explain xkcd - User contributions [en]

Talk:512: Alternate Currency

2015-08-26T06:18:37Z

173.245.56.157:

I predict that Bitcoin will be succeeded by this [[Special:Contributions/108.162.241.114|108.162.241.114]] 01:24, 14 February 2014 (UTC)

This could be an even deeper jab at Bitcoin. The principle of Bitcoin is that information equals value. (Oversimplified, I know)

Now, I think Cueball says that even funnies and image macros are more valuable currency because each one has an ''inherent'' value - most are mildly entertaining. That's not a whole lot of inherent value, but at least, it's a nonzero amount.
[[Special:Contributions/141.101.104.70|141.101.104.70]] 10:56, 4 December 2014 (UTC)

Hey! Apparently people have been selling their collections on eBay. The future has arrived!--[[Special:Contributions/173.245.56.157|173.245.56.157]] 06:18, 26 August 2015 (UTC)

1449: Red Rover

2014-11-20T20:21:27Z

173.245.56.157: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 1449
| date = November 19, 2014
| title = Red Rover
| image = red_rover.png
| titletext = I just learned about the Slide Mountain Ocean, which I like because it's three nouns that sound like they can't possibly all refer to the same thing.
}}

==Explanation==
This comic shows what the landmasses of {{w|Pangaea}} were hypothesized to have looked like during the Triassic Period (roughly 200 million years ago) before continental drift, the process by which landmasses moving over the Earth's mantle collide and separate, brought them into the configuration we see today. It also shows the landmass {{w|Laurasia}} declaring, "Red rover, red rover, send India over!" as if the continents were playing the game {{w|Red Rover}}.

In the game of Red Rover, the aim is for an individual to charge into the opposing team who are holding hands, and attempt to cause a break in the human chain. If the individual succeeds, they take one of the opposing teams members back to their own team. If the chain doesn't break, the individual joins that team. In the game portrayed, an isolated landmass (India in contemporary geography), is the individual charging towards the Laurasian landmass, attempting to break through. We know of course that India failed in this attempt, and as per the games rules joined the Asian 'team'.

It is accepted that the Himalayas, the highest elevated mountain range on earth, formed by the collision of India into what is now Asia. For various reasons, the movement of the Indian plate from its location in Gondwana 90 million years ago to its impact point with the rest of Asia 50 million years ago was extremely rapid (as plate movements go) at about 20 cm per year. Needless to say, the idea that the landmasses on Earth are sentient and moving about in an incredibly slow game of Red Rover, with India's rapid movement being a result of being "called over", is not one which is scientifically accepted(citation needed).

The title text refers to the {{w|Slide Mountain Ocean}}, which was located between the Intermontane Islands and North America in the Triassic time beginning around 245 million years ago. The name interests [[Randall]] because oceans (bodies of water), mountains (land masses), and slides (playground equipment) are mutually exclusive concepts when using the most common definitions. In this case, however, "slide" is short for "landslide" which is a common feature of mountains. Slide Mountain is a particular mountain somewhere in British Columbia, the result of the remnant of the Slide Mountain microplate which accreted onto the continent, becoming the Slide Mountain {{w|terrane}}, as the majority of the microplate was subducted. "Slide Mountain Ocean" refers to the sea between the Slide Mountain microplate before it was subducted under what is now North America.

==Transcript==
[Two depictions of Earth at different points in continental formation, one above the other]

[The top depiction shows a relatively earlier time period, "shortly" after the separation of Pangaea into Laurasia (northern supercontinent) and Gondwana (southern supercontinent), with the two supercontinents labeled]

Laurasia: Red Rover, Red Rover, send India over!

[The bottom depiction; the land mass that would become India is shown moving, with motion lines, toward the northern supercontinent]

How the Himalayas formed

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Geography]]

Talk:1443: Language Nerd

2014-11-05T18:39:10Z

173.245.56.157:

I got edit-conflicted (not a problem), but if someone wants to consider canibalising/correcting my own intended contribution, and then completely delete this comment (please!), here's what it was:
:The English language (and others) can be, and often is, treated quite fluidly with regard to certain word forms. For example "medalled"  has been coined as the act of "having gained a medal" in a sporting competition. (Not to be confused with "meddled".) "Verbed" (i.e. to have made a non-verb form into a verb form) is a more long-standing example which is used in this comic without any form of meta-reference  and has perhaps gained greater acceptance, already, even amongst those who might decry the other neologism.
:In the comic, "legit" has been newly created as an adverb, possibly from the adjective "legitimate" (confusingly, since "legitimately" already exists as a usable adverb), "adverb" has been 'verbed' into "adverbed" and it is also pointed out that the noun clause "language nerd" has been used in an adjectival context, i.e. "adjectived".
And I had also made the edit summary say "It's probably infinitely improvable, but I've stop-gapped an initial explanation and commentified some additionalifications you might have some usiness for.", but that's probably no use to anyone. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.99.112|141.101.99.112]] 08:53, 5 November 2014 (UTC)

Indubitably. [[User:Jarod997|Jarod997]] ([[User talk:Jarod997|talk]]) 14:17, 5 November 2014 (UTC)

I wonder if this is also an homage to the [http://www.gocomics.com/calvinandhobbes/2013/01/28 Calvin and Hobbes] comic where Calvin likes to "verb" words.[[Special:Contributions/108.162.216.55|108.162.216.55]] 14:28, 5 November 2014 (UTC)

What group who "might decry the other neologism[s]" accepts "verbed"? [[User:Djbrasier|Djbrasier]] ([[User talk:Djbrasier|talk]]) 17:17, 5 November 2014 (UTC)

I'm slightly confused about the "adjectived language nerd" claim - can someone clarify or chime in with their opinion? If "language nerd" is describing "go," (i.e. describing the way in which he/she "[went] on you," wouldn't you say that it was actually being adverbed (as with legit)? Or should at be interpreted as describing he/she themself, in which case I guess adjectived is correct? [[Special:Contributions/173.245.56.157|173.245.56.157]] 18:38, 5 November 2014 (UTC)

Talk:1443: Language Nerd

2014-11-05T18:38:28Z

173.245.56.157:

I got edit-conflicted (not a problem), but if someone wants to consider canibalising/correcting my own intended contribution, and then completely delete this comment (please!), here's what it was:
:The English language (and others) can be, and often is, treated quite fluidly with regard to certain word forms. For example "medalled"  has been coined as the act of "having gained a medal" in a sporting competition. (Not to be confused with "meddled".) "Verbed" (i.e. to have made a non-verb form into a verb form) is a more long-standing example which is used in this comic without any form of meta-reference  and has perhaps gained greater acceptance, already, even amongst those who might decry the other neologism.
:In the comic, "legit" has been newly created as an adverb, possibly from the adjective "legitimate" (confusingly, since "legitimately" already exists as a usable adverb), "adverb" has been 'verbed' into "adverbed" and it is also pointed out that the noun clause "language nerd" has been used in an adjectival context, i.e. "adjectived".
And I had also made the edit summary say "It's probably infinitely improvable, but I've stop-gapped an initial explanation and commentified some additionalifications you might have some usiness for.", but that's probably no use to anyone. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.99.112|141.101.99.112]] 08:53, 5 November 2014 (UTC)

Indubitably. [[User:Jarod997|Jarod997]] ([[User talk:Jarod997|talk]]) 14:17, 5 November 2014 (UTC)

I wonder if this is also an homage to the [http://www.gocomics.com/calvinandhobbes/2013/01/28 Calvin and Hobbes] comic where Calvin likes to "verb" words.[[Special:Contributions/108.162.216.55|108.162.216.55]] 14:28, 5 November 2014 (UTC)

What group who "might decry the other neologism[s]" accepts "verbed"? [[User:Djbrasier|Djbrasier]] ([[User talk:Djbrasier|talk]]) 17:17, 5 November 2014 (UTC)

I'm slightly confused about the "language nerd" part - can someone clarify or chime in with their opinion? If "language nerd" is describing "go," (i.e. describing the way in which he/she "[went] on you," wouldn't you say that it was actually being adverbed (as with legit)? Or should at be interpreted as describing he/she themself, in which case I guess adjectived is correct? [[Special:Contributions/173.245.56.157|173.245.56.157]] 18:38, 5 November 2014 (UTC)

Talk:336: Priorities

2014-07-25T04:41:17Z

173.245.56.157:

By the way, 'Word Building' is 'Etymology,' or again, studying how words are formed. (School of Tomorrow is very thorough on teaching people the power of words...) [[User:Greyson|Greyson]] ([[User talk:Greyson|talk]]) 20:18, 15 April 2013 (UTC)

Somehow our county (and many neighboring ones) uses A-E, no F. It's probably one of those watering-down things about how failure crushes self-esteem. Everything else is the same. --[[User:Quicksilver|Quicksilver]] ([[User talk:Quicksilver|talk]]) 19:29, 21 August 2013 (UTC)

Don't sonic games additionally have an S grade?--[[User:Church|Church]] ([[User talk:Church|talk]]) 12:33, 1 November 2013 (UTC)

And don't get me started on Devil May Cry, that have from D to A, then S, SS and SSS. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.212.196|108.162.212.196]] 21:40, 30 November 2013 (UTC)

Math is spelled wrong, and what in the world is World Building? I recommend "Foreign Language" or a specific one like "French."[[Special:Contributions/108.162.219.202|108.162.219.202]] 20:37, 3 January 2014 (UTC)

"World Building" is a nicer sounding name for the class "Creative Writing"
[[Special:Contributions/173.245.56.157|173.245.56.157]]

Talk:495: Secretary: Part 2

2014-07-18T02:48:37Z

173.245.56.157:

Ron Paul wishing to become Secretary of the Internet could be a reference to the vast numbers of Ron Paul supporters that can be found online.

I switched "/b/ers" to "/b/tards" because that's how they most often refer to themselves. I hope that's ok.

495: Secretary: Part 2

2014-07-18T02:45:01Z

173.245.56.157: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 495
| date = October 28, 2008
| title = Secretary: Part 2
| image = secretary part 2.png
| titletext = That helmet won't save him.
}}

==Explanation==
Whenever something big happens the news media likes to have at least two things: interviews with people that are the news, and on-the-scene reporters. Even if those reporters are simply standing in front of a building that something happened in, they have to be on-scene. To thwart the media (and probably everyone else), [[Black Hat]] has built a {{w|moat}} around his apartment building. The second reporter is on-the-scene from the Internet, or rather, one of its darkest corners: {{w|4chan}}. In more detail, 4chan is a collection of image boards, which act somewhat like forums, where users go to share images. The different boards are named by their "folder" structure, for lack of a better term. Therefore, the name /b/ comes from its URL: 4chan.org/b/. Pronounced "slash bee" (because the second forward slash is not necessary), /b/ is the "random" board, where anything goes, where anything is the superset of all sets, as in anything. Absolutely. Anything. As in, going more than two seconds without seeing pornographic content or hateful slurs is almost unheard of. /b/ is also the one that gets the most publicity, because it has started most of the {{w|meme}}s [http://knowyourmeme.com/] on the Internet, as well as the birthplace of {{w|Anonymous (group)|Anonymous}}. Everyone in /b/ is some kind of troll (take that as a compliment all you /b/tards), thus the title text means that the reporter isn't safe, even though he is wearing a helmet. In fact, a goofy helmet like that is liable to get the trolls on you faster than if you didn't have it.

{{w|Ron Paul}} is a man who is currently a U.S. Representative for Texas. At the time the comic was published, he was running, for the third time, for {{w|President of the United States}}.

A {{w|haberdasher}} is a person who sells small articles of clothing that have been or can be sewed. In modern English a haberdashery (where a haberdasher would work) is a place that sells hats.

Ron Paul's 2008 presidential campaign did, in fact, use a {{w|blimp}} which was named the {{w|Ron_Paul_presidential_campaign,_2008#Ron_Paul_Blimp|Ron Paul Blimp}}. However, despite their elegant appearance, blimps are not a very fast way to travel.

All comics in the [[:Category:Secretary|Secretary]] series:
*[[494: Secretary: Part 1]]
*495: Secretary: Part 2 (this one)
*[[496: Secretary: Part 3]]
*[[497: Secretary: Part 4]]
*[[498: Secretary: Part 5]]

This series was released on 5 consecutive days (Monday-Friday) and not over the usual Monday/Wednesday/Friday schedule.

==Transcript==
:News Anchor: Breaking news—the President has made a nomination to the new post of Internet Secretary. We know little about the man, shown here.
:{Image of Black Hat.}
:Image Caption: Possibly a haberdasher?

:News Anchor: Attempts to reach the nominee at home were unsuccessful.
:Reporter: What the hell kind of apartment has a moat?

:News Anchor: To understand the culture from which he came—and which he may soon administer—we sent a reporter to what we're told is the source of that culture. Tom?

:Tom: I'm coming to you live from the 4chan /b/ board. Despite the tube cloggage, nascent memes are flying fast and furious.
:News Anchor: Why are you wearing a helmet, Tom?
:Tom: I'm not sure.

:[Meanwhile in Ron Paul's blimp.]
:Ron Paul: Ahoy! What news of the blogs?

:Ponytail: Dr. Paul! The President's named his nominee!
:Ron Paul: It's not me?

:Ron Paul: Wait! I remember that guy from the campaign! He's a notorious troll!

:Ron Paul: They mustn't put him in charge. Quick, call the capitol!

:Ponytail: Can't, sir. The tubes just went down completely.
:Ron Paul: Blast!

:Ron Paul: Then we'll go ourselves. Full speed ahead!

:[The blimp advances minutely.]

:[The blimp advances minutely.]

:[The blimp advances minutely.]
:Ron Paul: I said full speed!
:Ponytail: It's a blimp, sir!

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Comics featuring Black Hat]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Ponytail]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Ron Paul]]
[[Category:Secretary|02]]
[[Category:Airships]]
[[Category:Internet]]