explain xkcd - User contributions [en]

1684: Rainbow

2016-06-06T07:43:37Z

Heze: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 1684
| date = May 23, 2016
| title = Rainbow
| image = rainbow.png
| titletext = Listen, in a few thousand years you'll invent a game called 'SimCity' which has a 'disaster' button, and then you'll understand.
}}

==Explanation==
This comic about {{w|rainbows}} coincided with the first release of a [[what if?]] in almost two months. It was called ''{{what if|150|Tatooine Rainbow}}'' about rainbows if Earth had two suns like the fictive planet {{w|Tatooine}} from Star Wars.

In this comic the patriarch {{w|Noah}}, from the {{w|Abrahamic religions}} represented by [[Cueball]], talks to {{w|God}} after {{w|Genesis flood narrative|the biblical flood}}. He asks what the coloured band across the sky is, and God tells him it is a {{w|rainbow}}. According to the Book of Genesis, God placed {{w|Rainbows in mythology|a rainbow}} in the sky, giving it significance for the first time, as a promise to humanity that he would never again make a flood to cleanse the world of sin ([https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=genesis%209:2-9:17&version=KJV Genesis 9:2–17]). A {{w|rainbow}} is an {{w|optical phenomena|optical phenomenon}} caused by reflection, refraction and dispersion of light in water droplets resulting in a {{w|spectrum}} of light appearing in the sky, one of many light phenomena caused by sunlight and precipitation.

Then Noah notices a {{w|Rainbow#Variations|double rainbow}} outside the original ''promise rainbow''. Secondary rainbows are caused by double reflection of sunlight inside the raindrops. When asked about this God seems to falter, but recovers and claims he made it to show that he will never again set the Earth on fire. As an afterthought he says sorry about that, although it was a while back. This may refer to the early Earth being a liquid ball of molten rock (the {{w|Hadean|Hadean period}}), or later global fire catastrophes caused by asteroid impacts and volcanic eruptions. That God promises to never again burn the earth goes against the idea of {{w|Armageddon}} where everything will be destroyed in fire etc.

Noah begins to notice some other optical phenomena as he next spots a bow near the sun. God promptly claims 'that' bow is a promise to never again make {{w|raccoons}} {{w|Immortality|immortal}} as it destroyed the Earth's {{w|ecosystem}}. Although today these animals can be a pest, see [[1565: Back Seat]], they are luckily not immortal. [[Randall]] is likely referring to an unkillable form of immortality rather than {{w|Biological Immortality|biological immortal}} as while that would likely cause some issues, the raccoons can still fall to predation and disease. Should raccoons have been rendered unkillable by predation or disease as well as {{w|Senescence|aging}} then the combination of an average gestational period of 65 days, a litter size of 2-5 individuals, and an omnivorous appetite makes for a creature that could easily dominate any and all ecological niches.

If Noah can see it with his naked eyes it is most likely that the "third bow" is a {{w|Halo (optical phenomenon)|halo}}. Halos can appear in the direction of the Sun (as is the case with the bow here, and opposed to the two rainbows mentioned above) or the Moon. A typical person is most likely to notice the {{w|22° halo|circular 22° halo}}, which is a halo forming a circle with a radius of approximately 22° around the Sun, or occasionally the Moon.

It could also be that Noah has spotted a tertiary rainbow or even a higher order rainbow which are very faint rainbows circling the sun. These bows are discussed in the ''What If?'' released the same day. But they are very faint rainbows circling the sun and usually obscured by its glare, and only recently have they been photographed. Knowing Randall the joke could be inspired by this not well known fact (there are at least 5 observable orders of rainbow), and each could potentially represent a promise from God regarding a disaster.

Noah continues by noticing two {{w|sun dogs}} (or parahelia) which often co-occur with the 22° halo. These consist of a pair of bright spots either side on the Sun, intersected by the halo, thus making it most obvious that the third bow was indeed a halo, not a hard to see rainbow.

God gets tired of this and tries to stop Noah by saying that he has said sorry, and asks him to drop the subject. That is probably sensible because there are 23 different {{w|Optical_phenomena#Atmospheric_optical_phenomena|atmospheric optical phenomena}} listed on Wikipedia alone. Following the logic of the comic and the evasive answer of God, it could mean that there are some more skeletons in the closet.

The title text is a continuation where God tells Noah that in the future humanity will invent a game called {{w|SimCity}}. This is a strategy computer game in which the player creates and manages an environment wherein ''sims'' autonomously build a city (or in later versions a country, or a planet). The sims are simple AI processes that "build" residential, commercial and industrial structures within the game space, according to the topography and zoning choices made by the player, then use them to create more wealth to expand their city. The sims have to contend with traffic jams, social problems, and ecological impacts of their own activity, and occasional natural disasters ranging from earthquakes to Godzilla.

The player has God-like control of the world, including a [http://www.ign.com/wikis/simcity/Disasters disaster button], for when the player doesn't want to wait for a disaster to happen by chance. God suggests that it is too tempting to push the disaster button once a civilization has been built up, if just to see what happens.

Overall the comic pokes fun at the idea of explaining natural phenomena as messages from a deity.

==Transcript==
:[Noah, here represented as Cueball, is looking up on a rainbow band going through the top right corner of the panel. The band displays the following colors from outward and in: Red, yellow, green, blue and purple. A black blob in the bottom of the panel right of Noah, has white text with the reply from God to Noah's questions. This continues through the rest of the comic.]
:Noah: Wow, God- What's that band of color?
:God:
:{| class="wikitable"
|style="background-color:black;"|A ''rainbow''. It is a sign of my promise that I will never again flood the Earth.
|}

:[In this frame-less panel Noah is not looking so much up. God's reply is split in two black blobs with a small connection between them.]
:Noah: Oh, good! Hey, what about that second bow above the first one?
:God:
:{| class="wikitable"
|style="background-color:black;"|Oh, uh, sign of my promise not to set the earth on fire. Sorry for doing that a while back.
|}

:[Noah points left, God's black reply blob hangs higher, only above Noah's shoulders]
:Noah: What about that third faint bow near the sun?
:God:
:{| class="wikitable"
|style="background-color:black;"|My promise to never again destroy Earth's ecosystem by making raccoons immortal.
|}

:[Noah points even higher up towards left, with God's reply situated as before]
:Noah: And the little rainbow clouds on either side of-
:God:
:{| class="wikitable"
|style="background-color:black;"|Look, I ''said'' I'm sorry. Can we just drop it?
|}

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics with color]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Religion]]
[[Category:Video games]]
[[Category:Animals]]

1682: Bun

2016-06-06T07:21:07Z

Heze: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 1682
| date = May 18, 2016
| title = Bun
| image = bun.png
| titletext = If a wild bun is sighted, a nice gesture of respect is to send a 'BUN ALERT' message to friends and family, with photographs documenting the bun's location and rank. If no photographs are possible, emoji may be substituted.
}}

==Explanation==
In this comic, [[Ponytail]] is teaching a class about an animal referred to as a "bun". The word "bun" is short for {{w|bunny}}, an informal term used for a {{w|rabbit}}. The comic absurdly applies the concept of {{w|rank-size distribution}} to bunnies.

Ponytail tells that buns have a {{w|hierarchy}} in which the smaller the bun, the higher its ranking is - a rank-size distribution.

In the next panel, Ponytail states that "at this time of year, a lucky few may catch a glimpse of a king bun" - referring to the {{w|king effect}}, the phenomenon where the top one or two members of a ranked set show up as outliers, and to the springtime arrival of tiny baby rabbits.

Also interesting to note is that in several Slavic languages (including Russian, Czech and Polish), the word for Rabbit literally means "Little King".

[[Megan]], who attends this biology class, expected to learn about rabbits and hares which are both {{w|Lagomorpha|lagomorphs}}, a mammalian {{w|Order (biology)|order}} that also includes the {{w|pika}}s. Megan thus clearly has the correct understanding of what a "bun" is. Ponytail then claims that the word ''bun'' is the scientific term, and states that rabbit, hare and lagomorph is the informal way to describe these animals, again being completely wrong as in reality ''bun'' is the most contracted and informal name for a rabbit.

Two students are then legitimately doubting that they're in the correct class and decide to check online (either the crude theories that Ponytail expressed, or their course schedule). A third student however appears to believe the lecturer uncritically, reminding the fellow students that they're looking upon the image of a king (i.e. a cute bunny).

The title text is presumably referring to photographing a rabbit and, for example, posting it on social media - something which would typically be done today if someone sees a rabbit in the wild. If the poster had failed to photograph the rabbit before it ran away, they may typically post a message saying something like "I saw a really cute bunny today!" with an {{w|emoji}} depiction of a rabbit (probably 🐇 or [http://www.amazon.com/WEP-Emoticon-Cushion-Stuffed-Colorful/dp/B01EMBET4A 🐰]). This is especially common in the area where [[Randall]] lives, as the urban rabbit population in the Cambridge/Somerville area has exploded, putting a large human population with relatively little previous experience with rabbit-sightings suddenly in the position of encountering them very frequently.{{Citation needed}}

A teacher teaching complete nonsense is depicted in [[1519: Venus]], but there it is clearly on purpose, which is not so clear here. There are also some similarities with [[1644: Stargazing]], but there the facts are true. Recently there was also another comic about spreading misinformation about the use of language in [[1677: Contrails]], which would be similar to this situation if Ponytail tries to deceive the students (as in a hobby).

==Transcript==
:[Ponytail is a teacher and she holds a pointer to a picture of a rabbit on a board behind her.]
:Ponytail: Good morning class! Today, we will be learning about the bun.

:[Two rabbits are shown, one slightly smaller, and a greater than symbol indicates that the smaller one is "greater than" the larger one. Ponytail is talking off panel to the left.]
:Ponytail (off panel): Buns have a hierarchy.
:Ponytail (off panel): A bun's rank is determined by its size. Smaller buns are higher-ranking.

:[Two normal sized rabbits are sitting left and right of a very small rabbit. The smaller rabbit appears to give off a radiant light indicated with gray and white alternating rays going through the image. It is indicated that is shines on the larger rabbits as they are gray on the side turned away from the smaller rabbit and white on the front turned towards it. Ponytail narrates above the frame of this half sized panel:]
:Ponytail (narrating): Most buns you see are relatively low-ranking.
:Ponytail (narrating): But this time of year, a lucky few may catch a glimpse of a ''king bun''.

:[A student represented by Megan is sitting at a desk with a few books on it, pencil in hand.]
:Megan: Ok, hang on.
:Megan: We're talking about rabbits and hares, right? Lagomorphs?

:[Ponytail is holding her finger up on her left hand, and is holding her pointer at her side with the other. Students reply to her off panel to the right.]
:Ponytail: Informally, yes. But in this course, we use the ''scientific'' term, "bun".
:Student #1 (off-panel): Are we sure this is the right room for ''introductory mammalogy?''
:Student #2 (off-panel) : I'll check online.
:Student #3 (off-panel): ''Shh!'' Show respect! We look upon the image of a king!

==Trivia==
*In the [http://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/images/archive/2/2c/20160518175345!bun.png original version] the word "hierarchy" in the 2nd panel was misspelled as "h'''ei'''rarchy". This led to speculation regarding the near-homonyms "heir" and "hare", but the spelling was later corrected.
*In [[1663: Garden]], the rabbit image had the filename "[http://xkcd.com/1663/art/2x-important-bun.png important-bun.png]":
::[[File:Garden Important bun.png]]

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Ponytail]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]
[[Category:Animals]]

Talk:946: Family Decals

2016-04-14T05:38:14Z

Heze:

So I can get sacks of money if I sell my children? I need to find a girl who's willing to have loads of kids, fast. '''[[User:Davidy22|{{Color|purple|David}}y²²]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 09:06, 9 March 2013 (UTC)

Does anyone know what the title text is referencing?[[Special:Contributions/108.101.176.132|108.101.176.132]] 19:26, 20 July 2013 (UTC)
:I don't know, so I did mark it as incomplete. Furthermore I'm sure there must be a pun on that adult pictures, it's much more common to show only the children (often with names) on it.--[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 20:01, 20 July 2013 (UTC)
::I checked the forum, and could not find a convincing argument either. The theory that in my eyes came closest to an explanation was the attractive power a small kitten can have on little girls. --[[User:Chtz|Chtz]] ([[User talk:Chtz|talk]]) 15:57, 22 July 2013 (UTC)

I actually saw a car that had a guy and bags of money! At the time it made me mad, but I guess he's getting the last laugh! [[User:Theo|Theo]] ([[User talk:Theo|talk]]) 20:53, 14 August 2013 (UTC)

This comic explain is still incomplete, the title text is still missing. And what the hell the licence plate of the first car (ICE-IE3) does mean?--[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 21:43, 14 August 2013 (UTC)

Now, who can identify the cars? --[[User:Qwach|Qwach]] ([[User talk:Qwach|talk]]) 00:30, 1 September 2013 (UTC)
:Subaru Outback (https://google.com/search?q=subaru+outback+rear&tbm=isch) and Honda Fit (http://www.carid.com/images/t5i/spoilers/abs231a-honda-fit.jpg). Perhaps the article text about the Ford should be revised accordingly too. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.215.32|108.162.215.32]] 07:04, 7 March 2014 (UTC)

The licence plate from the left car (ICE-L13)—that car belongs to a real family—is a reference to the {{w|Michelin}} tire [http://www.1010tires.com/Tires/Reviews/Michelin/X-Ice+Xi3 Michelin X-Ice Xi3], which is claimed to be more safe than other tires are. {{unsigned|Dgbrt}}

I think this comic implies that with kids, one has to buy a more expensive car to accommodate everyone. This is one of the things that leaves childless couples with more money. [[User:Heze|Heze]] ([[User talk:Heze|talk]]) 05:38, 14 April 2016 (UTC)Heze