explain xkcd - User contributions [en]

Talk:903: Extended Mind

2012-12-28T09:27:37Z

T0IVI: Signing added

Title text is true - unless you happen to stumble upon any one of: [http://http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fact Fact], [http://http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Proof_(truth) Proof (truth)], [http://http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evidence Evidence], or [http://http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Truth Truth]. Then you'll be stranded in an eternal loop.
--[[User:T0IVI|T0IVI]] ([[User talk:T0IVI|talk]]) 09:27, 28 December 2012 (UTC)

Talk:903: Extended Mind

2012-12-27T20:35:24Z

T0IVI: Created page with "Title text is true - unless you happen to stumble upon any one of: [http://http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fact Fact], [http://http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Proof_(truth) Proof (t..."

598: Porn

2012-12-26T17:39:00Z

T0IVI: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 598
| date = June 17, 2009
| title = Porn
| image = porn.png
| titletext = I have a thing for corrupt women.
}}

==Explanation==
[[Cueball]]'s mention of how porn did not scar him is a reference to [http://www.xxxchurch.com/ a lot of testimony on how porn has negatively affected their lives]. Of course, the porn really did affect the way he looked at women. Due to dial-up being of such a slow speed, videos that needed to be transmitted via dial-up had to be compressed using a lossy format, which reduces file sizes substantially but also causes heavy data losses; the result being that the new decompressed file would not be of the same quality of the original uncompressed file. In this case, the lossy format eats away at the detail of the picture, which, during decompression, results in blocky artifacts in an attempt to "reconstruct" the lost data. Since he associated blocky pictures with arousal, he seems to have trouble enjoying "the friendship of the thighs" with his comparatively hi-fi wife. In other words, the porn really did scar him after all.

The title text expands on this, referencing at file corruption.

{{Incomplete}}

==Transcript==
:[Cueball is hunched up at a computer. A circle surrounds him; the rest of the panel is black.]
:Narrator: I shouldn't have watched all that porn as a teenager.
:
:Narrator: It's not that it scarred me.
:[The computer screen is visible. It shows an online video player, with what appears to be someone performing cunnilingus. Ads are also visible, though what they depict is not.]
:
:Narrator: It's just that we had dial-up.
:[A 14.4kbps modem is shown.]
:Narrator: And now I'm stuck with a fetish.
:
:Narrator: For video compression.
:[Cueball and Megan are in bed together.]
:Cueball: Can you try to look... blockier?

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

58: Why Do You Love Me?

2012-12-26T17:33:09Z

T0IVI:

{{comic
| number = 58
| date = February 1, 2006
| title = Why Do You Love Me?
| image = why_do_you_love_me.jpg
| titletext = Opening dialogue by Scott
}}

==Explanation==
In this comic, [[Cueball]] asks "Why do you love me"? to [[Megan]], a fairly common question that couples ask each other. She responds "My heart never gave me a choice", a seemingly very sentimental, romantic answer. However, she effectively kills the romance of the moment by adding, "I wish it had".

==Transcript==
:[Cueball and Megan are having a conversation]
:Cueball: Why do you love me?
:Megan: I don't know; my heart never gave me a chance.

:Cueball: Aww.

:Megan: I wish it had.

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

970: The Important Field

2012-12-26T17:28:35Z

T0IVI: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 970
| date = October 28, 2011
| title = The Important Field
| image = the important field.png
| titletext = I hear in some places, you need to fill one form of ID to buy a gun, but two to pay for it by check. It's interesting to see who has what incentives to care about what mistakes.
}}

==Explanation==
This comic is a joke about data validation. One form of validation is where a program asks the user to provide duplicate inputs to confirm that they entered their data correctly. In the comic, the program only asks for the man's email address to be validated when a more important item of data, the missile target, is also entered, but not validated by duplicate entry.

The title text is also an illustration of a mistake going undetected, albeit only a grammatical one (not nearly as catastrophic as, say, a missile landing on an unintended destination.)

The title text refers to the differing priorities of identifying who is purchasing a firearm (the state/locality only requires 1 form of identification) and paying for it with a personal check (store requiring 2 forms of ID to ensure and properly document the person paying for the gun in case the check is fake or is rejected by the bank.)

==Transcript==
:[Man sitting at computer.]
:Computer: Welcome to the missile launch interface!
:[''Click'']
:Computer: Enter the target's coordinates.
:[''Type Type'']
:Computer: Enter you email address for our records.
:[''Type Type'']
:Computer: Enter your email again, to ensure you typed it correctly.

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Sarcasm]]
[[Category:Comics with color]]

51: Malaria

2012-12-26T17:23:57Z

T0IVI: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 51
| date = January 21, 2006
| title = Malaria
| image = malaria.jpg
| titletext = The malaria party was David's idea.
}}

==Explanation==
According to Wikipedia: "{{w|Malaria}} is a mosquito-borne infectious disease of humans and other animals caused by protists (a type of microorganism) of the genus Plasmodium. It begins with a bite from an infected female mosquito, which introduces the protists, via its saliva, into the circulatory system, and ultimately to the liver where they mature and reproduce. The disease causes symptoms that typically include fever and headache, which in severe cases can progress to coma or death."

It plays on the idea of a {{w|Pox party}} to which adults bring their children to deliberately expose them to a virus in order to promote immunity. This is commonly done for childhood diseases like measles and chicken pox. Some of these illnesses are more serious for adults than for children. It seems unlikely that anyone would risk contracting malaria as a way of gaining immunity against it, and unlikely to be much fun either.

==Transcript==
:[People wearing party hats, a discarded balloon to the side]
:We had a malaria party, but it turned out not to be very much fun.

==Trivia==
* This is the forty-ninth comic posted to livejournal. The previous comic was [[54: Science]], the next is [[52: Secret Worlds]].

{{Comic discussion}}
[[Category:Comics posted on livejournal]]

51: Malaria

2012-12-26T17:23:11Z

T0IVI: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 51
| date = January 21, 2006
| title = Malaria
| image = malaria.jpg
| titletext = The malaria party was David's idea.
}}

==Explanation==
According to Wikipedia: "{{w|Malaria}} is a mosquito-borne infectious disease of humans and other animals caused by protists (a type of microorganism) of the genus Plasmodium. It begins with a bite from an infected female mosquito, which introduces the protists via its saliva into the circulatory system, and ultimately to the liver where they mature and reproduce. The disease causes symptoms that typically include fever and headache, which in severe cases can progress to coma or death."

It plays on the idea of a {{w|Pox party}} to which adults bring their children to deliberately expose them to a virus in order to promote immunity. This is commonly done for childhood diseases like measles and chicken pox. Some of these illnesses are more serious for adults than for children. It seems unlikely that anyone would risk contracting malaria as a way of gaining immunity against it, and unlikely to be much fun either.

==Transcript==
:[People wearing party hats, a discarded balloon to the side]
:We had a malaria party, but it turned out not to be very much fun.

==Trivia==
* This is the forty-ninth comic posted to livejournal. The previous comic was [[54: Science]], the next is [[52: Secret Worlds]].

{{Comic discussion}}
[[Category:Comics posted on livejournal]]

840: Serious

2012-12-26T17:20:07Z

T0IVI: /* Transcript */

{{comic
| number = 840
| date = December 29, 2010
| title = Serious
| image = serious.png
| titletext = Not to be confused with Serious PuTTY, the Windows terminal client where everything is in Impact.
}}

==Explanation==
This comic is a play on words with the child's putty known as "{{w|Silly Putty}}", which is "silly" because it likes to be played with. Whereas Serious Putty does not even liked to be touched.

As it says in the image text {{w|PuTTY}} is a Windows Terminal client. {{w|Impact (typeface)|Impact}} is a font that is distributed with Windows that is used in all lolcat and other images of that type.

==Transcript==
:[Cueball is standing next to a table. There is a can on the table.]

:[The label on the can reads, "Serious Putty".]

:[Cueball stares at the can.]

:[He reaches out to touch the can. The can speaks.]
:Can: Don't touch me.

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