explain xkcd - User contributions [en]

286: All Your Base

2022-06-22T06:53:54Z

FabiEll: spelling

{{comic
| number = 286
| date = July 6, 2007
| title = All Your Base
| image = all_your_base.png
| titletext = The AYB retro-return-date (Zero Wing Zero Hour) should be around AD 2021.
}}

==Explanation==
The comic refers to a popular internet phenomenon ({{w|internet meme|meme}}) called "{{w|all your base are belong to us}}." This catchphrase originated from the arcade shooter game "{{w|Zero Wing}}" and is a popular example of a {{w|English|poor translation}} into the English language. The phrase was popularized throughout the Internet and referenced in various images and videos. It is considered one of the earliest Internet memes, with the first occurrences dating back to the year 1998.

[[Cueball]] has, according to the comic, participated in the spread of the meme during its heyday. [[Ponytail]], examining Cueball's root directory, wonders at his keeping the content he created years ago, as the meme's popularity has decreased massively since then. Cueball answers that this was always his favorite meme, and that he is waiting for the day it gets revived. His second-to-last line, "What you say''!!''," is a line from the game as well, although he says it much sooner than its supposed return to popularity.

By using the example of internet memes, the comic also relates to the general principle of {{w|fashion}}, that everything once popular will, after a long enough time, be again in vogue. Trends experiencing this renaissance are often referred to as {{w|retro}}. Internet phenomena can be observed to follow the same rule, although with much shorter intervals due to the speed of information turnover.

The title text prophesies the return of the "all your base" (AYB) meme in 2021 (similar-sounding to "AD 2101," the date mentioned at the beginning of the game). It also contains a pun on the term "{{w|zero hour}}" and the name of the game, which initially brought the phrase into fashion.

The title text's prediction may have been recently fulfilled by [https://twitter.com/aoc/status/1086483485668319233?lang=en Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez].

==Trivia==
The comic shows the file "allyourbase_original.swf", being a flash file. But, in the beginning of 2021, the projected renaissance date of the meme, Flash Player was [https://www.adobe.com/products/flashplayer/end-of-life.html discontinued] by Adobe, adding another - albeit not intended - twist to the comic.

==Transcript==
:[A section of a Linux terminal window is shown.]
:Text from window:
~ /$ ls /
ayb boot etc lib ...
bin dev home mnt ...
~/ $ ls /ayb/
allyourbase_original.swf al...
allyourbase_remix.swf ...
allyourbase_remix2.swf b ...
ayb_acapella.mp3 ze...
ayb_images ze...
ayb_orchestral.mp3 ....

:[Ponytail is at a computer.]
:Ponytail: What's with the All Your Base stuff? Didn't that die like five years ago?
:[From off-panel]: Yes.

:[Cueball enters the panel.]
:Cueball: It was my first internet meme, and my favorite. Others tired of it, but I never did.
:Cueball: So I wait.

:[Cueball raises his fists.]
:Cueball: Someday, decades from now, people will have forgotten. It will be fresh again.
:Cueball: Retro.
:Cueball: And when that day comes,

:Cueball: ''I WILL BE READY!''
:Ponytail: You need a hobby or something.
:Cueball: What you say!!
:Cueball: Wait, too soon.

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Ponytail]]
[[Category:Internet]]

286: All Your Base

2022-06-22T06:53:11Z

FabiEll: Added the trivia that flash has been discontinued beginning of 2021

{{comic
| number = 286
| date = July 6, 2007
| title = All Your Base
| image = all_your_base.png
| titletext = The AYB retro-return-date (Zero Wing Zero Hour) should be around AD 2021.
}}

==Explanation==
The comic refers to a popular internet phenomenon ({{w|internet meme|meme}}) called "{{w|all your base are belong to us}}." This catchphrase originated from the arcade shooter game "{{w|Zero Wing}}" and is a popular example of a {{w|English|poor translation}} into the English language. The phrase was popularized throughout the Internet and referenced in various images and videos. It is considered one of the earliest Internet memes, with the first occurrences dating back to the year 1998.

[[Cueball]] has, according to the comic, participated in the spread of the meme during its heyday. [[Ponytail]], examining Cueball's root directory, wonders at his keeping the content he created years ago, as the meme's popularity has decreased massively since then. Cueball answers that this was always his favorite meme, and that he is waiting for the day it gets revived. His second-to-last line, "What you say''!!''," is a line from the game as well, although he says it much sooner than its supposed return to popularity.

By using the example of internet memes, the comic also relates to the general principle of {{w|fashion}}, that everything once popular will, after a long enough time, be again in vogue. Trends experiencing this renaissance are often referred to as {{w|retro}}. Internet phenomena can be observed to follow the same rule, although with much shorter intervals due to the speed of information turnover.

The title text prophesies the return of the "all your base" (AYB) meme in 2021 (similar-sounding to "AD 2101," the date mentioned at the beginning of the game). It also contains a pun on the term "{{w|zero hour}}" and the name of the game, which initially brought the phrase into fashion.

The title text's prediction may have been recently fulfilled by [https://twitter.com/aoc/status/1086483485668319233?lang=en Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez].

==Trivia==
The comic shows the file "allyourbase_original.swf", being a flash file. But, beginning of 2021, the projected renaissance date of the meme, Flash Player was [https://www.adobe.com/products/flashplayer/end-of-life.html discontinued] by Adobe, adding another - albeit not intended - twist to the comic.

==Transcript==
:[A section of a Linux terminal window is shown.]
:Text from window:
~ /$ ls /
ayb boot etc lib ...
bin dev home mnt ...
~/ $ ls /ayb/
allyourbase_original.swf al...
allyourbase_remix.swf ...
allyourbase_remix2.swf b ...
ayb_acapella.mp3 ze...
ayb_images ze...
ayb_orchestral.mp3 ....

:[Ponytail is at a computer.]
:Ponytail: What's with the All Your Base stuff? Didn't that die like five years ago?
:[From off-panel]: Yes.

:[Cueball enters the panel.]
:Cueball: It was my first internet meme, and my favorite. Others tired of it, but I never did.
:Cueball: So I wait.

:[Cueball raises his fists.]
:Cueball: Someday, decades from now, people will have forgotten. It will be fresh again.
:Cueball: Retro.
:Cueball: And when that day comes,

:Cueball: ''I WILL BE READY!''
:Ponytail: You need a hobby or something.
:Cueball: What you say!!
:Cueball: Wait, too soon.

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Ponytail]]
[[Category:Internet]]

245: Floor Tiles

2022-06-21T09:20:20Z

FabiEll: added a reference to OCD

{{comic
| number = 245
| date = April 6, 2007
| title = Floor Tiles
| image = floor_tiles.png
| titletext = The worst part is when sidewalk cracks are out-of-sync with your natural stride.
}}

==Explanation==
[[Cueball]] is walking according to a certain pattern of floor tiles, which makes sense to him in his head (the same pattern was first introduced in [[207: What xkcd Means]]). But as his friend asks him why he is walking funny, he realizes that the algorithm he is using for walking on floor tiles would be so tedious and time-consuming to explain to his friend that he decides instead to simply defend himself and say that he isn't walking funny, this being far simpler than trying to show his friend exactly how his logic works. Alternatively, he is too embarrassed to explain his algorithm.

Cueball has imagined a complex diagram in his head. However, the diagram does not accurately reflect the floor, as the two main rows with black tiles in the foreground are only separated by one row of white tiles instead of two. This could possibly be an error on Randall's part, as the tiles in the background follow the pattern shown in the imagined diagram.

The title text refers to a common compulsion often associated with Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD) that leads people to place their feet either exactly between sidewalk cracks or directly on top of them while walking. Indeed, if the cracks are out of sync with one's natural stride, this will cause some people to "walk funny" as they stumble to correct their foot placement.

==Transcript==
:[Two characters walk on a floor tiled in black and white.]
:Friend: Why are you walking funny?
:[Second panel consists of Cueball's thought cloud in which he points to an easel mounted diagram of the floor tile pattern.]
:Cueball, thinking: Well, my instinct is to step only on black tiles, but they're too far apart. So I'm letting myself walk on the tiles directly in line with the black ones, but that means that when we walk diagonally, I have to step in a pattern where...
:[Returns to situation in first panel.]
:Cueball: I'm not walking funny.

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Comics with color]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]