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» Hatrack River Forum » Active Forums » Books, Films, Food and Culture » XKCD: So beautiful it deserves a new thread (Page 0)

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Author Topic: XKCD: So beautiful it deserves a new thread
Raymond Arnold
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I started with Hitchhiker's guide and it was a surprisingly long chain. (Like the previous three, it actually converges on "Mathematics," which I think should be considered the actual page for this rule).

Then I discovered that "Rationality" and "Reason" actually don't work. They just lead to each other, back and forth.

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Jake
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Also with a random starting point:

Lorca Castle
Lorca
Region of Mercuria
Valencian
Catalan Language
Romance Languages
Indo-European Languages
Language Family
Language
Communication
Meaning (Philosophy of Language)
Philosophy


And try number 2:
Powhatan
Native American tribes in Virginia
The concept of Indian tribes in the United States
United States
Federalism
Politics
Group decision making
Individual
Person
Human
Taxonomy
Science
Knowledge
Fact
Information
Sequence
Mathematics
Quantity
Property (philosophy)
Modern philosophy
Philosophy

[ May 25, 2011, 10:38 AM: Message edited by: Jake ]

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The White Whale
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This is way too much fun.

Looking at the xkcd forums, it seems like a lot converge to mathematics before going to philosophy, and there are many examples of loops.

I'm just waiting for some sort of awesome infographic to emerge.

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scifibum
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I also reached the "Meaning (Philosophy of Language)" article from a random starting point, but the first link goes to "Definition" and then:
Meaning (linguistics)
Linguistics
Human
Taxonomy
Science
Knowledge
Fact
Information
Sequence
Mathematics
Quantity
Property
Modern Philosophy
Philosophy


My starting point: The Centre for Corporate Public Affairs

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SenojRetep
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Here's a paper from 2007 on the emergent graph topology of Wikipedia.

In the paper, all links are treated equally, but the "click on the first hyperlink" exercise demonstrates that that's not true. For example, if I click on the last link on each page, you get a very different sort of chain, jumping from pragmatic to pragmatic, rather than ascending a ladder of abstractions.

Philosophy
Rosalind Hursthouse
Jeffrey Moussaieff Masson
Jerusalem
Givat Ram
Byzantine Empire
Roman Kingdom
Consul
Aeropagus of Eastern Continental Greece
First National Assembly at Epidaurus
Filiki Eteria
Ali Pasha
Topkapi Palace
Antalya
Sabiha Gokcen International Airport
Silk Way Airlines
Ilyushin Il-76
Hardpoint
Workbench
Cast Iron
Foundry
Welding
Residual Stress
Neutron Diffraction
Bragg's Law
Hexagonal Lattice
Translational Symmetry
Measure
Signed Measure
Riesz Representation Theorem
Uniform Norm
C*-algebra
Local Quantum Field Theory
Light Cone
Weyl Tensor
Cotton tensor
<loop>

<edit>It's also not robust to taking the second, rather than the first, non-italicized, not-parenthetical link.</edit>

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katharina
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(in reverse order)

Philosophy
Modern Philosophy
Property
Quantity
Mathematics
Sequence
Informaton
Fact
Knowledge
Science
Taxonomy
Human
Person
Individual
Group
Politics
Federalism
The United States
Kevin Williamson
The Vampire Diaries


If you keep going and click the first link on the Philosophy page and so on, it looks back on to taxonomy. And repeat.

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Carrie
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On the "Quantity" page, I am no longer getting a link to "Property" - instead, I'm in an endless loop of Mathematics -> Quantity -> Magnitude -> Order Theory -> Mathematics.

Viewing the history of the page is actually pretty amusing. "Edited for XKCD," indeed. [Smile]

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Jeorge
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If only the page for "Circular Definition" looped back on itself...
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Strider
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xkcd fans have set up recursive loops all over the place!
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Xavier
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That's lame.

Though it seems editing the rule to be "the first link that wasn't already clicked" would still work for most every page.

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katharina
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It's back to what it was. Game still works.
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Raymond Arnold
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Wikipedia must really hate Randal.
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Lisa
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quote:
Originally posted by Jeorge:
If only the page for "Circular Definition" looped back on itself...

I used to work at a company that converted textbooks and reference books into e-text for a searchable and hypertexted (if that's a word) engine. At one point I was working on the New Oxford Dictionary of English, and I noticed that the definition of "recursive" didn't say "see recursive". So I added it.
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The Rabbit
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Quantum Botany


I love the mouse over text. "coherent amber waves" and "devastating but majestic grain laser). [ROFL]

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Raymond Arnold
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Is the devastating but majestic grain laser funny for reasons other than sheer ridiculousness?
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Vasslia Cora
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Its in reference to "America - the beautiful"
http://www.explainxkcd.com

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Raymond Arnold
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No I got that, I was wondering if "majestic grain" was a particular line I had forgotten or something.
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manji
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I am shocked, SHOCKED, that today's XKCD has no alt text. What's up with that?
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Itsame
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It encapsulates me.
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rivka
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Weird.
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Itsame
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The comic, not the lack of alt text.
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rivka
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I was responding to manji, not you.
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manji
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Looks like he put it in just now. All is right in the world.
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rivka
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[Big Grin]
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Mr. Y
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Can't explain exactly why, but I really like this one.
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The White Whale
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Whoa thread reincarnation! How are you all?
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PanaceaSanans
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Two things.

1) I love this thread. Especially page 2 and 4. So imma drag it back from the dead.

2) While I'm at it: How come there is no mention of this?

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Dogbreath
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There is, just in one of other xkcd threads.
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PanaceaSanans
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Thanks, Breath. (You people really should've kept some order to those threads, you know. Not have everything twice or threefold. That makes it really hard for the random newbie stumbling through the open barn door... [Big Grin] )
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theamazeeaz
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Today's xkcd is terrifying:

https://xkcd.com/1732/

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kmbboots
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And also hilarious once or twice.
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Stone_Wolf_
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I really don't get how the currently held theorys about monolithic structures are so widely accepted and so utterly stupid.

The pyramids were not built in 2500 bc.

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Heisenberg
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I'm pretty confident in current scientific consensus on the pyramids et al. I'm curious why you're not.
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Stone_Wolf_
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http://www.pyramidcode.com

The videos are on netflix...it's a five part mini series.

Lots of phds behind it...pretty good jumping off point.

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Heisenberg
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I'm in the market for a good source if tinfoil, where do you get yours?
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Stone_Wolf_
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Here: https://g.co/kgs/IyLXfT
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Heisenberg
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But on a more serious note, just because they were born 4000 years ago doesn't mean that they were retarded. They had their geniuses and they had the benefit of slave/taxed labor. Add up the two and it was more then possible to build the pyramids.
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RivalOfTheRose
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that earth temperature is absolutely scary
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kmbboots
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It is. And that Stonehenge is in danger of being crushed by dwarves.
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theamazeeaz
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quote:
Originally posted by Heisenberg:
But on a more serious note, just because they were born 4000 years ago doesn't mean that they were retarded. They had their geniuses and they had the benefit of slave/taxed labor. Add up the two and it was more then possible to build the pyramids.

They also didn't have Netflix to entertain them. Lots of time to figure things out.
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Stone_Wolf_
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So...everyone just caught "giant rock fevor" on several continents at the same time...hey, put down that copper tool and help me move this 90 ton stone...sometimes up mountains...hundreds of miles...no wheels...no problem! Occam grew a beard.
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kmbboots
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As I am not about to waste time on a mini series, would you care to summarize?
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Stone_Wolf_
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Pyramids built on aquifer, large dark energy generators, cap stones were insulators...forgotten technology...lots and lots of evidence that makes current accepted theories look silly.

Watch the first ten min...experts of good quality, production value & music too.

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PanaceaSanans
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quote:
Originally posted by theamazeeaz:
They also didn't have Netflix to entertain them. Lots of time to figure things out.

Oh. Oooh. I don't have Netflix either. That might explain some things... [Big Grin]
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dkw
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quote:
Originally posted by Stone_Wolf_:
Pyramids built on aquifer, large dark energy generators, cap stones were insulators...forgotten technology...lots and lots of evidence that makes current accepted theories look silly.

I think your silly detector might need re-calibrating.
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Samprimary
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quote:
Originally posted by Stone_Wolf_:
Pyramids built on aquifer, large dark energy generators, cap stones were insulators...forgotten technology...lots and lots of evidence that makes current accepted theories look silly.

Watch the first ten min...experts of good quality, production value & music too.

how specifically do you think the pyramids were made

what is all this stuff

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Stone_Wolf_
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Not with slave labor and rope and copper tools and logs for rolling, that is for sure!

We have lost technology...human progression is not a straight line.

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TomDavidson
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Dude, what tech do you think "the ancients" possessed that they wasted on building heaps of rock?
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Stone_Wolf_
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I'll make a new thread I don't want to derail this one.

[ September 13, 2016, 10:16 PM: Message edited by: Stone_Wolf_ ]

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Mucus
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quote:
Originally posted by TomDavidson:
Dude, what tech do you think "the ancients" possessed that they wasted on building heaps of rock?

ZPMs?
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