xkcd

by **Lawton** » Mon Jun 13, 2011 9:58 am UTC

feyayeruka wrote:if I'm really honest, if we asked some interesting question like that, we would have gotten an answer along the lines of "that's not in the syllabus for this year, now get back to reading the assigned pages that *will* be on the test"

It always depressed me that school was about work, not learning. Genius is ninety-nine per cent perspiration and one per cent inspiration, but that one percent is hard to come by.

by **Lode** » Mon Jun 13, 2011 10:00 am UTC

Um, Microsoft Encarta 2005, and you find that OLD? What are you, a kid?

by **Tharwen** » Mon Jun 13, 2011 10:12 am UTC

Oh god, Encarta.

I distinctly remember never using that to any meaningful effect during my time at my first school.

by **JDLJDL** » Mon Jun 13, 2011 10:29 am UTC

A Tin Tin rocket? In a comic about the Magic School Bus and Wikipedia?
Madness.

by **Tualha** » Mon Jun 13, 2011 10:30 am UTC

LOL, my best friend used to edit those books. She'll get a kick out of this one.

by **tjunction** » Mon Jun 13, 2011 10:33 am UTC

Encarta 2005?! Wikipedia existed in 2005, and was better than Encarta even at that point. (I was introduced to Wikipedia by a maths lecturer in my first year at uni - autumn 2003 - and I don't think my degree studies would have been quite the same without it).

It was Encarta 97 when I was at school.

by **Ezbez** » Mon Jun 13, 2011 11:19 am UTC

tjunction wrote:Encarta 2005?! Wikipedia existed in 2005, and was better than Encarta even at that point.

That is the point. The alt-text is referencing a reoccurring joke in the show where one of the characters would compare their class to the normal class he used to attend.

by **tjunction** » Mon Jun 13, 2011 12:08 pm UTC

That is the point. The alt-text is referencing a reoccurring joke in the show where one of the characters would compare their class to the normal class he used to attend.

Yes, but it might have worked better if it was plausible that ANYBODY used Encarta 2005. Nobody did, because Wikipedia was already much better than Encarta at that time.

by **SirMustapha** » Mon Jun 13, 2011 12:24 pm UTC

Nifty art, neat colours, ... WIKIPEDIA JOKE? Oh, God.

Rule of Randall #1: when all else fails, do a Wikipedia joke.

by **RogerB** » Mon Jun 13, 2011 12:36 pm UTC

And just to complete the circle...

After wondering if Encarta still existed and if not, when it ceased to be; I have just looked up Encarta on Wikipedia.

by **Inane_Asylum** » Mon Jun 13, 2011 12:46 pm UTC

In case anyone was wondering, "battery" leads to "philosophy" in eleven links.

...if nothing else, we can consolidate all the Wikipedia jokes into one.

by **Armadillo Al** » Mon Jun 13, 2011 1:01 pm UTC

Oh God, that's another childhood memory ruined forever.

by **squall_line** » Mon Jun 13, 2011 1:34 pm UTC

tjunction wrote:
That is the point. The alt-text is referencing a reoccurring joke in the show where one of the characters would compare their class to the normal class he used to attend.

Yes, but it might have worked better if it was plausible that ANYBODY used Encarta 2005. Nobody did, because Wikipedia was already much better than Encarta at that time.

Schools without internet connections would have a higher propensity to use Encarta than Wikipedia, even if Wikipedia can be downloaded and put onto a computer to be used sans-internet.

And if you think that there aren't any schools out there that don't have internet connections, or you think that Micro$oft would continue to publish a software title that wasn't making money (Encarta lived on until it started to lose money in 2009), you need to get out more.

by **doggitydogs** » Mon Jun 13, 2011 1:58 pm UTC

tjunction wrote:
That is the point. The alt-text is referencing a reoccurring joke in the show where one of the characters would compare their class to the normal class he used to attend.

Yes, but it might have worked better if it was plausible that ANYBODY used Encarta 2005. Nobody did, because Wikipedia was already much better than Encarta at that time.

I used Encarta 2007.

(dial-up internet...)

by **KShrike** » Mon Jun 13, 2011 1:59 pm UTC

Title text made me ROFL!

I loved the Magic School Bus as a kid. I was afraid Randall was going to make fun of an inaccuracy in the show for a second.

Thank you for not doing that

by **KShrike** » Mon Jun 13, 2011 2:00 pm UTC

doggitydogs wrote:
tjunction wrote:
That is the point. The alt-text is referencing a reoccurring joke in the show where one of the characters would compare their class to the normal class he used to attend.

Yes, but it might have worked better if it was plausible that ANYBODY used Encarta 2005. Nobody did, because Wikipedia was already much better than Encarta at that time.

I used Encarta 2007.

(dial-up internet...)

I remember using Encarta 2000 in grade school, so...

by **KShrike** » Mon Jun 13, 2011 2:06 pm UTC

Third consecutive post, sorry. But I just realized that Arnold will now be able to stay home today.
Also, any bad jokes made by Carlos would involve one of the previous XKCD comics. GET IT?
I wouldn't imagine what would make Ralphie sick (except, maybe, professors against wikipedia)
Dorothy: "According to my research, a citation may be needed!"
Keisha: Well, the same catchphrase as usual, nothing to see here. However, if she dares to say "Let's get the facts"...
Randall already got Pheobe
Ugh.... was that all of them? I don't remember...

by **rcox1** » Mon Jun 13, 2011 2:20 pm UTC

Lawton wrote:
feyayeruka wrote:if I'm really honest, if we asked some interesting question like that, we would have gotten an answer along the lines of "that's not in the syllabus for this year, now get back to reading the assigned pages that *will* be on the test"

It always depressed me that school was about work, not learning. Genius is ninety-nine per cent perspiration and one per cent inspiration, but that one percent is hard to come by.

Yeah, I felt the same way when i left university to get a private sector job. It was supposed to be research and development, but was mostly work. The nice thing about being out of university was when i had an interesting question that no one could answer, I could often research and find the answer the myself. One cool thing my elementary science teacher would do when she did not have an answer was call the local research library for help. That was good modeling.

by **neoliminal** » Mon Jun 13, 2011 2:29 pm UTC

I just the whole Wikipedia.

by **tlbs** » Mon Jun 13, 2011 2:52 pm UTC

So, the magic bus is composed of four fermionic fields φ(x) and φ-bar(x), in space, but not in time... very interesting.

Btw, I got that from Wiki:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Feynman_diagram

by **SpringLoaded12** » Mon Jun 13, 2011 3:18 pm UTC

NOSTALGIA!
And who says educational TV is lame?
I remember a couple years ago, my (high school) class watched some highlights from an episode of that show, I think it was the one about the digestive system. But I remember not noticing until then how quirky all the members of Ms. Frizzle's class were.

TheRequiem wrote:
doggitydogs wrote:http://xkcd.com/258/
EDIT: Also, a search for "rotary" brings up http://xkcd.com/562/, which I just got a couple minutes ago on random.

I link to this on some business cards I had made up....

I also have been adding an email address on the back, but no responses yet

You are awesome.

by **Hughes** » Mon Jun 13, 2011 3:27 pm UTC

Ah God, I miss The Magic School Bus and Ms. Frizzle; even if her outfit always did drive me nuts, that show always compelled me to go learn something (Which is a damn sight better than school could ever do for me.). If I only I had known how to use a computer for more than Rayman and The Oregon Trail and ARGHDIALUP and known what that boring looking CD that said Encarta on it was for back then. *sigh*

by **vookaloop** » Mon Jun 13, 2011 3:29 pm UTC

pretzil wrote:

Alt text: I see you

Probably will only make sense for the next hour or so, but thats 99.9% of the audience

Makes sense now waiting for topic title to get fixed.

by **DesSidDes** » Mon Jun 13, 2011 3:48 pm UTC

I haven't decided if this is funny because of the nostalgia/taking the Magic Schoolbus to look up something on Wikipedia, or whether it's funny because of the social commentary that their school is so poor that it was necessary to take the Magic Schoolbus to find a computer that has internet.

by **xnick** » Mon Jun 13, 2011 4:05 pm UTC

Who is she?

by **Soralin** » Mon Jun 13, 2011 4:11 pm UTC

Lawton wrote:It always depressed me that school was about work, not learning. Genius is ninety-nine per cent perspiration and one per cent inspiration, but that one percent is hard to come by.

Thomas Edison wrote:Genius is one percent inspiration, ninety-nine percent perspiration.

Nikola Tesla wrote:If Edison had a needle to find in a haystack, he would proceed at once with the diligence of the bee to examine straw after straw until he found the object of his search. ... I was a sorry witness of such doings, knowing that a little theory and calculation would have saved him ninety per cent of his labor.

by **clashmo** » Mon Jun 13, 2011 4:21 pm UTC

Its actually kind of sad

by **Smatchmo** » Mon Jun 13, 2011 4:53 pm UTC

Love the Feynman diagrams in the background of the travel panel. Definitely how all magic works.

by **Gamer_2k4** » Mon Jun 13, 2011 5:07 pm UTC

KShrike wrote:Third consecutive post, sorry. But I just realized that Arnold will now be able to stay home today.
Also, any bad jokes made by Carlos would involve one of the previous XKCD comics. GET IT?
I wouldn't imagine what would make Ralphie sick (except, maybe, professors against wikipedia)
Dorothy: "According to my research, a citation may be needed!"
Keisha: Well, the same catchphrase as usual, nothing to see here. However, if she dares to say "Let's get the facts"...
Randall already got Pheobe
Ugh.... was that all of them? I don't remember...

There was also Wanda and that black kid.

by **Brooks Hatlen** » Mon Jun 13, 2011 5:09 pm UTC

wbeaty wrote:tl;dr

by **busyba** » Mon Jun 13, 2011 5:20 pm UTC

And of course, the Wikipedia page for batteries is now locked. Apparently pre-emptively.

Lol... pussies.

by **BytEfLUSh** » Mon Jun 13, 2011 5:26 pm UTC

busyba wrote:And of course, the Wikipedia page for batteries is now locked. Apparently pre-emptively.

Lol... pussies.

It's been protected since January.

by **CobaltMouse** » Mon Jun 13, 2011 5:28 pm UTC

This comic actually made me disappointed/sad. The art was good, as was the story, but this would have made for the most depressing Magic School Bus episode ever.

;m; <--- See? It even made Cthulhu cry! Poor sad intractable horror from the deeps...

by **Lawton** » Mon Jun 13, 2011 5:55 pm UTC

Soralin wrote:
Lawton wrote:It always depressed me that school was about work, not learning. Genius is ninety-nine per cent perspiration and one per cent inspiration, but that one percent is hard to come by.

Thomas Edison wrote:Genius is one percent inspiration, ninety-nine percent perspiration.
Nikola Tesla wrote:If Edison had a needle to find in a haystack, he would proceed at once with the diligence of the bee to examine straw after straw until he found the object of his search. ... I was a sorry witness of such doings, knowing that a little theory and calculation would have saved him ninety per cent of his labor.

...so Nikola Tesla is implying that with proper method, inspiration can be raised to roughly ten percent?

by **dp2** » Mon Jun 13, 2011 5:58 pm UTC

Soralin wrote:
Lawton wrote:It always depressed me that school was about work, not learning. Genius is ninety-nine per cent perspiration and one per cent inspiration, but that one percent is hard to come by.

Thomas Edison wrote:Genius is one percent inspiration, ninety-nine percent perspiration.
Nikola Tesla wrote:If Edison had a needle to find in a haystack, he would proceed at once with the diligence of the bee to examine straw after straw until he found the object of his search. ... I was a sorry witness of such doings, knowing that a little theory and calculation would have saved him ninety per cent of his labor.

And which of those two gave us practical stuff to use?

by **libra** » Mon Jun 13, 2011 6:20 pm UTC

Armadillo Al wrote:Oh God, that's another childhood memory ruined forever.

Yeah, me too, and I never had that childhood memory.
False Ruined Forever Memory Syndrome.

by **Steve the Pocket** » Mon Jun 13, 2011 6:31 pm UTC

Ah, The Magic School Bus. To my knowledge, the only PBS show that went on to syndication.

Gamer_2k4 wrote:
KShrike wrote:Third consecutive post, sorry. But I just realized that Arnold will now be able to stay home today.
Also, any bad jokes made by Carlos would involve one of the previous XKCD comics. GET IT?
I wouldn't imagine what would make Ralphie sick (except, maybe, professors against wikipedia)
Dorothy: "According to my research, a citation may be needed!"
Keisha: Well, the same catchphrase as usual, nothing to see here. However, if she dares to say "Let's get the facts"...
Randall already got Pheobe
Ugh.... was that all of them? I don't remember...

There was also Wanda and that black kid.

Tim. Somewhere around the third season they stuck him with the catchphrase "We've just been Frizzled" because they couldn't be bothered to give him, you know, a personality or anything. I don't remember anything particular about Wanda or Keisha either, actually.

by **Fixblor** » Mon Jun 13, 2011 6:39 pm UTC

tahrey wrote:
Fixblor wrote:Do you have my Encarta '95 CD-ROM?

I've got a bootleg copy of it I had off a friend, if you like, and 96 too. I'm not sure how readable a 12 year old CDR made in a 4x burner will be, but it IS a gold disc at least...

I was just looking for the Battery entry from both Encarta and Funk&Wagnall's, the encyclopedia that Encarta was based on. If you could copy paste one of the Encarta "Battery" entries here, that'd be prime. Most of the changes were abridgements in text and the occasional minor update (I was comparing an 86 to a 95) ... although, we shouldn't forget the addition of all that revolutionary multimedia content.

I now point you to the Hyperland documentary by Douglas Adams, narrated by Tom Baker.
"Would you like to learn more about Doctor Who?"

by **Pfhorrest** » Mon Jun 13, 2011 6:56 pm UTC

webgrunt wrote:
dp2 wrote:
Soralin wrote:
Lawton wrote:It always depressed me that school was about work, not learning. Genius is ninety-nine per cent perspiration and one per cent inspiration, but that one percent is hard to come by.

Thomas Edison wrote:Genius is one percent inspiration, ninety-nine percent perspiration.
Nikola Tesla wrote:If Edison had a needle to find in a haystack, he would proceed at once with the diligence of the bee to examine straw after straw until he found the object of his search. ... I was a sorry witness of such doings, knowing that a little theory and calculation would have saved him ninety per cent of his labor.

And which of those two gave us practical stuff to use?

Wouldn't we still be using DC if it were up to Edison? And have to live within a couple blocks of a power plant if we wanted electricity?

And which one has a really awesome all-electric sports car named after him, huh?

by **Hirg** » Mon Jun 13, 2011 8:06 pm UTC

tjunction wrote:
That is the point. The alt-text is referencing a reoccurring joke in the show where one of the characters would compare their class to the normal class he used to attend.

Yes, but it might have worked better if it was plausible that ANYBODY used Encarta 2005. Nobody did, because Wikipedia was already much better than Encarta at that time.

Nobody uses or teaches Wikipedia use in schools. Referencing Wikipedia as a source is a good way to get a failing grade on a paper. Use of encyclopedias - electronic, like Encarta 2005, or paper, like Encyclopædia Britannica - is taught, and referencing encyclopedias is acceptable (although not encouraged).

In other words, what's your point? The comic shows a school bus taking children to a source that's never used in schools, and the alt text shows a kid whining about how at his old school, they used to use something that's never used outside of schools. It's a joke. It doesn't have to be realistic.

Who is online