explain xkcd - User contributions [en]

Talk:1345: Answers

2014-03-21T19:23:28Z

Ghaller825: Still curious while sleeping?

Not true. We know that sleep is important for storing memories and cleaning out toxins. http://www.nih.gov/news/health/oct2013/ninds-17.htm [[Special:Contributions/108.162.222.89|108.162.222.89]] 11:06, 21 March 2014 (UTC)
:That report is entitled "Brain may flush out toxins during sleep". Note the "may". Add it to the list of hypotheses. [[User:Jim E|Jim E]] ([[User talk:Jim E|talk]]) 15:49, 21 March 2014 (UTC)

Stupid personalized jokes and the like in this explanation... [[Special:Contributions/173.245.53.174|173.245.53.174]] 11:19, 21 March 2014 (UTC)

I'm not sure this is the correct explanation.
The paradox of being confronted daily with a mystery and not trying to solve it is inconsistent with the title text. So this explanation doesn't sound right to me.
I think it's more about defining humanity as seeking for answers, while spending a huge amount of time closing off from the world for apparently no reason.
In other words, IMHO, it's not about "[not being] distracted by this mystery", but about "not being able to investigate any mystery during 1/3 of our life even if we want to".

Also, with my explanation, the original puchline "touché" works better than the the current explanation's suggestion "Which is why it keeps me awake all night". -- Shirluban@[[Special:Contributions/108.162.229.36|108.162.229.36]] 12:28, 21 March 2014 (UTC)

I disagree with the above poster (and agree with the explanation) on the basis of the boldface text... "And nobody knows why". Every human sleeps, so if humans were really curious, someone should have figured out why by now.[[User:Nsimonetti|NikoNarf]] ([[User talk:Nsimonetti|talk]]) 14:23, 21 March 2014 (UTC)

I agree with the original poster. It is interesting how people spend their entire careers studying a life event that they may never experience (consider a man studying the act of giving birth), yet most of us simply take sleep for granted. Now if we could only make sleep more efficient! I think we could spare a couple months worth of study to this. http://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/1205 [[User:Puck0687|Puck0687]] ([[User talk:Puck0687|talk]]) 14:53, 21 March 2014 (UTC)

We could spare quite a lot more than a couple months on this. First, 1205 talks about the benefit over five years, and for us the benefit would be over an entire lifetime. Furthermore, far more people don't study sleep than study it, so the "couple months" you talk about can be multiplied by the total population of people who benefit (both alive today and yet to live), and divided by the population of people studying sleep. That gets you quite a lot more than two months. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.219.11|108.162.219.11]] 16:18, 21 March 2014 (UTC)

I've thought for a while that the ''reason'' we sleep is primarily due to the accumulation of adenosine in the brain (?) - who really knows... [[User:Brettpeirce|Brettpeirce]] ([[User talk:Brettpeirce|talk]]) 16:02, 21 March 2014 (UTC)

The title text is referring to a statement William Dement (Stanford University) actually said. Source: http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2010/05/sleep/max-text [[Special:Contributions/108.162.245.117|108.162.245.117]] 17:35, 21 March 2014 (UTC)

I disagree with the notion that we are no longer curious while we are sleeping (implied perhaps only by me?). I have awoken from sleep with answers to questions I went to bed with (or at least possible explanations to investigate). Brain activity has not stopped while we are asleep. I believe we have at least correlated benefits to sleep (or adverse consequences to the lack of sleep) but we don't know how much further down the root cause tree we still need to go - e.g why does sleep help with memory and weight loss and muscle repair. [[User:Ghaller825|Ghaller825]] ([[User talk:Ghaller825|talk]]) 19:23, 21 March 2014 (UTC)

1282: Monty Hall

2013-10-25T04:30:10Z

Ghaller825: took out duplicate link

{{comic
| number = 1282
| date = October 25, 2013
| title = Monty Hall
| image = monty hall.png
| titletext = A few minutes later, the goat from behind door C drives away in the car.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete}}
This comic is a reference to the famous {{w|Monty Hall Problem}}, a probability puzzle that involves three doors. Behind two doors is a goat, and behind one of them is a car. The player does not know which is behind which door; the host does know. The contestant picks a door and wins whatever is behind the door selected. Most players would want to win the car. Beret Guy, naturally, is just satisfied with the goat, adopting it and taking it home as a pet.

The title text is a reference to the car and the remaining goat, untouched behind the doors.

Monty Hall was the host of a US game show called 'Let's Make a Deal'. The final deal required the contestant to pick from three doors, Door #1, Door #2, or Door #3. The big prize was not always a car. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Let%27s_Make_a_Deal

==Transcript==
:[A game show presenter is standing in front of three doors labeled "A", "B" and "C", and the "B" door is open. Beret Guy is walking away with a goat.]
:Beret Guy: ...And my yard has so much grass, and I'll teach you tricks, and...

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Comics featuring Beret Guy]]

1282: Monty Hall

2013-10-25T04:28:57Z

Ghaller825: Added some additional explanation and article links

{{comic
| number = 1282
| date = October 25, 2013
| title = Monty Hall
| image = monty hall.png
| titletext = A few minutes later, the goat from behind door C drives away in the car.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete}}
This comic is a reference to the famous {{w|Monty Hall Problem}}, a probability puzzle that involves three doors. Behind two doors is a goat, and behind one of them is a car. The player does not know which is behind which door; the host does know. The contestant picks a door and wins whatever is behind the door selected. Most players would want to win the car. Beret Guy, naturally, is just satisfied with the goat, adopting it and taking it home as a pet.

The title text is a reference to the car and the remaining goat, untouched behind the doors.

Monty Hall was the host of a US game show called 'Let's Make a Deal'. The final deal required the contestant to pick from three doors, Door #1, Door #2, or Door #3. The big prize was not always a car. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Let%27s_Make_a_Deal

This article discussed the problem in detail: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monty_Hall_problem

==Transcript==
:[A game show presenter is standing in front of three doors labeled "A", "B" and "C", and the "B" door is open. Beret Guy is walking away with a goat.]
:Beret Guy: ...And my yard has so much grass, and I'll teach you tricks, and...

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Comics featuring Beret Guy]]

Talk:1255: Columbus

2013-08-23T12:45:10Z

Ghaller825: One way the ancients might have known the earth was not flat.

Megan's version of the story is one big reference to the {{w|Silmarillion}}, in case you're wondering. [[Special:Contributions/100.40.49.22|100.40.49.22]] 06:00, 23 August 2013 (UTC)

I fail to see how the fact scholars and other educated people knew the Earth is round means he couldn't have difficulty getting sponsorship because of that. He wasn't asking scholars for sponsorship, did he? :-) Actually, according to {{w|Christopher_Columbus#Quest_for_support|wikipedia}}, "Columbus presented his plans to Queen Isabella, who, in turn, referred it to a '''committee'''" ... -- [[User:Hkmaly|Hkmaly]] ([[User talk:Hkmaly|talk]]) 09:14, 23 August 2013 (UTC)

Because it wasn't just scholars - ''everyone'' knew that the world was a sphere. Sailors, for example, took the monumental task of noticing that when objects appeared in the distance, they seemed to "rise up" over the horizon (hence the phrase). For that to happen, the sea (and by extension the rest of the world) had to be curved.
[[Special:Contributions/109.76.209.186|109.76.209.186]] 12:08, 23 August 2013 (UTC)

: Farmers were famous for believing the world was flat, but it might as well just be city prejudice or jokes on farmers behalf. They would anyway be in the worst position to know any better. [[Special:Contributions/62.220.2.194|62.220.2.194]] 12:30, 23 August 2013 (UTC)

Looking at the moon and at the earth's shadow during a lunar eclipse would probably make many realize the earth is round. [[User:Ghaller825|Ghaller825]] ([[User talk:Ghaller825|talk]]) 12:45, 23 August 2013 (UTC)

Talk:1127: Congress

2012-10-29T18:59:53Z

Ghaller825: /* definition of conservative is pejorative */ new section

Being a stupidly over political (please don't ask me here, this is an xkcd wiki not reddit) kinda guy, this one really interests me. Another one of those amazing visualizations of real-world facts xkcd is so great at. I have no idea what one might write for an explanation that would be useful. Everything is explained in pretty thorough fashion right on the panel... {{unsigned|Renegade4dio}}
:Well, there's always the transcript for us to <strike>waste time</strike> work on. [[User:Davidy22|Davidy22]] ([[User talk:Davidy22|talk]]) 12:36, 29 October 2012 (UTC)

== Congress as check ==

Perhaps a pedantic point, but I couldn't leave the description describing Congress as simply a check on the president. That would imply that the president has free reign (literally) and that Congress only acts (or, more often, doesn't act) to veto the president. That is a much more accurate description of the president's role in legislation (or of a pre-modern English Parliament). {{unsigned|208.32.120.10}}

==Typo==
There's a typo on the right-hand side of the comic around 1952 - "''Other than these few years after the war; the House [was] under control Democratic control for the entire period ...''". The "was" is missing. [[User:TheHYPO|TheHYPO]] ([[User talk:TheHYPO|talk]]) 15:27, 29 October 2012 (UTC)

== definition of conservative is pejorative ==

Conservatives are not interested in preserving wealth amongst those who have it - they are interested in creating as many opportunities to create wealth as possible by reducing unwanted government regulation and returning to constitutional limitations (aka 10th ammendment) on Federal power. A different view of liberty and rights than what liberals maintain, but highly supported - I find your definition to be highly pejorative. [[User:Ghaller825|Ghaller825]] ([[User talk:Ghaller825|talk]]) 18:59, 29 October 2012 (UTC)