explain xkcd - User contributions [en]

Talk:1472: Geography

2015-01-13T08:57:45Z

Ab78:

Anybody notice that he drew an isthmus but didn't label it? [[Special:Contributions/108.162.221.94|108.162.221.94]] 05:49, 12 January 2015 (UTC)

Does Randall play Dwarf Fortress? Because the perfect map to build your fort on looks about like this. Volcano near the sea is especially neat luxury. --[[Special:Contributions/141.101.80.121|141.101.80.121]] 06:57, 12 January 2015 (UTC)

:[[1223: Dwarf Fortress]] suggests he does. --[[User:Pudder|Pudder]] ([[User talk:Pudder|talk]]) 09:00, 12 January 2015 (UTC)

Would be nice if there could be an example of the sort of map that Randall is referring to from a textbook for people who've never seen them or don't remember. {{unsigned ip|199.27.128.91}}
Yeah, shame that there isn't one in the comic itself... [[Special:Contributions/108.162.216.109|108.162.216.109]] 12:58, 12 January 2015 (UTC)

I'd be interested to hear where in the world people claim matches this best. Boston...? I ain't buying that one. {{unsigned ip|108.162.225.44}}

Examples like Randall was talking about that I found on Google images.
[http://www.aparisgarcia.net/advwebdesign/LandandWaterFeaturesmap.jpg 1]
[https://ts-cdn-teachstarterptyl.netdna-ssl.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/TeachingResources_GeographicFeatures_Poster_US.jpg 2]
These appear to be two pages of the same picture: [http://secageography.weebly.com/uploads/2/4/8/8/24881589/2206129_orig.jpg 3] [http://secageography.weebly.com/uploads/2/4/8/8/24881589/9094980_orig.jpg 4]
I'm not sure if they're good enough quality to add to the main article, but if someone thinks they are, feel free. For someone who's never seen them before, they're fairly common in elementary school social studies or geography textbooks; I remember seeing them multiple times in mine. [[User:Tomari7|Tomari7]] ([[User talk:Tomari7|talk]]) 11:10, 12 January 2015 (UTC)

Also, no Valley or Fjord. Damn insensitve tropical geography.[[Special:Contributions/108.162.254.98|108.162.254.98]] 11:21, 12 January 2015 (UTC)

The Region around Vancouver has a lot of the items in the picture. (Sandy) deserts and Mesas are the only missing. {{unsigned ip|141.101.64.137}}

Anyone else noticing the distinct lack of any buildings? I'd call that a reason not to live there...{{unsigned ip|108.162.216.109}}
:...well, there's My House.;) [[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.191|141.101.98.191]] 13:55, 12 January 2015 (UTC)

Or maybe a good reason TO live there! [[User:Mwburden|mwburden]] ([[User talk:Mwburden|talk]]) 14:02, 12 January 2015 (UTC)

Please delete these useless musings
:Some people, when seeing paintings or pictures of landscapes, tend to dream away thinking ‘Imagine I lived there…’ This may happen even (or perhaps especially) to school children looking at schematic depictions with educational purposes, as in this case one that summarizes as many as possible geographic features on a limited area.
[[Special:Contributions/108.162.221.201|108.162.221.201]] 16:27, 12 January 2015 (UTC)

;Penninsula: intentional?

Since I can hardly imagine Randall doesn't know how
it's written, the n too much may be a subtle gag.
(Just think of what happens in the opposite case ;-){{unsigned ip|108.162.230.221}}
:I think it's a misspelling. However, the Penninsula would certainly be in Pennsylvania. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.221.201|108.162.221.201]] 14:41, 12 January 2015 (UTC)

''"Randall notes that he would least like to live in the farm typically depicted in the background of such diagrams [how tornadoes form]. This is likely because the farm is depicted as being on a vast, featureless stretch of flat prairie, the opposite of the rich landscape in the comic."''

Well, perhaps.... Or perhaps it's because tornadoes keep forming there!! --[[User:Ab78|Ab78]] ([[User talk:Ab78|talk]]) 08:57, 13 January 2015 (UTC)

Talk:1448: Question

2014-11-17T11:26:26Z

Ab78: Added another interpretation

... and I thought the 'LIKE like you' would be a reference to Facebook... [[User:Kaa-ching|Kaa-ching]] ([[User talk:Kaa-ching|talk]]) 08:55, 17 November 2014 (UTC)
: I agree, I definitely think the person making that statement is saying that he doesn't embrace the simplified Facebook universe where you can LIKE someone/something by clicking on a LIKE button. --[[User:RenniePet|RenniePet]] ([[User talk:RenniePet|talk]]) 09:10, 17 November 2014 (UTC)
::Personally, I think "LIKE like" is just a euphemism for "love". Isaac is trying to express (awkwardly) that although he enjoys the asker's company, his feeling of affinity is much less intense than that of someone who is obviously too nervous to speak with him in person. --[[User:Koveras|Koveras]] ([[User talk:Koveras|talk]]) 09:24, 17 November 2014 (UTC)
::I had a different interpretation again. I thought Isaac was answering that he did like the questioner, but that (presumably as a robot) his interpretation / use of the verb "to like" was different to the (presumably human) questioner's use of the word. --[[User:Ab78|Ab78]] ([[User talk:Ab78|talk]]) 11:27, 17 November 2014 UTC)

The comic is a reference to [http://www.multivax.com/last_question.html "The Last Question"] by Isaac Asimov. [[Special:Contributions/173.245.56.150|173.245.56.150]] 09:58, 17 November 2014 (UTC)

Some references showing that schoolchildren notes with “do you like me” is an actual thing:
*[https://www.google.com/search?q=%22do+you+like+me%22+yes+no Google search for "do you like me" yes no]
*[http://blog.seattlepi.com/singleout/2007/11/15/do-you-like-me-check-yes-or-no/ Do you like me? Check YES or NO] – a short blog post reminiscing about these notes
*[https://www.fimfiction.net/story/112133/1/maybe/maybe “Maybe” on FIMFiction] – a (fanfiction) story including scenes of notes like this being passed
– [[User:Roryokane|Roryokane]] ([[User talk:Roryokane|talk]]) 10:08, 17 November 2014 (UTC)

1440: Geese

2014-10-30T09:53:08Z

Ab78: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 1440
| date = October 29, 2014
| title = Geese
| image = geese.png
| titletext = Anyway, that's a common misconception. Geese live for a long time; all the ones we can see will probably keep flying around for billions of years before they explode.
}}

==Explanation==
[[Megan]] is commenting on a flock of geese passing overhead and says the light from the geese reaching their eyes now could have come from hundreds of years ago. This is a fact for the light from stars. [[Cueball]] points out the absurdity of Megan's statement by pointing out that the geese are only a few hundred yards away rather than a few hundred light years. She continues along the same lines when she implies to Cueball that he is observing a past version of her, despite them being only a few feet apart. (Technically he ''is'' viewing a past version of her, but not one from "long ago"; if someone is two feet away from you, you are seeing them as they were roughly [http://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=light+travel+time+for+2+feet 2 nanoseconds ago].)

In the title-text Megan continues to treat the geese as if they were stars, which "live" for a few billion years before exploding. Most stars visible with naked eye are within a thousand light-years of Earth, (as discussed in [[1342: Ancient Stars]]), and it's unlikely that any star Megan currently sees actually exploded within the relatively short span of last few thousand years.

Megan's statement "You're hearing how they once sounded." is somewhat more justified -- sound from "a few hundred yards away" would take about one second to be heard (depending on the exact distance and the prevailing atmospheric conditions (which affect the speed of sound)). That said, the sound of a goose isn't likely to change enough over the course of a second or two to make this distinction particularly significant.

The strip may also take inspiration from Gamow's "Mr Tompkins" stories which were designed to help laymen understand some of the consequences of relativity and quantum mechanics. In one of the stories Mr Tompkins visits a town where the speed of light is 30 miles per hour. For the light to have taken hundreds of years to go from the geese to Megan and Cueball, the speed of light in this strip would have to be much slower than in Gamow's story.

==Transcript==
:[Geese fly in V-formation. Megan and Cueball are lying on the ground, watching them.]
:Megan: To think... we're seeing light that left those geese centuries ago.
:Megan: By now, they could be long dead.
:Cueball: ... What? They're a few hundred yards away. I hear them honking.
:Megan: Ah, yes. You're hearing how they once sounded.
:Cueball: You're very weird.
:Megan: Or I was, long ago...

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Astronomy]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]
[[Category:Animals]]