explain xkcd - User contributions [en]

Talk:1140: Calendar of Meaningful Dates

2015-05-06T21:53:16Z

173.245.56.171:

Seeing how the (northern hemisphere) summer months are bolder than the winter ones, I remember that someone said that "historical things" like wars and battles used to occur during the good weather months. Same for e.g. romance novels - people date and love on those dates. {{unsigned|‎81.34.231.6}}
: I don't think historical wars happened as much during the summer as during the spring and fall. Winter was obviously out for any place that had snow, but do you really want to be marching around in the heavy uniforms or armor that armies used to wear? Additionally, I don't know where I heard about it (maybe in some Discovery video), but there was a study that showed that winter is better for romance. It makes sense, with "holiday magic" and people more likely to snuggle together.{{unsigned ip|108.162.216.190}}

If the search included Spanish dates in English texts, May 5th would be larger. {{unsigned|214.4.253.121}}

I wonder if he took into account the month/day swap between the US and UK dating system (among other countries). [[Special:Contributions/76.122.5.96|76.122.5.96]] 14:22, 28 November 2012 (UTC)
:That's a good question. I entered [http://books.google.com/ngrams/graph?content=July+4%2CNovember+5%2C4+July%2C5+November%2CJuly+4th%2CNovember+5th%2C+4th+July%2C+5th+November&year_start=2000&year_end=2008&corpus=15&smoothing=3&share= July 4 and November 5 (Guy Fawkes Day) into Google Ngram], and the difference reflected in the calendar is only apparent when you put the month before the date.--[[User:Prooffreader|Prooffreader]] ([[User talk:Prooffreader|talk]]) 01:11, 29 November 2012 (UTC)
::Yes, [there's a lot of difference](http://books.google.com/ngrams/graph?content=November+5%2C+November+5th%2C5th+of+November%2CFifth+of+November%2Cfifth+of+November&year_start=1500&year_end=2008&corpus=0&smoothing=3) in the spelling. --[[Special:Contributions/84.181.107.38|84.181.107.38]] 17:58, 9 December 2012 (UTC)

Interesting about the 11ths -- perhaps that correlates with low passenger loads on airplanes as well, and thus why the 11th was chosen for the attack (the month of September having been chosen for some other reason).[[Special:Contributions/50.0.38.245|50.0.38.245]] 15:33, 28 November 2012 (UTC)

:I want to point out that Randall doesn't know either, and I think he would have thought about the plane correlation, so I don't think that's the reason. I'm going to investigate this. --[[User:Castriff|Jimmy C]] ([[User talk:Castriff|talk]]) 02:53, 29 November 2012 (UTC)

::September 11 (1973) is also the date of the coup d'etat in Chile. I suppose that might (partially) explain why this specific 11th has been mentioned more frequently even before 2001...
:::I changed the page to show what I thought were the most important events (that I knew without looking up).[[Special:Contributions/173.245.56.171|173.245.56.171]] 21:53, 6 May 2015 (UTC)

:: 9/11 is also an important date in both the American Revolutionary War and the War in Europe half of World War 2. [[Special:Contributions/169.233.101.195|169.233.101.195]] 21:19, 26 September 2013 (UTC)

I second the Spanish language date in English texts. May 5th is routinely routinely called Cinco De Mayo in English. Has Randall weighed in on how this was handled? [[User:Donglebaker|Donglebaker]] ([[User talk:Donglebaker|talk]]) 18:16, 28 November 2012 (UTC) JC

I also wonder about the difference between the 4th of July (Big 4) and November the 5th (small 5) as being the two "firework" days in US and UK! 4th of July peaks at 0.00003 July the 4th 0.0000001 November the 5th peaks at 0.0000006 and 5th of November peaks at 0.00001 so there are big differences and also whether you pick anything but English 2009. Reader in Invisible Writings --[[Special:Contributions/90.208.142.152|90.208.142.152]] 19:42, 28 November 2012 (UTC)

:No one forget that November 5th is also the day the Flux Capacitor was invented by Dr. Emmitt Brown using little more than a toilet seat and a minor concussion. I believe that is worth a mention.--[[User:Dangerkeith3000|Dangerkeith3000]] ([[User talk:Dangerkeith3000|talk]]) 16:08, 29 November 2012 (UTC)

The transcript reads "[A regular Gregorian calendar laid out in a grid, with some numbers larger than others.]" In fact, there is no way to tell if this is a Gregorian or a Julian calendar; they both have the same months and days. The Gregorian calendar only differs from the Julian in its leap year rule (it has 3 fewer every 400 years).--[[User:Prooffreader|Prooffreader]] ([[User talk:Prooffreader|talk]]) 01:17, 29 November 2012 (UTC)
:This was surely meant to distinguish it from other calendar systems such as the Islamic and Hindu calendar, not the Julian calendar. Since it is consistent with both, the current phrasing is not inaccurate. [[User:Jerodast|- jerodast]] ([[User talk:Jerodast|talk]]) 14:45, 3 December 2012 (UTC)

Certain days of the week tend to get their dates mentioned more than others. Since the sample data were from a small number of years, this may be relevant to the results (unless it was controlled for). For example, in the US, elections are always held on a Tuesday, and Thanksgiving is always on a Thursday (and the Friday and Saturday right after it also get mentioned a lot), but these would not be the same numeric dates every year. — [[User:Jonadab||Jonadab the Unsightly One]], 2012-Nov-28 9:45pm EST (GMT+0500)
:The title only says that the books were published since 2000. The events in the book may have taken place many years before. --[[User:Jasqm|Jasqm]] ([[User talk:Jasqm|talk]]) 09:37, 29 November 2012 (UTC)jasqm

The last few US Presidential elections were 11/6/2012, 11/4/2008, 11/2/2004, 11/7/2000, 11/5/1996, 11/3/1992. November 1 is writ large, but that seems typical of the first day of all months. November 4 and 5 seem next largest. They correspond to the elections of 2008 (McCain-Obama) and 1996 (Dole-Clinton-Perot).

It seems like some of the dates in the explanation were of minimal importance to the comic - March 15th doesn't seem as large as the 21st or 31st of the month, and Halloween and Kristallnacht aren't that large, either. Sure, it's nice to know, but then there'd have to be explanations for several dozen more days. [[User:Bobidou23|Bobidou23]] ([[User talk:Bobidou23|talk]]) 21:46, 29 November 2012 (UTC)

It is missing 4/20. [[Special:Contributions/70.49.173.75|70.49.173.75]] 23:30, 30 November 2012 (UTC)

:If you'll notice April, third row, second column from the right. That must be some good stuff you've got if you missed that. [[User:Lcarsos|lcarsos]]<span title="I'm an admin. I can help.">_a</span> ([[User talk:Lcarsos|talk]]) 01:45, 1 December 2012 (UTC)

I think the language category should include only comics whose joke or topic is ''about'' language. Surely, almost all comics and every chart ''employs'' language. --[[User:St.nerol|St.nerol]] ([[User talk:St.nerol|talk]]) 10:59, 1 December 2012 (UTC)

I was curious about August 15th, that is quite larger then its surrounding numbers, so I checked out: only a few noticeable references (to me) in history:
- Macbeth's death (1057)
- Napoleon's birthday (1769)
- WWII Japan Surrender (1945) and, consequently, Korea's Independence Day
- India's Independence Day (1947)
- and, of course, Woodstock opening (1969)
But besides Mary's Assumption (Catholic Feast) I found no significant events since year 2000. Anyone?

Paulo Sedrez [[Special:Contributions/139.82.111.111|139.82.111.111]] 18:33, 7 January 2013 (UTC)
: The 15th is also a reasonably common "deadline" day, being treated as the halfway point of the month. [[Special:Contributions/70.116.137.237|70.116.137.237]] 01:12, 15 February 2013 (UTC)

: Not sure if it's relevant for this chart because it's restricted to English books, but August 15th is a holiday in many European countries and it marks the peak of summer holidays: it's the day when most people take leave from work. [[User:Dargor17|Dargor17]] ([[User talk:Dargor17|talk]]) 19:13, 29 August 2013 (UTC)

Sept. 11th, is also 9/11, which is very similar to 911. Not sure if there's a correlation there. –{{unsigned|24.49.68.40}}
:How do you mean?–[[User:St.nerol|St.nerol]] ([[User talk:St.nerol|talk]]) 21:34, 17 February 2013 (UTC)
:Well, there is such a thing as Emergency Number Day, in case you are referring to that, though I doubt that ever got very big in literature... Interesting: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/September_11#Holidays_and_observances --[[User:Maplestrip|Maplestrip]] ([[User talk:Maplestrip|talk]]) 20:06, 27 September 2014 (UTC)

I was surprised by April 1st's relatively small size, and Christmas is much smaller than I expected. {{unsigned|‎75.69.96.225}}
: About Christmas, it's probably because it's often mentioned by name and not as "the 25th of December" [[User:Dargor17|Dargor17]] ([[User talk:Dargor17|talk]]) 19:13, 29 August 2013 (UTC)

I was surprised with the lack of remembrance remembrance for November 5th. {{unsigned ip|Gigahertz}}

Talk:568: Well 2

2015-04-07T21:00:56Z

173.245.56.171:

...1,372 people??? [[User:Greyson|Greyson]] ([[User talk:Greyson|talk]]) 20:41, 24 December 2013 (UTC)
:Not necessarily; maybe some people threw quarters, dimes or nickels? [[Special:Contributions/173.245.52.29|173.245.52.29]] 22:06, 15 February 2014 (UTC)
Could the money be a refernce to [[313: Insomnia]]? [[Special:Contributions/173.245.55.72|173.245.55.72]] 02:35, 18 March 2014 (UTC)

The explanation has this line: "Maybe Megan still thinks the well really works, since she wishes him to get out." I really don't think that is the implied meaning. To me it is pretty clear (and backed up by the title text) that Mike is actually down the well. --[[User:Pudder|Pudder]] ([[User talk:Pudder|talk]]) 08:51, 11 November 2014 (UTC)

The explanation above interprets panel #2 as meaning that no programming language will ever be '''self-documenting''' (inherently clear to the reader). I don't think that's what it means, and furthermore think that self-documenting code plausibly could exist (at least, I don't see why it would be impossible). Instead, I took panel #2 to mean that no programming language will ever allow you to be vague about what you want the program to do: writing a program inherently involves specifying in exacting detail every single thing the program should do in every possible situation, and no possible change in the language can ever eliminate that fundamental difficulty. (I feel that non-programmers generally fail to appreciate the staggering level of ''precision'' that programming requires.) [[Special:Contributions/173.245.48.120|173.245.48.120]] 09:00, 20 January 2015 (UTC)
:What you need to do is invent audio.
:Some sort of a warm wax jar that will take an imprint of sound-waves that you can collect ideas in. With enough jars you could explain the idea as you go -even include problem solving with each step.
:It just requires some sort of mechanism to read it back later. And something to cool the wax and keep it solid until needed.
::I think that is what comments are for (unless you're being sarcastic, in which case "ha ha!")21:00, 7 April 2015 (UTC)
[[User:Weatherlawyer| I used Google News BEFORE it was clickbait]] ([[User talk:Weatherlawyer|talk]]) 14:26, 30 January 2015 (UTC)

Talk:1470: Kix

2015-01-07T15:59:41Z

173.245.56.171:

Is there a category:comics with strong language? [[Special:Contributions/108.162.225.71|108.162.225.71]] 11:36, 7 January 2015 (UTC)

From now on I don't think I'll ever see a box of Kix in the store without thinking, "Kid Tested, Mother Fucker!"[[User:Bmmarti3|Bmmarti3]] ([[User talk:Bmmarti3|talk]]) 13:16, 7 January 2015 (UTC)

Is it just me or does the last item in the list seem a little out of place for something Randall would write/post? It doesn't seem to me that he normally takes to swearing (at all) in any of his strips. [[User:Jarod997|Jarod997]] ([[User talk:Jarod997|talk]]) 13:34, 7 January 2015 (UTC)

What's wrong with swearing, you guys? This is XKCD; we're supposedly a mature audience who doesn't shy away from using words simply because they're about sex and sex is bad. XKCD has dealt with sexual subject matter before, I don't think Randall ever tried to market it as a 'family-oriented' webcomic. If your kid gets XKCD jokes, I think they're mature enough to learn about sex! :P [[Special:Contributions/173.245.56.171|173.245.56.171]] 14:14, 7 January 2015 (UTC)
: Actually this is xkcd, and I'm not saying there's a problem - just that Randall doesn't usually directly swear in his comics. It's just an observation. BTW, where'd the sex thing come from? [[User:Jarod997|Jarod997]] ([[User talk:Jarod997|talk]]) 14:39, 7 January 2015 (UTC)
:: I'm not entirely sure which webcomic you're thinking of... (?) because it couldn't be xkcd... I would agree that xkcd is about romance, sarcasm, math and language, and not ''about'' swearing... but by searching for your chosen epithet using the search box at the top of this page (I chose and found 27 examples of "fuck"), you can find such words used whenever he needed them (and occasionally even when they weren't ''needed'' per se) used in the titles, dialogue, labels, and title text. Please, take a couple moments and confirm for yourself. Without thorough analysis, I'd guess there was a "swear word" of one sort or another in nearly 10% of xkcd comics -- [[User:Brettpeirce|Brettpeirce]] ([[User talk:Brettpeirce|talk]]) 15:11, 7 January 2015 (UTC)
: The word 'fucker' is traditionally considered obscene because of it refers to sexual intercourse, which is considered a taboo subject that should be approached with care and sensitivity in Western Culture. So what I meant was that unless you consider that approach to the word warranted, it's not entirely logical to proscribe saying the word either. But since you don't seem to have an issue with that, I do agree: Randall doesn't swear in excess, but he does it when the occasion calls for it (like here), and that's completely fine. [[Special:Contributions/173.245.56.171|173.245.56.171]] 15:59, 7 January 2015 (UTC)

The last one sounds like something Donald Draper would come up with if he was an increasingly cynical ad exec in the 70's or 80's when this came out. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.216.170|108.162.216.170]] 14:15, 7 January 2015 (UTC)

I don't believe the use of Mother Fucker is sexual in this context, just an epithet. And Randall has used swearwords throughout the lifetime of xkcd, albeit not liberally. [[User:Mattdevney|Mattdevney]] ([[User talk:Mattdevney|talk]]) 14:28, 7 January 2015 (UTC)
:Maybe he has never used the mother F word - and it does only appear here if you think it through... But the F word is used several time in the comics as can be seen by a [http://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?search=fuck&go=Go&title=Special%3ASearch simple search]. See for instance: [[388:_Fuck_Grapefruit]]. [[114: Computational Linguists]], [[874: Time Management]], [[566: Matrix Revisited]], [[714: Porn For Women]], [[931: Lanes]] and especially the title text of [[110: Clark Gable]] [[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 15:03, 7 January 2015 (UTC)

Talk:1470: Kix

2015-01-07T14:14:29Z

173.245.56.171: