https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/api.php?action=feedcontributions&user=172.69.63.19&feedformat=atomexplain xkcd - User contributions [en]2024-03-28T18:28:18ZUser contributionsMediaWiki 1.30.0https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=2261:_Worst_Thing_That_Could_Happen&diff=2084822261: Worst Thing That Could Happen2021-03-19T14:19:07Z<p>172.69.63.19: /* Explanation */ I would, too, choose a supervolcano eruption over such a game show hands down</p>
<hr />
<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 2261<br />
| date = January 29, 2020<br />
| title = Worst Thing That Could Happen<br />
| image = worst_thing_that_could_happen.png<br />
| titletext = Before I install any patch, I always open the patch notes and Ctrl-F for 'supervolcano', 'seagull', and 'garbage disposal', just to be safe.<br />
}}<br />
<br />
==Explanation==<br />
<br />
[[Ponytail]] and company are considering upgrading some part or program of their computers. They may feel the need to upgrade because the software they are currently using has some vulnerability that is only patched in newer revisions (this comic was released just two weeks after the end of extended support for Windows 7), or because they want to have access to some new feature. As part of the decision-making process, Ponytail asks her friends, "What's the worst that could happen?" If the computers they are discussing are privately owned, she may be concerned about losing personal data or having to learn new software interfaces. On the other hand, if they are discussing a corporate computer system, there may also be business-related risks. If their company relies on functionality offered by their current system that has been deprecated or modified in the updated version (such as in [[1172: Workflow]], or as with many specialized tools or machines in the real world), they may suffer downtime while they modify the rest of their workflow. Even if the upgraded system should continue to fit their needs, they may need to take some downtime to perform the update and deal with the risks of something going badly along the way, and there may be major costs associated with license subscriptions and support contracts. "What's the worst that could happen" is also a common {{w|rhetorical question}}; Ponytail may be expressing a belief that nothing bad could happen as a result of the upgrade, and not expecting an answer.<br />
<br />
Unfortunately, Ponytail's friends answer with their ideas for the worst things that could happen ''ever'', not "...as a result of the upgrade", as Ponytail meant, or they are taking the question to the logical extreme and invoking chaos theory. The result is a list of 'worst things' ridiculously unconnected to a computer upgrade. At the end, however, [[Megan]] interprets these as possible results of the upgrade, and advises against upgrading. A [[#List of worst things|list with explanations]] can be found below. Ponytail facepalms at her friends' overly-literal senses of humor<br />
<br />
Alternatively, Ponytail could be facepalming at the fact that the worst thing which could happen, according to her team, is that they are put on a ridiculous game show in which, if they answer a question incorrectly, they are chucked in garbage disposal. This may be bad, but it is nowhere near as bad as an erupting supervolcano or nuclear war{{Citation needed}}. However, [[Cueball]] has shown anxiety and difficulties in social situations, such as the less-than-helpful advice in "[[1917: How to Make Friends]]", so he (and likewise [[Hairy]] and Megan) may consider that embarrassment on the game show (which might then be immortalized online) is worse than instantaneous death in a nuclear war.<br />
<br />
Megan and Cueball have previously experienced a severely-botched upgrade in [[349: Success]], in which Cueball somehow caused them to end up in shark-infested waters off the coast of a deserted island when he was just trying to get their computer to dual-boot BSD.<br />
<br />
The title text talks about searching upgrade release notes for some of the things listed to be sure none are potential side effects of an upgrade. "Ctrl-F" is a common keyboard shortcut for "find text string" in many programs. Since Randall is just reading but not changing the patch notes, a web browser, PDF viewer, or word processing program such as Adobe Reader or Microsoft Word might have been used.<br />
<br />
===List of worst things===<br />
*The list of "worst things that could happen" discussed by the team are:<br />
<br />
{| border =1 width=100% cellpadding=5 class="wikitable"<br />
|'''Thing''' || '''Notes'''<br />
|-<br />
|{{w|Supervolcano}} || A supervolcano is a volcano that would (or does) eject over 1,000 cubic kilometers of material when it erupts. The United States in particular is home to a supervolcano in {{w|Yellowstone National Park}}. When it erupts, the results will be catastrophic to the entire world, possibly triggering a volcanic winter, massive crop die-offs (and subsequent cascading extinctions up the food chain), and the destruction of human civilization. This probably would not be set off by any sort of software update (though a weird frequency may be emitted, making the lava rise).<br />
|-<br />
|{{w|Robot uprising}} || An artificial intelligence overthrows humanity and takes over the world. Hairy is probably concerned with a violent uprising in which the robots are determined to exterminate humanity, as in, for example, the {{w|Terminator (franchise)|''Terminator''}} films, rather than [[1450: AI-Box Experiment|an AI who just wants to stay in a box]]. Randall has written about robot uprisings (both violent and humorous) in [[:Category:Artificial Intelligence|several comic strips]]. If Ponytail's company is involved in artificial intelligence, a robot uprising could be a remotely plausible worst-case scenario from a botched upgrade.<br />
|-<br />
|Everyone falls down a {{w|well}} at once || ''{{w|Lassie}}'' was a series of books, films, and television shows about Lassie, a heroic Rough Collie dog who either rescues people from dangerous situations or at least goes to find other humans and lead them to the victim. The archetypal rescue in popular culture is that {{tvtropes|TimmyInAWell|little Timmy, her owner, falls down a well}} (although this never happened in any episode -- it was her first owner, Jeff Miller, who needed rescuing from the well, while Timmy got into [https://sickbastard.wordpress.com/2007/07/10/timmy-fell-down-what-well/ pretty much every ''other'' kind of trouble imaginable]). There have also been several well-publicized incidents in which a real person fell down a well, such as [https://www.biography.com/personality/baby-jessica Baby Jessica] and [https://www.michigan.gov/egle/0,9429,7-135-3313_3675_3689-7996--,00.html this list]. If ''everyone'' fell down a well at once, there would be nobody for Lassie to summon to get them out, which would be a pretty bad thing. It's unclear how this upgrade could cause this outcome, making this suggestion preposterous.<br />
|-<br />
|Instead of hitting the tallest thing around, lightning starts hitting the nicest || {{w|Lightning}} generally strikes the tallest object under a thunderstorm, a topic addressed in {{what if|16|''What-if #16: Lightning''}}. {{w|Lightning rods}} are built to take advantage of this effect to protect nearby important objects from the lightning. If lightning started hitting the ''nicest'' thing around, then it would presumably strike whatever it was that the lightning rods are meant to protect (nice buildings, nice people, [https://history.nasa.gov/SP-350/ch-7-3.html nice rockets]). If the computer that's being upgraded is connected to the [[1620: Christmas Settings|Universe Control Panel]], this change could be a plausible negative consequence of the update.<br />
|-<br />
|{{w|Seagulls}} all get {{w|handguns}} || Guns in the hands of humans account for the large majority of homicides and suicides in the USA. Letting handguns be wielded by seagulls, which lack the impulse control and cognitive thinking required to make the ownership of a handgun somewhat safe, would make this much worse. Seagulls are not particularly known for their intelligence, self control, or kindness toward others. At popular beaches, seagulls are known to aggressively harass humans for their food; if they wielded handguns, a great deal of violence would ensue. Even if mayhem and death were not due to intentional use (i.e., if the seagulls were capable of learning that use of a handgun would get them food or something else they might like), they would happen from accidental use.<br />
|-<br />
|A really '''slow''' nuclear war || No {{w|nuclear war}} involving two sides launching nuclear weapons at each other has ever been fought, but experts generally agree that an all-out nuclear war between superpowers would end very quickly and very badly for all parties involved (as well as all parties not involved). A "slow" nuclear war might play out as a series of tit-for-tat individual launches rather than a single apocalyptic exchange, but the destruction of cities and release of fallout would be the same. Perhaps the anticipation of when exactly it's "your turn" to be a target would make the slow war a worse experience.<br />
<br />
Much of the computer networking technology used today has its roots in research into hardening nuclear command and control systems against an incoming first strike, and many works of fiction have depicted nuclear war (or the risk of nuclear war) resulting from computer and software errors in systems that are supposed to "upgrade" the decision-making process, such as ''{{w|WarGames}}'' and "{{w|Fail-Safe (novel)|Fail-Safe}}". If Ponytail's company is involved in the defense industry, a nuclear war could be a plausible worst-case scenario from a botched upgrade.<br />
|-<br />
|We have to go on a game show where they show you photos of people you've met once and ask you their names, and if you get one wrong a trapdoor opens and you fall into a garbage disposal || The premise of this game show seems to play on Munroe's frequent references to anxiety about social situations. For people who have troubling remembering names, encountering someone you've met once before can be harrowing, as you may know that you ''should'' know their name, but be unable to recall it, creating embarrassment and awkwardness (particularly if the person remembers your name with ease). The concept is that fear could be exploited in the form of a game show. Many popular game shows feature contests where contestants who fail are subjected to pain and/or humiliation, such as the ''{{w|Ninja Warrior}}'' franchise. This case is particularly exaggerated, as the inability to remember even a single name would result in being dropped into a garbage disposal, which would virtually guarantee serious maiming and/or death. The reaction of the strip characters suggests that they all share a lack of confidence in their ability to remember the names of casual acquaintances, making such a game show one of the "worst things" they could encounter. <br />
|}<br />
<br />
==Transcript==<br />
:[Ponytail is standing in front of a desk with a computer. One of her hands is on the keyboard. Behind her, Cueball, Hairy, and Megan are looking at the computer screen.]<br />
:Ponytail: We should upgrade. What's the worst that could happen?<br />
:Cueball: Supervolcano.<br />
:Hairy: Robot uprising.<br />
:Megan: Everyone falls down a well at once.<br />
<br />
:[Zoom in on Cueball, Hairy, and Megan. Cueball has turned toward the other two.]<br />
:Cueball: Instead of hitting the tallest thing around, lightning starts hitting the nicest.<br />
:Megan: Seagulls all get handguns.<br />
:Hairy: A really '''''slow''''' nuclear war.<br />
<br />
:[Large panel with the original setting. Ponytail has turned towards the other three but is now facepalming, as Cueball gesturing with his hands at chest-height are still looking at the other two facing him.]<br />
:Cueball: We all have to go on a game show where they show you photos of people you've met once and ask you their names, and if you get one wrong a trapdoor opens and you fall into a garbage disposal.<br />
:Hairy: '''Ooh,''' that's a good one.<br />
:Megan: Yeah, let's put off the upgrade.<br />
<br />
{{comic discussion}}<br />
<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Ponytail]]<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Hairy]]<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]<br />
[[Category:Computers]]<br />
[[Category:Volcanoes]]<br />
[[Category:Robots]]<br />
[[Category:Artificial Intelligence]]<br />
[[Category:Weather]]<br />
[[Category:Animals]]<br />
[[Category:Nuclear weapons]]</div>172.69.63.19https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=2265:_Tax_AI&diff=1870522265: Tax AI2020-02-09T00:25:58Z<p>172.69.63.19: /* Types of errors */</p>
<hr />
<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 2265<br />
| date = February 7, 2020<br />
| title = Tax AI<br />
| image = tax_ai.png<br />
| titletext = I ended up getting my tax return prepared at a local place by a really friendly pretrained neural net named Greg.<br />
}}<br />
<br />
==Explanation==<br />
{{incomplete|CREATED BY GREG. Needs explanation for "Seitan"}}<br />
<br />
The deadline for filing tax returns in the United States is April 15, so many people in the US are beginning the process of filing their taxes at the time of this comic's publication. Traditionally, people used tax provider companies, but it is becoming more popular to use tax preparation software, such as {{w|TurboTax}} or a service from the {{w|Free File Alliance}}, which helps to fill in the tax forms after a user enters their income information and {{w|Tax deduction|deduction}}s for the year.<br />
<br />
In this comic, [[Cueball]] has attempted to train a {{w|artificial neural net}} to prepare his {{w|Tax return (United States)|US tax return}}, but it has made several comical errors, purportedly because it was not trained extensively enough. Most of the errors consist of {{w|malapropism}}s, words that sound almost the same but mean very different things switched for comic effect. This suggests Cueball trained the neural net by talking to it. <br />
<br />
The title text references [[2173: Trained a Neural Net]], which indicates that getting a human to do something is basically using a "pretrained neural net". Cueball has chosen to use a local tax provider to help him file his taxes, aka a "pretrained neural net" in the form of a human named Greg.<br />
<br />
===Types of errors===<br />
* "claim up to 1040 defendants": typically, taxpayers may claim "{{w|dependent}}s" (not "{{w|defendant}}s", persons being sued or accused of crimes) to deduct a certain amount of money from their taxable income, which is intended to represent money used for their care. Dependents include children, wards, elderly parents, and others for whom the taxpayer is the primary caregiver, so 1040 would be an absurdly high number.{{Citation needed}} {{w|Form 1040}} is the number of the primary tax document that must be filed in the United States.<br />
* "seitan local income tax" is a reference to "{{w|state income tax|state and local income tax}}" which can be deducted from federal income taxes in the US. Most states in the United States have income taxes that must be prepared separately, but some do not. {{w|Seitan}} is another name for wheat gluten, used in vegetarian or vegan dishes.<br />
* "fiscal year 20202": presumably the neural net got carried away with 2's and 0's in 2020. However, at the date the comic was published, Cueball should be filing his 2019 taxes anyway. Alternately, the comic could be place in the future and it took the way most people will speak the year 2022 ("twenty twenty-two") and then transferred this directly to numbers ("20" "20" "2" becoming 20202).<br />
* "standard deduckling" : the "{{w|standard deduction}}", which is what many taxpayers opt to do rather than attempting to {{w|itemize deductions|itemize their deductions}}. The standard deduction is based on filing status and typically increases each year. It is assumed, without evidence, that no ducklings were harmed in filing these taxes.<br />
* "atomizing" his "clams": instead of "itemizing his claims" which, as mentioned above, wouldn't make sense if he was taking the standard deduction anyway. Itemized deductions means to "itemize" or list individual deductions, such as charitable donations, medical expenses, mortgage interest payments, etc. Choosing to itemize deductions may lead to a greater deduction, but requires more effort and supporting documentation, in case of a {{w|Income tax audit|tax audit}}.<br />
<br />
==Transcript==<br />
:[Cueball sits at a desk using a laptop.]<br />
:Laptop: You may claim up to 1040 defendants on your seitan local income tax for fiscal year 20202 by taking the standard deduckling and atomizing your clams.<br />
<br />
:[Caption below the panel:]<br />
:I used a neural net to prepare my tax returns, but I think I cut off its training too early.<br />
<br />
{{comic discussion}}<br />
[[Category:Artificial Intelligence]]<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]<br />
[[Category:Language]]</div>172.69.63.19https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=Talk:159:_Boombox&diff=184825Talk:159: Boombox2019-12-18T22:45:06Z<p>172.69.63.19: </p>
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<div>The issue date on this comic is not given, as i don't know one. Can anyone fix this? [[User:Rikthoff|Rikthoff]] ([[User talk:Rikthoff|talk]]) 18:08, 3 August 2012 (EDT)<br />
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<br />
This is not a reference to Romeo and Juliet. It is a reference to the 80s movie Say Anything, where John Cusack plays Peter Gabriel's "In Your Eyes" on a boombox outside the house of the girl he likes.<br />
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Just gonna leave this here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vr60RCuVUb0&feature=youtube_gdata_player [[Special:Contributions/172.56.8.215|172.56.8.215]] 14:35, 13 October 2013 (UTC)<br />
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:I agree. The most direct reference is clearly Say Anything. The more classical references are fine to include, but given that there's no detail particularly linking them to the comic, they should be de-emphasized in favor of the movie.[[User:Jerodast|- jerodast]] ([[User talk:Jerodast|talk]]) 23:35, 30 March 2015 (UTC)<br />
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::I agree as well. The direct reference is to the film. The film references the play. This should be changed.[[User:Flewk|Flewk]] ([[User talk:Flewk|talk]]) 11:02, 25 December 2015 (UTC)<br />
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I think this comic should refer to the male character as "Rob", since it seems from other comics (e.g. [[716: Time Machine]] and [[782: Desecration]]) that Rob and Megan have a close and possibly romantic relationship. [http://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/explain_xkcd:Community_portal/Proposals#Merge_Cueball_.26_Rob See here] for more discussion on this topic. [[User:Djbrasier|Djbrasier]] ([[User talk:Djbrasier|talk]]) 13:37, 13 March 2015 (UTC)<br />
:I disagree. In none of the comics where Megan is named has Rob been named as well. So there is no indication that they are the same. Most of the time Megan and Cueball are not "named" character. In a few (three?) Megan is used for the xkcd Megan. And out of almost a 1000 cases Cueball has only been named Rob in 9. In a few of these he is together with the xkcd Megan. Viac versa in the three with Megans name, Cueball is also there, but then he is not named Rob. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 13:15, 15 March 2015 (UTC)<br />
:I think the name Rob should only be used when the comic specifically mentions the name, Cueball for every other generic stickman.--[[User:17jiangz1|17jiangz1]] ([[User talk:17jiangz1|talk]]) 11:22, 10 April 2015 (UTC)<br />
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I think we need to make a distinction: the term "character" can refer to either a stick figure with distinguishing features (e.g. Black Hat, Cueball), or a real (or fictional person) which such a figure often represents (e.g. Randall, Rob). This distinction is often blurred, for example Megan is both a stick figure and a person. Hopefully this will help clear up some confusion! [[User:Richmond tudor|Richmond tudor]] ([[User talk:Richmond tudor|talk]]) 01:57, 16 March 2015 (UTC)<br />
: This conversation is occurring [http://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/explain_xkcd:Community_portal/Proposals#Merge_Cueball_.26_Rob elsewhere, please weigh in here]. [[User:Djbrasier|Djbrasier]] ([[User talk:Djbrasier|talk]]) 01:34, 31 March 2015 (UTC)<br />
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The joke gets referenced again in the first image's mouse-over text in [https://what-if.xkcd.com/40/ this article]. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.210.177|108.162.210.177]] 22:45, 31 May 2015 (UTC)<br />
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Whoever wrote that part about Romeo beneath Juliet's balcony is confused about what is going on in that scene. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.210.214|108.162.210.214]] 01:39, 20 November 2019 (UTC)<br />
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I feel like the explanation doesn't sufficiently explain. I don't understand the significance (humor?) of the specific song being played. If anyone can clarify, it would be appreciated. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.63.19|172.69.63.19]]</div>172.69.63.19https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=775:_Savannah_Ancestry&diff=180498775: Savannah Ancestry2019-09-26T22:13:30Z<p>172.69.63.19: /* Explanation */</p>
<hr />
<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 775<br />
| date = August 4, 2010<br />
| title = Savannah Ancestry<br />
| image = savannah_ancestry.png<br />
| titletext = She's a perfectly nice lady from a beautiful city, and there's no reason to be mean just because she thinks a quarterback is a river in Egypt.<br />
}}<br />
<br />
==Explanation==<br />
Savannah ancestry usually means our ancestors in the {{w|Human evolution|African savannah}}, millions of years ago.<br />
<br />
Evo-psych means {{w|evolutionary psychology}}.<br />
<br />
[[Cueball]] is apparently trying to teach [[Megan]] something mathematical, feels frustrated at his lack of success, blames that lack of success entirely on his student, and appears to use evolutionary psychology, specifically a popular trope/myth about women being bad at abstract thinking, as an excuse. Evolutionary excuses in this context are trying to lay blame somewhere other than either participant, and so can be seen as comforting, but of course they falsely place all women in an inferior position to all men, at least when it comes to "abstract math". She naturally objects to the excuse, rightly calls it bullshit sexism, and, depending on how you interpret it, may indicate this isn't the first time she's heard him say something similar.<br />
<br />
But the twist is that he turns out not to be talking about her lower-case savannah ancestors, the ones in the African savannah of eons ago, but rather of her very recent "Savannah ancestors", better called parents, who live in the city of Savannah, Georgia, USA. They apparently know each other well. The implication is now much more personal: that her mother didn't prepare her. Of course, Randall uses only upper case everywhere, so he has avoided giving the reader a clue about the misdirect-joke he is working toward.<br />
<br />
Teasing people about their mothers in the USA, specifically about their mothers' stupidity or fatness, is a common enough theme in popular culture that there is a series of jokes that start with the words "Yo mama" that exemplify the genre. There is also an extremely common theme that the South's education system is failing; the comic combines the two. The title text is apparently Megan starting to defend her mother, but then lapsing into a Yo Mama joke without the introducing words, showing that her mother is stupid enough to think that a quarterback (one of the positions played in American football) would be a river in Egypt. This is a conflation of the Yo Mama joke "Yo mama so stupid she thinks a quarterback is a refund!" and the common pun, "Denial (sounds like "The Nile") is not just a river in Egypt".<br />
<br />
==Transcript==<br />
:[Cueball and Megan are at a blackboard with equations and graphs on it.]<br />
:Cueball: Look, I'm doing my best, but the fact is your savannah ancestors just didn't prepare you for doing abstract math.<br />
:Megan: See, that's just the kind of bullshit sexism that discredits evo-psych. Your "evolutionary histories" always seem tuned to produce 1950's gender roles.<br />
:Cueball: Evolutionary? What? I meant Savannah, ''Georgia.''<br />
:Megan: ...Hey! Let's leave my mom out of this.<br />
<br />
{{comic discussion}}<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]<br />
[[Category:Math]]<br />
[[Category:Your Mom]]<br />
[[Category:Puns]]</div>172.69.63.19