explain xkcd - User contributions [en]

Talk:767: Temper

2026-05-18T13:46:04Z

《プロキシ》:

A blade with no temper is a letter opener or a butter knife. One that keeps its temper perfectly is good enough for the best swords. {{unsigned|Weatherlawyer}}

I think he is also referenced in what if 146, stop Jupiter. Should it be added? {{[[Special:Contributions/162.158.154.229|162.158.154.229]] 12:38, 3 April 2017 (UTC)}}

One time, someone stole Fred Rodger's car but gave it back and sincerely apologized once he realized whose car he stole. Or so I've been told. {{unsigned ip|162.158.78.196|23:57, 5 April 2018 (UTC)}}

What about the controversy in which he told his wife to stay in the closet and not come out as gay?《プロキシ》(XKCD中毒者) 18:07, 24 October 2025 (UTC)
:I see absolutely no credible (or even incredible) hint out there that echoes that idea. She survived him, and lived until 2021, plenty of time to have outed herself if she'd have wanted to. Meanwhile Fred Rogers identified himself as being platonically bisexual ''and'' seemingly happily married to Sara Joanne Rogers (neé Byrd), so it would seem even more unlikely to have persuaded her to have denied this, even to preserve his legacy. I call shenanigans on this suggestion, or you're thinking of two entirely different people entirely, or just an existing conspiracy theory that hasn't even been considered popular enough to spread.
:But maybe I'm wrong, and my Google Fu has failed me (or been got at by the Mister Rogers Protection Agency!)... Please do add (however wrong it is) a link to what you mean, if it wasn't entirely your own invention. [[Special:Contributions/2.98.65.8|2.98.65.8]] 19:15, 24 October 2025 (UTC)

It wasn’t my own invention, sorry..I found it on the Internet when using Google Fu of my own to try to further explain the comic past this page. (“Fred Rogers controversy”) [[Special:Contributions/74.214.172.51|74.214.172.51]] 13:44, 18 May 2026 (UTC)

Update: Forgot to log in. This is me, sorry. 《プロキシ》(XKCD中毒者) 13:46, 18 May 2026 (UTC)

Talk:1457: Feedback

2026-05-18T13:40:32Z

《プロキシ》: /* Sad but Wild */

Could the pineapple here have any relation to the [http://wiki.wifipineapple.com/index.php/WiFi_Pineapple wi-fi pineapple]? [[Special:Contributions/173.245.52.103|173.245.52.103]] 05:27, 8 December 2014 (UTC)

: Oh, it might as well be an obscure Psych reference. Please stop looking for extraobscure references.--[[Special:Contributions/108.162.254.34|108.162.254.34]] 17:57, 8 December 2014 (UTC)
::I agree, in the context I really don't see how the Wi-Fi pineapple has any relevance. --[[User:Pudder|Pudder]] ([[User talk:Pudder|talk]]) 18:52, 8 December 2014 (UTC)
::: Cueball could be acting on being told that he could access an unknown Wifi using a pineapple. [[User:JamesCurran|JamesCurran]] ([[User talk:JamesCurran|talk]]) 16:45, 8 January 2015 (UTC)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sm3_qEMTdc4 [[Special:Contributions/141.101.104.39|141.101.104.39]] 06:35, 8 December 2014 (UTC)
[[Special:Contributions/141.101.104.39|141.101.104.39]] 06:37, 8 December 2014 (UTC)

I think the comic also refers to another experiment where pigeons received a snack from a dispenser at totally random times. The pigeons, thinking that whatever it is they did last helped trigger the release of food would develop a complex ritual dance to receive food. (http://psychclassics.yorku.ca/Skinner/Pigeon/) {{unsigned ip|108.162.229.123}}
: The intro to Mr. Nobody references this. It's what I immediately thought of when I saw this comic: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YGcEy_W48Kc (the explanation starts around 1 minute in){{unsigned ip|108.162.221.170}}

The title text may also be a reminder that despite signal strength being important enough to some humans to act in an insanity-suggesting manner, it is not an essential need of a living organism, as the rats visibly demonstrate. --[[User:Koveras|Koveras]] ([[User talk:Koveras|talk]]) 08:47, 8 December 2014 (UTC)

I thought 'reception' and 'wireless signal' referred to the cellular signal. That caused a lot of issues with the iphone and others. {{unsigned ip|173.245.62.89}}
: Agreed. I don't think the comic has anything to do with wifi. The alt text seems to bolster this view. [[User:SeanAhern|SeanAhern]] ([[User talk:SeanAhern|talk]]) 15:09, 8 December 2014 (UTC)
: Me too. In my house, cellular signal varies more than WiFi signal for small movements. [[Special:Contributions/188.114.99.189|188.114.99.189]] 03:42, 3 December 2015 (UTC)

Was it Mythbusters who tin-foiled an entire room to see whether it acted as a make-shift antenna? --[[User:Pudder|Pudder]] ([[User talk:Pudder|talk]]) 15:23, 8 December 2014 (UTC)

What if the pineapple is actually where the signal is coming from, but it's a directional pineapple... {{User:Grep/signature|18:32, 08 December 2014}}
:Don't be silly. Everyone knows pineapples are omnidirectional... Of course, given the decreasing power away from the plane, if the pineapple is being held high up due to you being on a chair, if you're holding your phone up ''as well'' you probably also need to ''not'' be on the chair for your phone to get the very best signal from it... Obviously. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.247|141.101.98.247]] 19:48, 8 December 2014 (UTC)

The first thing this comic made me think of was the belief in some people that if you hold a car key fob up to your chin and press a button, the signal from the fob will be more strongly focused (presumably by your skull) and thus able to reach your car from a greater distance. I wonder if there's any relationship? [[User:KieferSkunk|KieferSkunk]] ([[User talk:KieferSkunk|talk]]) 07:24, 9 December 2014 (UTC)
:It's not really a believe: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Uqf71muwWc --[[Special:Contributions/108.162.254.148|108.162.254.148]] 12:07, 9 December 2014 (UTC)
:: I have a few issues with that video, even though it SEEMs to be an established video series with mostly competent people doing the stuff in them. The experiment shown was far from exhaustive and there were several things I would have challenged the demonstrator to try, especially given the claims made as to how the range was increased... if you're interested, hit me up on my talk page and I'll try to explain. -- [[User:Brettpeirce|Brettpeirce]] ([[User talk:Brettpeirce|talk]]) 13:33, 12 December 2014 (UTC)
:::As he says in the video, don't prejudge, simply do the experiment yourself. I have, and it very clearly works. [[User:Miamiclay|Miamiclay]] ([[User talk:Miamiclay|talk]]) 22:25, 17 December 2014 (UTC)

I bet Woz loved this strip. He did a similar trick in college:
http://archive.woz.org/letters/pirates/24.html
--[[Special:Contributions/108.162.237.170|108.162.237.170]] 22:07, 20 December 2014 (UTC)

== Quick question ==

I just wanted to followup on the request I submitted through your contact form a couple weeks ago as I haven't heard anything back. I pasted it below for your reference.

Is it okay if we feature your site in our next email newsletter? It's a perfect fit for a piece we're doing and I think our audience would find some of the content on your site super useful.

I know you're probably busy, so just a simple yes or no would suffice.

Many Thanks, {{unsigned ip|172.69.62.226|19:21, 25 February 2020}}
:Uh you'll have to ask Tori I think [[User:CalibansCreations|'''Caliban''']] ([[User talk:CalibansCreations|talk]]) 12:39, 20 April 2025 (UTC)
::Pity I didn't see that one when it came in. It was written five years ago, and no sign that it was actually written at face-value anyway. (Even if we ''have'' a Contact Form, which I seem to have missed, I'm fairly certain that it isn't being monitored in any meaningful way.)
::Not sure what Tori would have to do with it, either. I think it was before she joined, as well, but I could be wrong about that. But no still particular reason why they'd be the person to ask. [[Special:Contributions/172.68.205.164|172.68.205.164]] 18:19, 20 April 2025 (UTC)
:::Um-a couple things first. 1) I joined on February 1st, 2024, so this wouldn’t be for me to answer. 2) I don’t represent explain xkcd policy-that would probably be a question to ask the whole community, or at the very least admins/Jeff. 3) This whole thing sounds to me like a scam/troll, so I agree that it wasn’t written at face-value. '''[[User:42.book.addict|42.book.addict]][[User talk:42.book.addict|Talk to me!]]''' 00:41, 21 April 2025 (UTC)

==Sad but Wild==
This comic page has had nothing but vandalism and reverts of the vandalism for THREE YEARS STRAIGHT. --'''''[[User:DollarStoreBa'al|DollarStoreBa'al]][[User_talk:DollarStoreBa'al|converse]] 22:57, 17 September 2025 (UTC)
:It's because there are spam-houses out there that will look for inline links to pages that are variations upon <code><site address>/Feedback</code>, which tend to be used to contact site-owners, and either automate or direct their human <s>wage-slaves</s>workers to add their latest spam-payload to it.
:I've seen other sites suffer from this, and have to deal with it. Out of the ~1 billion websites there may be, it'd be trivial to have a list of thousands(/millions?) of spammable targets and just broadcast the ''spam du jour'' around and benefit from the very few attempts that actually successfully hook somebody.
:It's not even the only page on this site that suffers this, though it may be the most obvious at the moment. Some of them were (semi-)protected, during a past spate of (clearly anthropic) spamming, but this just seemed to shift that effort towards yet other pages. Or, in at least one case, the Talk: page for the protected one.
:The BOT tends to catch many of these, and no sign that anybody/anything cares that their spam has been ''immediately'' reverted, but the most recent one here was just ''so'' badly written (perhaps as an 'idiot-trap' - a phishing attempt performed so badly that anyone who actually falls for it is going to need no effort at all to get to the point of being ripped off) that it didn't even trigger that response.
:The most likely way to stop this entirely is to actively delete the pages ([[Feedback]], [[1457: Feedback]], perhaps [[1457]], probably the respective Talk: page(s)) long enough for every ''spamhaus'' to get a "Page not found" response and ''perhaps'' then delete their chosen target page link from their huge list of tryable pages. But that's assuming they do, and if any given list is only retried from the beginning every three months (and ''immediately'' deletes the item from it, rather than give it a "three strikes, then out" treatment) then you'd need to keep it 'dark' for at least that long. And old lists might be used again at any time by any new ''haus'', plus future site-scraping (from scratch) would always pick up the revived page again (maybe share it around, too) and you're potentially back to where you started.
:It is 'wild' that happens and, of the estimated 800 million of so 'inactive and unmaintained' sites, there will be so many places with 'open' Feedback/etc pages where such spam builds up (perhaps even publicly). But, like here, other places will have enough responsiveness to have a 'Feedback' page yet generally confine all such probings to history (or, at least, the History pages - which are a mixed blessing, in this case).
:If you're considering it sad that nobody ''else'' has bothered to edit anything (only spammers and spam-reverters), that might just be that nothing more needs to be changed. Like many other pages might be ok, for long periods of time until ''someone'' has a good and legitimate idea for a tweak. From my decades of web (and other internet-related) experience, however, I'm not going to let myself feel emotionally affected by this level of spammer chancerism. (Well, mostly. I had to chuckle a bit at the awfulness of the recently reverted 'feedback' message. If it wasn't an idiot-trap, it was quite the most awful spamming I've seen recently, except for the frw ones that don't even remember to leave 'contact details'!) [[Special:Contributions/82.132.244.90|82.132.244.90]] 06:00, 18 September 2025 (UTC)
::If they were trying to idiot-trap, they came to the wrong site. I enjoy idiot-traps though, simply to get a nice laugh out of them. --'''''[[User:DollarStoreBa'al|DollarStoreBa'al]][[User_talk:DollarStoreBa'al|converse]] 13:41, 18 September 2025 (UTC)
:::How does anybody fall for this? --'''''[[User:DollarStoreBa'al|DollarStoreBa'al]][[User_talk:DollarStoreBa'al|converse]] 14:33, 22 October 2025 (UTC)
I already tried to revert it and failed. The name does seem to be a problem, weird that this doesn’t happen to the site tbh. 《プロキシ》(XKCD中毒者) 13:35, 18 May 2026 (UTC)
UPDATE- I mean the actual xkcd website, not explain xkcd. Apologize for any misunderstandings (which probably didn’t happen between five minutes ago in my original and now. 《プロキシ》(XKCD中毒者) 13:40, 18 May 2026 (UTC)

Talk:1457: Feedback

2026-05-18T13:35:29Z

《プロキシ》:

Talk:280: Librarians

2025-11-11T16:20:45Z

《プロキシ》:

Berserk Button: <<ON>>Boeing-787lover 07:44, 23 June 2018 (UTC) {{unsigned|Xkcdreader52}}
:...wah? —[[User:Kazvorpal|Kazvorpal]] ([[User talk:Kazvorpal|talk]]) 15:46, 1 November 2019 (UTC)
um idk 《プロキシ》(XKCD中毒者) 16:20, 11 November 2025 (UTC)

Talk:767: Temper

2025-10-24T18:07:21Z

《プロキシ》:

Talk:767: Temper

2025-10-24T18:06:49Z

《プロキシ》:

1457: Feedback

2025-10-16T12:51:48Z

《プロキシ》: My vandalism revert didn’t work—CALL FOR HELP

'''This page was vandalized, and my account permissions do not include uploading images. If anyone sees this, the comic is available from a Google search. 《プロキシ》(XKCD中毒者) 12:51, 16 October 2025 (UTC)'''

1457: Feedback

2025-10-16T12:50:15Z

《プロキシ》: Attempting to revert vandalism.

[[File:Feedback.jpg|thumb|150px|Feedback]]

Talk:3151: Window Screen

2025-10-08T14:05:55Z

《プロキシ》:

The 'standard' and '2x' sized images had unexpected sizes, so an imagesize parameter has been added to render the image consistently with other comics on this website. See the web [https://web.archive.org/web/*/window_screen.png archive] for more details. --[[User:TheusafBOT|TheusafBOT]] ([[User talk:TheusafBOT|talk]]) 03:15, 7 October 2025 (UTC)
:Oh cool the bot can comment too [[User:TheTrainsKid|TheTrainsKid]] ([[User talk:TheTrainsKid|talk]]) 04:06, 7 October 2025 (UTC)
Is the comic not fitting into the section right on the original xkcd website? Is this some kind of meta joke? [[Special:Contributions/138.67.132.61|138.67.132.61]] 04:10, 7 October 2025 (UTC)
: Since this has changed during the day. I think it is intentional[[Special:Contributions/62.220.2.194|62.220.2.194]] 15:14, 7 October 2025 (UTC)
:This is Randall's mistake. Since comic [[1084: Server Problem#Trivia|1084]] from 2012, comics usually have two versions: normal and double resolution (2x). If you read on a high-DPI screen (like a phone) or zoom in, you'll see a high-resolution version of the comic, but if you read on a desktop or laptop without zooming in, you'll see the normal resolution. In this case, Randall accidentally uploaded the 2x version into ''both'' comics, making the normal one twice as big as it should be. If you zoom in just a tiny bit, it'll look normal again. <del>I'll add this in a Trivia section</del> <ins>Someone already did</ins>. --[[User:NeatNit|NeatNit]] ([[User talk:NeatNit|talk]]) 07:35, 7 October 2025 (UTC)
:I suspect Randall was inspired by the U.S. President's outsized ego insisting he deserves the Nobel Prize for Peace when he hasn't actually solved any international problems at all, and in the view of many has made things much worse.[[Special:Contributions/68.116.0.20|68.116.0.20]] 05:33, 7 October 2025 (UTC)
::...and in ''objective reality'' has made things much worse. --[[Special:Contributions/45.143.82.106|45.143.82.106]] 06:52, 7 October 2025 (UTC)
:::It's such a shame that this is true. Well, obviously, but in frivolous terms too: it would be nice to have this just as a representation of how it feels to get a tricky task right, without referencing the tangerine toddler's nonsense. I think most people know that feeling that they've maxed out their efforts and achieved something brilliant (measured in terms of the how well or how badly the project should have been expected to go). Human effort is human effort, and so it feels like any successful overcoming of a problem is legitimately comparable with any other, if measured from the perspective of the one who performs the task. I love the way this handles that feeling. It was very difficult; I did it successfully; that was an impressive achievement. "It" could be stopping a war or making a window screen. [[User:Yorkshire Pudding|Yorkshire Pudding]] ([[User talk:Yorkshire Pudding|talk]]) 10:38, 7 October 2025 (UTC)
::::Thanks, you've made the world a worse place by dragging the dumpster fire of partisan politics into a comic that originally had absolutely NOTHING to do with it. Please forever avoid doing this in the future. [[User:MeZimm|MeZimm]] ([[User talk:MeZimm|talk]]) 19:40, 7 October 2025 (UTC)

I suspect all the math could have been avoided if the screen were just carefully laid out on top of the window and cut to a matching shape. Why trig when you can trace? --[[Special:Contributions/45.143.82.106|45.143.82.106]] 06:53, 7 October 2025 (UTC)

It's easy when building a flat screen to accidentally get the tension wrong on one side and *generate* non-coplanarity--[[Special:Contributions/174.127.176.33|174.127.176.33]] 08:24, 7 October 2025 (UTC)
: Yeah, I agree with this interpretation of non-coplanarity. Probably the most aggravating part about trying to screen a window is getting the tension perfect so it lays flat. [[Special:Contributions/136.49.188.43|136.49.188.43]] 13:47, 7 October 2025 (UTC)

Is the "overly large image mistake" really a mistake, considering it’s about the "size" of an image displaying on a "screen"? {{unsigned ip|89.91.92.1|08:34, 7 October 2025 (UTC)}}
:There is the opinion that Randall made a mistake, but because Cueballs sentence just stops at "how well the screen fits... (the window)" and the panel DOES NOT fit it's window, I believe that this is intentional and the punchline of the comic [[Special:Contributions/195.49.224.20|195.49.224.20]] 09:36, 7 October 2025 (UTC)
::If so, can someone edit the image above to fit the punchline? EDIT: I did it.[[Special:Contributions/138.43.101.123|138.43.101.123]] 12:06, 7 October 2025 (UTC)
:::Aww [[Special:Contributions/138.43.101.123|138.43.101.123]] 18:10, 7 October 2025 (UTC)
: I don't see the problem. For me (on Firefox), while the hi-res image is loaded, it's displayed in the usual size on xkcd.com. I wouldn't even have noticed if I hadn't read it here. --[[User:Coconut Galaxy|Coconut Galaxy]] ([[User talk:Coconut Galaxy|talk]]) 13:00, 7 October 2025 (UTC)
:: Update: I see it on a different computer (also Firefox). Well that's weird.--[[User:Coconut Galaxy|Coconut Galaxy]] ([[User talk:Coconut Galaxy|talk]]) 13:37, 7 October 2025 (UTC)
::: It was displaying normally for me a few hours ago, but now, on the same browser on the same machine, it's outsized. [[Special:Contributions/82.13.184.33|82.13.184.33]] 15:02, 7 October 2025 (UTC)

Interesting that Cueball has hair in the last two panels --[[User:Darth Vader|Darth Vader]] ([[User talk:Darth Vader|talk]]) 08:40, 7 October 2025 (UTC)
: Obviously with all the screen building he hasn't had time to shave his head. [[Special:Contributions/82.13.184.33|82.13.184.33]] 09:28, 7 October 2025 (UTC)
: In the last two panels he also wears some kind of bracelet. [[Special:Contributions/82.54.66.129|82.54.66.129]] 10:59, 7 October 2025 (UTC)
:: "That's not a bracelet, its a <s>space station</s> band-aid." Cueball deserves the DIY Purple Heart.--[[User:Bilkie|Bilkie]] ([[User talk:Bilkie|talk]]) 13:52, 7 October 2025 (UTC)

Joke's on Cueball: this problem can be seen as mathematical, and Nobel Prizes famously exclude that field in theor awards (the closest is the relatively new award on Economy). He'd have a better chance asking for a Fields Medal.--[[Special:Contributions/94.73.49.72|94.73.49.72]]

One must imagine Norm Abrams happy. [[User:Fephisto|Fephisto]] ([[User talk:Fephisto|talk]]) 13:56, 7 October 2025 (UTC)

Whatever issue you guys have solved is still happening for me. Comic is huge. (on chromeOS) --'''''[[User:DollarStoreBa'al|DollarStoreBa'al]][[User_talk:DollarStoreBa'al|converse]] 16:27, 7 October 2025 (UTC)
:ditto here. also chromeOS, specifically a Chromebook is that means any thing -- [[User:Black Hat's Hat|Black Hat's Hat]] ([[User talk:Black Hat's Hat|talk]]) 18:08, 7 October 2025 (UTC)
::If it's still happening, try a hard refresh: Ctrl+Shift+R --[[User:NeatNit|NeatNit]] ([[User talk:NeatNit|talk]]) 12:11, 8 October 2025 (UTC)

BOT COMMENTS《プロキシ》(XKCD中毒者) 14:05, 8 October 2025 (UTC)

Talk:3145: Piercing

2025-09-25T13:04:43Z

《プロキシ》:

Woah, new comic just barely as I refreshed? I must be so cool! [[User:Willintendo|Willintendo]] ([[User talk:Willintendo|talk]]) 20:43, 22 September 2025 (UTC)

Being "old enough" doesn't mean much, I'm afraid. I saw a very young child in a puschair (not sure what age... probably pre-verbal, though she responded to my friendly waggly-wave of fingers with a close enough gesture in return) with a flashy ear-piercing stud the other day, which was probably her mother's choice to impose upon her. (Not quite FGM/circumcision level of parental imposition, but certainly not consensual.) [[Special:Contributions/92.17.62.87|92.17.62.87]] 20:44, 22 September 2025 (UTC)
:There are some cultures that traditionally pierce the ears within a few days of birth, on the theory that it's more painful when they're older. The American Association of Pediatrics doesn't have a problem with this as long as it's done safely. In the US, I think it's more common to wait until they're at least 12 years old and make the decision themselves. That's probably what Randall is thinking of. [[User:Barmar|Barmar]] ([[User talk:Barmar|talk]]) 20:57, 22 September 2025 (UTC)
: Part of that is because earlobes can grow unevenly, placing an early piercing in a weird spot. By the teenage years, this is less likely to happen. [[Special:Contributions/50.52.119.169|50.52.119.169]] 22:03, 22 September 2025 (UTC)

Is there a new long distance boring project that has happened or is being planned that this comic is in reference to? I was hoping there would be some mention on this page? I can't find any likely candidates in a quick Google search. Any ideas? [[Special:Contributions/38.175.130.234|38.175.130.234]] 22:34, 22 September 2025 (UTC)

The piercing is going rather deep into hot stuff, according to the image (do we have estimates?). Being "old enough" might be implying that enough time has passed for the hot stuff to cool down so that it can finally be safely pierced (do we have estimates?). --[[Special:Contributions/88.113.67.59|88.113.67.59]] 05:33, 23 September 2025 (UTC)
: By my guesstimate, the entry and exit points are about 700 km (435 mi for imperialists) apart and the ring diameter is twice of that. The section of the ring that is subterran could be 10% of the ring's diameter, so it's 140 km or 87 mi and the ring extends into space by about 1260km, smashing nicely all satellites that don't have a near-equatorial orbit. Maybe we could integrate a space elevator into it? Although I doubt that Gospodin P. will allow that project, because it would totally smash their Kola Superdeep record. But I think the Russians are safe for now, either our tech or Earth will have to mature a bit more until we can successfully drill into the mantle [[Special:Contributions/195.49.224.20|195.49.224.20]] 08:07, 23 September 2025 (UTC)
::Here's a diagram to estimate it. Randall's earth surface isn't very circular unfortunately, so I flipped the image to make it symmetric and took the largest extent. I get a depth of 10% of the earth's radius, so 637km/396mi, and distance between entry and exit spans about 26 degrees of the earth's circumference, so about 2900km/1800mi. [[User:Mtcv|Mtcv]] ([[User talk:Mtcv|talk]]) 08:41, 23 September 2025 (UTC)
[[File:xkcd3145_measured.png|300px]]
:::That seems within measurement error of the length of the Alameda-Weehawken Burrito Tunnel, which is a similar long-distance lithospheric piercing.[[Special:Contributions/107.128.213.247|107.128.213.247]] 08:59, 23 September 2025 (UTC)
:::Thanks. At 600 km depth, according to [https://opentextbc.ca/geology/chapter/9-2-the-temperature-of-earths-interior/] it should be nearly 2000 °C, so gold and silver rings are out of question, but if Daddy pays, why not have diamond rings, or hafnium carbonitride. Besides temperature, the piercing will face pressure and stress, but hey, if Earth is old enough, it should have grown out of such things. --[[Special:Contributions/130.233.188.240|130.233.188.240]] 09:35, 23 September 2025 (UTC)

Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune all have rings - why shouldn't we? [[Special:Contributions/82.13.184.33|82.13.184.33]] 08:16, 23 September 2025 (UTC)
: The outer planets' rings aren't piercings -- they're hula hoops. --[[Special:Contributions/208.59.176.206|208.59.176.206]] 14:03, 23 September 2025 (UTC)
:: SO unfair!!! I hate you!!! [[Special:Contributions/82.13.184.33|82.13.184.33]] 15:01, 23 September 2025 (UTC)
::: It will build character. You will understand when you are older. --[[Special:Contributions/88.113.67.59|88.113.67.59]] 15:26, 23 September 2025 (UTC)

I thought the lava mentioned in the Title Text was more a metaphor for bleeding than for inflammation. [[User:Ianrbibtitlht|Ianrbibtitlht]] ([[User talk:Ianrbibtitlht|talk]]) 17:10, 24 September 2025 (UTC)

This most likely isn't relevant enough to include in the article, but this comic reminds me of the cover of the album [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Planet_Punk Planet Punk] by ''Die Ärzte''. [[Special:Contributions/2001:9E8:6B7E:5E00:D53A:16A:E795:817|2001:9E8:6B7E:5E00:D53A:16A:E795:817]] 19:18, 24 September 2025 (UTC)

Who was prohibiting Earth from getting one? Not like it’d listen to the scientists finding ways to destroy it for its benefit, though.《プロキシ》(XKCD中毒者) 13:04, 25 September 2025 (UTC)

2278: Scientific Briefing

2025-09-18T12:57:49Z

《プロキシ》:

{{comic
| number = 2278
| date = March 9, 2020
| title = Scientific Briefing
| image = scientific_briefing.png
| titletext = "I actually came in in the middle so I don't know which topic we're briefing on; the same slides work for like half of them."
}}

==Explanation==
Things are not good, and are going to be bad soon. The only way for things to not be bad is for someone to do something about it. [[Megan]] and [[Cueball]] are presenting these things to [[White Hat]], evidently hoping to encourage him to do something about things, but he instead chooses to wait for things to become bad, to which Megan replies that the conversation itself indicates they have become bad.

Megan's final remark — "Based on this conversation, it already has [become bad]" — is an instance of [[:Category:Recursion|recursion]], and suggests that the unnamed subject of the graph may be something whose worsening is demonstrated by the way the discussion of the graph has gone. The subject of the graph could, therefore, be the phenomenon of people not acting on things that are worsening until they actually become bad, as White Hat proposes to do. Alternatively, if the group of people who could stop the Bad Thing is either small, or made up of people who will predictably act like White Hat, the fact that White Hat has refused to act itself means that ''will'' become bad, which is bad.

At the time this comic came out, the outbreak of {{w|COVID-19}} was on the rise and about to be declared a pandemic, with widespread perception the US federal government had failed to act before the outbreak became a crisis. The first of the COVID-19 comics, [[2275: Coronavirus Name]], explicitly showed people not dealing with one problem while they concentrate on another (though in that case they were dealing with COVID-19 while neglecting an invading giant spider).

The recursive subject of the graph could also be the deterioration of data analysis into such abstract terms that it no longer depends on the content of the topic supposedly being analyzed. Or, Megan's final remark could be an ironic commentary on the situation without actually referring to the topic of the graph. The ambiguity of Megan's remark may be the point of the humor, as it compounds the absurd ambiguity of the entire discussion.

If the graph isn't about the recursive topic of the discussion, what might it be about? At the moment of release, an obvious possible thing on its way to becoming bad was the number of cases of infection in the COVID-19 pandemic. There were a [[:Category:COVID-19|series of comics]] about COVID-19, including the three comics immediately before and the four immediately after this one. The graph shows a steadily rising line, but with a slight zigzag in it, which ''could'' be an intentional similarity to the {{w|Keeling Curve}}.

The graph could also be about most anything else, because, as the title text remarks, it applies to "like half of" any things considered. While it's hard to say whether precisely 50% of all things are getting bad (or good), in a more general sense all line graphs would trend at least slightly either up or down. This binary 'either good or bad' finding may lead one to conclude that "like half" of all graphs show something getting bad (or else good). If not everyone agrees on what is "good" or "bad" on some issue, that same issue might even be viewed as going either from good to bad or from bad to good, providing two different graphs for each such issue with 50% of them broadly matching the comic.

To whatever extent this comic is related to COVID-19 — which it does not after all explicitly mention, but, at least, COVID-19 exemplifies the problem of waiting to act until things reach a crisis — it would be the fourth comic in a row in a [[:Category:COVID-19|series of comics]] related to the {{w|COVID-19 pandemic}}.

==Transcript==
:[Megan and Cueball are showing a graph on a projected screen. The graph is labeled "Things", with "Time" advancing to the right on the ''x''-axis. The level of "Things" has been rising over time to a point labeled "Now". The current level of "Things" is above a level labeled "Good", and about as far below a level labeled "Bad". Megan is pointing to the line of "Things" with a pointer stick, while Cueball is pointing up to the "Bad" level with a pointer stick.]

:Megan: Here's the situation:
:Megan: This line is here.
:Cueball: But it's going up toward ''here''.

:[White Hat enters the scene. His hand is on his chin. Cueball is no longer holding a pointer stick.]

:White Hat: So things will be bad?
:Megan: Unless someone does something to stop it.
:White Hat: Will anyone do that?
:Megan: ...We don't know.
:Megan: That's why we're showing you this.

:[A narrow panel focusing only on Megan and Cueball.]

:White Hat (off-panel, left): So you don't know,
:White Hat: And the graph says things are '''''not''''' bad.
:Cueball: But if no one acts, they'll '''''become''''' bad.

:[White Hat is back inside the frame. He is gesturing to Megan and Cueball with his palm up.]

:White Hat: Well, please let me know if that happens!
:Megan: Based on this conversation, it already has.

==Trivia==
*Poorly labeled graphs were already the topic of [[833: Convincing]].
*This comic was initially missing the speech line to Cueball in panel 3.
*This comic was linked as a “relevant xkcd” in Nicky Case’s “AI Safety for Fleshy Humans: A Whirlwind Tour” at https://aisafety.dance/
{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]
[[Category:Comics featuring White Hat]]
[[Category:Charts]]
[[Category:Extrapolation]]
[[Category:Science]]
[[Category:Recursion]]
[[Category:COVID-19]]

Talk:3142: (City)-Style Pizza

2025-09-16T21:40:56Z

《プロキシ》:

Altoona-style is listed first in https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pizza_in_the_United_States#Variations but that's because the list is alphabetical. [[User:Barmar|Barmar]] ([[User talk:Barmar|talk]]) 21:12, 15 September 2025 (UTC)

I prefer +style pizza. [[User:SDSpivey|SDSpivey]] ([[User talk:SDSpivey|talk]]) 21:16, 15 September 2025 (UTC)
: Not a fan of electrons as a topping then? [[Special:Contributions/82.13.184.33|82.13.184.33]] 08:37, 16 September 2025 (UTC)
:: Imo, positron pizza is far better. Some people won’t appreciate it though, as it disintegrates [in] your mouth. [[User:Logalex8369|Logalex8369]] ([[User talk:Logalex8369|talk]]) 15:28, 16 September 2025 (UTC)

I’m pretty sure this comic is intended to be titled “<City>-Style Pizza”, as it is labeled in the HTML of xkcd.com (notably, xkcd.com itsel uses “-Style Pizza” for the <title> elements and the rss/atom feeds, but not for the visible title. (But there, the “<city>” gets swallowed by the browser)--[[User:Nleanba|Nleanba]] ([[User talk:Nleanba|talk]]) 21:49, 15 September 2025 (UTC)

Altoona-style most literally looks like a sandwich except cheese instead of a top bun《プロキシ》(XKCD中毒者) 21:54, 15 September 2025 (UTC)
:Yeah, a bunch of open-faced sandwiches side-by-side. [[Special:Contributions/47.248.235.170|47.248.235.170]] 22:07, 15 September 2025 (UTC)Pat
: It looks most like a heart attack in waiting. [[Special:Contributions/82.13.184.33|82.13.184.33]] 09:42, 16 September 2025 (UTC)
Wildly accurate description《プロキシ》(XKCD中毒者) 21:40, 16 September 2025 (UTC)
: ">sandwich" not a dealbreaker ">too much cheese" well that can be balanced if ">american cheese" ruined [[Special:Contributions/158.91.163.43|158.91.163.43]] 19:59, 16 September 2025 (UTC)

On a related note, locally (hint: absolutely nowhere near the place mentioned), there's a business advertising "genuine New York-style bagels". The juxtaposition of the "genuine" claim and yet the acknowledgement that they are only of the given ''style'' always makes me wonder what worth the genuineness truly has, with an ocean's-width of distance between any physical manifestation of New Yorkification and what we have here. [[Special:Contributions/92.17.62.87|92.17.62.87]] 23:12, 15 September 2025 (UTC)

I thought he was talking about Altoona Iowa (less than half the size of Altoona Pennsylvania). Look up “Altoona Iowa pizza” and one of the top hits will tell you it’s ranked one of the worst in the nation. You see, in Iowa, they lay out the dough, put on the ‘toppings’ (ahem) then dump on so much cheese that you can’t see any of the ‘toppings’ (ahem) anymore. When I came home from college in another state, I had to teach my mother how to make good pizza. [[Special:Contributions/2607:FB91:1D15:883A:11:B0B6:84B2:3C0C|2607:FB91:1D15:883A:11:B0B6:84B2:3C0C]] 23:49, 15 September 2025 (UTC)

: Yes. It is truly amazing how many people eat pizza, but when making pizza themselves they put the cheese on top. My mom did this and i did this until my girlfriend (now wife) asked me "how many pizzas have you ever eaten at an italian restaurant where the cheese was on top and you could not see the toppings?" A question that left me baffled. And convinced me. But I remember vividly the night where us and a bunch of friends met to make pizza, and my wife and me got into heated arguments with our friends about where to put the cheese, until everybody did it their own way (of course, our pizza was better). --[[Special:Contributions/2A02:8071:B84:FE60:20AE:FA46:3981:11E|2A02:8071:B84:FE60:20AE:FA46:3981:11E]] 19:27, 16 September 2025 (UTC)

Well at least THIS one was about a kind of pi. I guess pi does round to 3.142. [[Special:Contributions/138.88.96.2|138.88.96.2]] 00:16, 16 September 2025 (UTC)

Shame he missed out on Pittsburgh's 'specialty' with this... since they had the sheer audacity to call it 'Ohio Valley Pizza'... Which I hadn't even *heard* of, let alone actually seen, in 40 years of living in Cincinnati! -Edit: Turns out it originates from Steubenville, which had he named it 'Steubenville style pizza' would've put it way down on the bottom left somewhere. -Tiron [[Special:Contributions/2600:2B00:934E:6200:2186:FE87:5D5E:1AB7|2600:2B00:934E:6200:2186:FE87:5D5E:1AB7]] 01:18, 16 September 2025 (UTC)

Wikipedia has a way of displaying article titles that have non-standard characters in them. Could something similar be done here? [[User:Dogman15|Dogman15]] ([[User talk:Dogman15|talk]]) 04:05, 16 September 2025 (UTC)
:they do, but it doesn't work. {{w|WP:DISPLAYTITLE|DISPLAYTITLE}} doesn't support <> symbols. [[user:lett‪herebedarklight|raeb]] 13:29, 16 September 2025 (UTC)

The article is describing the Altoona style pizza, but Randall is calling on the viewer to look it up on Google images because the picture is likely more offensive than the description. I don't know what the wiki policy is but a picture in the article would do a much better job at explaining than anything Randall may or may not like about the ingredients. [[Special:Contributions/46.144.8.194|46.144.8.194]] 06:43, 16 September 2025 (UTC)

Surely it's no coincidence that XKCD 3142 is about pie. [[User:Gmcgath|Gmcgath]] ([[User talk:Gmcgath|talk]]) 11:43, 16 September 2025 (UTC)
:I hope it ''is'' a coincidence, because I'd like to think that Randall knows better than to call a pizza – a dish that isn't a pie – a "pie". [[User:Yorkshire Pudding|Yorkshire Pudding]] ([[User talk:Yorkshire Pudding|talk]]) 12:53, 16 September 2025 (UTC)
:: Says the person whose name is a pancake that calls itself a pudding. [[Special:Contributions/82.13.184.33|82.13.184.33]] 13:54, 16 September 2025 (UTC)
:::A [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yorkshire_pudding yorkshire pudding] is made similarly to a pancake, but it ends up more like a bun. And the British just call any dessert a "pudding", though I don't see how a yorkshire pudding could be a dessert... [[User:PDesbeginner|PDesbeginner]] ([[User talk:PDesbeginner|talk]]) 17:22, 16 September 2025 (UTC)

Randall suggests that pizza quality correlates with city size. That means Brazilians were right all along, and the best pizza is from São Paulo. [[User:MCBastos|MCBastos]] ([[User talk:MCBastos|talk]]) 14:01, 16 September 2025 (UTC)
: No - it's completely outclassed by Chongqing Pizza. [[Special:Contributions/82.13.184.33|82.13.184.33]] 14:43, 16 September 2025 (UTC)

What about moving this page to [[3142: (City)-Style Pizza]] or similar? --[[User:Birdlover32767|Birdlover32767]] ([[User talk:Birdlover32767|talk]]) 16:25, 16 September 2025 (UTC)

I had never heard of pizza styles "being named after a city" when I was living in Europe or South America. Is that just a USA thing? [[User:Ralfoide|Ralfoide]] ([[User talk:Ralfoide|talk]]) 17:31, 16 September 2025 (UTC)
: No, several regions in Italy also have pizza styles named after them (e.g. Naples, Sicily & Rome) --[[User:Btx40|Btx40]] ([[User talk:Btx40|talk]]) 19:07, 16 September 2025 (UTC)
::Some examples of the more popular 'City'-Style pizza types I know of in the US:
::;New York Style : Huge, round, thin, floppy crust cut into a small number of huge slices. Pretty much have to fold the pieces lengthwise in order to get enough rigidity to eat them.
::;Chicago Style : Aka 'deep dish'. Thick, round crust. Almost like an actual pie, but open top.
::;Detroit Style : Rectangular rather than round, cut into squares. Medium Crust.
::;St. Louis style : Round, thin, firm-to-crisp crust. Cut into squares... Ish(it's round!) Toppings go nearly to the edge, and the outer crust is approximately the same thickness as it is under the toppings.
::-Tiron [[Special:Contributions/2600:2B00:934E:6200:327C:A6EE:BDF7:E40F|2600:2B00:934E:6200:327C:A6EE:BDF7:E40F]] 19:44, 16 September 2025 (UTC)

Currently the explanation describes the "<City>" glitch as an encoding error, and that doesn't strike me as quite correct. The problem is that it's not supposed to be "encoded" at all, but because it appears to be an HTML tag, it's being ''treated'' as encoded. [[User:BunsenH|BunsenH]] ([[User talk:BunsenH|talk]]) 20:30, 16 September 2025 (UTC)

3142: (City)-Style Pizza

2025-09-15T21:57:29Z

《プロキシ》:

{{comic
| number = 3142
| date = September 15, 2025
| title = -Style Pizza
| image = city_style_pizza_2x.png
| imagesize = 480x314px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = If you want to see true audacity, do an image search for 'Altoona-style pizza.'
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|This page was created by a BOT WITH SAUSAGE AND ANCHOVIES. Don't remove this notice too soon.}}
Many varieties of {{w|pizza}} are named after a city, usually where the style originated or was popularized; for instance, {{w|New York–style pizza}} and Chicago-style pizzas. According to [[Randall]], {{w|New York-style pizza}} is near the top of the tastiness axis. New York happens to be the largest city in the US. It's also where pizza was first brought to the US by Italian immigrants, and may be considered to be the epicenter of American pizza culture. A New York-style pizza is characterized by a thin, but not hard, crust. Another famous pizza is the {{w|Chicago-style pizza}}, or Chicago deep-dish pizza, which is known for being notoriously thick.

This comic contains a chart that compares the tastiness of pizza styles with the size of the city in the name. They generally span a broad range, but poor-tasting styles are mostly found only in small cities. The suggested reason is that these are due to restaurant owners in small towns who are bored and make up strange styles of pizza as a prank on visitors.

The title text mentions an Altoona-style pizza. Created in the Altoona hotel in Altoona, Pennsylvania, It contains American Cheese on Sicilian crust, as well as bell peppers and salami. The “true audacity” of this style may include that people may not consider it pizza, and some may even narrow it down to something similar to a sandwich.

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript|Don't remove this notice too soon.}}
:[A graph is shown. The x-axis is marked:]
:City size
:[They y-axis is marked:]
:Tastiness of "<city>-style pizza"
:[A shaded region is shown, initially covering nearly the whole y-axis at the lowest x-values. At the last x-values, the y-values are medium-medium high. Arrows point around to various locations in this shaded region, indicating an otherwise-unmarked subregion.]
:Label: Various controversial regional specialties
:[An arrow points to a medium-high y-value at the absolute leftmost x-axis.]
:Label: New York up here somewhere
:[An arrow points to a low x- and y-value.]
:Label: Towns with bored restaurant owners who have come up with a fun prank to play on visitors

{{comic discussion}}<noinclude>
[[Category: Food]]
[[Category: Charts]]

Talk:3142: (City)-Style Pizza

2025-09-15T21:54:36Z

《プロキシ》:

Talk:3141: Mantle Model

2025-09-14T13:12:25Z

《プロキシ》:

The wiki lives! 🥹 [[User:CalibansCreations|'''Caliban''']] ([[User talk:CalibansCreations|talk]]) 21:04, 12 September 2025 (UTC)
FINALLY, WE’RE BACK《プロキシ》(XKCD中毒者) 13:12, 14 September 2025 (UTC)
:So it wasn't just my computer that wouldn't show explain xkcd? [[User:BobcatInABox|BobcatInABox]] ([[User talk:BobcatInABox|talk]]) 21:35, 12 September 2025 (UTC)
::Also: what went wrong and how did they fix it? [[User:BobcatInABox|BobcatInABox]] ([[User talk:BobcatInABox|talk]]) 21:35, 12 September 2025 (UTC)
:::And: do we have a plan in case it happens again? [[User:BobcatInABox|BobcatInABox]] ([[User talk:BobcatInABox|talk]]) 21:35, 12 September 2025 (UTC)
::::It was clearly a server-side issue. (Well, more server-side than Cloudflare, which still covers a lot of ground.( There are a number of different things that could have been wrong, from the server rack-space no longer being paid for (a potentially more permanent death than the domain not being paid for - which we know has been, anyway) to someone having been messing about with the site and caused fatally excessive parsing errors (there's no sign of that, in the page-edit history that we see, although there's always a potential for the person who got the server working 'sensibly' again to have purged the evidence along with the problem).

Cloudflare was working on my error page. It looked like it was just the host server with a problem《プロキシ》(XKCD中毒者) 13:12, 14 September 2025 (UTC)

::::Could also have just been a temporary power-outage/blown-fuse in the apartment of the person who currently lets the server hum away in the background (if that's the server's physical location, which I doubt) ''or'' that person was moving it from one residence to another and so obviously had to unplug it, transport it and plug it back in again to power and network connection (again, from what I know, I doubt that... but it's not an impossible scenario).
::::Unless we get to hear from whoever fixed the problem, we can just keep on guessing.
::::Assuming that any actual person ''did'' fix the problem rather than (for yet another theory...) it being a connectivity issue further along the chain that just happened to catch our server in that, and was just sorted out as a more general restorating of service.
::::I had several 'likely' ideas during the downtime... Well, ''obvious'' they couldn't all be actually likely, as they were mutually exclusive to each other, but a larger share of the divided percentages than some of the more out-there ones... but very little proof of any of them, now we're up and running again. Not ruled out, but without the basic fingerprints that I'd have expected to support their realities. And some of my imagined solutions to the outage were situations where I would not actually have expected the site to return at all, too, and these have obviously been defied/subverted given that we're now talking here about this.
::::The good news (with reservations, at least) is that, the way we've been returned to 'normality', this raises the chances of this issue not being a recurring one. With a side-line chance of ''if'' whatever-it-was recurs, it'll be solved far quicker next time. Whoever/whatever we have to thank for it.
::::The bad news is that I don't think anyone 'active' has anything to do with it (please do let us know, if you did!). Either no direct hands-on fix at all, as described, or someone who ''really'' doesn't want to bother talking to us users and only steps/stepped in for a bit of quiet background fixing that nobody'll properly appreciate. (My kind of person, that, actually. I rather like it when I fix issues so that nobody besides my more immediate colleagues knows they've been fixed... although ideally I'd be doing so before anyone even knew they ''needed'' fixing. And this wasn't my work, of course. With so little access, or even familiarity with the basic setup, you'd have to look elsewhere for any mysterious house-elf who sorted this one out.)
::::TL;DR; - I don't know how to answer your question. I get the idea that nobody will answer your question as long as [[1305: Undocumented Feature|anyone who knows doesn't want to]]. I don't eventhink there's any possible plan that we can devise to deal with it. Even with an 'off-wiki' forum to talk amongst ourselves about things, the next time this happens again. Even if we could [[1810: Chat Systems|agree on where to go]], it'd just end up being a legacy chatroom (like the Euphoria one) once the inevitable day comes when something means that this site goes dark and never lights up again. ''C'est la vie'', etc...
[[Special:Contributions/92.17.62.87|92.17.62.87]] 00:28, 13 September 2025 (UTC)

::::: TLDR indeed. >"''the apartment of the person who currently lets the server hum away in the background (if that's the server's physical location, which I doubt)''" Elsewhere this year we learned of a forum which actually sat in the admin's garage. He had a health issue, weeks in hospital then months recovering at a relative's house. Forum went down. His #2 said he got some better and the forum came to life, but went down again. Life is like that. --[[User:PRR|PRR]] ([[User talk:PRR|talk]]) 02:48, 13 September 2025 (UTC)
:I had noticed this issue too. I was actually drafting up an email to [[User:Davidy22]] when I came back on here to get a screenshot and Cloudflare started working again! I had suspected that we were getting DDoSed, since Explain XKCD had some issues with that before and the server was clearly down across multiple devices and networks. Recent Changes also shows a 36+ hour gap between editing, confirming that the server was down across the board. I suggest that we coordinate some other form of communication so that we can share messages with each other and still have points of contact if this goes down. Jeff has proven himself to be flaky and unreliable, and I'm now treating everyday on here like it's my last. Check [[explain xkcd: Community portal/Proposals#Explain XKCD Discord.2FSocial Media Server.3F|the proposals board]] for more info. '''[[User:42.book.addict|42.book.addict]][[User talk:42.book.addict|Talk to me!]]''' 06:02, 13 September 2025 (UTC)
::This seems to be a recurring feature of many sites at the moment, whether behind Cloudflare or not. My suspicion is that scraping for AI is out of control, acting as a particularly stupid (vibe-coded) and well-funded DDoS. --[[Special:Contributions/81.96.108.67|81.96.108.67]] 06:58, 13 September 2025 (UTC)
La plume de la Terre est sous le bureau de mon oncle. [[User:BunsenH|BunsenH]] ([[User talk:BunsenH|talk]]) 21:33, 12 September 2025 (UTC)

I'm truly shocked that this comic (#3141) didn't have anything (obvious) to do with pi. [[Special:Contributions/2603:3003:BCC:6200:FC4E:5757:BC86:E656|2603:3003:BCC:6200:FC4E:5757:BC86:E656]] 02:03, 13 September 2025 (UTC)
: Off by 0.001 error. Or maybe Randall's sworn off [https://www.dude-n-dude.com/2023/03/14/amoebas-lorica-14-march-icymi/ pi/pee jokes]. Perhaps we'll see when comic 3142 is released to the wild. [[Special:Contributions/2605:59C8:160:DB08:925:A1C6:D2C8:428B|2605:59C8:160:DB08:925:A1C6:D2C8:428B]] 11:51, 13 September 2025 (UTC)
::Only off by 0.001 if we're aware of the additional digits. I choose ignorance. [[Special:Contributions/2603:3003:BCC:6200:98AA:C11E:AA31:F089|2603:3003:BCC:6200:98AA:C11E:AA31:F089]] 15:56, 13 September 2025 (UTC)

I assume those that manage this great resource for those of us that REALLY NEED xckd explained know comic 3139 got missed in the kerfuffle... [[Special:Contributions/209.240.124.28|209.240.124.28]] 02:09, 13 September 2025 (UTC)

Using the {{Citation needed}} tag '''FOUR''' times in a single explanation is not funny. {{Citation needed}} [[User:These Are Not The Comments You Are Looking For|These Are Not The Comments You Are Looking For]] ([[User talk:These Are Not The Comments You Are Looking For|talk]]) 01:13, 14 September 2025 (UTC)

My interpretation of the comic was that it was more of a satire on geology and how it interprets mantle plumes rather than just some random absurd thing. After all, looking at the Wikipedia page for mantle plumes, it lists like 10 totally random things that geologists sometimes attribute to mantle plumes. [[User:Qoiuoiuoiu|Qoiuoiuoiu]] ([[User talk:Qoiuoiuoiu|talk]]) 02:54, 14 September 2025 (UTC)
: There is too much truth in this cartoon, see [https://www.mantleplumes.org] to get an overview over the problems of the competing plume hypotheses. In short, yes geologists made up so many different plume models that this term has become either all-encompassing or meaningless. [[Special:Contributions/87.180.165.87|87.180.165.87]] 07:38, 14 September 2025 (UTC)

I like that the title text seems to also suggest that Mantle should properly be pronounced Mega-antle [[Special:Contributions/2001:1C05:71D:AB00:49C6:27F5:15E6:49C4|2001:1C05:71D:AB00:49C6:27F5:15E6:49C4]] 09:53, 14 September 2025 (UTC)

Talk:3140: Biology Department

2025-09-13T14:47:00Z

《プロキシ》:

I agree that the biology dept is probably talking about arthropods, not pathogens, BUT it could conceivably be referencing BOTH. Any microbiologists around here who want to weigh in with horror stories of some of the "bugs" they know about or work with? I also think that we might want to divvy this article up into an explanation first, THEN a list of fun examples. (I recently learned about honeypot ants and added it as an example... it would be creepy stuff if we took their defining behavioral characteristic and applied it to humans. Seems like it would be well at home in a horror movie.) [[User:MeZimm|MeZimm]] ([[User talk:MeZimm|talk]]) 16:45, 10 September 2025 (UTC)

Sign Maintenance Dept: It has been [ ] days since someone forgot where the 0 panel is kept. [[User:KelOfTheStars!|KelOfTheStars!]] ([[User talk:KelOfTheStars!|talk]]) 18:33, 10 September 2025 (UTC)

Actually, assuming that people are constantly walking past the Biology Department sign and noticing the error, the Linguistics Department sign would need to be reset constantly. It’s been 15 seconds since someone... no, wait, it’s been 1 second since... [[Special:Contributions/2607:FB90:8B2C:4598:8DCE:B5C3:37E:EF2B|2607:FB90:8B2C:4598:8DCE:B5C3:37E:EF2B]] 20:22, 10 September 2025 (UTC)
:This will be a joke, probably related to [[363: Reset]].[[User:BobcatInABox|BobcatInABox]] ([[User talk:BobcatInABox|talk]]) 20:55, 10 September 2025 (UTC)
::My point was that the ‘explanation’ is currently backward from what the sign would need to say. If the second sign was tracking how long it had been since someone ''first'' noticed the error in the other sign, it would never reset, and if it was tracking how long it had been since the ''most recent'' noticing of the error, it would have to constantly reset as people walked by the first sign. Either way, the ‘explanation’ is wrong. [[Special:Contributions/2607:FB90:8B2C:4598:386F:8BF8:D804:E3E1|2607:FB90:8B2C:4598:386F:8BF8:D804:E3E1]] 02:14, 11 September 2025 (UTC)
:::First time in ''each distinct period that it is wrong''??? Or the last. Once the Biology sign grammatically agrees (indicating >1 day(s) of this situation), everything happily stays as it is (or, in the case of the Linguistics sign, increments daily; whilstsoever it is "day(s)" being measured). But the next time it displays a new 1 (with or without first there being a period of "0 days", happily in existence), there is a new zero-point of the Linguistical situation at the first/last observation of the Biology "one days". [[Special:Contributions/92.17.62.87|92.17.62.87]] 20:25, 12 September 2025 (UTC)

The first panel might be [one day] and and be wide enough to cover up the word ''days'' underneath. [[Special:Contributions/46.162.122.132|46.162.122.132]] 21:26, 10 September 2025 (UTC)

Does the sign really imply that unusual bugs are discovered frequently? Signs like these are usually used in workplaces to encourage safety, since frequent resets to 0 should be shameful (think of the opening sequence of The Simpsons, where an accident happens to the guys updating the sign). The idea is that you hope to get to large numbers to show how safe the place is. It's like the sobriety chips given out in Alcoholics Anonymous. [[User:Barmar|Barmar]] ([[User talk:Barmar|talk]]) 21:49, 10 September 2025 (UTC)

Welcome to the History Department. It has been 5 hours since we last saw evidence for the dictum that those who do not study history are fated to repeat it, and for rejection of Hegel's argument that humans cannot learn from history. Search "Horst Wessel" and be very afraid. It may already be too late. [[Special:Contributions/205.175.118.102|205.175.118.102]] 23:30, 10 September 2025 (UTC)

I'm pretty certain that the trigger for this comic was specifically the _Messor ibericus_ example already listed in the explanation. This is a very surprising discovery and has been a major topic over conversation over the last few (~3) days in scientific social media and news (404media, Fediverse, etc.). Cloning males as disposable sexual slaves is just the kind of shocking discovery the comic describes. {{unsigned|Dhobern|00:59, 11 September 2025}}

Welcome to the explain xkcd center, where there has been 0 days without a multi-day long outage. 《プロキシ》(XKCD中毒者) 14:47, 13 September 2025 (UTC)

Talk:3138: Dimensional Lumber Tape Measure

2025-09-06T13:29:48Z

《プロキシ》:

I was under the impression this was actually a thing that exists, somewhere. (Separate and apart from so-called "shrink rules" used by patternmakers who create patterns for metal castings). No? [[User:JohnHawkinson|JohnHawkinson]] ([[User talk:JohnHawkinson|talk]]) 00:36, 6 September 2025 (UTC)

https://www.inchcalculator.com/actual-size-of-dimensional-lumber/ for reference --- MEL

: Wikipedia has {{w|Lumber#Dimensional_lumber|a similar table}}. Interestingly, if the values on this table are correct, the xkcd measure fails for the 8 x 8 board. [[Special:Contributions/2605:59C8:160:DB08:988B:772A:4E5:B209|2605:59C8:160:DB08:988B:772A:4E5:B209]] 02:18, 6 September 2025 (UTC)

:"I was under the impression this was actually a thing that exists, somewhere" - if doesn't exist now, it soon will. [[Special:Contributions/70.115.234.146|70.115.234.146]] 03:59, 6 September 2025 (UTC)

Thinking that there might be a typo in the comic - It says : A "1x8" IS "3/4 BY 7 1/8", yet it should be "3/4 BY 7 1/4".

I no longer want to be a lumberjack! [[Special:Contributions/2A02:2455:1960:4000:748F:2291:F005:1989|2A02:2455:1960:4000:748F:2291:F005:1989]] 06:57, 6 September 2025 (UTC)

This reminds me of when I changed my friend’s text replacements to be slightly misspelled whenever she tried to type a common word in college. She was getting a degree in linguistics and it was SO FUNNY 《プロキシ》(XKCD中毒者) 13:29, 6 September 2025 (UTC)

Talk:3137: Cursed Number

2025-09-04T21:11:25Z

《プロキシ》:

Warning! Do not read! 421827639108237885847650045004 --[[User:Darth Vader|Darth Vader]] ([[User talk:Darth Vader|talk]]) 22:00, 3 September 2025 (UTC)
:Oh no, too late! bdbdbalasdfsdfoiubtasdf [[User:Barmar|Barmar]] ([[User talk:Barmar|talk]]) 22:35, 3 September 2025 (UTC)
::Well, at least you knew that reading the string "bdbdbalasdfsdfoiubtasdf" was the only antidote! [[Special:Contributions/92.17.62.87|92.17.62.87]] 23:35, 3 September 2025 (UTC)
:::Maybe it's safe if you read it scientifically? ~4.218276391088547650045x1029?--'''''[[User:DollarStoreBa'al|DollarStoreBa'al]][[User_talk:DollarStoreBa'al|'''''converse''''']] 23:43, 3 September 2025 (UTC)
:::Edit: NOPE NOPE NOPE NOPE NOPE NOPE NOPE NOPE NOPE --'''''[[User:DollarStoreBa'al|DollarStoreBa'al]][[User_talk:DollarStoreBa'al|'''''converse''''']] 23:44, 3 September 2025 (UTC)

Not pictured - an MTF team breaking into the compound and abducting the original authors while clean-up arrives with amnestics.

Wenn ist das Nunstruck git und Slotermeyer? [[Special:Contributions/76.209.228.203|76.209.228.203]] 23:50, 3 September 2025 (UTC)
: I'm a German. You <snicker> did this on purpose <guffaw> right? AHAHAHAHAHAHAAAAAAAAAAAA [[Special:Contributions/2A02:2455:1960:4000:6CFB:CAF1:B89F:C57E|2A02:2455:1960:4000:6CFB:CAF1:B89F:C57E]] 09:00, 4 September 2025 (UTC)
:: What? That's {{W|The Funniest Joke in the World}}. [[Special:Contributions/76.209.228.203|76.209.228.203]] 14:27, 4 September 2025 (UTC)

Yeah, I—BAHAHAHAHA《プロキシ》(XKCD中毒者) 21:11, 4 September 2025 (UTC)

This comic is the best comic in a while [[User:Mathmaster|Mathmaster]] ([[User talk:Mathmaster|talk]])

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pentium_FDIV_bug Pentium FDIV Bug] is a math error when handling specific rarely-encountered numbers. {footnote: over 30 years ago!!} No FDIV deaths are reported, but we might not know. --[[User:PRR|PRR]] ([[User talk:PRR|talk]]) 00:20, 4 September 2025 (UTC)
* ahaha 0.1+0.2 goes brrt (e.g. = 0,30000000000000004) [[Special:Contributions/81.89.66.133|81.89.66.133]] 08:54, 4 September 2025 (UTC)
:: FWIW the double-precision value closest to 0.1 is exactly 0.1000000000000000055511151231257827021181583404541015625 (that's 7205759403792794/256) [[Special:Contributions/76.209.228.203|76.209.228.203]] 14:57, 4 September 2025 (UTC)

I have a different interpretation of this comic than the one in the explanation. See, I think it makes more sense that due to the infinite nature of numbers, it can be said that there may exist one that happens to be a severe cognitohazard, rather than there certainly being one such number in the comic's universe. [[User:HoneyBadger|HoneyBadger]] ([[User talk:HoneyBadger|talk]]) 01:55, 4 September 2025 (UTC)

I found this number years ago, while reading a hexadecimal dump of an image file, and yes, it is just as potent, possibly more so, in hexadecimal. Want to know what it is? It starts (in hex of course) DEADFACEABEDEFACEDAFADEDBADBEADEDBEDAD before going off into more ‘normal’ digits. [[Special:Contributions/2607:FB90:8B1D:C283:21DE:C9A5:72EB:C044|2607:FB90:8B1D:C283:21DE:C9A5:72EB:C044]] 03:42, 4 September 2025 (UTC)
* Oh, magic numbers. What about a ''0x31124837h'' pointer?  [[Special:Contributions/81.89.66.133|81.89.66.133]] 08:54, 4 September 2025 (UTC)

SCP nerd here, I think the article should link to a different SCP. SCP-033 isn't really a good example of a cognitohazard, since it affects written/digital storage, not the mind/brain. [https://scp-wiki.wikidot.com/scp-012 SCP-012] for example would be a closer fit. (CW: somewhat graphic self harm) --[[User:Muno|Muno]] ([[User talk:Muno|talk]]) 04:45, 4 September 2025 (UTC)

If one supposes that reading the cursed number inside another number is also bad, then for you to have at most a 1/2 chance of reading it in a string of numbers with the bounds given in the comic, you would have to read 1.8*10^21 digits strung together [[User:TheTrainsKid|TheTrainsKid]] ([[User talk:TheTrainsKid|talk]]) 05:15, 4 September 2025 (UTC)
:Taking an average reading speed of 40 digits per second, that would take the reader a trillion years.
[[Special:Contributions/46.144.8.194|46.144.8.194]] 07:25, 4 September 2025 (UTC)
* Good. Trillion years divided by 9 billion people still gives 111.(1) years of non-stop reading. [[Special:Contributions/81.89.66.133|81.89.66.133]] 08:55, 4 September 2025 (UTC)

This also exists for computer science in the form of weird code《プロキシ》(XKCD中毒者) 21:11, 4 September 2025 (UTC)

* Neal Stephenson's Snowcrash features a visual "virus" that causes neurological damage to hacker's minds when they see a carefully crafted image. This XKCD might be a slight reference to this, too.

Another literary example would Max Barry's ''{{w|Lexicon (novel)|Lexicon}}''. --[[User:Coconut Galaxy|Coconut Galaxy]] ([[User talk:Coconut Galaxy|talk]]) 11:28, 4 September 2025 (UTC)

Wait, it's a real, nonnegative number? Dammit, I was WAY off! [[User:Fephisto|Fephisto]] ([[User talk:Fephisto|talk]]) 14:13, 4 September 2025 (UTC)
:I take psychic damage when I see -1 after spending way too much time writing a function that only expects positive integers with no error handling (I'm not very good) [[Special:Contributions/174.77.66.51|174.77.66.51]] 16:58, 4 September 2025 (UTC)
::Speaking of bad error handling, one of the first programs I made was a country-building simulator. I had a friend play it. A prompt asked how much of the national budget to put into the navy. My friend misunderstood the prompt COMPLETELY and typed in "boats" and the program proceeded to spam output with "boatsboatsboatsboatsboatsboatsboatsboatsboatsboatsboatsboatsboatsboatsboatsboatsboatsboatsboatsboatsboatsboatsboatsboatsboatsboatsboatsboatsboatsboats" millions of time, took up all the processing time and made the PC unusable until the entire OS crashed. [[User:Fephisto|Fephisto]] ([[User talk:Fephisto|talk]]) 20:36, 4 September 2025 (UTC)

== Should we include Roko's Basilisk in the list of information hazards? ==

Just feels like it's relevant.

Or manual breathing. [[Special:Contributions/172.58.113.84|172.58.113.84]] 17:19, 4 September 2025 (UTC)

According to jewish mysticism, there is a name of god of length 216 letters/numbers that let you conjure. Also referred to in the movie Pi

== New around here but... ==

I just added a paragrap explaining that 128-bit numbers (or up to 39 decimal digits) are more common than Randall suggests. I'd be surprised if he was surprised by this. Start of a new series...? Or maybe I'm overthinking it.
[[User:Tsgsh|Tsgsh]] ([[User talk:Tsgsh|talk]]) 20:46, 4 September 2025 (UTC)

Talk:3136: Pull

2025-09-02T13:07:23Z

《プロキシ》:

Australia reference????? /s [[User:TheTrainsKid|TheTrainsKid]] ([[User talk:TheTrainsKid|talk]]) 05:41, 2 September 2025 (UTC)

I [[3135|recently learned]] that earth has weird gravity effects caused by a big moon orbiting near the surface. These are probably also barely measurable, except e.g., big bodies of water --[[Special:Contributions/134.102.219.31|134.102.219.31]] 11:23, 2 September 2025 (UTC)
:I take it you haven't heard of Earth tides? [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Earth_tide] --[[User:Gorcq|Gorcq]] ([[User talk:Gorcq|talk]]) 11:54, 2 September 2025 (UTC)
::Perhaps you should follow the link in the comment you replied to... [[User:Yorkshire Pudding|Yorkshire Pudding]] ([[User talk:Yorkshire Pudding|talk]]) 13:00, 2 September 2025 (UTC)

Ya the hemispheres are kinda crazy《プロキシ》(XKCD中毒者) 13:07, 2 September 2025 (UTC)

Talk:3135: Sea Level

2025-09-01T19:07:08Z

《プロキシ》:

Holy crud empty page! F1RST P0ST! [[User:RadiantRainwing|RadiantRainwing]] ([[User talk:RadiantRainwing|talk]]) 01:38, 30 August 2025 (UTC)
:2038: Last of the original Star Wars cast dies. —megan [[user talk:megan|talk]] [[special:contribs/megan|contribs]] 02:18, 30 August 2025 (UTC)
::What? If you're trying to get back at me because I was being useless and just "first posting", it's a reference to [[269: TCMP]], and I also, by the way, wrote the whole first paragraph of this explanation. [[User:RadiantRainwing|RadiantRainwing]] ([[User talk:RadiantRainwing|talk]]) 02:50, 30 August 2025 (UTC)
:::Alright, sorry, just realized what you did is a reference to [[493: Actuarial]]. Sorry about that! [[User:RadiantRainwing|RadiantRainwing]] ([[User talk:RadiantRainwing|talk]]) 02:53, 30 August 2025 (UTC)
::::I guess you're one of today's lucky [[Ten Thousand]]...
::::Wait, no, not everyone has read comic 493 by the time they're adults. I'm too lazy right now to calculate how many people learn about comic 493 each day, so I'll leave it as [[356|an exercise for the reader]]. —megan [[user talk:megan|talk]] [[special:contribs/megan|contribs]] 01:01, 31 August 2025 (UTC)
::::This is where it pays to have read every XKCD comic :P [[User:Logalex8369|Logalex8369]] ([[User talk:Logalex8369|talk]]) 16:45, 1 September 2025 (UTC)

This one is related to the [https://xkcd.com/2809/ Moon] comic. [[User:Pgn674|Pgn674]] ([[User talk:Pgn674|talk]]) 01:39, 30 August 2025 (UTC)
:Clearly. [[User:RadiantRainwing|RadiantRainwing]] ([[User talk:RadiantRainwing|talk]]) 01:49, 30 August 2025 (UTC)

Definitely easy to see, even the references are the same…Randall we trust in you not to copy again…《プロキシ》(XKCD中毒者) 19:07, 1 September 2025 (UTC)

::it's almost a repeat. is he running out of ideas? [[user:lett‪herebedarklight|raeb]] 09:54, 30 August 2025 (UTC)
:::Hope not. [[User:RadiantRainwing|RadiantRainwing]] ([[User talk:RadiantRainwing|talk]]) 16:56, 30 August 2025 (UTC)
:::Why do people talk about running out of ideas? That is something I can't imagine. The world throws ideas and absurdities at you all the time. Running out of time to execute an idea - sure. Seems much more likely to be filtering error (have to check current idea against 3000 previous strips). [[Special:Contributions/107.77.205.64|107.77.205.64]] 19:42, 30 August 2025 (UTC)

Larry Niven had a story about alien-made indestructible spaceship hulls, except the makers didn't account for tidal effects when grazing a star. The test pilot was nearly ripped apart, but figured a way to survive. He sued their butts off against the guarantee. He concluded that their home planet did not have a large moon, a Clue. --[[User:PRR|PRR]] ([[User talk:PRR|talk]]) 02:41, 30 August 2025 (UTC)

I think I finally figured out the common thread. All the items here are here because they are elements of Life on Earth. The way the explanation was written kind of buried that important part of the comic.

Overall, if you just look at them as unrelated phenomena, then Lightning seems quite common. Islands made by microskeletons, and life-forms which change their form during development seem like they would be pretty common where there is life. Large tides - thought to be uncommon, but don't have much data, and models are hard. [[Special:Contributions/2600:387:4:803:0:0:0:A0|2600:387:4:803:0:0:0:A0]] 18:04, 30 August 2025 (UTC)

All planets with intelligent life we know have tides. In fact one could argue that tides play an important role in the development in life. Thus any intelligent observe is arguably familiar with tides. Thus the text is wrong in arguing that tides are surprising based on the observation that most known planets likely do not have large tides. --[[Special:Contributions/2A01:599:114:9E35:D827:C56:FF88:1858|2A01:599:114:9E35:D827:C56:FF88:1858]] 19:09, 30 August 2025 (UTC)

:Argument has problems - insufficient sample size, selection bias. Nothing in the comic talked about intelligent life.
:The role of tides in development of life certainly makes sense to add.
:Tides are strange in that they are very complex and hard to explain in detail. Fluid dynamics in a very complex, non-ridgid vessel, involve gravitational forces from multiple bodies. [[Special:Contributions/107.77.205.64|107.77.205.64]] 20:00, 30 August 2025 (UTC)

:: Sample size is definitely a problem. Nothing in the comic talks about tides being strange in a cosmic sense. They are just very weird for one of the two observers from earth. --[[Special:Contributions/195.63.76.62|195.63.76.62]] 20:39, 30 August 2025 (UTC)

:All planets with intelligent life that we know of also have microwave ovens and television cameras and rubber ducks. Perhaps those are also essential for the long-term continued existence of intelligent life? [[User:PotatoGod|PotatoGod]] ([[User talk:PotatoGod|talk]]) 19:09, 31 August 2025 (UTC)

::Well, I can confirm that microwave ovens are essential for the continued existence of this intelligent lifeform. [[Special:Contributions/159.118.184.96|159.118.184.96]] 04:47, 1 September 2025 (UTC)

I'm shocked that Randal didn't include some sort of reference to climate change- and how tides effectively, at least in 2025 and for the foreseeable future, dwarf sea rise due to melting ice. [[User:Seebert|Seebert]] ([[User talk:Seebert|talk]]) 20:18, 30 August 2025 (UTC)
:On a (twice-)daily basis, yes. But that's like saying an unseasonal/hyperseasonal cold snap belies the possibility of global warming. (If that's the point you're trying to make.)
:And I'm not sure if you're saying that Randall "is the sort of person who would go on and on about climate change, but for soe reason he surprisingly didn't do so here" or "he really ought to be mentioning climate change at every opportunity, but he missed the opportunity to convey the concept"..? I'd disagree with ''both'' of those assessments of his (non-)inclusion here, though, and perhaps you're even coming from a completely different third direction that I might or might not understand. But really not the place to discuss it, as he obviously hasn't made that part of the joke/message in this comic. [[Special:Contributions/92.17.62.87|92.17.62.87]] 23:27, 30 August 2025 (UTC)

Lightning should be common throughout the universe, as the ingredients for it (planetary atmospheres containing things like dust that can build up differential static charges through agitation) appear to be. It's still a very weird phenomenon, with many aspects not understood (how does the triboelectric effect work, can breakdown patterns be predicted, wtf is going on with sprites and ball lightning, etc) but it really isn't likely to be rare. --[[Special:Contributions/81.96.108.67|81.96.108.67]] 05:48, 31 August 2025 (UTC)

Ten feet tidal range on a remote island - isn't this too much? I thought it should be less, with stronger tides only in some gulfs where an amplification exists. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tide figure 15 shows 5 feet tidal range maximum
: In the channel tides can get pretty high and some parts of it would be remote islands by European standards. Also the comic doesn't mention remoteness. --[[Special:Contributions/195.52.138.253|195.52.138.253]] 18:42, 31 August 2025 (UTC)

Significant tides can also bother or surprise people who are used to comparatively smaller tides. I should know, I am one of those people. I live by the Mediterranean Sea and any time I go to the beach on the Ocean, I am worried that I will once again lose my towel to the moving shoreline...
[[Special:Contributions/2001:861:51C2:B540:1593:36EE:75F9:1F83|2001:861:51C2:B540:1593:36EE:75F9:1F83]] 18:35, 1 September 2025 (UTC)

^V^ 8th place! Learning English lol…love autocorrect. in South Carolina, tides are HELL on coast《プロキシ》(XKCD中毒者) 19:05, 1 September 2025 (UTC)

Talk:3135: Sea Level

2025-09-01T19:05:16Z

《プロキシ》:

Holy crud empty page! F1RST P0ST! [[User:RadiantRainwing|RadiantRainwing]] ([[User talk:RadiantRainwing|talk]]) 01:38, 30 August 2025 (UTC)
:2038: Last of the original Star Wars cast dies. —megan [[user talk:megan|talk]] [[special:contribs/megan|contribs]] 02:18, 30 August 2025 (UTC)
::What? If you're trying to get back at me because I was being useless and just "first posting", it's a reference to [[269: TCMP]], and I also, by the way, wrote the whole first paragraph of this explanation. [[User:RadiantRainwing|RadiantRainwing]] ([[User talk:RadiantRainwing|talk]]) 02:50, 30 August 2025 (UTC)
:::Alright, sorry, just realized what you did is a reference to [[493: Actuarial]]. Sorry about that! [[User:RadiantRainwing|RadiantRainwing]] ([[User talk:RadiantRainwing|talk]]) 02:53, 30 August 2025 (UTC)
::::I guess you're one of today's lucky [[Ten Thousand]]...
::::Wait, no, not everyone has read comic 493 by the time they're adults. I'm too lazy right now to calculate how many people learn about comic 493 each day, so I'll leave it as [[356|an exercise for the reader]]. —megan [[user talk:megan|talk]] [[special:contribs/megan|contribs]] 01:01, 31 August 2025 (UTC)
::::This is where it pays to have read every XKCD comic :P [[User:Logalex8369|Logalex8369]] ([[User talk:Logalex8369|talk]]) 16:45, 1 September 2025 (UTC)

This one is related to the [https://xkcd.com/2809/ Moon] comic. [[User:Pgn674|Pgn674]] ([[User talk:Pgn674|talk]]) 01:39, 30 August 2025 (UTC)
:Clearly. [[User:RadiantRainwing|RadiantRainwing]] ([[User talk:RadiantRainwing|talk]]) 01:49, 30 August 2025 (UTC)

::it's almost a repeat. is he running out of ideas? [[user:lett‪herebedarklight|raeb]] 09:54, 30 August 2025 (UTC)
:::Hope not. [[User:RadiantRainwing|RadiantRainwing]] ([[User talk:RadiantRainwing|talk]]) 16:56, 30 August 2025 (UTC)
:::Why do people talk about running out of ideas? That is something I can't imagine. The world throws ideas and absurdities at you all the time. Running out of time to execute an idea - sure. Seems much more likely to be filtering error (have to check current idea against 3000 previous strips). [[Special:Contributions/107.77.205.64|107.77.205.64]] 19:42, 30 August 2025 (UTC)

Larry Niven had a story about alien-made indestructible spaceship hulls, except the makers didn't account for tidal effects when grazing a star. The test pilot was nearly ripped apart, but figured a way to survive. He sued their butts off against the guarantee. He concluded that their home planet did not have a large moon, a Clue. --[[User:PRR|PRR]] ([[User talk:PRR|talk]]) 02:41, 30 August 2025 (UTC)

I think I finally figured out the common thread. All the items here are here because they are elements of Life on Earth. The way the explanation was written kind of buried that important part of the comic.

Overall, if you just look at them as unrelated phenomena, then Lightning seems quite common. Islands made by microskeletons, and life-forms which change their form during development seem like they would be pretty common where there is life. Large tides - thought to be uncommon, but don't have much data, and models are hard. [[Special:Contributions/2600:387:4:803:0:0:0:A0|2600:387:4:803:0:0:0:A0]] 18:04, 30 August 2025 (UTC)

All planets with intelligent life we know have tides. In fact one could argue that tides play an important role in the development in life. Thus any intelligent observe is arguably familiar with tides. Thus the text is wrong in arguing that tides are surprising based on the observation that most known planets likely do not have large tides. --[[Special:Contributions/2A01:599:114:9E35:D827:C56:FF88:1858|2A01:599:114:9E35:D827:C56:FF88:1858]] 19:09, 30 August 2025 (UTC)

:Argument has problems - insufficient sample size, selection bias. Nothing in the comic talked about intelligent life.
:The role of tides in development of life certainly makes sense to add.
:Tides are strange in that they are very complex and hard to explain in detail. Fluid dynamics in a very complex, non-ridgid vessel, involve gravitational forces from multiple bodies. [[Special:Contributions/107.77.205.64|107.77.205.64]] 20:00, 30 August 2025 (UTC)

:: Sample size is definitely a problem. Nothing in the comic talks about tides being strange in a cosmic sense. They are just very weird for one of the two observers from earth. --[[Special:Contributions/195.63.76.62|195.63.76.62]] 20:39, 30 August 2025 (UTC)

:All planets with intelligent life that we know of also have microwave ovens and television cameras and rubber ducks. Perhaps those are also essential for the long-term continued existence of intelligent life? [[User:PotatoGod|PotatoGod]] ([[User talk:PotatoGod|talk]]) 19:09, 31 August 2025 (UTC)

::Well, I can confirm that microwave ovens are essential for the continued existence of this intelligent lifeform. [[Special:Contributions/159.118.184.96|159.118.184.96]] 04:47, 1 September 2025 (UTC)

I'm shocked that Randal didn't include some sort of reference to climate change- and how tides effectively, at least in 2025 and for the foreseeable future, dwarf sea rise due to melting ice. [[User:Seebert|Seebert]] ([[User talk:Seebert|talk]]) 20:18, 30 August 2025 (UTC)
:On a (twice-)daily basis, yes. But that's like saying an unseasonal/hyperseasonal cold snap belies the possibility of global warming. (If that's the point you're trying to make.)
:And I'm not sure if you're saying that Randall "is the sort of person who would go on and on about climate change, but for soe reason he surprisingly didn't do so here" or "he really ought to be mentioning climate change at every opportunity, but he missed the opportunity to convey the concept"..? I'd disagree with ''both'' of those assessments of his (non-)inclusion here, though, and perhaps you're even coming from a completely different third direction that I might or might not understand. But really not the place to discuss it, as he obviously hasn't made that part of the joke/message in this comic. [[Special:Contributions/92.17.62.87|92.17.62.87]] 23:27, 30 August 2025 (UTC)

Lightning should be common throughout the universe, as the ingredients for it (planetary atmospheres containing things like dust that can build up differential static charges through agitation) appear to be. It's still a very weird phenomenon, with many aspects not understood (how does the triboelectric effect work, can breakdown patterns be predicted, wtf is going on with sprites and ball lightning, etc) but it really isn't likely to be rare. --[[Special:Contributions/81.96.108.67|81.96.108.67]] 05:48, 31 August 2025 (UTC)

Ten feet tidal range on a remote island - isn't this too much? I thought it should be less, with stronger tides only in some gulfs where an amplification exists. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tide figure 15 shows 5 feet tidal range maximum
: In the channel tides can get pretty high and some parts of it would be remote islands by European standards. Also the comic doesn't mention remoteness. --[[Special:Contributions/195.52.138.253|195.52.138.253]] 18:42, 31 August 2025 (UTC)

Significant tides can also bother or surprise people who are used to comparatively smaller tides. I should know, I am one of those people. I live by the Mediterranean Sea and any time I go to the beach on the Ocean, I am worried that I will once again lose my towel to the moving shoreline...
[[Special:Contributions/2001:861:51C2:B540:1593:36EE:75F9:1F83|2001:861:51C2:B540:1593:36EE:75F9:1F83]] 18:35, 1 September 2025 (UTC)

^V^ 8th place! Learning English lol…love autocorrect. in South Carolina, tides are HELL on coast《プロキシ》(XKCD中毒者) 19:05, 1 September 2025 (UTC)

Talk:2759: Easily Confused Acronyms

2025-08-28T13:07:51Z

《プロキシ》: おい、それは私のセリフだ！

Comic 1937 also features misinterpretation of acronyms. [[User:Unreliable Connection|2659: Unreliable Connection]] ([[User talk:Unreliable Connection|talk]]) 03:59, 6 April 2023 (UTC)

.... i am gonna need a cetation on that bit about Archimedes. Does anyone have one? I don't doubt the veracity of the statement, but we have standards around here! [[Special:Contributions/162.158.154.143|162.158.154.143]] 06:14, 6 April 2023 (UTC)

: ''On the Equilibrium of Planes'' (Ancient Greek: Περὶ ἐπιπέδων ἱσορροπιῶν, romanized: perí epipédōn isorropiôn) is a treatise by Archimedes in two volumes. The first book contains a proof of the law of the lever ( https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/On_the_Equilibrium_of_Planes ) [[Special:Contributions/172.71.246.60|172.71.246.60]] 07:05, 6 April 2023 (UTC)

The wikipedia page for LEVER is not working. I think it's case sensitive. [[User:N-eh|N-eh]] ([[User talk:N-eh|talk]]) 06:31, 6 April 2023 (UTC)

: fixed. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.86.200|162.158.86.200]] 07:15, 6 April 2023 (UTC)

Somebody posted a link to Comic 1937 by mistake and I made an edit to the page about San Diego and The Scrabble. Coincidentally, The new comic was also about acronyms. Incredible. [[User:Unreliable Connection|2659: Unreliable Connection]] ([[User talk:Unreliable Connection|talk]]) 09:10, 6 April 2023 (UTC)

Do we need a category about acronyms? There's [[1341: Types of Editors]], [[1460: SMFW]], and today's comic, and there may be more. [[User:Unreliable Connection|2659: Unreliable Connection]] ([[User talk:Unreliable Connection|talk]]) 09:22, 6 April 2023 (UTC)

xkcd = '''X'''ight '''K'''mplification by the '''C'''imulated '''D'''mission of radiation --[[Special:Contributions/162.158.154.140|162.158.154.140]] 09:29, 6 April 2023 (UTC)
:Except that ''R'' was not even used. So it'd be "adiation", for we replace "R" with nothing. [[Special:Contributions/172.68.51.12|172.68.51.12]] 09:02, 16 April 2023 (UTC)
LEVER is an acronym - Light Electric Vehicle Education and Research, [https://www.micromobilityresearch.com apparently].[[Special:Contributions/172.71.178.65|172.71.178.65]] 09:49, 6 April 2023 (UTC)

: Another use of LEVER as an acronym is [https://www.acronymattic.com/Laboratory-for-Evaluation-and-Validation-of-Epidemiologic-Research-(LEVER).html Laboratory for Evaluation and Validation of Epidemiologic Research] -- [[Special:Contributions/172.71.222.172|172.71.222.172]] 14:34, 6 April 2023 (UTC)

This raises the question why are there no SODARs, RANARs and LINARs? Or RASERs for that matter? --[[Special:Contributions/162.158.111.77|162.158.111.77]] 12:34, 6 April 2023 (UTC)

:RASERs only work in the online realm, where they're known as eRASERs.[[Special:Contributions/172.71.242.173|172.71.242.173]] 13:30, 6 April 2023 (UTC)

:In ''theory'', you could build a RASER (that is, a radio-wavelength LASER) via the 21cm (1420 MHz) hyperfine hydrogen transmission. That would require some fairly nontrivial engineering, and probably needs a very large superconducting magnet to establish a magnetic field gradient and allow for separation of atoms into parallel and anti-parallel magnetic moment populations. But, in principle, because of the astronomical importance of the 21cm transition, you could use this as an interstellar signalling device. Indeed, SETI considered (but rejected) the idea early on (although I'm not sure that building a 21cm RASER was feasible at the time). [[Special:Contributions/172.70.178.97|172.70.178.97]] 20:10, 6 April 2023 (UTC)

:RANAR exists pretty much only in controlled environment laboratory conditions. Radio doesn't reflect well enough off the ground for how noisy it tends to be in that spectrum. It's like trying to noticably brighten up a large grassy field in the middle of the day by shining a dim normal flashlight at it. [[Special:Contributions/172.71.146.119|172.71.146.119]] 06:15, 7 April 2023 (UTC)
::...whilst looking through a narrow-band anti-green filter and waving the torch around to try to invoke observable parallax in the remaining illumination/shadows. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.99.122|141.101.99.122]] 08:25, 8 April 2023 (UTC)

:Gotta say, I love this community for like this, the very reasonable conversation-rich question of why such logical things don't exist. :) [[User:NiceGuy1|NiceGuy1]] ([[User talk:NiceGuy1|talk]]) 04:00, 8 April 2023 (UTC)

Is this comic inspired by a laser incident? [[User:Memo Spike Connector|2503: Memo Spike Connector]] ([[User talk:Memo Spike Connector|talk]]) 06:17, 14 April 2023 (UTC)

*It isn't ''just'' the first letter changed in the comic in the manner used in the article: if only the initials of ''stimulated'' were changed, it were "ntimulated", "dtimulated", "vtimulated" etc. So I believe that was just simplified to easen pronunciation.
*''RANAR'' would mean ''Ra''dio ''n''avigation ''a''nd ''r''anging (cf. above), ''LINAR'' would mean ''Li''ght ''n''avigation ''a''nd ''r''anging, ''SODAR'' would mean ''So''und ''d''etection ''a''nd ''r''anging, etc. (but I don't know how usable any of these are, or if they are used outside of controlled environments)
[[Special:Contributions/172.68.51.11|172.68.51.11]] 09:01, 16 April 2023 (UTC)

Sad to see that TASER isn't in the list, cause that really throws someone for a loop. Thomas A. Swift's Electric Rifle {{unsigned|Daemionfox|13:18, 19 April 2023}}

おい、それは私のセリフだ！《プロキシ》(XKCD中毒者) 13:07, 28 August 2025 (UTC)

:And here I was, thinking that TASER stood for Torture Amplification by Stimulated Emission of Radiation. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.110.141|172.70.110.141]] 14:13, 4 May 2023 (UTC)

Does anyone here know about the Federal Oroadcasting Xompany? {{unsigned ip|172.69.22.144|08:06, 8 May 2023}}
: Japan also has a "National Hroadcasting Kssociation". {{unsigned ip|162.158.166.173|02:58, 18 May 2023}}

I kind of wish that SONAR was called SNAR. [[User:Psychoticpotato|Psychoticpotato]] ([[User talk:Psychoticpotato|talk]]) 13:35, 6 May 2024 (UTC)

I hate Cight Hmplification by the Itimulated Nmission of Aadiation!!!!!! [[Special:Contributions/172.71.150.145|172.71.150.145]] 12:41, 11 July 2024 (UTC)

Talk:3134: Wavefunction Collapse

2025-08-28T12:56:05Z

《プロキシ》:

For crying out loud, the wavefunction collapse has never been observed. [[Special:Contributions/38.70.240.202|38.70.240.202]] 02:23, 28 August 2025 (UTC)

The term professor actually can also mean "a person who affirms a faith in or allegiance to something." which continues the religious aspect of having a soul. [[Special:Contributions/147.161.213.89|147.161.213.89]] 02:30, 28 August 2025 (UTC)

Actually, '''''I''''' am a god explaining their reality to my comrades, so only when '''''we''''' observe it does the wavefunction collapse. It will not collapse for mere characters in a false reality '''''we''''' created. --'''''[[User:DollarStoreBa'al|DollarStoreBa'al]][[User_talk:DollarStoreBa'al|'''''converse''''']] 02:34, 28 August 2025 (UTC)

So many people misunderstand the Copenhagen interpretation. It is only the most basic theory that could be made based on all our experiments, which is why it says the wavefunction collapse when we measure it in an experiment. It doesnt mean it hasnt collapsed earlier, only that we know it has collapsed when we measure it.[[Special:Contributions/2A02:3103:4C:2400:84BF:B101:8E7D:F4C6|2A02:3103:4C:2400:84BF:B101:8E7D:F4C6]] 06:24, 28 August 2025 (UTC)

is it just me, or is this one similar to [[660: Sympathy]] & [[803: Airfoil]]? —[[User:Winter1760|Winter1760]] ([[User talk:Winter1760|talk]]) 06:59, 28 August 2025 (UTC).
:Yes there is the similarity with three option where the first two are identical but the very wrong has been canged to Chaotic in this comic. We could a mention of it at the bottom. I'll try to put it in. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 07:40, 28 August 2025 (UTC)

I think "Good", "Bad" and "Chaotic" are references to role playing games, probably Advanced Dungeons and Dragons, but perhaps others as well. Characters in such games have an "alignment", which indicates whether a character tends to do good, or tends to be destructive/evil, or can flip (chaotic). The word "alignment" also has meaning in the world of quantum physics. So this may be a deliberate conflation of worlds. I also like the double meaning of "professor" above in this context. [[User:Gjanssens|Gjanssens]] ([[User talk:Gjanssens|talk]]) 08:17, 28 August 2025 (UTC)

Randall pokes fun at a severe philosophic problem of all subjectivist interpretations of QM: If a "soul" is needed for wave collapse, or maybe only a being with consciousness - where shall we draw the line? Can Schrödingers cat herself collapse the wavefunction? A cockroach? A bacterium? (Mind you, they rely on a working QM as we.) Or, in the other direction as in this comic, maybe an undergrad doesn't suffice. (Add to explanation?) [[Special:Contributions/2A02:2455:1960:4000:4DF1:8E5D:B4E1:C184|2A02:2455:1960:4000:4DF1:8E5D:B4E1:C184]] 08:58, 28 August 2025 (UTC)

学部生でよかった (Translation: I’m glad I’m undergraduate) 《プロキシ》(XKCD中毒者) 12:56, 28 August 2025 (UTC)

Talk:3134: Wavefunction Collapse

2025-08-28T12:53:00Z

《プロキシ》:

For crying out loud, the wavefunction collapse has never been observed. [[Special:Contributions/38.70.240.202|38.70.240.202]] 02:23, 28 August 2025 (UTC)

The term professor actually can also mean "a person who affirms a faith in or allegiance to something." which continues the religious aspect of having a soul. [[Special:Contributions/147.161.213.89|147.161.213.89]] 02:30, 28 August 2025 (UTC)

Actually, '''''I''''' am a god explaining their reality to my comrades, so only when '''''we''''' observe it does the wavefunction collapse. It will not collapse for mere characters in a false reality '''''we''''' created. --'''''[[User:DollarStoreBa'al|DollarStoreBa'al]][[User_talk:DollarStoreBa'al|'''''converse''''']] 02:34, 28 August 2025 (UTC)

So many people misunderstand the Copenhagen interpretation. It is only the most basic theory that could be made based on all our experiments, which is why it says the wavefunction collapse when we measure it in an experiment. It doesnt mean it hasnt collapsed earlier, only that we know it has collapsed when we measure it.[[Special:Contributions/2A02:3103:4C:2400:84BF:B101:8E7D:F4C6|2A02:3103:4C:2400:84BF:B101:8E7D:F4C6]] 06:24, 28 August 2025 (UTC)

is it just me, or is this one similar to [[660: Sympathy]] & [[803: Airfoil]]? —[[User:Winter1760|Winter1760]] ([[User talk:Winter1760|talk]]) 06:59, 28 August 2025 (UTC).
:Yes there is the similarity with three option where the first two are identical but the very wrong has been canged to Chaotic in this comic. We could a mention of it at the bottom. I'll try to put it in. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 07:40, 28 August 2025 (UTC)

I think "Good", "Bad" and "Chaotic" are references to role playing games, probably Advanced Dungeons and Dragons, but perhaps others as well. Characters in such games have an "alignment", which indicates whether a character tends to do good, or tends to be destructive/evil, or can flip (chaotic). The word "alignment" also has meaning in the world of quantum physics. So this may be a deliberate conflation of worlds. I also like the double meaning of "professor" above in this context. [[User:Gjanssens|Gjanssens]] ([[User talk:Gjanssens|talk]]) 08:17, 28 August 2025 (UTC)

Randall pokes fun at a severe philosophic problem of all subjectivist interpretations of QM: If a "soul" is needed for wave collapse, or maybe only a being with consciousness - where shall we draw the line? Can Schrödingers cat herself collapse the wavefunction? A cockroach? A bacterium? (Mind you, they rely on a working QM as we.) Or, in the other direction as in this comic, maybe an undergrad doesn't suffice. (Add to explanation?) [[Special:Contributions/2A02:2455:1960:4000:4DF1:8E5D:B4E1:C184|2A02:2455:1960:4000:4DF1:8E5D:B4E1:C184]] 08:58, 28 August 2025 (UTC)

学部生でよかった (Translation: I’m glad I’m undergraduate) [[User:《プロキシ》|《プロキシ》(XKCD addict)]] ([[User talk:《プロキシ》|talk]]) 12:53, 28 August 2025 (UTC)

Talk:2778: Cuisine

2025-08-28T12:48:19Z

《プロキシ》:

I’m surprised it’s not Beret guy at the stove… [[Special:Contributions/108.162.245.186|108.162.245.186]] 03:33, 20 May 2023 (UTC)
: Yup, you have a point... [[User:NiceGuy1|NiceGuy1]] ([[User talk:NiceGuy1|talk]]) 06:17, 20 May 2023 (UTC)
:: Well we do not actually see Cueball make iron this way. Beret Guy would probably manage without destroying the kitchen... --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 13:17, 30 May 2023 (UTC)

Well, here "'''''very''''' high heat" is millions of degrees (any kind), yes? [[User:GcGYSF(asterisk)P(vertical line)e|GcGYSF(asterisk)P(vertical line)e]] ([[User talk:GcGYSF(asterisk)P(vertical line)e|talk]]) 04:13, 20 May 2023 (UTC)

Is the title text that stupid American thing where people consider themselves some nationality despite no cultural exposure because one of eight great-grandparents was?
[[Special:Contributions/162.158.2.77|162.158.2.77]] 04:26, 20 May 2023 (UTC)

Just like I, an American, am Indian because my dad is? Is that too distant for you? [[Special:Contributions/52.37.255.142|52.37.255.142]] 8:47, 28 August 2025 (EST)

: Taken to the extreme, to the time when galaxies were first starting to condense out of vast hydrogen clouds and form the first generation of stars and black holes. [[User:Nutster|Nutster]] ([[User talk:Nutster|talk]]) 04:33, 20 May 2023 (UTC)
: I wouldn't say that, no... It's trying to boast long experience. Sounds to me like instead of going back in his life to, say, his childhood, he's taking humankind - LIFE - to back before human beings, back to cells in primordial ooze. Before even the formation of Earth, I think? Judging from mentioning space... [[User:NiceGuy1|NiceGuy1]] ([[User talk:NiceGuy1|talk]]) 06:17, 20 May 2023 (UTC)
::The title text says "collapsing in the darkness of space" which I take as a reference to before 'first light', that is before ANY fusion had occurred. [[User:RIIW - Ponder it|RIIW - Ponder it]] ([[User talk:RIIW - Ponder it|talk]]) 18:56, 22 May 2023 (UTC)
:::Yes before anything had formed except the few light atoms that formed during the first minutes after the big bang. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 13:17, 30 May 2023 (UTC)

I’m curious who it is who added “exciting new forms of matter” with a citation to randall’s use of the same phrase earlier. This is a common way of talking for the comic demographic, although maybe a little immature as the decades pass. It’s different to see it cited, and I wonder if the editor was from a different culture or young or a bot, or maybe I am just going crazy. My name is karl i have usernames like baffo32 or xloem, i’ve been mentally ill for a decade or so but used to be a nerd. There seem to be fewer nerds here. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.159.131|162.158.159.131]] 12:45, 20 May 2023 (UTC) I’m thinking the citation is for completeness and apologize for my craziness. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.159.131|162.158.159.131]] 12:46, 20 May 2023 (UTC)

Can someone provide the chain of reactions that lead from water to iron? I think the first step from water to helium might sound familiar to people, since that's the "classic" example for nuclear fusion. But how do we get from there to iron? [[User:Bischoff|Bischoff]] ([[User talk:Bischoff|talk]]) 12:31, 22 May 2023 (UTC)
:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stellar_nucleosynthesis [[Special:Contributions/172.69.22.16|172.69.22.16]] 13:19, 22 May 2023 (UTC)
::It is not water to Iron but Hydrogen to Helium. Of course the oxygen can also be part of the process. But not the water molecule, only its individual atoms. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 07:16, 23 May 2023 (UTC)
:::At the temperatures being hinted at, there's really no such things as molecules as we see them. (It'd be interesting to know if High Temperature Physics has an equivalent 'molecular' system, as it might hint at "life, but not as we know it" just sitting within stars, based upon some sort of plasmoid-magnetic 'structure' that can hold and reproduce some persistence of form that we'd recognise as at least a ''primitive'' form of life. But that's different.)
:::And nucleosynthesis goes all the way up to Iron (under 'normal' conditions) and beyond (when it becomes that little more exciting!), with 78 to 92 of the surrounding elements being easily part of the process. Depending on whether you count neutron-star fun, and other surprisinglg common edge-conditions. [[Special:Contributions/172.71.178.168|172.71.178.168]] 10:54, 23 May 2023 (UTC)

If Chef Cueball isn't very careful, by reducing his heavy water sauce all the way down to iron he risks his fusion pot undergoing core collapse and exploding in a supernova. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.126.12|172.70.126.12]] 22:39, 22 May 2023 (UTC)

I would say the Title Text is less of an "American" thing and more of an "online recipe" thing, which usually (for SEO purposes) has a few paragraphs about how the writer relates personally to the recipe before actually providing the instructions. In a fusion cuisine recipe, a personal connection to one or more of the cultures would be expected. [[Special:Contributions/172.68.174.122|172.68.174.122]] 05:05, 24 May 2023 (UTC)

The title text sounds very much like the narrator at the start of most short stories in Italo Calvino's "Cosmicomics" - if you haven't read it, stop what you're doing now and find a copy immediately [[Special:Contributions/108.162.245.93|108.162.245.93]] 06:28, 24 May 2023 (UTC)

I wonder what fission cuisine would look like?[[Special:Contributions/172.68.138.83|172.68.138.83]] 19:29, 9 August 2023 (UTC)

Talk:2869: Puzzles

2025-08-27T21:45:14Z

《プロキシ》: Reference

Aunt Alice is obviously a reference to the standard Alice / Bob / Eve crypto protocol characters. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.158.219|162.158.158.219]] 20:00, 18 December 2023 (UTC)

Anyone know if this is an actual scene from an actual children's book? Or is it just sort of an ad hoc representation of how these things might typically go? [[User:MeZimm|MeZimm]] ([[User talk:MeZimm|talk]]) 20:27, 18 December 2023 (UTC)

:Something about this reminded me of *The 39 Clues*? Which I've never read, so I don't know why. Looking them up, Wikipedia says book 1 leads to the clue "iron solute", and the fact that it specifically anagrams to "resolution" (sounds backwards, I'd think the final one would be "iron solute") - never mind that it could be many, many other things, such as "tonsure oil" or "ursine loot" (honey) or "oriole nuts" or "urine stool" or lots of other less-immediately-interpretable-as-an-ingredient things. And never mind that this clue was supposedly hidden by Ben Franklin, old enough that I wouldn't trust anything that relies on very specific spellings. I would assume that other puzzles within the book, and the rest of the series, are of similar dubiousness. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.146.183|162.158.146.183]] 04:15, 19 December 2023 (UTC)

:"Aunt Gertrude" suggests *The Hardy Boys* series of children's novels. I don't recall this particular scene. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.85.46|172.70.85.46]] 20:38, 18 December 2023 (UTC)

::I don't think Aunt Gertrude ever set Frank and Joe a puzzle herself, but it is certainly evocative of several puzzles in the Hardy Boys. [[Special:Contributions/172.71.151.136|172.71.151.136]] 21:07, 18 December 2023 (UTC)

:::Can anyone with stronger Hardy Boys knowledge add some examples? I never read the Hardy Boys books or similiar kid mysteries, so it's hard to imagine how thin those mysteries got, to be compared to "character name -> random letter/word association -> answer" as used here without some examples. [[User:Mneme|Mneme]] ([[User talk:Mneme|talk]]) 22:57, 18 December 2023 (UTC)

::::I read seven of the earliest Hardy books plus about that many around #100, give or take. They didn't use a lot of word clues, it was more about who looks shady/innocent (but isn't), interviews, half-overheard crime plans, footprints, vehicle tracing, a suspect lost a hat/glove/crossbow, etc. The only word clues I recall off the top of my head were: shipment abbreviations (easy), a crook deathbed-confessing where he hid his loot (but the boys search the wrong building, confusing them), a bit of Morse Code (bonus for Frank sending it to Aunt Gertrude, and she understood despite the fact that she ''hated'' the idea of her nephews getting into danger), and two or three other coded distress signals (which the boys and/or their expert detective dad had already discussed beforehand). The most obscure of those signals I can recall was from The Mystery of Cabin Island -- Google that name plus "''alley'' cat" and you'll see how difficult it was (i.e. not at all) for them to guess that shady-guy-of-the-week Mr. ''Hanleigh'' was dangerous. (there was also a time when their computer-geek friend cracked a password, but it wasn't really a puzzle -- the computer belonged to a medieval faire technician, so I think the friend just brute-forced medieval words until he got in) [[Special:Contributions/172.70.175.126|172.70.175.126]] 00:18, 19 December 2023 (UTC)

::::The Mystery of Cabin Island included a substitution cipher that was not trivial (at least to crack by hand). The cipher told the location of the stolen medals. The Yellow Feather Mystery used a platen (a piece of paper with cutouts which, when placed on the proper source text, reveal the hidden message) as the device to reveal the location of a dead man's will. I also recall a time when the Hardy's pilot friend Jack Wayne was kidnapped and could only communicate in an obfuscated radio message that was something like 'beware the bite'. Turns out he mean the homophon 'bight', like a curve or recess in a coastline (it was a geograpical reference). There was a public domain Hardy story published earlier this year, The Crypto Mine Cypher, which involves a group of thieves that are stealing electricity to run a crypto mine as well as stealing NFTs and crypto via a drainer smart contract. Perhaps that would be more to Randall's liking? --[[Special:Contributions/172.69.58.14|172.69.58.14]] 06:21, 19 December 2023 (UTC)

::::The Secret of the Lost Tunnel has a good example of a multi-layered mystery involving codes. A piece of paper is hidden in an ammo box. The paper itself is a sort of book cipher that when decoded just gives a clue to location ("Find coin in iron"), not much better than "diG a hole in the Ground", really. Of course this was a reference to hiding a lot of gold in some cannon balls.

Could someone add a category for "Alice and Bob" comics? Right now, the list seems to be 177, 1323, 2440, 2691, 2869. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.233.38|162.158.233.38]] 22:07, 18 December 2023 (UTC)
:I'm not convinced that [[2440]] should be in the list; at best, it's using similar naming patterns. [[User:BunsenH|BunsenH]] ([[User talk:BunsenH|talk]]) 22:48, 18 December 2023 (UTC)
::Eve is clearly mentioned in the title text (Evangeline the Adulterator, which is clearly a reference to Eve from 177).
::: ''Is'' Evangeline the Adulterator clearly a reference to Eve? [[User:BunsenH|BunsenH]] ([[User talk:BunsenH|talk]]) 23:57, 18 December 2023 (UTC)
::: Well, 2440 doesn't mention anything about Evangeline the Adulterator except that she is named Evangeline and presumably adulterates. But in 177, Eve (not Evangeline) is the adulterat''ed'', not the adulterat''or''. That would be Alice, since Bob was in a relationship with Eve, not Alice. It feels disingenuous to say that they ''might'' be the same person; there's no proof they ''aren't'', but there are no reasons to think they ''are''. [[User:GreatWyrmGold|GreatWyrmGold]] ([[User talk:GreatWyrmGold|talk]]) 00:52, 19 December 2023 (UTC)
:::I've always felt that xkcd fans are better than even conspiracy theorists at finding connections that don't exist[[Special:Contributions/172.69.6.15|172.69.6.15]] 13:26, 19 December 2023 (UTC)
::::Conspiracy theorists don't actually exist, though. They're all actors spreading lies to distract from what's ''actually'' happening! [[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.12|141.101.98.12]] 14:09, 19 December 2023 (UTC)
:::::Clearly there had to be ''some'' way to blame the actor's strike, for all this global unrest recently. Thanks for clearing that up! ;S
:::::[[User:ProphetZarquon|ProphetZarquon]] ([[User talk:ProphetZarquon|talk]]) 21:18, 19 December 2023 (UTC)

I think Aunt Vergenie would leave a clue that has some specific content and requires some effort to understand, but isn't simply impossible to figure out without the key like Aunt Alice's. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.154.170|162.158.154.170]] 05:04, 19 December 2023 (UTC)

One minute, gotta go “Get-a-nuke-and-bomb-the-USA” [[User:《プロキシ》|《プロキシ》(XKCD addict)]] ([[User talk:《プロキシ》|talk]]) 21:45, 27 August 2025 (UTC)

Is it worth putting in this scene from Batman 66 as a similar example? Even if it is A. TV instead of book and B. Making fun of the idea itself
https://youtu.be/M-vAlR3-Ovg

Commissioner Gordon : It could be any one of them. But which one? Which ones?

Batman : Pretty *fishy* what happened to me on that ladder.

Commissioner Gordon : You mean where there's a fish there could be a Penguin?

Robin : But wait! It happened at sea. See? C for Catwoman!

Batman : Yet, an exploding shark *was* pulling my leg...

Commissioner Gordon : The Joker!

Chief O'Hara : All adds up to a sinister riddle. Riddle-R. Riddler!

Commissioner Gordon : Oh, the thought strikes me. So dreadful, I scarcely dare give it utterance.

Batman : The four of them. Their forces combined.

Robin : Holy nightmare

I feel like the explanation needs at least one example, from somewhere.
[[Special:Contributions/162.158.74.118|162.158.74.118]] 10:21, 19 December 2023 (UTC)

: Same immediate association here. You soooo beat me to it...TVTropes doesn't call it "BatDeduction" for nothing. [[Special:Contributions/172.71.160.25|172.71.160.25]] 18:48, 19 December 2023 (UTC)
:: I think the 1966 Batman is a bad one, because that is mocking the whole phenomenon. But Batman Forever is an example, where this was seemingly played straight. Batman jumps from the solutions to Riddler's riddles, which are obvious but don't say much to the fact that the answers aren't the point. The riddles are pointing to numbers, and then when the digits are combined in the right way, they form an alphanumeric code. The code spells out A,M,R, which then is supposed to be read as MR E —> mystery, and enigma is a synonym for mystery. Ergo Edward Nigma is the Riddler. The kicker is that it was completely obvious that Nigma was the Riddler, if one put three seconds of thought into how the Riddler was committing his crimes, instead of making a blind leap from the riddles.
::Aunt Alice did, but when she told her will to her lawyer Bob, Eve listened in and got the tresure before... --[[User:Lupo|Lupo]] ([[User talk:Lupo|talk]]) 13:28, 19 December 2023 (UTC)
::: Actually, I feel like 1966 Batman being also a reference to this sloppy mystery design trope makes it MORE relevant, not less. Though I agree about Batman Forever (except it wasn't A M R, it was M A H E, but the 1 of A and the 8 of H were to be combined into the 18 of R. I forget if anything linked those clues to make this logical, but I doubt it, LOL!). [[User:NiceGuy1|NiceGuy1]] ([[User talk:NiceGuy1|talk]]) 05:48, 30 December 2023 (UTC)

This reminds me a lot of the classic E.Nesbit book: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Story_of_the_Amulet

However, I don't think they had an aunt Gertrude. I read tons of Hardy Boys books but I don't remember Aunt Gertrude ever giving clues like this, either.
[[User:Gtschemer|Gtschemer]] ([[User talk:Gtschemer|talk]]) 16:11, 19 December 2023 (UTC)

A lot of the books (& even comics) I've read were pretty old, & it strikes me that the ''opposite'' of what this comic claims, seems more accurate in my experience? Older stories have a lot of legit world-war \ cold-war tactics depicted, whereas newer stories (including those meant for "adults") often have something absurdly simple; presumably so that the most naive readers can get an "ah-ha" moment?
[[User:ProphetZarquon|ProphetZarquon]] ([[User talk:ProphetZarquon|talk]]) 21:29, 19 December 2023 (UTC)

This one made me think of the Encyclopedia Brown books. Most of those puzzles were baffling if you thought about it for more than 5 minutes, like the stolen money was stored in stuffed penguins in a museum display on the artic wildlife, the reason that Brown figured that out was penguins were only in the southern hemisphere, which doesn't explain where the penguins to be stuffed with money came from in the first place. [[Special:Contributions/172.68.26.225|172.68.26.225]] 16:26, 20 December 2023 (UTC)
:You said it yourself: The southern hemisphere... Ultimately. ;) [[Special:Contributions/172.71.242.179|172.71.242.179]] 17:31, 20 December 2023 (UTC)

Hang on, Cousin Mallory is trying to eavesdrop again. [[Special:Contributions/172.71.167.67|172.71.167.67]] 18:26, 20 December 2023 (UTC)

The important question, though: is it Gertrude as in gif or Gertrude as in gin? [[Special:Contributions/172.69.223.189|172.69.223.189]] 10:17, 29 December 2023 (UTC)
:It's actually Gertrude as in gnome.... [[Special:Contributions/172.69.195.176|172.69.195.176]] 11:43, 29 December 2023 (UTC)
:Trying to start an argument by using the same kind of G twice? I see what you're doing... [[User:NiceGuy1|NiceGuy1]] ([[User talk:NiceGuy1|talk]]) 05:40, 30 December 2023 (UTC)
::gif as in jif refers to the .jif file format (JPEG Interchange Format) [[User:Firestar233|guess who]] ([[User talk:Firestar233|if you want to]] | [[Special:Contributions/Firestar233|what i have done]]) 21:19, 29 November 2024 (UTC)

I grew up with Enid Blyton (British author, I assume my mom's familiarity with British stuff led to this), loved them, particularly the Famous Five and the Adventure series, I'm sad that I can't remember which side of this particular coin Blyton lands on, LOL! I FEEL like they were great, fun books? So maybe Blyton was decent at designing mysteries? Both WERE stories of this ilk, children on their own finding, investigating, and solving mysteries (not sure about Hardy Boys/Nancy Drew, etc, but they were NEVER at home, always travelling, LOL! What kind of kids travel and explore unfamiliar locations without adults?) [[User:NiceGuy1|NiceGuy1]] ([[User talk:NiceGuy1|talk]]) 05:40, 30 December 2023 (UTC)

Talk:2877: Fever

2025-08-27T21:37:03Z

《プロキシ》:

I was feeling a bit cold, actually, but now I'm back down to around 94.5 °De... [[Special:Contributions/172.69.79.188|172.69.79.188]] 22:11, 5 January 2024 (UTC)

I edited this wiki for the first time :)
Well, it was just the transcript but a first time is still a first time [[User:DNA Diva|DNA diva]] ([[User talk:DNA Diva|talk]]) 22:33, 5 January 2024 (UTC)
::Welcome on board (I have the most edits ;-) --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 10:01, 6 January 2024 (UTC)
:The only complaint I have about the Transcript is that... it isn't really a Transcript if it has a table rather than explaining how it has a table. We can, and do, essentially have a tabular table in the Explanation. The Transcript really should be there so that text-searches or screen-readers that aren't advanced enough to understand the formatted layout get a 'free text' description to look at.
: I know [[2313: Wrong Times Table|other Transcripts]] use html/mediawiki tables, perhaps where you got the idea. But they shouldn't. Check out those that "do a table without the markup". For some, it's [[2502: Every Data Table|simple]], for others it's [[1026: Compare and Contrast|not as simple]] (or it's [[2723: Outdated Periodic Table|very simple]] but almost takes more effort to descripe in Transcript prose than in the wikimarkup version). And there are [[1070: Words for Small Sets|others with formatting issues]] creeping into the Transcript that I might take against how it was done (Transcripts that actually reproduce text effects (boldness, colour, justification, size) should also ":[describe the text effect]" too, but that one introduces bold title (actually a "definition list" markup, which sort of increases context of the content).
: ...sorry, long message. I absolutely love that we're getting new editors. I think you can probably "detabularise the table" easy enough, though, without having wasted too much effort (you seem like got the actual table-markup right enough that you didn't have to think too much, so I count most of your 'effort' being the actual transcription of the comic text - and that's exactly what a re-Transcription effort would straight up preserve as most important!). Just thought I'd opine that in order to adhere to practices here (long standing; long enough to have gained a few long-standing 'wrong ways to do it', as in the ones I note above!) you might like to consider tweaking it accordingly.
: Or I could do it, but that might be plain rude. (Rud''er''?)
: Leaving it open to your choice (or the huge argument between descriptivists and formattists!)... [[Special:Contributions/172.69.79.164|172.69.79.164]] 01:05, 6 January 2024 (UTC)
:: Thank you so much for the feedback! I reformatted the transcript [[User:DNA Diva|DNA diva]] ([[User talk:DNA Diva|talk]]) 03:09, 6 January 2024 (UTC)
:::I disagree that tables cannot be used in the transcript or that formaling cannot be used. As long as the text is written correctly you search for it! We have used formaling in the transcript all the time. And yes we do not describe where the text is bold or italic. But use formatting. But the description of the image or the format of the table is important for those who need it to understand the comic! --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 10:10, 6 January 2024 (UTC)

Another reference to the 2003 movie ''{{w|The Core}}''. We should add a category. --[[Special:Contributions/172.71.114.123|172.71.114.123]] 00:03, 6 January 2024 (UTC)
:Actually we should! --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 10:01, 6 January 2024 (UTC)
::And now we have it: [[:Category:The Core]]! --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 10:30, 6 January 2024 (UTC)

''45°C–100°C: Only a few people could survive such external temperatures, for extended periods, ...''
Wow, I am glad that I survived the 65°C at Filsen in summer 2019.
Although temperatures dropped below 40°C at night, not everyone survived it. :(
—Actually I was thinking about [[wikipedia:Sauna|Sauna]]s, they reach 80°C, but are used much shorter than I always thought (15 minutes, thank you Wikipedia). --[[Special:Contributions/172.70.247.117|172.70.247.117]] 00:36, 6 January 2024 (UTC)
:I contributed the above. I did originally have it much longer than "for extended periods", but cut it back to just that. Really, once you get above an ambient temperature of 42.somethingDegreesC (that covers most of the operational ranges that the usual references give), you're getting parboiled. At best. Sweating just doesn't help enough to keep most bodies cool in an environment that hot. (If the body is doing it to itself, then you've got something bad going on. Or you've decided to {{w|2,4-Dinitrophenol|make your body 'burn hotter'}}, artificially...)
:I'm open to it being reworded (how could I not be?), but I cut it back from a "loadsa-links" version to the rather short and snappy (and linkless, I now realise!) assertion you see before you. I'm sure you (plural-you!) will run with whatever you (ditto) think best. I was actually originally just going to mark the point at which the rather short list of core-body temperature ranges was being subtly(?) changed into environmental temperature ranges, anyway. (i.e., somewhere within the 45-100 range, you definitely stop being the former and (apart from some rather (un)fortunate survivors of fires/atom-bomb-blasts) pivot very much into being the latter). [[Special:Contributions/172.69.79.164|172.69.79.164]] 01:05, 6 January 2024 (UTC)

My view is that the "Fahrenheit" equivalent column should be deleted; it's more unhelpful than helpful, and thus gets in the way. Getting rid of it would clean up the table to focus more on the actual explanation. No one is being helped by translating large Celsius temperatures into Fahrenheit equivelants. But before doing, I'd like to see if there's strong disagreement. [[User:Laser813|Laser813]] ([[User talk:Laser813|talk]]) 02:50, 6 January 2024 (UTC)

Isn’t XKCD/Randall American, and therefore lots of viewers of XKCD American? [[User:《プロキシ》|《プロキシ》(XKCD addict)]] ([[User talk:《プロキシ》|talk]]) 21:37, 27 August 2025 (UTC)

:I see no problem in it being there. It is a US page and a US based comic. That Randall is all for SI units doesn't mean we should not include the scale in US temperature range even if it is one of the most stupid of the units they cling on to. I'm from Denmark where we use SI units (Celsius is just a Kelvin scale plus 273,15 degrees). So I would say no to removing it. Also Randall includes it in the first entry! --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 10:01, 6 January 2024 (UTC)
::Just looking at how {{w|Fahrenheit#History|Fahrenheit}} was defined and redefined (changing the value in process) makes obvious how stupid unit it is. I really don't understand why anyone is using it. Compared to it, foot makes much more sense. -- [[User:Hkmaly|Hkmaly]] ([[User talk:Hkmaly|talk]]) 17:58, 7 January 2024 (UTC)

At our current technological level, the conversations in a few of the treatments are impossible. [[User:These Are Not The Comments You Are Looking For|These Are Not The Comments You Are Looking For]] ([[User talk:These Are Not The Comments You Are Looking For|talk]]) 01:52, 8 January 2024 (UTC)

I think 37 Celsius is a round number for MAXIMUM normal core temperature - you're probably lower just now - and 98.6 degrees Fahrenheit is a precise conversion of an imprecise figure. It's worth knowing your personal normal temperature - across the menstrual cycle, if that applies to you - to be able to say that you have a fever significantly above your personal norm. Your norm probably is lower than 37 / 98.6. Also, these days, you're likely to aim an electronic thermometer onto or into a body part which is naturally cooler, and only estimate the temperature of your insides. However, this is not what Planned Parenthood recommends, and that's between you and them. Robert Carnegie rja.carnegie@gmail.com [[Special:Contributions/172.70.90.28|172.70.90.28]] 12:54, 6 January 2024 (UTC)
:Per wikipedia, a study in the 19th century pegged the mean (without mentioning the variance) at 36.88 C / 98.38 F, which are equally precise. That got commonly reported as 37 C / 98.4 F, which loses more precision on the Celsius value than on the Fahrenheit value, but those are both reasonable ways to round the values in and of themselves. Then apparently someone noticed that precisely 37 C converts to precisely 98.6 F, and started reporting 37 C / 98.6 F. So, yes, the Fahrenheit value is overly precise. (But the typical range now is reported as 36.5–37.5 C / 97.7–99.5 F, and given that body temperature is generally higher when we're awake, it seems likely that "you're probably *higher* just now." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_body_temperature#Historical_understanding [[Special:Contributions/162.158.154.30|162.158.154.30]] 22:33, 8 January 2024 (UTC)

Talk:2881: Bug Thread

2025-08-27T21:33:16Z

《プロキシ》: Reference to strip

No idea what to put in the explanation box, so I just did the incomplete tag.[[Special:Contributions/172.69.33.185|172.69.33.185]] 05:36, 16 January 2024 (UTC)
:I was writing an initial Explanation even as you did that. (I had an almost identical BOT-replacing idea. Which I continued to use as I hit the edit-conflict on yours.)
:Not entirely happy with my narrative structure. Tried (too hard?) to not re-use phrasing. Either in there or in the Transcript (tbough currently leaving for someone else), I thought I might remark that ''either'' the Cueball-like beach-booker ''or'' the WhiteHat-like years-noter ''could'' be the half-seen uppermost post's contributor, based upon the visible portrait. But it seemed a bit hard to nicely shoehorn in, especially as it could be neither. Though any of those seen could also easily be up above the scroll-windowing, anyway, nearer where the unstated (to us) issue is actually described. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.90.29|172.70.90.29]] 06:18, 16 January 2024 (UTC)

I hate when I have a problem with something, and when I google it either the solution is behind a paywall, too outdated to work, or has no responses. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.216.173|108.162.216.173]] 06:43, 16 January 2024 (UTC)
:Me, too. Want to rent a beach house and whine about it together? [[User:Barmar|Barmar]] ([[User talk:Barmar|talk]]) 07:45, 16 January 2024 (UTC)
:Now that we've become firmly entrenched in the era of software-as-a-service & upgrade cycles that don't fix old bugs (looking at you, Raspberry Pi 2b-4b issues), I'm more likely to find a 15 year old post with workarounds that don't work anymore, than any page with an actual fix, when searching about an issue I'm seeing these days. Most of the time, I find stackexchange discourse detailing exactly what's wrong & everything that's been tried, with the most recent posts noting that prior workarounds are now deprecated by updates that haven't in any way addressed the issue. I don't even remember the last time I had an issue I didn't know how to fix & then found an answer online... The "answer" today is usually that 'that thing you could previously do ''(often something that was an almost innate or arguably essential feature)'' is no longer doable with modern service-based software, have you tried coding an entire software stack from scratch to recover this one thing you originally started using the software for? Everyone today just pays for several services, to do what home hardware could do 20 years ago, & don't even question why this accessibility feature went away.'
:[[User:ProphetZarquon|ProphetZarquon]] ([[User talk:ProphetZarquon|talk]]) 15:26, 16 January 2024 (UTC)
:You really believe that if you got through that paywall there would be solution there? Sweet summer child. -- [[User:Hkmaly|Hkmaly]] ([[User talk:Hkmaly|talk]]) 18:42, 16 January 2024 (UTC)
::I mean, that's what they claim, but I never find out because why the fuck would I pay for that? [[Special:Contributions/172.69.6.94|172.69.6.94]] 19:08, 17 January 2024 (UTC)

Do you think DenverCoder9 made it to the meet-up? --[[User:Koveras|Koveras]] ([[User talk:Koveras|talk]]) 07:53, 16 January 2024 (UTC)
:Gone. Reduced to ashes.--[[Special:Contributions/162.158.74.68|162.158.74.68]] 08:06, 16 January 2024 (UTC)
:If, like me, you didn't remember who [[979: Wisdom of the Ancients|DenverCoder9]] was, here is the link. [[User:Rps|Rps]] ([[User talk:Rps|talk]]) 12:51, 16 January 2024 (UTC)
:The first time I read the one about "What did you see!?" it felt ''very'' biographical... Posting from Denver, here.
:[[User:ProphetZarquon|ProphetZarquon]] ([[User talk:ProphetZarquon|talk]]) 15:26, 16 January 2024 (UTC)
:I've added a link to that comic to the explanation. [[User:Barmar|Barmar]] ([[User talk:Barmar|talk]]) 17:16, 16 January 2024 (UTC)
::There already was one (but feel free to remove one/make the other double-duty). [[Special:Contributions/172.70.90.28|172.70.90.28]] 18:57, 16 January 2024 (UTC)

Feels like there's something missing here about the fact that often these threads are actually an aggregation of people with similar-but-different issues, hence some of the 'I've tried all the fixes but they don't work!' responses. Currently beyond my wit to work this nicely in to the explanation though.[[Special:Contributions/172.69.194.37|172.69.194.37]] 16:26, 16 January 2024 (UTC)
:Often there are minor differences, or the user doesn't really apply the fixes correctly. Or the software may have changed so that the old solutions don't work any more. [[User:Barmar|Barmar]] ([[User talk:Barmar|talk]]) 17:16, 16 January 2024 (UTC)
::Or maybe this thread is only about one bug but those three fixes he linked were about different bug. -- [[User:Hkmaly|Hkmaly]] ([[User talk:Hkmaly|talk]]) 18:42, 16 January 2024 (UTC)
::The most obvious thing is that there appears to have been no attempt to resolve (or lock as not relevent to the 'current version') the thread by anyone official. Whether we see as far back as five years (in which case a whole lotta nothing was done) or several comparatively recent editions (which means a lot of current interest in a solution), there's nothing with the look of a dev/helpdesk/expert-3rd-party. Anyone of that kind has posted before the 'half cueball' one.
::Whether it's effectively abandonware or more like an (officially) abandoned forum, there's nothing odd about those few(?) who are still hurt by the problem to have read up whether it's even a valid problem to have (by the software publisher's standards), have read ''all'' the accumulated wisdom on what might need doing, trying these things (the "link, link and link" guy did, or so I imagine, with three different walk-throughs that seem to be relevent; the "same" and "+1" ones also might have, but didn't feel the need to say exactly what, especially if those links pointed at higher-up "full instruction posts" that they can be assumed to have read), come up with the continuing problem and registering their interest on somebody (who has their hands on the source/server/whatever that needs fixing) to go ahead and fix it. Without necessarily saying "I tried all the usual methods to prevent one of t'cross-beams going out of skew on't treadle" and providing logs that contain no more (or less) information than some of the opening (above-the-cut) reports alrewdy gave.
::Yes, there's probably someone there who hasn't downloaded the latest version/equivalent, but I can't say that this is the level of error everyone is encountering. If anything, I see a high likelyhood that we've got posters here who have actually used the last-version-but-one to check when certain feature defaults changed, have looked at the logfiles in depth, have added (then removed, then re-added from a different source) more up-to-date .dlls, etc. But without any feedback from those who might be able to at least create a workaround (officially or otherwise). It's the kind of thread where bugs don't come to die, they just get preserved in amber. Still staring out at all their victims, old and new. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.90.28|172.70.90.28]] 18:57, 16 January 2024 (UTC)

This comic brought another one to mind. I spent a while trying to remember the details, then search this site with various keywords hoping I could find it. Eventually, I found it! It's comic 1305. I came back here intending to link to 1305 in the description. And when I looked at this page to think about how to describe the conneciton, I found someone else had just added the link! It's just nice that someone else thought of the same connection. (Wanna rent a beach house now?) [[User:Orion205|Orion205]] ([[User talk:Orion205|talk]]) 22:07, 16 January 2024 (UTC)
:I just had the exact same thing with 979, except I hadn't started searching yet when I saw it linked. Sharing 979 to Facebook was a recent Memory of mine, I might have checked that way... [[User:NiceGuy1|NiceGuy1]] ([[User talk:NiceGuy1|talk]]) 05:49, 20 January 2024 (UTC)

What bothers me the most is the bug thread where, after dozens of other people comment that they have the same problem, the one who started the thread just posts "nevermind, I fixed it" and hasn't logged on since. [[Special:Contributions/172.71.30.180|172.71.30.180]] 22:37, 16 January 2024 (UTC)
: +1 to your comment [[User:Rtanenbaum|Rtanenbaum]] ([[User talk:Rtanenbaum|talk]]) 17:16, 17 January 2024 (UTC)
:Ugh, I know! If you fix it, no "nevermind", say what you did! I actually had that maybe a year ago, had an issue, found no guidance or advice so actually posted a question. I think later that night I managed to solve it, so I went to my post, said "Nevermind, I solved it", THEN SAID HOW! LOL! And my process too. :) [[User:NiceGuy1|NiceGuy1]] ([[User talk:NiceGuy1|talk]]) 05:49, 20 January 2024 (UTC)

It would be cute if the allusion to links "HERE, HERE, and HERE" were actual links to some product bug discussion list. [[User:Rtanenbaum|Rtanenbaum]] ([[User talk:Rtanenbaum|talk]]) 17:16, 17 January 2024 (UTC)

I WAS going to go identify comic 979 and say how it should be linked here, then saw it already is. Like-minded people, MY PEEPS! :) Funny, a couple of days ago I had the Memory of when I shared 979 to Facebook... [[User:NiceGuy1|NiceGuy1]] ([[User talk:NiceGuy1|talk]]) 05:49, 20 January 2024 (UTC)

Until recently there was a webcomic at firmanproductions.com called Moe, with a simple comment system under pages. People developed a habit of writing cheeky haikus, and when updates stopped coming the it was the last page that began to pile them up. Hosting continued for years and years, and for some reason we freaks, loyal to nothing in particular, would check in once or twice a year and wish each other well, maybe compose a somewhat-respectable haiku, and even talk about a meetup. No mention of a beach house as I recall. --[[Special:Contributions/172.68.2.107|172.68.2.107]] 06:46, 21 January 2024 (UTC)

Dang, this thread is a year old? [[User:《プロキシ》|《プロキシ》(XKCD addict)]] ([[User talk:《プロキシ》|talk]]) 21:33, 27 August 2025 (UTC)

Talk:2887: Minnesota

2025-08-27T19:13:07Z

《プロキシ》: random comment about colorful stage

Does NGS's request about "supple" have to be "rather than" commenting on the data? It could be in addition to it. [[User:Barmar|Barmar]] ([[User talk:Barmar|talk]]) 19:38, 29 January 2024 (UTC)

Where do I find the latitude and longitude gain or loss of arbitrary points not relative to the African Plate but to the rotation axis and whatever is the official longitude? Does the official prime meridian move every time the European plate moves or is it fixed to Greenwich Observatory? {{unsigned|Oxygen|19:46, 29 January 2024}}
:Based on {{w|IERS Reference Meridian}} article, I think I can answer that with definitive "maybe". I mean, it's not fixed to Greenwich (is actually 100m apart of it) but I wasn't able to decipher what exactly they are doing regarding tectonic shifts, just that they were thinking about it. -- [[User:Hkmaly|Hkmaly]] ([[User talk:Hkmaly|talk]]) 20:39, 29 January 2024 (UTC)

Personally, my go-to "other question" is "what is the square root of pi?". Tends to get a fun mix of answers. [[User:PotatoGod|PotatoGod]] ([[User talk:PotatoGod|talk]]) 05:50, 30 January 2024 (UTC)
:Rhubarb. (OK - it's not quite square, and it's a stem, not a root, but close enough, and it does make a damn good pie.) [[Special:Contributions/172.69.194.36|172.69.194.36]] 09:27, 30 January 2024 (UTC)
::Not to be pedantic (or, to be self-pedantic, maybe this ''was'' indeed pedantry), but rhubarb is surely the square ''stalk'' of pie. Or you're eating it wrongly. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.90.137|172.70.90.137]] 10:03, 30 January 2024 (UTC)

Probably unrelated, but I've seen several 'scare' articles over the weekend that say the Moon is 'shrivelling', due to its core cooling. Tend to say something like that it has shrunk by 330ft (without indicating over what time period, or relating that distance to the much larger general diameter such that it makes this not exactly a visible difference if you were to stare at any given bit of surface). The 'scare' is that it'll make it impossible to settle the Moon (due to selenological settling, ironically), especially at its (probably valuable) South Pole. Apart from it not being new info (LRO provided "the Moon has been shrinking 150ft over hundreds of millions of years" data, last decade; and that could even be the exact same thing, only quoted as a rough radius change instead of a roughish diameter one), there's also various ways of adding resiliance to reasonable surface changes (e.g. the current Halley Research Base used by the British Antarctic Survey) if you need to. Obviously the recent topical interest in landings (current and nearish-future) could have brought it up as a bit of 'current' news. ''Maybe'' it then filtered through to inspire the comic's premise (after searching for a sort-of-equivalent Earthly effect that was even more ripe for absurdist humour)... Likely not, but still thought it worth a mention, as a footnote. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.86.68|172.70.86.68]] 15:02, 30 January 2024 (UTC)

Problem with comics like this is that I've now gone from not knowing the word "geodetic" at all to wondering why Alabama is the only one of the 48 contiguous states without [https://geodesy.noaa.gov/SPCS/images/spcs83-legislation-feet.png state plane coordinate system legislation from 1983]. [[User:Davidhbrown|Davidhbrown]] ([[User talk:Davidhbrown|talk]]) 16:35, 30 January 2024 (UTC)

I think some more detail on the borders of Minnesota as legally defined would be useful, but I'm not sure I have the complete picture. As far as I've been able to research, the northern border (with Canada) is in part defined by geographical features, such as Lake of the Woods, so the rebound would be affecting it, but I'm not sure to what degree. The southern border (with Iowa), on the other hand, is defined as a line
at 43° 30' N, which wouldn't be affected by rebound - in fact, it's plausible that the rebound would be pulling parts of Iowa into Minnesota. I don't think this marks any errors in the comic (which only states that that the northern border is moving towards the southern, not vice-versa), but some of the commentary may need to be tweaked or elaborated on. --[[User:Penguin Zero|Penguin Zero]] ([[User talk:Penguin Zero|talk]]) 02:56, 31 January 2024 (UTC)
:The image in the second panel clearly implies that the southern border is moving northwards as well.[[Special:Contributions/172.70.85.46|172.70.85.46]] 09:18, 31 January 2024 (UTC)

"All meetings should be about Minnesota until we resolve this" reminds me of something, maybe another XKCD. Maybe the "but someone is wrong on the Internet!" one. There's a infrequent theme of nerd-sniping or very specific issues hijacking normal business. Anyone remember this? [[User:Laser813|Laser813]] ([[User talk:Laser813|talk]]) 16:25, 31 January 2024 (UTC)

The National Geodetic Survey asked him to stop using the word "supple" so often, which means they are ok with him using it from time to time. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.91.12|172.70.91.12]] 14:44, 29 February 2024 (UTC)
I literally lol'ed at "citation greatly appreciated". that said I assume actual citing of examples of erotic literature would NOT be appreciated by site mods.
[[Special:Contributions/162.158.154.207|162.158.154.207]] 23:16, 28 May 2024 (UTC)

I'm actually still confused as to how post-glacial crust rebound could make Minnesota smaller! Per Wikipedia (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Post-glacial_rebound), post-glacial crust rebound is when a (heavy) glacier melts, and the rock layers of the ground below it spring back up. But... how would that make Minnesota *smaller*? (Asking, 'cuz I live in Minnesota.) -tr0gd0r {{unsigned|Tr0gd0r|15:14, 27 August 2025}}
:The land on which Minnesota sits is flexing. This flexing changes at what precise latitude the northern boundary lies, through a combination of how the 'flat' ground curvew round the Earth's geoid-like shape, perhaps some actual lateral movement (from the way the land around it is shifting) and possibly some slight alterations of the 'horizontal' making lakes and watercourses (loints on the shores of which define some of the boundaries) 'tip up' slightly to slightly inundate one side and similarly lower on the other (which, unless it has a vertical lip, shifts the water's edge up onto one bank and down away from the old bank on the other side).
:The southern border is said to be defined ''just'' to an absolute latitude, regardless of the land, meaning that any adjustment on the north edge, even if just by 'sliding' features going south, is not compensated for by a similar sliding at the south end (think of it as a penny-drop arcade machine, the edge of the land moves at the front but the back of the ledge is hard-defined by the 'wall' at the back of the machine that the ledge is moving into, making less 'shelf space' during that phase, albeit that's physical and not a measured line appearing to move, relative to the land).
:But it seems that there's also some flexing going on (at the continental level) that it sounds like is making the 'flat' distance between points change. This might involve uncrinkling the land sat to the north of the northern border, to add to the shoving 'underneath' the south-border line.
:How much change every little bit adds to the overall shift (or 'no shift',cdepe ding upon your chosen frame of reference), on the actual ground, would be a matter of calculation and then combination. Cueball's source of information (which is not necessarily entirely accurate, in-universe, all we know is that it convinces him...) seems to have done this and given the drift which can either be taken as the southern border moving north towards the 'feature-fixed' northern one or else the northern border moving south towards the 'coordinate-fixed' southern one. And maybe some crinkling/uncrinkling of the landscape, too. [[Special:Contributions/82.132.244.158|82.132.244.158]] 17:01, 27 August 2025 (UTC)

I think I might have Cueball’s mentality except instead of Minnesota it’s HATSUNE MIKU: COLORFUL STAGE [[User:《プロキシ》|《プロキシ》(XKCD addict)]] ([[User talk:《プロキシ》|talk]]) 19:13, 27 August 2025 (UTC)