 film)|yet another film}}.

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

{{comic discussion}}

470: The End is Not for a While

2024-03-16T16:57:36Z

172.70.85.126: /* Explanation */ Like this (also slightly reworded), in case the link-adder cares to know/comes back to find out. (Doubtful. As I doubt that the addition is useful/balanced, there being so many more relevent protestable things, so why just this one?)

{{comic
| number =470
| date =September 1, 2008
| title =The End is Not for a While
| image =the_end_is_not_for_a_while.png
| titletext =I THINK EVERYONE INVOLVED HERE IS CUTE.
}}

==Explanation==
People show up at protests because they're angry about something and want to use peaceful means or otherwise to effect political change. It's very much a groupthink, "mob" mentality, bringing to mind the credo, "If you're not with us, you're against us."

Hardly anyone goes to a protest because they're happy about the way things are, and thus, someone holding up signs saying how happy he is would, to say the least, be very out of place at a protest,{{citation needed}} {{tvtropes|WavingSignsAround|although it's more common than expected}}.

The title text shows another sign [[Cueball]] is carrying (although since it compliments the protesters, he may not get in as much trouble for it). It might be a reference to certain protest topic groups that are known for having some members that do not show up because of the protest topic, but show up because of the girls that will be there. (An example of a protest topic is {{w|animal rights}}.)

The title of the comic refers to the oft-seen protest placard "The end is now," signifying that person's belief that we live in the end times, and it's time to start getting right with (insert religious figure of your choice here).

==Transcript==
:[Cueball with two picket signs. Ponytail with a picket sign stands partially out of the frame, staring at Cueball.]
:I get in trouble for showing up contented at protests.
:Sign 1: Things are pretty okay!
:Sign 2: Anyone for Scrabble later?

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Ponytail]]

432: Journal 4

2024-03-15T04:21:20Z

172.70.85.126: /* Explanation */ (Swallowed a thesaurus, did you? Anyway, corrected the punctuation spacing...)

{{comic
| number = 432
| date = June 4, 2008
| title = Journal 4
| image = journal_4.png
| titletext = Man, this emo shit was supposed to be for people who didn't have hats.
}}

==Explanation==
In Journal 1, [[Black Hat]] explains to [[Cueball]] that a hobby of his is to pretend to write in a journal while on the subway, acting embarrassed if anyone sees. He then proceeds to silently scorn the person once they give him any kind of reassurance.

In Journal 2, however, [[Danish]] sees through his ruse. She counteracts it by proving that she understands him, and attempts to resign him to the fact that he will never see her again, thus robbing him of the satisfaction of a proper social connection. She leaves, taking his hat in the process. Initially stunned, in Journal 3 he at last regained his hat, the emblem of his personality and attitude, leaving him with the higher ground.

Now, precipitously, Black Hat has found himself to be in love with Danish, even though this counters his whole worldview. As stated in the title text, he somehow believed that he was immune to such feelings. What is he to do? And why is he in love? And how?

The title text indicates that Black Hat had previously believed that his hat signified, or even caused, immunity from emotional sensitivity (usually depicted in his [[classhole]] behavior). The meaning of Black Hat's hat is not specified, but it is clearly something important to him. More evidence of the hat's adumbrative meaning can be seen in [[455: Hats]].

The whole "[[:Category:Journal|Journal]]" story is:
*[[374: Journal]]
*[[377: Journal 2]]
*[[405: Journal 3]]
*[[432: Journal 4]]
*[[433: Journal 5]]

==Transcript==
:[Black Hat sits slumped over on a bench, holding his hat in one hand, displaying his thin hair, while resting his cheek on his other arm.]
:Black Hat: S<big>i</big>GH

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Journal|04]]
[[Category:Comics sharing name|Journal]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Black Hat]]
[[Category:Comics with lowercase text]]