https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/api.php?action=feedcontributions&user=Btx40&feedformat=atomexplain xkcd - User contributions [en]2024-03-29T07:16:36ZUser contributionsMediaWiki 1.30.0https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=2621:_Mainly_Known_For&diff=2705392621: Mainly Known For2022-05-19T22:06:14Z<p>Btx40: Undo revision 270537 by 162.158.107.230 (talk)</p>
<hr />
<div><br><br />
{{comic<br />
| number = 2621<br />
| date = May 18, 2022<br />
| title = Mainly Known For<br />
| image = mainly_known_for.png<br />
| titletext = Oh sure, I know Keira Knightly, from the first movie in that series by The Land Before Time producer. You know, the franchise with the guy from Jurassic Park and Ghostwriter, and script work by Billie Lourd's mom?<br />
}}<br />
<br />
==Explanation==<br />
{{incomplete|Created by that guy from NASA, what was his name? Something Munroe - Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}<br />
[[Megan]] points out an uncanny resemblance between someone's dad and {{w|Steve Jobs}}. However, she is uncertain that Steve's last name is Jobs, so she refers to Jobs as "the Pixar guy", asking Cueball if Jobs is the correct name. Jobs is ''mainly known for'' (hence the comic's title) being the co-founder and twice CEO of {{w|Apple Inc.}}, but in the late 1980s and early 1990s (between his stints at Apple), he was the chairman of {{w|Pixar Animation Studios}}, which is what Megan knows him for. <br />
<br />
Frequently, when people can't remember a celebrity's name, they will point out other works they are known for in hopes someone else will recognize them from that and remind them of the name. The comic, for its demographic of nerds, is joking on how it can come across to have lived a life separate from popular culture, where one learns things for different reasons than most people do.<br />
<br />
[[Cueball]] points out that Megan's tendency to avoid the "main" association and instead go with a much more secondary one is weird, which confuses her. To demonstrate how weird her associations are, Cueball asks her, "Who is {{w|John Lennon}}?" Lennon is a famous songwriter who played and wrote for {{w|The Beatles}} before they broke up, and later continued on a solo music career. Megan recognizes Lennon as a musical artist, but is unable to remember the name of The Beatles. She instead asks about the band he was in with {{w|Ringo Starr}}. Ringo, however, is not mainly memorable to her for his role in The Beatles, but rather as Mr. Conductor from the first season of the 1989 children's television show ''{{w|Shining Time Station}}''. The Beatles' fame seems to have escaped Megan, which vexes Cueball. Also Ringo may be considered as the least known of The Beatles, unless that would be {{w|George Harrison|'the quiet one'}}. Definitely less well-known than {{w|Paul McCartney}}, who was often as prominent a writer-performer as Lennon at the time and has continued to prominently perform individually (or headlining collaborations) across all the intervening decades since that era. <br />
<br />
Hoping to show that she really does know Lennon and that her associations aren't weird, she points out that she remembers John doing a song with {{w|David Bowie}}. But she cannot remember that it was called "{{w|Fame (David Bowie song)|Fame}}". The song is from 1975 and Lennon co-wrote it with Bowie and performed backing vocals and guitar on it. Also she cannot remember Bowie's name, recognizing him instead for his acting role in ''{{w|Labyrinth (1986 film)|Labyrinth}}''. When Cueball states Bowie's name and states that he think he is famous for other stuff than those two things Megan mentions, she also remember another movie with Bowie, ''{{w|Zoolander}}'', rather than his more famous musical career (such as his smash hits "{{w|Space Oddity}}" or "{{w|Let's Dance (David Bowie song)|Let's Dance}}").<br />
<br />
Sensing Cueball's annoyance, but failing to understand it, she attempts to excuse herself for not remembering ''Zoolander'' to begin with, because it came out a long time ago, during the {{w|Presidency of George W. Bush}}. ''Zoolander'' was indeed released in 2001. Apparently unable, again, to remember the president's name, she identifies him as "{{w|Jenna Bush}}'s dad". Jenna Bush is a TV personality and much less widely known than her father.<br />
<br />
While the kind of associations people make like Megan in this comic, are often prone to the {{w|Mandela effect}}, Megan's information about all the celebrities is, in fact, correct, but apparently they are never what those people are best known for. This is what makes Cueball sigh and facepalm in the final panel, when she mentions Jenna instead of George Bush. He likely also does this because, even though he just demonstrated her weird tendency to remember people for their lesser known works, he is unable to reach her and let her understand that she is weird.<br />
<br />
In the title text, Megan refers to "{{w|Keira Knightley|Keira Knightly}}" [''sic'' -- her surname is spelled Knightley], who is probably best known for her roles in the {{w|Pirates of the Caribbean (film series)|''Pirates of the Caribbean'' films}} and the {{w|Pride & Prejudice (2005 film)|2005 ''Pride and Prejudice'' film}}, by referencing her small role in ''{{w|Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace}}'' (as Sabé, who funnily enough is a handmaiden and ''decoy'' for Queen Padmé Amidala, a main character played by Natalie Portman). <br />
<br />
Megan continues her unusual references by identifying the film as the "first movie" (it was the first in the plotline, but the fourth one made) in "that series by ''The Land Before Time'' producer" ({{w|George Lucas}}, creator of {{w|Star Wars}}, was also one of the executive producers of the 1988 animated film ''{{w|The Land Before Time (film)|The Land Before Time}}''). <br />
<br />
Seeming to think that identifying George Lucas doesn't narrow it down at all, she identifies another actor in the ''Star Wars'' series, {{w|Samuel L. Jackson}}, by his roles in ''{{w|Jurassic Park (film)|Jurassic Park}} ''(an extremely successful film, but one in which Jackson had a relatively small role) and the PBS children's series ''{{w|Ghostwriter (1992 TV series)|Ghostwriter}}'' (in which Jackson appeared in only a few episodes). In addition, Megan mentions that the ''Star Wars'' series had "script work by {{w|Billie Lourd}}'s mom", referring to {{w|Carrie Fisher}}, who [https://www.slashfilm.com/548436/carrie-fisher-script-doctor/ contributed uncredited script-doctoring work] to the ''Star Wars'' franchise. However, Fisher is more closely associated with ''Star Wars'' for having played the major role of {{w|Princess Leia Organa}} in six films in the series.<br />
<br />
''Ghostwriter'' was previously featured in [[130: Julia Stiles]], which described a scene from the show as "the best thing ever to appear on TV".<br />
<br />
==Transcript==<br />
:[Megan holds he hand palm up towards Cueball.]<br />
:Megan: ...And her dad looks ''exactly'' like the Pixar guy. Steve what's-his-name? Jobs?<br />
:Cueball: "Pixar guy"?<br />
:Cueball: You always know famous people for such weird reasons.<br />
<br />
:[Megan puts her hand down.]<br />
:Megan: What do you mean?<br />
:Cueball: Who is John Lennon?<br />
:Megan: Wasn't he in a band? With Ringo from ''Shining Time Station''.<br />
:Cueball: How is '''''that''''' your main association?<br />
<br />
:[In a frameless panel Megan holds a finger up in front of Cueball.]<br />
:Megan: I also know he once did a song with the guy from Labyrinth!<br />
:Cueball: You mean David Bowie? I think he's famous for some other stuff, too.<br />
<br />
:[Megan puts her hand down while Cueball facepalms. The line connecting his is curved.]<br />
:Megan: Oh yeah, he was also in Zoolander!<br />
:Megan: I forgot that movie, it came out back when Jenna Bush's dad was president.<br />
:Cueball: ''*Sigh*''<br />
<br />
{{comic discussion}}<br />
<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Steve Jobs]]<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring real people]]<br />
[[Category:Star Wars]]<br />
[[Category:Fiction]]<br />
[[Category:Jurassic Park]]</div>Btx40https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=2611:_Cutest-Sounding_Scientific_Effects&diff=2311072611: Cutest-Sounding Scientific Effects2022-04-25T22:08:50Z<p>Btx40: Remove unsourced claim</p>
<hr />
<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 2611<br />
| date = April 25, 2022<br />
| title = Cutest-Sounding Scientific Effects<br />
| image = cutest_sounding_scientific_effects.png<br />
| titletext = The Stroop-YORP number of a scientific paper is how many of the 16 finalist names (sans 'effect') it manages to casually sneak into the text.<br />
}}<br />
<br />
==Explanation==<br />
{{incomplete|Created by a YORP effect - Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}<br />
<br />
Randall has compiled a {{w|Tournament bracket|single-elimination tournament bracket}} for a knock-out competition between 16 different scientific effect names that Randall considers cute-sounding. As of now, he is determining the result in a [https://twitter.com/xkcd/status/1518701311763570689 series of Twitter polls].<br />
<br />
Below are explanations for what each of the 16 effects are:<br />
<br />
;{{w|YORP effect}}: (an acronym of Yarkovsky, O’Keefe, Radzievskii, and Paddack) The YORP effect is the effect of sunlight on an asteroid with variations of albedo, which can increase its rotation rate, perhaps until it spins itself apart.<br />
;{{w|Nocebo effect}}: An effect in which a recipent of medication who believes it will have negative side effects is more likely to experience negative side effects, whether they are really caused by the medication or not. Opposite of the {{w|placebo effect}}, which focuses on positive side effects.<br />
;{{w|Woozle effect}}: If a study gets repeatedly cited and otherwise disseminated, then people will start to believe it regardless of whether it has any evidence behind it. And if there is not any evidence, it becomes an urban myth. Named after a Winnie-the-Pooh story in which Winnie-the-Pooh and Piglet try to catch an imaginary animal called a woozle, and accidentally follow their own tracks in circles.<br />
;{{w|Stroop effect}}: The Stroop effect (referenced in [[1531: The BDLPSWDKS Effect]]) in psychology, refers to the phenomenon in which it is easier to name the color of the ink in which a word is written when the word refers to the same color as the ink than when the word refers to a different color.<br />
;{{w|Pockels effect}}: TBA<br />
;{{w|Cheerios effect}}: A phenomenon where objects floating in a liquid appear to attract or repel each other. Named after the cereal Cheerios, which are an everyday demonstration of this phenomenon because many eat Cheerios in a bowl of milk.<br />
;{{w|Hot chocolate effect}}: TBA<br />
;{{w|Perky effect}}: TBA<br />
;{{w|Bouba/kiki effect}}: TBA<br />
;{{w|Cutaneous rabbit effect}}: A phenomenon where, when tapped on one part of the body in rapid succession and then switching to another, the subject feels the tapping at locations in between the two. For example, if rapidly tapping the wrist then switching to the elbow, the subject will feel being tapped between the wrist and elbow - which is obviously impossible.<br />
;[https://www.investopedia.com/terms/s/smallfirmeffect.asp Small firm effect]: An economic theory that small firms usually perform better than larger ones<br />
;{{w|Little–Parks effect}}: TBA<br />
;{{w|Dr. Fox effect}}: TBA<br />
;{{w|Oddity effect}}: TBA<br />
;{{w|Butterfly effect}}: The butterfly effect is the sensitivity of chaotic systems to small changes in initial conditions. The weather system of Earth is chaotic, and so an arbitrarily small change in air patterns (such as could be caused by the flapping of a butterfly's wing) would ultimately change the weather for the whole world.<br />
;{{w|Popcorn effect}}: TBA<br />
<br />
==Transcript==<br />
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}<br />
:[A tournament bracket tree is shown with 16 scientific effect names each on the left and right side. From both sides toward the middle the brackets reduce to eight, then four, two, and one line where the latter join to a rectangle in the middle.]<br />
<br />
:[Left side:]<br />
:Yorp effect - Nocebo effect<br />
:Woozle effect - Stroop effect<br />
:Pockels effect - Cheerios effect<br />
:Hot chocolate effect - Perky effect<br />
<br />
:[Right side:]<br />
:Bouba/kiki effect - Cutaneous rabbit effect<br />
:Small firm effect - Little parks effect<br />
:Dr. Fox effect - Oddity effect<br />
:Butterfly effect - Popcorn effect<br />
<br />
{{comic discussion}}</div>Btx40https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=2507:_USV-C&diff=2171072507: USV-C2021-08-25T16:03:23Z<p>Btx40: </p>
<hr />
<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 2507<br />
| date = August 25, 2021<br />
| title = USV-C<br />
| image = usv_c.png<br />
| titletext = Ultra-Serial Violet C light is unpolarized, so you don't have to flip the polarizing filter over when you get the orientation wrong the first time.<br />
}}<br />
<br />
==Explanation==<br />
{{incomplete|Created by a BOT - Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}<br />
<br />
==Transcript==<br />
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}<br />
{{comic discussion}}<br />
<br />
[[Category: Cursed Connectors]]</div>Btx40https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=2484:_H-alpha&diff=2156002484: H-alpha2021-07-26T14:34:39Z<p>Btx40: Nobody remembered the triplane from 496</p>
<hr />
<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 2484<br />
| date = July 2, 2021<br />
| title = H-alpha<br />
| image = h_alpha.png<br />
| titletext = "All the companies whose blimps I shot fireworks at are mad, but MetLife is especially miffed because I dressed up as the Red Baron."<br />
}}<br />
<br />
==Explanation==<br />
[[Black Hat]] has acquired an {{w|H-alpha}} filter. This is a special kind of optical filter used for scientific observations of the Sun's {{w|chromosphere}}. It is different from an ordinary solar filter, which is used to protect one's eyes or camera, as looking at the Sun bare-eyed will do damage to one's eyes. A camera using an ordinary (not H-alpha) solar filter was seen in [[1828: ISS Solar Transit]], and the consequences of not using such a filter were explored in [[2227: Transit of Mercury]]. <br />
<br />
Black Hat points out that the filter can also be used to look at {{w|nebula}}e, but doesn't see much further use for it; since the filter only transmits a very narrow bandwidth of light, one generated by hot hydrogen, it is not useful for looking at much else. This gives him an idea, and he leaves.<br />
<br />
WARNING!!! A deep sky nebula H-alpha filter has a wider bandwidth than a solar H-alpha filter and WILL hurt the eyes if used to observe the sun!<br />
<br />
Upon returning, he casually shares with Cueball three seemingly unrelated observations which suggest what he was up to in the meantime: that most modern {{w|blimps}} use helium to keep them aloft, that their household is out of fireworks, and that an advertising company (or several, going by the title text) is upset. Early in the 20th century, most {{w|airships}} such as blimps and {{w|zeppelins}} used hydrogen as the lifting gas. There were several incidents in which this gas ignited while the ships were in flight, resulting in spectacular and catastrophic fireballs, most famously the {{w|Hindenburg disaster|''Hindenburg'' disaster}}. Taken together, the implication is that Black Hat tried to set someone's advertising blimp alight using fireworks; so he could use his H-alpha filter to look at the burning hydrogen. <br />
<br />
In modern times, one of the most well-known uses of airships is blimps for advertising, as they are an unusual and hence attention-getting sight in the sky, offer a large surface area that can be used to show a slogan or logo, and can stay aloft for a long time at comparatively little cost. Modern blimps almost exclusively use helium as a lifting gas. While helium is significantly more expensive than hydrogen (and a non-renewable resource), it has similar weight and therefore similar lifting power to hydrogen, but is not flammable. (In fact, as a noble gas, helium is totally non-reactive under normal conditions). Any attempt to cause a hydrogen fireball would, therefore, be doomed to failure. Nonetheless, if Black Hat managed to set off sufficiently powerful fireworks near the blimp, it could potentially damage the skin, risking a loss of helium and possibly putting people in danger, which is likely why the advertising company is "real mad". The joke is that Black Hat would do something as destructive as attempting to destroy a blimp in flight, potentially killing people aboard or on the ground, merely to have the opportunity to use his H-alpha filter.<br />
<br />
Cueball "responds" by holding whatever he's reading closer to his face, apparently hoping to avoid further conversation (or consequences).<br />
<br />
The title text references the insurance company MetLife, which until 2016 used the cartoon character {{w|Snoopy}} as an advertising mascot. In the ''{{w|Peanuts}}'' comics, Snoopy would frequently imagine himself as a fighter pilot in {{w|World War I}} in an aerial battle with the {{w|Red Baron}}, a battle he would frequently lose. The detail that Black Hat "dressed up as the Red Baron" might help explain another point: advertising blimps typically fly higher than the effective range of most fireworks. It would be entirely consistent with Black Hat's history to modify the stolen {{w|triplane}} mentioned in [[496: Secretary: Part 3]] to allow him to launch fireworks from the air, in mockery of an old-fashioned dogfight.<br />
<br />
This comic was published shortly before {{w|Independence Day (United States)|Independence Day}} 2021, a US holiday that is often commemorated with fireworks. This may explain why Black Hat and Cueball originally had some fireworks around.<br />
<br />
==Transcript==<br />
:[In a slim panel Black Hat is seen holding a small black device up in his left hand.]<br />
:Black Hat: I got an H-Alpha filter for looking at the sun.<br />
<br />
:[In a broad frame-less panel Black Hat, holding the device down in his left hand while standing behind Cueball who is sitting in an armchair reading on his tablet.]<br />
:Black Hat: It also works for nebulae. But that's about it. There just aren't that many hot blobs of hydrogen to look at, I guess.<br />
<br />
:[Back to a slim panel, Black Hat is seen holding his left hand to his chin, while he holds the device down in his right hand.]<br />
:Black Hat: ...Unless...<br />
<br />
:[Another two slim panels follows. In the first Black Hat turns around and leaves, his head already partly outside the panel already, and he no longer holds the device in his hands. And then follows an empty beat panel.]<br />
<br />
:[In a broad panel Black Hat re-enters with the device held down in his hand. He is walking towards Cueball in his armchair. His black hat is somewhat out of shape. Cueball is still reading but is now hunched further forward and he has lifted his tablet so it is very close to his face.]<br />
:Black Hat: Huh, did you know blimps all use helium now? You learn something new every day! By the way, we're out of fireworks.<br />
:Black Hat: And some advertising company is '''''real''''' mad.<br />
<br />
{{comic discussion}}<br />
<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Black Hat]]<br />
[[Category:Airships]]<br />
[[Category:Astronomy]]</div>Btx40https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=977:_Map_Projections&diff=215478977: Map Projections2021-07-23T19:48:55Z<p>Btx40: Google Maps didn't change from Mercator</p>
<hr />
<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 977<br />
| date = November 14, 2011<br />
| title = Map Projections<br />
| before = [[#Explanation|↓ Skip to explanation ↓]]<br />
| image = map_projections.png<br />
| titletext = What's that? You think I don't like the Peters map because I'm uncomfortable with having my cultural assumptions challenged? Are you sure you're not... ::puts on sunglasses:: ...projecting?<br />
}}<br />
{{TOC}}<br />
==Explanation==<br />
{{w|Map projection}}, or how to represent the spherical Earth surface onto a flat support (paper, screen...) to have a usable map, is a long-time issue with very practical aspects (navigation, geographical shapes and masses visualization, etc.) as well as very scientific/mathematical ones, involving geometry or even abstract algebra among other things. There is no universal solution to this problem: Any 2D map projection will always distort in a way the spherical reality. Many projections have been proposed in various contexts, each intending to minimize distortions for specific uses (for nautical navigation, for aerial navigation, for landmass size comparisons, etc.) but having drawbacks from other points of view. Some of them are more frequently used than others in mass media and therefore more well-known than others, some are purely historical and now deprecated, some are very obscure, etc.<br />
<br />
[[Randall]] suggests here the idea that someone's "favorite" map projection can reveal aspects of their personality, then goes through a series of them to show what they can mean. <br />
<br />
He may actually believe that all map projections are in a way bad. This could be inferred from the fact that he much later began publishing a series of [[:Category:Bad Map Projections|Bad Map Projections]].<br />
===Mercator===<br />
[[File:MercatorProjection.jpg|frame|The Mercator projection]]<br />
The {{w|Mercator projection}} was introduced by Flemish cartographer Gerardus Mercator in 1569. The main purpose of this map is to preserve compass bearings; for example 13 degrees east of north will be 13 degrees clockwise from the ray pointing toward the top of the map, at every point. A mathematical consequence is the mapping is conformal, i.e. if two roads meet at a certain angle on the surface of the Earth, they will meet at that same angle on the map. It also follows that at every point the vertical and horizontal scales are the same, so locally i.e. considering only a small part of the map, geographical features (shapes, angles) are well represented, which helps a lot in recognizing them on-the-field, or for local navigation in that small part only. For this reason, that projection (or a close variant) is used in several online mapping services (such as Google Maps), which means that it is frequently encountered by the general public. A straight line on the map corresponds to a course of constant bearing (direction), which was very useful for nautical navigation in the past (and thus made that projection very well-known).<br />
<br />
However, from a global point of view, this projection is radically incorrect in how it shows the size of landmasses (for instance, Antarctica and Greenland seem gigantic), and furthermore, it always excludes a small region around each pole (otherwise the map would be of infinite height), so it doesn't provide a complete solution for the problem of map projection. The comic implies that people who like that projection aren't very interested with map issues, and typically use what they are offered without thinking much about it.<br />
<br />
{{clear}}<br />
<br />
===Van der Grinten===<br />
[[File:VanDerGrintenProjection.jpg|frame|The Van der Grinten projection]]<br />
The {{w|Van der Grinten projection}} is not much better than the Mercator. It was adopted by {{w|National Geographic}} in 1922 and was used until they updated to the Robinson projection in 1988.<br />
<br />
The Van der Grinten projection is circular as opposed to the Mercator projection. The fictional person believes a circular map is more fitting to the real Earth's three-dimensional spherical nature because both are round. This belief fails to recognize that a two-dimensional circle has very little in common with the surface of a sphere, and thus this projection still causes a vast distortion of space and area. Because of this, Randall implies the Van der Grinten enthusiast to be optimistic and childishly simple-minded (e.g. "you like circles").<br />
<br />
{{clear}}<br />
<br />
===Robinson===<br />
[[File:RobinsonProjection.jpg|frame|The Robinson projection]]<br />
The {{w|Robinson projection}} was developed by {{w|Arthur H. Robinson}} as a map that was supposed to look nice and is often used for classroom maps. National Geographic switched to this projection in 1988, and used it for ten years, switching to the {{w|Winkel tripel projection|Winkel-Tripel}} in 1998.<br />
<br />
{{w|The Beatles}} was a rock band that enjoyed great commercial success in the 1960s, and are widely considered the best act ever in the genre of popular music. The Beatles, coffee, and running shoes are all things that are very commonly enjoyed and largely uncontroversial, as well as being comforting. Liking these specific things suggests an ordinary, easygoing lifestyle paralleled by the projection.<br />
<br />
{{clear}}<br />
<br />
===Dymaxion===<br />
[[File:DymaxionProjection.jpg|frame|The Dymaxion projection]]<br />
Also called the Fuller Map, the {{w|Dymaxion map}} takes a sphere and projects it onto an icosahedron, that is a polyhedron with 20 triangular faces. It is far easier to unwrap an icosahedron than it is to unwrap a sphere into a 2D object and has very little skewing of the poles. {{w|Buckminster Fuller}} was an eccentric futurist who believed, for example, that world maps should allow no conception of "up" or "down". He was therefore more than happy to defy people's expectations about maps in the pursuit of mathematical accuracy.<br />
<br />
Randall associates the projection to geek subculture and niche markets:<br />
*{{w|Isaac Asimov}} was an American science-fiction writer, who (as well as publishing many textbooks) is considered the father of the modern concept of robots. He invented the {{w|Three Laws of Robotics}}. He also worked on more than 500 books throughout his career.<br />
*{{w|XML}} is the eXtensible Markup Language. It is used to represent data in a format that machines can read and understand, as well as being human-readable. In practice, XML is cumbersome to read.<br />
*{{w|Vibram FiveFingers|Toed shoes}} are a [[1065: Shoes|favorite]] of Randall's to pick on. In society they are seen as a {{w|geek}} clothing item.<br />
*Brought to the world by {{w|Dean Kamen}}, the {{w|Segway PT}} was supposed to be a device that changed the way cities were built. In reality, most jurisdictions have put in place rules specifically against Segways, making them a frustration to own and use within the law (in some states in Australia, it is illegal to use them on public footpaths or roads). Also, the former owner of {{w|Segway Inc.}}, the late {{w|Jimi Heselden}}, accidentally rode his Segway off a cliff in 2010.<br />
*At the time of comic release, 3D goggles, nowadays widely known as {{w|Virtual reality headset|VR headsets}}, were considered a gimmick at best. The original idea is as old as 3D graphics, but it never really took off until mid-2010s. Earlier products were very unwieldy and offered poor graphics quality, so no one took this technology seriously.<br />
*{{w|Dvorak Simplified Keyboard|Dvorak}} is an alternate keyboard layout to {{w|QWERTY}}. According to legend, QWERTY was invented to help keep manual typewriters from jamming (by placing the most used keys far from each other) but Dr. {{w|August Dvorak}} performed many studies and found the mathematically optimal keyboard layout to reduce finger travel for right handed typists. While some claim Dvorak is technically better than QWERTY, QWERTY had become the standard. Most keyboards were laid out in QWERTY format, but a lot of software exists to remap the keys to DVORAK for those interested in typing faster. Retraining the brain to use Dvorak takes perhaps a week. It has become a [[:Category:Dvorak|recurrent theme]] on xkcd.<br />
<br />
<br />
{{clear}}<br />
<br />
===Winkel-Tripel===<br />
[[File:Winkel-TripelProjection.jpg|frame|The Winkel Tripel projection]]<br />
Proposed by Oswald Winkel in 1921, the {{w|Winkel tripel projection}} tried to reduce a set of three (German: Tripel) main problems with map projections: area, direction, and distance. The {{w|Kavrayskiy VII projection|Kavrayskiy projection}} is very similar to the Winkel Tripel and was used by the USSR, but very few in the Western world know of it.<br />
<br />
The comic links this projection to {{w|hipster}} subculture. The hipster stereotype is to avoid conforming to mainstream fashions. "Post-" refers to a variety of musical genres such as {{w|post-punk}}, {{w|post-grunge}}, {{w|post-minimalism}}, etc. that branch off of other genres.<br />
<br />
;Trivia<br />
*In German "Winkel-Tripel-Projektion" means Winkel's triple projection, and therefore the hyphen shouldn't be there: "Winkel Tripel" or "Winkel tripel".<br />
*This projection was later used in [[2242: Ground vs Air]].<br />
<br />
{{clear}}<br />
<br />
===Goode Homolosine===<br />
[[File:GoodeHomolosineProjection.jpg|frame|The Goode Homolosine projection]]<br />
The {{w|Goode homolosine projection}} takes a different approach to skewing a sphere into a roughly circular surface. An orange peel can be taken from an orange and flattened with fair success; this is roughly the procedure that {{w|John Paule Goode}} followed in creating this projection. Randall is suggesting that people who like this map also prefer relatively easy solutions to other things in life, despite those solutions having nuanced problems that are more difficult to address.<br />
<br />
Common people make arguments that if normal people would run the United States, then the US wouldn't be in the trouble it is. This is from the belief that career politicians are simply out to make money and will only act in the interest of their constituency when their continued easy life is threatened (usually around election time).<br />
<br />
Airline food is another, much maligned, problem. How do you store enough food to feed people on long airplane trips? What kind of food can be served in an enclosed, low-air-pressure environment? The common solution is to use some kind of prepackaged, reheated meal. Randall is saying that the people in favor of the Goode Homolosine wonder why the airlines don't simply order meals from the restaurants in the airport, store that food, and serve it, rather than using bland reheated food. However, this seemingly-obvious solution ignores how being in an airplane dulls your sense of taste. Airplane food is actually overseasoned for eating on the ground, meaning that if airlines switched to restaurant food it would probably taste even blander.<br />
<br />
Older cars burned oil like mad fiends, and oil back then would become corrosive to the innards of an engine, so oil had to be changed often. But, with the introduction of synthetic motor oil and better designed engines, new cars only need their oil changed about every 10,000 to 15,000 miles. A common conspiracy theory is that modern automobile oil manufacturers still recommend that car owners change their oil every 3,000-5,000 miles to "drum" up more business, even though that frequency is unnecessary.<br />
<br />
All of these references suggest that people who like the Goode Homolosine projection are fans of easy solutions to problems. However, the solutions would not necessarily work in practice. For instance: the restaurants might have trouble making enough food for the whole plane, and it could get cold before being served; the air conditions [http://www.nbcnews.com/health/one-reason-airline-food-so-bad-your-own-tastebuds-6C10823522 aboard planes] can affect taste, so airlines say they optimize for this; there is no such thing as a "normal" person, and if there were, he/she would have virtually no chance at actually getting into government office; and the Goode Homolosine projection, while mostly resembling a flattened orange peel as suggested by the earlier analogy, does indeed cut down on distortion, but also has serious problems of its own, such as leaving huge gaps of nothingness between the continents, making distances across the oceans difficult to visualize.<br />
<br />
{{clear}}<br />
<br />
===Hobo–Dyer===<br />
[[File:Hobo-DyerProjection.jpg|frame|The Hobo–Dyer projection]]<br />
The {{w|Hobo–Dyer projection}} was commissioned by Bob Abramms and Howard Bronstein and was drafted by Mick Dyer in 2002. It is a modified {{w|Behrmann projection}}. The goal was to be a more visually pleasing version of the Gall–Peters.<br />
<br />
As is discussed in the Gall–Peters explanation, the Gall–Peters was developed to be equal area, so that economically disadvantaged areas can at least take comfort in the fact that their country is represented correctly by area on maps.<br />
<br />
Randall associates the Hobo–Dyer projection to "crunchy granola" — a stereotype associated with vegetarianism, environmental activism, anti-war activism, liberal political leanings, and some traces of {{w|hippie}} culture.<br />
<br />
With feminism becoming mainstream and alternative genders being more widely accepted, some have begun to invent gender-neutral pronouns so that when referring to a person whose gender is not known they cannot be offended by being referred to by the wrong pronouns. In {{w|Middle English}} 'they' and 'their' were {{w|Singular they|accepted genderless pronouns that could replace 'he', 'she'}} as well as be used to represent a crowd, but this usage is considered by some to be grammatically incorrect because of the plural/singular debate ([https://www.merriam-webster.com/video/the-awkward-case-of-his-or-her stupid Victorian Grammarians!]). There have been {{w|gender-neutral pronoun#Invented pronouns|many attempts at popularizing invented gender-neutral pronouns}} and they are beginning to achieve some degree of success in the mainstream.<br />
<br />
{{clear}}<br />
<br />
===Plate Carrée===<br />
[[File:PlateCarreeProjection.jpg|frame|The Plate Carrée projection]]<br />
Also known as the {{w|Equirectangular projection}}, it has been in use since, apparently, 100 AD. The benefit of this projection is that latitude and longitude can be used as x,y coordinates. This makes it especially easy for computers to graph data on top of it.<br />
<br />
According to the comic, the projection appeals to people who find much beauty in simplicity.<br />
<br />
{{clear}}<br />
<br />
===A Globe!===<br />
[[File:GlobeProjection.jpg|frame|The Globe "projection"]]<br />
In any good discussion there has to be at least one smart-ass. This is a comic about map projections, that is, the science of taking a sphere and flattening it into 2 dimensions. The smart-ass believes that we shouldn't even try: a sphere is, tautologically, the perfect representation of a sphere.<br />
<br />
To quote ''{{w|The Princess Bride}}'': "Yes, you're very smart. Shut up."<br />
<br />
A globe is, of course, the "map projection" used by {{w|Google Earth}} when zoomed out.<br />
<br />
{{clear}}<br />
<br />
===Waterman butterfly===<br />
[[File:WatermanButterflyProjection.jpg|frame|The Waterman Butterfly projection]]<br />
Similar to the Dymaxion, the {{w|Waterman butterfly projection}} turns a sphere into an octahedron, and then unfolds the net of the octahedron, which was devised by mathematician {{w|Waterman polyhedron|Steve Waterman}} based upon the work of {{w|Bernard J.S. Cahill}}.<br />
<br />
Bernard Cahill published a [http://www.genekeyes.com/B.J.S._CAHILL_RESOURCE.html butterfly map] in 1909. Steve Waterman probably has the only extant "ready to go" map following the same general principles, though Gene Keys may not be far behind. Waterman has a poem with graphics in a similar vein to this xkcd comic that is worth reading.[http://web.archive.org/web/20120118095915/http://watermanpolyhedron.com/worldmap.html]<br />
<br />
[https://www.degruyter.com/downloadpdf/j/pcr.2016.48.issue-4/pcr-2016-0014/pcr-2016-0014.pdf Polyhedral projections] like Cahill, Dymaxion or Waterman typically offer better accuracy of size, shape and area than flat projections, at the expense of compass directionality, connectedness, and other complications.<br />
<br />
The joke is that the person responding deeply understands map projections; anyone who knows of this projection is a person that Randall would like to get to know.<br />
<br />
{{clear}}<br />
<br />
===Peirce quincuncial===<br />
[[File:PeirceQuincuncialProjection.jpg|frame|The Peirce Quincuncial projection]]<br />
The {{w|Peirce quincuncial projection}} was devised by {{w|Charles Sanders Peirce}} in 1879 and uses {{w|complex analysis}} to make a {{w|conformal mapping}} of the Earth, that conforms except for four points which would make up the midpoints of sides and lie on equator (the equator is represented by a square and the corners connect the sides in the middle.)<br />
<br />
{{w|Inception}} was a 2010 movie about {{w|meta}} {{w|lucid dream}}ing. It has a complex story that is difficult to follow and leaves the viewer with many questions at the end, and almost needs to be watched multiple times to be understood.<br />
<br />
The human brain is not well developed to deal with oddly obvious things. One example is that everyone has a skeleton, but everyone is surprised to see a part of their body represented by an X-ray. Another is the fascinating complexity of the human hand, a machine which is amazingly complex, driven by a complex interplay of electrical and chemical signals; yet is the size of the hand and so useful. A fascination with or fixation on {{tvtropes|ContemplatingYourHands|such thoughts}} is often associated with an altered state of mind brought on by marijuana consumption. Therefore, Randall may be implying that this map would appeal to stoners.<br />
<br />
{{clear}}<br />
<br />
===Gall–Peters===<br />
[[File:Gall-PetersProjection.jpg|frame|The Gall–Peters projection]]<br />
The {{w|Gall–Peters projection}} is mired in controversy, surprisingly for a map. {{w|James Gall}}, a 19th-century clergyman, presented this projection in 1855 before the {{w|British Association for the Advancement of Science}}. In 1967, the filmmaker {{w|Arno Peters}} created the same projection and presented it to the world as a "new invention" that put poorer, less powerful countries into their rightful proportions (as opposed to the Mercator). Peters played the marketing game and got quite a few followers of his map by saying it had "absolute angle conformality," "no extreme distortions of form," and was "totally distance-factual" in an age when society was very concerned about social justice. All of these claims were in fact false. The Mercator projection distorts size in favor of shape, and Gall-Peters distorts shape in favor of size, being especially inaccurate at the equator and the poles.<br />
<br />
The implication is that the fans of this map are pompously concerned with social justice, and willing either to lie or convey marketing mistruths to promote that cause. Alternatively Randall just dislikes this map projection so much due to the above mentioned inaccuracies, that he hates anyone who likes it.<br />
<br />
{{clear}}<br />
<br />
===Title text===<br />
The title text makes a joke that goes to the familiar meme from ''{{w|CSI: Miami}}'', in which the star, David Caruso starts a sentence, then puts on his sunglasses and ends the sentence with a corny pun. In this case, the pun is on {{w|map projection}} and {{w|projection (psychology)|projection}} in psychology. Psychological projection is an unconscious defense mechanism wherein a person who is uncomfortable with their own impulses denies having them and attributes them to other people, and blames these people for these impulses. The Sunglasses internet meme has been used [[:Category:Puts on sunglasses|in other comics]] as well.<br />
<br />
==Transcript==<br />
:What your favorite<br />
:'''Map Projection'''<br />
:says about you<br />
:[All of these are organized as Title, a copy of the particular projection underneath, and what it says about you under that.]<br />
<br />
:*Mercator<br />
:**You're not really into maps.<br />
:*Van der Grinten<br />
:**You're not a complicated person. You love the Mercator projection; you just wish it weren't square. The Earth's not a square, it's a circle. You like circles. Today is gonna be a good day!<br />
:*Robinson<br />
:**You have a comfortable pair of running shoes that you wear everywhere. You like coffee and enjoy The Beatles. You think the Robinson is the best-looking projection, hands down.<br />
:*Dymaxion<br />
:**You like Isaac Asimov, XML, and shoes with toes. You think the Segway got a bad rap. You own 3D goggles, which you use to view rotating models of better 3D goggles. You type in Dvorak.<br />
:*Winkel-Tripel<br />
:**National Geographic adopted the Winkel-Tripel in 1998, but you've been a W-T fan since ''long'' before "Nat Geo" showed up. You're worried it's getting played out, and are thinking of switching to the Kavrayskiy. You once left a party in disgust when a guest showed up wearing shoes with toes. Your favorite musical genre is "Post–".<br />
:*Goode Homolosine<br />
:**They say mapping the Earth on a 2D surface is like flattening an orange peel, which seems enough to you. You like easy solutions.You think we wouldn't have so many problems if we'd just elect ''normal'' people to Congress instead of Politicians. You think airlines should just buy food from the restaurants near the gates and serve ''that'' on board. You change your car's oil, but secretly wonder if you really ''need'' to.<br />
:*Hobo-Dyer<br />
:**You want to avoid cultural imperialism, but you've heard bad things about Gall-Peters. You're conflict-averse and buy organic. You use a recently-invented set of gender-neutral pronouns and think that what the world needs is a revolution in consciousness.<br />
:*Plate Carrée <small>(Equirectangular)</small><br />
:**You think this one is fine. You like how X and Y map to latitude and longitude. The other projections overcomplicate things. You want me to stop asking about maps so you can enjoy dinner.<br />
:*A Globe!<br />
:**Yes, you're very clever.<br />
:*Waterman Butterfly<br />
:**Really? You know the Waterman? Have you seen the 1909 Cahill Map it's based— ...You have a framed reproduction at home?! Whoa. ...Listen, forget these questions. Are you doing anything tonight?<br />
:*Peirce Quincuncial<br />
:**You think that when we look at a map, what we really see is ourselves. After you first saw ''Inception'', you sat silent in the theater for six hours. It freaks you out to realize that everyone around you has a skeleton inside them. You ''have'' really looked at your hands.<br />
:*Gall-Peters<br />
:**I ''hate'' you.<br />
<br />
{{comic discussion}}<br />
<br />
[[Category:Maps]]<br />
[[Category:Dvorak]]<br />
[[Category:Puts on sunglasses]]<br />
[[Category:Puns]]</div>Btx40https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=2484:_H-alpha&diff=2149302484: H-alpha2021-07-12T16:56:53Z<p>Btx40: /* Explanation */</p>
<hr />
<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 2484<br />
| date = July 2, 2021<br />
| title = H-alpha<br />
| image = h_alpha.png<br />
| titletext = "All the companies whose blimps I shot fireworks at are mad, but MetLife is especially miffed because I dressed up as the Red Baron."<br />
}}<br />
<br />
==Explanation==<br />
[[Black Hat]] has acquired an {{w|H-alpha}} filter. This is a special kind of optical filter used for scientific observations of the Sun's {{w|chromosphere}}. It is different from an ordinary solar filter, which is used to protect one's eyes or camera, as looking at the Sun bare-eyed will do damage to one's eyes. A camera using an ordinary (not H-alpha) solar filter was seen in [[1828: ISS Solar Transit]], and the consequences of not using such a filter were explored in [[2227: Transit of Mercury]]. <br />
<br />
Black Hat points out that the filter can also be used to look at {{w|nebula}}e, but doesn't see much further use for it; since the filter only transmits a very narrow bandwidth of light, one generated by hot hydrogen, it is not useful for looking at much else. This gives him an idea, and he leaves.<br />
<br />
WARNING!!! A deep sky nebula H-alpha filter has a wider bandwidth than a solar H-alpha filter and WILL hurt the eyes if used to observe the sun!<br />
<br />
Upon returning, he casually shares with Cueball three seemingly unrelated observations which suggest what he was up to in the meantime: that most modern {{w|blimps}} use helium to keep them aloft, that their household is out of fireworks, and that an advertising company (or several, going by the title text) is upset. Early in the 20th century, most {{w|airships}} such as blimps and {{w|zeppelins}} used hydrogen as the lifting gas. There were several incidents in which this gas ignited while the ships were in flight, resulting in spectacular and catastrophic fireballs, most famously the {{w|Hindenburg disaster|''Hindenburg'' disaster}}. Taken together, the implication is that Black Hat tried to set someone's advertising blimp alight using fireworks; so he could use his H-alpha filter to look at the burning hydrogen. <br />
<br />
In modern times, one of the most well-known uses of airships is blimps for advertising, as they are an unusual and hence attention-getting sight in the sky, offer a large surface area that can be used to show a slogan or logo, and can stay aloft for a long time at comparatively little cost. Modern blimps almost exclusively use helium as a lifting gas. While helium is significantly more expensive than hydrogen (and a non-renewable resource), it has similar weight and therefore similar lifting power to hydrogen, but is not flammable. (In fact, as a noble gas, helium is totally non-reactive under normal conditions). Any attempt to cause a hydrogen fireball would, therefore, be doomed to failure. Nonetheless, if Black Hat managed to set off sufficiently powerful fireworks near the blimp, it could potentially damage the skin, risking a loss of helium and possibly putting people in danger, which is likely why the advertising company is "real mad". The joke is that Black Hat would do something as destructive as attempting to destroy a blimp in flight, potentially killing people aboard or on the ground, merely to have the opportunity to use his H-alpha filter.<br />
<br />
Cueball "responds" by holding whatever he's reading closer to his face, apparently hoping to avoid further conversation (or consequences).<br />
<br />
The title text references the insurance company MetLife, which until 2016 used the cartoon character {{w|Snoopy}} as an advertising mascot. In the ''{{w|Peanuts}}'' comics, Snoopy would frequently imagine himself as a fighter pilot in {{w|World War I}} in an aerial battle with the {{w|Red Baron}}, a battle he would frequently lose. The detail that Black Hat "dressed up as the Red Baron" might help explain another point: advertising blimps typically fly higher than the effective range of most fireworks. It would be entirely consistent with Black Hat's history to somehow acquire a traditional {{w|biplane}} and modify it to allow him to launch fireworks from the air, in mockery of an old-fashioned dogfight.<br />
<br />
This comic was published shortly before {{w|Independence Day (United States)|Independence Day}} 2021, a US holiday that is often commemorated with fireworks. This may explain why Black Hat and Cueball originally had some fireworks around.<br />
<br />
==Transcript==<br />
:[In a slim panel Black Hat is seen holding a small black device up in his left hand.]<br />
:Black Hat: I got an H-Alpha filter for looking at the sun.<br />
<br />
:[In a broad frame-less panel Black Hat, holding the device down in his left hand while standing behind Cueball who is sitting in an armchair reading on his tablet.]<br />
:Black Hat: It also works for nebulae. But that's about it. There just aren't that many hot blobs of hydrogen to look at, I guess.<br />
<br />
:[Back to a slim panel, Black Hat is seen holding his left hand to his chin, while he holds the device down in his right hand.]<br />
:Black Hat: ...Unless...<br />
<br />
:[Another two slim panels follows. In the first Black Hat turns around and leaves, his head already partly outside the panel already, and he no longer holds the device in his hands. And then follows an empty beat panel.]<br />
<br />
:[In a broad panel Black Hat re-enters with the device held down in his hand. He is walking towards Cueball in his armchair. His black hat is somewhat out of shape. Cueball is still reading but is now hunched further forward and he has lifted his tablet so it is very close to his face.]<br />
:Black Hat: Huh, did you know blimps all use helium now? You learn something new every day! By the way, we're out of fireworks.<br />
:Black Hat: And some advertising company is '''''real''''' mad.<br />
<br />
{{comic discussion}}<br />
<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Black Hat]]<br />
[[Category:Airships]]<br />
[[Category:Astronomy]]</div>Btx40https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=2466:_In_Your_Classroom&diff=2123422466: In Your Classroom2021-05-22T14:34:42Z<p>Btx40: /* Explanation */ fix external link for real this time</p>
<hr />
<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 2466<br />
| date = May 21, 2021<br />
| title = In Your Classroom<br />
| image = in_your_classroom.png<br />
| titletext = Ontology is way off to the left and geography is way off to the right.<br />
}}<br />
<br />
==Explanation==<br />
{{incomplete|Created by a QUASAR IN YOUR CLASSROOM. The table is still a work in progress. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}<br />
Randall has created a thought experiment and corresponding chart about school courses. The idea is, "the subject of the class appears in the classroom" and the chart compares how dangerous and how unusual that would be. <br />
<br />
{| class="wikitable"<br />
|+Breakdown of Subjects<br />
|-<br />
!Course Topic<br />
!Weirdness<br />
!Danger<br />
!Explanation<br />
|-<br />
<br />
!scope=row|Atmospheric Physics<br />
|0%<br />
|0%<br />
|The presence of atmosphere in the classroom is quite common, as humans require the presence of an atmosphere to remain alive, and cannot learn while dead.{{Citation needed}}<br />
|-<br />
<br />
!scope=row|Ethics<br />
|25%<br />
|0%<br />
|Ethical thinking and behavior are widely considered good and should normally be present in education, but are sadly not universal.<br />
|-<br />
<br />
!scope=row|Education<br />
|0%<br />
|10%<br />
|Learning usually goes on in classrooms, so education as a concept is both being learned about and present in the form of learning itself.<br />
|-<br />
<br />
!scope=row|Bibliography<br />
|25%<br />
|7%<br />
|Bibliography is the study of books, and books are normally present in classrooms, particularly bibliography classrooms.<br />
|-<br />
<br />
!scope=row|Human Physiology<br />
|0%<br />
|20%<br />
|This comic assumes that there are humans learning in the classroom, which was true at the time this comic was published, although in many places at the time the comic was published, many classrooms were closed due to COVID-19 restrictions.<br />
|-<br />
<br />
!scope=row|Public Speaking<br />
|25%<br />
|15%<br />
|Some classes require students to present things in front of the class, which is likely a requirement in a public speaking class. Thus, public speaking itself would be present in the class.<br />
Some classes also have a teacher talking or presenting to the students from the front of the class, another form of public speaking.<br />
|-<br />
<br />
!scope=row|Architecture<br />
|0%<br />
|30%<br />
|All buildings can be considered architecture, and most classes take place in buildings. This comic also refers to a class''room'', which is a room, and therefore considered architecture.<br />
|-<br />
<br />
!scope=row|Library Science<br />
|25%<br />
|25%<br />
|Library science is concerned with the organization of knowledge, and is useful for finding information. Many classes require research papers that require the use of books and other sources of information to complete them. This would be even more appropriate for a class actually taught in the school library.<br />
|-<br />
<br />
!scope=row|Furniture Design<br />
|0%<br />
|40%<br />
|Most rooms have furniture,{{Citation needed}} so this would probably be present in a classroom<br />
|-<br />
<br />
!scope=row|Culinary Arts<br />
|40%<br />
|30%<br />
|Most studies of culinary arts include the teacher and/or students preparing food using the tools and/or techniques that have been taught, so it would be fairly normal for food to be a result of classroom activities. How ''good'' it is, however, can be a mixed bag, especially for student cooking attempts.<br />
|-<br />
<br />
!scope=row|Ergonomics<br />
|5%<br />
|45%<br />
|Ergonomic equipment and workspaces promote comfort and efficiency, while non-ergonomic ones may be unpleasant, unhealthy, or even immediately dangerous.<br />
|-<br />
<br />
!scope=row|Botany<br />
|40%<br />
|40%<br />
|The near-neutral position of Botany (aka Plant Biology) obscures a wide range of possible outcomes, from the banal to the malignant. A teacher might have brought in a potted plant for decoration or show-n-tell, which would have zero weirdness and (if a non-allergenic species) zero danger. Or, a tree might have fallen through the roof, highly dangerous and weird, especially if it occurred during calm weather (weather likely to result in trees falling would probably have closed the school prior to treefall). This assumes that the event involves a vegetable and not an element of consumerism or purchasing.<br />
|-<br />
<br />
!scope=row|20th Century Authors<br />
|65%<br />
|10%<br />
|A literature class would, normally, benefit greatly from an open discussion or interview with the author himself. Sadly such things are rare. Authors who were published in the 20th century would mostly be in retirement age in 2021, so securing an interview with them could be somewhat difficult.<br />
|-<br />
<br />
!scope=row|Exobiology<br />
|100%<br />
|0%<br />
|Exobiology is the study of extraterrestrial life. This would mean that an alien life-form was in the classroom.<br />
|-<br />
<br />
!scope=row|21st Century Authors<br />
|60%<br />
|20%<br />
|21st century authors have the advantage (over 19th and 20th century authors) of being alive and active at the time this comic was published. However, few of those born during the century have had time to achieve professional success, while those who have published in the 21st century mostly await final literary judgement on their work. Those authors with sufficient notoriety to be welcome in a classroom might charge appearance fees that schools cannot afford, and might, regardless of money, only agree to appear via virtual conference - hence, an elevated weirdness score. Dangers of an actual physical appearance include COVID risk and possible clashes between an author's activist stance and school policies.<br />
|-<br />
<br />
!scope=row|19th Century Authors<br />
|100%<br />
|15%<br />
|Like other authors, the class would benefit from having an actual author show up, but this would be extremely weird since no 19th century author is still alive.{{Citation needed}}<br />
|-<br />
<br />
!scope=row|Paleontology<br />
|100%<br />
|25%<br />
|Paleontology is the study of fossils. It would be normal to have some fossils in the classroom, so Randall is probably implying the weirdness of finding a live dinosaur. <br />
|-<br />
<br />
!scope=row|Robotics<br />
|55%<br />
|30%<br />
|A course on robotics would often be expected to have some form of working models of the robots being discussed.<br />
|-<br />
<br />
!scope=row|Martian Soil Chemistry<br />
|100%<br />
|35%<br />
|Martian soil only reaches Earth in small amounts, so it would be unusual to find a meaningful amount anywhere, except Mars.<br />
|-<br />
<br />
!scope=row|Tourism<br />
|75%<br />
|40%<br />
|Tourists coming into an active classroom would be quite unusual. It could refer to the students leaving to become tourists in another location.<br />
|-<br />
<br />
!scope=row|Child Psychology<br />
|60%<br />
|45%<br />
|Child study is the study of the psychological processes of children and how they differ from those of adults. It could mean one group of children in the class analyzing the behaviour of the other group and vice versa, which could mean each student has their own interpretation of the other group's behaviour, or it could mean that the teacher analyses the behaviour of the children and explaining it, which could mean a psychologist has to be involved.<br />
|-<br />
<br />
!scope=row|Entomology<br />
|15%<br />
|55%<br />
|Insects in the classroom.<br />
|-<br />
<br />
!scope=row|Occupational Therapy<br />
|10%<br />
|62%<br />
|Injury, illness or mental health problem that hinder your participation in life/school. Many students who have significant physical injuries and conditions that require occupational therapy would generally not engage in those activities during a class, although volunteers may be brought in as a demonstration of a particular health problem or method of treatment.<br />
|-<br />
<br />
!scope=row|Hydraulic Engineering<br />
|40%<br />
|62%<br />
|Likely in the form of flooding or plumbing problems.<br />
|-<br />
<br />
!scope=row|Pest Control<br />
|25%<br />
|70%<br />
|Pests may be naturally present in the building, depending on age and level of maintenance done, so students may get the opportunity to partake in some informal pest-control methods during class (such as killing via blunt-force impact). Professional pest control, however, usually involves using harmful chemicals as a method of mass extermination, limiting the ability of students to observe the process, besides causing unhealthy exposure to large amounts of pesticides. (Although, watching a professional pest controller at work would be an immense boon to students studying the topic). <br />
|-<br />
<br />
!scope=row|Foodborne Illness<br />
|15%<br />
|80%<br />
|Sometimes students in a culinary arts class do not properly observe hygiene standards and the food they present would lead to illness in those that consume the food. Thankfully, this is rare if the teacher is paying enough attention to proceedings. Students could also be ill from food eaten outside of class.<br />
|-<br />
<br />
!scope=row|Criminal Law<br />
|45%<br />
|85%<br />
|This might happen if a crime occurs in the class.<br />
|-<br />
<br />
!scope=row|Physiology of Stress<br />
|0%<br />
|90%<br />
|This would be a sign of stress severe enough to affect bodily functions, likely to an unhealthy extent.<br />
|-<br />
<br />
!scope=row|Oncology<br />
|25%<br />
|100%<br />
|Someone in the room likely has cancer.<br />
|-<br />
<br />
!scope=row|Ornithology<br />
|60%<br />
|55%<br />
|Birds in the classroom?<br />
|-<br />
<br />
!scope=row|Animation<br />
|100%<br />
|56%<br />
|Examples of animated works might be displayed to the students in an animation class. It would be weird for animated characters to appear physically in the classroom instead of being projected on screens.<br />
|-<br />
<br />
!scope=row|Petroleum Geology<br />
|65%<br />
|60%<br />
|Crude oil coming up through the floor of the classroom would be ''very'' weird.<br />
|-<br />
<br />
!scope=row|Highway Engineering<br />
|75%<br />
|65%<br />
|A highway being built through an active classroom would be very unusual and not that safe.<br />
|-<br />
<br />
!scope=row|Toxicology<br />
|55%<br />
|75%<br />
|Most likely, a toxic substance is present in the room. This is not very weird if the room is in a building that has asbestos-containing insulation (typically associated with buildings constructed before the 1990s, although it has not been specifically outlawed) or lead paint (which was fully outlawed in 1978, so any paint must have been applied prior to that date). However, toxic substances are, by definition, unsafe for humans (even students).<br />
|-<br />
<br />
!scope=row|Hematology<br />
|75%<br />
|70%<br />
|Hematology is the study of blood. Given that there should be blood in each of the students present{{Citation needed}}, we should probably assume Randall means "large quantities of blood outside of one's body", which would indeed be both bad and weird.<br />
|-<br />
<br />
!scope=row|Hostage Negotiation<br />
|70%<br />
|85%<br />
|Reasons as to why there would be hostage negotiations taking place at a school have horrifying implications for the students and teacher.<br />
|-<br />
<br />
!scope=row|History of Siege Warfare<br />
|100%<br />
|80%<br />
|This would mean that the students would be trapped in the building until they ran out of resources, possibly dying of thirst and starvation (depending on whether or not the opposing army destroyed the school's water lines).<br />
|-<br />
<br />
!scope=row|Trauma Surgery<br />
|55%<br />
|95%<br />
|Trauma surgery is an incredibly painful procedure, and difficult to look at for many. It would undoubtedly be disturbing to the class, especially if the patient was one of them.<br />
|-<br />
<br />
!scope=row|Volcanology<br />
|75%<br />
|95%<br />
|Having a live volcano in one's classroom is both very dangerous and very weird, as volcanoes take very long times to form. Note this also applies to [[1611: Baking Soda and Vinegar | baking soda and vinegar volcanoes that are offshoots of much larger vinegar hotspots]].<br />
|-<br />
<br />
!scope=row|Quasar Astronomy<br />
|75%<br />
|100%<br />
|Quasars are distant astronomical objects that release large amounts of energy. Not only would the power of a quasar destroy the classroom (as well as the building the classroom is in, the town the school is in, and the entire planet Earth,) quasars are too large to fit inside any known classroom. For example, [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ULAS_J1342%2B0928 ULAS J1342+0928] has a mass of 8*10^8 solar masses. This means the event horizon of the black hole is almost 16 AU in radius, and this size does not include the accretion disk. <br />
|-<br />
<br />
!scope=row|Ontology (Title Text)<br />
|<0%<br />
|?<br />
|Ontology is the philosophical study of existence and being. Since there must be ''something'' learning in the classroom, it is unsurprising that ontology is a normal subject to appear in the classroom.<br />
|-<br />
<br />
!scope=row|Geography (Title Text)<br />
|>100%<br />
|?<br />
|Logistics aside, having a planet's terrain newly appear in one's classroom would almost certainly be a distraction to the learning environment.<br />
<br />
|}<br />
<br />
==Transcript==<br />
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}<br />
<br />
:[Caption above scatter plot with labeled axes]<br />
:Caption: The thing you study just showed up in your classroom! That's...<br />
:Upper y-axis label: Good<br />
:Lower y-axis label: Bad<br />
:Upper x-axis label: Normal<br />
:Lower x-axis label: Weird<br />
<br />
:[First quadrant (left to right, top to bottom):]<br />
:20th century authors<br />
:Exobiology<br />
:21st century authors<br />
:19th century authors<br />
:Robotics<br />
:Paleontology<br />
:Martian soil chemistry<br />
:Child psychology<br />
:Tourism<br />
:[Second quadrant]<br />
:Atmospheric physics<br />
:Ethics<br />
:Education<br />
:Bibliography<br />
:Human physiology<br />
:Public speaking<br />
:Architecture<br />
:Library science<br />
:Furniture design<br />
:Culinary arts<br />
:Ergonomics<br />
:Botany<br />
:[Third quadrant]<br />
:Entomology<br />
:Occupational therapy<br />
:Hydraulic engineering<br />
:Pest control<br />
:Foodborne illness<br />
:Criminal law<br />
:Physiology of stress<br />
:Oncology<br />
:[Fourth quadrant]<br />
:Ornithology<br />
:Animation<br />
:Petroleum geology<br />
:Highway engineering<br />
:Toxicology<br />
:Hematology<br />
:Hostage negotiation<br />
:History of siege warfare<br />
:Trauma surgery<br />
:Volcanology<br />
:Quasar astronomy<br />
<br />
{{comic discussion}}<br />
[[Category:Charts]]</div>Btx40https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=2466:_In_Your_Classroom&diff=2123402466: In Your Classroom2021-05-22T14:33:28Z<p>Btx40: /* Explanation */ fix external link</p>
<hr />
<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 2466<br />
| date = May 21, 2021<br />
| title = In Your Classroom<br />
| image = in_your_classroom.png<br />
| titletext = Ontology is way off to the left and geography is way off to the right.<br />
}}<br />
<br />
==Explanation==<br />
{{incomplete|Created by a QUASAR IN YOUR CLASSROOM. The table is still a work in progress. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}<br />
Randall has created a thought experiment and corresponding chart about school courses. The idea is, "the subject of the class appears in the classroom" and the chart compares how dangerous and how unusual that would be. <br />
<br />
{| class="wikitable"<br />
|+Breakdown of Subjects<br />
|-<br />
!Course Topic<br />
!Weirdness<br />
!Danger<br />
!Explanation<br />
|-<br />
<br />
!scope=row|Atmospheric Physics<br />
|0%<br />
|0%<br />
|The presence of atmosphere in the classroom is quite common, as humans require the presence of an atmosphere to remain alive, and cannot learn while dead.{{Citation needed}}<br />
|-<br />
<br />
!scope=row|Ethics<br />
|25%<br />
|0%<br />
|Ethical thinking and behavior are widely considered good and should normally be present in education, but are sadly not universal.<br />
|-<br />
<br />
!scope=row|Education<br />
|0%<br />
|10%<br />
|Learning usually goes on in classrooms, so education as a concept is both being learned about and present in the form of learning itself.<br />
|-<br />
<br />
!scope=row|Bibliography<br />
|25%<br />
|7%<br />
|Bibliography is the study of books, and books are normally present in classrooms, particularly bibliography classrooms.<br />
|-<br />
<br />
!scope=row|Human Physiology<br />
|0%<br />
|20%<br />
|This comic assumes that there are humans learning in the classroom, which was true at the time this comic was published, although in many places at the time the comic was published, many classrooms were closed due to COVID-19 restrictions.<br />
|-<br />
<br />
!scope=row|Public Speaking<br />
|25%<br />
|15%<br />
|Some classes require students to present things in front of the class, which is likely a requirement in a public speaking class. Thus, public speaking itself would be present in the class.<br />
Some classes also have a teacher talking or presenting to the students from the front of the class, another form of public speaking.<br />
|-<br />
<br />
!scope=row|Architecture<br />
|0%<br />
|30%<br />
|All buildings can be considered architecture, and most classes take place in buildings. This comic also refers to a class''room'', which is a room, and therefore considered architecture.<br />
|-<br />
<br />
!scope=row|Library Science<br />
|25%<br />
|25%<br />
|Library science is concerned with the organization of knowledge, and is useful for finding information. Many classes require research papers that require the use of books and other sources of information to complete them. This would be even more appropriate for a class actually taught in the school library.<br />
|-<br />
<br />
!scope=row|Furniture Design<br />
|0%<br />
|40%<br />
|Most rooms have furniture,{{Citation needed}} so this would probably be present in a classroom<br />
|-<br />
<br />
!scope=row|Culinary Arts<br />
|40%<br />
|30%<br />
|Most studies of culinary arts include the teacher and/or students preparing food using the tools and/or techniques that have been taught, so it would be fairly normal for food to be a result of classroom activities. How ''good'' it is, however, can be a mixed bag, especially for student cooking attempts.<br />
|-<br />
<br />
!scope=row|Ergonomics<br />
|5%<br />
|45%<br />
|Ergonomic equipment and workspaces promote comfort and efficiency, while non-ergonomic ones may be unpleasant, unhealthy, or even immediately dangerous.<br />
|-<br />
<br />
!scope=row|Botany<br />
|40%<br />
|40%<br />
|The near-neutral position of Botany (aka Plant Biology) obscures a wide range of possible outcomes, from the banal to the malignant. A teacher might have brought in a potted plant for decoration or show-n-tell, which would have zero weirdness and (if a non-allergenic species) zero danger. Or, a tree might have fallen through the roof, highly dangerous and weird, especially if it occurred during calm weather (weather likely to result in trees falling would probably have closed the school prior to treefall). This assumes that the event involves a vegetable and not an element of consumerism or purchasing.<br />
|-<br />
<br />
!scope=row|20th Century Authors<br />
|65%<br />
|10%<br />
|A literature class would, normally, benefit greatly from an open discussion or interview with the author himself. Sadly such things are rare. Authors who were published in the 20th century would mostly be in retirement age in 2021, so securing an interview with them could be somewhat difficult.<br />
|-<br />
<br />
!scope=row|Exobiology<br />
|100%<br />
|0%<br />
|Exobiology is the study of extraterrestrial life. This would mean that an alien life-form was in the classroom.<br />
|-<br />
<br />
!scope=row|21st Century Authors<br />
|60%<br />
|20%<br />
|21st century authors have the advantage (over 19th and 20th century authors) of being alive and active at the time this comic was published. However, few of those born during the century have had time to achieve professional success, while those who have published in the 21st century mostly await final literary judgement on their work. Those authors with sufficient notoriety to be welcome in a classroom might charge appearance fees that schools cannot afford, and might, regardless of money, only agree to appear via virtual conference - hence, an elevated weirdness score. Dangers of an actual physical appearance include COVID risk and possible clashes between an author's activist stance and school policies.<br />
|-<br />
<br />
!scope=row|19th Century Authors<br />
|100%<br />
|15%<br />
|Like other authors, the class would benefit from having an actual author show up, but this would be extremely weird since no 19th century author is still alive.{{Citation needed}}<br />
|-<br />
<br />
!scope=row|Paleontology<br />
|100%<br />
|25%<br />
|Paleontology is the study of fossils. It would be normal to have some fossils in the classroom, so Randall is probably implying the weirdness of finding a live dinosaur. <br />
|-<br />
<br />
!scope=row|Robotics<br />
|55%<br />
|30%<br />
|A course on robotics would often be expected to have some form of working models of the robots being discussed.<br />
|-<br />
<br />
!scope=row|Martian Soil Chemistry<br />
|100%<br />
|35%<br />
|Martian soil only reaches Earth in small amounts, so it would be unusual to find a meaningful amount anywhere.<br />
|-<br />
<br />
!scope=row|Tourism<br />
|75%<br />
|40%<br />
|Tourists coming into an active classroom would be quite unusual. It could refer to the students leaving to become tourists in another location.<br />
|-<br />
<br />
!scope=row|Child Psychology<br />
|60%<br />
|45%<br />
|Child study is the study of the psychological processes of children and how they differ from those of adults. It could mean one group of children in the class analyzing the behaviour of the other group and vice versa, which could mean each student has their own interpretation of the other group's behaviour, or it could mean that the teacher analyses the behaviour of the children and explaining it, which could mean a psychologist has to be involved.<br />
|-<br />
<br />
!scope=row|Entomology<br />
|15%<br />
|55%<br />
|Insects in the classroom.<br />
|-<br />
<br />
!scope=row|Occupational Therapy<br />
|10%<br />
|62%<br />
|Injury, illness or mental health problem that hinder your participation in life/school. Many students who have significant physical injuries and conditions that require occupational therapy would generally not engage in those activities during a class, although volunteers may be brought in as a demonstration of a particular health problem or method of treatment.<br />
|-<br />
<br />
!scope=row|Hydraulic Engineering<br />
|40%<br />
|62%<br />
|Likely in the form of flooding or plumbing problems.<br />
|-<br />
<br />
!scope=row|Pest Control<br />
|25%<br />
|70%<br />
|Pests may be naturally present in the building, depending on age and level of maintenance done, so students may get the opportunity to partake in some informal pest-control methods during class (such as killing via blunt-force impact). Professional pest control, however, usually involves using harmful chemicals as a method of mass extermination, limiting the ability of students to observe the process, besides causing unhealthy exposure to large amounts of pesticides. (Although, watching a professional pest controller at work would be an immense boon to students studying the topic). <br />
|-<br />
<br />
!scope=row|Foodborne Illness<br />
|15%<br />
|80%<br />
|Sometimes students in a culinary arts class do not properly observe hygiene standards and the food they present would lead to illness in those that consume the food. Thankfully, this is rare if the teacher is paying enough attention to proceedings. Students could also be ill from food eaten outside of class.<br />
|-<br />
<br />
!scope=row|Criminal Law<br />
|45%<br />
|85%<br />
|This might happen if a crime occurs in the class.<br />
|-<br />
<br />
!scope=row|Physiology of Stress<br />
|0%<br />
|90%<br />
|This would be a sign of stress severe enough to affect bodily functions, likely to an unhealthy extent.<br />
|-<br />
<br />
!scope=row|Oncology<br />
|25%<br />
|100%<br />
|Someone in the room likely has cancer.<br />
|-<br />
<br />
!scope=row|Ornithology<br />
|60%<br />
|55%<br />
|Birds in the classroom?<br />
|-<br />
<br />
!scope=row|Animation<br />
|100%<br />
|56%<br />
|Examples of animated works might be displayed to the students in an animation class. It would be weird for animated characters to appear physically in the classroom instead of being projected on screens.<br />
|-<br />
<br />
!scope=row|Petroleum Geology<br />
|65%<br />
|60%<br />
|Crude oil coming up through the floor of the classroom would be ''very'' weird.<br />
|-<br />
<br />
!scope=row|Highway Engineering<br />
|75%<br />
|65%<br />
|A highway being built through an active classroom would be very unusual and not that safe.<br />
|-<br />
<br />
!scope=row|Toxicology<br />
|55%<br />
|75%<br />
|Most likely, a toxic substance is present in the room. This is not very weird if the room is in a building that has asbestos-containing insulation (typically associated with buildings constructed before the 1990s, although it has not been specifically outlawed) or lead paint (which was fully outlawed in 1978, so any paint must have been applied prior to that date). However, toxic substances are, by definition, unsafe for humans (even students).<br />
|-<br />
<br />
!scope=row|Hematology<br />
|75%<br />
|70%<br />
|Hematology is the study of blood. Given that there should be blood in each of the students present{{Citation needed}}, we should probably assume Randall means "large quantities of blood outside of one's body", which would indeed be both bad and weird.<br />
|-<br />
<br />
!scope=row|Hostage Negotiation<br />
|70%<br />
|85%<br />
|Reasons as to why there would be hostage negotiations taking place at a school have horrifying implications for the students and teacher.<br />
|-<br />
<br />
!scope=row|History of Siege Warfare<br />
|100%<br />
|80%<br />
|This would mean that the students would be trapped in the building until they ran out of resources, possibly dying of thirst and starvation (depending on whether or not the opposing army destroyed the school's water lines).<br />
|-<br />
<br />
!scope=row|Trauma Surgery<br />
|55%<br />
|95%<br />
|Trauma surgery is an incredibly painful procedure, and difficult to look at for many. It would undoubtedly be disturbing to the class, especially if the patient was one of them.<br />
|-<br />
<br />
!scope=row|Volcanology<br />
|75%<br />
|95%<br />
|Having a live volcano in one's classroom is both very dangerous and very weird, as volcanoes take very long times to form. Note this also applies to [[1611: Baking Soda and Vinegar | baking soda and vinegar volcanoes that are offshoots of much larger vinegar hotspots]].<br />
|-<br />
<br />
!scope=row|Quasar Astronomy<br />
|75%<br />
|100%<br />
|Quasars are distant astronomical objects that release large amounts of energy. Not only would the power of a quasar destroy the classroom (as well as the building the classroom is in, the town the school is in, and the entire planet Earth,) quasars are too large to fit inside any known classroom. For example, [ULAS J1342+0928 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ULAS_J1342%2B0928] has a mass of 8*10^8 solar masses. This means the event horizon of the black hole is almost 16 AU in radius, and this size does not include the accretion disk. <br />
|-<br />
<br />
!scope=row|Ontology (Title Text)<br />
|<0%<br />
|?<br />
|Ontology is the philosophical study of existence and being. Since there must be ''something'' learning in the classroom, it is unsurprising that ontology is a normal subject to appear in the classroom.<br />
|-<br />
<br />
!scope=row|Geography (Title Text)<br />
|>100%<br />
|?<br />
|Logistics aside, having a planet's terrain newly appear in one's classroom would almost certainly be a distraction to the learning environment.<br />
<br />
|}<br />
<br />
==Transcript==<br />
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}<br />
<br />
:[Caption above scatter plot with labeled axes]<br />
:Caption: The thing you study just showed up in your classroom! That's...<br />
:Upper y-axis label: Good<br />
:Lower y-axis label: Bad<br />
:Upper x-axis label: Normal<br />
:Lower x-axis label: Weird<br />
<br />
:[First quadrant (left to right, top to bottom):]<br />
:20th century authors<br />
:Exobiology<br />
:21st century authors<br />
:19th century authors<br />
:Robotics<br />
:Paleontology<br />
:Martian soil chemistry<br />
:Child psychology<br />
:Tourism<br />
:[Second quadrant]<br />
:Atmospheric physics<br />
:Ethics<br />
:Education<br />
:Bibliography<br />
:Human physiology<br />
:Public speaking<br />
:Architecture<br />
:Library science<br />
:Furniture design<br />
:Culinary arts<br />
:Ergonomics<br />
:Botany<br />
:[Third quadrant]<br />
:Entomology<br />
:Occupational therapy<br />
:Hydraulic engineering<br />
:Pest control<br />
:Foodborne illness<br />
:Criminal law<br />
:Physiology of stress<br />
:Oncology<br />
:[Fourth quadrant]<br />
:Ornithology<br />
:Animation<br />
:Petroleum geology<br />
:Highway engineering<br />
:Toxicology<br />
:Hematology<br />
:Hostage negotiation<br />
:History of siege warfare<br />
:Trauma surgery<br />
:Volcanology<br />
:Quasar astronomy<br />
<br />
{{comic discussion}}<br />
[[Category:Charts]]</div>Btx40https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=2464:_Muller%27s_Ratchet&diff=2121672464: Muller's Ratchet2021-05-19T17:57:54Z<p>Btx40: Categorize by characters</p>
<hr />
<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 2464<br />
| date = May 17, 2021<br />
| title = Muller's Ratchet<br />
| image = mullers_ratchet.png<br />
| titletext = Who knew you could learn so much about sexual reproduction from looking at pictures on the internet!<br />
}}<br />
<br />
==Explanation==<br />
{{incomplete|Made with SWORDAPP. Please mention here why this explanation isn't complete. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}<br />
In this comic, Randall reviews a passage explaining the internet with terms associated with evolution, comparing the constant resharing and changing of popular photos to evolutionary processes, namely {{w|Muller's ratchet}} and {{w|Genetic recombination|recombination}}.<br />
<br />
An image of [[Hairbun]] showing a cat to [[Cueball]], who is apparently shocked, is used as an example of the subject phenomenon. This image is altered in various ways:<br />
* A caption is added to the photo as a whole, possibly using an online "meme maker" tool. Many memes are made in this manner, such as the Office Space [https://imgflip.com/meme/That-Would-Be-Great "that would be great"] memes.<br />
* Individual labels are placed on the participants (which include the cat). These labels may be literal, but often they are metaphorical. A common metaphorical example is the {{w|Distracted-boyfriend meme}}.<br />
* This seems to be unmodified from the original, except being a bit fuzzy<br />
* A caption is added at the top and bottom of the picture, again possibly by an online meme maker, and the photo cropped<br />
* A sword has been added to the picture, held in a comical position by a participant who wouldn't usually have one (the cat). These are typically just done as a joke. This image is also cropped and has its aspect ratio changed.<br />
** A watermark is added to this image, having been added by "SwordApp" a fictional (as of this comic's publication) app used to add the sword<br />
* Individual labels are placed on the participants here as well<br />
* Individual labels are placed on the main (human) participants only. This might be used to only apply metaphorical meanings to the people and not to the object being held (the cat).<br />
<br />
Recombination is the combination of genetic material from chromosomes, shuffling genes during meiosis. In this case, it is being compared to shuffling and recombining aspects of an edited digital image.<br />
<br />
Sometimes, genetic mutation can create better genes - like the sword being given to the cat in the image. Other changes remove or degrade from the genetic history, without apparent detriment, just because the circumstances do not currently confer any significant advantage to it. If the 'lost' ability is perhaps useful in dealing with an infrequent environmental stress then the loss of its utility might be felt a generation or two later.<br />
<br />
With recombination, useful novel changes can be shuffled into the population without necessarily bringing in a less useful mutation, creating descendents with both the obvious advantages (a sword) and the previously more established resilience (the fuller frame).<br />
<br />
The degradation of digital images has previously been explored in [[1683: Digital Data]].<br />
<br />
The title text has a double meaning, referring both to the ways these particular images on the Internet illustrate these evolutionary processes (which are driven by the mechanisms of biological reproduction, including sexual reproduction) and to {{tvtropes|TheInternetIsForPorn|the amount of erotic imagery illustrating the mechanics of sexual activity one might find on the Internet}}.<br />
<br />
==Transcript==<br />
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}<br />
:[A caption sits above a slightly greyed-out photo of Hairbun holding out a cat to Cueball, who has his hand over his face and is leaning away. Below are arrows leading to much smaller variations of the photo, all altered in some way.]<br />
:[From left to right: Image with the sides cropped and black text bordered by white in the bottom center; image with black text in white box with black border above cat, on Hairbun, and on Cueball; image identical to the original but with softer edges; image cropped around all sides to exclude all negative space around frame, with white text bordered by black near the top and bottom center; image cropped to cut out half of Hairbun and Cueball's legs and featuring the cat holding a sword out at Cueball; image same as the original except with black text bordered by white on top of the cat, Hairbun, and Cueball; and image blurred out and at low resolution with black text in white oval on top of Hairbun and Cueball.]<br />
:Caption: When a photo goes around on social media, people create lots of new versions of it.<br />
<br />
:[A larger depiction of an image altered to cut out some of Hairbun and Cueball's legs and the cat holding a sword to the left of a caption, with a faint, shadowed wordmark saying "Made with ''SwordApp'']<br />
:Caption: Sometimes, one of the edited versions becomes more popular and supplants the original. But often, the new version isn't made from the best copy of the image. It may be pixelated, cropped, or watermarked.<br />
:[The same image appears with a grey box around it showing the cropped-out areas and an arrow pointing into it saying "lost". To the left is a caption.]<br />
:Caption: As long as those flaws are minor enough that they don't cancel out the big change, the new version can still win out. Each good change brings with it random background damage. The degradation only goes one way. Once an image is cropped, its descendents will be, too. This steady loss of information is called '''''Muller's Ratchet'''''.<br />
:[The original photo and the edited replacement are side-by-side, with the original on the right and the replacement on the left. The area above the cat where the sword is shown in the replacement is circled with a dotted line in both images. In the original, the area inside is greyed out, and in the replacement, the entire image is greyed out except for that area.]<br />
:[Arrows point from the emphasized parts of both images to a new photo below that combines the original image with the sword from the replacement. A caption sits to the left.]<br />
:Caption: But there's a solution. The old versions are still around, so if you have an image editor that lets you splice together parts of two images, you can make a new version with the best parts of both. This process is called '''''recombination...''''']<br />
:[All previous panels are grouped in one big box, with a caption below the entire frame]<br />
:Caption: People use evolutionary metaphors to explain the spread of internet content, but at this point we have so much more experience with the internet that I feel like it often makes more sense the other way around.<br />
<br />
{{comic discussion}}<br />
<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Hairbun]]</div>Btx40https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=2464:_Muller%27s_Ratchet&diff=2121662464: Muller's Ratchet2021-05-19T17:54:02Z<p>Btx40: /* Explanation */ Expand</p>
<hr />
<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 2464<br />
| date = May 17, 2021<br />
| title = Muller's Ratchet<br />
| image = mullers_ratchet.png<br />
| titletext = Who knew you could learn so much about sexual reproduction from looking at pictures on the internet!<br />
}}<br />
<br />
==Explanation==<br />
{{incomplete|Made with SWORDAPP. Please mention here why this explanation isn't complete. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}<br />
In this comic, Randall reviews a passage explaining the internet with terms associated with evolution, comparing the constant resharing and changing of popular photos to evolutionary processes, namely {{w|Muller's ratchet}} and {{w|Genetic recombination|recombination}}.<br />
<br />
An image of [[Hairbun]] showing a cat to [[Cueball]], who is apparently shocked, is used as an example of the subject phenomenon. This image is altered in various ways:<br />
* A caption is added to the photo as a whole, possibly using an online "meme maker" tool. Many memes are made in this manner, such as the Office Space [https://imgflip.com/meme/That-Would-Be-Great "that would be great"] memes.<br />
* Individual labels are placed on the participants (which include the cat). These labels may be literal, but often they are metaphorical. A common metaphorical example is the {{w|Distracted-boyfriend meme}}.<br />
* This seems to be unmodified from the original, except being a bit fuzzy<br />
* A caption is added at the top and bottom of the picture, again possibly by an online meme maker, and the photo cropped<br />
* A sword has been added to the picture, held in a comical position by a participant who wouldn't usually have one (the cat). These are typically just done as a joke. This image is also cropped and has its aspect ratio changed.<br />
** A watermark is added to this image, having been added by "SwordApp" a fictional (as of this comic's publication) app used to add the sword<br />
* Individual labels are placed on the participants here as well<br />
* Individual labels are placed on the main (human) participants only. This might be used to only apply metaphorical meanings to the people and not to the object being held (the cat).<br />
<br />
Recombination is the combination of genetic material from chromosomes, shuffling genes during meiosis. In this case, it is being compared to shuffling and recombining aspects of an edited digital image.<br />
<br />
Sometimes, genetic mutation can create better genes - like the sword being given to the cat in the image. Other changes remove or degrade from the genetic history, without apparent detriment, just because the circumstances do not currently confer any significant advantage to it. If the 'lost' ability is perhaps useful in dealing with an infrequent environmental stress then the loss of its utility might be felt a generation or two later.<br />
<br />
With recombination, useful novel changes can be shuffled into the population without necessarily bringing in a less useful mutation, creating descendents with both the obvious advantages (a sword) and the previously more established resilience (the fuller frame).<br />
<br />
The degradation of digital images has previously been explored in [[1683: Digital Data]].<br />
<br />
The title text has a double meaning, referring both to the ways these particular images on the Internet illustrate these evolutionary processes (which are driven by the mechanisms of biological reproduction, including sexual reproduction) and to {{tvtropes|TheInternetIsForPorn|the amount of erotic imagery illustrating the mechanics of sexual activity one might find on the Internet}}.<br />
<br />
==Transcript==<br />
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}<br />
:[A caption sits above a slightly greyed-out photo of Hairbun holding out a cat to Cueball, who has his hand over his face and is leaning away. Below are arrows leading to much smaller variations of the photo, all altered in some way.]<br />
:[From left to right: Image with the sides cropped and black text bordered by white in the bottom center; image with black text in white box with black border above cat, on Hairbun, and on Cueball; image identical to the original but with softer edges; image cropped around all sides to exclude all negative space around frame, with white text bordered by black near the top and bottom center; image cropped to cut out half of Hairbun and Cueball's legs and featuring the cat holding a sword out at Cueball; image same as the original except with black text bordered by white on top of the cat, Hairbun, and Cueball; and image blurred out and at low resolution with black text in white oval on top of Hairbun and Cueball.]<br />
:Caption: When a photo goes around on social media, people create lots of new versions of it.<br />
<br />
:[A larger depiction of an image altered to cut out some of Hairbun and Cueball's legs and the cat holding a sword to the left of a caption, with a faint, shadowed wordmark saying "Made with ''SwordApp'']<br />
:Caption: Sometimes, one of the edited versions becomes more popular and supplants the original. But often, the new version isn't made from the best copy of the image. It may be pixelated, cropped, or watermarked.<br />
:[The same image appears with a grey box around it showing the cropped-out areas and an arrow pointing into it saying "lost". To the left is a caption.]<br />
:Caption: As long as those flaws are minor enough that they don't cancel out the big change, the new version can still win out. Each good change brings with it random background damage. The degradation only goes one way. Once an image is cropped, its descendents will be, too. This steady loss of information is called '''''Muller's Ratchet'''''.<br />
:[The original photo and the edited replacement are side-by-side, with the original on the right and the replacement on the left. The area above the cat where the sword is shown in the replacement is circled with a dotted line in both images. In the original, the area inside is greyed out, and in the replacement, the entire image is greyed out except for that area.]<br />
:[Arrows point from the emphasized parts of both images to a new photo below that combines the original image with the sword from the replacement. A caption sits to the left.]<br />
:Caption: But there's a solution. The old versions are still around, so if you have an image editor that lets you splice together parts of two images, you can make a new version with the best parts of both. This process is called '''''recombination...''''']<br />
:[All previous panels are grouped in one big box, with a caption below the entire frame]<br />
:Caption: People use evolutionary metaphors to explain the spread of internet content, but at this point we have so much more experience with the internet that I feel like it often makes more sense the other way around.<br />
<br />
{{comic discussion}}</div>Btx40https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=2463:_Astrophotography&diff=2120692463: Astrophotography2021-05-17T19:49:18Z<p>Btx40: Fix date</p>
<hr />
<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 2463<br />
| date = May 14, 2021<br />
| title = Astrophotography<br />
| image = astrophotography.png<br />
| titletext = [One hill over, a competing astrophotographer does a backflip over a commercial airliner while throwing a tray of plastic space stations into the air, through which a falcon swoops to 'grab' the real one.]<br />
}}<br />
<br />
==Explanation==<br />
{{incomplete|Created by a BACKFLIPPING ASTROPHOTOGRAPHER. Title text needs to be outlined as the main explanation. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}<br />
{{w|Astrophotography}} is the practice of taking pictures of astronomical objects. Sometimes it is specified as a hobby, as opposed to the work of professional astronomers. Astrophotographers like to take pretty pictures of all sorts of objects in the sky, but photographing the {{w|Sun}} is a popular subgenre within the field, especially if something is transiting in front of it. Typical things include planes, the {{w|International Space Station}} (ISS), and the {{w|Moon}} ({{w|Solar eclipses}}).<br />
<br />
During the [[:Category:Total Solar Eclipse 2017|Total Solar Eclipse 2017]] visible across US it was possible to see the ISS pass in front of the Sun during a partial part of the Eclipse (from a site that was later in the total Eclipse zone.) This was [https://www.smartereveryday.com/eclipse photographed] and filmed by Destin from Smarter Every Day and can be seen in his video [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lepQoU4oek4&feature=youtu.be Space Station Transiting 2017 ECLIPSE]. (Go to the time of the flyby of the ISS in the video [https://youtu.be/lepQoU4oek4?t=209 here]).<br />
<br />
Two years later he did another episode [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nk0MRxXqo9s South American Eclipse - Argentina]. In this video there was only the moon eclipsing the sun, at first, but then [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nk0MRxXqo9s&t=610s towards the end] the sun begins to set behind the distant mountains creating a shadow scenario between Moon and mountain shadows as displayed in this comic. <br />
<br />
This comic thus combines those two videos, which Randall must have seen, and then adds several more layers caused by the Astrophotography community's One-Upmanship. The practice of "one-upmanship" refers to the practice of achieving something superior to what another has achieved, or "getting one up on" them. The term originated in the 1950s or earlier.<br />
<br />
The caption claims that the photo shown in the comic is the result of a continuous string of one-upmanship among astrophotographers in a community, each striving to one-up the other.<br />
<br />
In this comic there seems to be an abundance of things:<br />
* The ISS can be seen transiting in the upper center. (as in [https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap210504.html this picture])<br />
* There is an ongoing {{w|partial solar eclipse}} so the view of the Sun is partially obscured by the Moon in the upper right quadrant. <br />
**These two things are what Destin managed in his first video. <br />
* The Sun is setting or rising from behind a hill while partially eclipsed.<br />
** This is what Destin managed in his second video. <br />
* This photographer achieved a combination of those two plus several other ones-up those two videos.<br />
* [[Megan]] is standing slightly below the peak of a hill and seems to be juggling, with five balls, which are also in front of the sun. One or more of those balls might actually be {{w|sunspots}} or the planets Mercury or Venus.<br />
* [[Cueball]] is standing at the peak of the hill, shooting an arrow from a bow, one arrow has pierced what at first appears to be one of the juggling balls, but may be a {{w|Transit of Venus}}. <br />
** A simultaneous Eclipse and Transit of Venus is actually expected in the future, but not until April 5, 15232 (13211 years after the publishing of this comic). <br />
*** It would though likely be easier to make the arrow "hit" Venus than one of the juggled balls, as the planet's angular velocity is significantly lower. <br />
*** The other four balls are too large that any of them could represent Mercury, the only other planet that can transit the Sun, when seen from Earth. But Megan has been careful to make one ball go so much higher than the middle two, that it seems to fit that Venus has been shot out from between them.<br />
** Given the long time before this could happen, it could also just be five balls. And in that case the easiest way to make this picture is to put the fifth ball on the arrow before shooting it.<br />
* Two airplanes pulling banners with the words "nice" and "shot" (which could refer to both the archer and the photographer) are flying in opposite directions above them. (Airplane banners that are not continuous sheets are made with thin support lines spanning the openings, which explains the presence of the apparently unsupported central disc in the "O".)<br />
<br />
Taking the picture required precisely scheduling and arranging the relative positions of several of the various subjects (and photographer) to coincide with the predictable but rare conjunctions of the rest of the scene, as well as special equipment:<br />
* All this had to be timed very very precisely as the [https://youtu.be/lepQoU4oek4?t=209 transit of the ISS only takes a second].<br />
* A solar filter must be used to photograph the sun without overexposing the image or even damaging equipment.<br />
* The photograph must be taken during a partial solar eclipse. These only happen a few times per year and are only visible in part of the world.<br />
* Related to the last point, a nearby person appears larger than the moon. It is possible to photograph the silhouette of a person or a cityscape in front of a full moon, making the moon look comparatively larger or smaller by adjusting the distance to the closer subject, and then the lenses used by the photographer to make them both fill just the right amount of the frame. The photographer needed to carefully choose their position relative to the subjects to make this happen.<br />
* The exposure time of the photograph had to be short enough to capture clear silhouettes of the ISS, the juggling balls and the arrow while these were in the air.<br />
* The mountain had to be in a location that would happen to see the ISS passing in front of the sun at the same time as the sun was rising from behind it.<br />
* The subjects had to achieve a moment in which four juggling balls were in the air and an arrow had pierced the point where Venus would appear, while sideways relative to the sun's light, with still near normal intensity.<br />
* The planes also needed to be flying in the correct directions for the text of the signs to be visible, and with very precise timing for them to be in the correct positions to read "Nice" as coming before "Shot" just as the ISS passes by.<br />
* The sky (at least between the photographer and the Sun) had to be free of clouds.<br />
<br />
The title text describes a similarly outlandish photo attempting to one-up Cueball and Megan, done simultaneously on the next hill over, thus a place where the same ISS transit can be seen:<br />
* A commercial airliner is flying in front of the Sun, thus this has to be timed with the flight plan (or it has to be chartred, to pass there at the correct height and position, within a few seconds.<br />
* The astrophotographer is performing a backflip such that they appear to be over the airliner.<br />
* The astrophotographer is tossing several tiny models of the ISS from a tray, so they also appear in front of the Sun with the real one (like the joggling balls and Venus).<br />
* A falcon is flying in front of the Sun, presumably intending to capture prey, in such a way that it appears to be snatching the real ISS out of the fakes. The falcon moves slowly compared to the ISS, so it just needs it's talons to be on the line the ISS makes across the Sun, then a picture where it is close to the talons can be used. The other parts are slower than this.<br />
<br />
==Transcript==<br />
:[Cueball and Megan stand on a hill with the dark yellow sun setting behind them. Outside the Sun's disc everything is black. All that can be seen is silhouettes against the sun. Cueball is at the top-left of the hill, holding a bow in his left arm, which has been recently shot, as indicated with lines along the string. The the arrow is to right, where it has speared a ball. Megan is at the bottom-right of the hill, juggling four other balls, one near her hand, two above her and one higher up than the path of the arrow. There are two planes going in opposite directions with banners on them with words readable against the Sun. Above the planes is the shadow of the International Space Station. Finally Sun is partially eclipsed by the moon in the upper right corner.]<br />
:[Banner 1]: Nice<br />
:[Banner 2]: Shot<br />
<br />
:[Caption beneath the panel]:<br />
:Our astrophotography community's one-upsmanship[sic] is getting out of hand.<br />
<br />
==Trivia==<br />
*Randall has commented on extreme photography in comics [[1855: Telephoto]] and [[1719: Superzoom]], and the ''How To'' chapter "How to take a selfie".<br />
<br />
{{comic discussion}}<br />
<br />
[[Category:Comics with color]]<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]<br />
[[Category:Space]]<br />
[[Category:Animals]] <!-- Falcon title text --></div>Btx40https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=2452:_Aviation_Firsts&diff=2106172452: Aviation Firsts2021-04-20T17:10:39Z<p>Btx40: fix broken wikipedia link</p>
<hr />
<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 2452<br />
| date = April 19, 2021<br />
| title = Aviation Firsts<br />
| image = aviation_firsts.png<br />
| titletext = Mile High Club membership [✓] [ ] Discovery of parts of Amelia Earhart's skeleton [ ] [ ] Mid-flight incident that results in safe landing on the Hudson River [✓] [ ]<br />
}}<br />
<br />
==Explanation==<br />
{{incomplete|Created by a DRONE ON MARS. Put a table detailing all the events of the achievement checklist with an Earth and Mars column. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}<br />
This comic is made in light of recent events of the [https://twitter.com/NASAPersevere/status/1384209173924089863 Ingenuity probe's first flight on Mars]. Now that Ingenuity has completed its first flight, it marks the first controlled powered flight on Mars.<br />
<br />
The previous categories were completed by the first space probes to reach and then land on Mars. Flight, Landing and Controlled Landing were variously achieved by some or all of the prior landers, depending upon your definition of flight, but certainly by the {{w|Mars_Science_Laboratory#Sky_crane_landing|Skycrane}} element used in landing both Curiosity and Perserverence rovers. These may not have qualified as Controlled Powered Flight as they only used their power to control the landing, before 'flying off' again under power without any more precise control than that needed to intentionally 'crash elsewhere'.<br />
<br />
The remaining have only been completed on Earth, such as the {{w|Aerobatic_maneuver|Loop}} which does not yet seem to be practical to attempt over Mars, growing steadily more bizarre and more specific further down the comic and extending into the title text. <br />
<br />
===Cultural references===<br />
* The {{w|Hughes H-4 Hercules}} (the "Spruce Goose") was a prototype wooden airplane, known for being the largest flying boat ever constructed. The Hercules was designed by aviation pioneer (and, latterly, famed recluse) Howard Hughes. The design was intended as a lightweight transoceanic transport for the the military, but the prototype (built out of wood because of aluminium shortages during the 1940s) was not completed until well after the end of the Second World War and only actually flew a single time in 1947.<br />
* In 1971, Northwest Orient Airlines Flight 305 was famously hijacked by a man who bought a ticket under the pseudonym {{w|D. B. Cooper|"Dan Cooper"}} (but popularly known as D. B. Cooper). After being given a $200,000 ransom by the plane's crew, Cooper then proceeded to parachute jump out of the plane using the rear {{w|airstair}} and was never confirmed to have been heard from again; many experts agree that the parachute jump was very risky and it's unlikely that Cooper even survived. (Cooper was previously mentioned in [[1400: D.B. Cooper]] and [[1501: Mysteries]].)<br />
* The "{{w|mile high club}}" is a slang term for people who have had sexual intercourse while onboard an airplane in flight. Although the notion of {{w|sex in space}} is understood to be severely hampered by the total lack of gravity, it's not known whether Mars's low gravity (compared to Earth) would make it similarly challenging to have intercourse on or near the planet's surface.<br />
* {{w|Amelia Earhart}} was a female aviator who, along with her navigator {{w|Fred Noonan}}, went missing over the Pacific Ocean in 1937 while attempting a global circumnavigation flight and has never been found. While there's some possibility that some of Earhart and Noonan's remains will eventually be discovered somewhere on the Pacific coastline, the notion of them somehow ending up on the surface of Mars is practically impossible outside the remit of certain conspiracy theories. (Earhart was previously mentioned in [[1501: Mysteries]], [[950: Mystery Solved]], and [[2197: Game Show]].)<br />
* The {{w|US Airways Flight 1549|Miracle on the Hudson}} was a 2009 aviation incident in which a US Airways airliner struck a flock of geese shortly after takeoff from LaGuardia Airport in New York City. Despite the plane losing all its engine power as a result of the bird strike, Captain Chesley Sullenberger successfully crash-landed in the nearby Hudson River with minimal injuries to the passengers onboard. Of course, it would be highly impractical for a powered flight that encounters a problem in the sky above Mars to then fly all the way to Earth just for an emergency landing.<br />
<br />
==Transcript==<br />
:[A chart is shown with nine items. To the right of each item there are two check boxes. Above the top row of check boxes are two underlined labels for the two columns. The first four rows have both boxes checked, the last five have only the first box checked. The last two items are so long that they take up three and four rows of text. The first seven items can be on one line.]<br />
<br />
<u>Earth</u> <u>Mars</u><br />
Flight <big>[✓]</big> <big>[✓]</big><br />
Landing <big>[✓]</big> <big>[✓]</big><br />
Controlled landing <big>[✓]</big> <big>[✓]</big><br />
Controlled powered flight <big>[✓]</big> <big>[✓]</big><br />
Loop <big>[✓]</big> <big>[ ]</big><br />
In-flight meal <big>[✓]</big> <big>[ ]</big><br />
Planetary circumnavigation <big>[✓]</big> <big>[ ]</big><br />
<br />
Enormous wooden aircraft <big>[✓]</big> <big>[ ]</big><br />
built by a reclusive billionaire<br />
that flies exactly once<br />
<br />
Hijacking by someone dubbed <big>[✓]</big> <big>[ ]</big><br />
"D.B. Cooper" who demands<br />
money and then jumps out<br />
mid-flight to an unknown fate<br />
<br />
<br />
{{comic discussion}}<br />
[[Category:Mars rovers]]<br />
[[Category:Charts]]<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring real people]]<br />
[[Category:Sex]]</div>Btx40https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=Category:Strange_powers_of_Beret_Guy&diff=210151Category:Strange powers of Beret Guy2021-04-12T13:53:14Z<p>Btx40: /* List of abilities */ fix capitalization</p>
<hr />
<div>*[[Beret Guy]] is a very strange person. Sometimes he takes these strange tendencies into the supernatural. <br />
**'''Click''' to expand for a more detailed explanation:<br />
<div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed leftAlign" style="width:100%"><br />
<br><br />
==Explanation==<br />
In the early comics he was more just a strange and naive guy. There is an early start to the strangeness, but that power could also be attributed to [[Cueball]] (at least it is a shared power) in [[248]]. <br />
<br />
After comic [[1099]], Beret Guy begins to appear frequently with these strange powers, typically not related to each other, except that he has some issues with electrical sockets and power cords as seen in [[1293]] and [[1395]]. (See also [[509: Induced Current]] and the title text of [[614: Woodpecker]], regarding power cords, but not these strange powers.)<br />
<br />
Many of these apparent powers manifest as objects behaving strangely around him. It is unclear whether these are in fact powers inherent to Beret Guy or whether the objects are simply cursed; as indicated in [[1772]], most of his possessions were acquired from shops specializing in cursed items.<br />
<br />
Here is a list of the comics where Beret Guy displays strange powers that are beyond the realm of possibility.<br />
<br />
===List of abilities===<br />
#[[248]]: Manages to create a hypothetical situation (trapping him and his friend).<br />
#[[1088]]: Capable of waiting in the same place for five years, presumably without sustenance<br />
#[[1099]]: He has infinite wings.<br />
#[[1135]]: Makes spiders weave him a shirt.<br />
#[[1158]]: Creates rope to pull & release ball via his imagination.<br />
#[[1293]]: Pours soup from power socket.<br />
#[[1388]]: Subducts through the floor to form mountains in his room.<br />
#[[1395]]: Inflates a laptop through a power cord so that it floats like a helium balloon.<br />
#[[1422]]: Makes a phone with an old battery behave like a dying star.<br />
#[[1486]]: Uses the vacuum energy to fly and "gain unlimited power" with a vacuum cleaner.<br />
#[[1490]]: Sees the individual atoms, and can distinguish the different elements. But he cannot see what they are actually a part of, like a human or a dog.<br />
#[[1522]]: Can examine life on exoplanets around distant stars through a magnifying glass just by standing on a ladder.<br />
#[[1614]]: A little less clear what his powers are in this. But first he is walking a flying/floating dog, and then he returns flying on (or as) a kite, while the dog holds on to the line of the kite.<br />
#[[1617]]: Living by eating newspaper and without breathing oxygen for several years in a sealed and buried box.<br />
#[[1922]]: Riding in the air above two small dogs combined into a larger dog through interferometry<br />
#[[2310]]: Being able to sleep on the vertical side of walls due to a much higher than normal attraction to the {{w|Great Attractor}}, because of higher dimensional bones.<br />
#[[2325]]: Beret Guy attracts water so it flows to him rather than running out towards the nearby oceans. He thus claims he is like an endorheic basin, which is a limited drainage basin that normally retains water and allows no outflow to other external bodies of water.<br />
#[[2376]]: Claims to have the ability to do battle with ghosts, although this is not shown because Beret Guy did not have a cursed amulet that makes ghosts angry.<br />
#[[2446]]: He creates a huge spike protein outside his body after receiving the [[:Category:COVID-19_vaccine|COVID-19 vaccine]].<br />
</div><br />
<br><br />
<br />
[[Category:Comics by topic]]<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Beret Guy]]</div>Btx40https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=2446:_Spike_Proteins&diff=2101502446: Spike Proteins2021-04-12T13:49:05Z<p>Btx40: /* Explanation */ heat vents are more commonly placed there on modern laptops (like mine)</p>
<hr />
<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 2446<br />
| date = April 5, 2021<br />
| title = Spike Proteins<br />
| image = spike_proteins.png<br />
| titletext = Ugh, it's stuck to my laptop. It must have bound to the ACER-2 receptor.<br />
}}<br />
<br />
==Explanation==<br />
{{incomplete|Created by a RIBOSOME from HTmL codes. Please mention here why this explanation isn't complete. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}<br />
This is another comic in the [[:Category:COVID-19|COVID-19 series]] related to the {{w|2019-20 coronavirus outbreak|2020 pandemic}}, caused by the {{w|coronavirus}} {{w|SARS-CoV-2}}.<br />
<br />
This is also another comic about the current [[:Category:COVID-19 vaccine|vaccine against COVID-19]]. A vaccine is designed to provoke an immune response from the body of the recipient, which "trains" the immune system to attack actual viruses (or bacteria). For COVID-19, the {{w|spike protein}}, necessary for the virus to bind a receptor on human cells and invade them, is the key protein for an immune response. Almost all vaccines approved for human use pre-COVID actually contain either inactivated pathogen (e.g., flu vaccine), live but safe pathogen variants (e.g., measles), or some protein from the pathogen that the immune system can respond to (e.g., pertussis). The four COVID-19 vaccines approved in the United States or the European Union as of the date of this comic, however, are all a relatively new type of vaccine that instead cause human cells to temporarily produce spike proteins, which the immune system then "learns" to attack. The Oxford-AstraZeneca and {{w|Johnson & Johnson}}’s {{w|Janssen Vaccines|Janssen}} vaccine use a technique first approved for the July 2020 Ebola vaccine, in which a genetically modified {{w|adenovirus}} is used to deliver DNA to the nuclei of the vaccine recipients' cells, which convert the DNA to {{w|Messenger RNA}} (mRNA). The recipients' cells then use the mRNA as instructions to produce spike proteins. The {{w|Pfizer}} {{w|BioNTech}} and {{w|Moderna}} vaccines are of an even newer type: m{{w|RNA vaccine}}s, which directly inject the mRNA into the body for the cells to use, and never have to enter the cell nuclei.<br />
<br />
[[Beret Guy]], in his [[:Category:Strange powers of Beret Guy|usual fashion]], misunderstands how reality works, then reality alters to fit his view of it. <br />
<br />
After receiving the vaccine, as he informs [[Cueball]] and [[Megan]], he claims he will now go away to make spike proteins. For him, this literally means that he (not his cells) will build them, by unexplained means. When he returns he is carrying his constructed protein, which is [https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7224694/ roughly 8 orders of magnitude] larger than the normal version. He then drops it on the desk, where a laptop is being used. Cueball part-closes his screen to try to prevent the mass from landing on it - though he's only partially successful.<br />
<br />
When a normal living body is coerced into making a spike protein, they are microscopic particles that distribute internally around the body to provoke an immune response. Beret Guy's macroscopic version provokes an understandable response of both disgust and confusion from both Cueball and Megan, who choose to ask why it is so wet. Proteins are [https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2271157/ highly hydrated molecules] where water — through the moderation of its presence and absence in specific locations — plays a central role in shaping the structure and function of the protein (although it is not clear how Beret Guy knows that the spike protein should be hydrated since this is his first try). Though, of the many questions that might have been asked, it is not an entirely unreasonable snap reaction.<br />
<br />
Beret Guy remains typically oblivious to the fuss he causes. His enthusiastic intention, apparently, is to leave his first proud creation there as he departs to construct further examples. They will likely be no less unwelcome.<br />
<br />
Anything damp and squidgy (as ''this'' creation seems to be) would not be welcome around a laptop, for a number of reasons, and Beret Guy seems to have made a particularly messy contact with the part of the case where most such devices are likely to have clusters of heat vents or unruggedised ports/connections that may not react well to the ingress of liquids.<br />
<br />
The title text is a pun on Acer, ACER2, and ACE2. {{w|Acer Inc.|Acer}} is a brand of computers including laptops. The {{w|Angiotensin-converting enzyme 2|ACE2 receptor}}, is an [https://theconversation.com/what-is-the-ace2-receptor-how-is-it-connected-to-coronavirus-and-why-might-it-be-key-to-treating-covid-19-the-experts-explain-136928 entry point on a cell] to which the SARS-COV-2 virus attaches during the process of entering the cell. {{w|ACER2}} is a real enzyme in humans which, although unrelated to ACE2 or SARS-COV-2, may also help bind the pun together.<br />
<br />
==Transcript==<br />
:[Cueball is sitting in an office chair at a desk with an open laptop in front of him. Megan stands behind him looking over his shoulder. Beret Guy is in front of the desk, walking away and looking back at the two while holding a hand to his shoulder, where he got the vaccine shot.]<br />
:Beret Guy: Got the vaccine!<br />
:Megan: Congrats!<br />
:Beret Guy: Time to go make spike proteins.<br />
<br />
:[Cueball continues to work on his laptop while Megan is looking on.]<br />
<br />
:[In a frameless, narrow panel, Beret Guy walks back carrying a large object in his arms that looks like a spike protein. But it is about half as long as he is tall, fluffy and dripping wet, flexing slightly along its length, with the Y-shaped head pointed forwards, away from Beret Guy]<br />
:Beret Guy: OK! <br />
:Beret Guy: Here's my first try.<br />
<br />
:[Beret Guy drops the spike protein onto Cueball's desk with the Y-shaped end on the desk up against the back of Cueball's laptop. The movement is shown with several lines and a sound follows when it hits the desk. The head of it takes up the entire desk area not covered by the laptop, while the tail overhangs the desk. Cueball is grabbing the lid and base of his laptop with both hands, pulling it partially closed and away from the spike protein, and Megan reflexively leans away.]<br />
:Spike Protein: Plop<br />
<br />
:[Beret Guy turns to leave, with an outstretched finger pointing skyward. The overhanging part of the spike protein has sagged, and it is dripping some wet material over both the floor and desk. Cueball is sitting with his hands on the partially closed laptop, Megan stands normally again.]<br />
:Beret Guy: ''More!''<br />
:Cueball: Ewww.<br />
:Megan: Why is it so ''wet??''<br />
<br />
{{comic discussion}}<br />
<br />
[[Category:COVID-19]]<br />
[[Category:COVID-19 vaccine]]<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Beret Guy]]<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]<br />
[[Category:Strange powers of Beret Guy]]</div>Btx40https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=2436:_Circles&diff=2081662436: Circles2021-03-15T15:13:14Z<p>Btx40: /* Explanation */ Clean up & this article is (at least mostly) complete</p>
<hr />
<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 2436<br />
| date = March 12, 2021<br />
| title = Circles<br />
| image = circles.png<br />
| titletext = ( MSTE ( AR ) CD )<br />
}}<br />
<br />
==Explanation==<br />
The comic depicts five overlapping circles, themselves encircled by circles of various sizes which enclose two, four, or all five of the smaller overlapping circles. Several well-known logos consist of overlapping circles, and the larger circles reference these logos. These are: {{w|Mastercard}}, which consists of two side-by-side overlapping circles; {{w|Audi}}, which is four side-by-side overlapping circles, and the {{w|Olympic Rings}}, which are five topologically linked rings in a "W" shaped pattern.<br />
<br />
The diagram deliberately does not differentiate between the {{w|Euler diagram}} of circular 'areas of belonging' and the circles that are the things that belong, save for labels on the former that do not appear as a belonged component of any other set-circled illustration.{{Citation needed}} Without this common knowledge, though, ''they conceivably might''.<br />
<br />
The five circles in the diagram is drawn as the Olympic logo. The two that represents the Mastercard logo, is tilted, but could be turned to match the real Mastercard logo. However, the Audi logo has the four rings in a line. This means that it is not the geometry but only the number of overlapping circles that is indicated in the diagram.<br />
<br />
The comic was released only about four months before the postponed {{w|2020 Summer Olympics}} was scheduled to start on 23 July 2021. It was {{w|2020_Summer_Olympics#Postponement_to_2021|postponed}} because of the {{w|2019-20 coronavirus outbreak|2020 pandemic}} of the {{w|coronavirus}} {{w|SARS-CoV-2}}, which causes {{w|COVID-19}}, which has spawned a [[:Category:COVID-19|series]] of comic on xkcd. At the time of release of this comic the postponed Games still had support to go ahead as scheduled from, for instance, the {{w|Group of Seven|G7}} countries.<br />
<br />
The title text is a textual representation of the Mastercard name as an Euler diagram containing the letters in the words "master" and "card" — A and R are shared by both, while MSTE and CD are unique to their respective elements. The basic Mastercard logo, from its development in the 1970s until earlier this century, placed the letters E and R upon the overlap of the two circles across which its name was emblazoned, but has since reverted to writing the whole of its various brand names beyond the circled areas, so now ''none'' of the characters could be considered to be members of either/both circles.<br />
<br />
<gallery><br />
Mastercard 2019 logo.svg|Current Mastercard logo<br />
MasterCard Logo.svg|Previous MasterCard logo (used until 2016)<br />
Audi-Logo 2016.svg|Current Audi logo<br />
Audi logo detail.svg|Previous Audi logo (used until 2016)<br />
Olympic rings without rims.svg|Olympic rings<br />
</gallery><br />
<br />
==Transcript==<br />
:[Five small circles, looped together in the style of the Olympics logo is drawn in the center. On the left, a larger circle surrounds two of the prior ones, incidentally overlapping a third circle.". A larger circle surrounds four of the small circles, thus also the previous mentioned circle, cutting over the last of the five circles. Finally a very large circle fully contains all the other circles. The three larger circles have labels, with the small ones label above, and with a small clarifying line from the label towards the top of this circle. The middle sized circle has the label standing on a break in the circle at it's bottom, and the largest circle has the label just beneath it. From smallest to largest of the circles the labels are:]<br />
:Mastercard<br />
:Audi<br />
:Olympics<br />
<br />
{{comic discussion}}<br />
<br />
[[Category:Euler diagrams]]<br />
[[Category:Sport]]</div>Btx40https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=2436:_Circles&diff=2079172436: Circles2021-03-12T18:58:55Z<p>Btx40: /* Explanation */ Add Wikipedia links</p>
<hr />
<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 2436<br />
| date = March 12, 2021<br />
| title = Circles<br />
| image = circles.png<br />
| titletext = ( MSTE ( AR ) CD )<br />
}}<br />
<br />
==Explanation==<br />
{{incomplete|Created by Circular References. Please mention here why this explanation isn't complete. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}<br />
The comic depicts five overlapping circles, themselves encircled by circles of various sizes which enclose two, four, or all five of the smaller overlapping circles. Several well-known logos consist of overlapping circles, and the larger circles reference these logos. These are: {{w|Mastercard}}, which consists of two side-by-side overlapping circles; {{w|Audi}}, which is four side-by-side overlapping circles, and the {{w|Olympic Rings}}, which are five overlapping circles in a "W" shaped pattern.<br />
<br />
The title text is a textual representation of the Mastercard logo as a Venn diagram containing the letters of "Mastercard" — A and R are shared by both halves, while MSTE and CD are unique to "master" and "card".<br />
<br />
==Transcript==<br />
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}<br />
<br />
{{comic discussion}}</div>Btx40https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=2390:_Linguists&diff=2023592390: Linguists2020-11-26T21:30:39Z<p>Btx40: </p>
<hr />
<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 2390<br />
| date = November 25, 2020<br />
| title = Linguists<br />
| image = linguists.png<br />
| titletext = "Do you feel like the answer depends on whether you're currently in the hole, versus when you refer to the events later after you get out? Assuming you get out."<br />
}}<br />
<br />
==Explanation==<br />
<br />
Ponytail hears the cries of an unidentified person who has become trapped in a hole. She rushes over and asks whether the trapped person's chosen phrasing for their predicament - "fell down a hole" - is equivalent to "fell in a hole."<br />
<br />
For the case "fell down a hole", most people would likely understand "fell" (action) "down" (direction) "a hole" (place), while it could also be understood as "fell" (action) "down a hole" (place). Since "down a hole" is about the same as "in a hole" (barring being completely inside or not), Ponytail would like to know if "fell down a hole" is meant as "fell in a hole" or not. This phrase, on the other hand, has the same problem of being ambiguous, but with the additional problem that it is not clear what the majority of people would understand <sup>[https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/285:_Wikipedian_Protester citation needed]</sup>. "Fell down into a hole" would likely solve the problem, but isn't mentioned in the comic.<br />
<br />
In the caption, Randall comments on the stereotype that linguists are obnoxious elitists who only love telling people how wrong they are ("{{w|Linguistic prescription|Grammar Nazi}}s"). He claims the truth is much worse, that linguists' desire to extract exact meaning from phrases is done with the best of intentions. He also claims that this is worse than if they were pedants browbeating their audience, possibly because a pedant could prioritize the elements of a situation better than Ponytail is doing here.<br />
<br />
This is similar to the viewpoint dedicated to scientists in comic [[877: Beauty]], as in studying that field seems to be a cold and sad way to analyze the thing, but instead is an extreme form of child-like awe and inspiration.<br />
<br />
The title text goes further on this quest of understanding by trying to see whether the different usages is tied to the current situation or not.<br />
<br />
==Transcript==<br />
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}<br />
<br />
:[Ponytail is walking to the left. A voice calls out from behind her (at the right of the panel):]<br />
:Off-panel voice: Help!<br />
:Off-panel voice: I fell down a hole!<br />
<br />
:[Ponytail runs to the right, toward the hole.]<br />
<br />
:[Ponytail, kneeling down next to the hole, calls out:]<br />
:Ponytail: Hey!<br />
:Ponytail: Is "fell down a hole" exactly equivalent to "fell in a hole," in your usage? Or do they have slightly different implications?<br />
<br />
:[Caption below the panel]<br />
:There's a myth that linguists are pedants who love correcting people, but they're actually just enthusiastic about understanding language in all its infinite varieties, which is much worse.<br />
<br />
{{comic discussion}}<br />
<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Ponytail]]<br />
[[Category:Language]]</div>Btx40https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=2369:_All-in-One&diff=1995592369: All-in-One2020-10-13T16:10:02Z<p>Btx40: /* Functions that most all-in-one printers do */ Changed print lick to be more specific</p>
<hr />
<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 2369<br />
| date = October 7, 2020<br />
| title = All-in-One<br />
| image = all_in_one.png<br />
| titletext = Changes with this update: If you use the combined scan-shred function, it now performs them in that order instead of the reverse, saving a HUGE amount of CPU time.<br />
}}<br />
<br />
==Explanation==<br />
{{incomplete|Created by THOSE PERFORATED EDGE STRIPS THAT ARE SO FUN TO TEAR. Needs an explanation of what all the functions do. Maybe give possible reasons to why Randall created this comic? Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}<br />
This is an xkcd-style parody of an {{w|all-in-one printer}}, a printer which typically can perform several functions, usually printing, scanning, copying, and faxing. This machine starts off with fairly standard printer functions but quickly becomes absurd. The machine is accordingly oversized, making room for all the status indicators and (presumably) the extra internal parts required to accomplish the uncommon functions.<br />
<br />
The title text says that if both the scan and shred options are selected, it now scans things ''before'' trying to destroy them. Previously the machine destroyed documents and then scanned the pieces and tried to reconstruct them, which takes a large amount of processing power, as the attempts to recover the german Stasi Documents has shown, in addition to the fact that it is extremely hard to correctly scan shredded and crumpled documents.{{Citation needed}} The possibility of doing so raises the possibility that this printer itself is a even more complex computer than one would expect a multi-function printer to be, or that its driver can monopolize a host computer. It is also worth noting that if one selects "copy and shred" one could also just do nothing with the same effect.<br />
<br />
===List of functions===<br />
<i> Certain functions are lit green, indicating they are in use. To show which ones are in use, they are highlighted <span style="background:#acfb90">green (selected)</span>.</i><br />
<br />
====''Functions that most all-in-one printers do''====<br />
*<span style="background:#acfb90">'''{{w|Printer (computing)|Print}}''' (selected)</span>: The most common function that a printer needs to do. A digital document or graphic exists on a computer, is sent to the printer and the printer transfers the document onto paper using ink or toner.<br />
*'''{{w|Photocopier|Copy}}''': A copy function allows a user to place a document on the integrated/linked scanning bed and the printer will immediately make a copy of the document as if a traditional 'analogue' photocopier.<br />
*<span style="background:#acfb90">'''{{w|Fax}}''' (selected)</span>: A fax function sends a scanned document by telephone to another telephone number. The receiver fax machine will reconstruct the document and print it. A machine that has this function is usually also able to act as a receiver for faxes sent from elsewhere, though that setting wouldn't be visible in this configuration group.<br />
*'''{{w|Image scanner|Scan}}''': A scan function is used to optically scan images or documents into digital forms so that they can be used by computers. It can be seen as the reverse operation of the printer function.<br />
*<span style="background:#acfb90">'''{{w|Collate}}''' (selected)</span>: To sort multiple copies of printed documents into sequences of individual page order, usually across multiple output trays having one sequence for each copy, especially before binding.<br />
*<span style="background:#acfb90">'''{{w|Staple (fastener)|Staple}}''' (selected)</span>: To staple together multipage documents, especially for each collated copy. This function is usually found only in high-end printers.<br />
<br />
====''Functions that relate to printers or scanners, that most cannot do''====<br />
*'''Staple Removal''': Although mechanical removal of staples can be done by various devices, it's often not a ''simple'' task. Staples can be bent and mangled in many ways, and detaching them from paper without causing damage can require fairly complex intelligence.<br />
*'''{{w|Paper shredder|Shred}}''': A shredder function is used to destroy paper for privacy or security by cutting it into strips or fine particles. Normally this task is handled by another specialised machine called a shredder, but this time it is already inbuilt into the printer.<br />
*'''{{w|Translate}}''': If the paper text is in another language, this would presumably translate it for you — after scanning and {{w|Optical character recognition|OCRing}}. This would actually be a helpful function and may be available on recent scanner-printers, although usually in the software that comes with the printer, on the host computer, rather than inside the printer itself.<br />
*'''Add those {{w|Perforation|perforated}} edge strips that are so fun to tear''': In an earlier era, {{w|dot matrix printers}} and {{w|line printer|line printers}} were the common standard, and used a type of {{w|continuous stationery}}, which was manufactured with perforated strips along each side, with regularly spaced holes which allowed spiked wheels to advance the paper through the printer. Tearing these strips off after printing was once a standard task when using a printer. This type of stationery is now obsolete, but many people of Randall's generation become oddly nostalgic about removing the strips from the old style of paper -- the strips are kind of fun to play with. Note that the old stationery was designed such that the remaining page typically had a "standard" paper width, with the strips adding additional width. It's unclear if this function is adding ''perforations'' to standard paper, which would leave it too narrow once the resulting edge strips were removed, or is somehow adding perforated ''strips'' to it.<br />
<br />
====''Functions completely unrelated to printing or scanning''====<br />
*'''Summarize''': Presumably this function would summarize a printed material for the user. Similar to the translate function, a document would need to be scanned and OCRed first. Then a machine learning algorithm would comprehend the text and reduce it in length while keeping the important points. {{w|Automatic_summarization|Automatic text summarization}} does exist, although the technology is not as widely used as automatic translation.<br />
*'''{{w|plagiarism|Plagiarize}}''': This function is unclear. Maybe it would plagiarize a paper for a certain subject? It would also be legally questionable. (Maybe it plagiarizes printer techniques, in which case this might be useful, though only in edgecases)<br />
*'''Roll''': This function is unclear. Perhaps it would roll up paper into a roll, like how the newspaper is rolled up for distribution by paperboys.<br />
*'''Burn''': Perhaps the printer has this function for greater assurance that sensitive information will be irretrievably destroyed. Historically, some printers could be at risk of catching fire if they jammed in a particular way, and so the "{{w|lp0 on fire}}" error code was created to signal that it should be investigated urgently.<br />
*'''Eat''': A printer is often said to "eat" paper by mangling either the input or output. Printer failure is also the modern descendant of the classic excuse for late homework, "{{w|the dog ate my homework}}".<br />
*'''{{w|paper airplane|Fold airplane}}''': This function makes paper airplanes out of paper stored in the printer, or documents being printed. Paper airplane folding machines [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MSdb_Rpv5p0 are a thing], so it'd be possible to design something to fold an origami flower, as well.<br />
*'''{{w|Origami}} flower''': Similar to the previous one, this function makes flowers using the origami paper folding process.<br />
*'''{{w|Corrugate}}''': {{w|Corrugated fiberboard}} or cardboard is a kind of crinkled paper sandwiched between two sheets. This provides structural strength for low weight. Printers that jam can produce a paper that looks corrugated, but this is not an intended function, and corrugated fiberboard is not made with printers.<br />
*'''{{w|Papier-mâché}}''': (Literally "chewed paper") is a composite construction material consisting of paper pieces, bound with an adhesive, often a flour paste. The printer could use its "shred" and "eat" functions to produce the necessary materials, and any leftovers could be composted with the "biodegrade" function.<br />
*'''{{w|Découpage}}''': An art form where paper printed with decorative images is glued onto an object (typically boxes, but also furniture) and covered with many layers of varnish so that the images appear painted onto the object. <br />
*<span style="background:#acfb90">'''Notarize''' (selected)</span>: A {{w|notary public}} is a person certified by a government to attest that certain kinds of legal documentation are legitimate and executed. All-in-one printers and scanners may be able to recognize certain signs of legitimacy (e.g. the {{w|EURion constellation}}), but unless this printer has some tactile sensation, it cannot certify the identity of the person who signed the document as a human can.<br />
*'''{{w|Biodegrade}}''': This would biodegrade the paper. Whether this would send it to an organic waste plant (which would be helpful) or actually house a composter inside the printer (which would be gross){{Citation needed}} is unknown.<br />
*<span style="background:#acfb90">'''Crumple and throw at trash like basketball''' (selected)</span>: Many people, when done with a piece of paper, will crumple it up and throw it into a trash can from a distance as if playing basketball. This wouldn't be a very useful feature in a printer, especially relative to its complexity. For one thing, it would prevent the person who printed the document from using it (even if the user intends to throw away the paper eventually, presumably they need to use it at least once or they wouldn't print it), and it would also deny the user one of the few pleasures available in the office environment.<br />
<br />
==Transcript==<br />
:[A large printer-like machine, with the label All-in-One Paper Processor on the top left of it. There are three columns of functions, with a few of them having a green light. At the top of the machine is a "paper feed" tray. At the bottom of the machine, is a large hole, for outputting the paper.]<br />
<br />
:'''Column 1'''<br />
:*Print (lit green)<br />
:*Copy<br />
:*Fax (lit green)<br />
:*Shred<br />
:*Scan<br />
:*Translate<br />
:*Summarize<br />
:*Plagiarize<br />
:*Collate (lit green)<br />
<br />
:'''Column 2'''<br />
:*Staple (lit green)<br />
:*Remove staples<br />
:*Add those perforated edge strips that are so fun to tear<br />
:*Roll<br />
:*Burn<br />
:*Eat<br />
<br />
:'''Column 3'''<br />
:*Fold airplane<br />
:*Origami flower<br />
:*Corrugate<br />
:*Paper-mâché<br />
:*Découpage<br />
:*Notarize (lit green)<br />
:*Biodegrade<br />
:*Crumple and throw at trash like a basketball (lit green)<br />
<br />
{{comic discussion}}<br />
<br />
[[Category:Comics with color]]</div>Btx40https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=2350:_Deer_Turrets&diff=1995572350: Deer Turrets2020-10-13T16:03:28Z<p>Btx40: /* Explanation */ Change caliber link to be more general</p>
<hr />
<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 2350<br />
| date = August 24, 2020<br />
| title = Deer Turrets<br />
| image = deer_turrets.png<br />
| titletext = When my great grandfather designed the Titanic and it hit an iceberg and sank, he didn't sit around moping. He took those lessons to his next job designing airships, and he made the Hindenburg completely iceberg-proof!<br />
}}<br />
<br />
==Explanation==<br />
[[Black Hat]] has built laser turrets that automatically shoot at nearby wireless devices. This could potentially be useful in a military context, but for [[72|reasons unforeseeable]], he's gone and strapped them to local deer. Deer are well-defined by their tendency to move around (which [[Cueball]] attempted to exploit for ergonomic reasons in [[1329: Standing]]), typically in areas close to civilization, so attaching wireless-seeking laser robots to them effectively makes them organic killbots. As the last panel reveals, this can be circumvented by disabling wireless access on your devices (airplane mode), though Black Hat doesn't seem particularly concerned with letting people know this, and seems to brush these inventions off as simple mistakes. At least one member of the press isn't convinced, sarcastically asking "''is it really''?!" It's not clear if the reporter is asking if it's really "another mistake" (i.e. expressing that this was Black Hat's plan all along), or if it's really "okay", but Black Hat chooses to interpret the question as meaning the latter, and declares that he thinks everything's fine -- after all, he's not the one getting shot by deer-mounted lasers.<br />
<br />
The title, "Deer Turrets," may be a pun on "deterrents," as laser turrets would certainly deter people with wireless devices from approaching deer. <br />
<br />
In the second panel Black Hat uses the common idiom "hindsight is {{w|Visual acuity#Expression|20/20}}". This may be a pun, as "hind" is a term for an adult female (doe) deer - as {{w|Red_deer#Behaviour|a counterpoint}} to the adult male (buck) deer being known as a "stag" - and a "sight" is a {{w|Sight_(device)|visual aligning device}}, often for weaponry. Whether or not the potential pun has any further {{w|caliber}} to its references, this ''might'' be the ultimate aim of this wording.<br />
<br />
The auto-targeting laser turrets may be a reference to attempts by researchers at the University of Washington to create a laser-based battery charging device [https://www.wired.com/story/wireless-charging-with-lasers/]. The device in question is mounted on a turret that locates and aims the beam at a photovoltaic cell attached to the battery. The same technology could theoretically be used with a higher-powered laser, but for the application described in the comic, the targeting mechanism would need to be altered to sense any electronic rather than the accompanying photovoltaic cell.<br />
<br />
In the title text, Black Hat claims that his great grandfather designed the RMS ''{{w|Titanic}}'', the then-largest ocean-liner in the world which {{w|Sinking of the Titanic|sank after striking an iceberg}} in 1912, and the ''{{w|LZ 129 Hindenburg}}'', the then-largest airship in the world which {{w|Hindenburg disaster|caught fire and crashed}} in 1937. He claims that his ancestor did not retire from the design business after the loss of the ''Titanic'', but instead learned from it and made the ''Hindenburg'' "iceberg-proof". This is an obvious and humorous lie for several reasons. First, the lead designers of the ''Olympic''-class ''Titanic'' and the ''Hindenburg''-class airship were two different people, {{w|William Pirrie, 1st Viscount Pirrie|Lord Pirrie}} and Dr. {{w|Ludwig Dürr}} respectively, and Black Hat is probably not one of Dürr's great-grandsons (Lord Pirrie had no children). Secondly, while no airship has been recorded to be destroyed by striking an iceberg, it's not because of any "iceberg-proofing" efforts by Black Hat's great-grandfather, or anyone else -- it's just due to the basic fact that airships fly in the air, where there are no icebergs.{{Citation needed}} Were an airship to strike an iceberg, it would almost certainly be destroyed; in fact, the even deadlier accident on the airship {{w|USS Akron|USS ''Akron''}} resulted from the airship simply striking the (unfrozen) ocean.<br />
<br />
The possibility of mounting devices on wild deer was previously referenced in the title text of [[1924: Solar Panels]].<br />
<br />
Black Hat has built a similar device to target users of Google Glass in [[1251: Anti-Glass]].<br />
<br />
==Transcript==<br />
:[Black Hat is at a podium, addressing a crowd]<br />
:Black Hat: Was it a mistake to build turrets that can track nearby wireless devices and fire powerful lasers in their general direction?<br />
:Black Hat: Sure. I realize that now.<br />
<br />
:[Face-front view of Black Hat]<br />
:Black Hat: Was it a mistake to mount those turrets on neighborhood deer, release them, then lose interest in the project and move on?<br />
:Black Hat: Yes. Hindsight is 20/20.<br />
<br />
:[Close-up, Black Hat holds up his index finger]<br />
:Black Hat: But science is about learning from mistakes<br />
:Black Hat: And not being afraid to make new ones.<br />
<br />
:[Side view again]<br />
:Black Hat: Like inviting you here, but not warning you to put your phones in airplane mode.<br />
:Black Hat: Another mistake.<br />
:Black Hat: But that's okay.<br />
:Off-Panel: ''Gallop gallop''<br />
:Audience member: ''Is it really?!''<br />
:Black Hat: I think it's fine.<br />
:Deer: ''Pew! Pew!''<br />
<br />
<br />
{{comic discussion}}<br />
[[Category: Comics featuring Black Hat]]<br />
[[Category: Animals]]</div>Btx40https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=List_of_all_comics&diff=198367List of all comics2020-10-01T16:58:03Z<p>Btx40: Finish adding missing entries (dgbrt wasn't)</p>
<hr />
<div>This is the list of comics from '''2001 to {{LATESTCOMIC}}'''.<br />
:For the first 500 comics, see [[List of all comics (1-500)]].<br />
:For comics 501-1000, see [[List of all comics (501-1000)]].<br />
:For comics 1001-1500, see [[List of all comics (1001-1500)]].<br />
:For comics 1501-2000, see [[List of all comics (1501-2000)]].<br />
: The whole list is available at [[List of all comics (full)]].<br />
<br />
You may also see the list of comics in the order they appeared at the [https://xkcd.com/archive/ xkcd archive].<br />
<br />
{| class="wikitable sortable plainlinks table-padding"<br />
|-<br />
!xkcd<br />
!Title<br />
!Talk<br />
!Image<br />
!Date<onlyinclude><br />
{{comicsrow|2366|2020-10-01|Amelia's Farm Fresh Cookies|amelias farm fresh cookies.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2365|2020-09-29|Messaging Systems|messaging systems.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2364|2020-09-26|Parity Conservation|parity conservation.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2363|2020-09-24|Message Boards|message boards.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2362|2020-09-22|Volcano Dinosaur|volcano dinosaur.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2361|2020-09-19|Voting|voting.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2360|2020-09-16|Common Star Types|common star types.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2359|2020-09-14|Evidence of Alien Life|evidence of alien life.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2358|2020-09-11|Gravitational Wave Pulsars|gravitational wave pulsars.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2357|2020-09-10|Polls vs the Street|polls vs the street.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2356|2020-09-08|Constellation Monstrosity|constellation monstrosity.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2355|2020-09-04|University COVID Model|university covid model.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2354|2020-09-03|Stellar Evolution|stellar evolution.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2353|2020-08-31|Hurricane Hunters|hurricane hunters.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2352|2020-08-29|Synonym Date|synonym date.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2351|2020-08-27|Standard Model Changes|standard model changes.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2350|2020-08-24|Deer Turrets|deer turrets.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2349|2020-08-21|Rabbit Introduction|rabbit introduction.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2348|2020-08-19|Boat Puzzle|boat puzzle.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2347|2020-08-17|Dependency|dependency.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2346|2020-08-14|COVID Risk Comfort Zone|covid risk comfort zone.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2345|2020-08-12|Wish on a Shooting Star|wish on a shooting star.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2344|2020-08-10|26-Second Pulse|26 second pulse.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2343|2020-08-07|Mathematical Symbol Fight|mathematical symbol fight.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2342|2020-08-05|Exposure Notification|exposure notification.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2341|2020-08-03|Scientist Tech Help|scientist tech help.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2340|2020-07-31|Cosmologist Genres|cosmologist genres.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2339|2020-07-29|Pods vs Bubbles|pods vs bubbles.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2338|2020-07-27|Faraday Tour|faraday tour.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2337|2020-07-24|Asterisk Corrections|asterisk corrections.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2336|2020-07-22|Campfire Habitable Zone|campfire habitable zone.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2335|2020-07-20|Photo Deposit|photo deposit.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2334|2020-07-17|Slide Trombone|slide trombone.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2333|2020-07-15|COVID Risk Chart|covid risk chart.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2332|2020-07-13|Cursed Chair|cursed chair.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2331|2020-07-10|Hamster Ball 2|hamster ball 2.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2330|2020-07-08|Acceptable Risk|acceptable risk.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2329|2020-07-06|Universal Rating Scale|universal rating scale.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2328|2020-07-03|Space Basketball|space basketball.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2327|2020-07-01|Oily House Index|oily house index.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2326|2020-06-29|Five Word Jargon|five word jargon.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2325|2020-06-26|Endorheic Basin|endorheic basin.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2324|2020-06-24|Old Days 2|old days 2.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2323|2020-06-22|Modeling Study|modeling study.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2322|2020-06-19|ISO Paper Size Golden Spiral|iso paper size golden spiral.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2321|2020-06-17|Low-Background Metal|low background metal.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2320|2020-06-15|Millennium Problems|millennium problems.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2319|2020-06-12|Large Number Formats|large number formats.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2318|2020-06-10|Dynamic Entropy|dynamic entropy.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2317|2020-06-08|Pinouts|pinouts.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2316|2020-06-05|Hair Growth Rate|hair growth rate.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2315|2020-06-03|Eventual Consistency|eventual consistency.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2314|2020-06-01|Carcinization|carcinization.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2313|2020-05-29|Wrong Times Table|wrong times table.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2312|2020-05-27|mbmbam|mbmbam.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2311|2020-05-25|Confidence Interval|confidence interval.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2310|2020-05-22|Great Attractor|great attractor.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2309|2020-05-20|X|x.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2308|2020-05-18|Mount St. Helens|mount st helens.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2307|2020-05-15|Alive Or Not|alive or not.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2306|2020-05-13|Common Cold|common cold.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2305|2020-05-11|Coronavirus Polling|coronavirus polling.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2304|2020-05-08|Preprint|preprint.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2303|2020-05-06|Error Types|error types.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2302|2020-05-04|2020 Google Trends|2020 google trends.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2301|2020-05-01|Turtle Sandwich Standard Model|turtle sandwich standard model.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2300|2020-04-30|Everyone's an Epidemiologist|everyones an epidemiologist.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2299|2020-04-27|Coronavirus Genome 2|coronavirus genome 2.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2298|2020-04-24|Coronavirus Genome|coronavirus genome.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2297|2020-04-22|Use or Discard By|use or discard by.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2296|2020-04-20|Sourdough Starter|sourdough starter.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2295|2020-04-17|Garbage Math|garbage math.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2294|2020-04-15|Coronavirus Charts|coronavirus charts.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2293|2020-04-13|RIP John Conway|rip john conway.gif}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2292|2020-04-10|Thermometer|thermometer.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2291|2020-04-08|New Sports System|new sports system.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2290|2020-04-06|Homemade Masks|homemade masks.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2289|2020-04-04|Scenario Four|sequence-four.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2288|2020-04-03|Collector's Edition|collectors edition.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2287|2020-03-31|Pathogen Resistance|pathogen resistance.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2286|2020-03-27|6-Foot Zone|6 foot zone.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2285|2020-03-25|Recurring Nightmare|recurring nightmare.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2284|2020-03-23|Sabotage|sabotage.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2283|2020-03-20|Exa-Exabyte|exa exabyte.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2282|2020-03-18|Coronavirus Worries|coronavirus worries.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2281|2020-03-16|Coronavirus Research|coronavirus research.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2280|2020-03-13|2010 and 2020|2010 and 2020.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2279|2020-03-11|Symptoms|symptoms.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2278|2020-03-09|Scientific Briefing|scientific briefing.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2277|2020-03-06|Business Greetings|business greetings.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2276|2020-03-04|Self-Isolate|self isolate.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2275|2020-03-02|Coronavirus Name|coronavirus name.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2274|2020-02-28|Stargazing 3|stargazing 3.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2273|2020-02-26|Truck Proximity|truck proximity.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2272|2020-02-24|Ringtone Timeline|ringtone timeline.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2271|2020-02-21|Grandpa Jason and Grandpa Chad|grandpa jason and grandpa chad.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2270|2020-02-19|Picking Bad Stocks|picking bad stocks.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2269|2020-02-17|Phylogenetic Tree|phylogenetic tree.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2268|2020-02-14|Further Research is Needed|further research is needed.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2267|2020-02-12|Blockchain|blockchain.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2266|2020-02-11|Leap Smearing|leap smearing.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2265|2020-02-07|Tax AI|tax ai.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2264|2020-02-05|Satellite|satellite.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2263|2020-02-03|Cicadas|cicadas.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2262|2020-01-31|Parker Solar Probe|parker solar probe.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2261|2020-01-29|Worst Thing That Could Happen|worst thing that could happen.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2260|2020-01-27|Reaction Maps|reaction maps.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2259|2020-01-24|Networking Problems|networking problems.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2258|2020-01-22|Solar System Changes|solar system changes.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2257|2020-01-20|Unsubscribe Message|unsubscribe message.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2256|2020-01-17|Bad Map Projection: South America|bad map projection south america.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2255|2020-01-15|Tattoo Ideas|tattoo ideas.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2254|2020-01-13|JPEG2000|jpeg2000.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2253|2020-01-10|Star Wars Voyager 1|star wars voyager 1.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2252|2020-01-08|Parenthetical Names|parenthetical names.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2251|2020-01-05|Alignment Chart Alignment Chart|alignment chart alignment chart.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2250|2020-01-03|OK/okay/ok|ok okay ok.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2249|2020-01-01|I Love the 20s|i love the 20s.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2248|2019-12-30|New Year's Eve|new years eve.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2247|2019-12-27|Weird Hill|weird hill.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2246|2019-12-25|Christmas Presents|christmas presents.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2245|2019-12-23|Edible Arrangements|edible arrangements.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2244|2019-12-20|Thumbtacks And String|thumbtacks and string.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2243|2019-12-18|Star Wars Spoiler Generator|star wars spoiler generator.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2242|2019-12-16|Ground vs Air|ground vs air.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2241|2019-12-13|Brussels Sprouts Mandela Effect|brussels sprouts mandela effect.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2240|2019-12-11|Timeline of the Universe|timeline of the universe.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2239|2019-12-09|Data Error|data error.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2238|2019-12-06|Flu Shot|flu shot.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2237|2019-12-04|AI Hiring Algorithm|ai hiring algorithm.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2236|2019-12-02|Is it Christmas?|is it christmas.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2235|2019-11-29|Group Chat Rules|group chat rules.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2234|2019-11-27|How To Deliver Christmas Presents|how to deliver christmas presents.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2233|2019-11-26|Aurora Meaning|aurora meaning.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2232|2019-11-22|Hotel Room Party|hotel room party.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2231|2019-11-20|the Time Before And After Land|the time before and after land.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2230|2019-11-18|Versus Bracket|versus bracket.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2229|2019-11-15|Rey and Kylo|rey and kylo.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2228|2019-11-14|Machine Learning Captcha|machine learning captcha.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2227|2019-11-11|Transit of Mercury|transit of mercury.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2226|2019-11-09|Recombination And Reionization|recombination and reionization.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2225|2019-11-06|Voting Referendum|voting referendum.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2224|2019-11-05|Software Updates|software updates.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2223|2019-11-01|Screen Time|screen time.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2222|2019-10-30|Terminator: Dark Fate|terminator dark fate.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2221|2019-10-29|Emulation|emulation.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2220|2019-10-25|Imagine Going Back in Time|imagine going back in time.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2219|2019-10-23|Earthquake Early Warnings|earthquake early warnings.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2218|2019-10-21|Wardrobe|wardrobe.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2217|2019-10-19|53 Cards|53 cards.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2216|2019-10-17|Percent Milkfat|percent milkfat.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2215|2019-10-15|Faculty:Student Ratio|faculty student ratio.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2214|2019-10-11|Chemistry Nobel|chemistry nobel.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2213|2019-10-09|How Old|how old.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2212|2019-10-07|Cell Phone Functions|cell phone functions.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2211|2019-10-04|Hours Before Departure|hours before departure.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2210|2019-10-02|College Athletes|college athletes.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2209|2019-09-30|Fresh Pears|fresh pears.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2208|2019-09-27|Drone Fishing|drone fishing.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2207|2019-09-25|Math Work|math work.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2206|2019-09-23|Mavis Beacon|mavis beacon.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2205|2019-09-20|Types of Approximation|types of approximation.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2204|2019-09-18|Ksp 2|ksp 2.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2203|2019-09-16|Prescience|prescience.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2202|2019-09-13|Earth-Like Exoplanet|earth like exoplanet.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2201|2019-09-11|Foucault Pendulum|foucault pendulum.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2200|2019-09-11|Unreachable State|unreachable state.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2199|2019-09-06|Cryptic Wifi Networks|cryptic wifi networks.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2198|2019-09-04|Throw|throw.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2198|2019-09-03|Throw|throw.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2197|2019-09-02|Game Show|game show.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2196|2019-08-30|Nice To E-Meet You|nice to e-meet you.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2195|2019-08-28|Dockless Roombas|dockless roombas.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2194|2019-08-26|How to Send a File|how to send a file.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2193|2019-08-23|Well-Ordering Principle|well ordering principle.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2192|2019-08-21|Review|review.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2191|2019-08-19|Conference Question|conference question.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2190|2019-08-16|Serena Versus the Drones|serena versus the drones.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2189|2019-08-14|Old Game Worlds|old game worlds.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2188|2019-08-12|E Scooters|e scooters.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2187|2019-08-09|Geologic Time|geologic time.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2186|2019-08-07|Dark Matter|dark matter.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2185|2019-08-05|Cumulonimbus|cumulonimbus.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2185|2019-08-05|Disappearing Sunday Update|disappearing sunday update.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2184|2019-08-02|Unpopular Opinions|unpopular opinions.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2183|2019-07-31|Icon Swap|icon swap.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2182|2019-07-29|When I'm Back at a Keyboard|when im back at a keyboard.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2181|2019-07-26|Inbox|inbox.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2180|2019-07-24|Spreadsheets|spreadsheets.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2179|2019-07-23|NWS Warnings|nws warnings.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2178|2019-07-19|Expiration Date High Score|expiration date high score.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2177|2019-07-17|Gastroenterology|gastroenterology.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2176|2019-07-15|How Hacking Works|how hacking works.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2175|2019-07-12|Flag Interpretation|flag interpretation.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2174|2019-07-10|First News Memory|first news memory.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2173|2019-07-08|Trained a Neural Net|trained a neural net.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2172|2019-07-05|Lunar Cycles|lunar cycles.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2171|2019-07-03|Shadow Biosphere|shadow biosphere.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2170|2019-07-01|Coordinate Precision|coordinate precision.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2169|2019-06-28|Predictive Models|predictive models.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2168|2019-06-26|Reading in the Original|reading in the original.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2167|2019-06-24|Motivated Reasoning Olympics|motivated reasoning olympics.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2166|2019-06-21|Stack|stack.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2165|2019-06-19|Millennials|millennials.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2164|2019-06-17|Glacier|glacier.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2163|2019-06-14|Chernobyl|chernobyl.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2162|2019-06-12|Literary Opinions|literary opinions.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2161|2019-06-10|An Apple a Day|an apple a day.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2160|2019-06-07|Ken Burns Theory|ken burns theory.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2159|2019-06-05|Comments|comments.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2158|2019-06-03|Qualifiers|qualifiers.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2157|2019-05-31|Diploma Legal Notes|diploma legal notes.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2156|2019-05-29|Ufo|ufo.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2155|2019-05-27|Swimming|swimming.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2154|2019-05-24|Motivation|motivation.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2153|2019-05-22|Effects of High Altitude|effects of high altitude.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2152|2019-05-20|Westerns|westerns.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2151|2019-05-17|A/B|a b.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2150|2019-05-15|XKeyboarCD|xkeyboarcd.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2149|2019-05-13|Alternate Histories|alternate histories.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2148|2019-05-10|Cubesat Launch|cubesat launch.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2147|2019-05-08|Appendicitis|appendicitis.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2146|2019-05-06|Waiting for the But|waiting for the but.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2145|2019-05-03|Heists And Escapes|heists and escapes.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2144|2019-05-01|Adjusting a Chair|adjusting a chair.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2143|2019-04-29|Disk Usage|disk usage.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2142|2019-04-26|Dangerous Fields|dangerous fields.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2141|2019-04-24|UI vs UX|ui vs ux.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2140|2019-04-22|Reinvent the Wheel|reinvent the wheel.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2139|2019-04-19|Email Settings|email settings.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2138|2019-04-17|Wanna See the Code?|wanna see the code.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2137|2019-04-15|Text Entry|text entry.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2136|2019-04-12|Election Commentary|election commentary.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2135|2019-04-10|M87 Black Hole Size Comparison|m87 black hole size comparison.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2134|2019-04-08|Too Much Talking|too much talking.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2133|2019-04-05|EHT Black Hole Picture|eht black hole picture.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2132|2019-04-03|Percentage Styles|percentage styles.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2131|2019-04-01|Emojidome|industry nicknames.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2130|2019-03-29|Industry Nicknames|industry nicknames.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2129|2019-03-27|1921 Fact Checker|1921 fact checker.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2128|2019-03-25|New Robot|new robot.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2127|2019-03-22|Panama Canal|panama canal.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2126|2019-03-20|Google Trends Maps|google trends maps.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2125|2019-03-18|Luna 2|luna 2.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2124|2019-03-15|Space Mission Hearing|space mission hearing.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2123|2019-03-13|Meta Collecting|meta collecting.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2122|2019-03-11|Size Venn Diagram|size venn diagram.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2121|2019-03-08|Light Pollution|light pollution.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2120|2019-03-06|Brain Hemispheres|brain hemispheres.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2119|2019-03-04|Video Orientation|video orientation.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2118|2019-03-01|Normal Distribution|normal distribution.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2117|2019-02-27|Differentiation and Integration|differentiation and integration.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2116|2019-02-25|.NORM Normal File Format|norm normal file format.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2115|2019-02-22|Plutonium|plutonium.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2114|2019-02-20|Launch Conditions|launch conditions.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2113|2019-02-18|Physics Suppression|physics suppression.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2112|2019-02-15|Night Shift|night shift.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2111|2019-02-13|Opportunity Rover|opportunity rover.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2110|2019-02-11|Error Bars|error bars.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2109|2019-02-08|Invisible Formatting|invisible formatting.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2108|2019-02-06|Carbonated Beverage Language Map|carbonated beverage language map.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2107|2019-02-04|Launch Risk|launch risk.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2106|2019-02-01|Sharing Options|sharing options.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2105|2019-01-30|Modern OSI Model|modern osi model.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2104|2019-01-28|Biff Tannen|biff tannen.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2103|2019-01-25|Midcontinent Rift System|midcontinent rift system.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2102|2019-01-23|Internet Archive|internet archive.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2101|2019-01-21|Technical Analysis|technical analysis.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2100|2019-01-18|Models of the Atom|models of the atom.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2099|2019-01-16|Missal of Silos|missal of silos.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2098|2019-01-14|Magnetic Pole|magnetic pole.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2097|2019-01-11|Thor Tools|thor tools.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2096|2019-01-09|Mattresses|mattresses.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2095|2019-01-07|Marsiforming|marsiforming.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2094|2019-01-04|Short Selling|short selling.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2093|2019-01-02|Reminders|reminders.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2092|2018-12-31|Consensus New Year|consensus new year.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2091|2018-12-28|Million, Billion, Trillion|million billion trillion.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2090|2018-12-26|Feathered Dinosaur Venn Diagram|feathered dinosaur venn diagram.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2089|2018-12-24|Christmas Eve Eve|christmas eve eve.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2088|2018-12-21|Schwarzschild's Cat|schwarzschilds cat.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2087|2018-12-19|Rocket Launch|rocket launch.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2086|2018-12-17|History Department|history department.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2085|2018-12-14|arXiv|arxiv.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2084|2018-12-12|FDR|fdr.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2083|2018-12-10|Laptop Issues|laptop issues.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2082|2018-12-07|Mercator Projection|mercator projection.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2081|2018-12-05|Middle Latitudes|middle latitudes.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2080|2018-12-03|Cohort and Age Effects|cohort and age effects.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2079|2018-11-30|Alpha Centauri|alpha centauri.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2078|2018-11-28|Popper|popper.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2077|2018-11-26|Heist|heist.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2076|2018-11-23|Horror Movies 2|horror movies 2.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2075|2018-11-21|Update Your Address|update your address.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2074|2018-11-19|Airplanes and Spaceships|airplanes and spaceships.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2073|2018-11-16|Kilogram|kilogram.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2072|2018-11-14|Evaluating Tech Things|evaluating tech things.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2071|2018-11-12|Indirect Detection|indirect detection.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2070|2018-11-09|Trig Identities|trig identities.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2069|2018-11-07|Wishlist|wishlist.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2068|2018-11-05|Election Night|election night.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2067|2018-11-02|Challengers|challengers.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2066|2018-10-31|Ballot Selfies|ballot selfies.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2065|2018-10-29|Who Sends the First Text?|who sends the first text.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2064|2018-10-26|I'm a Car|im a car.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2063|2018-10-24|Carnot Cycle|carnot cycle.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2062|2018-10-22|Barnard's Star|barnards star.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2061|2018-10-19|Tectonics Game|tectonics game.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2060|2018-10-17|Hygrometer|hygrometer.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2059|2018-10-15|Modified Bayes' Theorem|modified bayes theorem.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2058|2018-10-12|Rock Wall|rock wall.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2057|2018-10-10|Internal Monologues|internal monologues.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2056|2018-10-08|Horror Movies|horror movies.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2055|2018-10-05|Bluetooth|bluetooth.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2054|2018-10-03|Data Pipeline|data pipeline.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2053|2018-10-01|Incoming Calls|incoming calls.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2052|2018-09-28|Stanislav Petrov Day|stanislav petrov day.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2051|2018-09-26|Bad Opinions|bad opinions.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2050|2018-09-24|6/6 Time|6 6 time.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2049|2018-09-21|Unfulfilling Toys|unfulfilling toys.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2048|2018-09-19|Curve-Fitting|curve fitting.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2047|2018-09-17|Beverages|beverages.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2046|2018-09-14|Trum-|trum.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2045|2018-09-12|Social Media Announcement|social media announcement.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2044|2018-09-10|Sandboxing Cycle|sandboxing cycle.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2043|2018-09-07|Boathouses and Houseboats|boathouses and houseboats.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2042|2018-09-05|Rolle's Theorem|rolles theorem.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2041|2018-09-03|Frontiers|frontiers.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2040|2018-08-31|Sibling-in-Law|sibling in law.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2039|2018-08-29|Begging the Question|begging the question.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2038|2018-08-27|Hazard Symbol|hazard symbol.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2037|2018-08-24|Supreme Court Bracket|supreme court bracket.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2036|2018-08-22|Edgelord|edgelord.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2035|2018-08-20|Dark Matter Candidates|dark matter candidates.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2034|2018-08-17|Equations|equations.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2033|2018-08-15|Repair or Replace|repair or replace.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2032|2018-08-13|Word Puzzles|word puzzles.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2031|2018-08-10|Pie Charts|pie charts.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2030|2018-08-08|Voting Software|voting software.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2029|2018-08-06|Disaster Movie|disaster movie.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2028|2018-08-03|Complex Numbers|complex numbers.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2027|2018-08-01|Lightning Distance|lightning distance.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2026|2018-07-30|Heat Index|heat index.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2025|2018-07-27|Peer Review|peer review.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2024|2018-07-25|Light Hacks|light hacks.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2023|2018-07-23|Y-Axis|y axis.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2022|2018-07-20|Sports Champions|sports champions.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2021|2018-07-18|Software Development|software development.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2020|2018-07-16|Negative Results|negative results.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2019|2018-07-13|An Apple for a Dollar|an apple for a dollar.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2018|2018-07-11|Wall Art|wall art.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2017|2018-07-09|Stargazing 2|stargazing 2.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2016|2018-07-06|OEIS Submissions|oeis submissions.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2015|2018-07-04|New Phone Thread|new phone thread.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2014|2018-07-02|JWST Delays|jwst delays.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2013|2018-06-29|Rock|rock.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2012|2018-06-27|Thorough Analysis|thorough analysis.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2011|2018-06-25|Newton's Trajectories|newtons trajectories.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2010|2018-06-22|Update Notes|update notes.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2009|2018-06-20|Hertzsprung-Russell Diagram|hertzsprung russell diagram.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2008|2018-06-18|Irony Definition|irony definition.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2007|2018-06-15|Brookhaven RHIC|brookhaven rhic.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2006|2018-06-13|Customer Rewards|customer rewards.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2005|2018-06-11|Attention Span|attention span.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2004|2018-06-08|Sun and Earth|sun and earth.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2003|2018-06-06|Presidential Succession|presidential succession.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2002|2018-06-04|LeBron James and Stephen Curry|lebron james and stephen curry.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2001|2018-06-01|Clickbait-Corrected p-Value|clickbait corrected p value.png}}</onlyinclude><br />
|}<br />
<br />
[[Category:Comics| ]]</div>Btx40https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=List_of_all_comics&diff=198366List of all comics2020-10-01T16:46:19Z<p>Btx40: Adding missing entries (dgbrt isn't)</p>
<hr />
<div>This is the list of comics from '''2001 to {{LATESTCOMIC}}'''.<br />
:For the first 500 comics, see [[List of all comics (1-500)]].<br />
:For comics 501-1000, see [[List of all comics (501-1000)]].<br />
:For comics 1001-1500, see [[List of all comics (1001-1500)]].<br />
:For comics 1501-2000, see [[List of all comics (1501-2000)]].<br />
: The whole list is available at [[List of all comics (full)]].<br />
<br />
You may also see the list of comics in the order they appeared at the [https://xkcd.com/archive/ xkcd archive].<br />
<br />
{| class="wikitable sortable plainlinks table-padding"<br />
|-<br />
!xkcd<br />
!Title<br />
!Talk<br />
!Image<br />
!Date<onlyinclude><br />
{{comicsrow|2366|2020-10-01|Amelia's Farm Fresh Cookies|amelias farm fresh cookies.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2365|2020-09-29|Messaging Systems|messaging systems.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2364|2020-09-26|Parity Conservation|parity conservation.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2363|2020-09-24|Message Boards|message boards.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2362|2020-09-22|Volcano Dinosaur|volcano dinosaur.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2361|2020-09-19|Voting|voting.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2360|2020-09-16|Common Star Types|common star types.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2359|2020-09-14|Evidence of Alien Life|evidence of alien life.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2358|2020-09-11|Gravitational Wave Pulsars|gravitational wave pulsars.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2357|2020-09-10|Polls vs the Street|polls vs the street.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2356|2020-09-08|Constellation Monstrosity|constellation monstrosity.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2355|2020-09-04|University COVID Model|university covid model.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2354|2020-09-03|Stellar Evolution|stellar evolution.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2353|2020-08-31|Hurricane Hunters|hurricane hunters.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2352|2020-08-29|Synonym Date|synonym date.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2351|2020-08-27|Standard Model Changes|standard model changes.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2350|2020-08-24|Deer Turrets|deer turrets.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2340|2020-07-31|Cosmologist Genres|cosmologist genres.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2339|2020-07-29|Pods vs Bubbles|pods vs bubbles.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2338|2020-07-27|Faraday Tour|faraday tour.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2337|2020-07-24|Asterisk Corrections|asterisk corrections.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2336|2020-07-22|Campfire Habitable Zone|campfire habitable zone.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2335|2020-07-20|Photo Deposit|photo deposit.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2334|2020-07-17|Slide Trombone|slide trombone.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2333|2020-07-15|COVID Risk Chart|covid risk chart.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2332|2020-07-13|Cursed Chair|cursed chair.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2331|2020-07-10|Hamster Ball 2|hamster ball 2.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2330|2020-07-08|Acceptable Risk|acceptable risk.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2329|2020-07-06|Universal Rating Scale|universal rating scale.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2328|2020-07-03|Space Basketball|space basketball.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2327|2020-07-01|Oily House Index|oily house index.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2326|2020-06-29|Five Word Jargon|five word jargon.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2325|2020-06-26|Endorheic Basin|endorheic basin.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2324|2020-06-24|Old Days 2|old days 2.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2323|2020-06-22|Modeling Study|modeling study.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2322|2020-06-19|ISO Paper Size Golden Spiral|iso paper size golden spiral.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2321|2020-06-17|Low-Background Metal|low background metal.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2320|2020-06-15|Millennium Problems|millennium problems.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2319|2020-06-12|Large Number Formats|large number formats.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2318|2020-06-10|Dynamic Entropy|dynamic entropy.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2317|2020-06-08|Pinouts|pinouts.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2316|2020-06-05|Hair Growth Rate|hair growth rate.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2315|2020-06-03|Eventual Consistency|eventual consistency.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2314|2020-06-01|Carcinization|carcinization.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2313|2020-05-29|Wrong Times Table|wrong times table.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2312|2020-05-27|mbmbam|mbmbam.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2311|2020-05-25|Confidence Interval|confidence interval.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2310|2020-05-22|Great Attractor|great attractor.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2309|2020-05-20|X|x.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2308|2020-05-18|Mount St. Helens|mount st helens.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2307|2020-05-15|Alive Or Not|alive or not.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2306|2020-05-13|Common Cold|common cold.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2305|2020-05-11|Coronavirus Polling|coronavirus polling.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2304|2020-05-08|Preprint|preprint.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2303|2020-05-06|Error Types|error types.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2302|2020-05-04|2020 Google Trends|2020 google trends.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2301|2020-05-01|Turtle Sandwich Standard Model|turtle sandwich standard model.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2300|2020-04-30|Everyone's an Epidemiologist|everyones an epidemiologist.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2299|2020-04-27|Coronavirus Genome 2|coronavirus genome 2.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2298|2020-04-24|Coronavirus Genome|coronavirus genome.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2297|2020-04-22|Use or Discard By|use or discard by.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2296|2020-04-20|Sourdough Starter|sourdough starter.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2295|2020-04-17|Garbage Math|garbage math.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2294|2020-04-15|Coronavirus Charts|coronavirus charts.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2293|2020-04-13|RIP John Conway|rip john conway.gif}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2292|2020-04-10|Thermometer|thermometer.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2291|2020-04-08|New Sports System|new sports system.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2290|2020-04-06|Homemade Masks|homemade masks.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2289|2020-04-04|Scenario Four|sequence-four.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2288|2020-04-03|Collector's Edition|collectors edition.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2287|2020-03-31|Pathogen Resistance|pathogen resistance.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2286|2020-03-27|6-Foot Zone|6 foot zone.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2285|2020-03-25|Recurring Nightmare|recurring nightmare.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2284|2020-03-23|Sabotage|sabotage.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2283|2020-03-20|Exa-Exabyte|exa exabyte.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2282|2020-03-18|Coronavirus Worries|coronavirus worries.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2281|2020-03-16|Coronavirus Research|coronavirus research.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2280|2020-03-13|2010 and 2020|2010 and 2020.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2279|2020-03-11|Symptoms|symptoms.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2278|2020-03-09|Scientific Briefing|scientific briefing.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2277|2020-03-06|Business Greetings|business greetings.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2276|2020-03-04|Self-Isolate|self isolate.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2275|2020-03-02|Coronavirus Name|coronavirus name.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2274|2020-02-28|Stargazing 3|stargazing 3.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2273|2020-02-26|Truck Proximity|truck proximity.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2272|2020-02-24|Ringtone Timeline|ringtone timeline.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2271|2020-02-21|Grandpa Jason and Grandpa Chad|grandpa jason and grandpa chad.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2270|2020-02-19|Picking Bad Stocks|picking bad stocks.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2269|2020-02-17|Phylogenetic Tree|phylogenetic tree.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2268|2020-02-14|Further Research is Needed|further research is needed.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2267|2020-02-12|Blockchain|blockchain.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2266|2020-02-11|Leap Smearing|leap smearing.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2265|2020-02-07|Tax AI|tax ai.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2264|2020-02-05|Satellite|satellite.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2263|2020-02-03|Cicadas|cicadas.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2262|2020-01-31|Parker Solar Probe|parker solar probe.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2261|2020-01-29|Worst Thing That Could Happen|worst thing that could happen.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2260|2020-01-27|Reaction Maps|reaction maps.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2259|2020-01-24|Networking Problems|networking problems.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2258|2020-01-22|Solar System Changes|solar system changes.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2257|2020-01-20|Unsubscribe Message|unsubscribe message.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2256|2020-01-17|Bad Map Projection: South America|bad map projection south america.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2255|2020-01-15|Tattoo Ideas|tattoo ideas.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2254|2020-01-13|JPEG2000|jpeg2000.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2253|2020-01-10|Star Wars Voyager 1|star wars voyager 1.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2252|2020-01-08|Parenthetical Names|parenthetical names.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2251|2020-01-05|Alignment Chart Alignment Chart|alignment chart alignment chart.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2250|2020-01-03|OK/okay/ok|ok okay ok.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2249|2020-01-01|I Love the 20s|i love the 20s.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2248|2019-12-30|New Year's Eve|new years eve.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2247|2019-12-27|Weird Hill|weird hill.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2246|2019-12-25|Christmas Presents|christmas presents.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2245|2019-12-23|Edible Arrangements|edible arrangements.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2244|2019-12-20|Thumbtacks And String|thumbtacks and string.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2243|2019-12-18|Star Wars Spoiler Generator|star wars spoiler generator.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2242|2019-12-16|Ground vs Air|ground vs air.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2241|2019-12-13|Brussels Sprouts Mandela Effect|brussels sprouts mandela effect.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2240|2019-12-11|Timeline of the Universe|timeline of the universe.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2239|2019-12-09|Data Error|data error.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2238|2019-12-06|Flu Shot|flu shot.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2237|2019-12-04|AI Hiring Algorithm|ai hiring algorithm.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2236|2019-12-02|Is it Christmas?|is it christmas.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2235|2019-11-29|Group Chat Rules|group chat rules.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2234|2019-11-27|How To Deliver Christmas Presents|how to deliver christmas presents.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2233|2019-11-26|Aurora Meaning|aurora meaning.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2232|2019-11-22|Hotel Room Party|hotel room party.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2231|2019-11-20|the Time Before And After Land|the time before and after land.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2230|2019-11-18|Versus Bracket|versus bracket.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2229|2019-11-15|Rey and Kylo|rey and kylo.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2228|2019-11-14|Machine Learning Captcha|machine learning captcha.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2227|2019-11-11|Transit of Mercury|transit of mercury.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2226|2019-11-09|Recombination And Reionization|recombination and reionization.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2225|2019-11-06|Voting Referendum|voting referendum.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2224|2019-11-05|Software Updates|software updates.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2223|2019-11-01|Screen Time|screen time.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2222|2019-10-30|Terminator: Dark Fate|terminator dark fate.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2221|2019-10-29|Emulation|emulation.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2220|2019-10-25|Imagine Going Back in Time|imagine going back in time.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2219|2019-10-23|Earthquake Early Warnings|earthquake early warnings.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2218|2019-10-21|Wardrobe|wardrobe.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2217|2019-10-19|53 Cards|53 cards.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2216|2019-10-17|Percent Milkfat|percent milkfat.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2215|2019-10-15|Faculty:Student Ratio|faculty student ratio.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2214|2019-10-11|Chemistry Nobel|chemistry nobel.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2213|2019-10-09|How Old|how old.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2212|2019-10-07|Cell Phone Functions|cell phone functions.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2211|2019-10-04|Hours Before Departure|hours before departure.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2210|2019-10-02|College Athletes|college athletes.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2209|2019-09-30|Fresh Pears|fresh pears.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2208|2019-09-27|Drone Fishing|drone fishing.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2207|2019-09-25|Math Work|math work.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2206|2019-09-23|Mavis Beacon|mavis beacon.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2205|2019-09-20|Types of Approximation|types of approximation.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2204|2019-09-18|Ksp 2|ksp 2.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2203|2019-09-16|Prescience|prescience.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2202|2019-09-13|Earth-Like Exoplanet|earth like exoplanet.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2201|2019-09-11|Foucault Pendulum|foucault pendulum.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2200|2019-09-11|Unreachable State|unreachable state.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2199|2019-09-06|Cryptic Wifi Networks|cryptic wifi networks.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2198|2019-09-04|Throw|throw.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2198|2019-09-03|Throw|throw.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2197|2019-09-02|Game Show|game show.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2196|2019-08-30|Nice To E-Meet You|nice to e-meet you.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2195|2019-08-28|Dockless Roombas|dockless roombas.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2194|2019-08-26|How to Send a File|how to send a file.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2193|2019-08-23|Well-Ordering Principle|well ordering principle.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2192|2019-08-21|Review|review.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2191|2019-08-19|Conference Question|conference question.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2190|2019-08-16|Serena Versus the Drones|serena versus the drones.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2189|2019-08-14|Old Game Worlds|old game worlds.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2188|2019-08-12|E Scooters|e scooters.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2187|2019-08-09|Geologic Time|geologic time.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2186|2019-08-07|Dark Matter|dark matter.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2185|2019-08-05|Cumulonimbus|cumulonimbus.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2185|2019-08-05|Disappearing Sunday Update|disappearing sunday update.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2184|2019-08-02|Unpopular Opinions|unpopular opinions.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2183|2019-07-31|Icon Swap|icon swap.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2182|2019-07-29|When I'm Back at a Keyboard|when im back at a keyboard.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2181|2019-07-26|Inbox|inbox.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2180|2019-07-24|Spreadsheets|spreadsheets.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2179|2019-07-23|NWS Warnings|nws warnings.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2178|2019-07-19|Expiration Date High Score|expiration date high score.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2177|2019-07-17|Gastroenterology|gastroenterology.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2176|2019-07-15|How Hacking Works|how hacking works.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2175|2019-07-12|Flag Interpretation|flag interpretation.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2174|2019-07-10|First News Memory|first news memory.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2173|2019-07-08|Trained a Neural Net|trained a neural net.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2172|2019-07-05|Lunar Cycles|lunar cycles.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2171|2019-07-03|Shadow Biosphere|shadow biosphere.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2170|2019-07-01|Coordinate Precision|coordinate precision.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2169|2019-06-28|Predictive Models|predictive models.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2168|2019-06-26|Reading in the Original|reading in the original.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2167|2019-06-24|Motivated Reasoning Olympics|motivated reasoning olympics.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2166|2019-06-21|Stack|stack.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2165|2019-06-19|Millennials|millennials.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2164|2019-06-17|Glacier|glacier.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2163|2019-06-14|Chernobyl|chernobyl.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2162|2019-06-12|Literary Opinions|literary opinions.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2161|2019-06-10|An Apple a Day|an apple a day.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2160|2019-06-07|Ken Burns Theory|ken burns theory.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2159|2019-06-05|Comments|comments.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2158|2019-06-03|Qualifiers|qualifiers.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2157|2019-05-31|Diploma Legal Notes|diploma legal notes.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2156|2019-05-29|Ufo|ufo.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2155|2019-05-27|Swimming|swimming.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2154|2019-05-24|Motivation|motivation.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2153|2019-05-22|Effects of High Altitude|effects of high altitude.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2152|2019-05-20|Westerns|westerns.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2151|2019-05-17|A/B|a b.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2150|2019-05-15|XKeyboarCD|xkeyboarcd.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2149|2019-05-13|Alternate Histories|alternate histories.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2148|2019-05-10|Cubesat Launch|cubesat launch.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2147|2019-05-08|Appendicitis|appendicitis.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2146|2019-05-06|Waiting for the But|waiting for the but.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2145|2019-05-03|Heists And Escapes|heists and escapes.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2144|2019-05-01|Adjusting a Chair|adjusting a chair.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2143|2019-04-29|Disk Usage|disk usage.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2142|2019-04-26|Dangerous Fields|dangerous fields.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2141|2019-04-24|UI vs UX|ui vs ux.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2140|2019-04-22|Reinvent the Wheel|reinvent the wheel.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2139|2019-04-19|Email Settings|email settings.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2138|2019-04-17|Wanna See the Code?|wanna see the code.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2137|2019-04-15|Text Entry|text entry.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2136|2019-04-12|Election Commentary|election commentary.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2135|2019-04-10|M87 Black Hole Size Comparison|m87 black hole size comparison.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2134|2019-04-08|Too Much Talking|too much talking.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2133|2019-04-05|EHT Black Hole Picture|eht black hole picture.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2132|2019-04-03|Percentage Styles|percentage styles.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2131|2019-04-01|Emojidome|industry nicknames.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2130|2019-03-29|Industry Nicknames|industry nicknames.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2129|2019-03-27|1921 Fact Checker|1921 fact checker.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2128|2019-03-25|New Robot|new robot.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2127|2019-03-22|Panama Canal|panama canal.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2126|2019-03-20|Google Trends Maps|google trends maps.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2125|2019-03-18|Luna 2|luna 2.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2124|2019-03-15|Space Mission Hearing|space mission hearing.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2123|2019-03-13|Meta Collecting|meta collecting.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2122|2019-03-11|Size Venn Diagram|size venn diagram.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2121|2019-03-08|Light Pollution|light pollution.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2120|2019-03-06|Brain Hemispheres|brain hemispheres.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2119|2019-03-04|Video Orientation|video orientation.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2118|2019-03-01|Normal Distribution|normal distribution.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2117|2019-02-27|Differentiation and Integration|differentiation and integration.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2116|2019-02-25|.NORM Normal File Format|norm normal file format.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2115|2019-02-22|Plutonium|plutonium.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2114|2019-02-20|Launch Conditions|launch conditions.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2113|2019-02-18|Physics Suppression|physics suppression.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2112|2019-02-15|Night Shift|night shift.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2111|2019-02-13|Opportunity Rover|opportunity rover.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2110|2019-02-11|Error Bars|error bars.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2109|2019-02-08|Invisible Formatting|invisible formatting.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2108|2019-02-06|Carbonated Beverage Language Map|carbonated beverage language map.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2107|2019-02-04|Launch Risk|launch risk.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2106|2019-02-01|Sharing Options|sharing options.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2105|2019-01-30|Modern OSI Model|modern osi model.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2104|2019-01-28|Biff Tannen|biff tannen.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2103|2019-01-25|Midcontinent Rift System|midcontinent rift system.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2102|2019-01-23|Internet Archive|internet archive.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2101|2019-01-21|Technical Analysis|technical analysis.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2100|2019-01-18|Models of the Atom|models of the atom.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2099|2019-01-16|Missal of Silos|missal of silos.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2098|2019-01-14|Magnetic Pole|magnetic pole.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2097|2019-01-11|Thor Tools|thor tools.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2096|2019-01-09|Mattresses|mattresses.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2095|2019-01-07|Marsiforming|marsiforming.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2094|2019-01-04|Short Selling|short selling.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2093|2019-01-02|Reminders|reminders.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2092|2018-12-31|Consensus New Year|consensus new year.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2091|2018-12-28|Million, Billion, Trillion|million billion trillion.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2090|2018-12-26|Feathered Dinosaur Venn Diagram|feathered dinosaur venn diagram.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2089|2018-12-24|Christmas Eve Eve|christmas eve eve.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2088|2018-12-21|Schwarzschild's Cat|schwarzschilds cat.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2087|2018-12-19|Rocket Launch|rocket launch.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2086|2018-12-17|History Department|history department.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2085|2018-12-14|arXiv|arxiv.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2084|2018-12-12|FDR|fdr.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2083|2018-12-10|Laptop Issues|laptop issues.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2082|2018-12-07|Mercator Projection|mercator projection.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2081|2018-12-05|Middle Latitudes|middle latitudes.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2080|2018-12-03|Cohort and Age Effects|cohort and age effects.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2079|2018-11-30|Alpha Centauri|alpha centauri.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2078|2018-11-28|Popper|popper.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2077|2018-11-26|Heist|heist.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2076|2018-11-23|Horror Movies 2|horror movies 2.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2075|2018-11-21|Update Your Address|update your address.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2074|2018-11-19|Airplanes and Spaceships|airplanes and spaceships.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2073|2018-11-16|Kilogram|kilogram.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2072|2018-11-14|Evaluating Tech Things|evaluating tech things.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2071|2018-11-12|Indirect Detection|indirect detection.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2070|2018-11-09|Trig Identities|trig identities.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2069|2018-11-07|Wishlist|wishlist.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2068|2018-11-05|Election Night|election night.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2067|2018-11-02|Challengers|challengers.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2066|2018-10-31|Ballot Selfies|ballot selfies.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2065|2018-10-29|Who Sends the First Text?|who sends the first text.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2064|2018-10-26|I'm a Car|im a car.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2063|2018-10-24|Carnot Cycle|carnot cycle.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2062|2018-10-22|Barnard's Star|barnards star.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2061|2018-10-19|Tectonics Game|tectonics game.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2060|2018-10-17|Hygrometer|hygrometer.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2059|2018-10-15|Modified Bayes' Theorem|modified bayes theorem.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2058|2018-10-12|Rock Wall|rock wall.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2057|2018-10-10|Internal Monologues|internal monologues.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2056|2018-10-08|Horror Movies|horror movies.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2055|2018-10-05|Bluetooth|bluetooth.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2054|2018-10-03|Data Pipeline|data pipeline.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2053|2018-10-01|Incoming Calls|incoming calls.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2052|2018-09-28|Stanislav Petrov Day|stanislav petrov day.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2051|2018-09-26|Bad Opinions|bad opinions.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2050|2018-09-24|6/6 Time|6 6 time.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2049|2018-09-21|Unfulfilling Toys|unfulfilling toys.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2048|2018-09-19|Curve-Fitting|curve fitting.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2047|2018-09-17|Beverages|beverages.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2046|2018-09-14|Trum-|trum.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2045|2018-09-12|Social Media Announcement|social media announcement.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2044|2018-09-10|Sandboxing Cycle|sandboxing cycle.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2043|2018-09-07|Boathouses and Houseboats|boathouses and houseboats.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2042|2018-09-05|Rolle's Theorem|rolles theorem.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2041|2018-09-03|Frontiers|frontiers.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2040|2018-08-31|Sibling-in-Law|sibling in law.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2039|2018-08-29|Begging the Question|begging the question.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2038|2018-08-27|Hazard Symbol|hazard symbol.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2037|2018-08-24|Supreme Court Bracket|supreme court bracket.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2036|2018-08-22|Edgelord|edgelord.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2035|2018-08-20|Dark Matter Candidates|dark matter candidates.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2034|2018-08-17|Equations|equations.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2033|2018-08-15|Repair or Replace|repair or replace.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2032|2018-08-13|Word Puzzles|word puzzles.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2031|2018-08-10|Pie Charts|pie charts.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2030|2018-08-08|Voting Software|voting software.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2029|2018-08-06|Disaster Movie|disaster movie.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2028|2018-08-03|Complex Numbers|complex numbers.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2027|2018-08-01|Lightning Distance|lightning distance.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2026|2018-07-30|Heat Index|heat index.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2025|2018-07-27|Peer Review|peer review.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2024|2018-07-25|Light Hacks|light hacks.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2023|2018-07-23|Y-Axis|y axis.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2022|2018-07-20|Sports Champions|sports champions.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2021|2018-07-18|Software Development|software development.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2020|2018-07-16|Negative Results|negative results.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2019|2018-07-13|An Apple for a Dollar|an apple for a dollar.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2018|2018-07-11|Wall Art|wall art.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2017|2018-07-09|Stargazing 2|stargazing 2.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2016|2018-07-06|OEIS Submissions|oeis submissions.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2015|2018-07-04|New Phone Thread|new phone thread.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2014|2018-07-02|JWST Delays|jwst delays.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2013|2018-06-29|Rock|rock.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2012|2018-06-27|Thorough Analysis|thorough analysis.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2011|2018-06-25|Newton's Trajectories|newtons trajectories.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2010|2018-06-22|Update Notes|update notes.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2009|2018-06-20|Hertzsprung-Russell Diagram|hertzsprung russell diagram.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2008|2018-06-18|Irony Definition|irony definition.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2007|2018-06-15|Brookhaven RHIC|brookhaven rhic.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2006|2018-06-13|Customer Rewards|customer rewards.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2005|2018-06-11|Attention Span|attention span.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2004|2018-06-08|Sun and Earth|sun and earth.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2003|2018-06-06|Presidential Succession|presidential succession.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2002|2018-06-04|LeBron James and Stephen Curry|lebron james and stephen curry.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2001|2018-06-01|Clickbait-Corrected p-Value|clickbait corrected p value.png}}</onlyinclude><br />
|}<br />
<br />
[[Category:Comics| ]]</div>Btx40https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=List_of_all_comics&diff=198365List of all comics2020-10-01T16:11:18Z<p>Btx40: Adding missing entries (dgbrt isn't)</p>
<hr />
<div>This is the list of comics from '''2001 to {{LATESTCOMIC}}'''.<br />
:For the first 500 comics, see [[List of all comics (1-500)]].<br />
:For comics 501-1000, see [[List of all comics (501-1000)]].<br />
:For comics 1001-1500, see [[List of all comics (1001-1500)]].<br />
:For comics 1501-2000, see [[List of all comics (1501-2000)]].<br />
: The whole list is available at [[List of all comics (full)]].<br />
<br />
You may also see the list of comics in the order they appeared at the [https://xkcd.com/archive/ xkcd archive].<br />
<br />
{| class="wikitable sortable plainlinks table-padding"<br />
|-<br />
!xkcd<br />
!Title<br />
!Talk<br />
!Image<br />
!Date<onlyinclude><br />
{{comicsrow|2366|2020-10-01|Amelia's Farm Fresh Cookies|amelias farm fresh cookies.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2365|2020-09-29|Messaging Systems|messaging systems.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2364|2020-09-26|Parity Conservation|parity conservation.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2363|2020-09-24|Message Boards|message boards.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2362|2020-09-22|Volcano Dinosaur|volcano dinosaur.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2361|2020-09-19|Voting|voting.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2360|2020-09-16|Common Star Types|common star types.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2359|2020-09-14|Evidence of Alien Life|evidence of alien life.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2358|2020-09-11|Gravitational Wave Pulsars|gravitational wave pulsars.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2357|2020-09-10|Polls vs the Street|polls vs the street.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2356|2020-09-08|Constellation Monstrosity|constellation monstrosity.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2355|2020-09-04|University COVID Model|university covid model.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2354|2020-09-03|Stellar Evolution|stellar evolution.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2353|2020-08-31|Hurricane Hunters|hurricane hunters.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2352|2020-08-29|Synonym Date|synonym date.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2351|2020-08-27|Standard Model Changes|standard model changes.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2350|2020-08-24|Deer Turrets|deer turrets.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2320|2020-06-15|Millennium Problems|millennium problems.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2319|2020-06-12|Large Number Formats|large number formats.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2318|2020-06-10|Dynamic Entropy|dynamic entropy.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2317|2020-06-08|Pinouts|pinouts.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2316|2020-06-05|Hair Growth Rate|hair growth rate.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2315|2020-06-03|Eventual Consistency|eventual consistency.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2314|2020-06-01|Carcinization|carcinization.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2313|2020-05-29|Wrong Times Table|wrong times table.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2312|2020-05-27|mbmbam|mbmbam.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2311|2020-05-25|Confidence Interval|confidence interval.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2310|2020-05-22|Great Attractor|great attractor.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2309|2020-05-20|X|x.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2308|2020-05-18|Mount St. Helens|mount st helens.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2307|2020-05-15|Alive Or Not|alive or not.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2306|2020-05-13|Common Cold|common cold.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2305|2020-05-11|Coronavirus Polling|coronavirus polling.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2304|2020-05-08|Preprint|preprint.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2303|2020-05-06|Error Types|error types.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2302|2020-05-04|2020 Google Trends|2020 google trends.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2301|2020-05-01|Turtle Sandwich Standard Model|turtle sandwich standard model.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2300|2020-04-30|Everyone's an Epidemiologist|everyones an epidemiologist.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2299|2020-04-27|Coronavirus Genome 2|coronavirus genome 2.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2298|2020-04-24|Coronavirus Genome|coronavirus genome.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2297|2020-04-22|Use or Discard By|use or discard by.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2296|2020-04-20|Sourdough Starter|sourdough starter.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2295|2020-04-17|Garbage Math|garbage math.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2294|2020-04-15|Coronavirus Charts|coronavirus charts.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2293|2020-04-13|RIP John Conway|rip john conway.gif}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2292|2020-04-10|Thermometer|thermometer.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2291|2020-04-08|New Sports System|new sports system.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2290|2020-04-06|Homemade Masks|homemade masks.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2289|2020-04-04|Scenario Four|sequence-four.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2288|2020-04-03|Collector's Edition|collectors edition.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2287|2020-03-31|Pathogen Resistance|pathogen resistance.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2286|2020-03-27|6-Foot Zone|6 foot zone.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2285|2020-03-25|Recurring Nightmare|recurring nightmare.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2284|2020-03-23|Sabotage|sabotage.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2283|2020-03-20|Exa-Exabyte|exa exabyte.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2282|2020-03-18|Coronavirus Worries|coronavirus worries.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2281|2020-03-16|Coronavirus Research|coronavirus research.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2280|2020-03-13|2010 and 2020|2010 and 2020.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2279|2020-03-11|Symptoms|symptoms.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2278|2020-03-09|Scientific Briefing|scientific briefing.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2277|2020-03-06|Business Greetings|business greetings.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2276|2020-03-04|Self-Isolate|self isolate.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2275|2020-03-02|Coronavirus Name|coronavirus name.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2274|2020-02-28|Stargazing 3|stargazing 3.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2273|2020-02-26|Truck Proximity|truck proximity.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2272|2020-02-24|Ringtone Timeline|ringtone timeline.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2271|2020-02-21|Grandpa Jason and Grandpa Chad|grandpa jason and grandpa chad.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2270|2020-02-19|Picking Bad Stocks|picking bad stocks.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2269|2020-02-17|Phylogenetic Tree|phylogenetic tree.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2268|2020-02-14|Further Research is Needed|further research is needed.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2267|2020-02-12|Blockchain|blockchain.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2266|2020-02-11|Leap Smearing|leap smearing.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2265|2020-02-07|Tax AI|tax ai.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2264|2020-02-05|Satellite|satellite.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2263|2020-02-03|Cicadas|cicadas.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2262|2020-01-31|Parker Solar Probe|parker solar probe.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2261|2020-01-29|Worst Thing That Could Happen|worst thing that could happen.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2260|2020-01-27|Reaction Maps|reaction maps.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2259|2020-01-24|Networking Problems|networking problems.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2258|2020-01-22|Solar System Changes|solar system changes.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2257|2020-01-20|Unsubscribe Message|unsubscribe message.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2256|2020-01-17|Bad Map Projection: South America|bad map projection south america.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2255|2020-01-15|Tattoo Ideas|tattoo ideas.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2254|2020-01-13|JPEG2000|jpeg2000.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2253|2020-01-10|Star Wars Voyager 1|star wars voyager 1.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2252|2020-01-08|Parenthetical Names|parenthetical names.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2251|2020-01-05|Alignment Chart Alignment Chart|alignment chart alignment chart.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2250|2020-01-03|OK/okay/ok|ok okay ok.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2249|2020-01-01|I Love the 20s|i love the 20s.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2248|2019-12-30|New Year's Eve|new years eve.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2247|2019-12-27|Weird Hill|weird hill.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2246|2019-12-25|Christmas Presents|christmas presents.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2245|2019-12-23|Edible Arrangements|edible arrangements.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2244|2019-12-20|Thumbtacks And String|thumbtacks and string.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2243|2019-12-18|Star Wars Spoiler Generator|star wars spoiler generator.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2242|2019-12-16|Ground vs Air|ground vs air.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2241|2019-12-13|Brussels Sprouts Mandela Effect|brussels sprouts mandela effect.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2240|2019-12-11|Timeline of the Universe|timeline of the universe.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2239|2019-12-09|Data Error|data error.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2238|2019-12-06|Flu Shot|flu shot.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2237|2019-12-04|AI Hiring Algorithm|ai hiring algorithm.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2236|2019-12-02|Is it Christmas?|is it christmas.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2235|2019-11-29|Group Chat Rules|group chat rules.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2234|2019-11-27|How To Deliver Christmas Presents|how to deliver christmas presents.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2233|2019-11-26|Aurora Meaning|aurora meaning.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2232|2019-11-22|Hotel Room Party|hotel room party.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2231|2019-11-20|the Time Before And After Land|the time before and after land.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2230|2019-11-18|Versus Bracket|versus bracket.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2229|2019-11-15|Rey and Kylo|rey and kylo.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2228|2019-11-14|Machine Learning Captcha|machine learning captcha.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2227|2019-11-11|Transit of Mercury|transit of mercury.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2226|2019-11-09|Recombination And Reionization|recombination and reionization.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2225|2019-11-06|Voting Referendum|voting referendum.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2224|2019-11-05|Software Updates|software updates.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2223|2019-11-01|Screen Time|screen time.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2222|2019-10-30|Terminator: Dark Fate|terminator dark fate.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2221|2019-10-29|Emulation|emulation.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2220|2019-10-25|Imagine Going Back in Time|imagine going back in time.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2219|2019-10-23|Earthquake Early Warnings|earthquake early warnings.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2218|2019-10-21|Wardrobe|wardrobe.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2217|2019-10-19|53 Cards|53 cards.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2216|2019-10-17|Percent Milkfat|percent milkfat.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2215|2019-10-15|Faculty:Student Ratio|faculty student ratio.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2214|2019-10-11|Chemistry Nobel|chemistry nobel.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2213|2019-10-09|How Old|how old.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2212|2019-10-07|Cell Phone Functions|cell phone functions.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2211|2019-10-04|Hours Before Departure|hours before departure.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2210|2019-10-02|College Athletes|college athletes.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2209|2019-09-30|Fresh Pears|fresh pears.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2208|2019-09-27|Drone Fishing|drone fishing.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2207|2019-09-25|Math Work|math work.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2206|2019-09-23|Mavis Beacon|mavis beacon.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2205|2019-09-20|Types of Approximation|types of approximation.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2204|2019-09-18|Ksp 2|ksp 2.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2203|2019-09-16|Prescience|prescience.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2202|2019-09-13|Earth-Like Exoplanet|earth like exoplanet.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2201|2019-09-11|Foucault Pendulum|foucault pendulum.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2200|2019-09-11|Unreachable State|unreachable state.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2199|2019-09-06|Cryptic Wifi Networks|cryptic wifi networks.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2198|2019-09-04|Throw|throw.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2198|2019-09-03|Throw|throw.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2197|2019-09-02|Game Show|game show.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2196|2019-08-30|Nice To E-Meet You|nice to e-meet you.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2195|2019-08-28|Dockless Roombas|dockless roombas.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2194|2019-08-26|How to Send a File|how to send a file.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2193|2019-08-23|Well-Ordering Principle|well ordering principle.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2192|2019-08-21|Review|review.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2191|2019-08-19|Conference Question|conference question.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2190|2019-08-16|Serena Versus the Drones|serena versus the drones.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2189|2019-08-14|Old Game Worlds|old game worlds.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2188|2019-08-12|E Scooters|e scooters.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2187|2019-08-09|Geologic Time|geologic time.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2186|2019-08-07|Dark Matter|dark matter.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2185|2019-08-05|Cumulonimbus|cumulonimbus.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2185|2019-08-05|Disappearing Sunday Update|disappearing sunday update.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2184|2019-08-02|Unpopular Opinions|unpopular opinions.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2183|2019-07-31|Icon Swap|icon swap.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2182|2019-07-29|When I'm Back at a Keyboard|when im back at a keyboard.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2181|2019-07-26|Inbox|inbox.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2180|2019-07-24|Spreadsheets|spreadsheets.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2179|2019-07-23|NWS Warnings|nws warnings.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2178|2019-07-19|Expiration Date High Score|expiration date high score.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2177|2019-07-17|Gastroenterology|gastroenterology.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2176|2019-07-15|How Hacking Works|how hacking works.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2175|2019-07-12|Flag Interpretation|flag interpretation.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2174|2019-07-10|First News Memory|first news memory.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2173|2019-07-08|Trained a Neural Net|trained a neural net.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2172|2019-07-05|Lunar Cycles|lunar cycles.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2171|2019-07-03|Shadow Biosphere|shadow biosphere.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2170|2019-07-01|Coordinate Precision|coordinate precision.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2169|2019-06-28|Predictive Models|predictive models.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2168|2019-06-26|Reading in the Original|reading in the original.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2167|2019-06-24|Motivated Reasoning Olympics|motivated reasoning olympics.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2166|2019-06-21|Stack|stack.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2165|2019-06-19|Millennials|millennials.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2164|2019-06-17|Glacier|glacier.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2163|2019-06-14|Chernobyl|chernobyl.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2162|2019-06-12|Literary Opinions|literary opinions.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2161|2019-06-10|An Apple a Day|an apple a day.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2160|2019-06-07|Ken Burns Theory|ken burns theory.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2159|2019-06-05|Comments|comments.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2158|2019-06-03|Qualifiers|qualifiers.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2157|2019-05-31|Diploma Legal Notes|diploma legal notes.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2156|2019-05-29|Ufo|ufo.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2155|2019-05-27|Swimming|swimming.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2154|2019-05-24|Motivation|motivation.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2153|2019-05-22|Effects of High Altitude|effects of high altitude.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2152|2019-05-20|Westerns|westerns.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2151|2019-05-17|A/B|a b.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2150|2019-05-15|XKeyboarCD|xkeyboarcd.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2149|2019-05-13|Alternate Histories|alternate histories.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2148|2019-05-10|Cubesat Launch|cubesat launch.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2147|2019-05-08|Appendicitis|appendicitis.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2146|2019-05-06|Waiting for the But|waiting for the but.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2145|2019-05-03|Heists And Escapes|heists and escapes.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2144|2019-05-01|Adjusting a Chair|adjusting a chair.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2143|2019-04-29|Disk Usage|disk usage.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2142|2019-04-26|Dangerous Fields|dangerous fields.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2141|2019-04-24|UI vs UX|ui vs ux.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2140|2019-04-22|Reinvent the Wheel|reinvent the wheel.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2139|2019-04-19|Email Settings|email settings.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2138|2019-04-17|Wanna See the Code?|wanna see the code.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2137|2019-04-15|Text Entry|text entry.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2136|2019-04-12|Election Commentary|election commentary.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2135|2019-04-10|M87 Black Hole Size Comparison|m87 black hole size comparison.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2134|2019-04-08|Too Much Talking|too much talking.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2133|2019-04-05|EHT Black Hole Picture|eht black hole picture.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2132|2019-04-03|Percentage Styles|percentage styles.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2131|2019-04-01|Emojidome|industry nicknames.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2130|2019-03-29|Industry Nicknames|industry nicknames.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2129|2019-03-27|1921 Fact Checker|1921 fact checker.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2128|2019-03-25|New Robot|new robot.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2127|2019-03-22|Panama Canal|panama canal.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2126|2019-03-20|Google Trends Maps|google trends maps.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2125|2019-03-18|Luna 2|luna 2.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2124|2019-03-15|Space Mission Hearing|space mission hearing.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2123|2019-03-13|Meta Collecting|meta collecting.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2122|2019-03-11|Size Venn Diagram|size venn diagram.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2121|2019-03-08|Light Pollution|light pollution.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2120|2019-03-06|Brain Hemispheres|brain hemispheres.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2119|2019-03-04|Video Orientation|video orientation.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2118|2019-03-01|Normal Distribution|normal distribution.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2117|2019-02-27|Differentiation and Integration|differentiation and integration.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2116|2019-02-25|.NORM Normal File Format|norm normal file format.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2115|2019-02-22|Plutonium|plutonium.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2114|2019-02-20|Launch Conditions|launch conditions.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2113|2019-02-18|Physics Suppression|physics suppression.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2112|2019-02-15|Night Shift|night shift.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2111|2019-02-13|Opportunity Rover|opportunity rover.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2110|2019-02-11|Error Bars|error bars.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2109|2019-02-08|Invisible Formatting|invisible formatting.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2108|2019-02-06|Carbonated Beverage Language Map|carbonated beverage language map.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2107|2019-02-04|Launch Risk|launch risk.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2106|2019-02-01|Sharing Options|sharing options.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2105|2019-01-30|Modern OSI Model|modern osi model.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2104|2019-01-28|Biff Tannen|biff tannen.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2103|2019-01-25|Midcontinent Rift System|midcontinent rift system.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2102|2019-01-23|Internet Archive|internet archive.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2101|2019-01-21|Technical Analysis|technical analysis.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2100|2019-01-18|Models of the Atom|models of the atom.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2099|2019-01-16|Missal of Silos|missal of silos.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2098|2019-01-14|Magnetic Pole|magnetic pole.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2097|2019-01-11|Thor Tools|thor tools.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2096|2019-01-09|Mattresses|mattresses.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2095|2019-01-07|Marsiforming|marsiforming.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2094|2019-01-04|Short Selling|short selling.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2093|2019-01-02|Reminders|reminders.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2092|2018-12-31|Consensus New Year|consensus new year.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2091|2018-12-28|Million, Billion, Trillion|million billion trillion.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2090|2018-12-26|Feathered Dinosaur Venn Diagram|feathered dinosaur venn diagram.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2089|2018-12-24|Christmas Eve Eve|christmas eve eve.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2088|2018-12-21|Schwarzschild's Cat|schwarzschilds cat.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2087|2018-12-19|Rocket Launch|rocket launch.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2086|2018-12-17|History Department|history department.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2085|2018-12-14|arXiv|arxiv.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2084|2018-12-12|FDR|fdr.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2083|2018-12-10|Laptop Issues|laptop issues.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2082|2018-12-07|Mercator Projection|mercator projection.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2081|2018-12-05|Middle Latitudes|middle latitudes.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2080|2018-12-03|Cohort and Age Effects|cohort and age effects.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2079|2018-11-30|Alpha Centauri|alpha centauri.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2078|2018-11-28|Popper|popper.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2077|2018-11-26|Heist|heist.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2076|2018-11-23|Horror Movies 2|horror movies 2.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2075|2018-11-21|Update Your Address|update your address.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2074|2018-11-19|Airplanes and Spaceships|airplanes and spaceships.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2073|2018-11-16|Kilogram|kilogram.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2072|2018-11-14|Evaluating Tech Things|evaluating tech things.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2071|2018-11-12|Indirect Detection|indirect detection.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2070|2018-11-09|Trig Identities|trig identities.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2069|2018-11-07|Wishlist|wishlist.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2068|2018-11-05|Election Night|election night.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2067|2018-11-02|Challengers|challengers.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2066|2018-10-31|Ballot Selfies|ballot selfies.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2065|2018-10-29|Who Sends the First Text?|who sends the first text.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2064|2018-10-26|I'm a Car|im a car.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2063|2018-10-24|Carnot Cycle|carnot cycle.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2062|2018-10-22|Barnard's Star|barnards star.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2061|2018-10-19|Tectonics Game|tectonics game.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2060|2018-10-17|Hygrometer|hygrometer.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2059|2018-10-15|Modified Bayes' Theorem|modified bayes theorem.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2058|2018-10-12|Rock Wall|rock wall.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2057|2018-10-10|Internal Monologues|internal monologues.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2056|2018-10-08|Horror Movies|horror movies.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2055|2018-10-05|Bluetooth|bluetooth.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2054|2018-10-03|Data Pipeline|data pipeline.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2053|2018-10-01|Incoming Calls|incoming calls.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2052|2018-09-28|Stanislav Petrov Day|stanislav petrov day.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2051|2018-09-26|Bad Opinions|bad opinions.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2050|2018-09-24|6/6 Time|6 6 time.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2049|2018-09-21|Unfulfilling Toys|unfulfilling toys.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2048|2018-09-19|Curve-Fitting|curve fitting.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2047|2018-09-17|Beverages|beverages.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2046|2018-09-14|Trum-|trum.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2045|2018-09-12|Social Media Announcement|social media announcement.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2044|2018-09-10|Sandboxing Cycle|sandboxing cycle.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2043|2018-09-07|Boathouses and Houseboats|boathouses and houseboats.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2042|2018-09-05|Rolle's Theorem|rolles theorem.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2041|2018-09-03|Frontiers|frontiers.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2040|2018-08-31|Sibling-in-Law|sibling in law.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2039|2018-08-29|Begging the Question|begging the question.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2038|2018-08-27|Hazard Symbol|hazard symbol.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2037|2018-08-24|Supreme Court Bracket|supreme court bracket.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2036|2018-08-22|Edgelord|edgelord.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2035|2018-08-20|Dark Matter Candidates|dark matter candidates.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2034|2018-08-17|Equations|equations.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2033|2018-08-15|Repair or Replace|repair or replace.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2032|2018-08-13|Word Puzzles|word puzzles.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2031|2018-08-10|Pie Charts|pie charts.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2030|2018-08-08|Voting Software|voting software.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2029|2018-08-06|Disaster Movie|disaster movie.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2028|2018-08-03|Complex Numbers|complex numbers.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2027|2018-08-01|Lightning Distance|lightning distance.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2026|2018-07-30|Heat Index|heat index.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2025|2018-07-27|Peer Review|peer review.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2024|2018-07-25|Light Hacks|light hacks.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2023|2018-07-23|Y-Axis|y axis.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2022|2018-07-20|Sports Champions|sports champions.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2021|2018-07-18|Software Development|software development.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2020|2018-07-16|Negative Results|negative results.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2019|2018-07-13|An Apple for a Dollar|an apple for a dollar.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2018|2018-07-11|Wall Art|wall art.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2017|2018-07-09|Stargazing 2|stargazing 2.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2016|2018-07-06|OEIS Submissions|oeis submissions.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2015|2018-07-04|New Phone Thread|new phone thread.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2014|2018-07-02|JWST Delays|jwst delays.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2013|2018-06-29|Rock|rock.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2012|2018-06-27|Thorough Analysis|thorough analysis.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2011|2018-06-25|Newton's Trajectories|newtons trajectories.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2010|2018-06-22|Update Notes|update notes.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2009|2018-06-20|Hertzsprung-Russell Diagram|hertzsprung russell diagram.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2008|2018-06-18|Irony Definition|irony definition.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2007|2018-06-15|Brookhaven RHIC|brookhaven rhic.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2006|2018-06-13|Customer Rewards|customer rewards.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2005|2018-06-11|Attention Span|attention span.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2004|2018-06-08|Sun and Earth|sun and earth.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2003|2018-06-06|Presidential Succession|presidential succession.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2002|2018-06-04|LeBron James and Stephen Curry|lebron james and stephen curry.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2001|2018-06-01|Clickbait-Corrected p-Value|clickbait corrected p value.png}}</onlyinclude><br />
|}<br />
<br />
[[Category:Comics| ]]</div>Btx40https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=List_of_all_comics&diff=198364List of all comics2020-10-01T15:37:45Z<p>Btx40: Begin adding missing entries (dgbrt isn't)</p>
<hr />
<div>This is the list of comics from '''2001 to {{LATESTCOMIC}}'''.<br />
:For the first 500 comics, see [[List of all comics (1-500)]].<br />
:For comics 501-1000, see [[List of all comics (501-1000)]].<br />
:For comics 1001-1500, see [[List of all comics (1001-1500)]].<br />
:For comics 1501-2000, see [[List of all comics (1501-2000)]].<br />
: The whole list is available at [[List of all comics (full)]].<br />
<br />
You may also see the list of comics in the order they appeared at the [https://xkcd.com/archive/ xkcd archive].<br />
<br />
{| class="wikitable sortable plainlinks table-padding"<br />
|-<br />
!xkcd<br />
!Title<br />
!Talk<br />
!Image<br />
!Date<onlyinclude><br />
{{comicsrow|2366|2020-10-01|Amelia's Farm Fresh Cookies|amelias farm fresh cookies.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2365|2020-09-29|Messaging Systems|messaging systems.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2364|2020-09-26|Parity Conservation|parity conservation.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2363|2020-09-24|Message Boards|message boards.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2362|2020-09-22|Volcano Dinosaur|volcano dinosaur.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2361|2020-09-19|Voting|voting.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2360|2020-09-16|Common Star Types|common star types.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2359|2020-09-14|Evidence of Alien Life|evidence of alien life.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2358|2020-09-11|Gravitational Wave Pulsars|gravitational wave pulsars.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2357|2020-09-10|Polls vs the Street|polls vs the street.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2356|2020-09-08|Constellation Monstrosity|constellation monstrosity.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2355|2020-09-04|University COVID Model|university covid model.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2354|2020-09-03|Stellar Evolution|stellar evolution.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2353|2020-08-31|Hurricane Hunters|hurricane hunters.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2352|2020-08-29|Synonym Date|synonym date.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2351|2020-08-27|Standard Model Changes|standard model changes.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2350|2020-08-24|Deer Turrets|deer turrets.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2300|2020-04-30|Everyone's an Epidemiologist|everyones an epidemiologist.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2299|2020-04-27|Coronavirus Genome 2|coronavirus genome 2.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2298|2020-04-24|Coronavirus Genome|coronavirus genome.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2297|2020-04-22|Use or Discard By|use or discard by.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2296|2020-04-20|Sourdough Starter|sourdough starter.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2295|2020-04-17|Garbage Math|garbage math.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2294|2020-04-15|Coronavirus Charts|coronavirus charts.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2293|2020-04-13|RIP John Conway|rip john conway.gif}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2292|2020-04-10|Thermometer|thermometer.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2291|2020-04-08|New Sports System|new sports system.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2290|2020-04-06|Homemade Masks|homemade masks.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2289|2020-04-04|Scenario Four|sequence-four.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2288|2020-04-03|Collector's Edition|collectors edition.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2287|2020-03-31|Pathogen Resistance|pathogen resistance.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2286|2020-03-27|6-Foot Zone|6 foot zone.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2285|2020-03-25|Recurring Nightmare|recurring nightmare.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2284|2020-03-23|Sabotage|sabotage.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2283|2020-03-20|Exa-Exabyte|exa exabyte.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2282|2020-03-18|Coronavirus Worries|coronavirus worries.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2281|2020-03-16|Coronavirus Research|coronavirus research.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2280|2020-03-13|2010 and 2020|2010 and 2020.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2279|2020-03-11|Symptoms|symptoms.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2278|2020-03-09|Scientific Briefing|scientific briefing.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2277|2020-03-06|Business Greetings|business greetings.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2276|2020-03-04|Self-Isolate|self isolate.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2275|2020-03-02|Coronavirus Name|coronavirus name.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2274|2020-02-28|Stargazing 3|stargazing 3.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2273|2020-02-26|Truck Proximity|truck proximity.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2272|2020-02-24|Ringtone Timeline|ringtone timeline.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2271|2020-02-21|Grandpa Jason and Grandpa Chad|grandpa jason and grandpa chad.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2270|2020-02-19|Picking Bad Stocks|picking bad stocks.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2269|2020-02-17|Phylogenetic Tree|phylogenetic tree.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2268|2020-02-14|Further Research is Needed|further research is needed.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2267|2020-02-12|Blockchain|blockchain.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2266|2020-02-11|Leap Smearing|leap smearing.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2265|2020-02-07|Tax AI|tax ai.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2264|2020-02-05|Satellite|satellite.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2263|2020-02-03|Cicadas|cicadas.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2262|2020-01-31|Parker Solar Probe|parker solar probe.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2261|2020-01-29|Worst Thing That Could Happen|worst thing that could happen.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2260|2020-01-27|Reaction Maps|reaction maps.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2259|2020-01-24|Networking Problems|networking problems.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2258|2020-01-22|Solar System Changes|solar system changes.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2257|2020-01-20|Unsubscribe Message|unsubscribe message.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2256|2020-01-17|Bad Map Projection: South America|bad map projection south america.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2255|2020-01-15|Tattoo Ideas|tattoo ideas.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2254|2020-01-13|JPEG2000|jpeg2000.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2253|2020-01-10|Star Wars Voyager 1|star wars voyager 1.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2252|2020-01-08|Parenthetical Names|parenthetical names.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2251|2020-01-05|Alignment Chart Alignment Chart|alignment chart alignment chart.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2250|2020-01-03|OK/okay/ok|ok okay ok.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2249|2020-01-01|I Love the 20s|i love the 20s.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2248|2019-12-30|New Year's Eve|new years eve.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2247|2019-12-27|Weird Hill|weird hill.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2246|2019-12-25|Christmas Presents|christmas presents.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2245|2019-12-23|Edible Arrangements|edible arrangements.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2244|2019-12-20|Thumbtacks And String|thumbtacks and string.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2243|2019-12-18|Star Wars Spoiler Generator|star wars spoiler generator.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2242|2019-12-16|Ground vs Air|ground vs air.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2241|2019-12-13|Brussels Sprouts Mandela Effect|brussels sprouts mandela effect.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2240|2019-12-11|Timeline of the Universe|timeline of the universe.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2239|2019-12-09|Data Error|data error.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2238|2019-12-06|Flu Shot|flu shot.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2237|2019-12-04|AI Hiring Algorithm|ai hiring algorithm.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2236|2019-12-02|Is it Christmas?|is it christmas.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2235|2019-11-29|Group Chat Rules|group chat rules.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2234|2019-11-27|How To Deliver Christmas Presents|how to deliver christmas presents.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2233|2019-11-26|Aurora Meaning|aurora meaning.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2232|2019-11-22|Hotel Room Party|hotel room party.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2231|2019-11-20|the Time Before And After Land|the time before and after land.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2230|2019-11-18|Versus Bracket|versus bracket.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2229|2019-11-15|Rey and Kylo|rey and kylo.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2228|2019-11-14|Machine Learning Captcha|machine learning captcha.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2227|2019-11-11|Transit of Mercury|transit of mercury.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2226|2019-11-09|Recombination And Reionization|recombination and reionization.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2225|2019-11-06|Voting Referendum|voting referendum.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2224|2019-11-05|Software Updates|software updates.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2223|2019-11-01|Screen Time|screen time.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2222|2019-10-30|Terminator: Dark Fate|terminator dark fate.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2221|2019-10-29|Emulation|emulation.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2220|2019-10-25|Imagine Going Back in Time|imagine going back in time.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2219|2019-10-23|Earthquake Early Warnings|earthquake early warnings.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2218|2019-10-21|Wardrobe|wardrobe.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2217|2019-10-19|53 Cards|53 cards.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2216|2019-10-17|Percent Milkfat|percent milkfat.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2215|2019-10-15|Faculty:Student Ratio|faculty student ratio.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2214|2019-10-11|Chemistry Nobel|chemistry nobel.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2213|2019-10-09|How Old|how old.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2212|2019-10-07|Cell Phone Functions|cell phone functions.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2211|2019-10-04|Hours Before Departure|hours before departure.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2210|2019-10-02|College Athletes|college athletes.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2209|2019-09-30|Fresh Pears|fresh pears.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2208|2019-09-27|Drone Fishing|drone fishing.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2207|2019-09-25|Math Work|math work.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2206|2019-09-23|Mavis Beacon|mavis beacon.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2205|2019-09-20|Types of Approximation|types of approximation.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2204|2019-09-18|Ksp 2|ksp 2.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2203|2019-09-16|Prescience|prescience.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2202|2019-09-13|Earth-Like Exoplanet|earth like exoplanet.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2201|2019-09-11|Foucault Pendulum|foucault pendulum.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2200|2019-09-11|Unreachable State|unreachable state.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2199|2019-09-06|Cryptic Wifi Networks|cryptic wifi networks.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2198|2019-09-04|Throw|throw.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2198|2019-09-03|Throw|throw.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2197|2019-09-02|Game Show|game show.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2196|2019-08-30|Nice To E-Meet You|nice to e-meet you.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2195|2019-08-28|Dockless Roombas|dockless roombas.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2194|2019-08-26|How to Send a File|how to send a file.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2193|2019-08-23|Well-Ordering Principle|well ordering principle.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2192|2019-08-21|Review|review.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2191|2019-08-19|Conference Question|conference question.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2190|2019-08-16|Serena Versus the Drones|serena versus the drones.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2189|2019-08-14|Old Game Worlds|old game worlds.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2188|2019-08-12|E Scooters|e scooters.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2187|2019-08-09|Geologic Time|geologic time.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2186|2019-08-07|Dark Matter|dark matter.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2185|2019-08-05|Cumulonimbus|cumulonimbus.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2185|2019-08-05|Disappearing Sunday Update|disappearing sunday update.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2184|2019-08-02|Unpopular Opinions|unpopular opinions.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2183|2019-07-31|Icon Swap|icon swap.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2182|2019-07-29|When I'm Back at a Keyboard|when im back at a keyboard.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2181|2019-07-26|Inbox|inbox.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2180|2019-07-24|Spreadsheets|spreadsheets.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2179|2019-07-23|NWS Warnings|nws warnings.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2178|2019-07-19|Expiration Date High Score|expiration date high score.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2177|2019-07-17|Gastroenterology|gastroenterology.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2176|2019-07-15|How Hacking Works|how hacking works.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2175|2019-07-12|Flag Interpretation|flag interpretation.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2174|2019-07-10|First News Memory|first news memory.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2173|2019-07-08|Trained a Neural Net|trained a neural net.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2172|2019-07-05|Lunar Cycles|lunar cycles.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2171|2019-07-03|Shadow Biosphere|shadow biosphere.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2170|2019-07-01|Coordinate Precision|coordinate precision.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2169|2019-06-28|Predictive Models|predictive models.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2168|2019-06-26|Reading in the Original|reading in the original.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2167|2019-06-24|Motivated Reasoning Olympics|motivated reasoning olympics.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2166|2019-06-21|Stack|stack.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2165|2019-06-19|Millennials|millennials.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2164|2019-06-17|Glacier|glacier.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2163|2019-06-14|Chernobyl|chernobyl.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2162|2019-06-12|Literary Opinions|literary opinions.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2161|2019-06-10|An Apple a Day|an apple a day.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2160|2019-06-07|Ken Burns Theory|ken burns theory.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2159|2019-06-05|Comments|comments.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2158|2019-06-03|Qualifiers|qualifiers.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2157|2019-05-31|Diploma Legal Notes|diploma legal notes.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2156|2019-05-29|Ufo|ufo.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2155|2019-05-27|Swimming|swimming.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2154|2019-05-24|Motivation|motivation.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2153|2019-05-22|Effects of High Altitude|effects of high altitude.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2152|2019-05-20|Westerns|westerns.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2151|2019-05-17|A/B|a b.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2150|2019-05-15|XKeyboarCD|xkeyboarcd.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2149|2019-05-13|Alternate Histories|alternate histories.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2148|2019-05-10|Cubesat Launch|cubesat launch.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2147|2019-05-08|Appendicitis|appendicitis.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2146|2019-05-06|Waiting for the But|waiting for the but.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2145|2019-05-03|Heists And Escapes|heists and escapes.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2144|2019-05-01|Adjusting a Chair|adjusting a chair.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2143|2019-04-29|Disk Usage|disk usage.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2142|2019-04-26|Dangerous Fields|dangerous fields.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2141|2019-04-24|UI vs UX|ui vs ux.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2140|2019-04-22|Reinvent the Wheel|reinvent the wheel.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2139|2019-04-19|Email Settings|email settings.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2138|2019-04-17|Wanna See the Code?|wanna see the code.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2137|2019-04-15|Text Entry|text entry.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2136|2019-04-12|Election Commentary|election commentary.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2135|2019-04-10|M87 Black Hole Size Comparison|m87 black hole size comparison.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2134|2019-04-08|Too Much Talking|too much talking.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2133|2019-04-05|EHT Black Hole Picture|eht black hole picture.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2132|2019-04-03|Percentage Styles|percentage styles.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2131|2019-04-01|Emojidome|industry nicknames.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2130|2019-03-29|Industry Nicknames|industry nicknames.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2129|2019-03-27|1921 Fact Checker|1921 fact checker.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2128|2019-03-25|New Robot|new robot.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2127|2019-03-22|Panama Canal|panama canal.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2126|2019-03-20|Google Trends Maps|google trends maps.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2125|2019-03-18|Luna 2|luna 2.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2124|2019-03-15|Space Mission Hearing|space mission hearing.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2123|2019-03-13|Meta Collecting|meta collecting.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2122|2019-03-11|Size Venn Diagram|size venn diagram.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2121|2019-03-08|Light Pollution|light pollution.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2120|2019-03-06|Brain Hemispheres|brain hemispheres.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2119|2019-03-04|Video Orientation|video orientation.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2118|2019-03-01|Normal Distribution|normal distribution.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2117|2019-02-27|Differentiation and Integration|differentiation and integration.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2116|2019-02-25|.NORM Normal File Format|norm normal file format.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2115|2019-02-22|Plutonium|plutonium.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2114|2019-02-20|Launch Conditions|launch conditions.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2113|2019-02-18|Physics Suppression|physics suppression.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2112|2019-02-15|Night Shift|night shift.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2111|2019-02-13|Opportunity Rover|opportunity rover.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2110|2019-02-11|Error Bars|error bars.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2109|2019-02-08|Invisible Formatting|invisible formatting.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2108|2019-02-06|Carbonated Beverage Language Map|carbonated beverage language map.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2107|2019-02-04|Launch Risk|launch risk.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2106|2019-02-01|Sharing Options|sharing options.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2105|2019-01-30|Modern OSI Model|modern osi model.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2104|2019-01-28|Biff Tannen|biff tannen.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2103|2019-01-25|Midcontinent Rift System|midcontinent rift system.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2102|2019-01-23|Internet Archive|internet archive.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2101|2019-01-21|Technical Analysis|technical analysis.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2100|2019-01-18|Models of the Atom|models of the atom.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2099|2019-01-16|Missal of Silos|missal of silos.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2098|2019-01-14|Magnetic Pole|magnetic pole.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2097|2019-01-11|Thor Tools|thor tools.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2096|2019-01-09|Mattresses|mattresses.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2095|2019-01-07|Marsiforming|marsiforming.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2094|2019-01-04|Short Selling|short selling.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2093|2019-01-02|Reminders|reminders.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2092|2018-12-31|Consensus New Year|consensus new year.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2091|2018-12-28|Million, Billion, Trillion|million billion trillion.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2090|2018-12-26|Feathered Dinosaur Venn Diagram|feathered dinosaur venn diagram.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2089|2018-12-24|Christmas Eve Eve|christmas eve eve.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2088|2018-12-21|Schwarzschild's Cat|schwarzschilds cat.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2087|2018-12-19|Rocket Launch|rocket launch.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2086|2018-12-17|History Department|history department.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2085|2018-12-14|arXiv|arxiv.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2084|2018-12-12|FDR|fdr.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2083|2018-12-10|Laptop Issues|laptop issues.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2082|2018-12-07|Mercator Projection|mercator projection.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2081|2018-12-05|Middle Latitudes|middle latitudes.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2080|2018-12-03|Cohort and Age Effects|cohort and age effects.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2079|2018-11-30|Alpha Centauri|alpha centauri.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2078|2018-11-28|Popper|popper.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2077|2018-11-26|Heist|heist.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2076|2018-11-23|Horror Movies 2|horror movies 2.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2075|2018-11-21|Update Your Address|update your address.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2074|2018-11-19|Airplanes and Spaceships|airplanes and spaceships.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2073|2018-11-16|Kilogram|kilogram.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2072|2018-11-14|Evaluating Tech Things|evaluating tech things.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2071|2018-11-12|Indirect Detection|indirect detection.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2070|2018-11-09|Trig Identities|trig identities.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2069|2018-11-07|Wishlist|wishlist.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2068|2018-11-05|Election Night|election night.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2067|2018-11-02|Challengers|challengers.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2066|2018-10-31|Ballot Selfies|ballot selfies.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2065|2018-10-29|Who Sends the First Text?|who sends the first text.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2064|2018-10-26|I'm a Car|im a car.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2063|2018-10-24|Carnot Cycle|carnot cycle.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2062|2018-10-22|Barnard's Star|barnards star.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2061|2018-10-19|Tectonics Game|tectonics game.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2060|2018-10-17|Hygrometer|hygrometer.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2059|2018-10-15|Modified Bayes' Theorem|modified bayes theorem.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2058|2018-10-12|Rock Wall|rock wall.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2057|2018-10-10|Internal Monologues|internal monologues.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2056|2018-10-08|Horror Movies|horror movies.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2055|2018-10-05|Bluetooth|bluetooth.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2054|2018-10-03|Data Pipeline|data pipeline.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2053|2018-10-01|Incoming Calls|incoming calls.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2052|2018-09-28|Stanislav Petrov Day|stanislav petrov day.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2051|2018-09-26|Bad Opinions|bad opinions.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2050|2018-09-24|6/6 Time|6 6 time.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2049|2018-09-21|Unfulfilling Toys|unfulfilling toys.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2048|2018-09-19|Curve-Fitting|curve fitting.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2047|2018-09-17|Beverages|beverages.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2046|2018-09-14|Trum-|trum.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2045|2018-09-12|Social Media Announcement|social media announcement.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2044|2018-09-10|Sandboxing Cycle|sandboxing cycle.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2043|2018-09-07|Boathouses and Houseboats|boathouses and houseboats.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2042|2018-09-05|Rolle's Theorem|rolles theorem.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2041|2018-09-03|Frontiers|frontiers.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2040|2018-08-31|Sibling-in-Law|sibling in law.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2039|2018-08-29|Begging the Question|begging the question.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2038|2018-08-27|Hazard Symbol|hazard symbol.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2037|2018-08-24|Supreme Court Bracket|supreme court bracket.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2036|2018-08-22|Edgelord|edgelord.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2035|2018-08-20|Dark Matter Candidates|dark matter candidates.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2034|2018-08-17|Equations|equations.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2033|2018-08-15|Repair or Replace|repair or replace.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2032|2018-08-13|Word Puzzles|word puzzles.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2031|2018-08-10|Pie Charts|pie charts.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2030|2018-08-08|Voting Software|voting software.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2029|2018-08-06|Disaster Movie|disaster movie.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2028|2018-08-03|Complex Numbers|complex numbers.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2027|2018-08-01|Lightning Distance|lightning distance.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2026|2018-07-30|Heat Index|heat index.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2025|2018-07-27|Peer Review|peer review.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2024|2018-07-25|Light Hacks|light hacks.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2023|2018-07-23|Y-Axis|y axis.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2022|2018-07-20|Sports Champions|sports champions.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2021|2018-07-18|Software Development|software development.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2020|2018-07-16|Negative Results|negative results.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2019|2018-07-13|An Apple for a Dollar|an apple for a dollar.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2018|2018-07-11|Wall Art|wall art.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2017|2018-07-09|Stargazing 2|stargazing 2.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2016|2018-07-06|OEIS Submissions|oeis submissions.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2015|2018-07-04|New Phone Thread|new phone thread.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2014|2018-07-02|JWST Delays|jwst delays.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2013|2018-06-29|Rock|rock.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2012|2018-06-27|Thorough Analysis|thorough analysis.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2011|2018-06-25|Newton's Trajectories|newtons trajectories.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2010|2018-06-22|Update Notes|update notes.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2009|2018-06-20|Hertzsprung-Russell Diagram|hertzsprung russell diagram.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2008|2018-06-18|Irony Definition|irony definition.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2007|2018-06-15|Brookhaven RHIC|brookhaven rhic.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2006|2018-06-13|Customer Rewards|customer rewards.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2005|2018-06-11|Attention Span|attention span.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2004|2018-06-08|Sun and Earth|sun and earth.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2003|2018-06-06|Presidential Succession|presidential succession.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2002|2018-06-04|LeBron James and Stephen Curry|lebron james and stephen curry.png}}<br />
{{comicsrow|2001|2018-06-01|Clickbait-Corrected p-Value|clickbait corrected p value.png}}</onlyinclude><br />
|}<br />
<br />
[[Category:Comics| ]]</div>Btx40https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=1363:_xkcd_Phone&diff=665811363: xkcd Phone2014-05-02T14:36:22Z<p>Btx40: /* Explanation */ Explain FlightAware: no link to flight mode</p>
<hr />
<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 1363<br />
| date = May 2, 2014<br />
| title = xkcd Phone<br />
| image = xkcd_phone.png<br />
| titletext = Presented in partnership with Qualcomm, Craigslist, Whirlpool, Hostess, LifeStyles, and the US Chamber of Commerce. Manufactured on equipment which also processes peanuts. Price includes 2-year Knicks contract. Phone may extinguish nearby birthday candles. If phone ships with Siri, return immediately; do not speak to her and ignore any instructions she gives. Do not remove lead casing. Phone may attract/trap insects; this is normal. Volume adjustable (requires root). If you experience sudden tingling, nausea, or vomiting, perform a factory reset immediately. Do not submerge in water; phone will drown. Exterior may be frictionless. Prolonged use can cause mood swings, short-term memory loss, and seizures. Avert eyes while replacing battery. Under certain circumstances, wireless transmitter may control God.<br />
}}<br />
<br />
==Explanation==<br />
{{incomplete|No longer created by a BOT, but probably still needs more editing.}}<br />
<br />
This comic is a parody of a multitude of mobile-technology related issues that, when brought together, create a general satire of smartphone advertising. The advertised features here either make previously useful capabilities useless or add features nobody wants. Except for "your mobile world (going) digital", which is old news.<br />
<br />
From bottom left, going clockwise: <br />
<br />
* FlightAware partnership - This is a reference to the [http://www.flightaware.com/ FlightAware] flight tracking service. This FlightAware partnership results in the phone playing airplane engine noise whenever a flight passes over the phone's current location, making this an annoying and intrusive feature that no one wants. <br />
* Realistic case– possibly a joke on various audiovisual devices like gaming consoles that advertise realistic sound, graphics, etc. Of course, applying "realistic" to an actual physical case is ridiculous. Either the case is actually real, or it doesn't actually function as a case. <br />
* Clear screen– This is a pointless descriptor from the perspective of the consumer. Of course the screen is clear. This joke works in tandem with the previous joke, as a play on "clear case, realistic screen," which are both hypothetically viable selling points. <br />
* Side Facing Camera – There was a recent controversy surrounding a kickstarter for a surreptitious, side-mounted camera device for smartphones due to the advertisement of the device as a good way to take creep shots, which are illegal in many places. Widespread dissemination of these devices as a built in would likely result in a sharp increase in delinquency of this nature. May also be an ''ad absurdum'' extension of devices with both forward and backward facing cameras.<br />
* Custom blend OS – iOS and Android are offered by different conglomerates and run on different kernels. A "custom blend" would probably be a nightmare to work with. <br />
* Simulates alternate speeds of light - This renders the clock useless. The speed of light is roughly 2.99x10<sup>8</sup> meters per second. Relativistic effects, such as time dilation, only occur at significant fractions of the speed of light. Since the phone is simulating a much slower speed of light, driving at highway speeds will cause time dilation. For example, driving at 90mph (90% of the default simulated speed of light) gives a time dilation of about 2.29. So while you are driving at 90mph your clock will run 2.29 times slower than a stationary one. Travelling faster than the simulated speed of light will make the clock run backwards.<br />
* Wireless - as in cordless phone. This is the bare minimum a phone has to have in order to be a mobile phone, so advertising it as a feature feels dated by decades. Or, perhaps Munroe is implying the entire phone is without wires, in which case it wouldn't function. <br />
* Accelerometer screams in free fall– Another useless function. Rather than having some sort of feature to prevent breakage or cracking when a drop is detected, the phone just makes you more aware of its potential imminent doom. <br />
* When exposed to light, phone says "hi" - Bait and switch, and also a build from the previous joke. The implied feature is that the screen or camera will automatically adjust, but instead the phone is weirdly anthropomorphized. <br />
<br />
The ominous warnings and disclaimers in the title text are probably a reference to the ''Saturday Night Live'' parody ad for {{w|Happy Fun Ball}}.<br />
<br />
* Presented in partnership with Qualcomm, Craigslist, Whirlpool, Hostess, LifeStyles, and the US Chamber of Commerce.– {{w|Qualcomm}} is a semiconductor company that designs and produces chips for mobile phones, but the other companies mentioned here have no association with mobile phones.<br />
* Manufactured on equipment which also processes peanuts.- A warning often seen on candy and other foods for people with a peanut allergy. It is highly unlikely that equipment used to produce mobile phones would also process food.<br />
* Price includes 2-year Knicks contract.- Mobile phones are often sold by phone companies in combination with a cell phone plan, but a contract with the {{w|New_York_Knicks|Knicks}} would only appeal to pro basketball players.<br />
* Phone may extinguish nearby birthday candles.- A rather oddly specific capability, which might also be annoying for anyone attempting to host a birthday party. As to how it would do this, a very powerful directional speaker would be able to blow out a nearby candle, but the speakers in mobile phones aren't going to be that big.<br />
* If phone ships with Siri, return immediately; do not speak to her and ignore any instructions she gives.- {{w|Siri}} is a virtual personal assistant application for Apple devices. Not speaking to it and not following its instructions would defeat its purpose. It may suggest that a malevolent "Siri AI" has sneaked itself onto some devices, at the manufacturing stage, for some diabolical purpose.<br />
* Do not remove lead casing.- Devices that emit high levels of ionizing radiation are often encased in lead, but a phone that would emit that level of radiation would be unhealthy to carry around and be probably too heavy to. This could also mean the device is an actual bananaphone as regular phones emit no ionizing radiation ([http://xkcd.com/radiation xkcd Radiation Dose Chart]). Regrettably, the lead casing would render the phone inedible.<br />
* Phone may attract/trap insects; this is normal.- Some plants, like the {{w|Venus_flytrap|Venus flytrap}}, attract and trap insects, but mobile phones are not known to exhibit this behaviour.<br />
* Volume adjustable (requires root).- {{w|Android_rooting|Rooting}} is the method to gain privileged access on Android phones. Adjusting the volume should be available to any user and would not be restricted to root access only.<br />
* If you experience sudden tingling, nausea, or vomiting, perform a factory reset immediately.- These symptoms are usually associated with chemical or radiation poisoning. Neither of these would be cured by a {{w|Factory_reset|factory reset}}.<br />
* Do not submerge in water; phone will drown.- Most phones are not waterproof and will probably short-circuit when submerged. Drowning however, would imply that the phone breathes air (which actually would be possible if it had a {{w|Lithium-air_battery|Li-air battery}}).<br />
* Exterior may be frictionless.- The front of a smartphone is usually made of glass and should have a surface with very low friction. The back of a phone is usually made from a material that has higher friction to make it pleasant to hold and to make sure it doesn't slide off objects it is placed on. A completely frictionless surface would make it almost impossible to hold and would make it very susceptible to drops. <br />
* Prolonged use can cause mood swings, short-term memory loss, and seizures.- These are all side effects that are associated with certain kinds of medication and would not be acceptable for mobile phones.<br />
* Avert eyes while replacing battery.- Actions that would warrant averting your eyes are usually associated with high levels of radiation (e.g. making an {{w|X-ray}} photo). A phone that emits X-ray radiation would not be healthy to be around. Or it may be a reference to the {{w|Ark_of_the_Covenant|Arc Of The Covenant}}.<br />
* Under certain circumstances, wireless transmitter may control God.- According to most religions, God (or Gods) are usually in control of us. Gods are usually viewed as not directly controllable.<br />
<br />
==Transcript==<br />
'''The xkcd Phone''' <br />
Your mobile world just went digital® <br />
<br />
* Flightaware partnership: Makes airplane noises when flights pass overhead<br />
* Realistic case<br />
* Clear screen<br />
* Side-facing camera<br />
* Runs custom blend of Android and iOS<br />
* Simulates alternate speeds of light (default: 100 miles per hour) and ajusts clock as phone accelerates<br />
* Wireless<br />
* Accelerometer detects when phone is in free fall and makes it scream<br />
* When exposed to light, phone says "hi!"<br />
<br />
{{comic discussion}}</div>Btx40https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=732:_HDTV&diff=48831732: HDTV2013-09-11T15:14:48Z<p>Btx40: /* Explanation */ fix resolution info. It is unfair to compare width to height for widescreen monitors.</p>
<hr />
<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 732<br />
| date = April 26, 2010<br />
| title = HDTV<br />
| image = hdtv.png<br />
| titletext = We're also stuck with blurry, juddery, slow-panning 24fps movies forever because (thanks to 60fps home video) people associate high framerates with camcorders and cheap sitcoms, and thus think good framerates look fake.<br />
}}<br />
<br />
==Explanation==<br />
This comic pokes fun at the differing standard between image quality for television sets and electronic devices, even though both standard are based on essentially the same standards. When rating television sets, a {{w|1080p}} screen, that is, a screen 1,920 pixels wide and 1,080 pixels tall with progressive scan, is considered impressive. In contrast, the same resolution with a computer device is considered standard fare, given that a computer screen 1,024 pixels wide is expected, though computer screens can reach 1,366 pixels.<br />
<br />
The title texts explains another disparagement involving images and popular opinion. The feeling that a viewer gets from watching a film in a theatre is different from the feeling from a home film, or again, between a serialized programme from an international television channel and a locally-broadcast programme. The disparity is that the small-time productions actually implement better-quality equipment than the big-time productions. The problem is that public opinion associates the better-quality equipment with the less ambitious films (while being lower quality in other areas, for example, plot) due to the proliferation of the less-ambitious films, yet public opinions associates the worse-quality equipment with the more ambitious films due to they not only being of a wider reach than the less-ambitious films but also (probably) due to the more-ambitious films using the same equipment for decades (possibly to cut costs). This focus on public opinion cased the more-ambitious films to keep using worse-quality equipment in order to avoid the stigma public opinion has with better-quality equipment. (This is changing, however, since the films {{w|The Hobbit}} and {{w|Avatar 2}} are going to be shot with better framerates, though, at the time that this explanation is written, the effects have yet to be seen...)<br />
<br />
==Transcript==<br />
:One person is pointing to a huge flatscreen HDTV on the wall. The other is holding a cell phone.<br />
:HDTV Owner: Check out my new HDTV--a beautiful, high-def 1080p.<br />
:Friend: Wow, that's over ''TWICE'' the horizontal resolution of my cell phone.<br />
:Friend: In fact, it almost beats the LCD monitor I got in 2004.<br />
:It baffles me that people find HDTV impressive.<br />
{{comic discussion}}</div>Btx40https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=1256:_Questions&diff=478391256: Questions2013-08-26T15:02:58Z<p>Btx40: /* Vertical questions */</p>
<hr />
<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 1256<br />
| date = August 26, 2013<br />
| title = Questions<br />
| image = questions.png<br />
| titletext = To whoever typed 'why is arwen dying': GOOD. FUCKING. QUESTION.<br />
}}<br />
<br />
==Explanation==<br />
{{w|Google}}, a rather popular internet search engine, has a feature known as autocomplete that guesses at search queries before they are fully typed out. These guesses are generally made based on popular searches by other people. From time to time, a particularly strange or hilarious one may be found, as is evidenced in this comic.<br />
<br />
All of the questions in the comic are "why" questions, so many of them are predicated on false assumptions, such as "Why are there pyramids on the moon".<br />
<br />
Regarding the title text: in the Peter Jackson films of {{w|The Lord of the Rings (film series)|''The Lord of the Rings'' trilogy}}, Arwen becomes sickly for unspecified reasons as the plot advances, apparently giving Aragorn a more personal reason to fight. The only explanation given is by Elrond, who says "As Sauron's power grows, her [Arwen's] strength wanes." (This subplot is entirely absent from the {{w|The Lord of the Rings|original novels}}.)<br />
<br />
From [http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0167260/faq#.2.1.21 IMDB]: <br /><blockquote><br />
Arwen, like her father (and brothers) is considered to be a Half-Elf, the result of a union between an Elf and a mortal human. The Half-Elven of Middle-earth get a choice, to remain immortal and return to the West (Valinor) or to become mortal and to die as humans do. Elrond chose to remain an Elf. Arwen (like her uncle Elros) chooses to become mortal in order to wed and remain with Aragorn. Elrond senses this; this is what he means when he says that Arwen is dying. It is the same as in The Last Unicorn, when the unicorn is given the form of a human woman and can feel that she is no longer immortal ("I can feel this body dying all around me"). According to Tolkien, though, after Aragorn dies in the year 120 (Fourth Age), Arwen returns to Lórien, where she dies by choice the following winter. </blockquote><br />
<br />
;Selected answers<br />
:''Please <span class="plainlinks">[{{fullurl:1256: Questions|action=edit}} help to expand this section]</span><br />
(Some questions in the transcript are linked to their answers.)<br />
{| class ="wikitable"<br />
|-<br />
! Question !! Answer<br />
|-<br />
| Why are ducks called ducks? || {{W|wikt:duck|According to Wiktionary}}, the noun ''duck'' can be traced back to the {{w|Proto-Germanic language|Proto-Germanic}} word {{w|wikt:Appendix:Proto-Germanic/dūkaną|''dūkaną''}} ("to dive, bend down"), and, in turn, the {{w|Proto-Indo-European language|Proto-Indo-European}} {{w|wikt:Appendix:Proto-Indo-European/dʰewb-|''dʰewb-''}} ("deep, hollow"), which also give us the verb ''to duck''. The link between the noun and the verb comes from ducks' tendency to dive under water for short periods of time.<br />
|}<br />
<br />
==Transcript==<br />
{{incomplete transcript}}<br />
:Questions found in Google autocomplete<br />
===Section one===<br />
*Why do whales jump<br />
*Why are witches green<br />
*Why are there mirrors above beds<br />
*Why do I say Uh<br />
*Why is sea salt better<br />
*Why are there trees in the middle of fields<br />
*Why is there not a Pokemon MMO<br />
*Why is there laughing in TV shows<br />
*Why are there doors on the freeway<br />
*Why are there so many SVCHOST.EXE running<br />
*Why aren't there any countries in Antarctica<br />
*Why are there scary sounds in Minecraft<br />
*Why is there kicking in my stomach<br />
*Why are there two slashes after http<br />
*Why are there celebrities<br />
*Why do snakes exist<br />
*Why do oysters have pearls<br />
*{{w|Duck#Etymology|Why are ducks called ducks}}<br />
*Why do they call it the clap<br />
*Why are Kyle and Cartman friends<br />
*Why is there an arrow on Aang's head<br />
*Why are text messages blue<br />
*Why are there mustaches on clothes<br />
*Why are there mustaches on cars<br />
*Why are there mustaches everywhere<br />
*Why are there so many birds in Ohio<br />
*Why is there so much rain in Ohio<br />
*{{w|Lake-effect snow|Why is Ohio weather so weird}}<br />
===Section two===<br />
<br />
*Why are there male and female bikes<br />
*Why are there bridesmaids<br />
*Why do dying people reach up<br />
*Why aren't there varicose arteries<br />
*Why are old Klingons different<br />
:Beret Guy (with squirrel): Why are there squirrels<br />
*Why is programming so hard<br />
*{{w|Zero-ohm_link|Why is there a 0 Ohm resistor}}<br />
*Why do Americans hate soccer<br />
*Why do rhymes sound good<br />
*Why do trees die<br />
*Why is there no sound on CNN<br />
*Why aren't Pokemon real<br />
*Why aren't bullets sharp<br />
*Why do dreams seem so real<br />
===Section three===<br />
*Why do testicles move<br />
*Why are there psychics<br />
*Why are hats so expensive<br />
*Why is there caffeine in my shampoo<br />
*Why do your boobs hurt<br />
===Section four===<br />
*Why aren't economists rich<br />
*Why do Americans call it soccer<br />
*Why are my ears ringing<br />
*Why are there so many Avengers<br />
*Why are the Avengers fighting the X-Men<br />
*Why is Wolverine not in the Avengers<br />
===Section four===<br />
*Why are there ants in my laptop<br />
*Why is Earth tilted<br />
*Why is space black<br />
*Why is outer space so cold<br />
*Why are there pyramids on the Moon<br />
*Why is NASA shutting down<br />
===Section five===<br />
*Why are there tiny spiders in my house<br />
*Why do spiders come inside<br />
*Why are there huge spiders in my house<br />
*Why are there lots of spiders in my house<br />
*Why are there spiders in my room<br />
*Why are there so many spiders in my room<br />
*Why do spider bites itch<br />
*Why is dying so scary<br />
===Section six===<br />
*Why is there no GPS in laptops<br />
*Why do knees click<br />
*Why aren't there E grades<br />
*Why is isolation bad<br />
*Why do boys like me<br />
*Why don't boys like me<br />
*Why is there always a Java update<br />
*Why are there red dots on my thighs<br />
*Why is lying good<br />
:Cueball: Why is sex so important<br />
===Section eight===<br />
*{{w|The Bible and slavery|Why are there slaves in The Bible}}<br />
*Why do twins have different fingerprints<br />
*Why are Americans afraid of dragons<br />
===Section nine===<br />
*Why are there swarms of gnats<br />
*Why is there phlegm<br />
===Section ten===<br />
*Why are there so many crows in Rochester, MN<br />
*[http://pokemon.wikia.com/wiki/Pok%C3%A9mon_Types Why is Psychic weak to Bug]<br />
*Why do children get cancer<br />
*Why is Poseidon angry with Odysseus<br />
*Why is there ice in space<br />
===Section eleven===<br />
:Megan (with ghosts): Why are there ghosts<br />
*Why is there an owl in my backyard<br />
*Why is there an owl outside my window<br />
*Why is there an owl on the dollar bill<br />
*Why do owls attack people<br />
*Why are AK47s so expensive<br />
===Section twelve===<br />
*Why are there helicopters circling my house<br />
*Why are there gods<br />
*Why are there two Spocks<br />
===Section thirteen===<br />
*Why is Mt Vesuvius there<br />
*Why do they say T Minus<br />
*Why are there obelisks<br />
*Why are wrestlers always wet<br />
*Why are oceans becoming more acidic<br />
*Why is Arwen dying<br />
*Why aren't my quail laying eggs<br />
*Why aren't my quail eggs hatching<br />
*Why aren't there any foreign military bases in America<br />
===Section fourteen===<br />
*Why is https crossed out in red<br />
*Why is there a line through https<br />
*Why is there a red line through https on Facebook<br />
*Why is https important<br />
:Cueball: Why aren't my arms growing<br />
===Section fifteen===<br />
*Why are my boobs itchy<br />
*Why are cigarettes legal<br />
*Why are the ducks in my pool<br />
*Why is Jesus white<br />
*Why is there liquid in my ear<br />
*Why do Q Tips feel good<br />
*Why do good people die<br />
:Ponytail: Why aren't there guns in Harry Potter<br />
*Why are ultrasounds important<br />
*Why are ultrasound machines expensive<br />
*Why is stealing wrong<br />
<br />
===Vertical questions===<br />
:(The following are vertical.)<br />
*{{w|Seven-day_week#Origins|Why are there weeks}}<br />
*Why do I feel dizzy<br />
*Why is {{w|YKK Group|YKK}} on all zippers<br />
*Why are trees tall<br />
*Why do iguanas die<br />
*Why aren't there dinosaur ghosts<br />
*Why are dogs afraid of fireworks<br />
*Why is there no king in England<br />
*Why is life so boring<br />
*Why is there lava<br />
*Why are there female Mr Mimes<br />
*Why is GPS free<br />
*Why is there Hell if God forgives<br />
<br />
{{comic discussion}}<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Beret Guy]]<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Ponytail]]<br />
[[Category:Large drawings]]<br />
[[Category:LOTR]]</div>Btx40https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=307:_Excessive_Quotation&diff=47301307: Excessive Quotation2013-08-22T15:30:47Z<p>Btx40: /* Explanation */ wrong quote</p>
<hr />
<div>{{comic<br />
| number =307<br />
| date =August 24, 2007<br />
| title =Excessive Quotation<br />
| image =excessive_quotation.png<br />
| titletext =Unfortunately for her, real Star Wars fans are attracted to a gal with a good force choke.<br />
}}<br />
<br />
==Explanation==<br />
[[Megan]] just wants to have a normal conversation about the moon, but [[Cueball]] replies with a quote from {{w|Star Wars Episode IV|Star Wars}}, when Ben Kenobi said, "That's no moon, that's a space station." Megan cuts him off in the manner of another ''Star Wars'' character, villain Darth Vader, and showing a glimmer of the character's abilities, proceeds to choke him with "The Force" while modifying another phrase from the same film. (The original quotation was, "I find your lack of faith disturbing.")<br />
<br />
There is humor in Megan's hypocrisy, however. Although she is disturbed by Cueball's unoriginal dialogue, she is fine with doing it herself.<br />
<br />
''Star Wars'' fans are a weird bunch, however, and the title text states that if a male ''Star Wars'' fan met a girl who could do this in real life, it'd only serve to turn him on even more.<br />
<br />
==Transcript==<br />
:[Outside, under a crescent moon.]<br />
:Megan: It's strange to stare at the moon and think about people walking on it.<br />
:Cueball: That's no moon, it's a—''gack''<br />
:[She holds him up in the air by his neck à la Darth Vader using the force.]<br />
:Megan: I find your lack of original conversation disturbing.<br />
{{comic discussion}}<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]<br />
[[Category:Star Wars]]</div>Btx40https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=307:_Excessive_Quotation&diff=47300307: Excessive Quotation2013-08-22T15:30:16Z<p>Btx40: /* Explanation */</p>
<hr />
<div>{{comic<br />
| number =307<br />
| date =August 24, 2007<br />
| title =Excessive Quotation<br />
| image =excessive_quotation.png<br />
| titletext =Unfortunately for her, real Star Wars fans are attracted to a gal with a good force choke.<br />
}}<br />
<br />
==Explanation==<br />
[[Megan]] just wants to have a normal conversation about the moon, but [[Cueball]] replies with a quote from {{w|Star Wars Episode IV|Star Wars}}, when Han Solo said, "That's no moon, that's a space station." Megan cuts him off in the manner of another ''Star Wars'' character, villain Darth Vader, and showing a glimmer of the character's abilities, proceeds to choke him with "The Force" while modifying another phrase from the same film. (The original quotation was, "I find your lack of faith disturbing.")<br />
<br />
There is humor in Megan's hypocrisy, however. Although she is disturbed by Cueball's unoriginal dialogue, she is fine with doing it herself.<br />
<br />
''Star Wars'' fans are a weird bunch, however, and the title text states that if a male ''Star Wars'' fan met a girl who could do this in real life, it'd only serve to turn him on even more.<br />
<br />
==Transcript==<br />
:[Outside, under a crescent moon.]<br />
:Megan: It's strange to stare at the moon and think about people walking on it.<br />
:Cueball: That's no moon, it's a—''gack''<br />
:[She holds him up in the air by his neck à la Darth Vader using the force.]<br />
:Megan: I find your lack of original conversation disturbing.<br />
{{comic discussion}}<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]<br />
[[Category:Star Wars]]</div>Btx40https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=163:_Donald_Knuth&diff=44326163: Donald Knuth2013-07-19T13:48:58Z<p>Btx40: /* Explanation */</p>
<hr />
<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 163<br />
| date = September 27, 2006<br />
| title = Donald Knuth<br />
| image = donald_knuth.png<br />
| titletext = His books were kinda intimidating; rappelling down through his skylight seemed like the best option.<br />
}}<br />
<br />
==Explanation==<br />
{{w|Donald Knuth}} is a computer science Professor Emeritus at {{w|Stanford University}} who is famous for writing {{w|The Art of Computer Programming}} and developing the <span class="texhtml"><span style="font-family:cmr10, LMRoman10-Regular, Times, serif;">T<span style="text-transform:uppercase; vertical-align:-0.5ex; margin-left:-0.1667em; margin-right:-0.125em;">e</span>X</span></span> computerized typesetting system.<br />
<br />
An "array" in computer science is a structure that holds multiple values, and is "indexed" by a number. In Pascal, for instance, one writes <tt>array[1]</tt> to access the first element in the array. Most "modern" (read: descended from C) languages use 0 as the index for the first element in the array, but it is possible (if one is careful about it) to ignore the 0th element and use 1 as the first index. [[Cueball]] is complaining that [[Black Hat]] was not consistent in his choice of where to start his arrays.<br />
<br />
[[Black Hat]]'s citation of Donald Knuth implies that, in order to ask him about it, he broke into the professor's house, and has nothing to do with the argument over array indexes.<br />
<br />
==Transcript==<br />
:[Black Hat and Cueball are sitting back to back at two separate desks, typing.]<br />
:Cueball: Man, you're being inconsistent with your array indices. Some are from one, some are from zero.<br />
:Black Hat: Different tasks call for different conventions. To quote Stanford algorithm's expert Donald Knuth, "Who are you? How did you get in my house?"<br />
:Cueball: Wait, what?<br />
:Black Hat: Well, that's what he said when I asked him about it.<br />
<br />
{{comic discussion}}<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Black Hat]]<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Donald Knuth]]<br />
[[Category:Programming]]</div>Btx40https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=184:_Matrix_Transform&diff=41999184: Matrix Transform2013-06-25T21:04:01Z<p>Btx40: /* Explanation */</p>
<hr />
<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 184<br />
| date = November 15, 2006<br />
| title = Matrix Transform<br />
| image = matrix_transform.png<br />
| titletext = In fact, draw all your rotational matrices sideways. Your professors will love it! And then they'll go home and shrink.<br />
}}<br />
<br />
==Explanation==<br />
A {{w|Rotation matrix|rotational matrix transformation}} (i.e. the big brackets with a few "cos" and "sin" in them) is used in computer graphics to rotate an image. The product of the transform matrix and the argument vector (a1, a2) is a rotated version of the argument vector, which should be noted as (a1', a2'). Here, the joke is that the author turned the image of the vector rather than writing the correct answer. Rotational matrix transformations are a special case of the general linear matrix transform, which can do other things to images, including shrinking them. However, turning the rotational matrix sideways does not make it a shrinking matrix.<br />
<br />
==Transcript==<br />
:[A square matrix next to a vertical two-by-one matrix, equated to a horizontal matrix that looks like the two-by-one matrix turned 90 degrees.]<br />
:[Square matrix:<br />
: cos90° sin90°<br />
: -sin90° cos90°]<br />
:[Two by one matrix:<br />
: a₁<br />
: a₂]<br />
:[An equal sign]<br />
:[The same two by one matrix, but rotated by 90 degrees clockwise:<br />
: a₁<br />
: a₂]<br />
<br />
{{comic discussion}}<br />
[[Category:Math]]</div>Btx40https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=311:_Action_Movies&diff=41532311: Action Movies2013-06-21T16:07:41Z<p>Btx40: /* Explanation */ I think the "Beat Up Everyone" is part of the title</p>
<hr />
<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 311<br />
| date = September 3, 2007<br />
| title = Action Movies<br />
| image = action_movies.png<br />
| titletext = By my count, only 48 of the 158 minutes in Live Free or Die Hard have action. That's pathetic, guys. Crank is better, but needs a bigger budget and more Summer Glau.<br />
}}<br />
<br />
==Explanation==<br />
{{incomplete|Does not explain the comic, reads like a second transcript.}}<br />
[[Megan]] and [[Cueball]] are talking about a movie and Cueball is stating that he does need more action. <br />
<br />
The final picture is presenting a film called "River Tam Beats Up Everyone" showing many dead people on the floor, maybe this is it what Cueball is waiting for.<br />
But {{w|River Tam}} is just a fictional character, extremely intellectually, even when she was 14 years old. But at that time her horror just did start.<br />
<br />
The title text is another hint because River Tam is portrayed by actor {{w|Summer Glau}}.<br />
<br />
==Transcript==<br />
:[Cueball and Megan are talking together as they walk away from a cinema.]<br />
:Cueball: Another summer gone without a mindless big-budget action movie.<br />
:Megan: Huh? Die Hard was nothing BUT action!<br />
:Cueball: No, it was too talky.<br />
:Megan: What? Too talky?<br />
:Cueball: I tallied it minute-by-minute. It's at least 60% people walking and talking. ALL those movies are.<br />
:Cueball: Just once, I want a real action movie. 30 seconds of exposition followed by a perfect 90-minute action scene. One with a huge budget, a good choreographer, and a great director.<br />
:Megan: And they should center it around some character we already know, someone we never get tired of watching.<br />
:Cueball: I think we've got something here...<br />
:[A movie poster is shown.]<br />
: Coming this summer<br />
: River Tam<br />
: Beats up EVERYONE<br />
:[The movie shows a line of houses, there are people beat up and lying in doorways, out of windows, and on the sidewalk. River Tam is doing a flying kick into someone's face.]<br />
<br />
{{comic discussion}}<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]<br />
[[Category:Comics with color]]</div>Btx40https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=1228:_Prometheus&diff=415311228: Prometheus2013-06-21T16:05:32Z<p>Btx40: This looks complete</p>
<hr />
<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 1228<br />
| date = June 21, 2013<br />
| title = Prometheus<br />
| image = prometheus.png<br />
| titletext = 'I'm here to return what Prometheus stole.' would be a good thing to say if you were a fighter pilot in a Michael Bay movie where for some reason the world's militaries had to team up to defeat every god from human mythology, and you'd just broken through the perimeter and gotten a missile lock on Mount Olympus.<br />
}}<br />
<br />
==Explanation==<br />
The cartoon is referring to myth of {{w|Prometheus}}, who "stole" the secret of fire from the {{w|Twelve Olympians|Greek gods}} and gave it to humankind and is an (only slightly) oblique reference to {{w|file-sharing}} activities, where opponents accuse those taking part of stealing music / movies / other {{w|copyright}} content but others say that 'sharing' is just that - no one is deprived of the original and many shared copies would never be purchased anyway.<br />
<br />
It is also making a not so subtle dig at the prevalent idea that you can't steal ideas because the original owner still has them.<br />
The caption is a play on the phrase "{{w|information wants to be free}}".<br />
<br />
The hover text references Hollywood director {{w|Michael Bay}} (famous for ''{{w|Transformers (film)|Transformers}}'' and ''{{w|Armageddon (film)|Armageddon}}'') whose over-the-top action movies often involve a character saying a line that is a play on words right before doing something heroic. The play on words here is that "What Prometheus stole" was fire, and without it, modern rocketry and missile technology would not exist, so a fighter pilot firing a missile at {{w|Mount Olympus}} (where the Greek gods reside) would be, in effect, "returning" the fire that Prometheus stole from them.<br />
<br />
==Transcript==<br />
:[Prometheus holding a torch. Cueball pointing at him and talking to another person.]<br />
:Cueball: Prometheus has stolen fire from the gods!<br />
:Prometheus: Well, sort of.<br />
:Prometheus: I mean, when you use a fire to make another fire, the first fire doesn't go away.<br />
:Prometheus: So really, it's more like ''sharing''<br />
:Fire wants to be free.<br />
<br />
{{comic discussion}}<br />
[[Category:Comics with color]]<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]</div>Btx40https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=Turn-On&diff=39679Turn-On2013-06-06T15:16:20Z<p>Btx40: Redirected page to 474: Turn-On</p>
<hr />
<div>#REDIRECT [[474: Turn-On]]</div>Btx40https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=474&diff=396784742013-06-06T15:14:18Z<p>Btx40: Redirected page to 474: Turn-On</p>
<hr />
<div>#REDIRECT [[474: Turn-On]]</div>Btx40https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=474:_Turn-On&diff=39677474: Turn-On2013-06-06T15:13:40Z<p>Btx40: </p>
<hr />
<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 474<br />
| date = September 10, 2008<br />
| title = Turn-On<br />
| image = turn-on.png<br />
| titletext = Supercollider? I 'ardly know her!<br />
}}<br />
<br />
==Explanation==<br />
This comic references the first start up of CERN's Large Hadron Collider. There was a theoretical concern that that the LHC experiments could create a black hole which would suck in our planet. That's why Cueball said it may their last night on Earth. Physicists (like Megan) have determined that the fears are unfounded.<br />
<br />
In the bar the physicist Megan takes "charming" to refer to the Quark fundamental particles the LHC is generating. All 6 flavors of Quarks are in the strip, Top, Bottom, Up, Down, Charm and Strange.<br />
<br />
The title-text is of course a very old joke.<br />
<br />
==Transcript==<br />
Man: So, the LHC's turning on. This could be our last night on earth.<br />
Woman: Gimme a break. They're not even colliding yet, and it won't do anything cosmic rays haven't.<br />
[The man starts to turn away.]<br />
Woman: Hey, I didn't say no.<br />
Woman: I'm a physics grad student. I need the excuse to party.<br />
Man: So, you're up for a night with a charming stranger?<br />
Woman: Depends. Top or bottom?<br />
Man: Hey, I haven't even bought you a drink.<br />
Woman: Barkeep, two whiskey sours, straight down.<br />
<br />
{{comic discussion}}<br />
<!-- Include any categories below this line. --><br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]</div>Btx40https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=474:_Turn-On&diff=39672474: Turn-On2013-06-06T14:49:46Z<p>Btx40: </p>
<hr />
<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 474<br />
| date = <!-- Click on the "All Comics" button in the sidebar on the left and find this comic in the list. The date is in the rightmost column, in the form YYYY-MM-DD. Please replace this comment with the date in Mmmm D, YYYY format. --><br />
| title = Turn-On<br />
| image = <br />
| titletext = <br />
}}<br />
<br />
==Explanation==<br />
This comic references the first start up of CERN's Large Hadron Collider. There was a theoretical concern that that the LHC experiments could create a black hole which would suck in our planet. That's why Cueball said it may their last night on Earth. Physicists (like Megan) have determined that the fears are unfounded.<br />
<br />
In the bar the physicist Megan takes "charming" to refer to the Quark fundamental particles the LHC is generating. All 6 flavors of Quarks are in the strip, Top, Bottom, Up, Down, Charm and Strange.<br />
<br />
The title-text is of course a very old joke.<br />
<br />
==Transcript==<br />
<!-- The transcript can be found in a hidden <div> element on the xkcd comic's html source, with id "transcript".<br />
-- Tip: Use colons (:) in the beginning of lines to preserve the original line breaks. <br />
-- Any actions or descriptive lines in [[double brackets]] should be reduced to [single brackets] to avoid wikilinking.<br />
-- Similarly for {{}}. Be careful to escape multiple ~s with <nowiki></nowiki>.<br />
-- Do not include the title text again here. --><br />
<br />
{{comic discussion}}<br />
<!-- Include any categories below this line. --></div>Btx40https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=705:_Devotion_to_Duty&diff=38919705: Devotion to Duty2013-05-30T14:55:09Z<p>Btx40: /* Explanation */</p>
<hr />
<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 705<br />
| date = February 22, 2010<br />
| title = Devotion to Duty<br />
| image = devotion_to_duty.png<br />
| titletext = The weird sense of duty really good sysadmins have can border on the sociopathic, but it's nice to know that it stands between the forces of darkness and your cat blog's servers.<br />
<br />
}}<br />
<br />
==Explanation==<br />
This comic depicts a bearded criminal holding a pistol and talking on the phone, most likely to his boss or paymaster.<br />
<br />
We are unsure of his aims (terrorism, robbery, etc.) but he has taken hostages and cut all links to the outside world, in order to control the situation and prevent the police from observing the interior of the building (as popularly depicted in film and television). Initially all appears to be normal (for a hostage situation) to the reader but then the hostage-taker explains on the phone that someone has entered the building, climbed the air vents to bypass their cordon, effortlessly killing other hostage-takers (who are likely hardened killers with weaponry) on his way to the server room and then ignored the hostages, preferring instead to reconnect the servers to the outside world. The hostage-taker is evidently puzzled by this and explains it to the person on the other end of the phone, who immediately recognizes the reason: the man that entered the building is a "{{w|sysadmin}}" and is concerned that his servers are losing "uptime" to the internet. This evidently concerns the man on the phone, who knows that a good sysadmin is an unstoppable force once started!<br />
<br />
This comic is a reference to one of two things (or both): the Hollywood depiction of heroes able to perform superhuman feats in tricky situations (for example, John McClane in {{w|Die Hard}}), or the duty that people impose upon themselves to go above and beyond the call of duty to ensure that they carry out their work (in this case a dutiful sysadmin, concerned for those trying to use his server).<br />
<br />
==Transcript==<br />
:[Bearded criminal is holding a pistol and talking on a mobile phone]<br />
:Criminal: We took the hostages, secured the building and cut the communication lines like you said.<br />
:Phone: Excellent.<br />
<br />
:[Still talking on the phone, waving gun around in the air animatedly]<br />
:Criminal: But then this guy climbed up the ventilation ducts and walked across broken glass, killing anyone we sent to stop him.<br />
<br />
:Phone: And he rescued the hostages?<br />
<br />
:[Criminal looking confused and defeated, shoulders hunched and pistol hanging limply at his side]<br />
:Criminal: No, he ignored them. He just reconnected the cables we cut, muttering something about "uptime".<br />
:Phone: Shit, we're dealing with a ''sysadmin''.<br />
<br />
{{comic discussion}}</div>Btx40https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=309:_Shopping_Teams&diff=38918309: Shopping Teams2013-05-30T14:54:03Z<p>Btx40: /* Explanation */</p>
<hr />
<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 309<br />
| date = August 29, 2007<br />
| title = Shopping Teams<br />
| image = shopping_teams.png<br />
| titletext = I am never going out to buy an air conditioner with my sysadmin again.<br />
}}<br />
<br />
==Explanation==<br />
In this comic, Randall is comparing the ways different people look at choosing between similar products. In the first example, which Randall considers "bad", two "non-nerds" look at two products (which are two boxes without a description of any kind,) and instantly decide which one they want. In the second example, which is considered good, one of the two is a nerd and one is a non-nerd. The non-nerd instantly picks one of the products but the nerd evaluates the two and decides that the other one is better because it's a better deal. In both the first two cases, the pair are able to easily come to a decision.<br />
<br />
However, in the third example, two nerds are comparing the two boxes, and both of them overanalyse the various merits and drawbacks of each of the two boxes, to the point that they are still there two hours later, unable to reach a clear agreement on which of the two boxes they wish to buy. One comments that their definition of value is unclear, suggesting the discussion has gone on for so long that they are reevaluating their definitions over something so trivial. Some might perceive this as typical "nerd" behaviour, overanalysing a problem which is in actual fact quite trivial, such as the decision whether to buy one box or another virtually identical box. A woman who has been watching the two nerds comparing the two products attempts to put this into perspective by pointing out that an unclear definition of value is not their problem. The implication is that their problem is they are unable to reach an agreement on something that makes so little difference at the end of the day.<br />
<br />
The title text suggests that Randall entered a similar situation attempting to buy an air conditioner with his sysadmin, short for {{w|System administrator}}. The sysadmin is a person in an organisation employed to manage the computer system or network, a role which requires technical skills and intelligence. The suggestion here is that a computer programmer like Randall, put together with a sysadmin, would spend as much attention to detail as the two nerds in the comic, labouring over which of two trivially similar products to buy.<br />
<br />
Randall has dealt with sysadmins before in [[705: Devotion to Duty]].<br />
<br />
==Transcript==<br />
:[Each team is looking at a counter with two cubes on it.]<br />
:Bad: Two non-nerds<br />
:Cueball: Let's get that one.<br />
:Friend: okay.<br />
:Good: non-nerd + nerd<br />
:Woman: Let's get that one.<br />
:Cueball: Wait, I think that one might be a better deal.<br />
:Woman: Okay, that one. <br />
:Very Bad: Two Nerds<br />
:Cueball: How about that one?<br />
:Friend: i think the other one might be the better deal...<br />
:Cueball: Hmm, I'm not sure...'<br />
:Two Hours Later<br />
<br />
:[Nerds are sitting in front of laptops with papers strewn about in front of display counter.]<br />
:Cueball: I think our main problem is our unclear definition of value.<br />
:Woman: That is not your main problem!<br />
<br />
{{comic discussion}}<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]</div>Btx40https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=1207:_AirAware&diff=361561207: AirAware2013-05-03T14:25:37Z<p>Btx40: That wasn't Danish</p>
<hr />
<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 1207<br />
| date = May 3, 2013<br />
| title = AirAware<br />
| image = airaware.png<br />
| titletext = It ships with a version of Google Now that alerts you when it&#39;s too late to leave for your appointments.<br />
}}<br />
<br />
==Explanation==<br />
Upon being asked by [[Cueball]], [[Black Hat]] reveals his new 'business', AirAware. He explains it uses a {{w|Quadrotor}} that flies and records a persons daily schedule, if that person either deviates, forgets an appointment, or tells somebody incorrect information (including that of future events) the drone alerts the 'client' with an annoying "WRONG!.<br />
<br />
Cueball questions whether it is actually a business, as it does not seem to generate money. Black Hat expands, saying that it does not, and he is simply releasing them himself, not-for profit. Cueball starts to argue that it is not a business, since there is no monetary gain, before being abruptly interrupted by the AirAware drone, implying that his previous sentence was incorrect.<br />
<br />
Although the Wikipedia page for {{w|business}} states that a business "may also be not-for-profit" it would be better classified as a different type of organization, or even, as a hobby.<br />
<br />
==Transcript==<br />
:[Cueball and Black Hat looking at a remote-controlled flying object.]<br />
:Cueball: What's that?<br />
:Black Hat: It's a drone for my new business, ''AirAware''.<br />
<br />
:Black Hat (narrating): Our UAVs follow you and learn your schedule. If you miss a turn, forget an appointment, or give someone inaccurate information, they alert you.<br />
:Megan (on phone): I'll be there in five.<br />
:Booming voice from the sky: ''WRONG!''<br />
:Megan: Augh!<br />
<br />
:Cueball: That sounds annoying. Who would ''pay'' for that?<br />
:Black Hat: Huh? Nobody pays. I'm just making these and releasing them.<br />
<br />
:Cueball: That's not a business. You're just yelling at strangers from the sky.<br />
:Cueball: A business has to make money somehow.<br />
:Booming voice from the sky: ''WRONG!''<br />
:Cueball (in smaller voice): Augh!!<br />
<br />
{{comic discussion}}<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Black Hat]]<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]</div>Btx40https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=Talk:229:_Graffiti&diff=35739Talk:229: Graffiti2013-04-30T18:58:41Z<p>Btx40: Blanked the page</p>
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<div></div>Btx40https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=Talk:638:_The_Search&diff=34209Talk:638: The Search2013-04-18T16:31:52Z<p>Btx40: Blanked the page</p>
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<div></div>Btx40https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=User_talk:Lcarsos&diff=33420User talk:Lcarsos2013-04-12T19:48:36Z<p>Btx40: /* About your discussion on explain xkcd:Community Portal/Coordination */</p>
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<div>==Moved discussion==<br />
Hi, just to let you know that I move the thread you started to [[explain xkcd:Community portal/Admin requests]]. Cheers, --[[User:Waldir|Waldir]] ([[User talk:Waldir|talk]]) 10:33, 10 August 2012 (UTC)<br />
<br />
== Ruby Importer ==<br />
''For discussion of the Ruby Import assistant. Please create subsections for each item.''<br />
<br />
===Multi-file Generation===<br />
I assume that <tt>./importer.rb 100{0,1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9}</tt> would also work? [[User:Blaisepascal|Blaisepascal]] ([[User talk:Blaisepascal|talk]]) 02:08, 26 August 2012 (UTC)<br />
: I hadn't even thought of that. I'll try it and report back as soon as I get home after work. [[User:Lcarsos|lcarsos]] ([[User talk:Lcarsos|talk]]) 16:18, 27 August 2012 (UTC)<br />
:: It'll work; it's not a Ruby thing, it's a Borne Shell thing. When the Borne Shell does wild-card expansion, it generates all alternatives enclosed in braces. So "echo 1{2,3,4,5}" is equivalent to "echo 12 13 14 15". I've been known to do things like <tt>echo 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 {1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9}{0,1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9} 100</tt> to list all numbers between 1 and 100. [[User:Blaisepascal|Blaisepascal]] ([[User talk:Blaisepascal|talk]]) 16:34, 27 August 2012 (UTC)<br />
::: I just ssh'd into a linux box, and yes that will work. But I still prefer using <tt>seq 1 100</tt>, much easier to type. [[User:Lcarsos|lcarsos]] ([[User talk:Lcarsos|talk]]) 17:17, 27 August 2012 (UTC)<br />
<br />
==Removing Erroneous Categories==<br />
It seems to me that if you are removing the same "erroneous" category from three comics that all refer to the same thing (like Wikipedia) that perhaps a bit more explanation needs to be made as to why the category is erroneous. [[User:Blaisepascal|Blaisepascal]] ([[User talk:Blaisepascal|talk]]) 21:32, 27 August 2012 (UTC)<br />
<br />
:I was going through categories, and it looked like someone had started to tag any page that had a link to Wikpedia. I was putting a stop to it.<br />
<br />
:But now that you've elevated this to conscious level, it might be that 2 of the pages were tagged Wikipedia because the theme of the comic was Wikipedia. The first one that caught my eye, [[548: Kindle]], merely had the word Wikipedia, that one to me seems that it was incorrectly categorized. The other two, now that I think about it, would make sense if we're categorizing comics by theme. I'll go back, make restitution, and fix [[739: Malamanteau]] and [[214: The Problem with Wikipedia]], and undo changes to the Wikipedia category. Thanks for keeping me honest.<br />
<br />
:[[User:Lcarsos|lcarsos]] ([[User talk:Lcarsos|talk]]) 21:49, 27 August 2012 (UTC)<br />
<br />
== LCARS ==<br />
<br />
Saw this and thought of you: http://www.engadget.com/2011/07/12/star-trek-padd-app-is-a-lcars-sporting-trekkies-reference-bible/<br />
<br />
:Okay, first, I'd like to thank you for showing this to me. I'm always interested to see anything Star Trek related. Always. There should never be a Trek-less day, for anyone, ever. But, now, you've opened a can of worms so now I get to do a little bit of ranting.<br />
<br />
:With a few exceptions, anything "official" that Paramount/CBS Paramount/CBS commissions to be made based on Star Trek is crap. This is one of those things. The interface, while reminiscent of, and is close enough to scare away the children, is a tragedy that shouldn't have the privilege of being able to call itself "official" or "LCARS". The color scheme is vomitous, every color that could have been put into the interface is there, as opposed to the restrained every-color-represents-a-function style that is shown in the show. About the one thing they got correct is the use of the LCARS font. Other than that, the font is too large in every instance. The font should be bottom-right aligned, and there should be a generous amount of padding except for the bottom-right corner. And, except for actual paragraph text, everything should be all-caps.<br />
<br />
:They also got the elbos (the bits that change from vertical UI to horizontal and vice versa) wrong. The curves aren't skewed like that. A quick look at the fan-made [http://www.lcarsdeveloper.com LCARS Standards website] would have showed them the correct way to build an elbo. Or, ''*GASP*'' they could ask Michael Okuda to consult on the project.<br />
<br />
:Final UI complaint: What is that panel on the bottom doing? You mean that the people that made this app completely missed the idea of the LCARS UI and just have a panel at the bottom with skinned buttons that take you to the main sections of the app? Also, don't mix the butt-ended buttons with the fully rounded buttons. Just don't. Someone should have slapped you in art school for doing that.<br />
<br />
:From reviews of the app in iTunes, it looks like the app isn't even fully baked. The database isn't full, just has entries for the popular characters and ships. This should be a front end for Memory-Alpha, but you'd have to do some work to strip out all the wikia bs.<br />
<br />
:Finally, still iOS only? It's apparently been out for a year, and been updated once, in October, 2011. Was this a one-off, did CBS hire Random Company LLC to "Make a thing for the hip kids, with the iPads and the what-not" pay them to get the app out the door, kept them for a month to fix bugs and then fired them? Have we heard of Android? Is this the 90s when developers had to pick between developing for Windows 95 or Mac OS 8?<br />
<br />
:Why is this catastrophe $5? There's obviously no development work going on, CBS makes bank off of the DVDs and other crap merchandise they sell (why are there no officially licensed replica isolinear chips?). This is pure, simple corporate greed.<br />
<br />
:Sorry for the rant, I get angry when my favorite things are mistreated. [[User:Lcarsos|lcarsos]] ([[User talk:Lcarsos|talk]]) 17:05, 10 September 2012 (UTC)<br />
<br />
== Double redirect ==<br />
<br />
You're right. I knew there had been a reason I didn't do that for the first pile of comics I created. That's for reminding me. [[User:TheHYPO|TheHYPO]] ([[User talk:TheHYPO|talk]]) 21:37, 13 September 2012 (UTC)<br />
<br />
:Yep. [[User:Lcarsos|lcarsos]] ([[User talk:Lcarsos|talk]]) 21:38, 13 September 2012 (UTC)<br />
<br />
== To the human behind the curtain ==<br />
Moved conversation to the correct [[User talk:XERXES.ai|talk page]]<br />
<br />
== Congrats on becoming Admin ==<br />
Looks like my days of 700+ changes per month are a thing of the past! (What ''will'' I ever do with all the free time now? Edit, perhaps? ;-) -- [[User:IronyChef|IronyChef]] ([[User talk:IronyChef|talk]]) 06:32, 14 November 2012 (UTC)<br />
<br />
:Grazie. I noticed Jeff do a little bit of work, and then go silent. So, I hoped that I could catch him with a tab still open pointing out our plight. It looks like it worked! Also, I'd be lying if I said it wasn't in part because you started that daily counter of edits on your user page. [[User:Lcarsos|lcarsos]]<span title="I'm an admin. I can help.">_a</span> ([[User talk:Lcarsos|talk]]) 06:40, 14 November 2012 (UTC)<br />
<br />
:: Minor thing; do it too if you want to. When deleting spam pages, I "[omitted]" any link that appeared in the deletion comment, just so it doesn't even show up in the logs. -- [[User:IronyChef|IronyChef]] ([[User talk:IronyChef|talk]]) 06:50, 20 November 2012 (UTC)<br />
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:::I keep forgetting. Sorry about that. [[User:Lcarsos|lcarsos]]<span title="I'm an admin. I can help.">_a</span> ([[User talk:Lcarsos|talk]]) 13:16, 20 November 2012 (UTC)<br />
<br />
:Looks like [http://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=Special%3ALog&type=newusers&user=&page=User%3ALcarsos&year=&month=-1&hide_patrol_log=1 you registered your account] just two days before I [http://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?limit=50&tagfilter=&title=Special%3AContributions&contribs=user&target=Waldir&namespace=&year=2012&month=10 I went on a hiatus] for a while, so I'm afraid we never got a chance to interact much. Although away from editing, I've been following the wiki activity through RSS, so I'm aware of the huge amount of work you've put in, which I appreciate. And of course, I take the opportunity to congratulate you on earning your admin "badge". Cheers! --[[User:Waldir|Waldir]] ([[User talk:Waldir|talk]]) 17:05, 20 November 2012 (UTC)<br />
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::Thanks! I seem to have started contributing at the moment when everyone else went on hiatus. It got very quiet for a while, but it seems like it's coming back alive. [[User:Lcarsos|lcarsos]]<span title="I'm an admin. I can help.">_a</span> ([[User talk:Lcarsos|talk]]) 18:28, 20 November 2012 (UTC)<br />
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== Category:Comic images ==<br />
<br />
Hi Lcarsos. I noticed you categorized two images in [[:Category:Comic images]]. I am actually using the ones that aren't categorized yet as a todo list of those which haven't been moved to the original filenames (lowercase). If you categorize more images, please make sure to also move them to the lowercase filename, and fix the redirect from the filename with only the first character uppercased. That is: there are typically 3 file pages for every comic: file_name.png, File_Name.png and File_name.png, with the first and third redirecting to the middle one, and the end result shoudl be the second and third redirecting to the first. I hope this isn't confusing :) --[[User:Waldir|Waldir]] ([[User talk:Waldir|talk]]) 18:30, 22 November 2012 (UTC)<br />
<br />
:Sorry about that. I saw that BPothier uncategorized those two, but when I looked at them I saw they were redirection pages, and when I checked a few other images I saw the category was on the images. I thought I would be helpful and put the category on the File page instead of undoing the change on the redirect page. Sorry to be a nuisance. [[User:Lcarsos|lcarsos]]<span title="I'm an admin. I can help.">_a</span> ([[User talk:Lcarsos|talk]]) 18:36, 22 November 2012 (UTC)<br />
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:: Not at all :) You acted in a perfectly reasonable way. In fact I missed the fact that you were actually moving a category from a redirect to the real image, which makes perfect sense. I am the one using the uncategorized files list as a personal todo list, in clear unorthodox fashion :P --[[User:Waldir|Waldir]] ([[User talk:Waldir|talk]]) 04:29, 23 November 2012 (UTC)<br />
<br />
== Captchas ==<br />
<br />
I believe there's an option to force all users of a certain group to take the captcha when editing. Could you change the captcha settings to force all anonymous users to pass one to edit? This is getting stupid. [[User:Davidy22|<span title="I want you."><u><font color="purple" size="2px">David</font><font color="green" size="3px">y</font></u><sup><font color="indigo" size="1px">22</font></sup></span>]][[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>(talk)</tt>]] 07:14, 25 November 2012 (UTC)<br />
<br />
:First off, this is a request for Waldir. I have no idea what I'm doing. Second, I've looked at the captcha pages in MediaWiki's manual, and it looks like I don't have the rights to do that, it would have to be someone who can edit the php files to change that over (*ahem* Jeff). Third, I've clicked on every link in [[Special:SpecialPages]] and I don't see anywhere that I can change that. I wish I could. Fourth, I am sick and tired of all this spam!!!!! [[User:Lcarsos|lcarsos]]<span title="I'm an admin. I can help.">_a</span> ([[User talk:Lcarsos|talk]]) 08:12, 25 November 2012 (UTC)<br />
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== Deletion ==<br />
<br />
I'm sure you only overlooked this because of being busy fighting huge amounts of spam, but there was actually some valid history behind [[explain xkcd:Community portal/Design]], which I just restored (I left the spam edits under the carpet, though). It's not a huge deal, and as you can see, it's easily reversible, but it's generally nice to preserve page histories for archival reasons. Also, please comment on [[explain xkcd:Community portal/Technical#We need more maintainers]] when you have the chance. Cheers, [[User:Waldir|Waldir]] ([[User talk:Waldir|talk]]) 17:50, 25 November 2012 (UTC)<br />
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:Oops, again. I don't know if it was a case of unfortunate blindness, or I was too far into spam fighting that I simply deleted it. Sorry about that. [[User:Lcarsos|lcarsos]]<span title="I'm an admin. I can help.">_a</span> ([[User talk:Lcarsos|talk]]) 20:35, 25 November 2012 (UTC)<br />
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== Patrolling ==<br />
<br />
Hi, Lcarsos. I think this might be useful for you since you're doing so much work on spam fighting: [[mw:Help:Patrolled edits]]. I asked Jeff to change the wiki configuration so that edits by "auto-confirmed" users will be automatically patrolled. This means the feature should be more useful from now on. Let me know if it helps. Cheers, [[User:Waldir|Waldir]] ([[User talk:Waldir|talk]]) 21:28, 25 November 2012 (UTC)<br />
<br />
:Edits from logged in people are still showing as un-patrolled. I don't think that's necessarily a bad thing. There are several editors that have created accounts that I'm not quite ready to blanket state that every edit they make are perfectly good. I think that if we had more people that were patrolling pages and edits the feature would be more useful. But, since it's just me going through and occasionally remembering to mark a page as patrolled, it's not very useful as I can generally remember where I've perused through. I think if we got Davidy22 rights to patrol edits too, I think that would push it over the mark into useful territory. [[User:Lcarsos|lcarsos]]<span title="I'm an admin. I can help.">_a</span> ([[User talk:Lcarsos|talk]]) 21:43, 29 November 2012 (UTC)<br />
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::Jeff {{diff|20769&oldid{{=}}20467|just enabled}} the tweaks to the autopatrolling feature as I asked him to. I know we can't immediately trust every edit a recent user does, but I find that well-intentioned mistakes (which we all make btw) are much easier to fix, and overall less harmful than spam/vandalism. Right now the threshold for autopatrolling is at 3 days of age and 10 edits (both conditions have to be met). We can tweak that if we decide different values would work better, but I am assuming that spammers and otherwise malicious editors would be caught and blocked before that. I intend to use the following links to help weed out the bad stuff from the wiki:<br />
::* [{{fullurl:Special:RecentChanges|hideanons=1&hidepatrolled=1}} Unpatrolled changes by registered users]<br />
::* [{{fullurl:Special:RecentChanges|hideliu=1&hidepatrolled=1}} Unpatrolled changes by anonymous users]<br />
::Of course, only edits from now on will apply the new parameters, so older edits by (non-admin) trusted editors still show as unpatrolled. But from now on it will probably make sifting the recent changes a little easier, since we can now filter out edits that we don't have to worry much about, leaving only new users and anonymous ones, the groups spammers/vandals are most likely to belong to.<br />
::Also, I agree that Davidy22 could have patrolling rights by now. I am liberal about adminship, so I'd suggest we ask Jeff to "promote" him, as that would do it.<br />
::Cheers, [[User:Waldir|Waldir]] ([[User talk:Waldir|talk]]) 03:33, 4 December 2012 (UTC)<br />
<br />
== Blocking IPs ==<br />
<br />
I don't think anonymous vandals should be blocked indefinitely. IPs are generally not static so we might end up preventing someone from doing a legitimate contribution, while the spammer will likely not use that particular IP for very long. I suggest changing all [http://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?wpTarget=&wpOptions=userblocks&limit=50&title=Special%3ABlockList IP blocks] to have a finite expiration date, say a week, or a month. What do you think? --[[User:Waldir|Waldir]] ([[User talk:Waldir|talk]]) 15:55, 11 December 2012 (UTC)<br />
<br />
:I don't think that would be a good idea. Our second great spam bout was caused by the 1 month block that SlashMe placed on the IPs of a foregone spam attack expired, and suddenly all those computers had access to edit the wiki again. In theory IPs are not static, but the home I live in right now has had the same IP address since I moved in, and that's even with hard resetting the modem about weekly as Comcast fails to bond their channels together, and I suspect most ISPs work that way.<br />
<br />
:Maybe we could try an experiment where we let all the blocks expire and see what happens. ''But'', I ''do not'' want that to be anywhere near any holiday, or major event, or major xkcd comic post (see Click and Drag or Congress) as it would be nearly impossible to hand pick out the good from the spam.<br />
<br />
:I do understand that theoretically, if this goes on eventually we'll have blocked the whole internet from editing the wiki. We need a better way to lock this down. A lot of the wikis I've looked at disallow editing from anonymous users (See the [https://developer.valvesoftware.com/wiki/Main_Page Valve Developer] wiki and the [http://kspwiki.nexisonline.net/wiki/Main_Page Kerbal Space Program] wiki, this would cut down on about half the spam, and then we need a better way to stop the bots from registering accounts, somehow both the VDC and KSP wiki don't have any spam activity (creation or clean-up) for the past few days, we're obviously doing something wrong, but I have no idea what. We may be more popular than the KSP wiki, but certainly we aren't more popular than Valve's own wiki. [[User:Lcarsos|lcarsos]]<span title="I'm an admin. I can help.">_a</span> ([[User talk:Lcarsos|talk]]) 17:14, 11 December 2012 (UTC)<br />
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:: I see. Personally, I consider disabling anonymous editing as somehow admitting defeat (assuming bad faith by default) but maybe [[mw:Extension:SpamBlacklist]] could help. It uses a very extensive list maintained at meta.wikimedia.org. Do you think it could prevent spam rampages such as the last one? Otherwise, we could try some of the approaches listed at [[mw:Manual:Combating spam]] and [[mw:Anti-spam features]]. I am inclined towards more automatic methods, as most of those would require Jeff to edit the server, so a one-time config thing (using lists updates elsewhere) would be best. Thoughts? --[[User:Waldir|Waldir]] ([[User talk:Waldir|talk]]) 03:58, 14 December 2012 (UTC)<br />
<br />
== [[Stick figure]] linking to [[Cueball]] ==<br />
<br />
Hey there. Do you mind explaining why you reverted my comment on the Stick figure page? (that sounds like "argh how dare you do that" - not my intention, just looking to understand, since there was no explanation given in the changelog.) My thought was that "Stick figure" is a page discussing the art style that Randall uses for his characters. In such a page, it seemed appropriate to mention the one character that is the most representative of the "classic stick figure" (Cueball). I thought I added that sentence in a way that fit naturally with the rest of the text. Please let me know what the issues are so I can work on them. Thanks. [[User:Jerodast|- jerodast]] ([[User talk:Jerodast|talk]]) 15:26, 21 December 2012 (UTC)<br />
<br />
:The addition of Cueball was not necessarily helpful in describing what a stick figure is (and I'd like to start a debate on whether or not we should be in the business of doing Wikipedia's job, or simply restrict ourselves to explaining xkcd and providing links where appropriate). Likewise, including Cueball in the explanation of what a generic stick figure is, makes it sound like Cueball is simply a name we use for any character that has no defining features. Which is not true. Cueball has a specific set of generic traits (it's a complex way of thinking about it) which combine to form a geeky every-man who is quite annoyed by the rampant use of "[[1108|literally]]", is banned from quite a few security conferences (and at least one [[1090|grammar]] con), and is fond of [[651|showing security agents the flaws in airport security]].<br />
<br />
:So that's why I did it. [[User:Lcarsos|lcarsos]]<span title="I'm an admin. I can help.">_a</span> ([[User talk:Lcarsos|talk]]) 16:54, 21 December 2012 (UTC)<br />
<br />
== Categories ==<br />
<br />
Hey, Merry Christmas!<br />
<br />
If I, or someone else creates an arguably useful category that you don't really like, would you please say so on the talk page, so that we can discuss it, as a community. I agree that two entries doesn't make a category, but there are several more than two comics about Internet arguments. The topic itself is very specific, but it is also recurring indeed, just like [[:Category:Velociraptors|raptors]]. As for Flowcharts, I'm sure I know 5-6 comics containing them, just top of my head. That surely should be enuff? (At least get rid of the [[:Category:Axiom of Choice|Axiom of Choice]], if you are to be ... [[:Category:Puts on sunglasses|::puts on sunglasses::]] ... consistent.) ;) Swedish greetings from [[User:St.nerol|St.nerol]] ([[User talk:St.nerol|talk]]) 14:24, 26 December 2012 (UTC)<br />
<br />
:By that logic, I am now justified in reorganizing the entirety of [[:Category:Dynamic comics]]. I hold up that as an example of exactly why I stopped opening this up for a discussion and started ruthlessly cutting down our category count. In general I go by a simple rule of "Huh, I wonder if there are other comics on this topic?" which is why, many moons ago, I created the [[:Category:Axiom of Choice]] (created when we didn't have so many categories, and no one batted an eye at having a category with only two comics in it). This is why I think [[:Category:Internet]] is a very good category, and that Internet Arguments was not. Now, maybe I would have felt a little more lenient if it was <nowiki>[[Category:Trolling]]</nowiki> but that's because it's not so specific as to only be a handful of comics (and now that I say that out loud, I think there's quite a few that would fall under trolling).<br />
<br />
:This is because, as the wiki has come into its own, the mainstay editors have decided (and I'm the only one to vocalize it) that the categories a page has is not a traditional blog tag cloud where you simply vomit out everything that the comic contains. We use the categories as a way to "find similar" comics.<br />
<br />
:It really rankles me to have deeply nested categories, like [[:Category:Set theory]], but I'm willing to leave it there because I can see people coming by the site, reading a comic in Set Theory and wanting to read all the other ones on the same topic. Though I would greatly prefer it if it wasn't deeply nested, if it was simply parented to [[:Category:Comics by topic]] and then had a See Also section.<br />
<br />
:As for Axiom of Choice, I still believe that it's an odd enough thing to have in a comic, anyone browsing through might want to see other comics that make reference to it, but I'm open to deleting it.<br />
<br />
:--[[User:Lcarsos|lcarsos]]<span title="I'm an admin. I can help.">_a</span> ([[User talk:Lcarsos|talk]]) 00:59, 28 December 2012 (UTC)<br />
<br />
::Thanks for your answer. I think i mostly agree with you. Especially on that it should not be a tag cloud "to vomit out everything that the comic contains", but to find related ones. So at least no comic should be alone in a category.<br />
<br />
::I've been thinking that, while Internet might be a reasonable category, it is not in any way remarkable that the topic "Internet" recurs (of course it does). From that viewpoint it is much more interesting when e.g. the Axiom of Choice returns. The comics becomes much more tightly related, and that piece of information should doubtlessly be given in the wiki! I can think of two ways: by making a category, or by linking to the other comic(s) from the explanation page.<br />
<br />
::Since one can argue that set theory is a subdicipline of logic, a subdicipline of math, or neither, i just, without thinking too much, linked to (added) the category from all those levels. Maybe "See also" would be better. Why not?<br />
<br />
::Lastly, I must confess that i didn't get the "dynamic comics" part. If you were making a good point, please spell it out.<br />
<br />
::-- [[User:St.nerol|St.nerol]] ([[User talk:St.nerol|talk]]) 11:25, 28 December 2012 (UTC)<br />
<br />
:::Ages ago (I believe it was when we were first working on getting the explanation for [[Umwelt]] fleshed out) there was talk about what do we want to categorize it as. Someone, brilliantly, added an "Out of the ordinary" category, and did the same to [[961: Eternal Flame]], justifying that amid 1000+ comics these ones were truly odd, and broke the format (an animated gif and a comic that was different for nearly anyone depending on where they were, what browser they were using, etc.) that xkcd generally followed (geeky discussions, charts, and the occasional [[:Category:Large drawings|large drawing]]. Some other editors, that didn't quite understand, went into the back catalog and started adding other comics as being "out of the ordinary" such as [[Money]]. This ignited another conversation about what makes something ordinary, what makes it extraordinary, out-of-the-ordinary, the difference between the three, and why we have to have the majority be ordinary so we can have an out-of-the ordinary.<br />
<br />
:::Then Randall published [[Click and Drag]]. Amidst the insanity of everyone frothing at the mouth to completely, totally, and summarily flog that horse until it was dead three times over, it was put into the category "out of the ordinary" and then someone created an "interactive" category, and someone else put Umwelt into it. Then there was an edit war, and a conversation (about why we need to clamp down on new categories, what constitutes out of the ordinary, why Umwelt isn't interactive, and moaning that people should stop the edit war until a decision had been made) was started. It was cut short when [[Traffic Lights]] was posted and one of the editors went rogue and cleaned up "interactive comics", and moved "out of the ordinary" to dynamic comics. It's slowly morphed from there to how we currently have it set up today.<br />
<br />
:::Anyway, months ago I tried to start a discussion that none of the categories/comics should be part of a "Dynamic comics" parent category because none of them are "dynamic" they are very static. Since then I've been promoted to administrator, but I haven't touched it because, even though I may be a [http://www.catb.org/jargon/html/B/BOFH.html BOFH] at times, this is still a wiki, and I can't right every wrong simply by wielding the sword of righteous indignation.<br />
<br />
:::And that's all for storytime today. [[User:Lcarsos|lcarsos]]<span title="I'm an admin. I can help.">_a</span> ([[User talk:Lcarsos|talk]]) 16:29, 28 December 2012 (UTC)<br />
<br />
::::I think this is gonna be good! First, i don't know if i have anything to add about the dynamic stuff. But if no one seems to disagree, why not give it a shot? I wouldn't mind if you changed the nestings in math/set theory either. :) To get back to the "by topic", if i may:<br />
<br />
::::If two comics connect by some interesting topic or reference, I'd think it's neatest to just link them together with a note at the end of the explanation, like someone did to [[994: Advent Calendar]] also about Zeno, from the last comic. (I added a similar note in 994). Zeno might or might not come back, but anyway it's nice that you can click a wikilink and read another Zeno-joke. If it's a third comic about Zeno, we ''could'' do the same thing, (slightly more complicated, since we'd want all three to link to the other two), or consider a category. If it's suddenly four Zenos, well... What do you say? :) -- [[User:St.nerol|St.nerol]] ([[User talk:St.nerol|talk]]) 17:51, 30 December 2012 (UTC)<br />
<br />
:::::Sorry, I lost this tab, but I just found it again. Exactly. [[User:Lcarsos|lcarsos]]<span title="I'm an admin. I can help.">_a</span> ([[User talk:Lcarsos|talk]]) 01:27, 6 January 2013 (UTC)<br />
::::::Great! Hope you had a good day at church! :) -- [[User:St.nerol|St.nerol]] ([[User talk:St.nerol|talk]]) 19:55, 6 January 2013 (UTC)<br />
<br />
== Sections in talk pages ==<br />
<br />
Since we/you don't want sections in talk pages, how should we suitably structure the discussions? Where do you think I should answer on the probability thing (latest comic)? On the bottom, or in the middle of the page? {{unsigned|St.nerol}}<br />
<br />
:As I've said many times, simply commenting in a threaded chronological order is all that needs to happen. Chronological dictates that all new comments go at the bottom. Threaded dictates that if you are responding to a comment you indent one from the comment you are responding to. Together this means that a discussion starts at the far left, and the responses continue downward and rightward.<br />
<br />
:This is only for explanation talk pages, as it breaks the way that sections work through the transclusion of the talk page onto the explanation. [[User:Lcarsos|lcarsos]]<span title="I'm an admin. I can help.">_a</span> ([[User talk:Lcarsos|talk]]) 23:32, 12 January 2013 (UTC)<br />
::Thank you very much for clearing that up for me, supporting me in the discussion and, hrm, signing my question! –[[User:St.nerol|St.nerol]] ([[User talk:St.nerol|talk]]) 00:16, 13 January 2013 (UTC)<br />
<br />
:::Yep. I'm here to keep discussion civil. [[User:Lcarsos|lcarsos]]<span title="I'm an admin. I can help.">_a</span> ([[User talk:Lcarsos|talk]]) 00:51, 13 January 2013 (UTC)<br />
<br />
==Two images to delete==<br />
A couple of users ran into a conflict with a KDE desktop file on the server when trying to upload today's comic. Here's two broked images to delete [http://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=File:tar_xkcd.png][http://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=File:tar-1168.png] '''[[User:Davidy22|<span title="I want you."><u><font color="purple" size="2px">David</font><font color="green" size="3px">y</font></u><sup><font color="indigo" size="1px">22</font></sup></span>]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 07:11, 1 February 2013 (UTC)<br />
:Oh, and another one from a while ago when a user ran into a map stored on the server. People mess up so much when they're trying to make new explanation pages. [http://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=File:amazon_1165.png] '''[[User:Davidy22|<span title="I want you."><u><font color="purple" size="2px">David</font><font color="green" size="3px">y</font></u><sup><font color="indigo" size="1px">22</font></sup></span>]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 06:29, 2 February 2013 (UTC)<br />
<br />
::{{done}} [[User:Lcarsos|lcarsos]]<span title="I'm an admin. I can help.">_a</span> ([[User talk:Lcarsos|talk]]) 23:00, 2 February 2013 (UTC)<br />
<br />
:::And a botched redirect made by a newbie: [http://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=1120:_Bridge] '''[[User:Davidy22|<span title="I want you."><u><font color="purple" size="2px">David</font><font color="green" size="3px">y</font></u><sup><font color="indigo" size="1px">22</font></sup></span>]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 13:16, 11 February 2013 (UTC)<br />
<br />
:::{{done}} [[User:Lcarsos|lcarsos]]<span title="I'm an admin. I can help.">_a</span> ([[User talk:Lcarsos|talk]]) 19:03, 11 February 2013 (UTC)<br />
<br />
== "Unacceptable username" ==<br />
<br />
Hi,<br />
<br />
Just wondering, what does the "Unacceptable username" user-blocking reason refer to? (apart from the fact that these users closely resemble users ready to spam...)<br />
<br />
Just being curious. - [[User:Cos|Cos]] ([[User talk:Cos|talk]]) 14:09, 7 February 2013 (UTC)<br />
<br />
: Maybe it's just that you don't know what else to put when blocking a highly suspicious account? In which case you could add a reason in [[MediaWiki:Ipbreason-dropdown]], something like "User account suspicious compared to spamming schemes" (or a better phrasing than this one, which I'm not too sure of...).<br />
: Thing is, I don't see what's wrong in choosing for instance "Zbenjamin89" as a username. - [[User:Cos|Cos]] ([[User talk:Cos|talk]]) 14:41, 7 February 2013 (UTC)<br />
<br />
::You're right. I'm using "Unacceptable username" with the implicit subtitle "spammer-like username". I've been putting it on some of the block messages. I'm only blocking usernames that were created in blocks, that are suspiciously similar to known spamming accounts, and have no contributions despite the account being created hours before. If any one of them comes back and posts on their talk page, or gets in contact, to prove they are human I unblock them. So far, none of them have.<br />
<br />
::I got tired of having to clean up spam, and it seems that blocking these accounts that are created, left to sit for a day or a week, and then activated to spew absurd amounts of spam, has helped in some small measure. [[User:Lcarsos|lcarsos]]<span title="I'm an admin. I can help.">_a</span> ([[User talk:Lcarsos|talk]]) 23:52, 7 February 2013 (UTC)<br />
::<br />
::: So, what about adding a dedicated reason to [[MediaWiki:Ipbreason-dropdown]]? (with the right permissions, I'd have done it myself)<br />
::: As I said, I'm ''not'' blaming you for being the "BOFH" here (love that one ^^), I think that these blocks are useful indeed. I just feel the same thing could be done more intelligibly: someone stumbling upon one of those blocked accounts, or on a log, wouldn't understand and could deduce wrong things out of this. For instance, if you blocked a legitimate account among spammers (seems quite plausible, and in a way, unavoidable), it would not help the user to understand what the problem is, and chances are he would not try to fight to get his "unacceptable" username accepted by an environment he doesn't really know about...<br />
::: So, I believe adding a block reason is very quick and would be better. Maybe my previous phrasing isn't very good, then what about this simpler one: "User account suspicious, very similar to spamming accounts"?<br />
::: [[User:Cos|Cos]] ([[User talk:Cos|talk]]) 14:10, 8 February 2013 (UTC)<br />
<br />
== Hi, ==<br />
<br />
I understand you had exams. Hope they went well for you! May I ask what you're studying? (Myself I have one week to the exam in {{w|multivariable calculus}}!) ––[[User:St.nerol|St.nerol]] ([[User talk:St.nerol|talk]]) 00:00, 10 March 2013 (UTC)<br />
<br />
:Hi, the week before last I had a Physics exam (circuits, capacitance, AC circuits, Kirchoff's law, fun stuff), and last week I had midterms in both Discrete Mathematics (the most wordy math class I've ever taken, but it's about the only formal logic I've ever had, so I love it) and Operating Systems. I also had large projects due in both O.S. and a class called Elements of Computing Systems (The premise of the class is to build up a computer starting at {{w|nand gates}} and through multiple levels of abstraction eventually end up with a high level java-like language that compiles down to the machine language of the processor we "built"). It's all fun, but immensely draining. [[User:Lcarsos|lcarsos]]<span title="I'm an admin. I can help.">_a</span> ([[User talk:Lcarsos|talk]]) 09:45, 14 March 2013 (UTC)<br />
<br />
== About your discussion on [[explain xkcd:Community portal/Coordination]] ==<br />
<br />
Those two IPs you were complaining about - that was me (I was using two computers so two IPs). At that time I was a bit of a noob and did all of those things because I thought that I wasn't doing anything wrong.<br />
<br />
Things have changed. I haven't made many new categories (just [[Category:Bobcats]] and [[Category:Crossbows]]) and I started using <nowiki>{{incomplete}}</nowiki> on comics that I either can't explain or am not confident enough to do so.<br />
<br />
I do not like the way that I was treated as an anon, because, in my opinion, the community {{w|Wikipedia:Don't bite the newcomers|bit a newcomer}}. Nobody posted on either [[User talk:72.252.145.183]] or [[User talk:207.204.86.3]] so I only discovered that my actions were not received very well when I saw an angry edit summary. That was not at all pleasant or friendly. --[[User:Btx40|Btx40]] ([[User talk:Btx40|talk]]) 19:08, 12 April 2013 (UTC)</div>Btx40https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=User_talk:Lcarsos&diff=33419User talk:Lcarsos2013-04-12T19:48:13Z<p>Btx40: /* About your discussion on explain xkcd:Community Portal Coordination */ fix title</p>
<hr />
<div>==Moved discussion==<br />
Hi, just to let you know that I move the thread you started to [[explain xkcd:Community portal/Admin requests]]. Cheers, --[[User:Waldir|Waldir]] ([[User talk:Waldir|talk]]) 10:33, 10 August 2012 (UTC)<br />
<br />
== Ruby Importer ==<br />
''For discussion of the Ruby Import assistant. Please create subsections for each item.''<br />
<br />
===Multi-file Generation===<br />
I assume that <tt>./importer.rb 100{0,1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9}</tt> would also work? [[User:Blaisepascal|Blaisepascal]] ([[User talk:Blaisepascal|talk]]) 02:08, 26 August 2012 (UTC)<br />
: I hadn't even thought of that. I'll try it and report back as soon as I get home after work. [[User:Lcarsos|lcarsos]] ([[User talk:Lcarsos|talk]]) 16:18, 27 August 2012 (UTC)<br />
:: It'll work; it's not a Ruby thing, it's a Borne Shell thing. When the Borne Shell does wild-card expansion, it generates all alternatives enclosed in braces. So "echo 1{2,3,4,5}" is equivalent to "echo 12 13 14 15". I've been known to do things like <tt>echo 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 {1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9}{0,1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9} 100</tt> to list all numbers between 1 and 100. [[User:Blaisepascal|Blaisepascal]] ([[User talk:Blaisepascal|talk]]) 16:34, 27 August 2012 (UTC)<br />
::: I just ssh'd into a linux box, and yes that will work. But I still prefer using <tt>seq 1 100</tt>, much easier to type. [[User:Lcarsos|lcarsos]] ([[User talk:Lcarsos|talk]]) 17:17, 27 August 2012 (UTC)<br />
<br />
==Removing Erroneous Categories==<br />
It seems to me that if you are removing the same "erroneous" category from three comics that all refer to the same thing (like Wikipedia) that perhaps a bit more explanation needs to be made as to why the category is erroneous. [[User:Blaisepascal|Blaisepascal]] ([[User talk:Blaisepascal|talk]]) 21:32, 27 August 2012 (UTC)<br />
<br />
:I was going through categories, and it looked like someone had started to tag any page that had a link to Wikpedia. I was putting a stop to it.<br />
<br />
:But now that you've elevated this to conscious level, it might be that 2 of the pages were tagged Wikipedia because the theme of the comic was Wikipedia. The first one that caught my eye, [[548: Kindle]], merely had the word Wikipedia, that one to me seems that it was incorrectly categorized. The other two, now that I think about it, would make sense if we're categorizing comics by theme. I'll go back, make restitution, and fix [[739: Malamanteau]] and [[214: The Problem with Wikipedia]], and undo changes to the Wikipedia category. Thanks for keeping me honest.<br />
<br />
:[[User:Lcarsos|lcarsos]] ([[User talk:Lcarsos|talk]]) 21:49, 27 August 2012 (UTC)<br />
<br />
== LCARS ==<br />
<br />
Saw this and thought of you: http://www.engadget.com/2011/07/12/star-trek-padd-app-is-a-lcars-sporting-trekkies-reference-bible/<br />
<br />
:Okay, first, I'd like to thank you for showing this to me. I'm always interested to see anything Star Trek related. Always. There should never be a Trek-less day, for anyone, ever. But, now, you've opened a can of worms so now I get to do a little bit of ranting.<br />
<br />
:With a few exceptions, anything "official" that Paramount/CBS Paramount/CBS commissions to be made based on Star Trek is crap. This is one of those things. The interface, while reminiscent of, and is close enough to scare away the children, is a tragedy that shouldn't have the privilege of being able to call itself "official" or "LCARS". The color scheme is vomitous, every color that could have been put into the interface is there, as opposed to the restrained every-color-represents-a-function style that is shown in the show. About the one thing they got correct is the use of the LCARS font. Other than that, the font is too large in every instance. The font should be bottom-right aligned, and there should be a generous amount of padding except for the bottom-right corner. And, except for actual paragraph text, everything should be all-caps.<br />
<br />
:They also got the elbos (the bits that change from vertical UI to horizontal and vice versa) wrong. The curves aren't skewed like that. A quick look at the fan-made [http://www.lcarsdeveloper.com LCARS Standards website] would have showed them the correct way to build an elbo. Or, ''*GASP*'' they could ask Michael Okuda to consult on the project.<br />
<br />
:Final UI complaint: What is that panel on the bottom doing? You mean that the people that made this app completely missed the idea of the LCARS UI and just have a panel at the bottom with skinned buttons that take you to the main sections of the app? Also, don't mix the butt-ended buttons with the fully rounded buttons. Just don't. Someone should have slapped you in art school for doing that.<br />
<br />
:From reviews of the app in iTunes, it looks like the app isn't even fully baked. The database isn't full, just has entries for the popular characters and ships. This should be a front end for Memory-Alpha, but you'd have to do some work to strip out all the wikia bs.<br />
<br />
:Finally, still iOS only? It's apparently been out for a year, and been updated once, in October, 2011. Was this a one-off, did CBS hire Random Company LLC to "Make a thing for the hip kids, with the iPads and the what-not" pay them to get the app out the door, kept them for a month to fix bugs and then fired them? Have we heard of Android? Is this the 90s when developers had to pick between developing for Windows 95 or Mac OS 8?<br />
<br />
:Why is this catastrophe $5? There's obviously no development work going on, CBS makes bank off of the DVDs and other crap merchandise they sell (why are there no officially licensed replica isolinear chips?). This is pure, simple corporate greed.<br />
<br />
:Sorry for the rant, I get angry when my favorite things are mistreated. [[User:Lcarsos|lcarsos]] ([[User talk:Lcarsos|talk]]) 17:05, 10 September 2012 (UTC)<br />
<br />
== Double redirect ==<br />
<br />
You're right. I knew there had been a reason I didn't do that for the first pile of comics I created. That's for reminding me. [[User:TheHYPO|TheHYPO]] ([[User talk:TheHYPO|talk]]) 21:37, 13 September 2012 (UTC)<br />
<br />
:Yep. [[User:Lcarsos|lcarsos]] ([[User talk:Lcarsos|talk]]) 21:38, 13 September 2012 (UTC)<br />
<br />
== To the human behind the curtain ==<br />
Moved conversation to the correct [[User talk:XERXES.ai|talk page]]<br />
<br />
== Congrats on becoming Admin ==<br />
Looks like my days of 700+ changes per month are a thing of the past! (What ''will'' I ever do with all the free time now? Edit, perhaps? ;-) -- [[User:IronyChef|IronyChef]] ([[User talk:IronyChef|talk]]) 06:32, 14 November 2012 (UTC)<br />
<br />
:Grazie. I noticed Jeff do a little bit of work, and then go silent. So, I hoped that I could catch him with a tab still open pointing out our plight. It looks like it worked! Also, I'd be lying if I said it wasn't in part because you started that daily counter of edits on your user page. [[User:Lcarsos|lcarsos]]<span title="I'm an admin. I can help.">_a</span> ([[User talk:Lcarsos|talk]]) 06:40, 14 November 2012 (UTC)<br />
<br />
:: Minor thing; do it too if you want to. When deleting spam pages, I "[omitted]" any link that appeared in the deletion comment, just so it doesn't even show up in the logs. -- [[User:IronyChef|IronyChef]] ([[User talk:IronyChef|talk]]) 06:50, 20 November 2012 (UTC)<br />
<br />
:::I keep forgetting. Sorry about that. [[User:Lcarsos|lcarsos]]<span title="I'm an admin. I can help.">_a</span> ([[User talk:Lcarsos|talk]]) 13:16, 20 November 2012 (UTC)<br />
<br />
:Looks like [http://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=Special%3ALog&type=newusers&user=&page=User%3ALcarsos&year=&month=-1&hide_patrol_log=1 you registered your account] just two days before I [http://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?limit=50&tagfilter=&title=Special%3AContributions&contribs=user&target=Waldir&namespace=&year=2012&month=10 I went on a hiatus] for a while, so I'm afraid we never got a chance to interact much. Although away from editing, I've been following the wiki activity through RSS, so I'm aware of the huge amount of work you've put in, which I appreciate. And of course, I take the opportunity to congratulate you on earning your admin "badge". Cheers! --[[User:Waldir|Waldir]] ([[User talk:Waldir|talk]]) 17:05, 20 November 2012 (UTC)<br />
<br />
::Thanks! I seem to have started contributing at the moment when everyone else went on hiatus. It got very quiet for a while, but it seems like it's coming back alive. [[User:Lcarsos|lcarsos]]<span title="I'm an admin. I can help.">_a</span> ([[User talk:Lcarsos|talk]]) 18:28, 20 November 2012 (UTC)<br />
<br />
== Category:Comic images ==<br />
<br />
Hi Lcarsos. I noticed you categorized two images in [[:Category:Comic images]]. I am actually using the ones that aren't categorized yet as a todo list of those which haven't been moved to the original filenames (lowercase). If you categorize more images, please make sure to also move them to the lowercase filename, and fix the redirect from the filename with only the first character uppercased. That is: there are typically 3 file pages for every comic: file_name.png, File_Name.png and File_name.png, with the first and third redirecting to the middle one, and the end result shoudl be the second and third redirecting to the first. I hope this isn't confusing :) --[[User:Waldir|Waldir]] ([[User talk:Waldir|talk]]) 18:30, 22 November 2012 (UTC)<br />
<br />
:Sorry about that. I saw that BPothier uncategorized those two, but when I looked at them I saw they were redirection pages, and when I checked a few other images I saw the category was on the images. I thought I would be helpful and put the category on the File page instead of undoing the change on the redirect page. Sorry to be a nuisance. [[User:Lcarsos|lcarsos]]<span title="I'm an admin. I can help.">_a</span> ([[User talk:Lcarsos|talk]]) 18:36, 22 November 2012 (UTC)<br />
<br />
:: Not at all :) You acted in a perfectly reasonable way. In fact I missed the fact that you were actually moving a category from a redirect to the real image, which makes perfect sense. I am the one using the uncategorized files list as a personal todo list, in clear unorthodox fashion :P --[[User:Waldir|Waldir]] ([[User talk:Waldir|talk]]) 04:29, 23 November 2012 (UTC)<br />
<br />
== Captchas ==<br />
<br />
I believe there's an option to force all users of a certain group to take the captcha when editing. Could you change the captcha settings to force all anonymous users to pass one to edit? This is getting stupid. [[User:Davidy22|<span title="I want you."><u><font color="purple" size="2px">David</font><font color="green" size="3px">y</font></u><sup><font color="indigo" size="1px">22</font></sup></span>]][[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>(talk)</tt>]] 07:14, 25 November 2012 (UTC)<br />
<br />
:First off, this is a request for Waldir. I have no idea what I'm doing. Second, I've looked at the captcha pages in MediaWiki's manual, and it looks like I don't have the rights to do that, it would have to be someone who can edit the php files to change that over (*ahem* Jeff). Third, I've clicked on every link in [[Special:SpecialPages]] and I don't see anywhere that I can change that. I wish I could. Fourth, I am sick and tired of all this spam!!!!! [[User:Lcarsos|lcarsos]]<span title="I'm an admin. I can help.">_a</span> ([[User talk:Lcarsos|talk]]) 08:12, 25 November 2012 (UTC)<br />
<br />
== Deletion ==<br />
<br />
I'm sure you only overlooked this because of being busy fighting huge amounts of spam, but there was actually some valid history behind [[explain xkcd:Community portal/Design]], which I just restored (I left the spam edits under the carpet, though). It's not a huge deal, and as you can see, it's easily reversible, but it's generally nice to preserve page histories for archival reasons. Also, please comment on [[explain xkcd:Community portal/Technical#We need more maintainers]] when you have the chance. Cheers, [[User:Waldir|Waldir]] ([[User talk:Waldir|talk]]) 17:50, 25 November 2012 (UTC)<br />
<br />
:Oops, again. I don't know if it was a case of unfortunate blindness, or I was too far into spam fighting that I simply deleted it. Sorry about that. [[User:Lcarsos|lcarsos]]<span title="I'm an admin. I can help.">_a</span> ([[User talk:Lcarsos|talk]]) 20:35, 25 November 2012 (UTC)<br />
<br />
== Patrolling ==<br />
<br />
Hi, Lcarsos. I think this might be useful for you since you're doing so much work on spam fighting: [[mw:Help:Patrolled edits]]. I asked Jeff to change the wiki configuration so that edits by "auto-confirmed" users will be automatically patrolled. This means the feature should be more useful from now on. Let me know if it helps. Cheers, [[User:Waldir|Waldir]] ([[User talk:Waldir|talk]]) 21:28, 25 November 2012 (UTC)<br />
<br />
:Edits from logged in people are still showing as un-patrolled. I don't think that's necessarily a bad thing. There are several editors that have created accounts that I'm not quite ready to blanket state that every edit they make are perfectly good. I think that if we had more people that were patrolling pages and edits the feature would be more useful. But, since it's just me going through and occasionally remembering to mark a page as patrolled, it's not very useful as I can generally remember where I've perused through. I think if we got Davidy22 rights to patrol edits too, I think that would push it over the mark into useful territory. [[User:Lcarsos|lcarsos]]<span title="I'm an admin. I can help.">_a</span> ([[User talk:Lcarsos|talk]]) 21:43, 29 November 2012 (UTC)<br />
<br />
::Jeff {{diff|20769&oldid{{=}}20467|just enabled}} the tweaks to the autopatrolling feature as I asked him to. I know we can't immediately trust every edit a recent user does, but I find that well-intentioned mistakes (which we all make btw) are much easier to fix, and overall less harmful than spam/vandalism. Right now the threshold for autopatrolling is at 3 days of age and 10 edits (both conditions have to be met). We can tweak that if we decide different values would work better, but I am assuming that spammers and otherwise malicious editors would be caught and blocked before that. I intend to use the following links to help weed out the bad stuff from the wiki:<br />
::* [{{fullurl:Special:RecentChanges|hideanons=1&hidepatrolled=1}} Unpatrolled changes by registered users]<br />
::* [{{fullurl:Special:RecentChanges|hideliu=1&hidepatrolled=1}} Unpatrolled changes by anonymous users]<br />
::Of course, only edits from now on will apply the new parameters, so older edits by (non-admin) trusted editors still show as unpatrolled. But from now on it will probably make sifting the recent changes a little easier, since we can now filter out edits that we don't have to worry much about, leaving only new users and anonymous ones, the groups spammers/vandals are most likely to belong to.<br />
::Also, I agree that Davidy22 could have patrolling rights by now. I am liberal about adminship, so I'd suggest we ask Jeff to "promote" him, as that would do it.<br />
::Cheers, [[User:Waldir|Waldir]] ([[User talk:Waldir|talk]]) 03:33, 4 December 2012 (UTC)<br />
<br />
== Blocking IPs ==<br />
<br />
I don't think anonymous vandals should be blocked indefinitely. IPs are generally not static so we might end up preventing someone from doing a legitimate contribution, while the spammer will likely not use that particular IP for very long. I suggest changing all [http://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?wpTarget=&wpOptions=userblocks&limit=50&title=Special%3ABlockList IP blocks] to have a finite expiration date, say a week, or a month. What do you think? --[[User:Waldir|Waldir]] ([[User talk:Waldir|talk]]) 15:55, 11 December 2012 (UTC)<br />
<br />
:I don't think that would be a good idea. Our second great spam bout was caused by the 1 month block that SlashMe placed on the IPs of a foregone spam attack expired, and suddenly all those computers had access to edit the wiki again. In theory IPs are not static, but the home I live in right now has had the same IP address since I moved in, and that's even with hard resetting the modem about weekly as Comcast fails to bond their channels together, and I suspect most ISPs work that way.<br />
<br />
:Maybe we could try an experiment where we let all the blocks expire and see what happens. ''But'', I ''do not'' want that to be anywhere near any holiday, or major event, or major xkcd comic post (see Click and Drag or Congress) as it would be nearly impossible to hand pick out the good from the spam.<br />
<br />
:I do understand that theoretically, if this goes on eventually we'll have blocked the whole internet from editing the wiki. We need a better way to lock this down. A lot of the wikis I've looked at disallow editing from anonymous users (See the [https://developer.valvesoftware.com/wiki/Main_Page Valve Developer] wiki and the [http://kspwiki.nexisonline.net/wiki/Main_Page Kerbal Space Program] wiki, this would cut down on about half the spam, and then we need a better way to stop the bots from registering accounts, somehow both the VDC and KSP wiki don't have any spam activity (creation or clean-up) for the past few days, we're obviously doing something wrong, but I have no idea what. We may be more popular than the KSP wiki, but certainly we aren't more popular than Valve's own wiki. [[User:Lcarsos|lcarsos]]<span title="I'm an admin. I can help.">_a</span> ([[User talk:Lcarsos|talk]]) 17:14, 11 December 2012 (UTC)<br />
<br />
:: I see. Personally, I consider disabling anonymous editing as somehow admitting defeat (assuming bad faith by default) but maybe [[mw:Extension:SpamBlacklist]] could help. It uses a very extensive list maintained at meta.wikimedia.org. Do you think it could prevent spam rampages such as the last one? Otherwise, we could try some of the approaches listed at [[mw:Manual:Combating spam]] and [[mw:Anti-spam features]]. I am inclined towards more automatic methods, as most of those would require Jeff to edit the server, so a one-time config thing (using lists updates elsewhere) would be best. Thoughts? --[[User:Waldir|Waldir]] ([[User talk:Waldir|talk]]) 03:58, 14 December 2012 (UTC)<br />
<br />
== [[Stick figure]] linking to [[Cueball]] ==<br />
<br />
Hey there. Do you mind explaining why you reverted my comment on the Stick figure page? (that sounds like "argh how dare you do that" - not my intention, just looking to understand, since there was no explanation given in the changelog.) My thought was that "Stick figure" is a page discussing the art style that Randall uses for his characters. In such a page, it seemed appropriate to mention the one character that is the most representative of the "classic stick figure" (Cueball). I thought I added that sentence in a way that fit naturally with the rest of the text. Please let me know what the issues are so I can work on them. Thanks. [[User:Jerodast|- jerodast]] ([[User talk:Jerodast|talk]]) 15:26, 21 December 2012 (UTC)<br />
<br />
:The addition of Cueball was not necessarily helpful in describing what a stick figure is (and I'd like to start a debate on whether or not we should be in the business of doing Wikipedia's job, or simply restrict ourselves to explaining xkcd and providing links where appropriate). Likewise, including Cueball in the explanation of what a generic stick figure is, makes it sound like Cueball is simply a name we use for any character that has no defining features. Which is not true. Cueball has a specific set of generic traits (it's a complex way of thinking about it) which combine to form a geeky every-man who is quite annoyed by the rampant use of "[[1108|literally]]", is banned from quite a few security conferences (and at least one [[1090|grammar]] con), and is fond of [[651|showing security agents the flaws in airport security]].<br />
<br />
:So that's why I did it. [[User:Lcarsos|lcarsos]]<span title="I'm an admin. I can help.">_a</span> ([[User talk:Lcarsos|talk]]) 16:54, 21 December 2012 (UTC)<br />
<br />
== Categories ==<br />
<br />
Hey, Merry Christmas!<br />
<br />
If I, or someone else creates an arguably useful category that you don't really like, would you please say so on the talk page, so that we can discuss it, as a community. I agree that two entries doesn't make a category, but there are several more than two comics about Internet arguments. The topic itself is very specific, but it is also recurring indeed, just like [[:Category:Velociraptors|raptors]]. As for Flowcharts, I'm sure I know 5-6 comics containing them, just top of my head. That surely should be enuff? (At least get rid of the [[:Category:Axiom of Choice|Axiom of Choice]], if you are to be ... [[:Category:Puts on sunglasses|::puts on sunglasses::]] ... consistent.) ;) Swedish greetings from [[User:St.nerol|St.nerol]] ([[User talk:St.nerol|talk]]) 14:24, 26 December 2012 (UTC)<br />
<br />
:By that logic, I am now justified in reorganizing the entirety of [[:Category:Dynamic comics]]. I hold up that as an example of exactly why I stopped opening this up for a discussion and started ruthlessly cutting down our category count. In general I go by a simple rule of "Huh, I wonder if there are other comics on this topic?" which is why, many moons ago, I created the [[:Category:Axiom of Choice]] (created when we didn't have so many categories, and no one batted an eye at having a category with only two comics in it). This is why I think [[:Category:Internet]] is a very good category, and that Internet Arguments was not. Now, maybe I would have felt a little more lenient if it was <nowiki>[[Category:Trolling]]</nowiki> but that's because it's not so specific as to only be a handful of comics (and now that I say that out loud, I think there's quite a few that would fall under trolling).<br />
<br />
:This is because, as the wiki has come into its own, the mainstay editors have decided (and I'm the only one to vocalize it) that the categories a page has is not a traditional blog tag cloud where you simply vomit out everything that the comic contains. We use the categories as a way to "find similar" comics.<br />
<br />
:It really rankles me to have deeply nested categories, like [[:Category:Set theory]], but I'm willing to leave it there because I can see people coming by the site, reading a comic in Set Theory and wanting to read all the other ones on the same topic. Though I would greatly prefer it if it wasn't deeply nested, if it was simply parented to [[:Category:Comics by topic]] and then had a See Also section.<br />
<br />
:As for Axiom of Choice, I still believe that it's an odd enough thing to have in a comic, anyone browsing through might want to see other comics that make reference to it, but I'm open to deleting it.<br />
<br />
:--[[User:Lcarsos|lcarsos]]<span title="I'm an admin. I can help.">_a</span> ([[User talk:Lcarsos|talk]]) 00:59, 28 December 2012 (UTC)<br />
<br />
::Thanks for your answer. I think i mostly agree with you. Especially on that it should not be a tag cloud "to vomit out everything that the comic contains", but to find related ones. So at least no comic should be alone in a category.<br />
<br />
::I've been thinking that, while Internet might be a reasonable category, it is not in any way remarkable that the topic "Internet" recurs (of course it does). From that viewpoint it is much more interesting when e.g. the Axiom of Choice returns. The comics becomes much more tightly related, and that piece of information should doubtlessly be given in the wiki! I can think of two ways: by making a category, or by linking to the other comic(s) from the explanation page.<br />
<br />
::Since one can argue that set theory is a subdicipline of logic, a subdicipline of math, or neither, i just, without thinking too much, linked to (added) the category from all those levels. Maybe "See also" would be better. Why not?<br />
<br />
::Lastly, I must confess that i didn't get the "dynamic comics" part. If you were making a good point, please spell it out.<br />
<br />
::-- [[User:St.nerol|St.nerol]] ([[User talk:St.nerol|talk]]) 11:25, 28 December 2012 (UTC)<br />
<br />
:::Ages ago (I believe it was when we were first working on getting the explanation for [[Umwelt]] fleshed out) there was talk about what do we want to categorize it as. Someone, brilliantly, added an "Out of the ordinary" category, and did the same to [[961: Eternal Flame]], justifying that amid 1000+ comics these ones were truly odd, and broke the format (an animated gif and a comic that was different for nearly anyone depending on where they were, what browser they were using, etc.) that xkcd generally followed (geeky discussions, charts, and the occasional [[:Category:Large drawings|large drawing]]. Some other editors, that didn't quite understand, went into the back catalog and started adding other comics as being "out of the ordinary" such as [[Money]]. This ignited another conversation about what makes something ordinary, what makes it extraordinary, out-of-the-ordinary, the difference between the three, and why we have to have the majority be ordinary so we can have an out-of-the ordinary.<br />
<br />
:::Then Randall published [[Click and Drag]]. Amidst the insanity of everyone frothing at the mouth to completely, totally, and summarily flog that horse until it was dead three times over, it was put into the category "out of the ordinary" and then someone created an "interactive" category, and someone else put Umwelt into it. Then there was an edit war, and a conversation (about why we need to clamp down on new categories, what constitutes out of the ordinary, why Umwelt isn't interactive, and moaning that people should stop the edit war until a decision had been made) was started. It was cut short when [[Traffic Lights]] was posted and one of the editors went rogue and cleaned up "interactive comics", and moved "out of the ordinary" to dynamic comics. It's slowly morphed from there to how we currently have it set up today.<br />
<br />
:::Anyway, months ago I tried to start a discussion that none of the categories/comics should be part of a "Dynamic comics" parent category because none of them are "dynamic" they are very static. Since then I've been promoted to administrator, but I haven't touched it because, even though I may be a [http://www.catb.org/jargon/html/B/BOFH.html BOFH] at times, this is still a wiki, and I can't right every wrong simply by wielding the sword of righteous indignation.<br />
<br />
:::And that's all for storytime today. [[User:Lcarsos|lcarsos]]<span title="I'm an admin. I can help.">_a</span> ([[User talk:Lcarsos|talk]]) 16:29, 28 December 2012 (UTC)<br />
<br />
::::I think this is gonna be good! First, i don't know if i have anything to add about the dynamic stuff. But if no one seems to disagree, why not give it a shot? I wouldn't mind if you changed the nestings in math/set theory either. :) To get back to the "by topic", if i may:<br />
<br />
::::If two comics connect by some interesting topic or reference, I'd think it's neatest to just link them together with a note at the end of the explanation, like someone did to [[994: Advent Calendar]] also about Zeno, from the last comic. (I added a similar note in 994). Zeno might or might not come back, but anyway it's nice that you can click a wikilink and read another Zeno-joke. If it's a third comic about Zeno, we ''could'' do the same thing, (slightly more complicated, since we'd want all three to link to the other two), or consider a category. If it's suddenly four Zenos, well... What do you say? :) -- [[User:St.nerol|St.nerol]] ([[User talk:St.nerol|talk]]) 17:51, 30 December 2012 (UTC)<br />
<br />
:::::Sorry, I lost this tab, but I just found it again. Exactly. [[User:Lcarsos|lcarsos]]<span title="I'm an admin. I can help.">_a</span> ([[User talk:Lcarsos|talk]]) 01:27, 6 January 2013 (UTC)<br />
::::::Great! Hope you had a good day at church! :) -- [[User:St.nerol|St.nerol]] ([[User talk:St.nerol|talk]]) 19:55, 6 January 2013 (UTC)<br />
<br />
== Sections in talk pages ==<br />
<br />
Since we/you don't want sections in talk pages, how should we suitably structure the discussions? Where do you think I should answer on the probability thing (latest comic)? On the bottom, or in the middle of the page? {{unsigned|St.nerol}}<br />
<br />
:As I've said many times, simply commenting in a threaded chronological order is all that needs to happen. Chronological dictates that all new comments go at the bottom. Threaded dictates that if you are responding to a comment you indent one from the comment you are responding to. Together this means that a discussion starts at the far left, and the responses continue downward and rightward.<br />
<br />
:This is only for explanation talk pages, as it breaks the way that sections work through the transclusion of the talk page onto the explanation. [[User:Lcarsos|lcarsos]]<span title="I'm an admin. I can help.">_a</span> ([[User talk:Lcarsos|talk]]) 23:32, 12 January 2013 (UTC)<br />
::Thank you very much for clearing that up for me, supporting me in the discussion and, hrm, signing my question! –[[User:St.nerol|St.nerol]] ([[User talk:St.nerol|talk]]) 00:16, 13 January 2013 (UTC)<br />
<br />
:::Yep. I'm here to keep discussion civil. [[User:Lcarsos|lcarsos]]<span title="I'm an admin. I can help.">_a</span> ([[User talk:Lcarsos|talk]]) 00:51, 13 January 2013 (UTC)<br />
<br />
==Two images to delete==<br />
A couple of users ran into a conflict with a KDE desktop file on the server when trying to upload today's comic. Here's two broked images to delete [http://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=File:tar_xkcd.png][http://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=File:tar-1168.png] '''[[User:Davidy22|<span title="I want you."><u><font color="purple" size="2px">David</font><font color="green" size="3px">y</font></u><sup><font color="indigo" size="1px">22</font></sup></span>]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 07:11, 1 February 2013 (UTC)<br />
:Oh, and another one from a while ago when a user ran into a map stored on the server. People mess up so much when they're trying to make new explanation pages. [http://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=File:amazon_1165.png] '''[[User:Davidy22|<span title="I want you."><u><font color="purple" size="2px">David</font><font color="green" size="3px">y</font></u><sup><font color="indigo" size="1px">22</font></sup></span>]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 06:29, 2 February 2013 (UTC)<br />
<br />
::{{done}} [[User:Lcarsos|lcarsos]]<span title="I'm an admin. I can help.">_a</span> ([[User talk:Lcarsos|talk]]) 23:00, 2 February 2013 (UTC)<br />
<br />
:::And a botched redirect made by a newbie: [http://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=1120:_Bridge] '''[[User:Davidy22|<span title="I want you."><u><font color="purple" size="2px">David</font><font color="green" size="3px">y</font></u><sup><font color="indigo" size="1px">22</font></sup></span>]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 13:16, 11 February 2013 (UTC)<br />
<br />
:::{{done}} [[User:Lcarsos|lcarsos]]<span title="I'm an admin. I can help.">_a</span> ([[User talk:Lcarsos|talk]]) 19:03, 11 February 2013 (UTC)<br />
<br />
== "Unacceptable username" ==<br />
<br />
Hi,<br />
<br />
Just wondering, what does the "Unacceptable username" user-blocking reason refer to? (apart from the fact that these users closely resemble users ready to spam...)<br />
<br />
Just being curious. - [[User:Cos|Cos]] ([[User talk:Cos|talk]]) 14:09, 7 February 2013 (UTC)<br />
<br />
: Maybe it's just that you don't know what else to put when blocking a highly suspicious account? In which case you could add a reason in [[MediaWiki:Ipbreason-dropdown]], something like "User account suspicious compared to spamming schemes" (or a better phrasing than this one, which I'm not too sure of...).<br />
: Thing is, I don't see what's wrong in choosing for instance "Zbenjamin89" as a username. - [[User:Cos|Cos]] ([[User talk:Cos|talk]]) 14:41, 7 February 2013 (UTC)<br />
<br />
::You're right. I'm using "Unacceptable username" with the implicit subtitle "spammer-like username". I've been putting it on some of the block messages. I'm only blocking usernames that were created in blocks, that are suspiciously similar to known spamming accounts, and have no contributions despite the account being created hours before. If any one of them comes back and posts on their talk page, or gets in contact, to prove they are human I unblock them. So far, none of them have.<br />
<br />
::I got tired of having to clean up spam, and it seems that blocking these accounts that are created, left to sit for a day or a week, and then activated to spew absurd amounts of spam, has helped in some small measure. [[User:Lcarsos|lcarsos]]<span title="I'm an admin. I can help.">_a</span> ([[User talk:Lcarsos|talk]]) 23:52, 7 February 2013 (UTC)<br />
::<br />
::: So, what about adding a dedicated reason to [[MediaWiki:Ipbreason-dropdown]]? (with the right permissions, I'd have done it myself)<br />
::: As I said, I'm ''not'' blaming you for being the "BOFH" here (love that one ^^), I think that these blocks are useful indeed. I just feel the same thing could be done more intelligibly: someone stumbling upon one of those blocked accounts, or on a log, wouldn't understand and could deduce wrong things out of this. For instance, if you blocked a legitimate account among spammers (seems quite plausible, and in a way, unavoidable), it would not help the user to understand what the problem is, and chances are he would not try to fight to get his "unacceptable" username accepted by an environment he doesn't really know about...<br />
::: So, I believe adding a block reason is very quick and would be better. Maybe my previous phrasing isn't very good, then what about this simpler one: "User account suspicious, very similar to spamming accounts"?<br />
::: [[User:Cos|Cos]] ([[User talk:Cos|talk]]) 14:10, 8 February 2013 (UTC)<br />
<br />
== Hi, ==<br />
<br />
I understand you had exams. Hope they went well for you! May I ask what you're studying? (Myself I have one week to the exam in {{w|multivariable calculus}}!) ––[[User:St.nerol|St.nerol]] ([[User talk:St.nerol|talk]]) 00:00, 10 March 2013 (UTC)<br />
<br />
:Hi, the week before last I had a Physics exam (circuits, capacitance, AC circuits, Kirchoff's law, fun stuff), and last week I had midterms in both Discrete Mathematics (the most wordy math class I've ever taken, but it's about the only formal logic I've ever had, so I love it) and Operating Systems. I also had large projects due in both O.S. and a class called Elements of Computing Systems (The premise of the class is to build up a computer starting at {{w|nand gates}} and through multiple levels of abstraction eventually end up with a high level java-like language that compiles down to the machine language of the processor we "built"). It's all fun, but immensely draining. [[User:Lcarsos|lcarsos]]<span title="I'm an admin. I can help.">_a</span> ([[User talk:Lcarsos|talk]]) 09:45, 14 March 2013 (UTC)<br />
<br />
== About your discussion on [[explain xkcd:Community Portal/Coordination]] ==<br />
<br />
Those two IPs you were complaining about - that was me (I was using two computers so two IPs). At that time I was a bit of a noob and did all of those things because I thought that I wasn't doing anything wrong.<br />
<br />
Things have changed. I haven't made many new categories (just [[Category:Bobcats]] and [[Category:Crossbows]]) and I started using <nowiki>{{incomplete}}</nowiki> on comics that I either can't explain or am not confident enough to do so.<br />
<br />
I do not like the way that I was treated as an anon, because, in my opinion, the community {{w|Wikipedia:Don't bite the newcomers|bit a newcomer}}. Nobody posted on either [[User talk:72.252.145.183]] or [[User talk:207.204.86.3]] so I only discovered that my actions were not received very well when I saw an angry edit summary. That was not at all pleasant or friendly. --[[User:Btx40|Btx40]] ([[User talk:Btx40|talk]]) 19:08, 12 April 2013 (UTC)</div>Btx40https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=407:_Cheap_GPS&diff=33417407: Cheap GPS2013-04-12T19:43:10Z<p>Btx40: Created page with "{{comic | number = 407 | date = April 7, 2008 | title = Cheap GPS | image = cheap_gps.png | titletext = In lieu of mapping software, I once wrote a Perl progra..."</p>
<hr />
<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 407<br />
| date = April 7, 2008<br />
| title = Cheap GPS<br />
| image = cheap_gps.png<br />
| titletext = In lieu of mapping software, I once wrote a Perl program which, given a USB GPS receiver and a destination, printed 'LEFT' 'RIGHT' OR 'STRAIGHT' based on my heading.<br />
}}<br />
<br />
==Explanation==<br />
{{incomplete}}<br />
<!-- overly simple description of GPS --><br />
{{w|GPS}} is a satellite navigation system used to determine the location of a receiver based on its distance from at least three satellites. A common feature of GPS receivers intended to be used in motor vehicles is to provide directions to a specified<br />
<br />
[[Cueball]]'s has a "cheap GPS" which is only capable of telling him whether or not he is on the correct path using a cold to hot scale with hot being correct and cold being incorrect. The series of instructions spoken ("cold", "warm", "hot", then "cold" again) suggests that Cueball missed a turn and his GPS receiver now has to find a new route.<br />
<br />
The title text describes another "cheap GPS", a Perl script that only shows whether to turn left, right or not turn at all. <br />
<br />
==Transcript==<br />
:[Cueball driving down the road, with a GPS reading "COLD"]<br />
:GPS: COLD... WARM... HOT! COLD...<br />
<br />
{{comic discussion}}<br />
<!-- Include any categories below this line--><br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]</div>Btx40https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=User_talk:Lcarsos&diff=33414User talk:Lcarsos2013-04-12T19:08:43Z<p>Btx40: /* About your discussion on explain xkcd:Community Portal Coordination */ new section</p>
<hr />
<div>==Moved discussion==<br />
Hi, just to let you know that I move the thread you started to [[explain xkcd:Community portal/Admin requests]]. Cheers, --[[User:Waldir|Waldir]] ([[User talk:Waldir|talk]]) 10:33, 10 August 2012 (UTC)<br />
<br />
== Ruby Importer ==<br />
''For discussion of the Ruby Import assistant. Please create subsections for each item.''<br />
<br />
===Multi-file Generation===<br />
I assume that <tt>./importer.rb 100{0,1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9}</tt> would also work? [[User:Blaisepascal|Blaisepascal]] ([[User talk:Blaisepascal|talk]]) 02:08, 26 August 2012 (UTC)<br />
: I hadn't even thought of that. I'll try it and report back as soon as I get home after work. [[User:Lcarsos|lcarsos]] ([[User talk:Lcarsos|talk]]) 16:18, 27 August 2012 (UTC)<br />
:: It'll work; it's not a Ruby thing, it's a Borne Shell thing. When the Borne Shell does wild-card expansion, it generates all alternatives enclosed in braces. So "echo 1{2,3,4,5}" is equivalent to "echo 12 13 14 15". I've been known to do things like <tt>echo 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 {1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9}{0,1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9} 100</tt> to list all numbers between 1 and 100. [[User:Blaisepascal|Blaisepascal]] ([[User talk:Blaisepascal|talk]]) 16:34, 27 August 2012 (UTC)<br />
::: I just ssh'd into a linux box, and yes that will work. But I still prefer using <tt>seq 1 100</tt>, much easier to type. [[User:Lcarsos|lcarsos]] ([[User talk:Lcarsos|talk]]) 17:17, 27 August 2012 (UTC)<br />
<br />
==Removing Erroneous Categories==<br />
It seems to me that if you are removing the same "erroneous" category from three comics that all refer to the same thing (like Wikipedia) that perhaps a bit more explanation needs to be made as to why the category is erroneous. [[User:Blaisepascal|Blaisepascal]] ([[User talk:Blaisepascal|talk]]) 21:32, 27 August 2012 (UTC)<br />
<br />
:I was going through categories, and it looked like someone had started to tag any page that had a link to Wikpedia. I was putting a stop to it.<br />
<br />
:But now that you've elevated this to conscious level, it might be that 2 of the pages were tagged Wikipedia because the theme of the comic was Wikipedia. The first one that caught my eye, [[548: Kindle]], merely had the word Wikipedia, that one to me seems that it was incorrectly categorized. The other two, now that I think about it, would make sense if we're categorizing comics by theme. I'll go back, make restitution, and fix [[739: Malamanteau]] and [[214: The Problem with Wikipedia]], and undo changes to the Wikipedia category. Thanks for keeping me honest.<br />
<br />
:[[User:Lcarsos|lcarsos]] ([[User talk:Lcarsos|talk]]) 21:49, 27 August 2012 (UTC)<br />
<br />
== LCARS ==<br />
<br />
Saw this and thought of you: http://www.engadget.com/2011/07/12/star-trek-padd-app-is-a-lcars-sporting-trekkies-reference-bible/<br />
<br />
:Okay, first, I'd like to thank you for showing this to me. I'm always interested to see anything Star Trek related. Always. There should never be a Trek-less day, for anyone, ever. But, now, you've opened a can of worms so now I get to do a little bit of ranting.<br />
<br />
:With a few exceptions, anything "official" that Paramount/CBS Paramount/CBS commissions to be made based on Star Trek is crap. This is one of those things. The interface, while reminiscent of, and is close enough to scare away the children, is a tragedy that shouldn't have the privilege of being able to call itself "official" or "LCARS". The color scheme is vomitous, every color that could have been put into the interface is there, as opposed to the restrained every-color-represents-a-function style that is shown in the show. About the one thing they got correct is the use of the LCARS font. Other than that, the font is too large in every instance. The font should be bottom-right aligned, and there should be a generous amount of padding except for the bottom-right corner. And, except for actual paragraph text, everything should be all-caps.<br />
<br />
:They also got the elbos (the bits that change from vertical UI to horizontal and vice versa) wrong. The curves aren't skewed like that. A quick look at the fan-made [http://www.lcarsdeveloper.com LCARS Standards website] would have showed them the correct way to build an elbo. Or, ''*GASP*'' they could ask Michael Okuda to consult on the project.<br />
<br />
:Final UI complaint: What is that panel on the bottom doing? You mean that the people that made this app completely missed the idea of the LCARS UI and just have a panel at the bottom with skinned buttons that take you to the main sections of the app? Also, don't mix the butt-ended buttons with the fully rounded buttons. Just don't. Someone should have slapped you in art school for doing that.<br />
<br />
:From reviews of the app in iTunes, it looks like the app isn't even fully baked. The database isn't full, just has entries for the popular characters and ships. This should be a front end for Memory-Alpha, but you'd have to do some work to strip out all the wikia bs.<br />
<br />
:Finally, still iOS only? It's apparently been out for a year, and been updated once, in October, 2011. Was this a one-off, did CBS hire Random Company LLC to "Make a thing for the hip kids, with the iPads and the what-not" pay them to get the app out the door, kept them for a month to fix bugs and then fired them? Have we heard of Android? Is this the 90s when developers had to pick between developing for Windows 95 or Mac OS 8?<br />
<br />
:Why is this catastrophe $5? There's obviously no development work going on, CBS makes bank off of the DVDs and other crap merchandise they sell (why are there no officially licensed replica isolinear chips?). This is pure, simple corporate greed.<br />
<br />
:Sorry for the rant, I get angry when my favorite things are mistreated. [[User:Lcarsos|lcarsos]] ([[User talk:Lcarsos|talk]]) 17:05, 10 September 2012 (UTC)<br />
<br />
== Double redirect ==<br />
<br />
You're right. I knew there had been a reason I didn't do that for the first pile of comics I created. That's for reminding me. [[User:TheHYPO|TheHYPO]] ([[User talk:TheHYPO|talk]]) 21:37, 13 September 2012 (UTC)<br />
<br />
:Yep. [[User:Lcarsos|lcarsos]] ([[User talk:Lcarsos|talk]]) 21:38, 13 September 2012 (UTC)<br />
<br />
== To the human behind the curtain ==<br />
Moved conversation to the correct [[User talk:XERXES.ai|talk page]]<br />
<br />
== Congrats on becoming Admin ==<br />
Looks like my days of 700+ changes per month are a thing of the past! (What ''will'' I ever do with all the free time now? Edit, perhaps? ;-) -- [[User:IronyChef|IronyChef]] ([[User talk:IronyChef|talk]]) 06:32, 14 November 2012 (UTC)<br />
<br />
:Grazie. I noticed Jeff do a little bit of work, and then go silent. So, I hoped that I could catch him with a tab still open pointing out our plight. It looks like it worked! Also, I'd be lying if I said it wasn't in part because you started that daily counter of edits on your user page. [[User:Lcarsos|lcarsos]]<span title="I'm an admin. I can help.">_a</span> ([[User talk:Lcarsos|talk]]) 06:40, 14 November 2012 (UTC)<br />
<br />
:: Minor thing; do it too if you want to. When deleting spam pages, I "[omitted]" any link that appeared in the deletion comment, just so it doesn't even show up in the logs. -- [[User:IronyChef|IronyChef]] ([[User talk:IronyChef|talk]]) 06:50, 20 November 2012 (UTC)<br />
<br />
:::I keep forgetting. Sorry about that. [[User:Lcarsos|lcarsos]]<span title="I'm an admin. I can help.">_a</span> ([[User talk:Lcarsos|talk]]) 13:16, 20 November 2012 (UTC)<br />
<br />
:Looks like [http://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=Special%3ALog&type=newusers&user=&page=User%3ALcarsos&year=&month=-1&hide_patrol_log=1 you registered your account] just two days before I [http://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?limit=50&tagfilter=&title=Special%3AContributions&contribs=user&target=Waldir&namespace=&year=2012&month=10 I went on a hiatus] for a while, so I'm afraid we never got a chance to interact much. Although away from editing, I've been following the wiki activity through RSS, so I'm aware of the huge amount of work you've put in, which I appreciate. And of course, I take the opportunity to congratulate you on earning your admin "badge". Cheers! --[[User:Waldir|Waldir]] ([[User talk:Waldir|talk]]) 17:05, 20 November 2012 (UTC)<br />
<br />
::Thanks! I seem to have started contributing at the moment when everyone else went on hiatus. It got very quiet for a while, but it seems like it's coming back alive. [[User:Lcarsos|lcarsos]]<span title="I'm an admin. I can help.">_a</span> ([[User talk:Lcarsos|talk]]) 18:28, 20 November 2012 (UTC)<br />
<br />
== Category:Comic images ==<br />
<br />
Hi Lcarsos. I noticed you categorized two images in [[:Category:Comic images]]. I am actually using the ones that aren't categorized yet as a todo list of those which haven't been moved to the original filenames (lowercase). If you categorize more images, please make sure to also move them to the lowercase filename, and fix the redirect from the filename with only the first character uppercased. That is: there are typically 3 file pages for every comic: file_name.png, File_Name.png and File_name.png, with the first and third redirecting to the middle one, and the end result shoudl be the second and third redirecting to the first. I hope this isn't confusing :) --[[User:Waldir|Waldir]] ([[User talk:Waldir|talk]]) 18:30, 22 November 2012 (UTC)<br />
<br />
:Sorry about that. I saw that BPothier uncategorized those two, but when I looked at them I saw they were redirection pages, and when I checked a few other images I saw the category was on the images. I thought I would be helpful and put the category on the File page instead of undoing the change on the redirect page. Sorry to be a nuisance. [[User:Lcarsos|lcarsos]]<span title="I'm an admin. I can help.">_a</span> ([[User talk:Lcarsos|talk]]) 18:36, 22 November 2012 (UTC)<br />
<br />
:: Not at all :) You acted in a perfectly reasonable way. In fact I missed the fact that you were actually moving a category from a redirect to the real image, which makes perfect sense. I am the one using the uncategorized files list as a personal todo list, in clear unorthodox fashion :P --[[User:Waldir|Waldir]] ([[User talk:Waldir|talk]]) 04:29, 23 November 2012 (UTC)<br />
<br />
== Captchas ==<br />
<br />
I believe there's an option to force all users of a certain group to take the captcha when editing. Could you change the captcha settings to force all anonymous users to pass one to edit? This is getting stupid. [[User:Davidy22|<span title="I want you."><u><font color="purple" size="2px">David</font><font color="green" size="3px">y</font></u><sup><font color="indigo" size="1px">22</font></sup></span>]][[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>(talk)</tt>]] 07:14, 25 November 2012 (UTC)<br />
<br />
:First off, this is a request for Waldir. I have no idea what I'm doing. Second, I've looked at the captcha pages in MediaWiki's manual, and it looks like I don't have the rights to do that, it would have to be someone who can edit the php files to change that over (*ahem* Jeff). Third, I've clicked on every link in [[Special:SpecialPages]] and I don't see anywhere that I can change that. I wish I could. Fourth, I am sick and tired of all this spam!!!!! [[User:Lcarsos|lcarsos]]<span title="I'm an admin. I can help.">_a</span> ([[User talk:Lcarsos|talk]]) 08:12, 25 November 2012 (UTC)<br />
<br />
== Deletion ==<br />
<br />
I'm sure you only overlooked this because of being busy fighting huge amounts of spam, but there was actually some valid history behind [[explain xkcd:Community portal/Design]], which I just restored (I left the spam edits under the carpet, though). It's not a huge deal, and as you can see, it's easily reversible, but it's generally nice to preserve page histories for archival reasons. Also, please comment on [[explain xkcd:Community portal/Technical#We need more maintainers]] when you have the chance. Cheers, [[User:Waldir|Waldir]] ([[User talk:Waldir|talk]]) 17:50, 25 November 2012 (UTC)<br />
<br />
:Oops, again. I don't know if it was a case of unfortunate blindness, or I was too far into spam fighting that I simply deleted it. Sorry about that. [[User:Lcarsos|lcarsos]]<span title="I'm an admin. I can help.">_a</span> ([[User talk:Lcarsos|talk]]) 20:35, 25 November 2012 (UTC)<br />
<br />
== Patrolling ==<br />
<br />
Hi, Lcarsos. I think this might be useful for you since you're doing so much work on spam fighting: [[mw:Help:Patrolled edits]]. I asked Jeff to change the wiki configuration so that edits by "auto-confirmed" users will be automatically patrolled. This means the feature should be more useful from now on. Let me know if it helps. Cheers, [[User:Waldir|Waldir]] ([[User talk:Waldir|talk]]) 21:28, 25 November 2012 (UTC)<br />
<br />
:Edits from logged in people are still showing as un-patrolled. I don't think that's necessarily a bad thing. There are several editors that have created accounts that I'm not quite ready to blanket state that every edit they make are perfectly good. I think that if we had more people that were patrolling pages and edits the feature would be more useful. But, since it's just me going through and occasionally remembering to mark a page as patrolled, it's not very useful as I can generally remember where I've perused through. I think if we got Davidy22 rights to patrol edits too, I think that would push it over the mark into useful territory. [[User:Lcarsos|lcarsos]]<span title="I'm an admin. I can help.">_a</span> ([[User talk:Lcarsos|talk]]) 21:43, 29 November 2012 (UTC)<br />
<br />
::Jeff {{diff|20769&oldid{{=}}20467|just enabled}} the tweaks to the autopatrolling feature as I asked him to. I know we can't immediately trust every edit a recent user does, but I find that well-intentioned mistakes (which we all make btw) are much easier to fix, and overall less harmful than spam/vandalism. Right now the threshold for autopatrolling is at 3 days of age and 10 edits (both conditions have to be met). We can tweak that if we decide different values would work better, but I am assuming that spammers and otherwise malicious editors would be caught and blocked before that. I intend to use the following links to help weed out the bad stuff from the wiki:<br />
::* [{{fullurl:Special:RecentChanges|hideanons=1&hidepatrolled=1}} Unpatrolled changes by registered users]<br />
::* [{{fullurl:Special:RecentChanges|hideliu=1&hidepatrolled=1}} Unpatrolled changes by anonymous users]<br />
::Of course, only edits from now on will apply the new parameters, so older edits by (non-admin) trusted editors still show as unpatrolled. But from now on it will probably make sifting the recent changes a little easier, since we can now filter out edits that we don't have to worry much about, leaving only new users and anonymous ones, the groups spammers/vandals are most likely to belong to.<br />
::Also, I agree that Davidy22 could have patrolling rights by now. I am liberal about adminship, so I'd suggest we ask Jeff to "promote" him, as that would do it.<br />
::Cheers, [[User:Waldir|Waldir]] ([[User talk:Waldir|talk]]) 03:33, 4 December 2012 (UTC)<br />
<br />
== Blocking IPs ==<br />
<br />
I don't think anonymous vandals should be blocked indefinitely. IPs are generally not static so we might end up preventing someone from doing a legitimate contribution, while the spammer will likely not use that particular IP for very long. I suggest changing all [http://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?wpTarget=&wpOptions=userblocks&limit=50&title=Special%3ABlockList IP blocks] to have a finite expiration date, say a week, or a month. What do you think? --[[User:Waldir|Waldir]] ([[User talk:Waldir|talk]]) 15:55, 11 December 2012 (UTC)<br />
<br />
:I don't think that would be a good idea. Our second great spam bout was caused by the 1 month block that SlashMe placed on the IPs of a foregone spam attack expired, and suddenly all those computers had access to edit the wiki again. In theory IPs are not static, but the home I live in right now has had the same IP address since I moved in, and that's even with hard resetting the modem about weekly as Comcast fails to bond their channels together, and I suspect most ISPs work that way.<br />
<br />
:Maybe we could try an experiment where we let all the blocks expire and see what happens. ''But'', I ''do not'' want that to be anywhere near any holiday, or major event, or major xkcd comic post (see Click and Drag or Congress) as it would be nearly impossible to hand pick out the good from the spam.<br />
<br />
:I do understand that theoretically, if this goes on eventually we'll have blocked the whole internet from editing the wiki. We need a better way to lock this down. A lot of the wikis I've looked at disallow editing from anonymous users (See the [https://developer.valvesoftware.com/wiki/Main_Page Valve Developer] wiki and the [http://kspwiki.nexisonline.net/wiki/Main_Page Kerbal Space Program] wiki, this would cut down on about half the spam, and then we need a better way to stop the bots from registering accounts, somehow both the VDC and KSP wiki don't have any spam activity (creation or clean-up) for the past few days, we're obviously doing something wrong, but I have no idea what. We may be more popular than the KSP wiki, but certainly we aren't more popular than Valve's own wiki. [[User:Lcarsos|lcarsos]]<span title="I'm an admin. I can help.">_a</span> ([[User talk:Lcarsos|talk]]) 17:14, 11 December 2012 (UTC)<br />
<br />
:: I see. Personally, I consider disabling anonymous editing as somehow admitting defeat (assuming bad faith by default) but maybe [[mw:Extension:SpamBlacklist]] could help. It uses a very extensive list maintained at meta.wikimedia.org. Do you think it could prevent spam rampages such as the last one? Otherwise, we could try some of the approaches listed at [[mw:Manual:Combating spam]] and [[mw:Anti-spam features]]. I am inclined towards more automatic methods, as most of those would require Jeff to edit the server, so a one-time config thing (using lists updates elsewhere) would be best. Thoughts? --[[User:Waldir|Waldir]] ([[User talk:Waldir|talk]]) 03:58, 14 December 2012 (UTC)<br />
<br />
== [[Stick figure]] linking to [[Cueball]] ==<br />
<br />
Hey there. Do you mind explaining why you reverted my comment on the Stick figure page? (that sounds like "argh how dare you do that" - not my intention, just looking to understand, since there was no explanation given in the changelog.) My thought was that "Stick figure" is a page discussing the art style that Randall uses for his characters. In such a page, it seemed appropriate to mention the one character that is the most representative of the "classic stick figure" (Cueball). I thought I added that sentence in a way that fit naturally with the rest of the text. Please let me know what the issues are so I can work on them. Thanks. [[User:Jerodast|- jerodast]] ([[User talk:Jerodast|talk]]) 15:26, 21 December 2012 (UTC)<br />
<br />
:The addition of Cueball was not necessarily helpful in describing what a stick figure is (and I'd like to start a debate on whether or not we should be in the business of doing Wikipedia's job, or simply restrict ourselves to explaining xkcd and providing links where appropriate). Likewise, including Cueball in the explanation of what a generic stick figure is, makes it sound like Cueball is simply a name we use for any character that has no defining features. Which is not true. Cueball has a specific set of generic traits (it's a complex way of thinking about it) which combine to form a geeky every-man who is quite annoyed by the rampant use of "[[1108|literally]]", is banned from quite a few security conferences (and at least one [[1090|grammar]] con), and is fond of [[651|showing security agents the flaws in airport security]].<br />
<br />
:So that's why I did it. [[User:Lcarsos|lcarsos]]<span title="I'm an admin. I can help.">_a</span> ([[User talk:Lcarsos|talk]]) 16:54, 21 December 2012 (UTC)<br />
<br />
== Categories ==<br />
<br />
Hey, Merry Christmas!<br />
<br />
If I, or someone else creates an arguably useful category that you don't really like, would you please say so on the talk page, so that we can discuss it, as a community. I agree that two entries doesn't make a category, but there are several more than two comics about Internet arguments. The topic itself is very specific, but it is also recurring indeed, just like [[:Category:Velociraptors|raptors]]. As for Flowcharts, I'm sure I know 5-6 comics containing them, just top of my head. That surely should be enuff? (At least get rid of the [[:Category:Axiom of Choice|Axiom of Choice]], if you are to be ... [[:Category:Puts on sunglasses|::puts on sunglasses::]] ... consistent.) ;) Swedish greetings from [[User:St.nerol|St.nerol]] ([[User talk:St.nerol|talk]]) 14:24, 26 December 2012 (UTC)<br />
<br />
:By that logic, I am now justified in reorganizing the entirety of [[:Category:Dynamic comics]]. I hold up that as an example of exactly why I stopped opening this up for a discussion and started ruthlessly cutting down our category count. In general I go by a simple rule of "Huh, I wonder if there are other comics on this topic?" which is why, many moons ago, I created the [[:Category:Axiom of Choice]] (created when we didn't have so many categories, and no one batted an eye at having a category with only two comics in it). This is why I think [[:Category:Internet]] is a very good category, and that Internet Arguments was not. Now, maybe I would have felt a little more lenient if it was <nowiki>[[Category:Trolling]]</nowiki> but that's because it's not so specific as to only be a handful of comics (and now that I say that out loud, I think there's quite a few that would fall under trolling).<br />
<br />
:This is because, as the wiki has come into its own, the mainstay editors have decided (and I'm the only one to vocalize it) that the categories a page has is not a traditional blog tag cloud where you simply vomit out everything that the comic contains. We use the categories as a way to "find similar" comics.<br />
<br />
:It really rankles me to have deeply nested categories, like [[:Category:Set theory]], but I'm willing to leave it there because I can see people coming by the site, reading a comic in Set Theory and wanting to read all the other ones on the same topic. Though I would greatly prefer it if it wasn't deeply nested, if it was simply parented to [[:Category:Comics by topic]] and then had a See Also section.<br />
<br />
:As for Axiom of Choice, I still believe that it's an odd enough thing to have in a comic, anyone browsing through might want to see other comics that make reference to it, but I'm open to deleting it.<br />
<br />
:--[[User:Lcarsos|lcarsos]]<span title="I'm an admin. I can help.">_a</span> ([[User talk:Lcarsos|talk]]) 00:59, 28 December 2012 (UTC)<br />
<br />
::Thanks for your answer. I think i mostly agree with you. Especially on that it should not be a tag cloud "to vomit out everything that the comic contains", but to find related ones. So at least no comic should be alone in a category.<br />
<br />
::I've been thinking that, while Internet might be a reasonable category, it is not in any way remarkable that the topic "Internet" recurs (of course it does). From that viewpoint it is much more interesting when e.g. the Axiom of Choice returns. The comics becomes much more tightly related, and that piece of information should doubtlessly be given in the wiki! I can think of two ways: by making a category, or by linking to the other comic(s) from the explanation page.<br />
<br />
::Since one can argue that set theory is a subdicipline of logic, a subdicipline of math, or neither, i just, without thinking too much, linked to (added) the category from all those levels. Maybe "See also" would be better. Why not?<br />
<br />
::Lastly, I must confess that i didn't get the "dynamic comics" part. If you were making a good point, please spell it out.<br />
<br />
::-- [[User:St.nerol|St.nerol]] ([[User talk:St.nerol|talk]]) 11:25, 28 December 2012 (UTC)<br />
<br />
:::Ages ago (I believe it was when we were first working on getting the explanation for [[Umwelt]] fleshed out) there was talk about what do we want to categorize it as. Someone, brilliantly, added an "Out of the ordinary" category, and did the same to [[961: Eternal Flame]], justifying that amid 1000+ comics these ones were truly odd, and broke the format (an animated gif and a comic that was different for nearly anyone depending on where they were, what browser they were using, etc.) that xkcd generally followed (geeky discussions, charts, and the occasional [[:Category:Large drawings|large drawing]]. Some other editors, that didn't quite understand, went into the back catalog and started adding other comics as being "out of the ordinary" such as [[Money]]. This ignited another conversation about what makes something ordinary, what makes it extraordinary, out-of-the-ordinary, the difference between the three, and why we have to have the majority be ordinary so we can have an out-of-the ordinary.<br />
<br />
:::Then Randall published [[Click and Drag]]. Amidst the insanity of everyone frothing at the mouth to completely, totally, and summarily flog that horse until it was dead three times over, it was put into the category "out of the ordinary" and then someone created an "interactive" category, and someone else put Umwelt into it. Then there was an edit war, and a conversation (about why we need to clamp down on new categories, what constitutes out of the ordinary, why Umwelt isn't interactive, and moaning that people should stop the edit war until a decision had been made) was started. It was cut short when [[Traffic Lights]] was posted and one of the editors went rogue and cleaned up "interactive comics", and moved "out of the ordinary" to dynamic comics. It's slowly morphed from there to how we currently have it set up today.<br />
<br />
:::Anyway, months ago I tried to start a discussion that none of the categories/comics should be part of a "Dynamic comics" parent category because none of them are "dynamic" they are very static. Since then I've been promoted to administrator, but I haven't touched it because, even though I may be a [http://www.catb.org/jargon/html/B/BOFH.html BOFH] at times, this is still a wiki, and I can't right every wrong simply by wielding the sword of righteous indignation.<br />
<br />
:::And that's all for storytime today. [[User:Lcarsos|lcarsos]]<span title="I'm an admin. I can help.">_a</span> ([[User talk:Lcarsos|talk]]) 16:29, 28 December 2012 (UTC)<br />
<br />
::::I think this is gonna be good! First, i don't know if i have anything to add about the dynamic stuff. But if no one seems to disagree, why not give it a shot? I wouldn't mind if you changed the nestings in math/set theory either. :) To get back to the "by topic", if i may:<br />
<br />
::::If two comics connect by some interesting topic or reference, I'd think it's neatest to just link them together with a note at the end of the explanation, like someone did to [[994: Advent Calendar]] also about Zeno, from the last comic. (I added a similar note in 994). Zeno might or might not come back, but anyway it's nice that you can click a wikilink and read another Zeno-joke. If it's a third comic about Zeno, we ''could'' do the same thing, (slightly more complicated, since we'd want all three to link to the other two), or consider a category. If it's suddenly four Zenos, well... What do you say? :) -- [[User:St.nerol|St.nerol]] ([[User talk:St.nerol|talk]]) 17:51, 30 December 2012 (UTC)<br />
<br />
:::::Sorry, I lost this tab, but I just found it again. Exactly. [[User:Lcarsos|lcarsos]]<span title="I'm an admin. I can help.">_a</span> ([[User talk:Lcarsos|talk]]) 01:27, 6 January 2013 (UTC)<br />
::::::Great! Hope you had a good day at church! :) -- [[User:St.nerol|St.nerol]] ([[User talk:St.nerol|talk]]) 19:55, 6 January 2013 (UTC)<br />
<br />
== Sections in talk pages ==<br />
<br />
Since we/you don't want sections in talk pages, how should we suitably structure the discussions? Where do you think I should answer on the probability thing (latest comic)? On the bottom, or in the middle of the page? {{unsigned|St.nerol}}<br />
<br />
:As I've said many times, simply commenting in a threaded chronological order is all that needs to happen. Chronological dictates that all new comments go at the bottom. Threaded dictates that if you are responding to a comment you indent one from the comment you are responding to. Together this means that a discussion starts at the far left, and the responses continue downward and rightward.<br />
<br />
:This is only for explanation talk pages, as it breaks the way that sections work through the transclusion of the talk page onto the explanation. [[User:Lcarsos|lcarsos]]<span title="I'm an admin. I can help.">_a</span> ([[User talk:Lcarsos|talk]]) 23:32, 12 January 2013 (UTC)<br />
::Thank you very much for clearing that up for me, supporting me in the discussion and, hrm, signing my question! –[[User:St.nerol|St.nerol]] ([[User talk:St.nerol|talk]]) 00:16, 13 January 2013 (UTC)<br />
<br />
:::Yep. I'm here to keep discussion civil. [[User:Lcarsos|lcarsos]]<span title="I'm an admin. I can help.">_a</span> ([[User talk:Lcarsos|talk]]) 00:51, 13 January 2013 (UTC)<br />
<br />
==Two images to delete==<br />
A couple of users ran into a conflict with a KDE desktop file on the server when trying to upload today's comic. Here's two broked images to delete [http://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=File:tar_xkcd.png][http://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=File:tar-1168.png] '''[[User:Davidy22|<span title="I want you."><u><font color="purple" size="2px">David</font><font color="green" size="3px">y</font></u><sup><font color="indigo" size="1px">22</font></sup></span>]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 07:11, 1 February 2013 (UTC)<br />
:Oh, and another one from a while ago when a user ran into a map stored on the server. People mess up so much when they're trying to make new explanation pages. [http://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=File:amazon_1165.png] '''[[User:Davidy22|<span title="I want you."><u><font color="purple" size="2px">David</font><font color="green" size="3px">y</font></u><sup><font color="indigo" size="1px">22</font></sup></span>]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 06:29, 2 February 2013 (UTC)<br />
<br />
::{{done}} [[User:Lcarsos|lcarsos]]<span title="I'm an admin. I can help.">_a</span> ([[User talk:Lcarsos|talk]]) 23:00, 2 February 2013 (UTC)<br />
<br />
:::And a botched redirect made by a newbie: [http://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=1120:_Bridge] '''[[User:Davidy22|<span title="I want you."><u><font color="purple" size="2px">David</font><font color="green" size="3px">y</font></u><sup><font color="indigo" size="1px">22</font></sup></span>]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 13:16, 11 February 2013 (UTC)<br />
<br />
:::{{done}} [[User:Lcarsos|lcarsos]]<span title="I'm an admin. I can help.">_a</span> ([[User talk:Lcarsos|talk]]) 19:03, 11 February 2013 (UTC)<br />
<br />
== "Unacceptable username" ==<br />
<br />
Hi,<br />
<br />
Just wondering, what does the "Unacceptable username" user-blocking reason refer to? (apart from the fact that these users closely resemble users ready to spam...)<br />
<br />
Just being curious. - [[User:Cos|Cos]] ([[User talk:Cos|talk]]) 14:09, 7 February 2013 (UTC)<br />
<br />
: Maybe it's just that you don't know what else to put when blocking a highly suspicious account? In which case you could add a reason in [[MediaWiki:Ipbreason-dropdown]], something like "User account suspicious compared to spamming schemes" (or a better phrasing than this one, which I'm not too sure of...).<br />
: Thing is, I don't see what's wrong in choosing for instance "Zbenjamin89" as a username. - [[User:Cos|Cos]] ([[User talk:Cos|talk]]) 14:41, 7 February 2013 (UTC)<br />
<br />
::You're right. I'm using "Unacceptable username" with the implicit subtitle "spammer-like username". I've been putting it on some of the block messages. I'm only blocking usernames that were created in blocks, that are suspiciously similar to known spamming accounts, and have no contributions despite the account being created hours before. If any one of them comes back and posts on their talk page, or gets in contact, to prove they are human I unblock them. So far, none of them have.<br />
<br />
::I got tired of having to clean up spam, and it seems that blocking these accounts that are created, left to sit for a day or a week, and then activated to spew absurd amounts of spam, has helped in some small measure. [[User:Lcarsos|lcarsos]]<span title="I'm an admin. I can help.">_a</span> ([[User talk:Lcarsos|talk]]) 23:52, 7 February 2013 (UTC)<br />
::<br />
::: So, what about adding a dedicated reason to [[MediaWiki:Ipbreason-dropdown]]? (with the right permissions, I'd have done it myself)<br />
::: As I said, I'm ''not'' blaming you for being the "BOFH" here (love that one ^^), I think that these blocks are useful indeed. I just feel the same thing could be done more intelligibly: someone stumbling upon one of those blocked accounts, or on a log, wouldn't understand and could deduce wrong things out of this. For instance, if you blocked a legitimate account among spammers (seems quite plausible, and in a way, unavoidable), it would not help the user to understand what the problem is, and chances are he would not try to fight to get his "unacceptable" username accepted by an environment he doesn't really know about...<br />
::: So, I believe adding a block reason is very quick and would be better. Maybe my previous phrasing isn't very good, then what about this simpler one: "User account suspicious, very similar to spamming accounts"?<br />
::: [[User:Cos|Cos]] ([[User talk:Cos|talk]]) 14:10, 8 February 2013 (UTC)<br />
<br />
== Hi, ==<br />
<br />
I understand you had exams. Hope they went well for you! May I ask what you're studying? (Myself I have one week to the exam in {{w|multivariable calculus}}!) ––[[User:St.nerol|St.nerol]] ([[User talk:St.nerol|talk]]) 00:00, 10 March 2013 (UTC)<br />
<br />
:Hi, the week before last I had a Physics exam (circuits, capacitance, AC circuits, Kirchoff's law, fun stuff), and last week I had midterms in both Discrete Mathematics (the most wordy math class I've ever taken, but it's about the only formal logic I've ever had, so I love it) and Operating Systems. I also had large projects due in both O.S. and a class called Elements of Computing Systems (The premise of the class is to build up a computer starting at {{w|nand gates}} and through multiple levels of abstraction eventually end up with a high level java-like language that compiles down to the machine language of the processor we "built"). It's all fun, but immensely draining. [[User:Lcarsos|lcarsos]]<span title="I'm an admin. I can help.">_a</span> ([[User talk:Lcarsos|talk]]) 09:45, 14 March 2013 (UTC)<br />
<br />
== About your discussion on [[explain xkcd:Community Portal Coordination]] ==<br />
<br />
Those two IPs you were complaining about - that was me (I was using two computers so two IPs). At that time I was a bit of a noob and did all of those things because I thought that I wasn't doing anything wrong.<br />
<br />
Things have changed. I haven't made many new categories (just [[Category:Bobcats]] and [[Category:Crossbows]]) and I started using <nowiki>{{incomplete}}</nowiki> on comics that I either can't explain or am not confident enough to do so.<br />
<br />
I do not like the way that I was treated as an anon, because, in my opinion, the community {{w|Wikipedia:Don't bite the newcomers|bit a newcomer}}. Nobody posted on either [[User talk:72.252.145.183]] or [[User talk:207.204.86.3]] so I only discovered that my actions were not received very well when I saw an angry edit summary. That was not at all pleasant or friendly. --[[User:Btx40|Btx40]] ([[User talk:Btx40|talk]]) 19:08, 12 April 2013 (UTC)</div>Btx40https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=325:_A-Minus-Minus&diff=33295325: A-Minus-Minus2013-04-11T21:36:37Z<p>Btx40: /* Explanation */ fix capitalization, link</p>
<hr />
<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 325<br />
| date = October 5, 2007<br />
| title = A-Minus-Minus<br />
| image = a-minus-minus.png<br />
| titletext = You can do this one in every 30 times and still have 97% positive feedback<br />
}}<br />
<br />
==Explanation==<br />
[[Black Hat]] is trying to make the world a weirder place by shipping bobcats to his {{w|eBay}} buyers. Ordinarily, negative feedback is used to warn future buyers about sellers that ship broken products or post misleading listings. In this case, the unfortunate buyer is leaving feedback warning future buyers that [[Black Hat]] ships bobcats instead of the actual products, though "would not buy again" seems to be a rather feeble response to the replacement. This appears to have been a continuing project, as [[Cueball]] receives a bobcat [[576|a year and a half later]]. Four years later, it is shown that [[837|you can blackmail]] Black Hat into not sending you a bobcat.<br />
<br />
The title text is about a flaw in eBay's feedback system - you can intentionally do nasty things to your buyers and get ''very'' bad reviews, but still have overall high feedback scores as long as you don't do it too often.<br />
<br />
==Transcript==<br />
:[Black Hat is packing a bobcat into a box; a woman stands beside him.]<br />
<br />
:Woman: What are you doing?<br />
:Black Hat: Making the world a weirder place.<br />
<br />
:Bobcat: ''mrrowlll''<br />
:[Black Hat has finished taping the package for shipping.]<br />
:Black Hat: Starting with my eBay feedback page.<br />
<br />
:[Bandaged person at a computer with assorted debris around the floor]<br />
:Screen: comments:<br />
:Bandaged person typing: Instead of office chair package contained bobcat.<br />
:Bandaged person typing: Would not buy again.<br />
<br />
{{comic discussion}}<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Black Hat]]<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]<br />
[[Category:Bobcats]]</div>Btx40https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=837:_Coupon_Code&diff=33294837: Coupon Code2013-04-11T21:32:13Z<p>Btx40: /* Explanation */</p>
<hr />
<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 837<br />
| date = December 22, 2010<br />
| title = Coupon Code<br />
| image = coupon_code.png<br />
| imagesize = <br />
| titletext = This also guarantees he won't be one of the ones to get a bobcat.<br />
}}<br />
<br />
==Explanation==<br />
[[Cueball]] is sitting at a computer finishing an online order. As he places his order, he inputs a (presumable) shot in the psychological dark in the coupon code field, saying that he observed the person who will process the order steal something from a dying woman's house. After he clicks checkout, the coupon code discounts the sale the full $80.02, presumably meaning the person who processed this order did just so.<br />
<br />
The title text references [[325: A-Minus-Minus]]; it has become a running gag that bobcats are occasionally sent by mail (by [[Black Hat]] in various comics.<br />
<br />
==Transcript==<br />
:[The panel shows an online shopping form.]<br />
:Shipping: $14.08<br />
:Total: $80.02<br />
:If you have a coupon code, enter it here:<br />
:[An empty form.]<br />
:Check out<br />
:<br />
:A person is looking at their computer.<br />
:<br />
:[The empty form is now filled in - the rest of the panel shows the same page.]<br />
:Form: In 1987 you quietly took something from the house of a dying woman. You thought nobody knew -- you were wrong.<br />
:<br />
:[The person is sitting at their computer.]<br />
:&lt;&lt;Click&gt;&gt;<br />
:<br />
:[The form is updated.]<br />
:Shipping: $14.08<br />
:Total: $80.02<br />
:----------------<br />
:Discount<br />
:Applied: -$80.02<br />
:Final price: $0.00<br />
:Thank you<br />
:- Your order has been placed -<br />
<br />
{{comic discussion}} <br />
<!-- Include any categories below this line--><br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]<br />
[[Category:Internet]]<br />
[[Category:Bobcats]]</div>Btx40https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=Talk:576:_Packages&diff=33293Talk:576: Packages2013-04-11T21:28:10Z<p>Btx40: </p>
<hr />
<div>The only way I could imagine Cueball being on a <s>wanted</s> watch list is if the items he ordered could be interpreted as potentially being used in a hostage crisis at The Pentagon. --[[User:Btx40|Btx40]] ([[User talk:Btx40|talk]]) 20:27, 20 February 2013 (UTC)</div>Btx40https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=576:_Packages&diff=33292576: Packages2013-04-11T21:27:19Z<p>Btx40: /* Explanation */</p>
<hr />
<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 576<br />
| date = May 1, 2009<br />
| title = Packages<br />
| image = packages.png<br />
| titletext = Day six: 'The hell? Who mails a bobcat?'<br />
}}<br />
<br />
==Explanation==<br />
[[Cueball]] wrote a script that searches online shopping sites for items that cost US$1 with free shipping. Because the script is programmed to use an account with a $365 balance, this script will buy one random item per day. [[Megan]] coments that Cueball might just end up with "lots of crap" but replies that he might get something interesting.<br />
<br />
Over five days the script orders a length of rubber hose, a ski mask, a bear trap, a map of {{w|The Pentagon}} and "lube". This pattern prompts Cueball to stop the script out of fear of being placed on a FBI watch list.<br />
<br />
In reference to [[325: A-Minus-Minus]], the script managed to make one last order for an item being sold by [[Black Hat]], with a bobcat being delivered instead.<br />
<br />
==Transcript==<br />
:[Cueball is sitting at his computer.]<br />
:Cueball: I love getting packages.<br />
:[Megan enters.]<br />
:Cueball: I set up a script to search eBay et. al. (sic) for $1 items with free shipping.<br />
:[Cueball checks his doorstop; a package is waiting for him.]<br />
:Cueball: I gave it $365, so each day it can buy me something random.<br />
:Megan: What if you just end up with lots of crap?<br />
:Cueball: I'll give it away. But I'm sure I'll end up with some interesting stuff.<br />
:[Day 1: Length of rubber hose.]<br />
:Cueball: Could be handy around the house.<br />
:[Day 2: Ski mask.]<br />
:Cueball: It's spring, but hey.<br />
:[Day 3: Bear trap.]<br />
:Cueball: Huh.<br />
:[Day 4: Tourist map of the Pentagon.]<br />
:Megan: Uh oh.<br />
:[Day 5: Lube]<br />
:Cueball: I'm stopping this before I end up on every F.B.I. watch list ever.<br />
<br />
{{comic discussion}}<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]<br />
[[Category:Bobcats]]</div>Btx40https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=explain_xkcd:Community_portal/Coordination&diff=33285explain xkcd:Community portal/Coordination2013-04-11T21:14:10Z<p>Btx40: /* Can we turn off page creation for non-logged in users */</p>
<hr />
<div><noinclude>{{Community portal}}</noinclude><br />
<br />
== Issue dates ==<br />
<br />
Hi Jeff,<br />
<br />
As i'm creating pages I struggle with the issue dates of comics. I've added a comment to all pages that contain the (unknown/incorrect) dates. Is there a way to research those dates? --[[User:Rikthoff|Rikthoff]] ([[User talk:Rikthoff|talk]])<br />
: [http://xkcd.com/archive/] if you mouse over the comic name, it will have the date. --[[User:Jeff|Jeff]] ([[User talk:Jeff|talk]]) 18:26, 3 August 2012 (EDT)<br />
<br />
- if you mouse over comic name in "Archive" section of xkcd.com. Older comics(1-44 or so) might be found in [http://liveweb.archive.org/http://xkcd-drawings.livejournal.com/?skip=40 livejournal archive][[User:Bpothier|B. P.]] ([[User talk:Bpothier|talk]]) 18:35, 3 August 2012 (EDT)<br />
<br />
Should we consider using "2012-08-03" style dates and letting localization "do the right thing"? Most pages so far use "August 3, 2012" style dates, with a few incorrectly doing "August 3rd, 2012"... Presumably the template could do the localizing/localising...--[[User:Bpothier|B. P.]] ([[User talk:Bpothier|talk]]) 18:39, 3 August 2012 (EDT)<br />
<br />
: The date is also available with the [http://xkcd.com/json.html JSON API], which I'm going to use for the [[User_talk:Jeff#Automatic_Import|import]]. I use <nowiki>{{#dateformat: year-month-day}}</nowiki>, MediaWiki should figure out the correct way to display it based on your preferences. --[[User:SlashMe|SlashMe]] ([[User talk:SlashMe|talk]]) 18:47, 3 August 2012 (EDT)<br />
<small>Moved from [[User talk:Jeff]]. --''[[User:Philosopher|Philosopher]]''&nbsp;<sup>[[User talk:Philosopher|Let us reason together.]]</sup> 00:15, 4 August 2012 (EDT)</small><br />
<br />
== Date? ==<br />
<br />
How do I find the date a comic was first posted (to put in the comic header here?) [[User:TheHYPO|TheHYPO]] ([[User talk:TheHYPO|talk]]) 12:26, 3 August 2012 (EDT)<br />
<br />
<small>Moved from [[Talk:Main Page]]. --''[[User:Philosopher|Philosopher]]''&nbsp;<sup>[[User talk:Philosopher|Let us reason together.]]</sup> 00:43, 4 August 2012 (EDT)</small><br />
<br />
Original posting date is listed on xkcd's [[http://xkcd.com/archive/ archive page]] as hover-text for each post. The first 44 comics are all listed as 2006-01-01. Many of these were previously posted on the [[http://liveweb.archive.org/http://xkcd-drawings.livejournal.com/?skip=40 livejournal site]], and some dates can be found/inferred by checking there.--[[User:Bpothier|B. P.]] ([[User talk:Bpothier|talk]]) 17:49, 7 August 2012 (UTC)<br />
<br />
== To do list ==<br />
<br />
I suggest a todo list to be added here so newcomers will have an idea of concrete things they can do to help. I'll start by moving some items I've been collecting on my user page. Feel free to add more :)<br />
<br />
'''Things to do'''<br />
* Complete all entries from the [[List of all comics]]<br />
* [[Special:WantedPages]] lists pages that have links to them but haven't been created yet.<br />
* More topics that could be covered here besides the comics themselves:<br />
** our [https://twitter.com/explainxkcd twitter account]<br />
** the xkcd irc channel (and [http://wiki.xkcd.com its wiki])<br />
** the xkcd blag<br />
** the xkcd forum<br />
** other sites explaining xkcd ([http://xkcdexplained.com/], [http://xkcd.wikia.com], [http://xkcdexplained.wikia.com], [http://xkcdexplainedexplained.tumblr.com/archive], maybe invite members+content of the other wikis in once we're established?)<br />
<br />
'''Maintenance'''<br />
* Redirects should be created from the "File:number.png" format to the "File:title.png" format.<br />
* categorization (make sure these lists are empty):<br />
** [[Special:UncategorizedCategories]]<br />
** [[Special:UncategorizedFiles]]<br />
** [[Special:UncategorizedPages]]<br />
** [[Special:WantedCategories]]<br />
* building the web of links:<br />
** [[Special:DeadendPages]] (pages with no links to other pages)<br />
** [[Special:LonelyPages]] (pages that aren't linked to by any others)<br />
* other<br />
** [[Special:DoubleRedirects]]<br />
**: (Took a chunk out of these the good ol' fashioned way, but there's got to be a wiff of Perl or Python to automate this... ? -- [[User:IronyChef|IronyChef]] ([[User talk:IronyChef|talk]]) 14:44, 9 August 2012 (UTC))<br />
**:: Well, there's [https://sourceforge.net/apps/mediawiki/mwclient/ mwclient], a Python interface to the mediawiki API which I've used to move the comics to the new names. We could certainly create scripts to perform maintenance tasks and share the snippets here on the wiki. Automated tools will be useful while we establish standards early on. If you'd like help getting started, let me know. --[[User:Waldir|Waldir]] ([[User talk:Waldir|talk]]) 19:40, 9 August 2012 (UTC)<br />
** convert [[Special:LinkSearch/en.wikipedia.org|wikipedia links]] to the <nowiki>{{w|Lorem ipsum}}</nowiki> format<br />
** use lowercase xkcd everywhere on the wiki (see [http://xkcd.com/about/ How do I write "xkcd"?])<br />
<br />
There are more maintenance reports at [[Special:SpecialPages]], for inspiration :) --[[User:Waldir|Waldir]] ([[User talk:Waldir|talk]]) 06:45, 6 August 2012 (EDT)<br />
<br />
:: I'd love one of these "To Do" lists for admins as well! :) I'm always forgetting what I need to do! --[[User:Jeff|Jeff]] ([[User talk:Jeff|talk]]) 02:35, 12 August 2012 (UTC)<br />
::: There actually isn't much to do that needs admin permissions around here. Right I can think of only a handful of admin-specific tasks:<br />
:::* Keeping an eye on [[explain xkcd:Community portal/Admin requests]] for stuff other editors might need<br />
:::* Keeping an eye on [[:Category:Pages to delete]] (currently populated by {{tl|spam}}), delete the pages, block the spammers<br />
:::* Updating the main page and watching <br />
:::* Implementing any changes, agreed by the community, that require editing Mediawiki pages<br />
:::Maybe others will have other items to add to the list, but for the most part, the things that need to be done are available to all editors: adding the missing comic explanations, describing characters, categorizing, etc. --[[User:Waldir|Waldir]] ([[User talk:Waldir|talk]]) 19:13, 12 August 2012 (UTC)<br />
<br />
== Date categories ==<br />
I'm not sure the "[[:Category:Comics by month|Comics by month]]", by weekday, etc. Will be much useful, unless for those interested in running some stats. It might be more interesting to have specific months, such as [[:Category:Comics from May 2011]] and so on. What do you think? --[[User:Waldir|Waldir]] ([[User talk:Waldir|talk]]) 06:45, 6 August 2012 (EDT)<br />
: That was actually next for me: #time:year-month, but I wanted to study the globalization implications. I prefer over-categorizing rather than under-categorizing, since it's comparatively cheap. The assumption is that categories are the same as tags on the old site, and that mediawiki affords us some extra ways to automatically categorize pages in addition to the manual forms starting to emerge (by character, by subject, etc.) To paraphrase an old prof: you can't study what you don't measure; I've been wanting to see if, for example, Monday comics deal certain subjects, while Friday comics deal with another, etc. Not everybody's cup of tea, but of value perhaps to some, and insanely cheap to support both mentally and for the software. -- [[User:IronyChef|IronyChef]] ([[User talk:IronyChef|talk]]) 13:51, 7 August 2012 (UTC)<br />
<br />
I also used it to find some date typos for Saturday/Sunday/Tuesday/Thursday comics, which should usually be empty - except for some early entries from livejournal... --[[User:Bpothier|B. P.]] ([[User talk:Bpothier|talk]]) 21:50, 17 August 2012 (UTC)<br />
<br />
It does make it look a bit messy down by the categories... maybe we can skip one or two of these date categories, if people don't still find them useful? [[User:St.nerol|St.nerol]] ([[User talk:St.nerol|talk]]) 21:22, 23 November 2012 (UTC)<br />
<br />
== Page names ==<br />
<br />
I think we should use the comic number '''and''' the title as the page name. Like so: "112: Baring My Heart". This would allow comics to be sorted by order in categories, but the pages would still have human-readable names for those of us who don't memorize all xkcd comic numbers ;) Thoughts? --[[User:Waldir|Waldir]] ([[User talk:Waldir|talk]]) 07:23, 6 August 2012 (EDT)<br />
<br />
:I agree, for another reason: for instance [[YouTube]] could be either the title of a page explaining how YouTube is referenced in xkcd, or the title of the explanation for comic #202 (titled "YouTube"). I don't know if I'm being clear here, but as we do not control the titles of the comics, that could create confusion with other pages. So using something like [[202: YouTube]] would ensure disambiguation without being really complicated or awkward... And actually prefixing the comic title with its number seems quite relevant to me.<br />
:<small>Additionally, that would solve potential problems such as [[Exoplanets]]: comic [[786]] or [[1071]]?</small><br />
:[[User:Cos|Cos]] ([[User talk:Cos|talk]]) 14:33, 6 August 2012 (UTC)<br />
::Beat me to the punch; agreed. Numbers are unique and sequential, but not altogether that meaningful. Names are meaningful but (as we've seen) not unique. Some combination of both would be called for. We'd need to have the plain numbers redirect to the new topic (some double-redirects would need to be fixed up?) and the names would too (with at least one disambiguation page for now, and who knows: maybe more to come?) -- [[User:IronyChef|IronyChef]] ([[User talk:IronyChef|talk]]) 13:55, 7 August 2012 (UTC)<br />
::Following up on the YouTube discussion above, I'm wondering if we should leverage namespaces more: main:topic is implicitly ''xkcd:topic'' (ie ''main:YouTube'' discusses the xkcd comic, while ''ref:YouTube'' is the place where the pop-culture reference of YouTube is discussed.) Either that, or some other name decoration, such as ''YouTube Explained'', or ... -- [[User:IronyChef|IronyChef]] ([[User talk:IronyChef|talk]]) 13:59, 7 August 2012 (UTC)<br />
::: Agreed. Number and the name together. --[[User:Jeff|Jeff]] ([[User talk:Jeff|talk]]) 16:08, 7 August 2012 (UTC)<br />
:::: Looks like we have consensus. I'll move the pages (I've been meaning to learn how to use [https://sourceforge.net/projects/mwclient mwclient] anyway :D) --[[User:Waldir|Waldir]] ([[User talk:Waldir|talk]]) 18:01, 7 August 2012 (UTC)<br />
:::: {{done}}, all current pages have been moved. However, I am not sure whether we should keep a space after the colon. What do you guys think? Should it be "112: Baring My Heart" or "112:Baring My Heart"? --[[User:Waldir|Waldir]] ([[User talk:Waldir|talk]]) 18:20, 7 August 2012 (UTC)<br />
::::: Also, I just realized MediaWiki doesn't allow colons in image Filenames. One solution could be using something like [[:File:786. Exoplanets.png]] or [[:File:786-Exoplanets.png]], but then perhaps we'd have to change the pages name too, for consistency? I'll try to investigate what is the reasoning behind this restriction. --[[User:Waldir|Waldir]] ([[User talk:Waldir|talk]]) 18:50, 7 August 2012 (UTC)<br />
:::::: Ok, it seems like it's a matter of setting <code><nowiki>$wgIllegalFileChars = '';</nowiki></code> in LocalSettings.php (because it is set as <code>$wgIllegalFileChars = ':';</code> in DefaultSettings.php). <s>Jeff, could you do that please?</s> --[[User:Waldir|Waldir]] ([[User talk:Waldir|talk]]) 19:13, 7 August 2012 (UTC)<br />
:::::::: Nevermind, we will probably use a different naming pattern instead. --[[User:Waldir|Waldir]] ([[User talk:Waldir|talk]]) 20:05, 9 August 2012 (UTC)<br />
<br />
::::::: I guess this is my bad for not ciming in on this discussion earlier, but I frankly think that the #: Name is a worse way of doing it just for the reasons of system resources. #:Name is fine from a user standpoint with the '''caveat''' that # and Name both redirect to #:Name. The problem is that this requires 2 redirects minimum for every comic, and the redirect itself takes a bit more time for each article to load, and (as I understand from wikipedia and its dislike of double redirects), every redirect adds to the system load. So if every article lookup by users (who will undoubtedly type either the number or the name, but rarely both) is a redirect, the system load is going to go up.<br />
<br />
::::::: As an aside, assuming Jeff is able to install the Cite Extension to add citation referencing (and even if he doesn't), I was expecting to try to create some sort of template in the concept of {{tl|cite comic}} where you could basically pass a single variable (e.g. the comic number) and it would create a proper citation for that comic. Similarly, this naming format will perhaps require a template something like {{tl|comicno}} with a comic number field just to create a quick link that is visibly appealing and links properly to the comic with that number. (ie: {comicno|18} would produce a link like "[[18: Snapple|Snapple]]" or something). I'm wondering though if anyone has any coding ideas for how we might accomplish this other than the hardcode all the titles into a template. [[User:TheHYPO|TheHYPO]] ([[User talk:TheHYPO|talk]]) 19:26, 7 August 2012 (UTC)<br />
<br />
::::::: PS: I did some mild digging on another wiki, ''Star Trek'''s Memory Alpha wiki, and although all of its episode articles are now titled "episode title (episode)" to avoid disambiguation, which allows you to an episode template by calling the title (which template appends "(episode)" to every entry), they DO have a title-display template: [http://en.memory-alpha.org/wiki/Template:Titles Template:Titles] - with a template subpage for every single episode setting out how the mouseover text should be displayed. It would be possible to do such a template for xkcd just so that comic numbers can be crossreferenced to titles... [[User:TheHYPO|TheHYPO]] ([[User talk:TheHYPO|talk]]) 20:30, 7 August 2012 (UTC)<br />
:::::::: (Hoping this is the right number of colons for proper indentation... ;-) Redirects are one thing, and while probably resulting in possibly two page serves (isn't it really just two hits to the db?) they're natively supported by mediawiki. Even so, if performance is proven to be a real (not just conjectured) problem, can we do something clever, perhaps, with transclusion? Either the number transcludes the title, or vice versa? Might be a case of pre-optimization, though; in the back of my mind, it seems that the rendering engine puts as much effort into transcluding to expand templates as it would to expand a redirect in situ: either case is just a query to the DB to expand the contents of said item. (Enough rambling; anybody have any concrete metrics on this?) -- [[User:IronyChef|IronyChef]] ([[User talk:IronyChef|talk]]) 06:23, 9 August 2012 (UTC)<br />
:::::::::Hi folks. Just thought I'd state that redirects are completely safe. They don't add any noticeable loading time for the users and the extra resources used by the server are so minor that it's akin to the resources used to type a character in notepad. Pages are also aggressively cached (by default, anyway). If you're interested, the way redirects work in Mediawiki isn't like most other sites handle redirects. It's not loading a page that makes you load another page. Rather, all content is stored in an SQL database. The content is stored under a certain name (eg, "#: Hello World!"). A redirect simply tells Mediawiki to look for the content under a different name. Slightly more work for the server (don't worry, they can handle it), but the page is delivered to the user in roughly the same period of time (if we want to be technical, the page will be slightly larger, due to the "Redirected from whatever" line added to the page (which is mostly there for the purpose of making it easier to fix incorrect redirects). I don't have metrics, but can assure you that it's almost no difference in the end result. {{User:Omega/sig}} 09:11, 9 August 2012 (UTC)<br />
<br />
I've been thinking about this some more, and I believe we should choose a different pattern for the page names.<br />
* First, use another separator between comic number and name, since colon is forbidden in files. A simple alternative would be "Comic title (number)", as in [[Michael Phelps (1092)]]. This would additionally allow us to use the {{w|Help:Pipe trick|pipe trick}} when linking to a comic, since content in parenthesis is automatically stripped out: <nowiki>[[Michael Phelps (1092)|]]</nowiki> results in [[Michael Phelps (1092)|Michael Phelps]]. Another effect of this is that by dropping the colon naming scheme we would remove ambiguity with the namespace system, which also uses colons to separate namespaces from pagenames.<br />
* Second, we should probably follow IronyChef's suggestion above and move them to a specific namespace, such as [[Comic:Michael Phelps (1092)]]. Other namespaces could be added for more topics, such as [[Character:Cueball]], [[xkcd:Randall]] (or [[Meta:Randall]]), [[Topic:Velociraptors]], etc. Not only we would be able to generate lists of pages without resorting to categories (which have to be added manually), but we would get lot's of "Random X" for free (random comic, random character, random topic, etc.)<br />
What do you guys think? --[[User:Waldir|Waldir]] ([[User talk:Waldir|talk]]) 14:29, 9 August 2012 (UTC)<br />
:P.s. - Proper category sorting of the comics would be dealt with by the {{tl|comic}} template, which would also pad the numbers with zeroes to ensure 100 comes after 2, etc.<br />
<br />
::+1 on the parens... (but does that mean my recent double-redirect-fixups have been for naught? {{xkcd|541|(grin)}}) ... I couldn't put my finger on it and didn't articulate it earlier, but the fact that colon needed special attention by the software left me a bit uneasy (there must be a reason for them doing that, like namespaces perhaps) so using parentheses-es-es (as {{xkcd|297|long}} as we {{xkcd|859|close}} them {{explain|312|properly}}) seems more the mediawiki way. -- [[User:IronyChef|IronyChef]] ([[User talk:IronyChef|talk]]) 15:03, 9 August 2012 (UTC) (I know you folks don't like my propensity to (over?)categorize, but <nowiki>[[Category:Parentheses]]</nowiki> is just too irresistible... ;-)<br />
<br />
:I think, that all of this seem unnecessary complication to me. I don't see any problem with the current system. I think something like [[1092: Michael Phelps]] flows well, is quite readable and easy to insert "as is" in the text (see the links to other comics in [[1048: Emotion]] for instance). As I understand, we would want the image files to be titled exactly the same way as their corresponding article; why, where is the need for that? (to me the simplest way, and most relevant maybe, would be to name them exactly as they are on xkcd.com; maybe with a prefix, like "xkcd - ", so that it cannot mess with other existing images such as from Commons).<br />
:I don't see the point of creating namespaces such as "Character", "Topic", etc.; what is the problem with [[Beret Guy]], [[Randall Munroe]], [[Velociraptors]], and such? with namespaces one will have to put each topic in one box (and one only), where will you put things like [[Stick figure]] or [[My Hobby]] or any other thing that will pop up without clearly belonging to one of these boxes? ''[[1077: Home Organization|just give up]]!'' :-)<br />
:About the "Random X", I like the idea that on xkcd.com, you can get a random ''comic'' (because that's all what is there), but in here you can get a random whatever: you may get a comic explanation, a character, a topic or anything, because in here there is all that.<br />
:I don't think the colon in the comic page names will pose any problem, it cannot mess with anything as long as it is preceded by a number only.<br />
:''In the end,'' I think that adding the number in the comic page names was a good choice, because there would have been real issues otherwise, but for now I would say : "don't fix what is not broken", KISS, and "just give up". :-)<br />
:[[User:Cos|Cos]] ([[User talk:Cos|talk]]) 16:14, 9 August 2012 (UTC)<br />
<br />
:: I have to agree with this. The existing page names are fine in my book, and I don't see any benefits of renaming them all (again). Concerning the random, though, I mentioned an extension in proposals that would allow us to choose a "random page in a category". I don't really care one way or another about character topics. Seem like a lot of maintenance when we don't even have a quarter of the comics explained yet, but whatever. Concerning the image names, I think that simply using the same name as it appears on xkcd is fine. Images are a bit of a "backend", that people don't usually search for (rather, they'd search for the comic and find the image on that page). As well, since all images are hosted on xkcd, they won't be any file name conflicts amongst the comics. {{User:Omega/sig}} 18:04, 9 August 2012 (UTC)<br />
<br />
::: Good points (and puns!), all of you. I'd like to address a few specific points (I'll highlight the key takeaways for your convenience):<br />
:::* '''I still prefer parenthesis''' for the simple reason that colons mess with the concept of namespaces (not that it has any effect on the software, which can cope quite well; I'm speaking from a user point of view). Besides, one of the reasons I proposed for having the number first was automatic category sorting, but that backfired (cf. #2 vs. #100).<br />
:::* Re rationale for having image files titled like the comics is that it would allow automatic image inclusion via the {{tl|comic}} template. However, having the prefix is not crucial for that (hadn't thought of this before), so I'll go ahead and remove my suggestion above to allow colons in filenames.<br />
:::* Note that there's no problem with "conflicts" with Commons images: an image uploaded here simply takes precedence regarding an image uploaded to commons under the same name (e.g. [[:File:Irony.jpg]] vs. [[commons:File:Irony.jpg]]). That said, while external conflicts aren't a problem, internal ones are (e.g. [[Exoplanets]]). That, coupled with the "it's just a backend" point made by Omega, is a good argument to '''use the original filenames''' (also, less overhead when uploading a new comic)<br />
:::* I understand the argument against a single primary way to classify a page using namespaces. The category system is more flexible as it allows many-to-many relationships. However, I must point out that the examples you give are no problem at all: [[Meta:Stick figure]] and [[Topic:My Hobby]] ;) So '''I'm still not convinced that using custom namespaces is a bad idea''' or a lost cause or that it won't scale up well. Besides, it makes it very clear what a reader will find on that page (explainxkcd.com/wiki/Topic:Velociraptors is a pretty self-explanatory url). And again, it allows us to use the random feature that is natively implemented on mediawiki, rather than an extension. And "random whatever" is still available, of course :)<br />
:::* IronyChef, by all means, please create [[:Category:Parentheses]] :D<br />
::: --[[User:Waldir|Waldir]] ([[User talk:Waldir|talk]]) 20:05, 9 August 2012 (UTC)<br />
<br />
:::If we're going to use the numbers in the titles, it seems logical to have the number come first so that comics are essentially sortable by number rather than alphabetically by title; although this probably can be taken care of by changing the sort title, thoug this could be tedious.<br />
<br />
:::I don't support new namespaces for comics and characters and whatnot. I don't see what it adds to the wiki, and it just makes the links to each comic page ''even longer'' (no one will EVER correctly search for '''Comic:Snapple (18)''' on their first attempt).<br />
<br />
:::I am not claiming to be an expert on redirects. My comment was based on wikipedia pages like {{w|Wikipedia:Double redirects}} where it clearly suggests in the lead that double redirects "waste server resources". I assume this applies (at to a lesser degree) to single redirects. They may not be needless waste like double redirects, but they they do use resources. Granted wikipedia has far larger servers and much more traffic, so it may be more relevant to them than here, but it still would appear to be a resource issue; Database queries are still resource hogs, even if they are simple ones. Not suggesting they aren't safe, but if every comic load is basically a redirect, that is still two queries every time instead of just the occasional one. I'm fine with it; I'm just pointing out the issue. [[User:TheHYPO|TheHYPO]] ([[User talk:TheHYPO|talk]]) 16:20, 10 August 2012 (UTC)<br />
<br />
::::The reason that double redirects are bad is that linking a redirect to another redirect (a double redirect) causes the first redirect to simply display the content of the second redirect (rather than actually redirecting the page). This appears as simply an arrow and a link (a soft redirect). It uses more system resources because an actual page has to be loaded and displayed, forcing the user to manually click the link and display the proper page (whereas a single redirect would load the correct page and display it). So in other words, a double redirect forces two pages to be loaded, while a single redirect only loads one page, more or less the same as if you went to the actual page title. {{User:Omega/sig}} 21:35, 10 August 2012 (UTC)<br />
<br />
::::: Also, regarding the sorting argument for using numbers first: I was the one who originally proposed that, but I overlooked the fact that sorting won't work unless we use padding (e.g. "0001: Comic title"), which is kind of a hack. MediaWiki supports category sort keys natively, so we should be taking advantage of them rather than relying on a specific page title format to achieve the same effect.<br />
::::: As for the namespaces, I think I've presented my arguments for that above; let me know if any of them are unclear. I accept that one may disagree with them, but not that there ''aren't'' any benefits. Note that '''nobody''' will correctly seach for whatever page title we use, unless we use only the numbers as the final title, which I think we all agree is not desirable. --[[User:Waldir|Waldir]] ([[User talk:Waldir|talk]]) 11:25, 11 August 2012 (UTC)<br />
<br />
::::::Thanks for the double-redirect explanation, Omega. To Waldir; I think people would also correctly search for Comic Titles, at times. Some more than others, for sure. But if you are on XKCD reading a comic that has a title printed, and you want to come here and read the explanation, You would most likely search for either the number or the title that is displayed at xkcd.com. That said, if it's not a resource hog, and we can find a GOOD way to create links to comics easily (ie: I can type in {explain|123} and actually get a proper looking link to that comic's page, I'm cool with that. I really think it will add a lot of time to the edit process to have to manually type in 123: Title for every link to another comic. [[User:TheHYPO|TheHYPO]] ([[User talk:TheHYPO|talk]]) 14:32, 13 August 2012 (UTC)<br />
<br />
== Comic Display - another new template ==<br />
<br />
I see that the latest comics have changed over to {{tl|comicbox}} from {{tl|comic}}. This might be in response to today's tall narrow comic. I don't see any recent discussions about the {{tl|comicbox}} template. We really need to come to some form of consensus on the comic display issue. I am really not a fan of the {{tl|comicbox}} template, as I arrive at the homepage today and I don't understand what I'm seeing. There is no indication that the text on the right is the Explanation. I wasn't sure if part of it was title text or not. I figured it out, but it's not the easiest thing to see. I also don't think the navbuttons jutting right up against the top of the comic display box looks good.<br />
<br />
Eithe way, where I'm going with this is that I think we need to come to a consensus on the form and template used for comic pages. If we choose comicbox, or comic or some other template, it's all good; but we should be editing ONE template to get it working and looking the way we want; rather than bouncing between many templates and creating new ones. [[User:TheHYPO|TheHYPO]] ([[User talk:TheHYPO|talk]]) 16:26, 10 August 2012 (UTC)<br />
:Yeah, I was really confused at first, and scrambled through the discussions trying to find what happened. To be honest, I'm more of a fan of the {{tl|comic}} template, with the explanation under a header explaining so. Not to mention with {{tl|comicbox}}, I'm suddenly unsure of what to do with the transcripts. For comparison, [http://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=1093:_Forget&oldid=6199 here] is the {{tl|comic}} template, while [http://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=1093:_Forget&oldid=6209 here] is the {{tl|comicbox}} template. At any rate, no matter what template we're using (I personally prefer {{tl|comic}}, but don't really care that much provided all comics use the same template), I agree that we need some kind of consensus to determine how we're formatting the page. {{User:Omega/sig}} 21:31, 10 August 2012 (UTC)<br />
::Ditto on the confusion (augmented by the confusion of finding where the pertinent discussion has gotten off to; they seem to slip from page to page between visits... ) Anyway, I'm guessing this is a ''de-gustibus'' matter, but regardless of the respective virtues of either template, to my eye the template today's comic was changed to has {{explain|1070|a couple}} cosmetic shortcomings: <br />
::* The typeface is larger than normal. Just a personal preference, but it should be scaled 100% vs adjacent normal wiki text; readers can change the level of zoom if that's too small. Also, <br />
::* the image is vertically centered, so in the case of a disproportionately long explanation (like today's) it appears too far down the page; it really needs to be top-aligned, with the title text close underneath it. Further, <br />
::* for this vertical layout, there's a lot of wasted vertical space when the explanation is so much longer than the image. Rather than having two rigid columns, have we considered '''float:left''' or '''float:right''' style attributes on the image, so that whatever text is left flows to fill the entire space below the image?<br />
:: Finally, to tie this all up with a bow, (and perhaps raising an issue that may have been raised before; I don't recall, because of the shifting locations of discussions hereabouts) ... Is there a need for images to always be shown at 100% size, especially for the more extremely sized ones? Seems to me that the images here really only need to fulfill a refresher role, and clicks through the image should take the reader to the full-sized image on xkcd.com. Legally, I know we have the right to host the images here. But morally, it seems like we shouldn't be taking too much traffic away from xkcd.com as it is RM's bread and butter. Our value-add is the in the form of explanations: long as we can visually tie these explanations with the comic (by having something bigger than a thumbnail, but somewhat smaller than full size, especially for odd-shaped ones) I think we're on the positive side. Thotz? -- [[User:IronyChef|IronyChef]] ([[User talk:IronyChef|talk]]) 05:23, 11 August 2012 (UTC)<br />
:::I agree with you on all points, although I'm really not a fan of having the text either beside or under the comic. I'd rather it be the same in all cases. In which case, having the text beside the comic won't do, as wide comics wouldn't be very supportive of that. Also, if the explanation is considerably longer than the comic, it just looks a bit strange to me. Float left/right would fix that, but would be a bit harder to implement with the title text (eg, if the title text and image are inside a float left div, does that div have a fixed width or does a long title text push it over?). All in all, I'd rather the text always be below the comic. It's consistent and less problematic. Regarding the size of comics, I'd rather we use the full size in all cases except the "large" comics (defined as the comics that are shown at a reduced size on xkcd itself, such as [[1079: United Shapes]]). Why? Because when I'm reading an explanation to a comic I don't understand, I'm constantly referencing the explanation with the comic itself. Having to open a new tab each time would make that a bit less convenient. {{User:Omega/sig}} 06:38, 11 August 2012 (UTC)<br />
::::For visual experimentation, I've made the theoretically uncontroversial changes of text size (it's now expressed as relative percentage rather than absolute px) and I made the image top-aligned, so comics like {{explain|1093}} show the image near the top of the explanation, despite the explanation being many multiples of that image's height; we can change that back if we don't like them. There are other changes I'd like to make (see above) but I'll wait for general agreement on that (not to mention which template to use.) -- [[User:IronyChef|IronyChef]] ([[User talk:IronyChef|talk]]) 15:39, 12 August 2012 (UTC)<br />
<br />
:::::To respond to all of the previous comments; I echo IronyChef's thought - I built into {{tl|comic}} an imagesize attribute because I believe that the comic should be a managable size on this site; generally not more than say 400px; this creates a "click to enlarge" link which takes the user to the imgae's page. Although I previously thought that a balance needs to be kept because people may start coming to the wiki to read xkcd in the first instance instead of xkcd.com, I also agree with Omega's point that it's potentially unfair to Randall to entice traffic away from xkcd.com. This strengthens my belief that larger comics should be kept to a reasonable size.<br />
<br />
:::::Not sure if I said it in this thread, I think we have to look at the purpose of the box itself. In my eyes, the box is designed (like an infobox) to basically show the user the basic facts. Not user-added material or encyclopedia text. The box, in my view, is there to present all of the info about the comic that actually comes from xkcd. The image, the alt text, the title, date and number. Adding the explanation in the box basically makes the explanation look official as part of the comic. The primary content of this site is the explanations. If anything should go under proper wiki-format headers, it's that (in my opinion). The transcript is technically official content, but as I've said elsewhere, in my view, the transcript is secondary info that the comic already contains; it doesn't need to be in the infobox. IronyChef has indentified and fixed a lot of my minor cosmetic issues with the comicbox template, and there are others I don't like either (the title font is a little too weak and the top of the box is touching the bottom of the nav buttons. Don't like those, but again, easily fixable).<br />
<br />
::::: I also think while there may be instances like the "Forget" comic which is a list-form comic where having a long vertical list explanation works, a long vertical list is often harder to read and follow than a full-page-width explanation. (even "Forget" has each line of explanation end up being several lines long in {{tl|comicbox}} format.) Worse, the potential to want to fit in the box may limit users from adding to explanations which we shouldn't encourage. If the explanation is twice as long as the comic, there's nothing wrong with that, and it shouldn't look bad by going inside the template. I appreciate the attempt that the verticle comicbox makes to not waste space (using the two-column method) but I don't think this is the way to do it. I think shrinking the comic (and accepting that there will be space on either side) is the best way. As I say, 375px or 400px seem like logical limiters for most comics. This is explainxkcd, so you shouldn't have to scroll way down to get to the explanation. I too sometimes like to view the comic and explain at the same time to check notes as Omega suggests, but I can do that by control+click or shift+clicking the image to enlarge, and comparing in separate windows by tiling them or just switching back and forth - with a larger comic, you'd have to scroll up and down to read both the comic and the explanation anyway. I find I lose my place in the text when I do that. alt+Tabbing for me generally is easier to keep my place in both windows.<br />
<br />
:::::The one thing from {{tl|comicbox}} that I do like is that the box is shaded slightly bluegray. I like the separation that creates; on the other hand, xkcd.com has comics posted on white; does it hurt the integrity of any comics to have them posted on blue-grey instead of white? I'd consider changing the background of {{tl|comic}} to a blue-gray (though perhaps lighter than the one on comicbox) if people like that. That's my thoughts[[User:TheHYPO|TheHYPO]] ([[User talk:TheHYPO|talk]]) 15:10, 13 August 2012 (UTC)<br />
<br />
{{outdent|:::::}}<br />
{{tl|ComicBox}} just got a major redesign. It looks more like {{tl|comic}}, but with the addition of a vertical comic mode. Also, bear in mind that {{tl|comic}} doesn't use white for the background. For comics like "Forget", take a look at [[Forget comicbox]]. Looks ok? --[[User:Grep|Grep]] ([[User talk:Grep|talk]]) 15:27, 20 August 2012 (UTC)<br />
<br />
:As noted on [[explain xkcd:Community portal/Proposals#Comic Templates]], there is no need to start a new thread there there there is already a thread on the topic here (which you've posted to). Also, if your post was "which template should we use when?" it's not really a "proposal" for the proposals page, and better fits here under coordination.<br />
<br />
:That said, I thought this topic was fairly well resolved. Jeff endorsed {{tl|Comic}} in the [[#Header_template]] discussion on this page, and this subsequent discussion seemed to resolve as well with no real consensus that a change from {{tl|comic}} was necessary or beneficial. I don't see the benefit of continuing to build new templates that basially duplicate existing templates with one extra function (vertical mode). That could have been built into the existing template, if it were deemed necessary.<br />
<br />
:I personally think there are still pluses and minuses to doing things vertically; It looks a little cluttered to have the comic up on one size and the explanation on the other. If you don't have a high-resolution desktop or you want a non-maximized window, there may not be much space for the explanation which may end up with two or three words per line and be hard to read and annoying. "Forget" was a comic featuring a long list; this made for a very long listed explanation. Most long comics will not have explanations longer than the comic, and we'll have a lot of whitespace to the right of the comic. It just looks cluttered to me. I like having the navbar centered above the comic, not the page (and also in the enclosed comic box). That's personal preference though. I think the better design for vertical comics (is just to reduce their size and put them in the standard box. They otherwise take up too much space. [[User:TheHYPO|TheHYPO]] ([[User talk:TheHYPO|talk]]) 16:48, 20 August 2012 (UTC)<br />
<br />
*I am not a fan of the discontinuity that comicbox creates as the explanation runs longer than the image. I also feel that we should focus on improving the existing {{tl|comic}} instead of further developing new templates. - [[User:Shine|Shine]] ([[User talk:Shine|talk]]) 21:38, 20 August 2012 (UTC)<br />
<br />
== Template for New Comics ==<br />
<br />
To clarify, I'm not talking about a template like {{tl|comic}} or {{tl|comicbox}}, but rather a form to cut/paste for new comics. I'm rather new to large editing of MediaWiki pages, so I'm interested in learning of better ways of doing things.<br />
<br />
Recently, I've been copy/pasting [[User:Blaisepascal/newcomictemplate]] to set up the basic form of the page, then editing the various sections. This ensures I get the major bits. I still have to copy/paste the transcript from xkcd.com, fill in the {{tl|comic}} template, and make the number and title redirects by hand.<br />
<br />
Is there a better way? Is there anything my template is missing? [[User:Blaisepascal|Blaisepascal]] ([[User talk:Blaisepascal|talk]]) 14:06, 21 August 2012 (UTC)<br />
<br />
:I've created a ruby script that can be given a comic number and it will spit out a text file with the comic template filled out, the transcript, and the comic discussion template. I've finally gotten it to the point that it is usable, so that's why I'm talking about it. It still doesn't pull explanations from the blog, but that's a whole ball of wax in and of itself. I'm on Linux so it's easy to run it and have it spit out files, I assume on Windows if you have ruby installed there is a way to run ruby scripts from the command prompt. Can't tell you where things will pop out, probably in the directory you run it in, but I haven't tested it on Windows yet. I'm also continuing to work on it, so don't assume that any version you download is the final product. Oh, it also spits out the redirect line you put in the number and title pages so you can just copy/paste that.<br />
:I made it because I was going to drive myself insane making hundreds of pages without some kind of automation. [[User:Lcarsos|lcarsos]] ([[User talk:Lcarsos|talk]]) 07:24, 25 August 2012 (UTC)<br />
<br />
::{{tl|create}} was created as a template for the comic list so that it could be autoloaded into comics by linking from [[List of all comics]]. That functionality doesn't seem to be working, unfortunately. For that reason, I added a "transcript" of the create text as documentation on that template. If you goto {{tl|create}}, you will find a template for new comic creation. [[User:TheHYPO|TheHYPO]] ([[User talk:TheHYPO|talk]]) 20:20, 27 August 2012 (UTC)<br />
<br />
== The name of the ponytail character ==<br />
<br />
I remember the community having a name for the female ponytail character (I don't recall if there is a male ponytail character, but in the interest of being complete). Was it simply Ponytail?<br />
<br />
In any case, she seems to recur enough to deserve her own Category:Comics featuring ... page. But I don't want to go create it without knowing what we can agree on is her name. So, pony (wow, didn't intend that pun) up your 2 cents. [[User:Lcarsos|lcarsos]] ([[User talk:Lcarsos|talk]]) 17:28, 20 August 2012 (UTC)<br />
<br />
:This comic http://xkcd.com/322/ calls a ponytail'ed female Joanna. Is this the same character as ponytail? She might be different. Community input please. [[User:Lcarsos|lcarsos]] ([[User talk:Lcarsos|talk]]) 01:26, 23 August 2012 (UTC)<br />
::It sounds plausible. Few of the characters are named, and it looks like Ponytail (compare, for example, Elaine Roberts as an adult, who has light hair, but doesn't wear it in a ponytail). The one concern is that in 322, she is clearly acquainted with Black Hat, and in 405 she appears to be friends with Danish, yet Black Hat and Danish don't know each other -- unless he tracked her down via Joanna... [[User:Blaisepascal|Blaisepascal]] ([[User talk:Blaisepascal|talk]]) 04:41, 23 August 2012 (UTC)<br />
<br />
== The name of Black Hat's girlfriend ==<br />
<br />
[[Black Hat]] has a girlfriend, introduced in [[377: Journal 2]]. She has thicker hair than Megan, and is seen (in [[405: Journal 3]] to be friends with [[Ponytail]]. Is there community-accepted name for her?<br />
:: No, not yet. She seems to have a personality similar to [[Black Hat]] himself --[[User:Jeff|Jeff]] ([[User talk:Jeff|talk]]) 15:48, 22 August 2012 (UTC)<br />
:::I don't really want to create a "Category:Comics featuring Black Hat's girlfriend" if there is a better solution, that's all. [[User:Blaisepascal|Blaisepascal]] ([[User talk:Blaisepascal|talk]]) 15:57, 22 August 2012 (UTC)<br />
::::In my own head I've been calling her Summer because she looks like how Randall draws Summer Glau (not a good argument, granted), and in some of the comics she shows up she reminds me of Summer's characters. [[User:Lcarsos|lcarsos]] ([[User talk:Lcarsos|talk]]) 17:41, 22 August 2012 (UTC)<br />
:::::Or we could call her Dearest or Darling or Danish http://xkcd.com/515/ [[User:Lcarsos|lcarsos]] ([[User talk:Lcarsos|talk]]) 20:32, 22 August 2012 (UTC)<br />
::::::OK, I've gone with [[Danish]]. [[User:Blaisepascal|Blaisepascal]] ([[User talk:Blaisepascal|talk]]) 22:18, 22 August 2012 (UTC)<br />
:::::::P.S. I love you for that. You have my eternal respect. [[User:Lcarsos|lcarsos]] ([[User talk:Lcarsos|talk]]) 22:35, 22 August 2012 (UTC)<br />
<br />
Also, now someone needs to update the Characters nav box to include Danish. [[User:Lcarsos|lcarsos]] ([[User talk:Lcarsos|talk]]) 22:51, 22 August 2012 (UTC)<br />
:I found the template on my own (aren't I a [[1032|grown up professional]]?) and updated it. [[User:Lcarsos|lcarsos]] ([[User talk:Lcarsos|talk]]) 22:53, 22 August 2012 (UTC)<br />
<br />
== Can we turn off page creation for non-logged in users ==<br />
<br />
I'm not very familiar with mediawiki, so I don't know if this would be hard or not. But, it would stop the drive-by spam attacks (the ones that don't create accounts anyway, such nice bots).<br />
<br />
My secondary goal in doing this would be to get [[Special:Contributions/72.252.145.183|72.252.145.183]] and [[Special:Contributions/207.204.86.3|207.204.86.3]] to make accounts so that there is a way to get a hold of them, give them some feedback, and have them stop adding/spamming spurious categories. Both of them are creating pages with poor/non-existent explanations, sections for the transcript but missing the transcript, haphazardly adding pre-existing categories and adding tons of one-off categories which do nothing to enhance explain xkcd.<br />
<br />
[[User:Lcarsos|lcarsos]] ([[User talk:Lcarsos|talk]]) 19:02, 13 September 2012 (UTC)<br />
:Tag any such comics with {{[[Template:Comic-stub|Comic-stub]]}} and you or someone else can fix it ^^--[[User:Relic|Relic]] ([[User talk:Relic|talk]]) 00:01, 24 September 2012 (UTC)<br />
<br />
::I guess you succeeded then ;) I have learned from my mistakes that I made as an anon ([[Special:Contributions/Btx40|take a look]])<br />
<br />
::Why didn't you post on [[User talk:72.252.145.183]] or [[User talk:207.204.86.3]] (IPs have talk pages too)? I would have noticed it on either of them. It made me think that this community was more hostile than Wikipedia, which I also have [[wikipedia:User:Btx40|an account]] for --[[User:Btx40|Btx40]] ([[User talk:Btx40|talk]]) 21:14, 11 April 2013 (UTC)<br />
<br />
== Tagline categories! ==<br />
<br />
It finally struck me that there's that great line sitting top-right on the xkcd site. Yes the [[tagline]]. So, I've created pages for [[:Category:Language|Language]], [[:Category:Romance|Romance]], [[:Category:Math|Math]] already existed. But, I don't have time right now to go hunting down examples of [[:Category:Sarcasm|Sarcasm]]. Can I enlist the help of all the beautiful editors here to go tagging crazy? (Ok, not crazy like insane, but please do comb through everything for these) [[User:Lcarsos|lcarsos]] ([[User talk:Lcarsos|talk]]) 19:47, 22 October 2012 (UTC)<br />
<br />
== Image updates on xkcd ==<br />
<br />
Once in a while, Randall changes the image of a particular comic (usually after someone here spotted an error!); for instance, that is the case for [http://xkcd.com/1122/ xkcd 1122 on Electoral Precedents]. It would be nice to still be able to see the original image(s) here as well as the updated version, as the discussion usually references the previous version(s) and therefore sometimes doesn't make sense without the original image in those cases. Also, consider this as a mild suggestion to update the mentioned image on its explanation page. Sorry if I've put this in the wrong place... --[[User:Jay|Jay]] ([[User talk:Jay|talk]]) 14:54, 29 October 2012 (UTC)<br />
<br />
:For these most recent comics, someone usually uploads the version that goes public at midnight, and then corrections are uploaded on top of that. As part of the MediaWiki software, you can click on the image, which will take you to its file page, which allows you to see all the versions of the image back to its first creation. I, personally, am not sure if it's possible to link directly to a previous version, but it is there at least.<br />
<br />
:Unfortunately, due to an image resizing bug, (that we all hope is being worked on, but it's been months with no progress and no word of work or progress, so hope is dwindling) for larger images you won't be able to see it, until you click on the broken file link which will just take you to the image.<br />
<br />
:Hope that helps some. --[[User:Lcarsos|lcarsos]] ([[User talk:Lcarsos|talk]]) 16:35, 29 October 2012 (UTC)<br />
<br />
== The Great Spam Attack Of Thanksgiving 2012 ==<br />
<br />
I believe I have now dealt with all the spam that has accumulated on the wiki. I've gone through Recent Changes and personally checked every anonymous edit since 5 this morning, and looked through every new page created. If I've missed something, please edit the page and put {{tl|spam}} at the top. Thank you to all the new editors that stepped up and went to work in the trenches while the rest of us were off stuffing our faces. I think special thanks goes out to [[User:St.nerol|St.nerol]] and [[User:TheOriginalSoni|TheOriginalSoni]]. I believe what happened is, the first major attack was met with a tepid response of about a month's temp block for all the IPs. But this time, for the flagrant vandalizers they are now on an indefinite ban.<br />
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Please, as you continue to notice spam or vandalization, use the {{tl|spam}} template, or add [[:Category:Pages to delete]] to the page (in the event that it's a newly created page). Leave a comment in your edit summary about vandalization clean up and someone with the power to, will deal with it.<br />
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--[[User:Lcarsos|lcarsos]]<span title="I'm an admin. I can help.">_a</span> ([[User talk:Lcarsos|talk]]) 06:38, 24 November 2012 (UTC)<br />
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:Marked a wee bit that you missed. Typical, I take a day-long trip into China and an unholy mess of spam happens. May I suggest captchas for all anonymous edits for now? I would also like to get all the explanations done, or at least the ones from the blog, so that we can get the /wiki/ out of the URL to throw some of the spammers. The wall-of-text spammers all seem to include links to spam on other poor abused wikis, and I've noticed that all of those wikis also have a /wiki/ somewhere in there URL. It probably won't stop the new anon spammer, but we could probably restrict page creation to registered users only once we're done filling in all the old XKCD pages to cull those twats out too. [[User:Davidy22|<span title="I want you."><u><font color="purple" size="2px">David</font><font color="green" size="3px">y</font></u><sup><font color="indigo" size="1px">22</font></sup></span>]][[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>(talk)</tt>]] 09:27, 24 November 2012 (UTC)<br />
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:I have again dealt with the second wave of spam this Thanksgiving holiday (in the U.S. It's the only thing I can think that would be the cause.) and protected a few pages that seem to be repeat targets. If this is any indication of what major US holidays are like we need to get the administration (*ahem* Jeff) to delegate more controls to more users, and more A.I. spam fighting than we currently have (none). There has to be tricks that Wikipedia is using to fight spam. If we get this much, I can't imagine what the wikipedia servers have to daily stand up against, they must have spam fighting tricks, and not just hordes of people that can delete new pages that anonymous spam bots create. [[User:Lcarsos|lcarsos]]<span title="I'm an admin. I can help.">_a</span> ([[User talk:Lcarsos|talk]]) 07:13, 25 November 2012 (UTC)<br />
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::Wikipedia has cluebot, which looks at page blanking and text insertion by anonymous users and reverts suspicious behavior automagically. I could ask cluebot's creator if we could lift the code for use here. It'll be like XERXES.ai, except it'll look for spam instead of spelling errors. [[User:Davidy22|<span title="I want you."><u><font color="purple" size="2px">David</font><font color="green" size="3px">y</font></u><sup><font color="indigo" size="1px">22</font></sup></span>]][[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>(talk)</tt>]] 07:16, 25 November 2012 (UTC)<br />
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::Aight, so Cluebot runs off a [https://github.com/cluenet/cluebotng core engine] with a dataset of previous vandalism to work from. We can set the files up on a raspberry pi or something, leave it running and connected to the web and feed it a backlog of past spam to teach it what to look for. Gonna do it after this hellish pile of work is over, unless someone wants to ninja me again. [[User:Davidy22|<span title="I want you."><u><font color="purple" size="2px">David</font><font color="green" size="3px">y</font></u><sup><font color="indigo" size="1px">22</font></sup></span>]][[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>(talk)</tt>]] 07:50, 25 November 2012 (UTC)<br />
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:::Cluebot sounds like a wonderful thing to have around here. When I have free time I might try to develop a basic bot that catches the basic kinds of spam and vandals we see here. (Spammers create a user account, create a random page and link to a random page on the internet; Vandals almost always leave an 18 character mixed lower/upper alphanumeric comment and are anonymous, that's unique enough it should be easily catchable)<br />
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==Trivia and transcript placement==<br />
The placement of the trivia sections are not consistent on the wiki; sometimes they are placed above the transcript and sometimes below.<br />
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The trivia sections are often fun to read, and a good complement to the explanation. On the other hand I have a hard time imagining people coming here to read transcripts (I remember someone suggested collapsable boxes for them). I'm afraid trivia sections below the transcript "disappears" and sometimes won't be noticed at all (especially if the transcript is long). Therefore I propose that trivia sections should follow the explanation, and that the transcripts should be at the bottom of the page.<br />
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Another reason for this is that the dividing line between explanation and trivia is not always clear. The end of the explanations tend to accumulate trivia-like information. The natural thing is to just "crop off" a trivia section, where deemed appropriate, and not to move stuff to and fro around the block of transcript. –St.nerol (talk) 15:15, 6 March 2013 (UTC)<br />
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:I agree that trivia sections, if present, should come before the transcript. By the way, I think this thread would be more appropriate for the Coordination section of the community portal. If you agree, please move it there. Waldir (talk) 16:32, 6 March 2013 (UTC)<br />
::Moved from Proposals to Coordination! –[[User:St.nerol|St.nerol]] ([[User talk:St.nerol|talk]]) 23:02, 6 March 2013 (UTC)<br />
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:If an explanation contains trivia, that's an issue with the trivia being in the wrong place. Trivia is supposed to contain information that's only tangentially relevant to the comic at hand, and should be kept to the end of the page to keep the rest of the page free of clutter. Also, the comic discussion is at the bottom of every explanation page, but that doesn't seem to have deterred anyone from finding in. We could fix up some kind of collapse box for the transcripts though, since they do tend to be unneeded for most comics. '''[[User:Davidy22|<u><font color="purple" title="I want you">David</font><font color="green" size="3px">y</font></u><font color="indigo" size="4px">²²</font>]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 00:16, 7 March 2013 (UTC)<br />
:Alright, I've done a mockup for what the transcript collapse box could look like. It's in our sandbox, like?'''[[User:Davidy22|<u><font color="purple" title="I want you">David</font><font color="green" size="3px">y</font></u><font color="indigo" size="4px">²²</font>]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 01:16, 7 March 2013 (UTC)<br />
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::It looks good!<br />
::I'm not sure it is so easy to differentiate between tangentially relevant, more relevant, and explanatory information. I think there will always be a hazy zone of borderline examples. (By the way, should the explanation/trivia division be based on how ''relevant'' the information is, or on how ''explanatory'' it is?)<br />
::Now that we're getting a collapsible box; where should we place it? I still don't think it is logical to have it between explanation and trivia (if present), but it will matter less. Maybe we should move it up to the top again? –[[User:St.nerol|St.nerol]] ([[User talk:St.nerol|talk]]) 10:24, 8 March 2013 (UTC)<br />
:::Trivia in most wikis is reserved for all the junk that doesn't add value to the main purpose of the article. In our case, that would be information that doesn't serve to explain comics, which is what people who visit the site come here looking for. The transcript is useful for cases where an image is ambiguous or easily mistaken, although it's not entirely needed for every comic. If the trivia section ever contains anything that enhances the comic explanation more than the transcript does, it's in the wrong section.<br />
:::The transcript template is probably going to have to get OK'ed by all the other editors round here before we make it a thing. It's quite a big change to make, and we'll have to change every existing page if we want to add it. We'd probably put it where we usually put the transcript if we do add it in though. '''[[User:Davidy22|<u>{{Color|purple|David}}<font color=green size=3px>y</font></u><font color=indigo size=4px>²²</font>]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 10:44, 8 March 2013 (UTC)<br />
::::Yeah, I hope that the other guys turns up and says something too. Still, the trivia/transcript placement is not standardized, so we need to decide together what's more natural. <br />
::::*Do we want the transcript in a box?<br />
::::*Do we want it on the bottom of the page, or directly below the explanation, or on the top of the page?<br />
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::::It ''is'' a borderland between explaining a comic and giving background information, connections to other comics, etc. There's no borderland between those and transcript. Also, all trivia sections I've seen so far has enhanced the explanations more than the transcript. (Probably because I didn't feel need to read it). –[[User:St.nerol|St.nerol]] ([[User talk:St.nerol|talk]]) 16:10, 8 March 2013 (UTC)<br />
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::::If one actually needs/wants to read the transcript, one presumably wants to compare it directly with how the comic looks. That would be the good reason to place the box close to the comic. –[[User:St.nerol|St.nerol]] ([[User talk:St.nerol|talk]]) 16:12, 8 March 2013 (UTC)<br />
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::::<strike>Sorry I dropped off the face of the planet for a while there. The run up to Spring Break nearly killed me (that's not as figurative as you'd think). I'll write a proper response in the morning, or late afternoon, after I've had enough sleep to recover from ~2 weeks of ~3 hours of sleep a night. [[User:Lcarsos|lcarsos]]<span title="I'm an admin. I can help.">_a</span> ([[User talk:Lcarsos|talk]]) 08:58, 9 March 2013 (UTC)</strike><br />
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::::I think that Trivia belongs at the bottom of the page. We didn't start with putting transcripts on the explanation page, so there isn't a law passed down from the founders to let us know how to slaughter our sheep as sacrifice (wait, that's something else). However, in keeping with Wikipedia's tradition, we put tangentially related information into its own category at the bottom of the page.<br />
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::::What defines tangentially related? Well, most of our editors seem to have a good grasp on it, so I didn't think it was necessary to spell out hard and fast rules. I think the group of people that read xkcd frequently are also prone to become draconian, pedantic, rules lawyers, so I hesitate to suggest that we need to impose too much more structure than what we can glean from Wikipedia's many years of existence. This is how I categorize it:<br />
::::*The explanation, which is the main point of the site, should explain all cultural, technological, mathematical, scientific, visual, and linguistic gags that Randall includes.<br />
::::*The transcript, which helps to ensure that people aren't mis-reading the comic. This is also valuable for accessibility, as blind people cannot read images (not yet, OCR isn't that good), which is why I think Randall should publish transcript data as he posts the comics. So, I support the creation of a transcript when the comic first posts, but about a week later someone should go back and replace it with the transcript that Randall publishes so that anything we interpret incorrectly will be corrected.<br />
::::*Discussion. Since we transclude the discussion onto the explanation page anything that comes up as a result of the comic will often be commented on here. E.g. "Did you guys see Reddit blew up after Randall called them out in this comic? [link]"<br />
::::*And lastly trivia. My template test for this one is "Is this really important trivia, but it doesn't add one hoot to the explanation? Then it should go here." What jumps to my mind every time I think of this is [[Click and Drag]]. That is a prime example of a trivia section. It doesn't explain the comic, but it is meta-information about the comic.<br />
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::::Why last? Because if the community cares about the points of trivia someone will bring it up. So that content already exists on the page. Duplicating that and putting it up higher makes no sense. What's even worse is having an Explanation, content directly about the comic; Trivia, an interlude with some information that's fun to know and you can stump people at xkcd meet-ups but otherwise useless; and Transcripts, which is directly about the comic again.<br />
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::::I would say that Trivia should actually go at the bottom of the page, but the transclusion of the discussion page makes that ugly to my eye. But it should go underneath the Transcript. Not all of the world are "fully functional" "Average" (capital 'A' Average) and "Normal" (capital 'N' Normal) humans, and consideration needs to be spent on them. And the transcript is more relevant information about the comic than any trivia is. If there is trivia that is more relevant than the transcript, it should be worked into the explanation. If a transcript gets long and you believe scrolling is a tedious, laborious task that only proto-humans had to deal with, then add a <code><nowiki>__TOC__</nowiki></code> (the TOC is ugly because of the comic discussion template, which is another discussion) underneath the comic template.<br />
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::::--[[User:Lcarsos|lcarsos]]<span title="I'm an admin. I can help.">_a</span> ([[User talk:Lcarsos|talk]]) 12:02, 14 March 2013 (UTC) <br />
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:: I think the transcript could be integrated into [[template:comic]], instead of being a separate template, and use a softer and more neutral color (light gray, for example) in the heading. Apart from these details, I agree with the collapsing of the transcript, and being collapsed, its placement isn't really problematic. Right under the comic sounds ok to me. --[[User:Waldir|Waldir]] ([[User talk:Waldir|talk]]) 02:04, 10 March 2013 (UTC)<br />
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:::I think this would be a good option. If the transcript were in the comic template, such that it was comic image, title text, transcript, this would be a good option for screen readers, so that the explanation would be read after the transcript. I am quite in favor of this. [[User:Lcarsos|lcarsos]]<span title="I'm an admin. I can help.">_a</span> ([[User talk:Lcarsos|talk]]) 12:02, 14 March 2013 (UTC)<br />
::::I made a couple of halfhearted attempts at doing that box integration, but it's not as easy as copypasting it into the right place. Will get it done when I'm less busy. '''[[User:Davidy22|<u>{{Color|purple|David}}<font color=green size=3px>y</font></u><font color=indigo size=4px>²²</font>]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 13:29, 14 March 2013 (UTC)</div>Btx40