explain xkcd - User contributions [en]

1564: Every Seven Seconds

2015-08-14T20:41:05Z

108.162.219.195: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 1564
| date = August 14, 2015
| title = Every Seven Seconds
| image = every_seven_seconds.png
| titletext = Every few months, I think about sex every seven seconds and how weird and implausible it would be.
}}

==Explanation==
{{Incomplete|More detail needed, explain sociologist joke, explain Cueball's thinking more, correct title text explanation.}}

There is an oft-stated assertion that men think about sex every seven seconds. This can be regarded as an {{w|urban myth}}. See for example BBC's [http://www.bbc.com/future/story/20140617-how-often-do-men-think-about-sex], where they say that a more realistic number is 19 times in a waking day, i.e. once every 50 minutes.

In this joke [[Cueball]] seems to be raising skeptical objections to this myth. The title of the comic ''(Every seven seconds)'' hints strongly about it, and all comments lead us to believe that Cueball wants to debunk the myth. However in the punchline, we learn that Cueball is a sociologist who disbelieves in a team of his colleagues actually studying such a difficult subject (the same objection raised in BBC's reference).

The entire comic utilizes irony, in that, by thinking about how impossible thinking about how men think about sex every seven seconds every seven seconds, the sociologist is, in fact, thinking about sex every seven seconds, albeit in a roundabout way.

Both the punchline and the title text are written by a narrator (Randall?), not by Cueball the sociologist. In the title text, the narrator says he regularly thinks about how implausible it would be to have sex every seven seconds. The title text could also be implying that the narrator thinks about sex every few months with a possible interpretation that it would be weird and implausible to have sex at all. See possible interpretations below:

In the title text, the narrator's statement leaves some meaning up to interpretation:
* Every few months, I think ''about sex'' every seven seconds [in one day, i.e. 8200 times that day] and how weird and implausible [having intercourse] would be.
** Implying that narrator's sex life is not very active.
* Every few months, I think ''about sex every seven seconds'' and how weird and implausible [having intercourse every seven seconds] would be.
** Having sex every seven seconds is implausible.
* Every few months, I think ''about sex every seven seconds and how weird and implausible [such an assertion] would be''.
** This interpretation is a bit paradoxical, because it implies that the narrator finds himself thinking about the very thing he dismisses as a possibility to think about so often.

==Transcript==
:Cueball is thinking while walking.

:''There’s no way that’s true.''
:''It would interfere with basic cognition.''
:''Such a ridiculous view of masculinity.''
:''How would you even study that?''

:Text below the picture: Every seven seconds, sociologists think about that made-up statistic about how often men think about sex.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Sex]]

Talk:1407: Worst Hurricane

2014-08-13T05:37:44Z

108.162.219.195: Created page with "I tried to list all the unnamed hurricanes, but I gave up after 1938. Anybody feel like finishing it? ~~~~"

I tried to list all the unnamed hurricanes, but I gave up after 1938. Anybody feel like finishing it? [[Special:Contributions/108.162.219.195|108.162.219.195]] 05:37, 13 August 2014 (UTC)

1407: Worst Hurricane

2014-08-13T05:36:40Z

108.162.219.195: /* Explanation */ Added a partial list of unnamed hurricanes

{{comic
| number = 1407
| date = August 13, 2014
| title = Worst Hurricane
| image = worst_hurricane.png
| titletext = 'Finding a 105-year-old who's lived in each location and asking them which hurricane they think was the worst' is left as an exercise for the reader.
}}

This comic has a [http://xkcd.com/1407/large/ larger version] available.

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|We should probably finish that list.}}
The map divides America's Atlantic coast line into regions based on the worst hurricane that has hit each area in the last century. Most of the hurricanes are listed by their US reporting names, with hurricanes from before 1953 (the year when the current naming system was established) simply being listed by their year.

A partial list of all the unnamed hurricanes:
*The {{w|1915 Galveston hurricane}}, which hit hardest along the Texas coastline near Galveston.
*The {{w|1915 New Orleans hurricane}}, which hit hardest in the areas near New Orleans.
*The {{w|1916 Texas hurricane}}, which hit hardest along the west side of Texas's coastline. The other "1916" is from another 1916 hurricane that caused severe floods in an area of North Carolina.
*The first hurricane from 1918, which unfortunately has no name or Wikipedia page. Hit hardest in western Louisiana.
*The {{w|1921 Tampa Bay hurricane}}, which hit hardest exactly where the name implies.
*The {{w|1926 Nassau hurricane}} ("1926 I"), which hit hardest in a small area of northeastern Florida.
*The {{w|1926 Louisiana hurricane}} ("1926 II"), which hit hardest at the end of the Florida panhandle.
*The {{w|1926 Miami hurricane}} ("1926 III"), which obviously hit the Miami area the hardest. The costliest hurricane in US history.
*The {{w|1933 Chesapeake-Potomac hurricane}}, which hit hardest along the western side of Chesapeake Bay.
*The {{w|1935 Labor Day hurricane}}, which hit hardest along two areas of western Florida. The 1935 hurricane is notable for being the strongest hurricane in American history.
*The {{w|1938 New England hurricane}}, which hit hardest around Long Island and Connecticut. Although Sandy caused more monetary damage to the New Jersey/NYC area, the 1938 hurricane was more powerful and resulted in far more deaths.

The title text is a joke in light of this bleak humor, saying that finding a resident who is old enough to have not only been alive through all of these but moved essentially every year to a location that suffered the worst hurricane of the year is quite a daunting task. The joke is, in part, that we get this data from people who lived through these events and to accumulate data in 2014 over the past 100 years would require finding someone who lived though each of them.

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript}}

{{comic discussion}}

Talk:1406: Universal Converter Box

2014-08-11T08:20:18Z

108.162.219.195:

Would like to see what a gender changer for the petrol pump looks like... [[Special:Contributions/108.162.250.219|108.162.250.219]] 04:37, 11 August 2014 (UTC)

: It’s a funnel. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.216.129|108.162.216.129]] 04:45, 11 August 2014 (UTC)

:: Im more intereted in understanding how the conversion between 87, 91 and 93 octane and Diesel is taking place -- some mini refinery most be included [[User:Spongebog|Spongebog]] ([[User talk:Spongebog|talk]]) 07:34, 11 August 2014 (UTC)

: I guess those folks still using their ADB keyboards are out of luck.[[Special:Contributions/108.162.216.129|108.162.216.129]] 04:45, 11 August 2014 (UTC)

Oh god... there are quite a few blank spots on that gas pump, and we all know what Randall likes to do with [http://what-if.xkcd.com/35/ tape]. [[Special:Contributions/173.245.56.211|173.245.56.211]] 04:55, 11 August 2014 (UTC)

Where's the old Mac DIN based serial port? I've got a Color Classic I'd like to resurrect! (No, seriously. It's got a math program on it that I paid about one fifteenth of what they're going for today!) [[User:ExternalMonolog|ExternalMonolog]] ([[User talk:ExternalMonolog|talk]]) 05:21, 11 August 2014 (UTC)

Probably related: [http://www.reddit.com/r/pics/comments/21b3ob/walking_through_my_local_electronic_store_i_found/ HDMI — garden hose adapter] for pouring sh*t from the TV directly on your lawn.

I hate the fact that I can think of multiple standards that are not covered here. A gazillion DIN connectors, mini HDMI, RS232, Canon/XLR,... All the AC power adapters just on their own will weigh more than 22.7 kilograms. And seriously, how are we meant to connect our coaxial network cable to an iPhone2 with this? --[[User:DivePeak|DivePeak]] ([[User talk:DivePeak|talk]]) 06:04, 11 August 2014 (UTC)

:: +1 [[User:Spongebog|Spongebog]] ([[User talk:Spongebog|talk]]) 07:30, 11 August 2014 (UTC)

I'm just a little pissed that all those plugs and it still doesn't include an Australian 240v power plug... sigh. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.250.219|108.162.250.219]] 06:09, 11 August 2014 (UTC)

:: There are no power adapters in this afaik -- the title text talks about DC adapters, but they come in a separate bag [[User:Spongebog|Spongebog]] ([[User talk:Spongebog|talk]]) 07:30, 11 August 2014 (UTC)

While we're mentioning things Randall forgot, we have eSATA, 9-pin serial, there are at least three types of firewire, Multiple SCSI interface sizes, TRRS audio/mic connectors, 1/4" inch audio connectors, XLR, varous RF connectors, and a ton of power connectors.

:: The STA and SCSI are mostly internal connections which users rarely had to worry about [[User:Spongebog|Spongebog]] ([[User talk:Spongebog|talk]]) 07:30, 11 August 2014 (UTC)

The first thing that came to my mind when I saw the magsafe 4 connector was the 'hair connector' from the avatar movie. That would really be the ultimate self-connecting magsafe successor. --[[Special:Contributions/141.101.104.78|141.101.104.78]] 08:05, 11 August 2014 (UTC)

Many of the video cables in this comic actually are compatible: DVI is backwards-compatible with VGA, HDMI is (mostly) compatible with DVI, S-video is compatible with composite RCA, and SCART is compatible with VGA in addition to supporting both types of composite. Might want to note that somewhere in the article. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.219.195|108.162.219.195]] 08:20, 11 August 2014 (UTC)

1402: Harpoons

2014-08-01T18:16:27Z

108.162.219.195: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 1402
| date = August 1, 2014
| title = Harpoons
| image = harpoons.png
| titletext = To motivate it to fire its harpoons hard enough, Rosetta's Philae lander has been programmed to believe it is trying to kill the comet.
}}

==Explanation==
The latter peak on this graph refers to the {{w|Rosetta (spacecraft)|Rosetta}} unmanned spacecraft. As part of its mission, it's carrying a lander (called {{w|Philae (spacecraft)|Philae}}), which has two tethers to anchor itself to the comet {{w|67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko}}. Rosetta was launched in March 2004 (as shown in the graph) and is scheduled to encounter the comet in August 2014, making this a timely comic.

The first peak is probably a joke. Officially, {{w|Apollo 12}} carried neither harpoons nor rum. However, as a former NASA contractor, Randall may know more about space shenanigans than the general public, and may be implying (perhaps jokingly) that a bottle of the [http://www.harpoon-rum.eu/1.html Harpoon] brand of {{w|Rum#Regional variations|Jamaican rum}} made it aboard.

The title text compares the Philae lander's method of deploying its tethers to whaling, in which sailors would throw harpoons at a whale until it died.

==Transcript==
:'''Number of harpoons in space'''
:by year
:[A chart with a red graph is drawn below]
:[The y-axis]
:0 1 2 3
:[The x-axis]
:1950 1960 1970 1980 1990 2000 2010 2020
:[The graph is at zero until a sharp peak to 1 in 1970. The peak is labeled]
:Apollo 12 rum incident
:[The graph then stays at 0 until 2004. Then it rises to 2 and stays there until today, continuing as a dotted line after 2014. The rise is labeled]
:Rosetta comet mission launched carrying lander with harpoon tethers

{{comic discussion}}

1394: Superm*n

2014-07-14T04:47:22Z

108.162.219.195: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 1394
| date = July 14, 2014
| title = Superm*n
| image = superm_n.png
| titletext = See also: Spider-Man reboot in which he can produce several inches of web, doesn't need as much chalk powder on his hands when he goes rock climbing, and occasionally feels vaguely uneasy about situations.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|General expansion/cleanup needed.}}

This comic was posted one day after a {{w|supermoon}}, an informal astronomical event where a full moon occurs close to the Moon's perigee (i.e. the point where it's closest to Earth), causing the moon to appear larger and brighter. The conditions for a supermoon happen once every 411 days, and the loose definition of the term means that there are usually two or three "supermoons" per perigee (the next full moon on August 10 will also qualify as a supermoon).

While this event is often considered beautiful to behold, it is hardly remarkable. The event is not rare, as it occurs approximately every 13.5 months. Furthermore, the moon's apparent increase in size is only marginal -- the June 2013 supermoon, for example, was only 14% bigger and 30% brighter than other full moons of the same year.

The comic points out that the use of the prefix "Super-" in Supermoon is rather hyperbolic, by depicting how unimpressive the superhero {{w|Superman}} would be if he had similarly proportional increases in physical capacity relative to normal humans. The title-text takes this further by giving {{w|Spider-Man}} the same treatment.

The title makes use of a regular expression, which could be used to capture either "Supermoon" or "Superman."

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript}}

{{comic discussion}}

1394: Superm*n

2014-07-14T04:35:44Z

108.162.219.195: /* Explanation */

1389: Surface Area

2014-07-02T05:10:26Z

108.162.219.195: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 1389
| date = July 2, 2014
| title = Surface Area
| image = surface_area.png
| titletext = This isn't an informational illustration; this is a thing I think we should do. First, we'll need a gigantic spool of thread. Next, we'll need some kind of ... hmm, time to head to Seattle.
}}

A larger version of this image can be found [http://xkcd.com/1389/large/ here].

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Not sure myself what the title text means.}}
This image shows the total surface areas of all terrestrial planets, moons, asteroids etc. in the solar system, represented as regions of a single massive landmass (in a similar style to the various [[256: Online Communities|maps]] of the [[802: Online Communities 2|internet]] Randall has created in the past), with Earth in the center for scale. Relatively small objects like asteroids, comets and so on are grouped into two regions at the northeast and southwest corners, while tiny objects like space dust are excluded altogether (probably because their total surface area is impossible to accurately estimate, and also because any estimate would likely be too large to easily fit into the map).

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript}}

{{comic discussion}}

1389: Surface Area

2014-07-02T05:09:06Z

108.162.219.195: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 1389
| date = July 2, 2014
| title = Surface Area
| image = surface_area.png
| titletext = This isn't an informational illustration; this is a thing I think we should do. First, we'll need a gigantic spool of thread. Next, we'll need some kind of ... hmm, time to head to Seattle.
}}

A larger version of this image can be found [http://xkcd.com/1389/large/ here].

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Not sure myself what the title text means.}}
This image shows the total surface areas of all terrestrial planets, moons, asteroids etc. in the solar system, represented as regions of a single massive landmass (in a similar style to the various [[256: Online Communities|maps]] of the [[802: Online Communities 2|internet]] Randall has created in the past), with Earth in the center for scale. Relatively small objects like asteroids, comets and so on are grouped into two regions at the northeast and southwest corners, while tiny objects like space dust are excluded altogether (probably because their total surface area is impossible to accurately estimate, and partly because it would probably be huge).

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript}}

{{comic discussion}}

977: Map Projections

2014-01-22T16:59:31Z

108.162.219.195: /* Explanation */ In Old English, 'they' and 'their would be 'hīe' and 'hiera' respectively

{{comic
| number = 977
| date = November 14, 2011
| title = Map Projections
| image = map_projections.png
| titletext = What's that? You think I don't like the Peters map because I'm uncomfortable with having my cultural assumptions challenged? Are you sure you're not ... ::puts on sunglasses:: ... projecting?
}}

==Explanation==
{{w|Map projection}}, or how to represent the spherical Earth surface onto a flat support (paper, screen...) to have a usable map, is a long-time issue with very practical aspects (navigation, geographical shapes and masses visualization, etc.) as well as very scientific/mathematical ones, involving geometry or even abstract algebra among other things. There is no universal solution to this problem, any 2D map projection will always distort in a way the spherical reality; many projections have been proposed in various contexts, each intending to minimize distortions for specific uses (for nautical navigation, for aerial navigation, for landmass size comparisons, etc.) but having drawbacks from other points of view. Some of them are more frequently used than other in mass media and therefore more well-known than others, some are purely historical and now deprecated, some are really obscure, etc.

[[Randall]] suggests here the idea that someone's "favorite" map projection can reveal aspects of their personality, and goes through a series of them and what they can mean:

;Mercator
:The {{w|Mercator projection}} was introduced by Flemish cartographer Gerardus Mercator in 1569. The main purpose of this map is that at any point the vertical and horizontal scales are the same, so locally i.e. considering only a small part of the map, geographical features (shapes, angles) are well represented, which helps a lot in recognizing them on-the-field, or for local navigation in that small part only. For this reason that projection (or a close variant) is used in several online mapping services such as Google Maps, which means that people commonly see it nowadays. No angle distortion also means that a straight line on the map corresponds to a course of constant bearing (direction), which was very useful for nautical navigation in the past (and thus made that projection very well-known).

:However from a global point of view, this projection is radically incorrect in how it shows the size of landmasses (for instance Antarctica or Greenland seem gigantic), and furthermore, it always excludes a small region around each pole (otherwise the map would be of infinite height), so it doesn't provide a complete solution for the problem of map projection. The comic implies that people who like that projection aren't very interested with map issues, and typically use what they are offered without thinking a lot about it.

;Van der Grinten
:The {{w|Van der Grinten projection}} is not much better than the Mercator. It was adopted by {{w|National Geographic}} in 1922 and was used until they updated to the Robinson projection in 1988.

:The Van der Grinten projection is circular as opposed to the Mercator projection. Circles look happier than squares, leading to the conclusion that people who like the projection are optimistic.

;Robinson
:The {{w|Robinson projection}} was developed by {{w|Arthur H. Robinson}} as a map that was supposed to look nice and is often used for classroom maps. National Geographic moved to this projection in 1988, and used it for ten years, moving to the Winkel-Tripel in 1998.

:{{w|The Beatles}} was a rock band that enjoyed great commercial success in the 1960s. The Beatles, coffee, and running shoes suggest an ordinary, easygoing lifestyle paralleled by the projection.

;Dymaxion
:Also called the Fuller Map, the {{w|Dymaxion Map}} takes a sphere and projects it onto an icosahedron, that is a polyhedron with 20 triangular faces. It is far easier to unwrap an icosahedron than it is to unwrap a sphere into a 2D object and has very little skewing of the poles.

:Randall associates the projection to geek subculture and niche markets:
:*{{w|Isaac Asimov}} was an American science-fiction writer, that (as well as publishing many textbooks) is considered the father of the modern concept of robots. He invented the {{w|Three Laws of Robotics}}. He also worked on more than 500 books throughout his career.
:*{{w|XML}} is the eXtensible Markup Language. It is used to represent data in a format that machines can read and understand, as well as being human-readable. In practice, XML is cumbersome to read.
:*{{w|Vibram FiveFingers|Toed-Shoes}} are a [[1065|favorite]] of Randall's to pick on. In society they are seen as a {{w|geek}} clothing item.
:*Brought to the world by {{w|Dean Kamen}}, the {{w|Segway PT}} was supposed to be a device that changed the way cities were built. In reality, most principalities have put in place rules specifically against Segways, making them a frustration to own and use within the law (in some states in Australia, it is illegal to use them on public footpaths or roads). Also, the former owner of {{w|Segway Inc.}}, the late {{w|Jimi Heselden}}, accidentally rode his Segway off a cliff in 2010.
:*{{w|Virtual reality|3D goggles}} are a very niche market only pursued by enthusiasts. In the 1990s the promise of virtual realities was very tantalizing; many companies attempted to perfect it, but fell short of the mark. Also, the phrase "The grass is always greener on the other side of the fence." is relevant.
:*{{w|Dvorak Simplified Keyboard|Dvorak}} is an alternate keyboard layout to QWERTY. Where QWERTY was invented to help keep manual typewriters from jamming (by placing the most used keys further away from each other), Dr. {{w|August Dvorak}} performed many studies and found the mathematically optimal keyboard layout to reduce finger travel for right handed typists. While technically better than QWERTY, QWERTY had become the standard. All the keyboards were laid out in QWERTY format, and retraining the brain after becoming a touch typist is extremely difficult.

;Winkel Tripel
:Proposed by {{w|Oswald Winkel}} in 1921, this map tried to reduce the three (German: tripel) main problems with map projections: area, direction, and distance. The {{w|Kavrayskiy VII projection|Kavrayskiy projection}} is very similar to the Winkel Tripel and was used by the USSR, but very few in the Western world know of it.

:The comic links this projection to {{w|hipster}} subculture. The whole point of hipsters is to avoid conforming to mainstream fashions. "Post-" refers to a variety of musical genres such as {{w|post-punk}}, {{w|post-grunge}}, {{w|post-minimalism}}, etc. that branch off of other genres.

;Goode Homolosine
:The {{w|Goode homolosine projection}} takes a different approach to skewing a sphere into a roughly circular surface. An orange peel can be taken off of an orange and flattened with fair success; this is roughly the procedure that {{w|John Paule Goode}} followed in creating this projection.

:Common people make arguments that if normal people would run the United States, then the US wouldn't be in the trouble it is. This is from the belief that career politicians are simply out to make money and will only act in the interest of their constituency when their continued easy life is threatened (usually around election time).

:Airline food is another, much maligned, problem. How do you store enough food to feed people on long airplane trips? The common solution is to use some kind of sub-standard microwaveable dinner. Randall is saying that the people in favor of the Goode Homolosine wonder why the airlines don't simply order meals from the restaurants in the airport, store that food, and serve it, rather than using frozen and microwaved food.

:Older cars burned oil like mad fiends and oil back then would become corrosive to the innards of an engine, so oil had to be changed often. But, with the introduction of synthetic motor oil and better designed engines, new cars only need their oil changed about ever 10,000 to 15,000 miles. Allegedly. Perhaps this is a conspiracy built by the collusion of the car manufacturers and big oil companies!

:All of these references suggest that people who like the Goode Homolosine projection are fans of easy solutions to problems. However, the solutions would not necessarily work in practice. For instance, the restaurants might have trouble making enough food for the whole plane, and it could get cold before being served. Also, the air conditions [http://www.nbcnews.com/health/one-reason-airline-food-so-bad-your-own-tastebuds-6C10823522 aboard planes] can affect taste, so airlines say they optimize for this.

;Hobo-Dyer
:The {{w|Hobo–Dyer projection}} was commissioned by Bob Abramms and Howard Bronstein and was drafted by Mick Dyer in 2002. It is a modified {{w|Behrmann projection}}. The goal was to be a more visually pleasing version of the Gall-Peters.

:As is discussed in the Gall-Peters explanation, the Gall-Peters was developed to be equal area, so that economically disadvantaged areas can at least take comfort in the fact that their country is represented correctly by area on maps.

:Randall associates the Hobo-Dyer projection to "crunchy granola" — a stereotype associated with vegetarianism, environmental activism, anti-war activism, liberal political leanings, and some traces of {{w|hippie}} culture.

:With the new general acceptance of homosexual, bisexual, and transgendered persons, some have begun to invent gender-neutral pronouns so that when referring to a person whose gender is not known they cannot be offended by being referred to by the wrong pronouns. In {{w|Middle English}} 'they' and 'their' were accepted gender-less pronouns that could replace 'he', 'she' as well as be used to represent a crowd. This usage is now considered straight-up wrong because of the plural/singular debate ([http://www.merriam-webster.com/video/0033-hisher.htm stupid Victorian Grammarians!]). So, a whole host of new pronouns are being invented in an attempt to keep from ever offending anyone ever again.

;Plate Carrée
:Also known as the {{w|Equirectangular projection}} that has been in use since, apparently, 100 AD. The benefit of this projection is that latitude and longitude can be used as x,y coordinates. This makes it especially easy for computers to graph data on top of it.

:According to the comic, the projection appeals to people who find much beauty in simplicity.

;A Globe!
:In any good discussion there has to be at least one smart-ass. This is a comic about map projections, that is, the science of taking a sphere and flattening it into 2 dimensions. The smart-ass believes that we shouldn't even try: a sphere is, in fact, the perfect representation of a sphere.

:To quote ''{{w|The Princess Bride}}'': "Yes, you're very smart. Shut up."

;Waterman Butterfly
:Similar to the Dymaxion, the {{w|Waterman butterfly projection}} turns a sphere into an octahedron, and then unfolds the net of the octahedron, which was devised by mathematician {{w|Waterman polyhedron|Steve Waterman}} based upon the work of {{w|Bernard J.S. Cahill}}

:Bernard Cahill published a [http://www.genekeyes.com/B.J.S._CAHILL_RESOURCE.html butterfly map] in 1909. Steve Waterman probably has the only extant "ready to go" map following the same general principles, though Gene Keys may not be far behind. Waterman has a poem with graphics in a similar vein to this xkcd comic that is worth reading.[http://watermanpolyhedron.com/worldmap.html]

:The Cahill/Keyes/Waterman projections are arguably the only map projections, thus far, that more or less equally balance the inevitable “all maps lie” distortions in size, shape and area.

:The joke is that the person responding deeply understands map projections; anyone who knows of this projection is a person that Randall would like to get to know.

;Peirce Quincuncial
:The {{w|Pierce quincuncial projection}} was devised by {{w|Charles Sanders Peirce}} in 1879 and uses {{w|complex analysis}} to make a {{w|conformal mapping}} of the Earth, that conforms except for four points which would make up the south pole.

:{{w|Inception}} was a 2010 movie about {{w|meta}} {{w|lucid dream}}ing. It has a complex story that is difficult to follow and leaves the viewer with many questions at the end, and almost needs to be watched multiple times to be understood.

:The human brain is not well developed to deal with oddly obvious things. One example is that everyone has a skeleton, but everyone is surprised when a bone pokes through the skin after it has been broken. Another is the fascinating complexity of the human hand, a machine that is amazingly complex driven by a complex interplay of electrical and chemical signals and yet is the size of the hand and is so useful.

;Gall-Peters
:The {{w|Gall-Peters projection}} is mired in controversy, surprising for a map. {{w|James Gall}} a 19th century clergyman presented this projection in 1855 before the {{w|British Association for the Advancement of Science}}. In 1967, the filmmaker {{w|Arno Peters}} created the same projection and presented it to the world as a "new invention" that put poorer, less powerful countries into their rightful proportions (as opposed to the Mercator). Peters played the marketing game and got quite a few followers of his map by saying it had "absolute angle conformality," "no extreme distortions of form," and was "totally distance-factual" in an age when society was very concerned about social justice. All of these claims were in fact false. The polar regions are horribly distorted, and south of the Mediterranean Sea is "taller" than it should be.

:Anyone who loves such a politically charged map that has become popular by way of marketing stunts, Randall would rather not have anything to do with.

The title text makes a joke that goes to the familiar meme from ''{{w|CSI: Miami}}'', in which the star, David Caruso starts on sentence, then [[:Category:Puts on sunglasses|puts on his sunglasses]] and then ends it with a corny pun. In this case the pun is on {{w|map projection}} and {{w|projection (psychology)|projection}} in psychology This internet meme has been mentioned previously by xkcd in comic [[626]] and possibly others.

==Transcript==
:What your favorite
:'''Map Projection'''
:says about you
:[All of these are organized as Title, a copy of the particular projection underneath, and what it says about you under that]

:*Mercator
:**You're not really into maps.
:*Van der Grinten
:**You're not a complicated person. You love the Mercator projection; you just wish it weren't square. The Earth's not a square, it's a circle. you like circles. Today is gonna be a good day!
:*Robinson
:**You have a comfortable pair of running shoes that you wear everywhere. You like coffee and enjoy The Beatles. you think the Robinson is the best-looking projection, hands down.
:*Dymaxion
:**You like Isaac Asimov, XML, and shoes with toes. You think the Segway got a bad rap. you own 3D goggles, which you use to view rotating models of better 3D goggles. you type in Dvorak.
:*Winkel-Tripel
:**National Geographic adopted the Winkel-Tripel in 1998, but you've been a W-T fan since ''long'' before "Nat Geo" showed up. You're worried it's getting played out, and are thinking of switching to the Kavrayskiy. You once left a party in disgust when a guest showed up wearing shoes with toes. Your favorite musical genre is "Post–".
:*Goode Homolosine
:**They say mapping the Earth on a 2D surface is like flattening an orange peel, which seems enough to you. You like easy solutions.You think we wouldn't have so many problems if we'd just elect ''normal'' people to Congress instead of Politicians. You think airlines should just buy food from the restaurants near the gates and serve ''that'' on board. You change your car's oil, but secretly wonder if you really ''need'' to.
:*Hobo-Dyer
:**You want to avoid cultural imperialism, but you've heard bad things about Gall-Peters. You're conflict-averse and buy organic. You use a recently-invented set of gender-neutral pronouns and think that what the world needs is a revolution in consciousness.
:*Plate Carrée (Equirectangular)
:**You think this one is fine. You like how X and Y map to latitude and longitude. The other projections overcomplicate things. You want me to stop asking about maps so you can enjoy dinner.
:*A Globe!
:**Yes, you're very clever.
:*Waterman Butterfly
:**Really? You know the Waterman? Have you seen the 1909 Cahill Map it's based— ...You have a framed reproduction at home?! Whoa. ...Listen, forget these questions. Are you doing anything tonight?
:*Peirce Quincuncial
:**You think that when we look at a map, what we really see is ourselves. After you first saw ''Inception'', you sat silent in the theater for six hours. It freaks you out to realize that everyone around you has a skeleton inside them. You ''have'' really looked at your hands.
:*Gall-Peters
:**I ''hate'' you.

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Charts]]
[[Category:Puts on sunglasses]]

1055: Kickstarter

2013-12-02T15:06:00Z

108.162.219.195: /* Explanation */ Done in real life

{{comic
| number = 1055
| date = May 14, 2012
| title = Kickstarter
| image = Kickstarter.png
| imagesize =
| titletext = If you pledge more than $50 you'll get on the VIP list and have first dibs on a slot on ANY of the pledge levels in the actual campaign.
}}

==Explanation==
If you are not familiar with Kickstarter, it is (in their own words) a platform for funding creative projects in which anyone can give money at any level of funding starting usually as low as $10. Funding at different levels gets you different perks, e.g. If the Kickstarter is for a book, a large donation makes you eligible for a signed copy.

In this comic, [[Black Hat]] is attempting to game the system by raising money to work on the perfect Kickstarter pitch. He appears to have gained no money, but has only started the scheme that day. The irony of the image text is that you do not need to be on any VIP list to have dibs on the pledge levels. Anyone can give any amount of money. That is the goal of Kickstarter and it has been wildly successful.

This has actually been done via [http://www.indiegogo.com/projects/kickstarter-campaign an indiegogo campeign]. There are a number of similarities to the comic (black hat, $500 vs $5,000 goal), so Baron von Husk may have goten the idea from xkcd.

==Transcript==
:[A kickstarter page with zero donations, a target of $5,000, and 90 days to go.]
:[Black Hat has posted a video and a description of his project, the first lines of which are visible]
:Time was, anyone with a webcam and an idea could raise boatloads of cash on kickstarter. But with increased popularity comes tougher competition. Now, to get support, you need a really standout video or compelling write-up. I have an idea for a kickstarter campaign that could raise millions, but I need your help to craft the perfect pitch. If I raise $5,000, I'll be able to devote the..[pitch ends here]

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Comics featuring Black Hat]]
[[Category:Comics with color]]

Talk:554: Not Enough Work

2013-11-26T21:11:56Z

108.162.219.195: Haiku OS

I always pronounce tags like as "slash span."{{unsigned ip|107.204.46.198}}

I thought the keys jamming thing was a myth... [[Special:Contributions/184.66.160.91|184.66.160.91]] 04:27, 22 October 2013 (UTC)

An interesting note; [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haiku_(operating_system) Haiku] is also the name of a free and open source operating system! The Alpha release was 6 months after this comic was written though, so this is likely a coincidence.[[Special:Contributions/108.162.219.195|108.162.219.195]] 21:11, 26 November 2013 (UTC)

482: Height

2013-11-21T17:06:03Z

108.162.219.195: /* Explanation */ Companion to comic 485

{{comic
| number = 482
| date = September 29, 2008
| title = Height
| image = height.png
| titletext = Interestingly, on a true vertical log plot, I think the Eiffel Tower's sides would really be straight lines.
}}

==Explanation==
The comic is a companion piece to [[485: Depth]], which explores a {{w|logarithmic scale}} from Earth's atmosphere down to the interior of a single proton. ''Height'' begins this process by viewing logarithmically smaller scales showing several objects in the universe, both real and fictional, from farthest (top) to closest (bottom). The comic starts with [[Black Hat]] throwing a cat off the edge of the universe, probably a reference to {{w|Schrodinger's cat}} (as since it is outside the {{w|observable universe}} (for us), it exists in a super-position of both living and dead until we actually 'observe' it and force it to be in one of the states). The top of the universe is shown as the distance from which the oldest rays of light reach Earth.

Displaying height logarithmically while displaying width linearly noticeably distorts the shapes of the terrestrial objects. The title text notes that this distortion would approximately cancel out the curve of the Eiffel Tower's profile, and speculates that the cancellation might in fact be exact enough to convert its silhouette to a straight-edged triangle.

The {{w|age of the universe}} is currently stated as 13.8 billion years. But the {{w|Observable universe}} is about 14.0 billion {{w|parsecs}} or 46 billion {{w|light years}}, as shown on the top of the image.

===Fictional Objects===

*[http://knowyourmeme.com/memes/cat-on-a-keyboard-in-space Cat on a keyboard in space].
*{{w|Ford_Prefect (character)|Ford Prefect}}, character from {{w|The Hitchiker's Guide to the Galaxy (franchise)}}.
*The [http://en.memory-alpha.org/wiki/Romulan_Neutral_Zone Romulan Neutral Zone], marking the edge of the {{w|Star Trek}} Federation.
*{{w|Federation Sector 0-0-1}}, the sector of space assigned to Earth in {{w|Star Trek}}.
*"missing WMDs", a reference to the controversy about {{w|Iraq and weapons of mass destruction}}.
*{{w|Bupkis}} is Yiddish for "nothing". Only a handful of objects are known to orbit between the outer edge of the Kuiper Belt and the inner edge of the Oort Cloud, hence "Bupkis".
*A comet scheduled to hit earth in 2063, to coincide with the latest date for a supposed [http://www.askelm.com/prophecy/p971105.htm Biblically prophesized end of the world].
*Life on the moons of Jupiter and Saturn, which may or may not exist.
**The arrows most likely points to the following moons:
**Jupiter’s moon {{W|Europa (moon)|Europa}} which may be covered by a deep ocean of water - which is again covered by layer of ice many kilometers thick. In such an ocean life could have formed.
**Saturn’s moon {{W|Titan (moon)|Titan}} is the only known moon to have an atmosphere - although nothing like the one on earth. There may be oceans on the moon, but not filled with water but with liquid methane and ethane. It is way too cold for liquid water. Still in such oceans life could also have formed.
**For either moon the oceans cannot be viewed from earth either due to thick ice or opaque atmosphere.
*The little spaceship from {{w|Asteroids (video game)}}.
*The {{w|Discovery One}} from {{w|2001: A Space Odyssey}}, referring to the quote "open the pod bay door, HAL."
*The spaceplane is most likely the Planet Express from {{w|Futurama}}, where Fry once discussed "a big heaping bowl of salt." However, it could conceivably refer to these instead:
**The Quasi-elemental plane of Salt from the {{w|Inner Plane}} in {{w|Dungeons and Dragons}}.
**The Great Salt Vampire from [http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/archive/index.php/t-485523.html Star Trek TOS].
**A relative of {{w|Russell's teapot}}.
*{{w|Cory Doctrow}}'s balloon. (first referenced in [[239]].)
*[[Cueball]], who is apparently still using Python as shown in comic [[353]].

===Real Objects===

*{{w|Hubble Deep Field}}, a long-exposure photograph of extremely distant galaxies.
*{{w|Great Attractor}}, an unusual concentration of intergalactic mass.
*{{w|Antennae Galaxies}}, a pair of colliding galaxies.
*{{w|Andromeda Galaxy}}, a sibling to our Milky Way.
*{{w|Magellanic Clouds}}, a pair of nearby dwarf galaxies.
*{{w|Crab Nebula}}, {{w|Orion Nebula}}, and {{w|Horsehead Nebula}}, supernova remnants.
*{{w|Pleiades}}, {{w|Rigel}}, and {{w|Betelgeuse}}, stars.
*The distance that human radio transmissions have traveled so far. See {{w|Contact (film)}} for a depiction of this.
*{{w|Pollux}}, {{w|Arcturus}}, {{w|Sirius}}, {{w|Alpha Centauri}}, and {{w|Barnard's Star}}, nearby stars.
*{{w|Oort cloud}}, a halo of ice balls surrounding our solar system.
*{{w|Pioneer 10}} and {{w|Voyager 1}}, two early probes headed out of the solar system.
*{{w|Eris (dwarf planet)|Eris}} and {{w|Pluto}}, a pair of {{w|Trans-Neptunian object|TNOs}} now classified as {{w|dwarf planet}}s.
*{{w|Neptune}}, {{w|Uranus}}, {{w|Saturn}}, and {{w|Jupiter}}, giant gas planets at our {{w|Solar System|solar system}}.
*The {{w|Asteroid|Asteroid belt}} between Mars and Jupiter.
*{{w|Mars}}, {{w|Venus}}, and {{w|Mercury}}, our neighboring inner planets. Note that Venus and Mars are shown with looping paths, reflecting the fact that their distances from Earth vary as the planets move in their orbits (this is true for all planets, but more noticeable for these two because the ratio of smallest to greatest distance is particularly large).
*The {{w|Sun}} and the {{w|Moon}}.

==Transcript==
:[Map of the universe from observable universe to Earth. Each area of item is labelled.]
:[Labels left to right, up to down:]
:[Black Hat is standing on top, throwing a black kitty down.]
:Black Cat: mrowl!
::Top of Observable Universe
::46 Billion Light Years Up
::Hubble Deep Field Objects
:-One Billion Light Years-
::Great Attractor
:Antennae Galaxies (Colliding)
:Andromeda
:::Holy Crap Lots of Space
::-One Million Light Years-
::Magellanic Clouds
::Edge of Galaxy
::Galactic Center
::Crab Nebula
::Orion Nebula
::Horsehead Nebula
::Romulan Neutral Zone
:::The PLEIADES, Duh.
::Rigel
::Betelgeuse
::Ford Prefect
::-Expanding Shell of Radio Transmissions [Arrows are pointing up.]-
::Edge of Federation Sector 0-0-1
::Pollux
::Arcturus
::Missing WMDs
::Alpha Centauri
::Sirius
::Barnard's Star
:-One Parsec-
::-One Light Year-
::Oort Cloud (?)
::Bupkis
::Comet which will destroy Earth in late 2063
::Pioneer 10
::Eris (All hail Discordia!)
::Voyager I
::Pluto (Not a planet. Neener neener.)
::Neptune
::Uranus
:Saturn
::Asteroids
:::<~life~>
::Jupiter
::Venus
::Mars
::Sun
::Mercury
::Aircraft: Hey a heaping bowl of salt!
::"Open the fridge door, Hal."
::Moon
::Human Altitude Record (Apollo 13)
::2nd Place: Snoop Dogg
::Space Elevator - One of these days, promise!
::-Geosynchronous Orbit-
::GPS Satellites
::Aircraft 2: I have no idea how to land
::Aircraft 2: In retrospect, they shouldn't have sent a poet
::International Space Station
::Space Junk
::-Official Edge of Space (100 km)-
::Meteors
::-1/10 ATM-
::High Altitude Balloons
::Airliners
::-1/2 ATM-
::Cory Doctrow
::Shuttle Columbia Lost
::Everest
::Helicoptors
::Cueball: Woo Python!
::-800 m-
::-1 km-
::[Height progressivly gets smaller and smaller.]
::Burj Dubai (~800 m)
::Eiffel Tower (325 m)
::Kites
::Great Pyramid (140 m)
::Redwood (115 m)
::Pop Fly
::Oak (20 m)
::"Hey Squirrels!"
::Tallest Stilts
::Brachiosaur (13 m)
::Giraffe (8 m)
::[Megan and Cueball.] Folks
:The Observable Universe, from Top to Bottom ~On a log scale~
:Sizes are not to scale, but heights above the Earth's surface are accurate on a log scale (that is, each step up is double the height.)

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Charts]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Black Hat]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Cory Doctorow]]
[[Category:Large drawings]]

474: Turn-On

2013-11-21T16:42:56Z

108.162.219.195: /* Explanation */ I just realized that's Berete Guy!

{{comic
| number = 474
| date = October 10, 2008
| title = Turn-On
| image = turn-on.png
| titletext = Supercollider? I 'ardly know her!
}}

==Explanation==
This comic refers to the first start up of CERN's {{w|Large Hadron Collider}} (LHC). There was a theoretical concern that that the LHC experiments could create a {{w|black hole}} which would suck in our planet.

[[Cueball]] uses this concern when telling [[Megan]] this could be their last night on Earth, but since the scene is in a bar it is more likely that he just wants to stay the next night together with her. Megan answers as a physicist and expresses scientists have determined that the fears are unfounded.

Cueball feels rejected by her answer and leaves her, but she calls him back and he continues the conversation by using three of the six {{w|Quark}} flavors in his first sentence ({{w|Up quark}}, {{w|Charm quark}}, and {{w|Strange quark}}). Megan is impressed and asks if she has to be on top or bottom ({{w|Top quark}} and {{w|Bottom quark}}). Then, while Cueball explains that he hasn't even bought her a drink, Megan does the order, just straight down ({{w|Down quark}}).

The quarks are some fundamental particles the LHC is generating. All six {{w|Flavour (particle physics)|flavors}} of quarks are in the last panel: Up, Charm, Strange, Top, Bottom, and Down.

Yet another joke is hidden in the identity of the barkeeper. Given [[Beret Guy]]’s strange behavior, “two whiskey sours, straight down” could be interpreted in a range of ways. This, however, is left to the reader’s overactive imagination.

The title text is of course a very old joke "I 'ardly know her!", using this at the wrong moment it could be bad for a nice romance.

==Transcript==
:[A bar.]
:Cueball: So, the LHC's turning on. This could be our last night on earth.
:Megan: Gimme a break. They're not even colliding yet, and it won't do anything cosmic rays haven't.
:[Cueball starts to turn away.]
:Megan: Hey, I didn't say no.
:Megan: I'm a physics grad student. I need the excuse to party.
:Cueball: So, you're up for a night with a charming stranger?
:Megan: Depends. Top or bottom?
:Cueball: Hey, I haven't even bought you a drink.
:Megan: Barkeep, two whiskey sours, straight down.

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Beret Guy]]
[[Category:Physics]]
[[Category:Romance]]

Talk:1286: Encryptic

2013-11-05T01:31:46Z

108.162.219.195:

The answer to the weathervane sword/ favorite apostle hint has got to be Matthias. It is 8 characters long, Matthias was the apostle chosen to replace Judas and in the Redwall series Matthias is one of the wielders of the Sword of Martin a sword that was hung on a weathervane.

It is unclear to me if these are actual hashes from Adobe file? That would be very cool... but actual file seems to have passwords in slightly different format. http://arstechnica.com/security/2013/11/how-an-epic-blunder-by-adobe-could-strengthen-hand-of-password-crackers/ [[Special:Contributions/108.162.229.211|108.162.229.211]] 09:05, 4 November 2013 (UTC) pavel

:I wouldn't call 3DES secure ... but yes, in this situation the real problem is not using per-user salt. Note that I would expect that at least some of those examples would be solvable ...any idea? Hmmm ... sword of weather vane and one of apostles might be Martin ([http://redwall.wikia.com/wiki/Sword_of_Martin]) ... -- [[User:Hkmaly|Hkmaly]] ([[User talk:Hkmaly|talk]]) 10:00, 4 November 2013 (UTC)

::It's Jonathon (for John). Not sure what it has to do with weather vane swords though... [[Special:Contributions/108.162.240.18|108.162.240.18]] 12:42, 4 November 2013 (UTC)

:Umm. "Peter" does not seem to have 8 characters, does it? Encryption method suggests it should be 8 characters, as do 8 character boxes on the right... [[Special:Contributions/108.162.229.211|108.162.229.211]] 10:43, 4 November 2013 (UTC) pavel

::I'd say "weather vane sword", "name1" and "favorite of 12 apostles" is (Saint) Peter. "Weather vane" as symbol for the rooster in the denial, and the sword Peter used when Jesus was arrested. --[[Special:Contributions/108.162.254.177|108.162.254.177]] 10:25, 4 November 2013 (UTC)

::: ... interesting that google search didn't mentioned it :-) Seems bible have too low pagerank. -- [[User:Hkmaly|Hkmaly]] ([[User talk:Hkmaly|talk]]) 10:32, 4 November 2013 (UTC)

::: The 'favourite' apostle was John the Evangelist though. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Disciple_whom_Jesus_loved . The other biblical clue here is 'with your own hand you have done all this' - Judith 15:10. If that's Judith1510 then the 'name and shirt number' is 'Judith15'. The TOS/earlobes clue seems to be "Spock's brain" and "Spock's (ears?)". And the Michael Jackson one is (obviously) ABC123. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.99.214|141.101.99.214]] 11:14, 4 November 2013 (UTC)
:::: Perhaps "favorite" in this case refer's to the user's favorite, not Jesus's. [[User:Yomikoma|Yomikoma]] ([[User talk:Yomikoma|talk]]) 16:13, 4 November 2013 (UTC)
:::: The Michael Jackson password should just be "ABC". (The other clue refers only to letters, and the proper song title also has only letters.) —[[User:TobyBartels|TobyBartels]] ([[User talk:TobyBartels|talk]]) 20:57, 4 November 2013 (UTC)
::: Given that name1 is two blocks long, I would guess that the apostle's name is going to be eight characters long, with the second hash block being 1+seven spaces (or nulls if Adobe pads it with nulls and not spaces). But then again, as the only disciple with a name eight letters long is Thaddeus maybe not {{unsigned ip|141.101.99.214}}

:::: "St.Peter" is 8 characters, and having a "special" character (the period) makes it a good choice for passwords that might require 1 non-alphanumeric character (and ban spaces). [[Special:Contributions/141.101.99.223|141.101.99.223]] 11:47, 4 November 2013 (UTC)

:::: I think it is obvious that Name1 refers to {The user's name} + 1. I wonder though if we should be referring to one of the other 12 apostles in a different context? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Twelve_Apostles_%28disambiguation%29 - [[Special:Contributions/108.162.242.11|108.162.242.11]] 18:02, 4 November 2013 (UTC)
::::: Is the "weathervane sword" referring to Redwall? I haven't read the book myself, but would it be referring to the "Sword of Martin"? [http://redwall.wikia.com/wiki/Sword_of_Martin] --[[User:Jeff|Jeff]] ([[User talk:Jeff|talk]]) 19:17, 4 November 2013 (UTC)

Another article about using passwords hints from multiple users to find the passwords from the breach. http://7habitsofhighlyeffectivehackers.blogspot.com/2013/11/can-someone-be-targeted-using-adobe.html [[User:Bugefun|Bugefun]] ([[User talk:Bugefun|talk]]) 11:06, 4 November 2013 (UTC)

"Sexy earlobes" makes me think of [http://misswiu.livejournal.com/5385.html "The ABC of Aerobics"], but that would make that Shirley Clarke, and nothing in Star Trek has anything to do with Shirley that I am aware of, except possible [http://en.memory-alpha.org/wiki/Ruth Shirley Bonne as Ruth]. I skimmed a list of episode titles, but nothing jumps out at me as particularly earlobish. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.219.187|108.162.219.187]] 11:20, 4 November 2013 (UTC)

:Sexy earlobes might have something to do with Ferengi, but they didn't appeared in TOS. 141.101.99.214's idea is better. -- [[User:Hkmaly|Hkmaly]] ([[User talk:Hkmaly|talk]]) 11:42, 4 November 2013 (UTC)

:OK, we know that "sexy earlobes" and "best TOS Episode" are the same for the first eight character, but differ after that, while "best TOS" and "sugarland" are the same after the first 8 characters. So, my guesses are : Best TOS episode: "Charlie X"; "Sexy Earlobes": Someone with the first name of "Charlie"; "Sugarland": some city in Texas (perhaps "HoustonTX") [[User:JamesCurran|JamesCurran]] ([[User talk:JamesCurran|talk]]) 16:51, 4 November 2013 (UTC)

Note that you should not ever use cipher in {{w|Block_cipher_mode_of_operation#Electronic_codebook_.28ECB.29|ECB (electronic codebook)}} mode, i.e. encrypt each block separately and independently, but use chaining. --[[User:JakubNarebski|JakubNarebski]] ([[User talk:JakubNarebski|talk]]) 12:15, 4 November 2013 (UTC)
: And for passwords you shouldn't be using a cipher at all, but rather a hash function. (Or a cipher in one of the approved hash constructions, if you must.) And really you shouldn't be using a standard hash function, but be following best practices for passwords instead: salting the hash, using a *slow* hash function, etc. [[User:Cscott|Cscott]] ([[User talk:Cscott|talk]]) 20:22, 4 November 2013 (UTC)

Hmm, i'm rather confused about the last few on the list though. Assumedly the password for "he did the mash, he did the" would be "monster mash", but that would leave "purloined" with a password of either "monsterm" or "monster ". which doesn't make much sense. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.240.18|108.162.240.18]] 13:47, 4 November 2013 (UTC)

(charlie sheen) a1f9b2b6299e7a2b eadec1e6ab797397 sexy earlobes - He did a 2 and a half men episode on sexy earlobes
:(charlie x) a1f9b2b6299e7a2b 617ab0277727ad85 best tos episode - Star Trek has so many good episodes...
::(houstontx) 39738b7adb0b8af7 617ab0277727ad85 sugarland - Sugarland is in Houston, TX

I don't know about anyone else, but the "hints" column incidentally reminded me of {{w|Darwinian poetry|Darwinian Poetry}}... Not intentionally, I'm sure. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.214|141.101.98.214]] 14:46, 4 November 2013 (UTC)

Somehow I've missed out on this issue until this comic alerted me to it, but: once a few passwords are correctly guessed, does that make it straightforward to recover the encryption key, and then be able to decrypt '''all''' of them? —[[User:Scs|scs]] ([[User talk:Scs|talk]]) 14:50, 4 November 2013 (UTC)

: Answering my own question: not really straightforward, no. 3DES is still pretty strong, and what knowing a few passwords gives you is a known-plaintext attack, which helps a little, but is by no means a giveaway. —[[User:Scs|scs]] ([[User talk:Scs|talk]]) 15:00, 4 November 2013 (UTC)

:: Note that if blackhat used this service, he would know at least one plaintext - his own password--[[User:JakubNarebski|JakubNarebski]] ([[User talk:JakubNarebski|talk]]) 15:05, 4 November 2013 (UTC)

:No, for calculating the encryption key of Triple DES, there is no real benefit in knowing million passwords, you would still need to brute force it. You would need to know at least 232 different passwords to make it easier but you can't do that with the leaked file (there are about 30 times less of them and moreover many of them are not unique). [[User:Sten|'''STEN''']] ([[User talk:Sten|talk]]) 16:08, 4 November 2013 (UTC)

Okay, so the first column is the encrypted password, the second one is the hint chosen by user. What do rectangles mean? [[Special:Contributions/173.245.53.151|173.245.53.151]] 15:28, 4 November 2013 (UTC)
:That are the fields to fill the characters in just as you do in a crossword puzzle. There are small fields at the beginning that take one character each and one large field at the end that takes one to eight characters. [[User:Sten|'''STEN''']] ([[User talk:Sten|talk]]) 15:32, 4 November 2013 (UTC)

Water 3 is an egg group: http://bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wiki/Water_3_(Egg_Group) . Given the length of the key, it will probably be 9-16 characters. (Crawdaunt, tentacool, and tentacruel are most likely) [[Special:Contributions/199.27.128.139|199.27.128.139]] 15:43, 4 November 2013 (UTC)
:-- which means 9dca1d79d4dec6d5 is either L, EL, or T, but I can't find a way for that to match up with any variation of "monster mash." [[Special:Contributions/173.245.55.209|173.245.55.209]] 16:15, 4 November 2013 (UTC)
:: Same problem here... Monster mash must not be correct, but it is one of the easier ones, I can't give up on it. --[[User:Jeff|Jeff]] ([[User talk:Jeff|talk]]) 17:35, 4 November 2013 (UTC)
::: Maybe, he did the MASH is about the book, movie or TV Show M*A*S*H instead? --[[User:Jeff|Jeff]] ([[User talk:Jeff|talk]]) 17:49, 4 November 2013 (UTC)
:: Monster Mash was written by Bobby Pickett, maybe it has something to do with him? [[User:Sten|'''STEN''']] ([[User talk:Sten|talk]]) 18:38, 4 November 2013 (UTC)
::: Maybe it's not "monster mash" but just "monster". This would allow the Water-3 Pokemon to be "Cloyster". [[Special:Contributions/108.162.237.5|108.162.237.5]] 19:17, 4 November 2013 (UTC)
:::: You are having trouble counting to eight. [[User:Cscott|Cscott]] ([[User talk:Cscott|talk]]) 20:22, 4 November 2013 (UTC)

It seems to me there are two puzzles here, if folks are right that this is not actual data from the hack. 1) Figure out Adobe's master 3DES encryption password, for the big prize. 2) figure out Randall's 3DES encryption password for this puzzle based on these hints, and knowing it will be something clever. [[User:Nealmcb|Nealmcb]] ([[User talk:Nealmcb|talk]]) 16:12, 4 November 2013 (UTC)

Trying to decode the passwords (As Randall obviously wants us to)
"with your own hand you have done all this" is from the book of Judith.
Working on decoding the others. --[[User:Jeff|Jeff]] ([[User talk:Jeff|talk]]) 17:13, 4 November 2013 (UTC)

8babb6299e06eb6d = password
a0a2876eb1ea1fea = 1
85e9da81a8a78adc = 57
--[[User:Jeff|Jeff]] ([[User talk:Jeff|talk]]) 18:10, 4 November 2013 (UTC)

Weather Vane Sword may be a reference to Game of Thrones Ascent. The "Sworn Sword", I believe is "Rona" which is also a name. [[Special:Contributions/173.245.55.216|173.245.55.216]] 18:27, 4 November 2013 (UTC)
: It needs to be a name of an apostle (as per line 7) and have 7 or 8 characters (as line 3 needs a continuation) so this leaves Matthew, Thaddeus and (Judas) Iscariot. [[User:Sten|'''STEN''']] ([[User talk:Sten|talk]]) 18:57, 4 November 2013 (UTC)

If a password(or 8 character segment) is guessed can it be confirmed? Somebody should take this leaked list and create a website that presents it like in the comment and lets people guess. It can fill in the guessed ones. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.246.117|108.162.246.117]] 19:17, 4 November 2013 (UTC)

I'm putting in Mattias for the sword, name1 and disciple because of Saint Matthias [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint_Matthias] and Redwall Matthias [http://redwall.wikia.com/wiki/Matthias] who held the Weathervane Sword (Also known as the sword of Martin [http://redwall.wikia.com/wiki/The_Sword_of_Martin] ) --[[User:Jeff|Jeff]] ([[User talk:Jeff|talk]]) 19:27, 4 November 2013 (UTC)
: I've also removed "monster mash" from the list as it can't be right. Doesn't match the pokemon or the purloined clues. --[[User:Jeff|Jeff]] ([[User talk:Jeff|talk]]) 19:27, 4 November 2013 (UTC)

Based on the Water-3 Pokemon hint, the only possibilities of more than 8 characters are tentacool, tentacruel, barbaracle, crawdaunt, carracosta, clauncher, and clawitzer. This would mean "9dca1d79d4dec6d5" would be l, el, le, t, ta, or r. --[[User:Dvorakmd|Dvorakmd]] ([[User talk:Dvorakmd|talk]]) 19:51, 4 November 2013 (UTC)
: This is assuming there are no characters before the actual name of the pokemon. [[Special:Contributions/173.245.55.209|173.245.55.209]] 20:30, 4 November 2013 (UTC)
: Assuming Randall has constructed this comic to have a unique answer, it can't end in r because then the clue would be ambiguous (could be clauncher or clawitzer). [[User:Cscott|Cscott]] ([[User talk:Cscott|talk]]) 21:53, 4 November 2013 (UTC)
: Some of these can be ruled out; it's very unlikely to be a Generation VI Pokémon (Barbaracle, Clauncher and Clawitzer) as this has only just come out and someone would have had to set up their pasword within the last few weeks. And the Pokémon that are also in the Water-1 group are probably more likely to be thought of as Water-1 than Water-3 (Crawdaunt and Carracosta). This only leaves Tentacool and Tentacruel as longer than 8 letter Water-3 only Pokémon that have been known of for a reasonable length of time; and Tentacool is no one's favourite, as the annoying multitude of them that show up whenever you try to Surf anyway makes them as reviled as Zubats in caves, if not moreso. :P Of course, the password need not be simply the Pokémon's name alone. "SexyShellder" "Cloyster1987" "Misty'sStarmie"... Who knows? [[Special:Contributions/141.101.99.252|141.101.99.252]] 01:03, 5 November 2013 (UTC)

I don't know the answer to the end either, but here's a list of people who did the Monster Mash, from Wikipedia:
* Bobby Picket (as Boris Picket)
* Garpax Records (Gary S. Paxton)
* The Misfits
* far, far too many other covers to list
And here's some synonyms for "purloined", from thesaurus.com:
* stole
* pilfered
* filched
* misappropriated
* embezzled
* burglarized
* shoplifted
* poached
* pillaged
* cheated
* pinched
* heisted
* thieved
* plundered
* appropriated
* lifted
* took
* snitched
* defrauded
* swindled
* ripped off
* made off with
Good luck with these!
—[[User:TobyBartels|TobyBartels]] ([[User talk:TobyBartels|talk]]) 20:31, 4 November 2013 (UTC)

What about Purloined referring to "The Purloined Letter?" When choosing hints, people, at least in my experience, tend to use word association rather than synonyms. [[Special:Contributions/173.245.55.209|173.245.55.209]]

Purloined could also be a reference to the Monster.com hack (http://www.symantec.com/connect/blogs/monster-trojan). [[Special:Contributions/108.162.237.11|108.162.237.11]] 21:00, 4 November 2013 (UTC)

Words meaning purloined that can have the listed suffixes could be '''embezzle'''/'''embezzler''' or '''scrounge'''/'''scrounger'''. Not sure if it fits to the mash clue. There was a loan shark character who would acquire things on MASH called Rizzo, it is a stretch though. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.246.117|108.162.246.117]] 21:01, 4 November 2013 (UTC)

I'm still trying to figure out how the solutions go into the spaces on the right -- it may be more obvious once the last couple clues are figured out. I suspect the ordering and numbers of clues have some sort of meaning. Why are there 5 of the 877... passwords, 2 with no clues? Why is one of the 4e18.... passwords separated from the rest? [[Special:Contributions/108.162.221.28|108.162.221.28]] 21:07, 4 November 2013 (UTC)

Could Purloined be a reference to the "Purloined Shadows" book in Elder Scrolls? --[[User:Dvorakmd|Dvorakmd]] ([[User talk:Dvorakmd|talk]]) 21:09, 4 November 2013 (UTC)
: Or 'The Purloined Payroll', a WoW quest? "Purloined in Petrograd" is also a lyric to a Decemberists song (The Bagman's Gambit). Google n-grams suggests that "Purloined Image", and "purloined documents" are a Thing. [[User:Cscott|Cscott]] ([[User talk:Cscott|talk]]) 21:58, 4 November 2013 (UTC)

Purloined could be a reference to something that is known as have been stolen like a work of art, or it could be something that was stolen in an XKCD comic. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.246.117|108.162.246.117]] 21:18, 4 November 2013 (UTC)

'''EdgarPoe'''(author of The Purloined Letter)/'''EdgarPoet''' fits, but again not really anything to do with MASH. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.246.117|108.162.246.117]] 21:27, 4 November 2013 (UTC)

Water-3 pokemon (egg group) are given here: http://bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wiki/Water_3_(Egg_Group) ...if I split off the letters of their names after the 8th letter, we see l, el, le, t, ta, and r. So the MASH item ends with one of those suffixes. [[Special:Contributions/199.27.128.167|199.27.128.167]] 21:31, 4 November 2013 (UTC)
: Can't end in 'r', because then that clue would be ambiguous. [[User:Cscott|Cscott]] ([[User talk:Cscott|talk]]) 21:53, 4 November 2013 (UTC)
: Speaking of pokemon, could the clue to purloined have something to do with the pokemon Purrloin? http://bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wiki/Purrloin_(Pok%C3%A9mon) [[Special:Contributions/108.162.221.43|108.162.221.43]] 23:51, 4 November 2013 (UTC)

Is there a reason "MASH" is capitalized in the above sections? Given the context, it shouldn't be, and I still haven't given up on the password being a reference to the monster mash. That said, we can't ignore the movie/show MASH.
Also, now that I think about it: pokeMONstermash? I don't know, just throwing ideas out :P [[Special:Contributions/173.245.55.209|173.245.55.209]] 22:08, 4 November 2013 (UTC)

On [http://de.reddit.com/r/programming/comments/1pvwyf/xkcd_encryptic_analysis_at_the_link_below/ reddit] they suggest "Letterman" (which is wrong, too many letters) based on the M*A*S*H episode, "Letters". [[User:Cscott|Cscott]] ([[User talk:Cscott|talk]]) 22:11, 4 November 2013 (UTC)
:...on the other hand, I wonder if an answer like "ALANALDA" would work? As in, someone who "did the M*A*S*H"... [[User:Cscott|Cscott]] ([[User talk:Cscott|talk]]) 22:13, 4 November 2013 (UTC)
:: Sadly, no. Because it needs to be more than 8 characters. --[[User:Jeff|Jeff]] ([[User talk:Jeff|talk]]) 22:17, 4 November 2013 (UTC)
::: No, I mean, "an answer of this form", not ALANALDA exactly. The Edgar Allan / Alan Alda congruence is tasty, but I can't make it work. ALLANPOE works as an answer for "Purloined" but that makes something like ALLANPOET the answer to "he did the MASH" (CRAWDAUNT is then the pokemon). But that's misspelling Alda's name for the MASH clue, doesn't quite work. There's also JAMIEFARR (Cpl Klinger) as a better answer to "he did the MASH" but then that makes JAMIEFAR the answer to "purloined" and I can't plausibly make that work. ALLANARBUS is another M*A*S*H actor, but that doesn't work at all. Can anyone come up with other/better ideas in this vein? [[User:Cscott|Cscott]] ([[User talk:Cscott|talk]]) 22:31, 4 November 2013 (UTC)

In crossword puzzles, a clue ending in -ed (like 'purloined') is most commonly a hint that the answer ends in 'ed'. Cross referencing that with the Pokemon clue, the solution for "he did the MASH" becomes a nine or ten letter answer ending in: -edl, -edel, -edle, -edt, or -edta (excluding -edr due to non-uniqueness), with ......edle looking the most "English-y" to me. My hunch would be something else Robert Altman or Alan Alda "did"... but nothing seems to end in 'edle.' --[[User:Willowy burrito|Willowy burrito]] ([[User talk:Willowy burrito|talk]]) 23:07, 4 November 2013 (UTC)
: There is no indication that this is a standard crossword. Most users don't respect crossword conventions when writing password hints. [[User:Cscott|Cscott]] ([[User talk:Cscott|talk]]) 23:59, 4 November 2013 (UTC)
:: Aside from the title. And the text. And the fact these didn't come from users, but were just chosen for a puzzle designed by Randall, who would include just this sort of puzzler hint/in-joke in a comic about puzzles. It's moot, because no synonyms for 'stolen' make any sense with a couple other letters tacked on the end. But still, there've been worse hunches. --[[User:Willowy burrito|Willowy burrito]] ([[User talk:Willowy burrito|talk]]) 00:45, 5 November 2013 (UTC)

For all we know, his favourite Water-3 Pokémon could be Shell Smash Cloyster or Shell Smash Omastar - "OmastarSmash" as a password would fit in with "Monster mash". [[Special:Contributions/141.101.99.252|141.101.99.252]] 23:16, 4 November 2013 (UTC)
: I like that idea, although it leaves "Monster " (with a trailing space) as the answer to "Purloined", which makes no sense. But interesting idea. [[User:Cscott|Cscott]] ([[User talk:Cscott|talk]]) 00:00, 5 November 2013 (UTC)

MonsterMash
MonsterM
TheWiscash {{unsigned|Jcupcake}}
: It's "Whiscash", and it's Water 2 (not 3) and "MonsterM" makes no sense as an answer for the hint "Purloined". But I like the idea of adding "The" in front of the pokemon answer; perhaps we're being too restrictive by looking only at pokemon with length > 8. [[User:Cscott|Cscott]] ([[User talk:Cscott|talk]]) 23:59, 4 November 2013 (UTC)

So somewhere above this someone pointed out that purloined could refer to a monster.com hack...in which case, could the first two passwords be "monster mash" and "monster"? That would allow for another previous suggestion of "OmastarSmash" Also, here's my IP Address and a remarkably not-random timestamp: [[Special:Contributions/108.162.219.195|108.162.219.195]] 01:31, 5 November 2013 (UTC)

;Fanservice

Randall must know about this site. This comic doesn't work without people to crack the code. Should we have a fanservice category? :-) --[[User:SurturZ|SurturZ]] ([[User talk:SurturZ|talk]]) 23:32, 4 November 2013 (UTC)

I'm beginning to suspect that the wide boxes will have the key in it. Assuming he used regular DES (or DES3, for that matter, but using the same 8-byte key 3 times), it could be plausible. The 5 in the middle could be 'abcde', a lot of the other 'second halves' are numbers, and the likely known one that's not seems to be an 'x' -- which could certainly be involved in writing a hex number... problem is there's 11 of those boxes. Trying to guess what signficance the positioning of those boxes have. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.221.28|108.162.221.28]] 00:00, 5 November 2013 (UTC)

Actually, it looks like the boxes line up perfectly such that the wide bits (for second-half) will only touch the words they apply to. Order will be more or less what they are (I see the wide boxes as, in order, 1, 57, 10, Sheen, and X, with the 8 char boxes as Matthias, Password, Judith15, Charlie, and HoustonT). The next 5 are odd -- I'm not sure if we repeat the alpha/obvious password 5 times, or it's 5 chars long (abcde) and one per box. The last set is still under discussion, of course. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.221.28|108.162.221.28]] 00:20, 5 November 2013 (UTC)