explain xkcd - User contributions [en]

452: Mission

2015-08-19T19:28:27Z

N sanity: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 452
| date = July 21, 2008
| title = Mission
| image = mission.png
| titletext = Don't you know? The chances of a random object being a scone are about one in six.
}}

==Explanation==
[[Cueball]] and [[Beret Guy]] are on a mission, intending to destroy whatever machine they are in. Except that Beret Guy tends to be a bit surreal and brought a bag for holding pastries instead of explosive charges.

This is not the first time he's made such a bakery mistake; see [[434: xkcd Goes to the Airport]].

He then attempts to eat what Cueball identifies as {{w|Lug nut}}s, believing them to be scones.

The title text further emphasizes Beret Guy's obsession with bakery goods, by stating that if you pick up six random objects it is highly likely that one of these will be a scone, which explains his behaviour with the Lug nuts.

Beret guy and scones are also referenced in the title text of both [[677: Asshole]] and [[1030: Keyed]].

==Transcript==
:[Beret Guy and Cueball are rappelling down separate ropes into the interior workings of a large machine.]
:Cueball: Okay, we're in the belly of the machine. You got the charges?
:Beret Guy: The what?

:[The two are standing next to some large pieces of machinery.]
:Cueball [gesturing]: The explosive charges!
:Beret Guy [pulling out a bag]: I just brought this bag for pastries.
:Cueball: The hell? We're on a mission here!

:Beret Guy [looking around]: This isn't a bakery?
:Cueball [head in hand]: Oh, Christ, not this shit again.

:Beret Guy [crouching by some lug nuts lying on a piece of machinery]: What about these scones?
:Cueball: Those are lug nuts.
:Beret Guy [stuffing them in his mouth]: ...Maybe SOME of them aren't. ''crunch'' Ow! ''crunch''

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

451: Impostor

2015-08-19T19:25:41Z

N sanity: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 451
| date = July 18, 2008
| title = Impostor
| image = impostor.png
| titletext = If you think this is too hard on literary criticism, read the Wikipedia article on deconstruction.
}}

==Explanation==
While the comic is ostensibly about grad students, it is really [[Randall]]'s way of poking fun at different fields. Given that engineers can detect his {{w|bullshit|bullshit}} quickly suggests he regards engineering with some respect. In other words, he thinks engineering has a low {{w|Bollocks#.22Talking_bollocks.22_and_.22Bollockspeak.22|bullshit quotient}}. He thinks similar of linguists, as it takes them only slightly longer than the engineers to recognize his bullshit. He clearly thinks less of sociology, since his bullshit can go undetected for considerably longer. And the field of "Literary Criticism" is something he considers mostly, or entirely, BS, since he claims his BS has repeatedly been published.

The first panel shows [[Cueball]] discussing an engineering problem with [[Ponytail]]. {{w|logarithm|Logarithms}} are a mathematical tool used for expressing an exponential relationship as a linear one. While this has many uses in a variety of fields, including engineering, it is not a suitable tool for dissipating excess heat{{Citation needed}}. It might have value in plotting temperature change over time, or temperature over distance, however.

Since {{w|Klingon language|Klingon}} is a constructed language designed to sound "alien" and which explicitly avoids sounding like any human language, it cannot be part of any real-world linguistic family. Any linguist who knows what a Klingon is would instantly recognize his statement as a joke, so the detection time should be only a few seconds. His assertion that his bullshit went undetected for over a minute either suggests he does not expect linguists to be familiar with Star Trek, or that the panels indicate the moment of detection rather than the beginning of the conversation.

The third panel is a bit more subtle. While {{w|sociology}} can certainly use ranking as an analytical tool, the trouble lies in the complete lack of meaning in the tags "best" and "worst". Detecting this as BS requires a bit more effort on the part of the sociology grad students.

Literary criticism, on the other hand, is almost completely written in {{w|buzzword|buzz words}} and {{w|jargon}}, so when Cueball only tells some BS, no one notices. His quip at "deconstructing the self" may be a veiled insult at how the field itself, when analyzed, makes no sense and is pure BS. His assertion that he published 8 papers and 2 books could also be his way of saying that he doesn't believe anyone actually reads any of the stuff published in the field, and/or that the people who would read it are credulous and inept enough to not notice it's garbage.

The title text challenges the lenient, forgiving souls in the audience to take a look at {{w|deconstruction|the Wikipedia article for literary deconstruction}} and attempt to understand just what the heck the article is trying to talk about. The article in question is almost constantly flagged for "cleanup" on the grounds that it's a jumbled mess.

==Transcript==
:My Hobby: Sitting down with grad students and timing how long it takes them to figure out that I'm not actually an expert in their field.

:Engineering:
:Student: Our big problem is heat dissipation
:Cueball: Have you tried logarithms?
:48 seconds

:Linguistics:
:Cueball: Ah, so does this Finno-ugric family include, say, Klingon?
:63 Seconds

:Sociology:
:Cueball: Yeah, my latest work is on ranking people from best to worst.
:4 Minutes

:Literary Criticism:
:Cueball: You see, the deconstruction is inextricable from not only the text, but also the self.
:Eight papers and two books and they haven't caught on.

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Ponytail]]
[[Category:My Hobby]]

451: Impostor

2015-08-19T19:23:53Z

N sanity: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 451
| date = July 18, 2008
| title = Impostor
| image = impostor.png
| titletext = If you think this is too hard on literary criticism, read the Wikipedia article on deconstruction.
}}

==Explanation==
While the comic is ostensibly about grad students, it is really [[Randall]]'s way of poking fun at different fields. Given that engineers can detect his {{w|bullshit|bullshit}} quickly suggests he regards engineering with some respect. In other words, he thinks engineering has a low {{w|Bollocks#.22Talking_bollocks.22_and_.22Bollockspeak.22|bullshit quotient}}. Similarly with linguists. He clearly thinks less of sociology, since his bullshit can go undetected for considerably longer. And the field of "Literary Criticism" is something he considers mostly, or entirely, BS, since he claims his BS has repeatedly been published.

The first panel shows [[Cueball]] discussing an engineering problem with [[Ponytail]]. {{w|logarithm|Logarithms}} are a mathematical tool used for expressing an exponential relationship as a linear one. While this has many uses in a variety of fields, including engineering, it is not a suitable tool for dissipating excess heat{{Citation needed}}. It might have value in plotting temperature change over time, or temperature over distance, however.

Since {{w|Klingon language|Klingon}} is a constructed language designed to sound "alien" and which explicitly avoids sounding like any human language, it cannot be part of any real-world linguistic family. Any linguist who knows what a Klingon is would instantly recognize his statement as a joke, so the detection time should be only a few seconds. His assertion that his bullshit went undetected for over a minute either suggests he does not expect linguists to be familiar with Star Trek, or that the panels indicate the moment of detection rather than the beginning of the conversation.

The third panel is a bit more subtle. While {{w|sociology}} can certainly use ranking as an analytical tool, the trouble lies in the complete lack of meaning in the tags "best" and "worst". Detecting this as BS requires a bit more effort on the part of the sociology grad students.

Literary criticism, on the other hand, is almost completely written in {{w|buzzword|buzz words}} and {{w|jargon}}, so when Cueball only tells some BS, no one notices. His quip at "deconstructing the self" may be a veiled insult at how the field itself, when analyzed, makes no sense and is pure BS. His assertion that he published 8 papers and 2 books could also be his way of saying that he doesn't believe anyone actually reads any of the stuff published in the field, and/or that the people who would read it are credulous and inept enough to not notice it's garbage.

The title text challenges the lenient, forgiving souls in the audience to take a look at {{w|deconstruction|the Wikipedia article for literary deconstruction}} and attempt to understand just what the heck the article is trying to talk about. The article in question is almost constantly flagged for "cleanup" on the grounds that it's a jumbled mess.

==Transcript==
:My Hobby: Sitting down with grad students and timing how long it takes them to figure out that I'm not actually an expert in their field.

:Engineering:
:Student: Our big problem is heat dissipation
:Cueball: Have you tried logarithms?
:48 seconds

:Linguistics:
:Cueball: Ah, so does this Finno-ugric family include, say, Klingon?
:63 Seconds

:Sociology:
:Cueball: Yeah, my latest work is on ranking people from best to worst.
:4 Minutes

:Literary Criticism:
:Cueball: You see, the deconstruction is inextricable from not only the text, but also the self.
:Eight papers and two books and they haven't caught on.

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Ponytail]]
[[Category:My Hobby]]