explain xkcd - User contributions [en]

1949: Fruit Collider

2018-01-31T17:40:55Z

AnInsideJoke:

{{comic
| number = 1949
| date = January 31, 2018
| title = Fruit Collider
| image = fruit_collider.png
| titletext = The most delicious exotic fruit discovered this way is the strawberry banana. Sadly, it's only stable in puree form, so it's currently limited to yogurt and smoothies, but they're building a massive collider in Europe to search for a strawberry banana that can be eaten whole.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Add a new explanation. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

The comic draws a parallel between fruit and atomic or subatomic particles.

Particle accelerators, the most famous of which is the Large Hadron Collider, are used to smash sub-atomic particles together at very high near-light speeds. Particle collisions can test theories in physics and sometimes have unexpected consequences that force physicists to revise existing theories.

Many fruit-based snacks and drinks, such as the yogurt and smoothies mentioned in the title-text but also including juices, candies, etc. will derive flavors from fruit blends. These blends are generally created by mixing the juice or artificial flavorings of two separate, individual fruits, rather than by attempting to create a new fruit by smashing it together. Some man-made hybrid fruits have been created via grafting and genetic engineering, but smashing two fruits together at high speeds will result in a sticky mess rather than a new fruit hybrid.

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon. Add character, optimise formatting, describe graph maybe}}
:Ponytail: When two apples collide, they can breifly form exotic new fruit. Pineapples with apple skin. Pomegranates full of grapes. Watermelon-sized peaches.
:Ponytail: These normally decay into a shower of fruit salad, but by studying the debris, we can learn what was produced.
:Ponytail: Then, the hunt is on for a stable form.
:Caption: How new types of fruit are developed

{{comic discussion}}

Talk:1542: Scheduling Conflict

2015-06-24T18:23:32Z

AnInsideJoke:

What happened to my transcript? I came here, found no page created, put the template up with a transcript and now it's all been overwritten. :P [[User:Jarod997|Jarod997]] ([[User talk:Jarod997|talk]]) 13:19, 24 June 2015 (UTC)
:What happened is that you created the page [[1542]], but that is only mean to be a ''redirect page'' that leads to this page: [[1542: Scheduling Conflict]]. The bot that creates this automatically deleted your transcript when it did it's magic. You can still find you transcript on the 1542 page in the history. (You will have to press the 1542 in the ''(Redirected from 1542)'' at the top of the page to go that page). --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 14:34, 24 June 2015 (UTC)
::@Jarod997 -- I think there might have been a scheduling conflict. [[User:Ahem|Ahem]] ([[User talk:Ahem|talk]]) 16:41, 24 June 2015 (UTC)

In the explanation, I thought it was more a play on an oxymoron of a bunch of people who are good at fixing scheduling conflicts, only to have a contest in which they're entered be cancelled because of a scheduling conflict. I was going to put this in the explanation (which was blank at the time), but then someone overwrote me - and quite ironically a conflict arose. [[User:Jarod997|Jarod997]] ([[User talk:Jarod997|talk]]) 13:26, 24 June 2015 (UTC)
:Certainly these were my first thoughts. (Championships must take place after (often regional) qualifying Heats, and those that ascend to the final level then need to make themselves available for the ultimate play-offs.) It's possibly the inverse (conflict-creation!), but getting through the preliminaries might be like the old joke of losing out on the competition to become Village Idiot to the competitor ''who didn't turn up''! With ''neither'' of the two sought-after contacts available, either they've not resolved to ensure that at least one of them is contactable at all times, or else they've managed to put aside all other commitments (''including'' the Championships?) to finally get some time together ''with each other''... [[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.30|141.101.98.30]] 16:39, 24 June 2015 (UTC)
My original take was similar to that of Jarod997- the cancellation wasn't due to anything the participants did/didn't do, but that the competition itself had a scheduling conflict (like the venue was double-booked or something). [[User:AnInsideJoke|AnInsideJoke]] ([[User talk:AnInsideJoke|talk]]) 18:23, 24 June 2015 (UTC)AnInsideJoke

Perhaps it's somethin about the US elections or any debate (we didn't recieve any news here at south, im at Brazil hehehehhehe), but a debate is a national event with conflicts chanpionships and it is scheduled. I recon that is something with the schedule of US elections debate, perhaps it was cancled or just changed. perhaps i was seeing the light reflect on mars and was flashed with the M.I.B. memory flash hehehehehehhehehehehehhe. [[User:Gabrielpenalber|gabrielpenalber]] ([[User User:Gabrielpenalber|talk]])

A few remarks, but I'll leave it to someone better versed in the English language to work it into the explanation if he/she wishes to:
- Is this an American thing, to assume the current world champion must be last year's national champion?
- there is a play on words in the title(s), they would be read as "National Scheduling Conflict: Championships canceled" which begs the question "Which championships?". It is only when reading the NSCC banner that you could assume something like the "National Scheduling Conflict Championships" exists.
- How did they get a world champion if the championships are presumably always cancelled? Does that mean the prize is claimed anyway or that the champion is actualy not as good at scheduling conflicts as all those people cancelling because of scheduling conflicts.
- Now I'm overthinking, but there is no reason for a spokesperson to be a good at the activity of the organisation he/she is spokesperson for, or is there?
-

This reminds me a lot of comic #1466: Phone checking. Both are about an obscure championship, and both are interrupted by the nature of said championship. --[[User:Quantanaut|Quantanaut]] ([[User talk:Quantanaut|talk]]) 17:08, 24 June 2015 (UTC)

1336: Transformers

2014-02-28T07:35:49Z

AnInsideJoke:

{{comic
| number = 1336
| date = February 28, 2014
| title = Transformers
| image = transformers.png
| titletext = A helicopter bursts from a chrysalis and alights on a rock, rotors still damp.
}}

==Explanation==

The comic is drawing a comparison between Transformers, a fictional species of robots that can transform mechanically, and butterflies or moths, who can "transform" via metamorphosis.

The first two panels show action scenes that would be appropriate for a transformers comic. However, the third panel shows the Transformers climbing a tree, and in the final scene, they wrap silk around themselves, similarly to building a cocoon or chrysalis.

The alt text furthers this parallel, comparing a newly transformed helicopter (presumably the post-metamorphosis state of one of the Transformers in the panels) to a freshly-emerged butterfly or moth.

==Transcript==
:[One autobot in the foreground, one in the background.]
:Autobot: ''Transform!''

:[Autobots running.]

:[Autobots climbing trees.]

:[Autobots encasing themselves in caterpillar-style cocoons.]

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Biology]]