explain xkcd - User contributions [en]

Talk:1028: Communication

2013-11-16T17:00:28Z

Banak:

I can't decide if the irony that this comic didn't communicate its idea well was intentional or if I just didn't get it at first because I'm dumb...
:Don't worry. Not everybody can read "international," so it may be a bit hard to interpret. Really, he's just citing John R. Trimble: ''"Clear writers assume, with a pessimism born of experience, that whatever isn't plainly stated the reader will invariably misconstrue."'' In this case, after several examples of ''poor'' communication (and the consequences) the only ''clear'' communicator is [[Beret Guy]], who rather adeptly shows rather than tells [[Cueball]] of the peril. Visual [http://wordnik.com/words/prolix prolix]? Maybe. As you say, that may be the point. -- [[User:IronyChef|IronyChef]] ([[User talk:IronyChef|talk]]) 02:44, 19 August 2012 (UTC)
:Well, it wouldn't be that you're dumb, it would be that you're "bad at reading comics" :) [[User:Jerodast|- jerodast]] ([[User talk:Jerodast|talk]]) 16:43, 21 December 2012 (UTC)

I don't believe that the holes are only one person deep. It seems as though the heads are level with the ground just to show who is falling into each hole at that moment. [[Special:Contributions/108.20.154.235|108.20.154.235]] 11:20, 21 September 2012 (UTC)

After panel 5-6, does WHG think that he actually communicated the left hole successfully to the girl, given that he does not understand her "hole!" message as a warning of the right hole? I remember that's how I read it the first time.

Where does the name Harry come from? Is this established usage on the wiki? Dropping it in the explanation out of nowhere is confusing. [[User:Jerodast|- jerodast]] ([[User talk:Jerodast|talk]]) 16:44, 21 December 2012 (UTC)

:Using names to refer to the characters was a tradition that was officially started back on the blog when Berg [http://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=770:_All_the_Girls guest authored] one of the explanations. This makes it easier for everyone to be sure they are referring to the same character, and they're also cute fan-made names. [[User:Lcarsos|lcarsos]]<span title="I'm an admin. I can help.">_a</span> ([[User talk:Lcarsos|talk]]) 17:04, 21 December 2012 (UTC)

::Sure sure, I get that, but [[Cueball]] and [[Danish]] have pages where confused users can go to understand where the name came from. "Harry" just drops out of nowhere here. Does he appear in other comics? Should we make a page for him? [[User:Jerodast|- jerodast]] ([[User talk:Jerodast|talk]]) 16:19, 22 December 2012 (UTC)

:::I don't think we call him Harry, but there are other comics where a character with a little bit of hair shows up. If he shows up in at least 3 comics you can go ahead and create the category and his character page. [[User:Lcarsos|lcarsos]]<span title="I'm an admin. I can help.">_a</span> ([[User talk:Lcarsos|talk]]) 17:04, 22 December 2012 (UTC)

I disagree that the moral is that the best way to teach is to show someone, I believe the moral is that teaching hasn't happened until the learner understands. If you succeed in communicating by talking, that's great, if you succeed by showing, that's great too. However, if you try to teach by talking and the other person doesn't understand, you've failed. If you try to teach by showing and the other person doesn't understand, you've also failed. I'm going to make a change to include that. If anyone objects, revert it. [[User:Djbrasier|Djbrasier]] ([[User talk:Djbrasier|talk]]) 20:35, 22 August 2013 (UTC)

I took the moral to be that you need to not immediately jump to what you're you're saying, rather talk a little first. [[User:Banak|Banak]] ([[User talk:Banak|talk]]) 17:00, 16 November 2013 (UTC)

1287: Puzzle

2013-11-06T11:18:16Z

Banak: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 1287
| date = November 6, 2013
| title = Puzzle
| image = puzzle.png
| titletext = Prediction for Carlsen v. Anand: ... 25. Qb8+ Nxb8 26. Rd8# f6 27. "... dude." Qf5 28. "The game is over, dude." Qxg5 29. Rxe8 0-1 30. "Dude, your move can't be '0-1'. Don't write that down." [Black flips board]
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete}}

The game of {{w|Go (game)|go}} (also called Weiqi, Baduk or Igo) is usually played on the 19x19 intersections of a grid, but sometimes a faster, simpler version is played on the 9x9 intersections of a grid (which thus has 8x8 squares, as a chessboard, though they are not colored in an alternating pattern - {{w|White and Black in chess|introduced to chess in the 13th century}}). In the comic, white has chess figures and plays against black, which uses go stones.

Two versions of the board were posted by Randall: both had white after P-K3, P-Q4, N-KB3, N-QB3, but the first with an extra bishop at K4 (B@K4), the second after B-Q2.

B@K4 in the first version of the board was perhaps intended to represent confusion in White's mind whether he was playing Go (placing a piece) or Chess (it's a chess piece) - as a 'placement' this move could have been first, and could explain P-K3 with K4 already being blocked.

It it unclear whether black has gone first (as is traditional in Go) with five Go stones (none in the 3-3 handicap positions marked on a 9x9 Go board) vs five chess moves. White moves first has been traditional in Chess for about a century.

With only five moves evident on either side, it is curious that the title text's moves start with the 25th, and curious too that black has apparently conceded that they're playing chess after all: white Queen to b8 check is countered by black Knight taking Queen at b8, but after white Rook checkmates at d8 (presumably the king is trapped on 8), Black plays f6 (which could be interpreted as a Go move), and then responds to White's protests with the chess moves Queen to f5 and Queen takes at g5. White's Rook takes something - presumably Black's king, which it had in check - at e8 and black responds by writing 0-1, which looks similar to the 0-0 notation for 'castling', but is in fact the notation used to declare that black has won the game - perhaps the psychological game of forcing white to play 'Chess' after the checkmate, thereby conceding that the game is not - after all - chess.

{{w|Magnus Carlsen}} is a 22 year old chess grandmaster, who had the highest peak rating and was the third youngest grandmaster in history. He was the world's 2009 blitz champion. {{w|Viswanathan Anand}} is a 43 year old indian grandmaster has been undesputed World Champion since 2007. The text is in the format of a game transcript, but black continues to make moves after white wins the game (checkmate is denoted by #). White eventually responds by taking black's king (which is an illegal move); black's "move" is to declare that he (black) won (which would be correct if his opponent had made 2 previous illegal moves). The rest is clear.

==Transcript==
:[A game board with 8x8 white squares and black borders, like a goboard or an all white chessboard, there are white chess pieces in starting position on the bottom after P-K3, P-Q4, N-KB3, N-QB3, B-Q2 and five black go pieces on the edges in the center of the board on d4 d5 c6 g4 g6.]
:White to continue insisting this is a chessboard

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

Talk:1287: Puzzle

2013-11-06T11:05:23Z

Banak:

Black thinks he's playing Go and white thinks he's playing chess. Although a 7 x 7 board is a bit small for go, it is not unusual for a beginner to play on such a board {{unsigned|hax}}

It is a 9x9 go board! (usually used for learning, as its smaller, less strategic, and quicker to finish game, whereas regular go is played on 19x19 intersections). Olivier.

::You beat me to it. "Less strategic" also means "more tactical". In my experience, 9x9 boards are rare (mostly, people would just use part of a 19x19 board), but when they do exist, they have 4 handicap intersections marked with dots. [[User:Homunq|Homunq]] ([[User talk:Homunq|talk]]) 08:28, 6 November 2013 (UTC)

The picture on xkcd.com is changed. The bishop on e4 is removed and the one on c1 moved to d2. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.93.11|141.101.93.11]] 08:48, 6 November 2013 (UTC)

Would it be better to use algebraic notation instead, seeing as FIDE stopped recognizing descriptive notation in 1981?