explain xkcd - User contributions [en]

Talk:1102: Fastest-Growing

2012-09-03T17:05:49Z

98.221.139.80:

It's about Apple fanboys. [[Special:Contributions/62.195.79.12|62.195.79.12]]
: And how is that? [[Special:Contributions/173.44.98.247|173.44.98.247]] 05:52, 1 September 2012 (UTC)
What if I just started my own religion. Technically speaking it had 0 members, and then I joined it. Would this mean a growth of infinite percent? Also, a flaw with using percents is if a religion has one person, person a, and then person b joined it, it would have 100% growth. Then person b or a (doesn't matter which) leaves. The religion has increased by 100% and decreased by 50%. Now, you can't really add percentages, but I have just grown 50%! Ha! By adding no people! Then if the one tha left, comes and leaves again, I have grown by 100% this year. --[[Special:Contributions/98.221.139.80|98.221.139.80]]
:''Technically'', if you start your own religion, you start out with 1 member (yourself)... unless you invent a religion you don't actually believe in, and then suddenly, um, {{w|Drinking_the_Kool-Aid|drink the koolaid}}. ...;) -- [[User:IronyChef|IronyChef]] ([[User talk:IronyChef|talk]]) 15:37, 3 September 2012 (UTC)
::OK. I create the religion. Leave it, and come back. It has grown by ∞ %. --[[Special:Contributions/98.221.139.80|98.221.139.80]]
The xkcd religion! Nice one, Black Hat.--[[Special:Contributions/98.221.139.80|98.221.139.80]]

Talk:1102: Fastest-Growing

2012-09-03T17:02:44Z

98.221.139.80:

Talk:1103: Nine

2012-09-03T17:01:25Z

98.221.139.80:

I really find that the hover-over text applies to me more often than not, unless I'm not in mixed company. This reminds me of a time that I was staying with a friend and she walked in on me changing the time on her microwave. When I explained to her that her microwave, stove, and coffee pot were all set to different times and it was bugging me, she just looked at me like I was crazy. --[[User:Grate314|"grate314"]] ([[User talk:Grate314|talk]]) 16:47, 3 September 2012 (UTC)
:I don't think that is what the title text meant. Also, anybody who reads an xkcd comic and remembers that they did that ''is'' crazy. --[[Special:Contributions/98.221.139.80|98.221.139.80]]
Did anybody try doing what the title text is saying? Just wondering. --[[Special:Contributions/98.221.139.80|98.221.139.80]]

1103: Nine

2012-09-03T16:57:18Z

98.221.139.80: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 1103
| date = September 03, 2012
| title = Nine
| image = Nine.png
| imagesize =
| titletext = FYI: If you get curious and start trying to calculate the time adjustment function that minimizes the gap between the most-used and least-used digit (for a representative sample of common cook times) without altering any time by more than 10%, and someone asks you what you are doing, it is easier to just lie.
}}

== Explanation ==

Most common cook times are given in either whole, half, or quarter minute increments; e.g., 2:00 min. or 1:30 min. Meaning that 1,2,3,4,5 and 0 are the most used digits on the microwave, and for one to use numbers like 6,7,8, or 9 he would have to cook something for that number of minutes. Cueball, however, feels bad for the under used number '9' and so he microwaves his food for one minute fifty-nine seconds instead of two minutes, as a one second difference is negligible.

The title text says that if you are trying to figure out the function that tells you how many seconds less/more you need to type in so that all keys are used evenly, and the difference in time is too small to under/over cook something, and somebody asks you what you are doing, it's better just to lie. It will be hard explaining to somebody else what you are doing without scrambling their brains.

{{Incomplete|1103: Nine}}

{{Comic discussion}}

1103: Nine

2012-09-03T16:45:47Z

98.221.139.80: /* Explanation */

Talk:1102: Fastest-Growing

2012-09-03T14:45:27Z

98.221.139.80:

Talk:1102: Fastest-Growing

2012-09-03T14:43:37Z

98.221.139.80:

Talk:1102: Fastest-Growing

2012-09-03T14:41:50Z

98.221.139.80: Ne

1102: Fastest-Growing

2012-09-03T14:37:05Z

98.221.139.80: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 1102
| date = August 31, 2012
| title = Fastest-Growing
| image = fastest_growing.png
| imagesize =
| titletext = I lead a small but extraordinarily persuasive religion whose only members are door-to-door proselytizers from other faiths.
}}

== Explanation ==

Using percentage of growth can be a misleading value to use for gauging the importance or popularity of something. If you have 5 members and then add 5 more that would mean you have achieved a growth of 100%.

In the case portrayed in this comic the claim appears to be that the other person's religion grew by 85%. [[Black Hat]] attempts humorously to show the flaw in using that statistic by growing his group by 100% (therefore, first place), which he simply does by adding his friend [[Rob]] to his religion, and thus increasing his membership from 1 to 2. The other person then says that his religion has a significant number of members (and not just one or two), but Black Hat doesn't care and responds that he hopes they are all OK with being "in second place" (since the main argument from the other guy was about being the fastest-growing).

The title-text is probably Black Hat parodying the entire point of having a religion. He managed to snag himself a door-to-door {{w|Proselytism|proselytizer}} who tries to convert people to a faith that is not Black Hat's faith of door-to-door proselytizers from other religions. Black Hat himself is probably a door-to-door proselytizer from yet another faith.

Another interpretation is that the title-text could be another way that Black Hat could take the 'fastest-growing' claim out of context to make it meaningless. By composing his religion of the unwitting proselytizers of other faiths, he can claim the highest ratio of converts to current adherents. (Note that the amount of people converted is often exaggerated by groups that try to spread a faith.) Although the beliefs spread by his proselytizers vary widely, Black Hat is not concerned with what his so-called followers believe. Thus, he can claim the title of fastest-growing religion without having any value to his religion.

== Transcript ==

[A man sporting a thinning comb-over is holding a black book and a clipboard]

Person 1: You should check us out. We're the fastest-growing religion in the country.

Black Hat: "Fastest-growing" is such a dubious claim.

Person 1: It's true! We grew by 85% over the past year.

[Black Hat turns to off screen right]

Black Hat: Hey, Rob — Wanna join my religion?

(from off screen, aka Rob): Sure, whatever.

[Turning back, Black Hat pulls out a steno notebook and pencil]

Black Hat: Well, looks like my religion grew by 100% this year.

Person 1: We have 38,000 members!

[Black hat starts to walk away]

Black hat: Hope they're all OK with second place.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Black Hat]]

1094: Interview

2012-08-13T23:23:36Z

98.221.139.80:

{{comicbox
| number = 1094
| date = August 13, 2012
| title = Interview
| image = interview.png
| titletext = Hey, before you go, can you explain to me what job I now have?
| horizontal = yes
| explanation = This comic is based on a common annoyance when job hunting, being told that they'll "keep you in mind", but don't offer you a job. [[Black Hat]] offers a briefcase to his interviewer, which appears to contain a portal or gateway into an impossibly deep chasm that ends up dropping the interviewer into the interviewee's seat, with Black Hat sitting as the interviewer, effectively switching their roles. The former interviewer tries to pull the same trick, but when Black Hat opens the briefcase, he reveals another common annoyance when job hunting: being told that the opening has already been filled. This statement works on two levels, one meaning that "the job opening has been filled", and the second meaning "the opening in the briefcase has been filled".

The text refers to the fact that, even though Black Hat now has the interviewer's job, he has no idea what his function is.
}}

{{Comic discussion}}
[[Category:Comics featuring Black Hat]]