explain xkcd - User contributions [en]

1428: Move Fast and Break Things

2016-05-05T16:29:22Z

Cemafor: /* Transcript */

{{comic
| number = 1428
| date = October 1, 2014
| title = Move Fast and Break Things
| image = move_fast_and_break_things.png
| titletext = I was almost fired from a job driving the hearse in funeral processions, but then the funeral home realized how much business I was creating for them.
}}

==Explanation==
[[Cueball]] appears to be at a job interview, proudly stating his motto to the interviewer [[Ponytail]].

"Move fast and break things" is a saying common in science and engineering industries. In that context, it means that making mistakes is a natural consequence of innovation in a highly competitive and complex environment. In particular, it was adopted by Mark Zuckerberg at Facebook (who even went as far as to say that [http://www.businessinsider.com/mark-zuckerberg-2010-10 'breaking things' is a necessary feature of moving 'fast enough']).

While in software development it is unusual for any great harm to result from breaking things, the jobs listed in the comic are ones where there are serious consequences of mistakes. Some would result in dangerous or deadly situations, while others would just end up with broken packages etc. It's not clear what job Cueball is interviewing for; one suspects it's probably one that belongs in the 'breaking things is bad' group.

The results of moving fast and breaking things for the listed jobs might include:

*{{w|FedEx}} driver - Injured/killed pedestrians, collisions with other vehicles, broken & damaged packages
*Crane operator - Damage or destruction of load, dropping loads on people below, damage to crane
*Surgeon - Incorrect operations performed, removing wrong body parts, death of the patient
*Air Traffic Controller - Air collisions, travel disruption, chaos
*Pharmacist - Handing out wrong drugs, resulting in illness or death
*Museum Curator - Damage or destruction of items of historical or artistic significance, damage of the museum
*Waiter - Crockery broken, drinks or food spilled on customers, food tipped over people
*Dog Walker - Injuring the pet, or preventing it from fulfilling its bodily functions (the major reason for a walk)
*Oil Tanker Captain - Collisions between vessels, or tanker and port, or running aground, leading to oil spills and casualties
*Violinist - Ruining an ensemble's performance by playing too fast (with a higher tempo than fellow musicians), breaking the strings or body of the instrument
*Mars Rover Driver - Breaking an incredibly important vehicle, preventing further exploration, and ruining an extremely expensive mission
*Massage Therapist - Injuring the client, breaking bones and ligaments.

The title text posits a morbid scenario where Cueball keeps running over funeral attendees, generating the need for more funerals.

==Transcript==
:[Cueball sits in a chair, leaning back with is are resting on the back of the chair during a job interview. Ponytail is sitting in a chair behind her desk which is between them.]
:Cueball: My motto is "Move fast and break things."
:[Below the panel follows a list:]
:'''Jobs I've been'''
:'''<u>fired from</u>'''
:Fedex driver
:Crane operator
:Surgeon
:Air traffic controller
:Pharmacist
:Museum curator
:Waiter
:Dog walker
:Oil tanker captain
:Violinist
:Mars rover driver
:Massage therapist

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Ponytail]]
[[Category:Mars rovers]]

1630: Quadcopter

2016-01-16T02:17:27Z

Cemafor: /* Transcript */

{{comic
| number = 1630
| date = January 15, 2016
| title = Quadcopter
| image = quadcopter.png
| titletext = I always have to turn off nature documentaries when they show these scenes.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|The alternative that Cueball-Student should be able to control the three Quadcopter should probably be deleted. See current explanation.}}

There is large controversy over {{w|Quadcopter|quadcopters}}, which are usually referred to as ''{{w|Unmanned aerial vehicle|drones}}''. People worry that they will spy on people and essentially interfere with their lives in places they do not want them.

For this reason the US {{w|Federal Aviation Administration}} is now requiring any "drone" (unmanned aerial vehicle) to be registered so that it can find out whose fault it might be that a quadcopter interfered with commercial aircraft--or carried off a citizen to be devoured.

Recently, since drones have become more common, companies have begun selling remote-controlled drones. It will thus be commonplace for people who wish to use these that they take a class on how to fly them, because it can be tricky. There is currently a drone called {{w|MQ-1 Predator}} which is used a lot by the {{w|CIA}} and {{w|USAF}}. Although it's not a quad-copter, the idea behind this comic could come from this drone, taking the name literally to give drones predatory behavior. This comic thus takes people's worries to the extreme, suggesting that the drones become sentient and can cooperate together to grab a human being and fly off with him, just like a pack of wolves or a group of eagles.

This happens to [[Cueball]], the teacher, while his students ([[Megan]], [[Ponytail]] and another Cueball-like guy) do nothing to help him. Afterwards they discuss if they should have done something, but then take the view that now that the drones are sentient, they have become a part of nature, and that you should not interfere but just "let nature take its course". This is a common comment in nature programs about wildlife, where the speaker tries to explain why the team that was there to film the poor animals dying did nothing to help them - because they will not interfere with nature.

This comic shows how hypocritical that comment is, because if a lion decides to kill and eat humans, that would be natural, but we would do anything in our power to kill this lion, and not just let it run off with our children or the old and weak people. So in such a case with Cueball being taken by wild quadcopters we would not just let nature takes its course.

Note that Cueball has a tame quadcopter as a pet on the ground behind him. This may be a reference to people who raise dangerous animals which are cute when just small fluffy pups (tigers or bears for instance) but suddenly they attack for no discernable reason when they become big enough (perhaps we just smell too tasty).

There is, perhaps, a more insidious interpretation of this comic: while the Cueball-student never speaks, he does carry a remote control, and could be the one controlling the drones. Thus Ponytail's statement may be completely ironic in that the teacher's predicament is (both literally and figuratively) human-made, and the comic is mocking the human tendency to anthropomorphize technology. Of course since Cueball-student is about to learn how to control the tame quadcopter behind Cueball, his remote is obviously the remote for that one! He also never has two hands on the remote holding it down without ever using it. And there are three quadcopters working a very complex procedure and he is not looking at them to begin with. So after users of this page have had time to see this reasoning, the above should probably be deleted...?

The title text refers back to the above as [[Randall]] confesses that he has to turn off any nature documentaries which show scenes of animals killing their prey, while the speaker tells that this would be part of nature. This continues the theme of treating drones as an occasionally-ugly but accepted part of nature.

Sentient quadcopters were part of the game in [[1608: Hoverboard]], where [http://xkcd.com/1608/950:-1084+s.png one quadcopter is speaking to the other] over the lava lake in the Mount Doom crater to the left. How to solve the problem of too many drones was mentioned in [[1523: Microdrones]]. Just over a week before this comic was released another comic also had as subject a situation where our technological inventions begins to take control over us, see [[1626: Judgment Day]].

==Transcript==
:[Cueball to the left talks to Megan, Ponytail and a Cueball-like guy, with a remote control. They are standing to the right. Behind Cueball, on the ground, there is a quadcopter.]
:Cueball: Welcome to Quadcopter-flying school.

:[Cueball looks over his shoulder as three other quadcopters fly in towards him from above and left. The other three people are in the same position.]
:Cueball: Today we'll be learning the basics of-
:Cueball: ...Uhh..

:[In this frameless image the three quadcopters all grabs hold of Cueball, two in each of his arms, one takes hold of his legs. And then they lift him up from the ground. He is thus hanging almost horizontally, with his head over Megan and his feet over the place where he stood before. The other three just stands there looking up at him.
:Cueball: Um

:[Cueball is carried off by quadcopters, his head has already exited the top right corner, only his legs and the last quadcopter still in the frame. The other three have turned around looking up and right after him.]

:[Megan looks down again and the other two turns towards Megan. Cueball is gone and has only left his "tame" quadcopter behind on the ground.]
:Megan: Should we have helped?
:Ponytail: No. It's cruel, but we have to let nature take its course.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Ponytail]]
[[Category:Multiple Cueballs]]
[[Category:Robots]]
[[Category:Artificial Intelligence]]

1630: Quadcopter

2016-01-16T02:12:42Z

Cemafor: /* Transcript */

{{comic
| number = 1630
| date = January 15, 2016
| title = Quadcopter
| image = quadcopter.png
| titletext = I always have to turn off nature documentaries when they show these scenes.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|The alternative that Cueball-Student should be able to control the three Quadcopter should probably be deleted. See current explanation.}}

There is large controversy over {{w|Quadcopter|quadcopters}}, which are usually referred to as ''{{w|Unmanned aerial vehicle|drones}}''. People worry that they will spy on people and essentially interfere with their lives in places they do not want them.

For this reason the US {{w|Federal Aviation Administration}} is now requiring any "drone" (unmanned aerial vehicle) to be registered so that it can find out whose fault it might be that a quadcopter interfered with commercial aircraft--or carried off a citizen to be devoured.

Recently, since drones have become more common, companies have begun selling remote-controlled drones. It will thus be commonplace for people who wish to use these that they take a class on how to fly them, because it can be tricky. There is currently a drone called {{w|MQ-1 Predator}} which is used a lot by the {{w|CIA}} and {{w|USAF}}. Although it's not a quad-copter, the idea behind this comic could come from this drone, taking the name literally to give drones predatory behavior. This comic thus takes people's worries to the extreme, suggesting that the drones become sentient and can cooperate together to grab a human being and fly off with him, just like a pack of wolves or a group of eagles.

This happens to [[Cueball]], the teacher, while his students ([[Megan]], [[Ponytail]] and another Cueball-like guy) do nothing to help him. Afterwards they discuss if they should have done something, but then take the view that now that the drones are sentient, they have become a part of nature, and that you should not interfere but just "let nature take its course". This is a common comment in nature programs about wildlife, where the speaker tries to explain why the team that was there to film the poor animals dying did nothing to help them - because they will not interfere with nature.

This comic shows how hypocritical that comment is, because if a lion decides to kill and eat humans, that would be natural, but we would do anything in our power to kill this lion, and not just let it run off with our children or the old and weak people. So in such a case with Cueball being taken by wild quadcopters we would not just let nature takes its course.

Note that Cueball has a tame quadcopter as a pet on the ground behind him. This may be a reference to people who raise dangerous animals which are cute when just small fluffy pups (tigers or bears for instance) but suddenly they attack for no discernable reason when they become big enough (perhaps we just smell too tasty).

There is, perhaps, a more insidious interpretation of this comic: while the Cueball-student never speaks, he does carry a remote control, and could be the one controlling the drones. Thus Ponytail's statement may be completely ironic in that the teacher's predicament is (both literally and figuratively) human-made, and the comic is mocking the human tendency to anthropomorphize technology. Of course since Cueball-student is about to learn how to control the tame quadcopter behind Cueball, his remote is obviously the remote for that one! He also never has two hands on the remote holding it down without ever using it. And there are three quadcopters working a very complex procedure and he is not looking at them to begin with. So after users of this page have had time to see this reasoning, the above should probably be deleted...?

The title text refers back to the above as [[Randall]] confesses that he has to turn off any nature documentaries which show scenes of animals killing their prey, while the speaker tells that this would be part of nature. This continues the theme of treating drones as an occasionally-ugly but accepted part of nature.

Sentient quadcopters were part of the game in [[1608: Hoverboard]], where [http://xkcd.com/1608/950:-1084+s.png one quadcopter is speaking to the other] over the lava lake in the Mount Doom crater to the left. How to solve the problem of too many drones was mentioned in [[1523: Microdrones]]. Just over a week before this comic was released another comic also had as subject a situation where our technological inventions begins to take control over us, see [[1626: Judgment Day]].

==Transcript==
:[Cueball to the left talks to Megan, Ponytail and a Cueball-like guy, with a remote control. They are standing to the right. Behind Cueball, on the ground, there is a quadcopter.]
:Cueball: Welcome to Quadcopter-flying school.

:[Cueball looks over his shoulder as three other quadcopters fly in towards him from above and left. The other three is in the same position.]
:Cueball: Today we'll be learning the basics of-
:Cueball: ...Uhh..

:[In this frameless image the three quadcopters all grabs hold of Cueball, two in each of his arms, one takes hold of his legs. And then they lift him up from the ground. He is thus hanging almost horizontally, with his head over Megan and his feet over the place where he stood before. The other three just stands there looking up at him.
:Cueball: Um

:[Cueball is carried off by quadcopters, his head has already exited the top right corner, only his legs and the last quadcopter still in the frame. The other three have turned around looking up and right after him.]

:[Megan looks down again and the other two turns towards Megan. Cueball is gone and has only left his "tame" quadcopter behind on the ground.]
:Megan: Should we have helped?
:Ponytail: No. It's cruel, but we have to let nature take its course.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Ponytail]]
[[Category:Multiple Cueballs]]
[[Category:Robots]]
[[Category:Artificial Intelligence]]

1622: Henge

2015-12-28T05:39:19Z

Cemafor: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 1622
| date = December 28, 2015
| title = Henge
| image = henge.png
| titletext = I've got the Craigslist post ready to go! I wasn't sure what category it should go in, so I listed it as property and put that it has 'good sun exposure.'
}}

==Explanation==
The title and comic is based on {{W|Manhattanhenge}}, the phenomenon that leads to the setting sun to align with the east-west streets of the main grid of Manhattan, New York. Manhattanhenge is itself named after {{W|stonehenge}}. This is the even Cueball is referencing with "Manhattan thing".

Cueball goes on to point out that the setting sun would lineup with almost any two trees on any given day. This is due to the fact that any two trees that are close together and one is further north would allow a setting sun to set between them, as the viewer of the sunset would simply need to move themselves to make the alignment work.

The twist comes when Ponytail and Megan attempt to capture the sun, revealing the sun is setting at the point between the trees rather than behind the trees when viewed from the east side.

==Transcript==
:[Megan and Ponytail are standing on either side of two trees with Cueball standing between the trees]
:Ponytail: One day a year, the sun sets directly between these two trees.
:Cueball: Oh, cool - like the Manhattan thing.

:[Cueball standing in blank frame]

:[Cueball, Ponytail and Megan standing next to each other with sun shining from the top of the frame]
:Cueball: Wait, isn't that true every day for pretty much any two trees?
:Megan: Shh, here it comes!

:[Ponytail is holding a butterfly net and Megan is holding a bag open]
:Cueball: Wait, what?
:Ponytail: OK, got the bag?
:Megan: Yup, grab it!
:Ponytail: We're gonna be rich!

{{comic discussion}}

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

1622: Henge

2015-12-28T05:37:31Z

Cemafor: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 1622
| date = December 28, 2015
| title = Henge
| image = henge.png
| titletext = I've got the Craigslist post ready to go! I wasn't sure what category it should go in, so I listed it as property and put that it has 'good sun exposure.'
}}

==Explanation==
The title and comic is based on Manhattanhenge, the phenomenon that leads to the setting sun to align with the east-west streets of the main grid of Manhattan, New York. Manhattanhenge is itself named after stonehenge. This is the even Cueball is referencing with "Manhattan thing".

Cueball goes on to point out that the setting sun would lineup with almost any two trees on any given day. This is due to the fact that any two trees that are close together and one is further north would allow a setting sun to set between them, as the viewer of the sunset would simply need to move themselves to make the alignment work.

The twist comes when Ponytail and Megan attempt to capture the sun, revealing the sun is setting at the point between the trees rather than behind the trees when viewed from the east side.

{{W|Henge}}

[https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/henge Henge]

==Transcript==
:[Megan and Ponytail are standing on either side of two trees with Cueball standing between the trees]
:Ponytail: One day a year, the sun sets directly between these two trees.
:Cueball: Oh, cool - like the Manhattan thing.

:[Cueball standing in blank frame]

:[Cueball, Ponytail and Megan standing next to each other with sun shining from the top of the frame]
:Cueball: Wait, isn't that true every day for pretty much any two trees?
:Megan: Shh, here it comes!

:[Ponytail is holding a butterfly net and Megan is holding a bag open]
:Cueball: Wait, what?
:Ponytail: OK, got the bag?
:Megan: Yup, grab it!
:Ponytail: We're gonna be rich!

{{comic discussion}}

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

1622: Henge

2015-12-28T05:28:43Z

Cemafor: /* Transcript */ Formatting

1622: Henge

2015-12-28T05:27:57Z

Cemafor: Adding details to transcript

1622: Henge

2015-12-28T05:22:40Z

Cemafor: