explain xkcd - User contributions [en]

1765: Baby Post

2020-04-24T06:28:18Z

108.162.215.166: /* Explanation */ ce

{{comic
| number = 1765
| date = November 28, 2016
| title = Baby Post
| image = baby_post.png
| titletext = [bzzzt] "REMEMBER TO CHECK IN FOR YOUR FLIGHT TO LONDON." "My wha-" [bzzzt] "YOUR UBER WILL ARRIVE IN FOUR MINUTES."
}}

==Explanation==

In this comic, [[Cueball]] is questioned about a series of posts made to his {{w|Facebook}} account. He explains the posts as the result of leaving his daughter (a baby, according to the title) unattended with his tablet. This is very common for parents with small children in modern times. Children tend to be fascinated with touchscreen devices, which include many entertainment options for small children (such as the mentioned "{{w|The Wheels on the Bus|Wheels on the Bus}}" video). Infants also tend to experiment with such devices, and frequently open apps, post links, and make calls without intending to.{{Citation needed}} This explains the first two panels: sharing the same video six times could be the result of the child repeatedly hitting the same area of the screen (such as a "share" link), and the gibberish text "FHFF,,,M,,,," could be due to the child randomly tapping on the screen, all without knowing what she was doing.

The joke begins when Cueball discovers an apparent pattern in the new posts, starting with a map of hardware stores and culminating in blueprints for the {{w|Tower of London}}. These subjects, if they were chosen consciously by an adult, would strongly suggest the poster was planning a heist to steal the {{w|Crown Jewels of the United Kingdom|Crown Jewels}}, which have a reputation, based in part on several movies (for example, ''{{w|Minions_(film)|Minions}}''), for being overly complicated to steal. It is very unlikely for a baby to be capable of designing and carrying out such a plan,{{Citation needed}} but it is also unlikely for these specific links to be posted all by accident. Cueball seems genuinely perplexed by the links (and presumably wouldn't have posted them if he were planning the crime himself), so the reader is left wondering what could have caused these posts, and whether Cueball and/or his daughter might know more than they let on. Cueball's suggestion of "keeping an eye" on his daughter suggests he is seriously considering the possibility that she might be an evil genius.

The title text continues the joke by notifying Cueball that his flight to London is leaving soon, and an {{w|Uber_(company)|Uber}} driver is coming to pick him up. Since his daughter was using the tablet and he is surprised by the messages, this suggests she is in fact the mastermind who has already started executing her plan. Either she is making the journey herself (and Cueball is only receiving notifications because he has the same accounts linked to his phone), Cueball is being roped into the crime, or his daughter is deliberately making it look like he intends to steal the Crown Jewels in order to get him into trouble.

==Transcript==

[Ponytail is looking at something on her phone while talking to Cueball]
:Ponytail: Why did you post a ''The Wheels on the Bus'' Youtube video to Facebook six times?
:Cueball: Haha, whoops! My daughter was watching the tablet and must have hit something.

[Cueball is talking to someone on the phone while pushing a shopping cart with a few items in it]
:Phone: Hey, did you mean to post "FHFF,,,M,,,," and a link to a map of hardware stores?
:Cueball: I should really look up how to lock the screen.

[White Hat is holding his phone while walking with Cueball]
:White Hat: You just posted videos on metal-working, zip lines, and camouflage.
:Cueball: Uhh...

[Ponytail is looking at her phone while talking to Cueball]
:Ponytail: Um, you posted blueprints of the Crown Jewel rooms in the Tower of London.
:Cueball: Maybe we should be keeping more of an eye on her.

==Trivia==
*On the day of this comic's release, the header was changed to show some new T-shirts were on sale in [https://store.xkcd.com the xkcd store].
**[https://web.archive.org/web/20161128175506/http://xkcd.com/1765/ The link]

The crown jewels are also mentioned in [[1698: Theft Quadrants]].

The comic is similar to [[1419: On the Phone]], though here it seems that the daughter isn't just a cover story. It is also somewhat similar to [[576: Packages]], in that Cueball seems weirder since it started.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Ponytail]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Computers]]
[[Category:Comics featuring White Hat]]
[[Category:Social networking]]

1238: Enlightenment

2020-04-24T06:22:51Z

108.162.215.166: /* Explanation */ ce

{{comic
| number = 1238
| date = July 15, 2013
| title = Enlightenment
| image = enlightenment.png
| titletext = But the rules of writing are like magic spells. If you never acquire them, then not using them says nothing.
}}

==Explanation==
This comic is a reference to a scene one might imagine in ''{{w|Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace}}'' in which {{w|Yoda}} expresses doubt in a young {{w|Anakin Skywalker|Anakin}}'s potential to join the {{w|Jedi}} order. Yoda delivers a speech similar to the one that [[Ponytail]] gives here, except that the end of the sequence he presents is "{{w|Dark side (Star Wars)|the dark side}}" instead of "being an asshole". Yoda is ultimately correct; Anakin's fears lead him to join the dark side so that he may keep his loved ones from dying; this is at the expense of the stability of the galaxy, however, and his actions are in vain, as {{w|Padmé Amidala|his wife}} dies nonetheless. The circle on the ground is also taken from the ''Star Wars'' scene, and [[Cueball]] is presumably in the {{w|Mace Windu}} role.

Here, [[Randall]] compares Anakin's decision to join the dark side to the propensity of many Internet commenters to correct others on their spelling and grammar, and to the extreme prevalence of criticism over commendation or confirmation. Randall's point is that correcting people, like joining the dark side, ultimately stems from insecurity.

Ponytail and Cueball challenge [[Megan]] to type the sentence "I heard you're idea's and their definately good", which contains four {{w|Commonly misspelled words|common misspellings}} (''{{w|wikt:you're|you''''re'''}}'' instead of ''{{w|wikt:your|you'''r'''}}'', ''{{w|possessive|idea'''''''s}}'' instead of ''{{w|wikt:ideas|ideas}}'' [see {{w|greengrocers' apostrophe}}], ''{{w|wikt:their|the'''ir'''}}'' instead of ''{{w|wikt:they're|the'''y're'''}}'', and ''{{w|wikt:definately|defin'''a'''tely}}'' instead of ''{{w|wikt:definitely|defin'''i'''tely}}''), a misapplied verb ("heard" instead of "read"), and a grammatical error ({{w|run-on sentence|a missing comma}} before the word "and").
Regarding the content, this sentence is one that is highly unlikely to be ever read in an internet argument, as almost every time people still have things they claim to know better about.
Megan thus can't bring herself to typing this sentence, having spent so much time judging others for their trivial errors, even when they're saying helpful things like the sentence in question. Instead, it is strongly implied that she smashes the computer and runs away — demonstrating the sort of anger that [http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Grammar%20Nazi "Grammar Nazis"] and internet wiseacres like her can feel about punctuation and spelling errors, and about content-related errors respectively. Cueball and Ponytail remark on this, both failing to use {{w|apostrophe}}s.

The title text refers to {{w|Terry Pratchett}}'s novel ''{{w|Equal Rites}}'', in which the characters discover that the most powerful magic is not using magic — with the distinction that not using magic because you don't know how is not the same as choosing to refrain from using magic when you do know how. Randall is comparing this with use or misuse of the rules of Standard English: not even knowing the rules is not admirable, whereas knowing the rules but choosing to disregard them is. There is also a double meaning - not writing anything at all is in fact "saying nothing".

==Transcript==
:[The two Internet Bodhisattvas Ponytail and Cueball lecture Megan encircled by a wheel placed upon the ground.]
:Ponytail: To achieve '''internet enlightenment''', you must free yourself from insecurity.
:Megan: But insecurity keeps me humble!
:Ponytail: No. Insecurity leads to conceit. Conceit leads to judgment. Judgment leads to being an asshole.
:[A laptop is placed on a stand in front of Megan.]
:Megan: I'm ready. How do I begin?
:Ponytail: Type this sentence.
:[White text on black background.]
:I heard you're idea's and their definately good.
:[The laptop has been smashed to the floor. The circle, once full of hope and excitement, is now full of despair and no Megan.]
:Ponytail: She wasnt ready.
:Cueball: Its a difficult road.

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Comics featuring Ponytail]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Internet]]
[[Category:Language]]
[[Category:Star Wars]]

1238: Enlightenment

2020-04-24T06:21:58Z

108.162.215.166: /* Explanation */ ce

{{comic
| number = 1238
| date = July 15, 2013
| title = Enlightenment
| image = enlightenment.png
| titletext = But the rules of writing are like magic spells. If you never acquire them, then not using them says nothing.
}}

==Explanation==
This comic is a reference to a scene one might imagine in ''{{w|Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace}}'' in which {{w|Yoda}} expresses doubt in a young {{w|Anakin Skywalker|Anakin}}'s potential to join the {{w|Jedi}} order. Yoda delivers a speech similar to the one that [[Ponytail]] gives here, except that the end of the sequence he presents is "{{w|Dark side (Star Wars)|the dark side}}" instead of "being an asshole". Yoda is ultimately correct; Anakin's fears lead him to join the dark side so that he may keep his loved ones from dying; this is at the expense of the stability of the galaxy, however, and his actions are in vain, as {{w|Padmé Amidala|his wife}} dies nonetheless. The circle on the ground is also taken from the ''Star Wars'' scene, and [[Cueball]] is presumably in the {{w|Mace Windu}} role.

Here, [[Randall]] compares Anakin's decision to join the dark side to the propensity of many Internet commenters to correct others on their spelling and grammar, and to the extreme prevalence of criticism over commendation or confirmation. Randall's point is that correcting people, like joining the dark side, ultimately stems from insecurity.

Ponytail and Cueball challenge [[Megan]] to type the sentence "I heard you're idea's and their definately good", which contains four {{w|Commonly misspelled words|common misspellings}} (''{{w|wikt:you're|you''''re'''}}'' instead of ''{{w|wikt:your|you'''r'''}}'', ''{{w|possessive|idea'''''''s}}'' instead of ''{{w|wikt:ideas|ideas}}'' [see {{w|greengrocers' apostrophe}}], ''{{w|wikt:their|the'''ir'''}}'' instead of ''{{w|wikt:they're|the'''y're'''}}'', and ''{{w|wikt:definately|defin'''a'''tely}}'' instead of ''{{w|wikt:definitely|defin'''i'''tely}}''), a misapplied verb ("heard" instead of "read"), and a grammatical error ({{w|run-on sentence|a missing comma}} before the word "and").
Regarding the content, this sentence is one that is highly unlikely to be ever read in an internet argument, as almost every time people still have things they claim to know better about.
Megan thus can't bring herself to typing this sentence, having spent so much time judging others for their trivial errors, even when they're saying helpful things like the sentence in question. Instead, it is strongly implied that she smashes the computer and runs away — demonstrating the sort of anger that [http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Grammar%20Nazi "Grammar Nazis"] and internet wiseacres like her can feel about punctuation and spelling errors, and about content-related errors respectively. Cueball and Ponytail remark on this, both failing to use {{w|apostrophe}}s.

The title text refers to {{w|Terry Pratchett}}'s novel {{w|Equal Rites}}, in which the characters discover that the most powerful magic is not using magic — with the distinction that not using magic because you don't know how is not the same as choosing to refrain from using magic when you do know how. Randall is comparing this with use or misuse of the rules of Standard English: not even knowing the rules is not admirable, whereas knowing the rules but choosing to disregard them is. There is also a double meaning - not writing anything at all is in fact "saying nothing".

==Transcript==
:[The two Internet Bodhisattvas Ponytail and Cueball lecture Megan encircled by a wheel placed upon the ground.]
:Ponytail: To achieve '''internet enlightenment''', you must free yourself from insecurity.
:Megan: But insecurity keeps me humble!
:Ponytail: No. Insecurity leads to conceit. Conceit leads to judgment. Judgment leads to being an asshole.
:[A laptop is placed on a stand in front of Megan.]
:Megan: I'm ready. How do I begin?
:Ponytail: Type this sentence.
:[White text on black background.]
:I heard you're idea's and their definately good.
:[The laptop has been smashed to the floor. The circle, once full of hope and excitement, is now full of despair and no Megan.]
:Ponytail: She wasnt ready.
:Cueball: Its a difficult road.

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Comics featuring Ponytail]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Internet]]
[[Category:Language]]
[[Category:Star Wars]]

1669: Planespotting

2020-04-24T06:11:18Z

108.162.215.166: /* Explanation */ ce

{{comic
| number = 1669
| date = April 18, 2016
| title = Planespotting
| image = planespotting.png
| titletext = No, a hydroplane doesn't land on water--that's an aquaplane. A hydroplane is a plane that gets electric power from an onboard water reservoir with a tiny dam and turbines.
}}

==Explanation==
[[Cueball]] and a [[:Category:Characters with Hats|man with a hat]] are out '''planespotting''', or {{w|Aircraft_spotting|aircraft spotting}}, a hobby where tracking the movement of aircraft allows plane fans to see as many different types of planes as possible. A knowledgeable spotter would just by the silhouette and maybe the engine sound of the plane be able to tell what type of plane it is, and may be rather proud of the fact, if he or she can tell this before one of the other spotters.

The plane in the comic is most likely a {{w|Bombardier Dash 8|Bombardier Q400}}, a twin-engine regional turboprop with a T-tail as depicted.

The man with the hat asks Cueball to identify the airplane flying overhead. Cueball (or [[Randall]] qua the caption), who "assumes" he knows a lot about planes gives a long, nonsensical answer, proving that he does not. As mentioned in the caption he never actually checked if what he thought he knew was fact or fiction. As it turns out it is mainly fiction, but of course with some reference to real planes or vehicles. Due to the fact the characters are drawn in silhouette it is impossible to determine whether the character with the hat is [[Black Hat]] or [[White Hat]] or some other character.

*'''Boeing''': {{w|Boeing}} is a company that designs and builds aircraft, although not the Q400. It is one of the best known aerospace companies in the world, so putting this in front is not a way of displaying any particular knowledge of planes.
*'''Q404''': The reference to Q404 is close to the Q400, which this likely is. [[404]] also refers to an error shown when a specific internet address or file is not found, or as in this case, the plane is not found!
*'''Twin-engine''': {{w|Category:Twin-engined_aircraft|Twin-engine}} refers to aircraft with two engines, so at least Cueball got that right.
*'''Quad band''': Communication equipment that can use 4 different radio frequency bands is called {{w|quad band}}.
*'''MiG''': {{w|MiG}} is a Russian manufacturer of military aircraft, formerly the Mikoyan-and-Gurevich Design Bureau.
*'''MIG-380''': a type of welding equipment ({{w|metal inert gas}}, 380V). On the other hand {{w|A380}} is an aircraft developed by {{w|Airbus}}.
*'''Hybrid''': A {{w|hybrid vehicle}} is able to use more than one distinct power source, typically an automobile that uses both a primary combustion engine and a secondary electric system. Boeing is currently working on a [http://www.boeing.com/aboutus/environment/environment_report_14/2.3_future_flight.html concept hybrid plane] capable of using both electricity and natural gas.
*'''Dual wield''': {{w|Dual wield}}ing is using two weapons, one in each hand. This is completely nonsensical in aviation -- even if we say that a pilot is "wielding" his aircraft, they would not personally wield two planes at once without remote controls for at least one, and it is equally ridiculous to imagine that the plane is dual-wielding anything.
*'''Mk.''': "Mk." (or Mark) is usually used to specify a model number using a Roman numeral. "Mk" is also phonetically close to {{w|Mach_number|Mach}}, a multiple of the {{w|speed of sound}}, often used to describe the speed of {{w|Supersonic_speed|supersonic}} aircraft.
*'''IVII ''': IVII is not a standard number in the {{w|Roman_numerals|Roman numeral system}}, under standard rules it would be written like VI = 6. On the other hand, it could be a mishmash way of writing "42", (IV = 4, II = 2) which could then make it a reference to the {{w|Phrases_from_The_Hitchhiker's_Guide_to_the_Galaxy#Answer_to_the_Ultimate_Question_of_Life.2C_the_Universe.2C_and_Everything_.2842.29|Answer to Life, The Universe, and Everything}} according to {{w|Douglas Adams}}' {{w|The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy}}, something referenced before in xkcd, for instance in [[1608: Hoverboard]] if you got [http://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/images/1/1c/42_coins.PNG 42 coins]. The correct way to say 42 in Roman numerals is XLII. The number could also be MI, or 1001, but this is unlikely.
*'''Turbodiesel''': {{w|Aircraft_diesel_engine|Diesel engines}} are only rarely used in aircraft because of their low power-to-weight ratio. {{w|Turbo-diesel|Turbo-diesel}} engines are much more common in cars and trucks. A {{w|Turboprop}} is a kind of aircraft turbine engine that sacrifices exhaust thrust for shaft drive.
*'''797''': The {{w|Boeing 797}} has never been produced, but a hoax design has been circulating the Internet since the mid-2000's.
*'''Hydroplane''': A hydroplane either refers to {{w|aquaplaning}}, a very undesirable activity of a wheeled vehicle crossing shallow water, or a type of {{w|hydroplane (boat)|boat}} for which hydroplaning is the desired mode of travel. The correct name for planes which can land on water is {{w|seaplane}} (US) or {{w|floatplane}} (UK), however the term ''hydroplane'' had been used in this meaning in the past; also in many languages such aircraft are named ''hydro'' (or some spelling variant of this Greek prefix) + whatever stands for ''plane'', e.g. in Spanish, Italian, Portuguese, French, Czech, Slovak, Russian and others.

In the title text the concept of hydroplane is mixed up with other concepts, none of which has anything to do with airplanes:
*'''Aquaplane''': An aquaplane is a similar to a short {{w|surfboard}}, on which a person stands while the board is pulled by a speedboat. As noted with ''Hydroplane'' above, the term ''aquaplane'' is also used as a verb to describe the loss of traction of a wheeled vehicle at speed on a surface covered in shallow water. The correct name for a plane that lands on water (on purpose) is a {{w|seaplane}}.
*'''Dam and turbines''': Powering an aircraft with a miniature {{w|hydroelectric dam}} connected to an on-board reservoir is an absurdity. Hydroelectric plants derive power from the potential energy released by a mass of water as it falls. Because the plane is lifting the water reservoir in addition to its own weight, such a dam could never produce enough power. Ludicrously small hydroelectric power systems were previously considered in [[what if?]] "{{what if|91|Faucet Power}}". In 2008, Randall discussed the more reasonable physics problem of whether an airplane would be capable of [https://blog.xkcd.com/2008/09/09/the-goddamn-airplane-on-the-goddamn-treadmill/ flight from a treadmill].

Only three weeks prior to this comic, [[1660: Captain Speaking]] was released only with a drawing of a plane in the air, where the captain eventually finds out that his plane is probably a Boeing. Planespotting was later a part of [[1910: Sky Spotters]].

==Transcript==
:[Cueball and a man with a hat is seen in silhouette standing on the ground looking towards the sky. A fixed wing aircraft can be seen in the sky, also in silhouette.]
:Man with hat: What's That Airplane?
:Cueball:Oh, that's a Boeing Q404 twin-engine quad-band MIG-380 hybrid dual-wield Mk. IVII Turbodiesel 797 Hydroplane.

:[Caption below the panel:]
:I've always assumed I'm one of those people who knows a lot about planes, but I've never actually checked.

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Characters with Hats]]

504: Legal Hacks

2020-04-24T06:03:18Z

108.162.215.166: /* Explanation */ more wlink

{{comic
| number = 504
| date = November 14, 2008
| title = Legal Hacks
| image = legal_hacks.png
| titletext = It's totally a reasonable modern analogue. Jefferson would have been all about crypto.
}}

==Explanation==

[[Megan]] notices that an {{w|Internet Service Provider}} (ISP) is blocking access to some webpages. [[Cueball]] is thankful that cryptography offers a way around such censorship.

Encryption, the study and use of which is known as "cryptography," or "crypto" for short, is the art of transmitting messages that can only be read by the intended receiver(s) by using mathematical techniques to conceal ("encrypt") the data in the message. One common and effective way to encrypt messages is the {{w|RSA_(algorithm)|RSA algorithm}}, which is based on the difficulty of {{w|integer factorization}} for products of two prime numbers.

Being able to share unbreakable codes and decrypt other people's codes gives countries a military advantage - for example, in World War II, the Americans and British were often able to figure out where a German attack would be coming and send reinforcements there, because they had cracked the {{w|Enigma_machine|German codes}}. Because of this, the {{w|Export_of_cryptography_from_the_United_States|United States government initially tried to keep}} the mathematical details of strong encryption algorithms (including RSA) inside the country by classifying the algorithms as a weapon. It is a crime to share certain kinds of weapons technology with other countries without permission. Amateur and professional cryptographers, angry about the attempt to restrict their work, lobbied the government to change the rule and stop treating cryptography as a weapon, in part so that they could continue to collaborate with colleagues overseas, and in part because they wanted the ability to pass secret messages that the government could not easily decrypt. The export restrictions were gradually loosened and would have mostly been lifted by the year 2000.

In the comic, [[Megan]] makes the provocative and counter-intuitive point that perhaps the cryptographic community could have best ensured easy access to the RSA technique by *allowing* the government to treat RSA as a weapon, and then, once everyone is certain that RSA is a weapon, invoking the {{w|Second Amendment to the United States Constitution}}, commonly known as the "{{w|Right to keep and bear arms in the United States|right to bear arms}}" amendment (that is, the right to own and use weapons). In other words, if RSA were a weapon, it would be granted constitutional protections.

This interpretation is likely a reference to the exceptionally strong antipathy towards arms control in the Southern United States (and not a whole lot weaker in most areas of the Northern and Western states). Any attempts made by the government to restrict distribution or ownership of firearms (even those which are very similar to military-grade weapons) are typically countered by aggressive opposition from pro-gun rights groups such as the {{w|National Rifle Association}}. These political forces have made most gun restrictions politically untenable in the United States. Megan is likely suggesting that classifying RSA as a weapon would gain the crypto community very powerful and unlikely political allies; on the flip side, if the government had already ruled it a weapon that needed to be restricted for national security purposes, it could easily invoke the same clauses that allows it to restrict actual military-grade hardware such as automatic weapons, explosives and chemical or biological weapons). Megan may also be hinting that, in the future, the US government might try to restrict access to encryption algorithms, making it necessary for cryptographers to defend their rights to them.

[[Cueball]] is surprised and impressed by this point, and pauses to contemplate Megan's strategy.

The title text claims that this is a reasonable interpretation of the Constitution, because cryptography (a modern weapon) is analogous to muskets and cannons (the weaponry in use in the 1780s, when the Second Amendment was drafted). As evidence for the analogy, the title text points out that Jefferson would have been a big fan of cryptography, which is plausible, because President {{w|Thomas Jefferson}} (the 3rd President of the United States) was an amateur scientist who enjoyed studying a very wide variety of fields (in fact, he invented the {{w|Jefferson disk}}, an encryption device that was quite advanced for its time). The point is somewhat facetious, because it is hard to imagine a modern technique that Jefferson would ''not'' "be totally into." Also, the mere assertion that an early President would have been a fan of a technique is not very good evidence that the technique would be legally permitted by a particular Amendment.

==Transcript==
:[Megan sits at her computer, Cueball standing behind her.]
:Megan: Another ISP's filtering content.
:Cueball: Thank God for Crypto.

:[Cueball stands alone; Megan is presumably off-panel left.]
:Cueball: It wasn't that long ago that RSA was illegal to export. Classified a munition.

:[Megan, sitting in her chair, is looking back towards Cueball, presumably off-panel right.]
:Megan: You know, I think the crypto community took the wrong side in that fight. We should've lobbied to keep it counted as a weapon.
:Cueball: Why?

:[She is now turned around in the chair looking at Cueball, who is in-panel again.]
:Megan: Once they get complacent, we break out the second amendment.
:[Cueball has his hand on his chin, contemplatively.]
:Cueball: ...Damn.

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]
[[Category:Cryptography]]

504: Legal Hacks

2020-04-24T06:02:26Z

108.162.215.166: /* Explanation */ ce

{{comic
| number = 504
| date = November 14, 2008
| title = Legal Hacks
| image = legal_hacks.png
| titletext = It's totally a reasonable modern analogue. Jefferson would have been all about crypto.
}}

==Explanation==

[[Megan]] notices that an {{w|Internet Service Provider}} (ISP) is blocking access to some webpages. [[Cueball]] is thankful that cryptography offers a way around such censorship.

Encryption, the study and use of which is known as "cryptography," or "crypto" for short, is the art of transmitting messages that can only be read by the intended receiver(s) by using mathematical techniques to conceal ("encrypt") the data in the message. One common and effective way to encrypt messages is the {{w|RSA_(algorithm)|RSA algorithm}}, which is based on the difficulty of {{w|integer factorization}} for products of two prime numbers.

Being able to share unbreakable codes and decrypt other people's codes gives countries a military advantage - for example, in World War II, the Americans and British were often able to figure out where a German attack would be coming and send reinforcements there, because they had cracked the {{w|Enigma_machine|German codes}}. Because of this, the {{w|Export_of_cryptography_from_the_United_States|United States government initially tried to keep}} the mathematical details of strong encryption algorithms (including RSA) inside the country by classifying the algorithms as a weapon. It is a crime to share certain kinds of weapons technology with other countries without permission. Amateur and professional cryptographers, angry about the attempt to restrict their work, lobbied the government to change the rule and stop treating cryptography as a weapon, in part so that they could continue to collaborate with colleagues overseas, and in part because they wanted the ability to pass secret messages that the government could not easily decrypt. The export restrictions were gradually loosened and would have mostly been lifted by the year 2000.

In the comic, [[Megan]] makes the provocative and counter-intuitive point that perhaps the cryptographic community could have best ensured easy access to the RSA technique by *allowing* the government to treat RSA as a weapon, and then, once everyone is certain that RSA is a weapon, invoking the {{w|Second Amendment to the United States Constitution}}, commonly known as the "right to bear arms" amendment (that is, the right to own and use weapons). In other words, if RSA were a weapon, it would be granted constitutional protections.

This interpretation is likely a reference to the exceptionally strong antipathy towards arms control in the Southern United States (and not a whole lot weaker in most areas of the Northern and Western states). Any attempts made by the government to restrict distribution or ownership of firearms (even those which are very similar to military-grade weapons) are typically countered by aggressive opposition from pro-gun rights groups such as the {{w|National Rifle Association}}. These political forces have made most gun restrictions politically untenable in the United States. Megan is likely suggesting that classifying RSA as a weapon would gain the crypto community very powerful and unlikely political allies; on the flip side, if the government had already ruled it a weapon that needed to be restricted for national security purposes, it could easily invoke the same clauses that allows it to restrict actual military-grade hardware such as automatic weapons, explosives and chemical or biological weapons). Megan may also be hinting that, in the future, the US government might try to restrict access to encryption algorithms, making it necessary for cryptographers to defend their rights to them.

[[Cueball]] is surprised and impressed by this point, and pauses to contemplate Megan's strategy.

The title text claims that this is a reasonable interpretation of the Constitution, because cryptography (a modern weapon) is analogous to muskets and cannons (the weaponry in use in the 1780s, when the Second Amendment was drafted). As evidence for the analogy, the title text points out that Jefferson would have been a big fan of cryptography, which is plausible, because President {{w|Thomas Jefferson}} (the 3rd President of the United States) was an amateur scientist who enjoyed studying a very wide variety of fields (in fact, he invented the {{w|Jefferson disk}}, an encryption device that was quite advanced for its time). The point is somewhat facetious, because it is hard to imagine a modern technique that Jefferson would ''not'' "be totally into." Also, the mere assertion that an early President would have been a fan of a technique is not very good evidence that the technique would be legally permitted by a particular Amendment.

==Transcript==
:[Megan sits at her computer, Cueball standing behind her.]
:Megan: Another ISP's filtering content.
:Cueball: Thank God for Crypto.

:[Cueball stands alone; Megan is presumably off-panel left.]
:Cueball: It wasn't that long ago that RSA was illegal to export. Classified a munition.

:[Megan, sitting in her chair, is looking back towards Cueball, presumably off-panel right.]
:Megan: You know, I think the crypto community took the wrong side in that fight. We should've lobbied to keep it counted as a weapon.
:Cueball: Why?

:[She is now turned around in the chair looking at Cueball, who is in-panel again.]
:Megan: Once they get complacent, we break out the second amendment.
:[Cueball has his hand on his chin, contemplatively.]
:Cueball: ...Damn.

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]
[[Category:Cryptography]]

2297: Use or Discard By

2020-04-23T01:29:39Z

108.162.215.166: /* Explanation */ ce

{{comic
| number = 2297
| date = April 22, 2020
| title = Use or Discard By
| image = use_or_discard_by.png
| titletext = One of the things of bear spray says that, and I'm not one to disobey safety instructions, but there are no bears around here. Guess it's time for a camping trip where we leave lots of food out!
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by a BOT, used and discarded by a cruel master before its time. Please mention here why this explanation isn't complete. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

Many products carry a "Use By", "{{w|Expiration date}}", "Discard by" or similar date. The date shows the latest date by which the product has been verified to provide its expected use. For example, a foodstuff will have a "consume by" date, showing the date after which the food may start to be spoiled and unsuitable for eating. For most products, this is a conservative estimate, especially if a product is kept sealed and stored in a cool, dark place, so food or soap may be perfectly usable even though it is past the expiration date -- what this really means is that the manufacturer has not chosen to validate the longevity of its product that far.

In this comic, two similar emergency {{w|flare gun}}s, an item typically used to send out distress {{w|flare}}s, have slightly different expiry instructions. One has an instruction to "use by or discard by" a specific date (in this case, three days after the date of publishing). The other has an instruction to "use by" this date. Though these generally have the same meaning, Megan interprets the latter as encouraging her to use the device even though it might not be necessary. The danger of this is if the user misuses the device (and so summons first responders inappropriately to a non-emergency situation) or goes into a dangerous situation for the purpose of using the device. This danger could also include misusing the device by firing it indoors, which would require summoning first responders ''appropriately'' to a ''now''-emergency situation, that did not exist before.

The title text similarly indicates that Megan intends to follow the same instructions with a can of {{w|bear spray}}. Since there are no bears where she lives, she will go camping in an area known to be inhabited by bears and leave her food out to attract their attention, so that she may use the bear spray to repel bears before it "goes bad".

Expiration dates (for food) have also been mentioned in [[737: Yogurt]], [[1109: Refrigerator]], and [[2178: Expiration Date High Score]].

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

:[Megan stands in the middle of the panel, holding two flare guns, one in each hand.]
:Megan: These emergency flare guns are about to expire.
:Cueball [off-panel]: I forgot we had those.

:[The panel pans over to Cueball sitting at a desk, working on a computer.]
:Megan [off-panel]: This one says "Use or discard by Apr 25 2020."
:Cueball: Okay...

:[The panel pans back over to Megan, who is holding up one of the flare guns looking at it. She holds the other flare gun by her side.]
:Megan: But '''''this''''' one just says "Use by" ...
:Cueball [off-panel]: '''''No.'''''

== Trivia ==

Twenty-seven years ago exactly ([https://www.gocomics.com/calvinandhobbes/1993/04/22 April 22, 1993]), ''Calvin and Hobbes'' made a similar joke about expiration dates on milk. Obviously the humor has a very long shelf-life.

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]

Talk:2297: Use or Discard By

2020-04-23T01:28:29Z

108.162.215.166: covid-19 series over???

comics featuring expiration dates

This comic is definitely not related to the COVID-19 theme. Has Randall decided after 19 (or 20) comics to end his series? [[Special:Contributions/108.162.215.166|108.162.215.166]] 01:28, 23 April 2020 (UTC)

933: Tattoo

2020-04-23T01:27:14Z

108.162.215.166: better

{{comic
| number = 933
| date = August 3, 2011
| title = Tattoo
| image = tattoo.png
| titletext = I calculate that the electrons in radiation therapy hit you at 99.8% of the speed of light, and the beam used in a 90-second gamma ray therapy session could, if fired with less precision, kill a horse (they did not let me test this).
}}
==Explanation==
An {{w|oncologist}} is a doctor who specializes in the treatment of {{w|cancer}}. This comic is certainly related to Randall's wife's [[:Category:Cancer|breast cancer]]. [[Megan]] in this comic has a {{w|tattoo}} for the alignment lasers of the radiotherapy machine which will fire a beam of radiation with sufficient intensity to kill the cells in the targeted area. A common such machine is a linear accelerator or "Linac" which accelerates electrons to very high speed, these can then either be used to generate high energy X-rays to treat the patient, or the electron beam itself can be used (both are types of radiation). Commonly when radiotherapy is used as part of breast cancer treatment some combination of both is prescribed. In order to allow healthy tissue to recover better, rather than deliver all the radiation in one go, the treatment is delivered a little bit each day over the course of about a month. It is therefore vital that the radiation can be delivered to the correct target area day after day, and this is done by lining up the alignment lasers of the linac with the skin markers - that is Megan's tattoo dots. It may not be considered a "traditional" tattoo (because she says it was done by her oncologist and not in a tattoo parlor).

In the last frame, it is mentioned that [[Cueball]] has a barbed wire bicep tattoo, which is common in the US as a tattoo that people get when they want to seem tough, even if they aren't tough already.

The joke in the comic is that Cueball got this barbed wire tattoo to look tough, but it pales in comparison to the tattoo from (or for) the cancer removal or treatment. It is kind of funny because Cueball has his whole shirt off just to show a biceps tattoo.

The title text references gamma ray therapy after describing electron linear accelerator-based treatment systems; however, technically gamma ray therapy only refers to radionuclide (i.e., Cobalt-60) based radiation therapy systems. In regards to a 90-second session killing a horse, typical dose rates of modern radiation therapy systems are of the order of several {{w|Gray (unit)|gray}} per minute for the field sizes used, for example, in the treatment of {{w|breast cancer}}. It is feasible that a single 90-second delivery of radiation could deliver over 10 Gy in a single instance to the specific areas of the body that could be fatal, such as neuropathy or radiation induced liver disease.

==Transcript==
:[Megan is in the panel. Megan points at her chest.]
:Megan: I just have one tattoo - it's six dots on my chest, done by my oncologist.

:Megan: I need them for aligning the laser sights on a flesh-searing relativistic particle cannon,

:Megan: So it will only kill the parts of me

:[Dramatic zoom, the panel background is black, with white text.]
:Megan: That are holding me back.

:[The panel is larger, revealing who they're talking to.]
:Megan: But your barbed wire bicep tattoo is pretty hardcore, too!
:Cueball: No, it's OK. I'll just go put a shirt on.

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]
[[Category:Comics with inverted brightness]]
[[Category:Cancer]]
[[Category:Physics]]

933: Tattoo

2020-04-23T01:24:42Z

108.162.215.166: /* Explanation */ ce

{{comic
| number = 933
| date = August 3, 2011
| title = Tattoo
| image = tattoo.png
| titletext = I calculate that the electrons in radiation therapy hit you at 99.8% of the speed of light, and the beam used in a 90-second gamma ray therapy session could, if fired with less precision, kill a horse (they did not let me test this).
}}
==Explanation==
An {{w|oncologist}} is a doctor who specializes in the treatment of {{w|cancer}}. This comic is certainly related to the {{w|breast cancer}} issue that [[Randall]] is going through with his fiancée. [[Megan]] in this comic has a {{w|tattoo}} for the alignment lasers of the radiotherapy machine which will fire a beam of radiation with sufficient intensity to kill the cells in the targeted area. A common such machine is a linear accelerator or "Linac" which accelerates electrons to very high speed, these can then either be used to generate high energy X-rays to treat the patient, or the electron beam itself can be used (both are types of radiation). Commonly when radiotherapy is used as part of breast cancer treatment some combination of both is prescribed. In order to allow healthy tissue to recover better, rather than deliver all the radiation in one go, the treatment is delivered a little bit each day over the course of about a month. It is therefore vital that the radiation can be delivered to the correct target area day after day, and this is done by lining up the alignment lasers of the linac with the skin markers - that is Megan's tattoo dots. It may not be considered a "traditional" tattoo (because she says it was done by her oncologist and not in a tattoo parlor).

In the last frame, it is mentioned that [[Cueball]] has a barbed wire bicep tattoo, which is common in the US as a tattoo that people get when they want to seem tough, even if they aren't tough already.

The joke in the comic is that Cueball got this barbed wire tattoo to look tough, but it pales in comparison to the tattoo from (or for) the cancer removal or treatment. It is kind of funny because Cueball has his whole shirt off just to show a biceps tattoo.

The title text references gamma ray therapy after describing electron linear accelerator-based treatment systems; however, technically gamma ray therapy only refers to radionuclide (i.e., Cobalt-60) based radiation therapy systems. In regards to a 90-second session killing a horse, typical dose rates of modern radiation therapy systems are of the order of several {{w|Gray (unit)|gray}} per minute for the field sizes used, for example, in the treatment of {{w|breast cancer}}. It is feasible that a single 90-second delivery of radiation could deliver over 10 Gy in a single instance to the specific areas of the body that could be fatal, such as neuropathy or radiation induced liver disease.

==Transcript==
:[Megan is in the panel. Megan points at her chest.]
:Megan: I just have one tattoo - it's six dots on my chest, done by my oncologist.

:Megan: I need them for aligning the laser sights on a flesh-searing relativistic particle cannon,

:Megan: So it will only kill the parts of me

:[Dramatic zoom, the panel background is black, with white text.]
:Megan: That are holding me back.

:[The panel is larger, revealing who they're talking to.]
:Megan: But your barbed wire bicep tattoo is pretty hardcore, too!
:Cueball: No, it's OK. I'll just go put a shirt on.

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]
[[Category:Comics with inverted brightness]]
[[Category:Cancer]]
[[Category:Physics]]

2297: Use or Discard By

2020-04-23T01:20:49Z

108.162.215.166: /* Transcript */ ce

{{comic
| number = 2297
| date = April 22, 2020
| title = Use or Discard By
| image = use_or_discard_by.png
| titletext = One of the things of bear spray says that, and I'm not one to disobey safety instructions, but there are no bears around here. Guess it's time for a camping trip where we leave lots of food out!
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by a BOT, used and discarded by a cruel master before its time. Please mention here why this explanation isn't complete. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

Many products carry a "Use By", "{{w|Expiration date}}", "Discard by" or similar date. The date shows the latest date by which the product has been verified to provide its expected use. For example, a foodstuff will have a "consume by" date, showing the date after which the food may start to be spoiled and unsuitable for eating. For most products, this is a conservative estimate, especially if a product is kept sealed and stored in a cool, dark place, so food or soap may be perfectly usable even though it is past the expiration date -- what this really means is that the manufacturer has not chosen to validate the longevity of its product that far.

In this cartoon, two similar emergency {{w|flare gun}}s, an item typically used to send out distress {{w|flare}}s, have slightly different expiry instructions. One has an instruction to "use by or discard by" a specific date (in this case, three days after the date of publishing). The other has an instruction to "use by" this date. Though these generally have the same meaning, Megan interprets the latter as encouraging her to use the device even though it might not be necessary. The danger of this is if the user misuses the device (and so summons first responders inappropriately to a non-emergency situation) or goes into a dangerous situation for the purpose of using the device. This danger could also include misusing the device by firing it indoors, which would require summoning first responders ''appropriately'' to a ''now''-emergency situation, that did not exist before.

The title text similarly indicates that Megan intends to follow the same instructions with a can of {{w|bear spray}}. Since there are no bears where she lives, she will go camping in an area known to be inhabited by bears and leave her food out to attract their attention, so that she may use the bear spray to repel bears before it "goes bad".

Expiration dates (for food) have also been mentioned in [[737: Yogurt]], [[1109: Refrigerator]], and [[2178: Expiration Date High Score]].

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

:[Megan stands in the middle of the panel, holding two flare guns, one in each hand.]
:Megan: These emergency flare guns are about to expire.
:Cueball [off-panel]: I forgot we had those.

:[The panel pans over to Cueball sitting at a desk, working on a computer.]
:Megan [off-panel]: This one says "Use or discard by Apr 25 2020."
:Cueball: Okay...

:[The panel pans back over to Megan, who is holding up one of the flare guns looking at it. She holds the other flare gun by her side.]
:Megan: But '''''this''''' one just says "Use by" ...
:Cueball [off-panel]: '''''No.'''''

== Trivia ==

Twenty-seven years ago exactly ([https://www.gocomics.com/calvinandhobbes/1993/04/22 April 22, 1993]), ''Calvin and Hobbes'' made a similar joke about expiration dates on milk. Obviously the humor has a very long shelf-life.

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]

Talk:2017: Stargazing 2

2018-07-13T04:37:35Z

108.162.215.166:

In the description for the earlier comic, it is quite emphatically asserted that this is not Megan (although it certainly is drawn like her) but is, instead, a male TV host. [[Special:Contributions/172.68.174.28|172.68.174.28]] 20:21, 9 July 2018 (UTC)MrBigDog2u
:Thanks, but I believe the transcript of the former comic was interpreted false. People are often outlined as male when they are in fact women. AND in this comic it's clearly a female without any doubt. --[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 21:11, 9 July 2018 (UTC)
:Actually if you go to /1646/info.0.json , you'll find the presenter referred to as he twice. Unless you're saying Megan uses he, it seems unlikely to be a female. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ For what it's worth, I assumed it was a female until I read the explanation for 1644. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.107.37|162.158.107.37]] 22:57, 9 July 2018 (UTC)
::Two questions about that:
::1.) I don't see any use of the word "he" in that transcript. Where do you see that?
::2.) Why 1646? Isn't that one with Cueball writing a Twitter bot?
::Looking at xkcd.com/1644/info.0.json, xkcd.com/1646/info.0.json, & xkcd.com/2017/info.0.json, I can't find a reference to gender in ''any'' of them.
::[[User:ProphetZarquon|ProphetZarquon]] ([[User talk:ProphetZarquon|talk]]) 23:37, 9 July 2018 (UTC)
:::Hey Zarquon, if you look again at [https://xkcd.com/1646/info.0.json], you can see the star guide referenced as “he” a couple times if you carefuread the whole transcript. If alternatively your contribution to this wiki is that of trolling, you are making this rather obvious. If you’re getting different contents for that file than we are, maybe you could upload it to ipfs or something for comparison and tell us the ip addresses that xkcd.com resolves to for you, so that somebody can debug the issue. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.62.243|162.158.62.243]] 07:38, 10 July 2018 (UTC)
:Is it possible this is meant to be {{w|Brian_Cox_(physicist)|Brian Cox}}? The hair is right and he's often noted for his enthusiasm. don't know how well known he is in the US, but a nerd like Randall is very likely to know of him --[[User:Luckykaa|Luckykaa]] ([[User talk:Luckykaa|talk]]) 07:50, 10 July 2018 (UTC)
::It is certainly Brian Cox as was found out in the first Stargazing and as fits with the offical transcript. It is even named after his show. End of story! I have corrected both explanations. Please don't go there DGBRT. This was discussed back then and was concluded to be so. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 14:08, 10 July 2018 (UTC)
::There is even a triva with the original transcript in the original copmic to make this clear. Read that first! [[1644:_Stargazing#Trivia]] --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 14:11, 10 July 2018 (UTC)
:Bullshit. The pronoun "he" does not make him male as a person. That's a stupid preconception, which is perpetuated in the 21st century by a subfaction of feminists, thereby making a fool of themselves. There is no solid hint as to what the actual sex/gender of the figure is, and in this case English language defaults to "he". Maybe Randall indeed thought of Brian Cox, but that's speculation, not basis to infer a gender. And why anyway does it matter?!?!? --[[Special:Contributions/162.158.94.44|162.158.94.44]] 11:03, 11 July 2018 (UTC)

"Don't bother trying to catch them"??? What stellar object would you catch? Unless this is a reference to asteroid mining? [[Special:Contributions/172.68.90.28|172.68.90.28]] 22:47, 9 July 2018 (UTC)SiliconWolf
:Those stellar objects are so close compared to all the others, who wouldn't try?? Could you imagine actually meeting another object in this universe of distant interstellar bodies? [[Special:Contributions/172.68.54.46|172.68.54.46]] 23:11, 9 July 2018 (UTC)
:I assumed that, having described all the goodies in an aircraft, there's a chance that someone might literally try to catch one by jumping in the air (with a suitably poor concept of distance). Or trying to construct some kind of giant butterfly net.[[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.250|141.101.98.250]] 17:36, 10 July 2018 (UTC)
:The Triangle may refer to [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Summer_Triangle Summer Triangle] It can be found very easily by beginners. [[Special:Contributions/172.68.51.94|172.68.51.94]] 12:22, 10 July 2018 (UTC)
::Actually, any three non-colinear points make up a triangle so there are an incredibly large number (not infinite, but ...) of triangles formed by combinations of three stars. I would go so far as to speculate that it may not be possible to find three stars that ARE perfectly colinear (certainly not in three dimensions). I think that's sort of the point of the joke.[[Special:Contributions/172.68.174.28|172.68.174.28]] 16:25, 10 July 2018 (UTC)MrBigDog2u

Is anyone else worried about a reference to shining a light at aircraft? There are decent astronomical reasons to have a moderately (50mW-200mW in my case) powerful laser, since it provides a very visible "pointer" when showing people to bits of the sky (or for lining up a telescope, where you can't see the surroundings easily and amateurs like me can get lost). But there are way too many stories of morons shining lasers at aircraft in an attempt to "cause trouble" (by blinding the pilot and potentially killing hundreds of people in the subsequent crash), so any responsible astronomer would be checking for aircraft in the sky, not doing this anywhere near an airport, and moving the laser in circles to avoid holding it on a target. I don't consider shining a light at a plane to be a topic of amusement.[[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.250|141.101.98.250]] 17:36, 10 July 2018 (UTC)
:Have you ever heard of a pilot noticing having a light shined on them from the ground by a pedestrian? It seems to me planes are so far away the jitter of your hand is going to make actually blinding the pilot a comparable task to blinding a moving housefly the same way. The light will also be much weaker at that distance, and the cockpit would have to be aiming at you. I feep pointing at an aircraft with a laser would be pretty safe, because the plane’s angular size is so much smaller than your precision, and it is moving super fast. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.219.136|108.162.219.136]] 19:53, 10 July 2018 (UTC)
:I do! And I wonder what would happen to the plane [https://what-if.xkcd.com/13/ if we tried more power]? Hmmm... [[User:BytEfLUSh|BytEfLUSh]] ([[User talk:BytEfLUSh|talk]]) 19:01, 10 July 2018 (UTC)
::Pilots blinded by laser are real issue, but only WHEN LANDING or taking off, and therefore in very low attitude. I don't think it's problem in normal cruising altitude. However, if the telescope was in mountains which the airplanes flied over relatively low ... -- [[User:Hkmaly|Hkmaly]] ([[User talk:Hkmaly|talk]]) 21:37, 10 July 2018 (UTC)
::A traditional flashlight shone at a pilot is unlikely to do much - although there are definitely consumer lights that could be visible at range. Using a telescope sounds more like generating a searchlight (and there are absolutely members of the public who have picked up military searchlights, and who have attracted attention by firing them even carefully). It does depend what's intended, but I think the implication is that the light is bright enough to do something (if only visibly illuminate the plane); shining a searchlight at an aircraft even at moderate distance is likely to be distracting and possibly blinding. Practically, no, I don't think it's a major issue as described. But aircraft are often at fairly low altitude: they take a while to get near to cruising height near me - I work a few miles from Heathrow, and think I could absolutely get a moderate strike rate on cockpit windows allowing for a bit of spread if I were a homicidal moron - lasers take a while to dissipate. I'm glad there seemed to be no reports of anyone doing this with yesterday's RAF centenary low-altitude flypast. And of course there are a lot of military training flights at very low altitude in some areas. I don't believe there's ever been a case of more than temporary blinding, and no crashes, but since I actually like having access to bright lasers (and conventional flashlights) for justifiable and responsible reasons, I just think pointing bright lights at aircraft a topic worth avoiding in the context of humour. Idiots, though hopefully few read xkcd, are easily encouraged. And when someone finally brings a plane down, it's really not going to be funny.[[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.250|141.101.98.250]] 11:56, 11 July 2018 (UTC)

Does no one else see this as referencing "stars" in the sense of celebrities? That would make sense to me of several of the otherwise bizarre statements here... [[User:Asimong|Asimong]] ([[User talk:Asimong|talk]]) 05:55, 11 July 2018 (UTC)

Contradictory statements- if it's their observatory, the theses must be theirs. Why would they stock their cabinets with other people's theses? And does anyone know why "Add a comment" is linking to an edit page? Am I supposed to copypaste my address and stuff every time?

Talk:2017: Stargazing 2

2018-07-13T04:36:24Z

108.162.215.166:

2006: Customer Rewards

2018-06-13T15:28:20Z

108.162.215.166:

{{comic
| number = 2006
| date = June 13, 2018
| title = Customer Rewards
| image = customer_rewards.png
| titletext = We'll pay you $1.47 to post on social media about our products, $2.05 to mention it in any group chats you're in, and 11 cents per passenger each time you drive your office carpool past one of our billboards.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by a COMPANY BILLBOARD - Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

{{comic discussion}}

1535: Words for Pets

2018-02-11T23:32:45Z

108.162.215.166: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 1535
| date = June 8, 2015
| title = Words for Pets
| image = words_for_pets.png
| titletext = Seventh year: Perfectly coherent words, but in the pet's language, not mine.
}}

==Explanation==
The comic shows four similar {{w|Euler diagram}}s, one for each of the first four years of living with a {{w|pet}}. The diagrams depict sets of words which have varying efficacy in actually identifying the pet, and each one shows how the words used by [[Randall]] to refer to his pet change year by year and becoming less and less specific as time goes on.

In the first year it is dominated by the actual name of the pet or words closely related. For example, a dog named Lassie might be called either "{{w|Lassie}}", "dog", "collie" or "boy/girl".

Moving on to the second year, these related words like "dog" and "collie" get more abundant while the actual name is seldom used. Phrases such as "good dog" or "here, boy" are likely common. Giving a dog the name "Dog" is so common that there is a {{tvtropes|ADogNamedDog|trope}} about that.

In the third year, the pet's name is no longer used at all and the owner probably uses simple phrases like "come" or "come here" to call the pet, omitting the name.

The fourth year entails the use of just any sound, not {{w|Coherence (linguistics)|coherent words}}. This may be referring to something like {{w|baby talk}} or attempted mimicry of the pet's vocalizations.

This development can be attributed to the fact that some animals don't listen to their own name but rather react to the sound of the voice of their owner. It could also refer to the growing bond between owner and the pet, as well as the effect described in [[231: Cat Proximity]].

The title text suggests that the inevitable result of this continuing pattern is that by the seventh year, Randall will be communicating with the pet in its own language. This might refer to the tendency of some pet owners to mimic or imitate their pets' vocalizations, as if speaking to them. Alternatively, this could be interpreted as a joke that pets don't have proper {{w|language}} and the owner has degenerated to a lack of language his/herself as time goes on.

The title text and the caption makes it a little difficult to be certain if the comic refers to when you talk about your pet to other people ("my ''dog'' is always hungry") or when you call at it, which would be the only time it would make sense to use ''coherent words in the animals own language'' - "Woof" = come here.

==Transcript==
:[Caption above the frame:]
:Words I use to refer to a pet over the years I live with it:

:[Inside the box are four diagrams. Each diagram contains three elliptical sections containing the previous one, each section is drawn identical from diagram to diagram and they are labeled the same way from diagram to diagram. A fourth section (a red ellipse) moves from diagram to diagram and its label changes from diagram to diagram.]

:[The red section of the first diagram mainly overlaps the innermost section, but about a third of it is in the second section. The labels are written above the three white sections and then inside the red section. The labels from inside and out and last the label of the red section:]
:The pet's name
:Words related to the pet
:Coherent words of any kind
:First year

:[The red section of the second diagram mainly overlaps the right part of the second section, but it just touches both the first and the third section. The labels are written above the three white sections and then inside the red section. The labels from inside and out and last the label of the red section:]
:The pet's name
:Words related to the pet
:Coherent words of any kind
:Second year

:[The red section of the third diagram mainly overlaps the right part of the third section, but about a third of it is inside the second section and a small part is outside of the third section. The labels are written above the three white sections and then inside the red section. The labels from inside and out and last the label of the red section:]
:The pet's name
:Words related to the pet
:Coherent words of any kind
:Third year

:[The red section of the fourth diagram is completely outside the third section and has to be so far to the right, that the other sections has been moved from the center of the frame to the left. The labels are written above the three white sections and then inside the red section. The labels from inside and out and last the label of the red section:]
:The pet's name
:Words related to the pet
:Coherent words of any kind
:Fourth year onward

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Comics with color]]
[[Category:Charts]]
[[Category:Language]]
[[Category:Animals]]

1811: Best-Tasting Colors

2017-03-16T04:14:37Z

108.162.215.166: /* Table */ fixed spelling of explanation

{{comic
| number = 1811
| date = March 15, 2017
| title = Best-Tasting Colors
| image = best_tasting_colors.png
| titletext = I recognize that chocolate is its own thing on which reasonable people may differ. Everything else here is objective fact.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Add and fill in a table for the various foods used. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

In this comic, [[Randall]] rates colors based on tastiness of various flavors the colors are typically associated with.

In the title text, Randall asserts that his rankings of colors and flavors are indisputable (with the exception of chocolate). This is a jab at the reception of his previous comic [[388: Fuck Grapefruit]], a comic ranking fruits based on their tastiness which Randall claims is the most controversial piece he has ever published.

===Table===

{| class="wikitable sortable"
! scope="col"| Color
! scope="col"| Item
! scope="col"| Explanation
! scope="col"| Rating (Approx.)
|-
|Pink
|Cotton Candy
|
|95.41%
|-
|Pink
|Watermelon
|
|63.30%
|-
|Red
|Strawberry
|
|93.58%
|-
|Red
|Cherry
|
|86.24%
|-
|Red
|Raspberry
|
|55.05%
|-
|Blue
|Blue Raspberry
|
|57.80%
|-
|Green
|Green Apple
|
|84.40%
|-
|Green
|Watermelon (Rind?)
|
|60.55%
|-
|Green
|Mint
|
|38.07%
|-
|Green
|Lime
|
|31.19%
|-
|Green
|Pistachio
|
|70.64% to 47.71%
|-
|White
|Vanilla
|
|65.60%
|-
|White
|White Chocolate
|
|19.72%
|-
|Brown
|Caramel
|
|19.27%
|-
|Brown
|Coffee
|While widely enjoyed by many people, coffee is actually a very bitter beverage (or bean, still bitter). Most people add sugars and cream to their coffee (or cover the beans in chocolate) to make it palatable. Clearly Randal does not like black coffee (coffee with no sweeteners or additives)
|5.96%
|-
|Brown
|Chocolate
|
|86.70% to 38.53%. (range of text area)
|-
|Orange
|Creamsicle
|
|47.25%
|-
|Orange
|Orange
|
|25.23%
|-
|Yellow
|Popcorn?!
|When popcorn is unsalted, buttered, and otherwise plain it can be a very bland food item with next to no flavor, Randal may be referencing popcorn of this variety.
|5.05%
|-
|Yellow
|Lemon
|
|27.98%
|-
|Purple
|Grape
|
|15.14%
|-
|Black
|Licorice
|Most people tend to find licorice a very unpleasant flavor. It would appear that Randal resides within that majority.
|0.10%
|}

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

:Best-Tasting Colors
:[A scale from "bad" to "good"]
:1. Pink - watermelon, ???, cotton candy
:2. Red - raspberry, cherry, strawberry
:3. Blue - ???, blue raspberry, ???
:4. Green - lime, mint, pistachio??, watermelon, green apple
:5. White - ???, white chocolate, ???, vanilla, ???
:6. Brown - coffee, caramel ? [However you feel about chocolate] ?
:7. Orange - orange, creamsicle
:8. Yellow - popcorn?!, lemon
:9. Purple - grape
:10. Black - licorice

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics with color]]
[[Category:Charts]]

1340: Unique Date

2015-06-18T07:42:32Z

108.162.215.166: 9999<10000

{{comic
| number = 1340
| date = March 10, 2014
| title = Unique Date
| image = unique_date.png
| titletext = If our current civilization lasts another 8,000 years, it's probably fair to assume the Long Now Foundation got things right, and at some point we started listening to them and switched to five-digit years.
}}

==Explanation==
In this comic [[Cueball]] is excited about the current date and he states this date (the date the comic was released) as 2014-03-10, with year first then month and date. This follows the international standard as defined in the {{W|ISO 8601}} standard. He then continues to points out, to [[Megan]] and her Cueball-like friend, that this date will never happen again!

The {{W|Gregorian calendar}} is the current way to count time in years, months and days. Since time moves only forward, dates will never repeat. Every date thus equally unique, also when the digits aren't in a pattern.

Many people do, however, make a big deal about dates when the digits follow an interesting pattern, such as 2000-01-01 or 2012-12-12. They might plan special events on these "unique" days. For instance, [http://articles.latimes.com/2007/jul/08/nation/na-weddings8 2007-07-07] was considered a "lucky" day and had a record number of weddings. This is because humans in general are superstitious and like (and recognizes) patterns in every day life, also including patterns in the numbers used for stating dates. But this does not make these dates more unique than any other dates.

Nevertheless, Cueball has made it into [[:Category:My Hobby|his hobby]] to point this daily uniqueness out, and having to listen to him, stating this fact everyday, would be incredibly annoying to his friends.

The title text refers to the {{W|Long Now Foundation}}, who uses [http://blog.longnow.org/02013/12/31/long-now-years-five-digit-dates-and-10k-compliance-at-home/ five-digit years] (e.g. this comic's date would be written "02014-03-10"). This is an effort to encourage people to think in terms of long-term benefits, rather than only the coming years or decades. The {{w|Y2K problem}} was due to using only two digits to store the year, which would have made dates ambiguous when it rolled from 99 back to 00. Similarly, the {{w|Maya calendar}} had a repeating cycle of 52 years, and even their "long count" rolled over after 7885 years. As we currently use four-digit years this may cause a {{w|Year 10,000 problem|Y10K problem}}.

The Long Now Foundation designs a [http://longnow.org/clock/ 10,000-year clock] that should be able to run for this long — and in principle it could display every date up to 9999-12-31. [[Randall]] remarks that by coming close to the year 10,000, our civilization probably will follow this recommendation, unless our civilization is already extinct.

A previous comic on date formats was [[1179: ISO 8601]]. Randall addresses date formatting confusion again in the title text of [[1467: Email]].

==Transcript==
:[Cueball speaking to Megan and another Cueball-like guy.]
:Cueball: Whoa, it's 2014-03-10!
:Cueball: Under our system, that date will ''never happen again!!''
:[Caption below the frame:]
:'''My Hobby: Pointing this out every day.'''

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]
[[Category:Multiple Cueballs]]
[[Category:My Hobby]]