explain xkcd - User contributions [en]

2101: Technical Analysis

2019-01-23T13:16:28Z

108.162.219.232: ditto

{{comic
| number = 2101
| date = January 21, 2019
| title = Technical Analysis
| image = technical_analysis.png
| titletext = "I [suspect] that we are throwing more and more of our resources, including the cream of our youth, into financial activities remote from the production of goods and services, into activities that generate high private rewards disproportionate to their social productivity. I suspect that the immense power of the computer is being harnessed to this 'paper economy', not to do the same transactions more economically but to balloon the quantity and variety of financial exchanges." --James Tobin, July 1984
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete| Comic is still undergoing TECHNICAL ANALYSIS (this is just the prologue). Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

{{w|Technical analysis}} is a field which attempts to study stock markets, cryptocurrency markets, etc. statistically (without regard to the fundamental value of the assets), seeking to profit off the patterns that are found there.

The theoretical value of a stock is the sum of all its future earnings, with earnings in the future discounted appropriately to account for the {{w|time value of money}}. Because these earnings are never fully predictable, traders may have different ideas about the true value of a stock, and buy the stock if they believe the currently offered prices are particularly low, or sell it when the prices are high.

Technical analysis, however, does not even attempt to understand the earnings of the stock, instead focusing on the shapes and patterns that result from traders making their moves. While there is a human behavioral component to stock trading, it is not clear that one can extract much information from the shapes of stock charts. To the extent it does work, a substantial part of its success may be simply an artifact of the herd behavior of traders who engage in technical analysis, a zero-sum game.

The comic displays a {{w|Candlestick chart|stock price chart}}, annotated with labels which purport to be technical analysis. These labels are nonsense from the perspective of technical analysis, but do accurately describe the graph itself: "{{w|allegro}}" (a musical term used to set the tempo at the beginning of a score), "{{w|prologue}}" (an introductory section of a play, book, or similar), "{{w|lumbar}} support" (the thing in a chair shaped to better support your back), "bathtub" (possibly a reference to the so-called "{{w|Bathtub curve}}"), "{{w|uptalk}}" (a speech pattern). One label celebrates that "these two points define a line! Promising signal." (In geometry, any two points define a line.)

The shape of the chart is similar to the exponential behavior of cryptocurrencies when they are successful, where price (positional height on the chart) roughly increases while volatility (height of the bars or candles themselves, and of the peaks and troughs, on the chart) does the same. Technical analysis used to be an esoteric domain held by well-paid stock analysts, but as cryptocurrency has spread and taken down the many barriers to engaging in investment trading, people from all walks of life have begun staring at charts like this.

{| class="wikitable"
|+Graph labels and possible meanings
|-
|{{w|Allegro_(music)|Allegro}}
|Tempo notation in music: played quickly and brightly (translation from Italian: cheerful, lively) - a series of very small changes in this region of the graph might suggest notes played quickly
|-
|Prologue
|A prologue is an introduction to a book or other work; this presumably refers to the initial period of minimal growth which is moving toward a much more active period
|-
|Decline
|Describes a negative trend
|-
|Doldrums
|A stagnant section of the graph with little movement
|-
|Spline
|A {{w|Spline (mathematics)|spline}} is a mathematical means of generating a smooth curve, referring to the smoothed curve shown here
|-
|{{w|Lumbar}} Support
|A cushion or other device that provides support to the lower part of the ''spine'', a play on the preceding ''spline''
|-
|Renewal
|Strong upward trend; also might suggest the growth of green bars, like greening up in the spring
|-
|Hmm!
|The three circles this label points to mark periods of growth that immediately preceded a decline. Ideally for someone performing a technical analysis, if such occurrences can be foreseen accurately it would be a major boon for the stockholder, as they could be tipped to sell it right away before the price drops and net a cash profit.
|-
|Hark! The cliffs!
|A long bar suggesting a steep cliff
|-
|Declination
|A term which sounds similar to decline, but actually refers to the angular distance of a point from one of the poles. The declination of magnetic north is used to correct the difference between true and magnetic north.
|-
|Inflection
|A point at which the slope of a graph changes from an increasing slope (getting steeper) to a decreasing slope (getting less steep).
|-
|Uptalk
|A pattern of speech in which each sentence ends with rising inflection? like a question? A play on "uptick", and also on the second meaning of "inflection"
|-
|Bathtub
|possibly a reference to the so-called "{{w|Bathtub curve}}", also, the shape is similar to that of a bathtub, and is drawn containing water.
|-
|These two points define a line! Promising signal.
|In geometry, any two points define a line; also looks somewhat like a communication line between two towers. It is tempting when looking at market charts to draw imaginary lines that connect the extrema and hope it means something about the future. The drawn line in this case also just so happens to ignore the many periods of decline marked under "Declination" -- in this case it did eventually recover, but later labels (such as "likely to continue forever" at the end) suggest that this is more likely a case where blind optimism just so happens to have been right for those two particular points (as opposed to the many more possible pairs of points where the line wouldn't be so positive).
|-
|Yikes
|This section of the chart refers to the actual use of a candlestick chart, which is to document the difference between the opening and closing value of a stock. A long red bar shows that a stock closed at a much lower value than it opened at, which would be disastrous for someone trading that stock.
|-
|Wrong!
|The circled pair of bars are the only pair in the whole graph where two red bars (negative growth) that large are next to each other -- larger red bars exist, but not next to another one of similar magnitude. Labeling it "wrong" suggests the analyst is choosing to ignore reality by throwing out actual past data rather than revise the theory being held.
|-
|If I add some lines here I can convince myself I'm doing something more than just seeing patterns in the graph of a random walk
|A {{w|random walk}} is a mathematical object that describes a path that consists of a succession of random steps. Randall is trying to convince himself that the patterns in the stock chart are more meaningful than just random data. The {{w|Random walk hypothesis|random walk hypothesis}} is a financial theory that states that stock prices evolve according to a random walk, thus short-term price changes are random and cannot be predicted from past history.
|-
|Slope
|The {{w|slope}} of a graph is the ratio of the "vertical change" to the "horizontal change". This could also be a play on a second meaning of slope, meaning a rising or falling surface in general.
|-
|Could be an omen
|This again makes reference to the financial meaning of the candlestick chart. The top of the small grey tick represents the highest value that the stock sold at over that day. The joke is that even though the stock did not grow appreciably, and actually sold at some point in the day for much lower, that it "could be an omen" that the value was rising.
|-
|Red + Green = Christmas
|Red and green are traditional colors for the {{w|Christmas}} holiday in the U.S.
|-
|Likely to continue forever
|This is the opinion held by everyone who buys at an all time high. It's been rising so much, surely it's the best time to buy! We could make millions! Such times are generally followed by a sharp downturn resulting in significant losses, as can be seen historically farther back on the chart. Cryptocurrency communities have significant members who call themselves "hodlers" -- these people always trust that the price will eventually go up even higher, because it has recovered so many times in the past.
|}

The title text is a quote from {{w|James Tobin}} (from his 1984 paper [https://economicsociologydotorg.files.wordpress.com/2014/12/tobin-on-the-efficiency-of-the-financial-system.pdf ''On the efficiency of the financial system'']) that raises a question of very talented people building systems to make themselves a lot of money without actually accomplishing anything worth money. The quote was about the stock market and high speed traders in particular. It comments on the 'financialization' of the economy, where activities like speculation and abstracted financial products have become an increasingly large part of the economy, as opposed to investment in productive industry.

Interestingly, this comic appeared the day after [https://www.oxfamamerica.org/explore/stories/billionaire-wealth-grows-by-25-billion-a-day-while-poorest-wealth-falls/ Oxfam] reported that the world's 2,200 billionaires had added 12% to their wealth in 2018, while the 3.8 billion people comprising the poorest half of the world's population had lost 11%. Perhaps this prompted what appears to be Randall's jab at those whose business is merely making money.

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

:[A series of red and green box-and-whisker plots form a line that starts in the bottom left corner of the image and wiggles up to the top right corner, with a series of peaks and troughs that resemble a typical stock market diagram. The diagram is annotated with lines, arrows and text.]

::[Title in top left corner]
::The basics of technical analysis

::[A roughly horizontal section with mostly green boxes:]
::Allegro

::[A horizontal bracket encompasses the next three sections]
::Prologue

::[Slope becomes slightly negative. Mostly red boxes, bordered with a black line above and below:]
::Decline

::[A roughly horizontal section with mostly green boxes, bordered with a black line above and below:]
::Doldrums

::[Line curves upwards with mostly green boxes, with a dashed black line below:]
::Spline

::[Three green boxes at minor peaks in the line are circled and indicated with arrows:]
::[Hmm!]

::[A section with slight positive slope and a mixture of red and green boxes, with a solid black line below:]
::Lumbar support

::[Slope increases. All green boxes, with a black line through the centre:]
::Renewal

::[A sharp upwards incline, with two large green boxes:]
::Hark! The cliffs!

::[Two black dots and a dashed black line connect two major peaks:]
::These two points define a line! Promising signal

::[Inside trough between two major peaks is a roughly drawn black triangle:]
::Bathtub

::[Slope becomes negative, mostly red boxes with a black line through the centre:]
::Declination

::[At the lowest point of the trough:]
::Inflection

::[Slope becomes positive, mostly green boxes with a black line through the centre:]
::Uptalk

::[Slight negative slope, with large error bars. Mixture of red and green boxes. One red box is marked with an arrow:]
::Yikes!

::[Negative slope, all red boxes. Gap between two central boxes is circled:]
::Wrong!

::[Line rises then falls. Mixture of red and green boxes with non-parallel dashed black lines above and below:]
::If I add some lines here I can convince myself I'm doing something more than just seeing patterns in a graph of a random walk.

::[Positive slope, all green boxes with a black line through the centre:]
::Slope!

::[One error bar on a green box is circled:]
::Could be an omen?

::[Arrow indicating peak:]
::Red + Green = Christmas!

::[Positive slope, all green boxes with a wiggly black arrow through the centre. A separate arrow points off the edge of the page:]
::Likely to continue forever

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics with color]]
[[Category:Charts]]
[[Category:Christmas]] 
[[Category:Music]] 
[[Category:Comics featuring real people]]

2101: Technical Analysis

2019-01-23T13:14:16Z

108.162.219.232: "two points define a line" is true in all geometries, not only euclidean ones. What exactly a point and a line are may change from one space to another, but the relationship stays the same.

{{comic
| number = 2101
| date = January 21, 2019
| title = Technical Analysis
| image = technical_analysis.png
| titletext = "I [suspect] that we are throwing more and more of our resources, including the cream of our youth, into financial activities remote from the production of goods and services, into activities that generate high private rewards disproportionate to their social productivity. I suspect that the immense power of the computer is being harnessed to this 'paper economy', not to do the same transactions more economically but to balloon the quantity and variety of financial exchanges." --James Tobin, July 1984
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete| Comic is still undergoing TECHNICAL ANALYSIS (this is just the prologue). Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

{{w|Technical analysis}} is a field which attempts to study stock markets, cryptocurrency markets, etc. statistically (without regard to the fundamental value of the assets), seeking to profit off the patterns that are found there.

The theoretical value of a stock is the sum of all its future earnings, with earnings in the future discounted appropriately to account for the {{w|time value of money}}. Because these earnings are never fully predictable, traders may have different ideas about the true value of a stock, and buy the stock if they believe the currently offered prices are particularly low, or sell it when the prices are high.

Technical analysis, however, does not even attempt to understand the earnings of the stock, instead focusing on the shapes and patterns that result from traders making their moves. While there is a human behavioral component to stock trading, it is not clear that one can extract much information from the shapes of stock charts. To the extent it does work, a substantial part of its success may be simply an artifact of the herd behavior of traders who engage in technical analysis, a zero-sum game.

The comic displays a {{w|Candlestick chart|stock price chart}}, annotated with labels which purport to be technical analysis. These labels are nonsense from the perspective of technical analysis, but do accurately describe the graph itself: "{{w|allegro}}" (a musical term used to set the tempo at the beginning of a score), "{{w|prologue}}" (an introductory section of a play, book, or similar), "{{w|lumbar}} support" (the thing in a chair shaped to better support your back), "bathtub" (possibly a reference to the so-called "{{w|Bathtub curve}}"), "{{w|uptalk}}" (a speech pattern). One label celebrates that "these two points define a line! Promising signal." (In geometry, any two points define a line.)

The shape of the chart is similar to the exponential behavior of cryptocurrencies when they are successful, where price (positional height on the chart) roughly increases while volatility (height of the bars or candles themselves, and of the peaks and troughs, on the chart) does the same. Technical analysis used to be an esoteric domain held by well-paid stock analysts, but as cryptocurrency has spread and taken down the many barriers to engaging in investment trading, people from all walks of life have begun staring at charts like this.

{| class="wikitable"
|+Graph labels and possible meanings
|-
|{{w|Allegro_(music)|Allegro}}
|Tempo notation in music: played quickly and brightly (translation from Italian: cheerful, lively) - a series of very small changes in this region of the graph might suggest notes played quickly
|-
|Prologue
|A prologue is an introduction to a book or other work; this presumably refers to the initial period of minimal growth which is moving toward a much more active period
|-
|Decline
|Describes a negative trend
|-
|Doldrums
|A stagnant section of the graph with little movement
|-
|Spline
|A {{w|Spline (mathematics)|spline}} is a mathematical means of generating a smooth curve, referring to the smoothed curve shown here
|-
|{{w|Lumbar}} Support
|A cushion or other device that provides support to the lower part of the ''spine'', a play on the preceding ''spline''
|-
|Renewal
|Strong upward trend; also might suggest the growth of green bars, like greening up in the spring
|-
|Hmm!
|The three circles this label points to mark periods of growth that immediately preceded a decline. Ideally for someone performing a technical analysis, if such occurrences can be foreseen accurately it would be a major boon for the stockholder, as they could be tipped to sell it right away before the price drops and net a cash profit.
|-
|Hark! The cliffs!
|A long bar suggesting a steep cliff
|-
|Declination
|A term which sounds similar to decline, but actually refers to the angular distance of a point from one of the poles. The declination of magnetic north is used to correct the difference between true and magnetic north.
|-
|Inflection
|A point at which the slope of a graph changes from an increasing slope (getting steeper) to a decreasing slope (getting less steep).
|-
|Uptalk
|A pattern of speech in which each sentence ends with rising inflection? like a question? A play on "uptick", and also on the second meaning of "inflection"
|-
|Bathtub
|possibly a reference to the so-called "{{w|Bathtub curve}}", also, the shape is similar to that of a bathtub, and is drawn containing water.
|-
|These two points define a line! Promising signal.
|In Euclidian geometry, any two points define a line; also looks somewhat like a communication line between two towers. It is tempting when looking at market charts to draw imaginary lines that connect the extrema and hope it means something about the future. The drawn line in this case also just so happens to ignore the many periods of decline marked under "Declination" -- in this case it did eventually recover, but later labels (such as "likely to continue forever" at the end) suggest that this is more likely a case where blind optimism just so happens to have been right for those two particular points (as opposed to the many more possible pairs of points where the line wouldn't be so positive).
|-
|Yikes
|This section of the chart refers to the actual use of a candlestick chart, which is to document the difference between the opening and closing value of a stock. A long red bar shows that a stock closed at a much lower value than it opened at, which would be disastrous for someone trading that stock.
|-
|Wrong!
|The circled pair of bars are the only pair in the whole graph where two red bars (negative growth) that large are next to each other -- larger red bars exist, but not next to another one of similar magnitude. Labeling it "wrong" suggests the analyst is choosing to ignore reality by throwing out actual past data rather than revise the theory being held.
|-
|If I add some lines here I can convince myself I'm doing something more than just seeing patterns in the graph of a random walk
|A {{w|random walk}} is a mathematical object that describes a path that consists of a succession of random steps. Randall is trying to convince himself that the patterns in the stock chart are more meaningful than just random data. The {{w|Random walk hypothesis|random walk hypothesis}} is a financial theory that states that stock prices evolve according to a random walk, thus short-term price changes are random and cannot be predicted from past history.
|-
|Slope
|The {{w|slope}} of a graph is the ratio of the "vertical change" to the "horizontal change". This could also be a play on a second meaning of slope, meaning a rising or falling surface in general.
|-
|Could be an omen
|This again makes reference to the financial meaning of the candlestick chart. The top of the small grey tick represents the highest value that the stock sold at over that day. The joke is that even though the stock did not grow appreciably, and actually sold at some point in the day for much lower, that it "could be an omen" that the value was rising.
|-
|Red + Green = Christmas
|Red and green are traditional colors for the {{w|Christmas}} holiday in the U.S.
|-
|Likely to continue forever
|This is the opinion held by everyone who buys at an all time high. It's been rising so much, surely it's the best time to buy! We could make millions! Such times are generally followed by a sharp downturn resulting in significant losses, as can be seen historically farther back on the chart. Cryptocurrency communities have significant members who call themselves "hodlers" -- these people always trust that the price will eventually go up even higher, because it has recovered so many times in the past.
|}

The title text is a quote from {{w|James Tobin}} (from his 1984 paper [https://economicsociologydotorg.files.wordpress.com/2014/12/tobin-on-the-efficiency-of-the-financial-system.pdf ''On the efficiency of the financial system'']) that raises a question of very talented people building systems to make themselves a lot of money without actually accomplishing anything worth money. The quote was about the stock market and high speed traders in particular. It comments on the 'financialization' of the economy, where activities like speculation and abstracted financial products have become an increasingly large part of the economy, as opposed to investment in productive industry.

Interestingly, this comic appeared the day after [https://www.oxfamamerica.org/explore/stories/billionaire-wealth-grows-by-25-billion-a-day-while-poorest-wealth-falls/ Oxfam] reported that the world's 2,200 billionaires had added 12% to their wealth in 2018, while the 3.8 billion people comprising the poorest half of the world's population had lost 11%. Perhaps this prompted what appears to be Randall's jab at those whose business is merely making money.

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

:[A series of red and green box-and-whisker plots form a line that starts in the bottom left corner of the image and wiggles up to the top right corner, with a series of peaks and troughs that resemble a typical stock market diagram. The diagram is annotated with lines, arrows and text.]

::[Title in top left corner]
::The basics of technical analysis

::[A roughly horizontal section with mostly green boxes:]
::Allegro

::[A horizontal bracket encompasses the next three sections]
::Prologue

::[Slope becomes slightly negative. Mostly red boxes, bordered with a black line above and below:]
::Decline

::[A roughly horizontal section with mostly green boxes, bordered with a black line above and below:]
::Doldrums

::[Line curves upwards with mostly green boxes, with a dashed black line below:]
::Spline

::[Three green boxes at minor peaks in the line are circled and indicated with arrows:]
::[Hmm!]

::[A section with slight positive slope and a mixture of red and green boxes, with a solid black line below:]
::Lumbar support

::[Slope increases. All green boxes, with a black line through the centre:]
::Renewal

::[A sharp upwards incline, with two large green boxes:]
::Hark! The cliffs!

::[Two black dots and a dashed black line connect two major peaks:]
::These two points define a line! Promising signal

::[Inside trough between two major peaks is a roughly drawn black triangle:]
::Bathtub

::[Slope becomes negative, mostly red boxes with a black line through the centre:]
::Declination

::[At the lowest point of the trough:]
::Inflection

::[Slope becomes positive, mostly green boxes with a black line through the centre:]
::Uptalk

::[Slight negative slope, with large error bars. Mixture of red and green boxes. One red box is marked with an arrow:]
::Yikes!

::[Negative slope, all red boxes. Gap between two central boxes is circled:]
::Wrong!

::[Line rises then falls. Mixture of red and green boxes with non-parallel dashed black lines above and below:]
::If I add some lines here I can convince myself I'm doing something more than just seeing patterns in a graph of a random walk.

::[Positive slope, all green boxes with a black line through the centre:]
::Slope!

::[One error bar on a green box is circled:]
::Could be an omen?

::[Arrow indicating peak:]
::Red + Green = Christmas!

::[Positive slope, all green boxes with a wiggly black arrow through the centre. A separate arrow points off the edge of the page:]
::Likely to continue forever

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics with color]]
[[Category:Charts]]
[[Category:Christmas]] 
[[Category:Music]] 
[[Category:Comics featuring real people]]

327: Exploits of a Mom

2019-01-17T00:44:51Z

108.162.219.232: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 327
| date = October 10, 2007
| title = Exploits of a Mom
| image = exploits_of_a_mom.png
| titletext = Her daughter is named Help I'm trapped in a driver's license factory.
}}

==Explanation==
[[Mrs. Roberts]] receives a call from her [[Little Bobby Tables|son]]'s school. The caller, likely one of the school's administrators, asks if she really named her son <code>Robert'); DROP TABLE Students;--</code>, a rather unusual name.{{Citation needed}} Perhaps surprisingly, Mrs. Roberts responds in the affirmative, claiming that she uses the nickname "Little Bobby Tables." As the full name is read into the school's system's databases without {{w|Data sanitization#SQL injection|data sanitization}}, it causes the "Students" table in the database to be deleted.

The title of this comic is a pun. ''Exploit'' can mean an accomplishment or heroic deed, but in computer science, the term refers to a program or technique that takes advantage of a vulnerability in other software. In fact, one could say that her exploit is to exploit an exploit (her achievement is to make use of a vulnerability). The title can also refer to her choice of name for her son, which is rather extraordinary.

In {{w|SQL}}, a database programming language, commands are separated by semicolons <code>;</code>, and strings of text are often delimited using single quotes <code>'</code>. Parts of commands may also be enclosed in parentheses <code>(</code> and <code>)</code>. Data entries are stored as "rows" within named "tables" of similar items (e.g., <code>Students</code>). The command to delete an entire table (and thus every row of data in that table) is <code>DROP TABLE</code>, as in <code>DROP TABLE Students;</code>.

The exploited vulnerability here is that the single quote in the name input was not correctly "escaped" by the software. That is, if a student's name did indeed contain a quote mark, it should have been parsed as one of the characters making up the text string and not as the marker to close the string, which it erroneously was. Lack of careful parsing is a common SQL vulnerability; this type of exploit is referred to as {{w|SQL injection}}. Mrs. Roberts thus reminds the school to make sure that they have added data filtering code to prevent code injection exploits in the future.

For example, to add information about Elaine to a data table called 'Students', the SQL query could be:
<br><code>INSERT INTO Students (firstname) VALUES ('Elaine');</code>

However, using the odd name <code>Robert');DROP TABLE Students;-- </code> where we used "Elaine" above, the SQL query becomes:
<br><code>INSERT INTO Students (firstname) VALUES ('Robert');DROP TABLE Students;-- ');</code>

By insertion of the two semi-colons in the odd name, this is now three well-formed SQL commands:
<br><code>
INSERT INTO Students (firstname) VALUES ('Robert');

DROP TABLE Students;

-- ');
</code>

The first line is valid SQL code that will legitimately insert data about a student named Robert.

The second line is valid injected SQL code that will delete the whole Student data table from the database.

The third line is a valid code comment ( --  denotes a comment), which will be ignored by the SQL server.

For this to work, it helps to know the structure of the database. But it's quite a good guess that a school's student management database might have a table named <code>Students</code>.

Of course, in real life, most exploits of this kind would be performed not by engineering a person's name such that it would eventually be entered into a school database query, but rather by accessing some kind of input system (such as a website's login screen or search interface) and guessing various combinations by trial and error until something works, perhaps by first trying to inject the <code>SHOW TABLES;</code> command to see how the database is structured.

To correctly and harmlessly include the odd name in the Students table in the school database the correct SQL is:
<br><code>INSERT INTO Students (firstname) VALUES ('Robert\');DROP TABLE Students;-- ');</code>

Note that the single quote after Robert is now sanitized by a backslash, which changes it from malicious code to harmless data, and the full first 'name' of the student <code>Robert';DROP TABLE Students;--</code> is now stored correctly.

It should be noted that, while data sanitization can mitigate the risks of SQL injection, the proper prevention technique is to use {{w|Prepared statement}}s.

Noting the difference between the "actual" name using the word TABLE and the child's nickname being Bobby Tables, one could argue there's an implied reference to one of the most argued topics of database naming conventions - should table names be singular or plural.

The title text references that Mrs. Roberts' daughter is named "Help I'm trapped in a driver's license factory". This is a play on how if someone is stuck and forced to work in a manufacturing factory/plant, then they will write on the product "Help I am trapped in a ____ factory" in order to tell people on the outside. Having this name would cause any police officer who pulls her over to show some concern. And getting the license in the first place would likely be difficult. The idea of inserting a help message like this was already used in [[10: Pi Equals]].


The title text is even funnier translated into Spanish, where the word for "help" ("Socorro") is actually a common female name, which comes from [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Our_Lady_of_Perpetual_Help a title of the Virgin Mary], so it would be a plausible girl's name (like "Bobby Tables" is for boys).

==Transcript==
:[Mrs. Roberts receives a call from her son's school on her wireless phone. She is standing with a cup of hot coffee or tea (shown with a small line above the cup) facing a small round three-legged table to the right. The voice of the caller is indicated to come from the phone with a zigzag line.]
:Voice over the phone: Hi, This is your son's school. We're having some computer trouble.

:[In this frame-less panel Mrs. Roberts has put the cup down on the table turned facing out.]
:Mrs. Roberts: Oh, dear - did he break something?
:Voice over the phone: In a way -

:[Mrs. Roberts is now drinking from the cup again looking right. The table is not shown.]
:Voice over the phone: Did you really name your son <code>Robert'); DROP TABLE Students;--</code> ?
:Mrs. Roberts: Oh, yes. Little Bobby Tables, we call him.

:[Mrs. Roberts holds the cup down.]
:Voice over the phone: Well, we've lost this year's student records. I hope you're happy.
:Mrs. Roberts: And I hope you've learned to sanitize your database inputs.

==Trivia==

This comic has become rather famous, spawning a site at http://bobby-tables.com about preventing SQL injection and also at the official [https://docs.python.org/2/library/sqlite3.html Python SQLite documentation]. Noted security expert {{w|Bruce Schneier}} (who often quotes xkcd) [https://www.schneier.com/blog/archives/2010/10/pen-and-paper_s.html mentioned a similar attack] that happened in the 2014 Swedish general elections.

In [[1253: Exoplanet Names]], someone (presumably Mrs. Roberts) attempts to perform a similar trick, submitting the name <code>e'); DROP TABLE PLANETS;--</code> to the IAU.

It is later revealed in [[342: 1337: Part 2]] that the daughter's middle name is [[Elaine]] (full name: ''Help I'm trapped in a driver's license factory Elaine Roberts''). This is thus the first time Elaine is mentioned. Seems like this comic was a setup for the "[[:Category:1337|1337]]" series where both this exploiting mom's kids are shown for the first time.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Mrs. Roberts]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Little Bobby Tables]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Elaine Roberts]]
[[Category:Programming]]
[[Category:Computers]]

1037: Umwelt

2019-01-02T23:49:31Z

108.162.219.232: /* Reddit */ Made a correction where instead of being the 3rd panel, the 2nd panel was stated.

{{comic
| number = 1037
| date = April 1, 2012
| title = Umwelt
| image = umwelt_the_void.jpg
| titletext = Umwelt is the idea that because their senses pick up on different things, different animals in the same ecosystem actually live in very different worlds. Everything about you shapes the world you inhabit--from your ideology to your glasses prescription to your web browser.
}}
<div class="toclimit-3" style="float:right; margin-left: 10px;">__TOC__</div>

==Explanation==
This was the third [[:Category:April fools' comics|April fools' comic]] released by [[Randall]]. The previous fools comic was
[[880: Headache]] from Friday April 1st 2011. The next was [[1193: Externalities]] released on Monday April 1st 2013.

This comic was released on April 1 even though that was [[:Category:Sunday comics|a Sunday]] (only the third comic to be released on a Sunday). But it was only due to the April Fool joke, as it did replace the comic that would have been scheduled for Monday, April 2nd. The next comic, [[1038: Fountain]], was first released on Wednesday, April 4th. This was the first that could be different for different readers.

An {{w|Umwelt}}, as the title text explains, is the idea that one's entire way of thinking is dependent on their surroundings. Thus, this {{w|April Fools}} comic changes based on the browser, location, or referrer. Thus, what the viewer is viewing the comic on, where they live, or where they came from determines which comic they actually see. As a result, there are actually multiple comics that went up on April Fools' Day, although only one is seen.
(Fun Fact: the German word "Umwelt" does not mean anything vaguely similar; it translates in all contexts almost exactly as "environment".)

Information about how the wide variety of data was collected and credit for the viewers who contributed can be found [http://www.reddit.com/r/xkcd/comments/rnst4/april_fools_xkcd_changing_comic/ here].

===The Void===
[[File:umwelt the void.jpg]]

If the device or browser you are using does not support Javascript, you will simply see a static image of a white swirl on a dark background.

Possible reference to The Ring (http://imgur.com/wlGmm), as though to suggest that using an alternative browser is dismal and horrific.

Davean (xkcd's sysadmin): "[This] comic isn't available everywhere and it can come up i[n] some situation[s] only for recognized browsers."

Browser: Alternative Browser

===Aurora===
[[File:umwelt aurora.png]]

One could interpret that since Megan didn't go out and therefore missed seeing the {{w|Aurora}} (northern lights), Cueball in his [[1350:_Lorenz#Knit_Cap_Girl|knit cap]] lied about it. That way, she wouldn't have felt sad that she missed out. Another interpretation could be that he decides that since she did not even bother to go outside to see such a spectacular sight he will not tell her about it. And yet another could be that he did not think it was interesting.

Cueball could possibly also be red-green colorblind, seeing the green aurorae as grey "clouds". This would serve as an example for the theme of the comic, as a non-colorblind person and a colorblind person seeing the same color would perceive it differently, one seeing it as its true color, and the other seeing it without the shade of color they cannot see.

This image changed based on the size of the browser window including different panels at different sizes.

Locations: Canada, Boston, Maine, New York, Ohio, Oregon, Texas, Minnesota, Norway, Denmark, France, Rhode Island (not sure if mobile only or not.) (also in virginia, but using ohio in the first panel) (also in maryland, but using canada in the first panel)

In [[1302: Year in Review]] a possibly different Megan has a completely different approach to the chance of seeing northern lights, as that was the only event she was looking forward to in 2013, and it failed. If this is the same Megan, perhaps she learned that there actually were northern lights in her area from another source, and so desperately wanted to have another chance to see them.

===Snake===
[[File:umwelt snake composite 1024.png]]
[[:File:umwelt snake composite.png|Full size]]

The joke here is the extreme length of snakes. The world's longest snake is the python, the longest ever being 33 feet or approx. 10 meters. The blue and orange circles refer to the hit game {{w|Portal}}.
There is also a reference to the book "The Little Prince" in the second panel, where there is a large bulge in the snake that looks like an elephant. The Little Prince starts out by mentioning a drawing that the author made when he was six that showed an elephant inside a snake.

Also, the number and content of the panels changes depending on the size of your browser window.

This image changed based on the size of the browser window including different panels at different sizes.

Specific AltText for this image: Umwelt is the idea that because their senses pick up on different things, different animals in the same ecosystem actually live in very different worlds. Everything about you shapes the world you inhabit -from your ideology to your glasses prescription to your browser window size.

Location: Texas (on Chrome Version 33.0.1750.154 m), New Jersey, California (on Chrome Version 39.0.2171.95), Maryland, Massachusetts (Safari for iOS, Chrome version 49.0.2623.112), Connecticut (Safari for iOS), Virginia (on Chrome), Michigan (Firefox v46.0.1), Penang (Chrome Version 65.0.3325.162).

===Black Hat===
[[File:umwelt tortoise 1024.png]]
[[:File:umwelt tortoise.png|Full size]]

Cueball as an analyst attempts to psychoanalyze [[Black Hat|Black Hat's]] [[72: Classhole|classhole]] tendencies. Cueball's quote and the whole setup is a direct reference to the movie {{w|Blade Runner}} (1982) and Black Hat is taking the Voight-Kampff test which is used to identify replicants from real humans.

Black Hat's reason for not helping the tortoise is that ''it ''''knows''' what it did'' and thus in Black Hat's world view it deserves being turned over. The final part of the joke is that when zooming out it turns out that there is a tortoise behind Black Hat and he has actually already turned it over for what it did.

Location: Seems to appear mostly in "other countries" — those without location-specific comics.

===Too Quiet===
[[File:umwelt too quiet 1024.png]]
[[:File:umwelt too quiet.png|Full size]]

A reference to {{w|Jurassic Park (film)|Jurassic Park}} which has been [[87: Velociraptors|constantly]] [[135: Substitute|referred]] [[1110: Click and Drag|to]] [[155: Search History|before]] [[758: Raptor Fences|in]] this comic.

Also referencing the film {{w|2 Fast 2 Furious|2 Fast 2 Furious}}, an entertaining, yet intellectually unprovoking sequel in a popular film franchise, which is aimed at teenagers and young adults, prompting the blunt response from the stickman. The fact that Steve would use such a cliché {{w|2000s (decade)|noughties}} movie term in such an intense moment, and the subsequent curse, is the joke in this comic.

Location: short version — iPhone 5c Safari browser in Texas, iPhone 5 Chrome Browser in Minnesota, long version - Google Chrome browser in Indiana, Windows 8 Laptop

===Pond===
[[File:umwelt pond mobile.png]][[File:umwelt pond wide.png]]

Two different versions showed, the narrower version for mobile devices.

Location: The Netherlands and various other countries.

===Galaxies===
[[File:umwelt galaxies 1024.jpg]]
[[:File:umwelt galaxies.jpg|Full size]]

Megan is distracted from her conversation with [[Cueball]] by realizing that the space behind his head, from her vantage point, contains millions of galaxies. This is similar to an [http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/image/astro/hst_deep_field.jpg incredible photograph] taken by the Hubble Telescope, in which a tiny dark area of space in fact contained numerous galaxies.

The title text is an imaginative leap from this scenario: that the galaxies would be up to no good once Cueball is turned away from them. This is presumably a reference to [http://www.mariowiki.com/boo Boo], an enemy from certain Mario games who moves toward Mario only when Mario is facing away from Boo.

This comic was only reported once... the intended environmental context is a mystery.

Location: unknown

===xkcd Gold===
[[File:umwelt xkcd gold.png]]

This is probably a reference to the 4chan Gold Account, an implementation on 4chan that does not actually exist, and is usually used to trick newcomers into revealing their credit card numbers. The joke is that "Gold Account" users can supposedly block other users from viewing images they have posted. The fifth panel is probably a reference to Beecock, a notorious set of shocker images. 4chan's moderators have been known to give out "beecock bans" or "/z/ bans" to particularly annoying users, which redirect the user to a page containing beecock and the text "OH NO THE BOARD IS GONE".

Referrer: 4chan

===Yo Mama===
[[File:umwelt dog ballast.png]]

Possible reference to Kurt Vonnegut Jr.'s "{{w|Harrison Bergeron}}."

Possibly a veiled criticism of Facebook. This could be slightly rewritten as: "This comic takes place in a dystopian future where the government is afraid of dissent, so it tracks everyone at all times, and some people privately doubt the government, but not enough to stop submitting information to Facebook. But that dystopian future is now."

Referrer: Facebook

===Reddit===
[[File:umwelt reddit.png]]

Reference to referencing, because Reddit, as a referring site, likes references to its referencing in its references.

This comic also features recursive imagery similar to [[688: Self-Description|Self Description]] where the third panel embeds the entire comic within itself.

Referrer: Reddit

===Buns and Hot dogs===
[[File:umwelt somethingawful.jpg]]

This is a reference to the question "Why do hot dogs come in packages of 6 while buns come in packages of 8?"

Another, more sexual reference to this question can be found in [[1641: Hot Dogs]].

Referrer: SomethingAwful, Questionable Content, & MetaFilter

===Twitter===
[[File:umwelt twitter.jpg]]

A summary of the content "typically" found on Twitter.

In the tweet feed, there are three tweets about some podcast on the top, followed by the tweet containing link they clicked on to get to the comic, tweets about Rob Delaney, unspecified passive-aggressive tweets, and a tweet from [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Horse_ebooks Horse Ebooks] retweeted by one of the users the reader follows.

On the left, the topmost dialog, with profile information, shows that the user has posted 1,302 tweets, but only follows 171 people and has even fewer followers, at a measly 48. This is marked with a sad face, implying that the user wants more followers.

Below that is the "who to follow" dialog, which is written up as consisting of "assholes".

Below that is the "trending tags" dialog for the United States. It is full of tags about word games, tags about misogyny, and tags about Justin Bieber.

Below that is an unidentified dialog full of "stuff your eyes automatically ignore". And finally, on the bottom is the background colour, which is "a really pleasant blue".

Referrer: Twitter

===Wikipedia===
[[File:umwelt wikipedia wide.jpg]]
[[File:umwelt wikipedia mobile.png]]

The term {{w|Mile High Club}} (or MHC) is a slang term applied collectively to individuals who have had sexual intercourse while on board of an aircraft. Randall says that reading the news articles on it has distracted him from making that comic.

Two different versions shown, the narrower version (the single panel with all the text) for mobile devices.

Referrer: Wikipedia

===Google Chrome===
[[File:umwelt chrome1.jpg]]

{{w|Sergey Brin}} (born August 21, 1973) is an American computer scientist and Internet entrepreneur who, with Larry Page, co-founded Google, one of the most profitable Internet companies. As of 2013, his personal wealth was estimated to be $24.4 billion. Randall makes the joke that as the founder of Google, Brin's permission would be needed to use Google Chrome. Because there are millions of people who use Google, it is likely that at least some of the time Brin would be asleep, thus he would need to be woken.

Browser: Chrome

===Chrome/Firefox===
[[File:umwelt chrome2.png]]

Mozilla {{w|Firefox}} is a free and open-source web browser developed for Windows, OS X, and Linux, with a mobile version for Android and iOS, by the Mozilla Foundation and its subsidiary, the Mozilla Corporation. Cueball is complaining about {{w|Google Chrome}}, to which [[Ponytail]] replies that there is an {{w|add-on}} that fixes what he is complaining about. When questioned, she replies that the add-on is Firefox, which isn't an add-on at all and is instead a different browser.

Browser: Chrome

===Google Chrome-2===
[[File:umwelt chrome3.png]]

This panel references Google Chrome's error screen, which shows a puzzle piece. The comic humorously implies that Chrome is looking for that piece. When completing jigsaw puzzles, a common strategy is to figure out where the pieces must be from their geometry rather than from the picture they create. In this case, the text suggests that Chrome believes the puzzle piece connects to the pieces which form one of the corners of the puzzle, which may seem impossible because any piece that links up to a corner would usually have at least one flat edge, which this piece has none. However, more complicated puzzles have complex shapes and are not always simply approximate squares with tabs and blanks.

Browser: Chrome or silk on desktop view

===Mozilla Firefox Private Browsing===
[[File:umwelt firefox incognito.png]]

Another reference to crashing web browsers.

Browser: Firefox (Incognito only?)

===Internet Explorer===
[[File:umwelt ie.png]]

Yet another reference to crashing web browsers

Browser: Internet Explorer

===Maxthon===
[[File:umwelt maxthon.png]]

Browser: Maxthon

===Netscape Navigator===
[[File:umwelt netscape womanoctopus.png]]

[[File:umwelt netscape man.png]]

{{w|Netscape Navigator}} was a web browser popular in the 1990s.

Browser: Netscape

===Rockmelt===
[[File:umwelt rockmelt.png]]

{{w|Rockmelt}} is a social-media-based browser.

Reference to the gospel song {{w|Longing for Old Virginia: Their Complete Victor Recordings (1934)|"There's no hiding place down here" by The Carter Family}}, later covered by Stephen Stills.

:I run to the rock just to hide my face
:And the rocks cried out, no hiding place
:There's no hiding place down here

It may additionally be a reference to the ''Babylon 5'' episode "And the Rock Cried Out, No Hiding Place," which featured the song.

Browser: Rockmelt

===Plugin Disabled===
[[File:umwelt plugin disabled.png]]

When the Google Chrome web browser does not have the required software (called a plug-in) to display a web page's content, it displays a puzzle piece icon and an error message. In this case, Chrome informs the user that the content is impossible to display.

Browser: Plugin (?) Disabled, Safari Desktop

===Corporate Networks===
[[File:umwelt corporate general.png]]
[[File:umwelt corporate amazon chrome.png]]
[[File:umwelt corporate amazon firefox.png]]
[[File:umwelt corporate amazon other.png]]
[[File:umwelt corporate google chrome.png]]
[[File:umwelt corporate microsoft chrome.png]]
[[File:umwelt corporate microsoft firefox.png]]
[[File:umwelt corporate microsoft other.png]]
[[File:umwelt corporate nytimes chrome.png]]
[[File:umwelt corporate nytimes other.png]]

These error messages appear if the user is on a network owned by one of the corporations noted. The error message includes a warning against speaking on the company's behalf.

ISP: Corporate networks of Amazon, Google, Microsoft, NY Times

===Military===
[[File:umwelt military.png]]

[[Cueball]] assumes that anyone using a military network has an important job like watching for incoming missiles. He includes a thank-you to the user for their military service.

ISP: Military networks

===T-Mobile===
[[File:umwelt tmobile.png]]

Reference to T-Mobile's distinguishing feature (at the time it was written) of weaker coverage, in relation to other major providers.

ISP: T-Mobile

===Verizon and AT&T===
[[File:umwelt verizon.png]]

[[File:umwelt att.png]]

Reference to Verizon and AT&T's scandals/controversy regarding implementation of bandwidth caps.

ISP: Verizon and AT&T

===France===
[[File:umwelt france.jpg]]

A common joke about France is that the nation does not win wars. This originated from France's annexation by Germany during World War II, and America's late entry into the war, which is sometimes portrayed humorously as a case of America 'saving' Europe, in this joke particularly France (the role of the French resistance is usually not mentioned), leading to a common American joke at the expense of France's military prowess [http://www.albinoblacksheep.com/text/victories.html][http://politicalhumor.about.com/library/images/blpic-frenchmilitaryvictories.htm][http://politicalhumor.about.com/library/jokes/bljokefrenchmilitaryhistory.htm]. When France did not form part of the coalition that invaded Iraq in 2003, aligning with the many countries that condemned U.S. action, the joke was revived.

A Google search of "French Military Victories" + 'I'm feeling lucky' used to direct to "did you mean: french military defeats" (due to a {{w|Google bomb}}). Cueball is trying to show this to his friend, who is French. However, his joke backfires, as his friends immediately points out that the stereotype of France not having military victories is undercut by the fact that one of the most innovative military commanders in history, Napoleon, was French, and in fact conquered much of Europe.

The last line of the comic further implies that Cueball is not as smart as he thinks he is in regards to anything French, as he mispronounces the French loan word "touche".

Locations: France & Quebec

===Germany===
[[File:umwelt germany.png]]

This comic references the {{w|Berlin airlift#The start of the Berlin Airlift|Berlin Airlift}}, a relief measure for citizens in West Berlin (surrounded by East Germany) instituted by the Western Allies after World War II. In reality, the Western Allies flew a grand total of 500,000 tons of food over the Soviet blockade in planes. Randall puts a twist on this event by making it more fun: dropping supplies from a grand chairlift. The play on words is that "chairlift" rhymes with "airlift" and thus makes an easy substitution. The chair force is also a name that other service branches use to make fun of the air force.

Location: Germany

===Israel===
[[File:umwelt israel.png]]

Transcript:

בחורה: אמא, פגשתי בחור נהדר! אבל הוא לא יהודי.‏

...

רגע, מה את אומרת, "גם אנחנו לא"?‏

אני לגמרי מבולבלת.‏

(Translation from Hebrew)

Person: Mom, I met a great guy! But he's not Jewish. ...Wait, what do you mean "neither are we"? I'm completely confused.

A reference to the multiple use of the word Jewish to denote both a religious group and a nationality/ethnicity.

Location: Israel

===Carnot Cycle===
[[File:umwelt japan.png]]

A pun on "cycle"; a "{{w|Carnot cycle}}" is a thermodynamic cycle (e.g. refrigeration). Its efficiency depends on the temperature of the hot and cold 'reservoirs' in which it is operating. The icon on the side of the motorcycle resembles a [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Carnot_cycle_p-V_diagram.svg graph of the Carnot cycle.]

Location: Japan

===UK===
[[File:umwelt uk.jpg]]

He worded this as though to imply that the UK is a state of the U.S., and an unimportant one at that, which pokes fun at the UK, creating a paradox (sort of).

Location: UK

===Blizzard===
[[File:umwelt disasters blizzard.png]]

This comic is aimed at the debate over whether earthquakes or blizzards are harsher conditions to live under.

For each location this displayed in, the state name was substituted in the third panel.

Locations: Alabama, Boston, Chicago, Dallas, Georgia, Halifax, Illinois, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, the Northeast, Ohio, Oklahoma, Ottawa, Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Texas, Toronto, Tennessee, New York, Wisconsin

===Tornado===
[[File:umwelt disasters tornado.png]]

This comic is aimed at the debate over whether earthquakes or tornadoes are harsher conditions to live under.

For each location this displayed in the state name was substituted in the third panel.

Locations: Alabama, Dallas, Illinois, Georgia, The Midwest, Missouri, Ohio, Oklahoma, Ottawa, Tennessee, Texas (and Virginia, but it used Ohio in the third panel)

Tornadoes are a [[:Category:Tornadoes|recurring subject]] on xkcd. The picture used in [[1754: Tornado Safety Tips]] reminds a lot of the one from this version of Umvelt. [[Category:Tornadoes]]

===Hurricane===
[[File:umwelt disasters hurricane.png]]

This comic is aimed at the debate over whether earthquakes or hurricanes are harsher conditions to live under.

For each location this displayed in the state name was substituted in the third panel.

Locations: D.C, Florida, Georgia, Houston, Miami, New Jersey, North Carolina, South Carolina, Virginia

===Lake Diver Killer===
[[File:umwelt lake diver.png]]

This comic shows a news reporter standing in front of a lake. She is reporting on a serial killer who targets divers. As more divers are sent in to investigate and/or search for bodies, more divers go missing and assumes that they were murdered. The more likely reason is the lake itself is dangerous for diving, and the divers probably drowned from natural hazards (undercurrents, entanglement, running out of oxygen in tanks, etc.) instead of a malicious assailant.

Location: Bay Areas, Metro Detroit, Vermont showed an image specifically referencing Lake Champlain

===Lincoln Memorial===
[[File:umwelt lincoln memorial.png]]

Locations: Illinois & Washington D.C.

===Helicopter Hunting===
[[File:umwelt helicoptor.png]]

In Alaska, governments and individuals have {{w|Wolf hunting#North America 2|shot wolves en masse from helicopters}} in an attempt to artificially inflate populations of game, such as moose and caribou, to make hunting them easier. This is opposed by many, as the game populations are not endangered (thus, this threatens ecological balance); wolves are a small threat to livestock in North America; most of the wolf body —including meat and bones— goes wasted as they are sought mainly for their pelts.

Location: Alaska

===Newspaper===
[[File:umwelt life scientists.png]][[File:umwelt life rit.png]][[File:umwelt life umass.png]]

Creating new life has long been a well understood process, in a lab or otherwise.

Location: Various

Specific versions appeared for RIT and UMass Amherst

===Robot Paul Revere===
[[File:umwelt paul revere.png]]

Combination of the legend of {{w|Paul Revere#"Midnight Ride"|Paul Revere}} and computer binary.

Location: Boston

===Counting Cards===

All four colleges in this series are in Massachusetts and, being similar, in pairs, rival each other to some extent (Harvard-MIT, and Smith-Wellesley). The comic contains a reference to the {{w|MIT Blackjack Team}}, which entered popular culture via the {{w|21 (2008 film)|film 21}}, and a possible reference to Orwell's book '1984' and/or {{w|Chain of Command (Star Trek: The Next Generation)|popular homage to it via Star Trek}}: "There are four lights."[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ChYIm6MW39k]

Bonus: The thought-gears in panel 3 are spinning against each other.

Location: Harvard

[[File:umwelt counting cards harvard.png]]

Location: MIT

[[File:umwelt counting cards mit.png]]

"Course 15s" at MIT are the business major students, often mocked for taking a less-rigorous program.

Location: Smith

[[File:umwelt counting cards smith.png]]

Location: Wellesley

[[File:umwelt counting cards wellesley.png]]

Both Wellesley and Smith are all-women colleges in Massachusetts.

===Giant Box Trap===
[[File:umwelt box trap.png]]

Randall got his undergrad in Physics at the {{w|Christopher Newport University}}, and was scheduled to return shortly to give a talk.

Location: Christopher Newport University

===Chemo Support===
[[File:umwelt chemo.jpg]]

[[Cueball]] has shaved his head in support of people going through {{w|chemotherapy}} but, as he is always depicted as a stick figure with no hair, no one can tell.

Randall's now-wife was diagnosed with breast cancer, and apparently DFCI is where they've been spending much of their time.

Location: Dana-Farber Cancer Institute

===Reviews===
[[File:reviews.png]]

The previous strip appears twice when using [[wikipedia:Tor (anonymity network)|Tor]].

Browser: Any using Tor, xkcd API (JSON, RSS, Atom), w3m, and reports of seeing it on a Kindle Fire HD; also happens if visiting with a browser that does not support JavaScript (such as Firefox with NoScript)

==Transcript==
:[Note to courageous readers- The transcript has been reordered in the order in which the comics appear in the picture and appropriate names have been given.]

:'''The Void'''
:[An epic void with a bright light shining right on you.]

:'''Aurora'''
:[Cueball heading out past Megan comfortably sitting in front of a desk.]
:Cueball: Apparently there's a solar flare that's causing some Great Aurorae. CBC says they may even be visible here! Wanna drive out to see?
:Megan: Hockey's on.
:Cueball: Ok. Later.

:[An expansive, marvelous image of emerald green northern lights, floating down through the sky.]

:Megan: See anything?
:Cueball: No, just clouds.
:Megan: Not surprised.

:'''Aurora-US'''
:[Cueball heading out past Megan comfortably sitting in front of a desk.]
:Cueball: Apparently there's a solar storm causing northern lights over Canada. CNN say they might even be visible {Options: "As Far South As Us", "Here in Boston", "Maine", "Ohio", "Oregon", "New York"}! Wanna drive out to see?
:Megan: It's cold out.
:Cueball: Ok. Later.

:[An expansive, marvelous image of emerald green northern lights, floating down through the sky.]

:Megan: See anything?
:Cueball: No, just clouds.
:Megan: Not surprised.

:'''Snake'''
:[Two people standing next to each other. Megan is holding the head end of a snake. Depending on the width of your browser, the snake is: three frames, the third of which has a little bit of a bump; the first frame has a human-size bump, the second has a third person looking at the snake, and the third has the snake going though two Portals; a squirrel and the human-size bump in the first frame, a ring next to the third person in the second frame, and Beret Guy riding the snake in front of the portal; or The squirrel, a fourth person within the snake being coiled, and the human bump in the first frame, the ring, a fifth person in love, and the third person in the second frame, Beret Guy and the portal in the third frame, and the same two people in the fourth frame.]

:Megan: I found a snake, but then I forgot to stop.

:'''Black hat'''
:[Two people sitting at a desk. One is Black Hat. The other is an analyst. Black Hat has a number of terminals attached to his head.]
:Analyst: You come across a tortoise in the desert. You flip it over. It struggles to right itself. You watch. You're not helping. Why is that?

:Black Hat: It '''knows''' what it did.

:[View of the entire scene, with said turtle off in the distance on its back and trying to right itself.]

:'''Too quiet'''
:[A group of four scale down a wall into a field in the middle of the night. They walk off single-file.]
:Person 1: It's quiet.

:Person 3: Yeah - *Too* quiet.

:[A Velociraptor is off in the distance, following the group.]
:Person 4: Yeah - too *too* quiet.

:Person 2: Yeah - 2quiet2furious.
:Person 1: Fuck off, Steve.

:'''Pond'''
:[A landscape showing a pond, some reeds, and a set of mountains off in the distance.]

:'''Galaxies'''
:[A trio of galaxies.]
:Galaxy 1: He's not looking!
:Galaxy 3: Let's get him!
:[Lines draw in illustrating the eye-line of one of a pair of people.]
:Cueball: So he said he didn't get the text, but c'mon, he *never* misses texts. Right? ..hello?
:Megan: I'm just staring at your head freaked out by the fact that there are millions of galaxies *directly behind it*.

:'''xkcd Gold'''
:[Cueball holding bat.]

:Cueball: Sorry, but this comic

:[Cueball starts to wind up.]

:Cueball: requires

:[Cueball prepares to strike with bat.]

:Cueball: XKCD

:[Cueball swings at a beehive.]
:GOLD

:[Penis Bees fly out of the beehive.]

:'''Yo mamma'''
:[Cueball yells at a friend.]
:Cueball: Oh yeah? Well you mama's so ''cynical'', her only dog ballast is a ''leash''!
:(This comic takes place in a dystopian future where the government is afraid dogs can hover, so it requires them to wear weights at all times, and some people privately doubt the government, but not enough to stop buying dog weights.)

:'''Reddit'''
:Five seconds ago:
:[You sitting in front of a desk, reading a reddit thread.]
:You: Oh, hey, reddit has a link to some XKCD april fools comic.

:Now: [An image of the xkcd comic page.]
:Five seconds from now:

:You: ..hey

:30 seconds from now:
:[DANCE PARTY!]

:'''Buns and Hot dogs'''
:Cueball: What I wanna know is why do hot dogs come in packages of six while buns come in these huge sacks of ash and blood from which "Ave Maria" is faintly audible?
:[Chanting sacks of gore in the background.]

:'''Twitter'''
:[A Twitter account page with the following: Many tweets, fewer following, even fewer followers, A bunch of assholes in the suggested follow box, trending topics partitioned into: Word Games, Misogyny, and Bieber, stuff your eyes automatically ignore, A really pleasant blue. and the timeline: Something about a podcast, Someone confused because the description doesn't match the link, The link you clicked on to get to this comic, Rob Delaney, Passive Aggression, and horse ebooks.]

:'''Wikipedia'''
:[There's no comic here because instead of drawing one, I spent the last hour reading every news story cited in the Wikipedia article on The Mile High Club.]

:'''Google Chrome'''
:[A Chrome plugin error page.]
:Chrome: This plugin requires Sergey Brin's permission to run. Please wait while he is woken.

:'''Chrome/Firefox'''
:[Two people; Cueball is sitting at a desk in front of a laptop.]
:Cueball: Man, chrome's hardware acceleration really sucks.
:Ponytail: Oh - Theres' a great add-on that fixes it.
:Cueball: Oh? What's it called?
:Ponytail: "Firefox".

:'''Google Chrome-2'''
:[A Chrome plugin error page with the characteristic jigsaw piece.]
:Chrome: Chrome is looking for this piece. Have you seen it? Chrome thinks it links up with a corner.

:'''Mozilla Firefox Private Browsing'''
:[Firefox error page.]
:Firefox: Well, this is embarrassing. You know how I'm not supposed to peek at your browsing in private mode? Firefox.. is sorry. Firefox will not blame you if you
:[Button with text.]
:Click here to report this incident.

:'''Internet Explorer'''
:[IE error page.]
:IE: Error: Internet Explorer has given up.

:'''Maxthon'''
:Cueball: Maxthon? Hey, 2005 called. Didn't say anything. All I could hear was sobbing. This is getting harder. Anyway, yeah, Maxthon's still cool! Didn't know it was still around!

:'''Netscape Navigator'''
:[Two different versions exist: one with Cueball talking and one with Megan with tentacle arms talking.]
:Person: Netscape Navigator? Hey, the nineties called - drunk as usual. I hung up without saying anything. This is getting harder. Anyway - it's cool that you'e got netscape running.

:'''Rockmelt'''
:[Cueball running to laptop.]
:I ran to Rockmelt to hide my face

:[Cueball sitting at laptop.]
:But Rockmelt cried out -

:[Laptop shouting.]
:NO HIDING PLACE

:[zoom out.]
:NO HIDING PLACE DOWN HERE

:'''Google Chrome-3'''
:[A chrome plugin error page.]
:Chrome: There does not exist --nor could there '''ever''' exist-- a plugin capable of displaying this content.

:'''Microsoft/Amazon/The Times/Google - Chrome'''
:[Chrome error page.]
:Chrome: This plugin requires clearance from the corporate press office in order to run. Remember, Microsoft/Amazon/The Times/Google is a team; individual employees should ''never'' speak for the company without authorization.

:'''Microsoft/Amazon - Firefox'''
:[Firefox error page.]
:Error: This plugin requires clearance from the corporate press office in order to run. Remember, Microsoft/Amazon is a team; individual employees should ''never'' speak for the company without authorization.

:'''Microsoft/The Times'''
:[Error page.]
:Error: This plugin requires clearance from the corporate press office in order to run. Remember, Microsoft/The Times is a team; individual employees should ''never'' speak for the company without authorization.

:'''Corporate - Generic'''
:[Error page.]
:Error: This plugin requires clearance from the corporate press office in order to run. Remember, we work as a team; individual employees should ''never'' speak for the company without authorization.

:'''Military'''
:[Person looking at two browser windows.]
:Cueball: I know y'all know what you're doing. But if you're on a military machine and you're supposed to be watching for missiles or something, I hope you're keeping an eye on that in the background while you're reading comics. Also: Thanks.

:'''T-Mobile'''
:[Error page.]
:Data Error: T-Mobile was unable to establish a connection

:'''Verizon'''
:[Error page]
:Error: You have exceeded your Verizon monthly bandwidth cap. Mobile web browsing has been disabled.

:'''France'''
:[Two people; one of which is browsing using a laptop.]
:Cueball: Hey, you're French, right? Ever see what happens when you type "French Military Victories" into Google?
:French person: Does it take you to an article on Napoleon?

:French person: ..no? Strange, given how he kicked everyone's asses up and down Europe for over a decade.

:[Beat frame.]

:Cueball: Touche.
:French person: You know, that'd sound smarter if you didn't pronounce it like it rhymes with "douche".

:'''Germany'''
:[Cueball dropping food from an unorthodox high perch.]
:June 1948: In response to the Soviet blockade of East Germany, the western allies construct the Berlin Chairlift.
:Cueball on chairlift: Food!

:'''Israel'''
:[Person on phone.]
:Person (Translation from Hebrew): Mom, I met a great guy! But he's not Jewish. ...Wait, what do you mean "neither are we"? I'm completely confused.

:'''Carnot Cycle'''
:[Ponytail on a motorcycle with a heat-entropy graph on the side.]
:Ponytail: Check out my new Carnot Cycle!
:Cueball: Neat - how fast does it go?
:Ponytail: Depends how cold it is outside.

:'''Great Britain'''
:[Illustration of the Atlantic ocean.]
:American person: Sorry I don't have a comic poking fun at the UK here. I only had time to get to the most ''important'' US states.
:British person: Hey - At least we have free health care and real ale.

:'''Earthquake-Blizzard'''
:[Two people sitting at a desk, facing each other. The desk rattles.]
:Cueball: Stop jiggling your leg.
:Danish: I'm not ji-.. oh!
:Cueball: What!
:Danish: You'll get it..

:[EVERYTHING RUMBLES.]
:Cueball: ..HOLY CRAP IT'S AN EARTHQUAKE!
:Danish: Just a little one. Happens all the time back in San Francisco.

:Cueball: But this is {Options: "Alabama", "Boston", "Chicago", "Dallas", "Georgia", "Halifax", "Illinois", "Michigan", "Minnesota", "Missouri", "the Northeast", "Ohio", "Oklahoma", "Ottawa", 'Pennsylvania", "Philadelphia", "Texas", "Toronto", "Tennessee", "New York", "Wisconsin"}! That was huge!
:Danish: Seriously? That's the worst this place can do? Wow. I guess we grow up tougher in California.
:Cueball: Oh ''really''...

:Six Months Later..
:[Both people are trudging through a massive blizzard.]
:Danish: In pictures, snow always looked so nice and sof - ''AAAA! MY NECK! How do people live here?!''
:Cueball: Come on - it's only three more miles.

:'''Earthquake-Tornado'''
:[Two people sitting at a desk, facing each other. The desk rattles.]
:Cueball: Stop jiggling your leg.
:Danish: I'm not ji-.. oh!
:Cueball: What!
:Danish: You'll get it..

:[EVERYTHING RUMBLES.]
:Cueball: ..HOLY CRAP IT'S AN EARTHQUAKE!
:Danish: Just a little one. Happens all the time back in San Francisco.

:Cueball: But this is {Options: "Alabama", "Dallas", "Illinois", "The Midwest", "Missouri", "Ohio", "Oklahoma", "Ottawa", "Tennessee", "Texas"}!
:Cueball: That was huge!
:Danish: Seriously? That's the worst this place can do? Wow. I guess we grow up tougher in California.
:Cueball: Oh ''really''...

:Six Months Later..
:[Both people are in a shelter in a prairie with a rapidly-approaching tornado.]
:Danish: AAAA CLOSE THE SHELTER DOOR!
:Cueball: Say the magic words...
:Danish: THIS PLACE IS THE WORST!
:Cueball: Thank you.

:'''Earthquake-Hurricane'''
:[Two people sitting at a desk, facing each other. The desk rattles.]
:Cueball: Stop jiggling your leg.
:Danish: I'm not ji-.. oh!
:Cueball: What!
:Danish: You'll get it..

:[EVERYTHING RUMBLES.]
:Cueball: ..HOLY CRAP IT'S AN EARTHQUAKE!
:Danish: Just a little one. Happens all the time back in San Francisco.

:Cueball: But this is {Options: "D.C", "Florida", "Houston", "Miami", "New Jersey", "North Carolina", "South Carolina", "Virgina"}! That was huge!
:Cueball: That was huge!
:Danish: Seriously? That's the worst this place can do? Wow. I guess we grow up tougher in California.
:Cueball: Oh ''really''...

:Six Months Later..

:[Both are in the middle of a hurricane. Danish is grabbing onto a signpost to avoid being swept away.]
:Danish: AAAAA WHAT THE SHIIIIT!
:Cueball: Calm down - this is barely a category 2.

:'''Lake Diver Killer'''
:[TV Field Reporter in front of a cordoned-off lake.]
:Reporter: Police divers searching the bay say they have recovered the body of another victim of the "Lake Diver Killer."
:Reporter: During the search, three more divers were reported missing.

:'''Washington'''
:[The statue of Abraham Lincoln in the Lincoln Memorial.]
:In this Marble Prison As in the nightmares of the nation they tried to devour
:The nanobots that constituted Abraham Lincoln
:Are entombed forever.

:'''Alaska'''
:[A person with a gun chasing a helicopter on the back of a wolf in a snowy Alaskan field.]
:Some people hunt wolves from helicopters. I hunt helicopters from a wolf.

:'''Life in lab'''
:[Newspaper headline.]
:Scientists/UMass Amherst students/RIT students create life in lab
:[Caption under picture of scientists.]
:"The trick was fuckin'"

:'''American Revolution'''
:Robot Paul Revere: Remember: Zero if by land, One if by sea.

:'''MIT'''
:[Two people in front of a group of students.]
:Cueball: I've hired a team of MIT students to count cards for us.
:Hairy: We'll be rich!

:[Hairy deals some cards while the students watch.]

:[The gears turn..]

:Student: Five. There are five cards.
:Cueball: I see their admission standards have been slipping.
:Hairy: Yeah - there are actually four.

:'''MIT Course 15c'''
:[Two people in front of a group of students.]
:Cueball: I've hired a team of MIT students to count cards for us.
:Hairy: We'll be rich!

:[Hairy deals some cards while the students watch.]

:[The gears turn..]

:Student: Five. There are five cards.
:Cueball: I *knew* we shouldn't have picked course 15s.
:Hairy: Yeah - there are actually four.

:'''Smith/Wellesley'''
:[Two people in front of a group of students.]
:Cueball: I've hired a team of Smith/Wellesley students to count cards for us.
:Hairy: We'll be rich!

:[Hairy deals some cards while the students watch.]

:[The gears turn..]

:Student: Five. There are five cards.
:Cueball: We should've gone with Wellesley/Smith.
:Hairy: Yeah - there are actually four.

:'''CNU'''
:[Person unsuspectingly strolls under a giant box trap controlled by a Trible.]
:I worry that CNU only invited me back as a ruse because they realized I never turned in my final paper and want my diploma back. But if it turns out it's for real, I'll see you Wednesday at the Ferguson!

:'''Dana Farber'''
:[Cueball, pointing towards head.]
:Cueball: Check it out - In support of people going through chemo, I shaved my head.
:Lots of love to everyone reading this at Dana Farber. Cancer sucks. If you are new to DFCI, there's a great little garden on the third floor of the yawkey if you need somewhere quiet to just sit for a little bit and breathe.

:'''Reviews'''
:Shopping before online reviews:
:[Cueball and Megan stand in a store. Cueball points at a lamp on the table in front of him. There is another lamp on the table behind them.]
:Cueball: This lamp is pretty.
:Megan: And affordable.
:Cueball: Let's get it.
:Megan Ok!

:Shopping now:
:[Cueball points at a lamp on the table in front of him. Megan looks at her phone.]
:Cueball: This lamp is pretty.
:Megan: It's got 1 1/2 stars on Amazon. Reviews all say to avoid that brand.

:[Cueball and Megan are now both looking at their phones.]
:Cueball: This one has good reviews.
:Megan: Wait, one guy says when he plugged it in, he got a metallic taste in his mouth and his cats went deaf.
:Cueball: Eek. What about- ...no, review points out it resembles a uterus.

:[Cueball is still looking at his phone, Megan has hers at her side.]
:Cueball: Ok, I found a Swiss lampmaker with perfect reviews. Her lamps start at 1,300 Francs and she's only reachable by ski lift.
:Megan: You know, our room looks fine in the dark.

==Trivia==
*Reddit user [http://www.reddit.com/user/SomePostMan SomePostMan] created a [http://www.reddit.com/r/xkcd/comments/t6wmh/all_umwelt_1037_comics_in_two_imgur_albums/ post] that collected all of the Umwelt comics and added explanations. Much of his information is now included in this wiki.

*The transcript section for this comic also included a note alluding to its extreme length:
: <nowiki>[[Two people...]]</nowiki> ((..wait.. <scrolls through a listing of everything> oh goddammit Randall. Thanks a bunch, dude. I better get a raise for typing out all this))
: [[Two people standing next to each other. One is holding the head end of a snake...

*And the comic doesn't appear in iPad browsers. The top buttons and the bottom buttons are side by side, and you can only see the title in the top.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics with color]]
[[Category:April fools' comics]]
[[Category:Dynamic comics]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Ponytail]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Black Hat]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Beret Guy]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Danish]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Hairy]]
[[Category:Philosophy]]
[[Category:Penis]]
[[Category:Video games]]
[[Category:Velociraptors]]
[[Category:Your Mom]]
[[Category:Puns]]
[[Category:Squirrels]]

2025: Peer Review

2018-12-19T05:53:39Z

108.162.219.232: Checked link and updated date

{{comic
| number = 2025
| date = July 27, 2018
| title = Peer Review
| image = peer_review.png
| titletext = Your manuscript "Don't Pay $25 to Access Any of the Articles in this Journal: A Review of Preprint Repositories and Author Willingness to Email PDF Copies for Free" has also been rejected, but nice try.
}}

==Explanation==
How academic publishing works: When a researcher wants to publish their findings, they send it to an academic journal. The editor of the journal is another researcher (usually a college professor), ''who gets paid nothing or a minimal honorarium'' for editing the journal. The editor chooses a few (usually three) peer reviewers who are other researchers familiar enough with the study's subfield to judge the study's quality fairly and accurately, and sends it out to them for review. These peer reviewers ''do not get paid'' for the work of reviewing the manuscript and offering a detailed critique of every part of the study, from literature review to methodology to conclusions drawn from the results. If the peer reviewers and editor agree that the study was well-conducted and the paper well-written (or just needs minor revisions), it is accepted and published in the journal. The researcher ''is not paid'' for getting their paper published in the journal.

In short, nobody in the process is paid for their work except the journal publisher, who charges other researchers, libraries and individuals for access to the fruit of these people's free labor. This is commonly referred to as a "{{w|Paywall}}".

This system relies upon researchers to be employed by either companies or universities in positions which require them to publish in order to remain employed or achieve promotions or pay raises. In universities, only postdocs and tenure-track or tenured professors are paid in a way that figures in their research time as well as their teaching time, which means that anyone not in one of those positions (lecturers, educators, adjunct instructors) is not paid for any research they might be doing and publishing, nor are those who are conducting research but cannot get a tenure-track job due to universities replacing tenure lines with non-tenure-track positions.

Charging for access to these works has raised {{w|The Cost of Knowledge|controversy}} in recent years, due to concerns that this may lead to {{w|Information silo}}s.

[[Ponytail]] seems to be presenting papers concluding that this flow of currency is not equitable. Unfortunately (?), the journal she has submitted these findings to has opted not to review or publish them, either because they do not find her research suitable for their publication, or because they have a financial interest which conflicts with the findings, since sending her paper to review would give it directly to her target audience.

Furthermore, the comic contains the joke that Ponytail is doing exactly what she is dis-encouraging in the paper: publishing it in a journal, which probably does not pay their reviewers and possibly locks the papers behind a paywall. However, as this is how science works at the moment, she is obliged to do so in order to reach her audience.

The title text refers to a recent Twitter [https://twitter.com/hwitteman/status/1015049411276300289 post] that went viral. Researcher Dr. Holly Witteman informs the public that you could just ask many researchers for a PDF copy of their academic paper and that they would be delighted to do so free of charge. (This hearkens back to the days of snailmail, when researchers would distribute printed copies, "reprints", of their work for, at most, the price of a self-addressed stamped envelope.) She has additionally written [http://holly.witteman.ca/index.php/2017/12/11/getting-access-to-paywalled-papers/ an article] on the situation and how to get papers for free.

Pre-Print Repositories, such as {{w|ArXiv}}, are online databases for researchers to publish drafts of their research for quick distribution to willing reviewers, sidestepping the lengthy and often arduous reviewing process as conducted by many research journals. These databases are free to access by researchers and the general public, and often papers will remain on these sites long after their journal publication, making them a convenient way to get to papers locked behind a paywall. However, the pre-print versions of the papers will often lack peer review, and as such may contain a higher occurrence of errors. There are also sites which collect and re-publish papers for free, such as [http://sci-hub.is/ Sci-Hub], which attempts to provide all published papers free of charge globally. Links to Sci-Hub can go dead after being widely published; this one was live as of December 19, 2018.

In the title text, the publisher refuses to publish a paper that describes ways to get around the paywall restrictions that make up their bottom line. In this refusal they even acknowledged that the author has tried to trick them, maybe by using one of those very long titles filled with incomprehensible jargon that is almost impossible to read, and remember to the end. So they finish the refusal by adding a "but nice try".

==Transcript==
:[Ponytail is sitting in a office chair at a desk reading from a laptop. Above her the text from the screen is shown in a frame with a zigzag arrow pointing to the laptop.]
:RE: Economics Journal Submission
:We have received your manuscript ''"The Bizarre Economics of Academic Publishing: Why Volunteer Peer Reviewers Should Rise Up and Demand Payment from For-Profit Journals."''
:We have elected not to send it out for review.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Ponytail]]
[[Category:Science]]

Talk:2002: LeBron James and Stephen Curry

2018-06-05T14:09:07Z

108.162.219.232:

I have no idea what this is about, but wondered if Stephen Curry was related to the Curry twins Tom and Ben, who are both over 6' - or to Tim, who isn't except in heels.
[[User:Arachrah|Arachrah]] ([[User talk:Arachrah|talk]]) 07:53, 4 June 2018 (UTC)
: Both LeBron James and Stephen Curry are famous NBA players. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.190.4|172.69.190.4]] 08:46, 4 June 2018 (UTC)
::How would you not know that? And even if you don't know who they are, you must have at least heard about them before, right? [[User:Herobrine|Herobrine]] ([[User talk:Herobrine|talk]]) 09:21, 4 June 2018 (UTC)
::: Not everyone is from USA. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.190.4|172.69.190.4]] 09:41, 4 June 2018 (UTC)
:::: That excuse could work, except your IP address is based in the USA :) [[User:Zachweix|Zachweix]] ([[User talk:Zachweix|talk]]) 12:01, 4 June 2018 (UTC)
::::: So is mine right now, but that doesn't mean I'm '''from''' here, and they didn't make us memorise every NBA player on the plane. (Hey cool, this IP has edited here before too) -[[Special:Contributions/162.158.186.60|162.158.186.60]] 15:36, 4 June 2018 (UTC)

::: I like Curry. You know, the dish. And the actor. Tim, that is. [[User:Elektrizikekswerk|Elektrizikekswerk]] ([[User talk:Elektrizikekswerk|talk]]) 11:58, 4 June 2018 (UTC)
Not everyone in the USA follows sports. I've heard of LeBron James, but only in passing. The only Curry I know of is a fictional one from some old movie. {{unsigned ip|162.158.74.147}}
;Nate Silver

Nate Silver is famous for his numerical approach and extensive use of statistics and simulations.
He foresaw a probability of 28.6% for Donald to win the electoral college just before the election. That is a greater chance than most political commentators would have granted Donald. Typical betting sites saw Hillary 5:1 ahead at the evening of the election.
So I would not at all say that he got everything wrong in 2016. He predicted that Hillary would be a formidable number of votes ahead as most probable outcome, but also that many states would be very tight.
[[https://projects.fivethirtyeight.com/2016-election-forecast/]]. Sebastian --[[Special:Contributions/172.68.110.106|172.68.110.106]] 09:21, 4 June 2018 (UTC)

;Definitions needed
Hi! Could definitions be added for some of the terms used, such as "bleachers"? Thanks! [[Special:Contributions/162.158.155.200|162.158.155.200]] 11:30, 4 June 2018 (UTC)
: really?[[https://www.google.com/search?q=bleachers&client=firefox-b-1-ab&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjPv-v82LzbAhWLzlkKHUPVByAQ_AUICigB&biw=794&bih=941|really?]][[Special:Contributions/108.162.219.232|108.162.219.232]] 14:07, 5 June 2018 (UTC)

;Magnetic North
I would have liked the "magnetic north" thing to be due to the geographical orientation of the teams home courts (if the Cavaliers are the only team to have a court that happens to be roughly north-south oriented, it would explain the higher points value). Looking at the Stupid Name Arena, however, it appears that the court inside is probably about NW-SE. Too bad. [[User:Chrullrich|Chrullrich]] ([[User talk:Chrullrich|talk]]) 14:15, 4 June 2018 (UTC)

I was thinking that might be a reference to the Cleveland Cavaliers playing their home games at a slightly high latitude than the (San Fransico-based) Golden State Warriors. (However, they are nearly at the same latitude, and neither is anywhere near 75 degrees North) [[User:JamesCurran|JamesCurran]] ([[User talk:JamesCurran|talk]]) 19:24, 4 June 2018 (UTC)

;SSN to Free Throw%
Would it be too much of a stretch to add in the fact that Stephen Curry's point is highlighted on the chart, as a nod to the fact that (the majority of) one's SSN can actually be determined if one knows details about personal information such as where one was born? [[Special:Contributions/108.162.219.130|108.162.219.130]] 16:08, 4 June 2018 (UTC)
:Not anymore. My three kids were all born in the same hospital -- same wing; rooms only meters apart -- but have TOTALLY different SSN's. (No, I'm not sharing them as proof!) We even asked the local SS office what happened and they said they're starting to reuse numbers at random. I think it's not "reuse" as much as "reallocate", but either way the strict geographical basis is no longer valid. --'''BigMal''' // [[Special:Contributions/172.69.70.209|172.69.70.209]] 16:31, 4 June 2018 (UTC)
:Originally, the first three digits indicated the office where the person requested an SSN. It didn't really signify anything. It was just that each office was given on a block of numbers to assign, and that block all started with the same three digits. Since in the early days of Social Security, a person got theirs, not at birth, but when they first got a job, it was more of an indication of where they happened to be living then, rather than where they were born. By the 60s, SSN assignment had been centralized, but they still tried to maintain the regional number, based on the zip code of the person requesting an SSN. Apparently, they have more recently realized that's just a waste of time and just started issuing them sequentially. [[User:JamesCurran|JamesCurran]] ([[User talk:JamesCurran|talk]]) 19:17, 4 June 2018 (UTC)
::New method started in 2011, so until around 2029 we'll be able to use the "SSN to FT% in NBA" metric, and have it tie to location at time of SSN generation.[[Special:Contributions/162.158.74.165|162.158.74.165]] 21:37, 4 June 2018 (UTC)

Does anyone know what the "sandwiches" graph is a reference to? I don't believe I have heard anything about the Warriors and a love for sandwiches. [[Special:Contributions/172.68.46.101|172.68.46.101]] 17:03, 4 June 2018 (UTC)
:Maybe this? [[https://www.si.com/extra-mustard/2015/04/10/warriors-stephen-curry-45-point-game-sandwich]] [[Special:Contributions/162.158.62.39|162.158.62.39]] 17:23, 4 June 2018 (UTC)

;More on SSN to Free Throw%
I did a quick digitization of the SSN /FT% graph, and the Steph Curry point is at about FT% = 92.5% and SSN ~ 300-XX-XXXX, which corresponds to his 2018 ft% of 92.1% (from wikipedia) and his birthplace of Ohio having a SSN in the range of 268-302 https://www.ssofficelocation.com/social-security-number-prefix . Even if SSN prefixes are random now, they probably weren't when he was born 30 years ago, so it is probably safe to conclude that the location of the point is deliberate. [[User:Acflip|Acflip]] ([[User talk:Acflip|talk]]) 19:01, 4 June 2018 (UTC)
:They changed in 2011 to random generation. I doubt there's any 7 year old NBA players, so until 2029 we'll be able to use this -ahem- metric.[[Special:Contributions/162.158.74.165|162.158.74.165]] 21:34, 4 June 2018 (UTC)

== On the pog collection ==

Is it possible that the "pog collection" also refers to the player's collection of Player of the Game awards? Lebron James would surely have a staggering amount of it, and Steph Curry would have considerably less, since Steph Curry has a lot of other good teammates.
[[User:Skybreak|Skybreak]] ([[User talk:Skybreak|talk]]) 07:58, 5 June 2018 (UTC)Skybreak

== Best Sport ==

Lets be real here. The odds of them being better at a sport then basketball are basically nill. Unless you use an unusual definition of "sport" or "better".
[[Special:Contributions/108.162.219.232|108.162.219.232]] 14:07, 5 June 2018 (UTC)

Talk:2002: LeBron James and Stephen Curry

2018-06-05T14:07:36Z

108.162.219.232:

I have no idea what this is about, but wondered if Stephen Curry was related to the Curry twins Tom and Ben, who are both over 6' - or to Tim, who isn't except in heels.
[[User:Arachrah|Arachrah]] ([[User talk:Arachrah|talk]]) 07:53, 4 June 2018 (UTC)
: Both LeBron James and Stephen Curry are famous NBA players. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.190.4|172.69.190.4]] 08:46, 4 June 2018 (UTC)
::How would you not know that? And even if you don't know who they are, you must have at least heard about them before, right? [[User:Herobrine|Herobrine]] ([[User talk:Herobrine|talk]]) 09:21, 4 June 2018 (UTC)
::: Not everyone is from USA. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.190.4|172.69.190.4]] 09:41, 4 June 2018 (UTC)
:::: That excuse could work, except your IP address is based in the USA :) [[User:Zachweix|Zachweix]] ([[User talk:Zachweix|talk]]) 12:01, 4 June 2018 (UTC)
::::: So is mine right now, but that doesn't mean I'm '''from''' here, and they didn't make us memorise every NBA player on the plane. (Hey cool, this IP has edited here before too) -[[Special:Contributions/162.158.186.60|162.158.186.60]] 15:36, 4 June 2018 (UTC)

::: I like Curry. You know, the dish. And the actor. Tim, that is. [[User:Elektrizikekswerk|Elektrizikekswerk]] ([[User talk:Elektrizikekswerk|talk]]) 11:58, 4 June 2018 (UTC)
Not everyone in the USA follows sports. I've heard of LeBron James, but only in passing. The only Curry I know of is a fictional one from some old movie. {{unsigned ip|162.158.74.147}}
;Nate Silver

Nate Silver is famous for his numerical approach and extensive use of statistics and simulations.
He foresaw a probability of 28.6% for Donald to win the electoral college just before the election. That is a greater chance than most political commentators would have granted Donald. Typical betting sites saw Hillary 5:1 ahead at the evening of the election.
So I would not at all say that he got everything wrong in 2016. He predicted that Hillary would be a formidable number of votes ahead as most probable outcome, but also that many states would be very tight.
[[https://projects.fivethirtyeight.com/2016-election-forecast/]]. Sebastian --[[Special:Contributions/172.68.110.106|172.68.110.106]] 09:21, 4 June 2018 (UTC)

;Definitions needed
Hi! Could definitions be added for some of the terms used, such as "bleachers"? Thanks! [[Special:Contributions/162.158.155.200|162.158.155.200]] 11:30, 4 June 2018 (UTC)
: [[https://www.google.com/search?q=bleachers&client=firefox-b-1-ab&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjPv-v82LzbAhWLzlkKHUPVByAQ_AUICigB&biw=794&bih=941|really?]][[Special:Contributions/108.162.219.232|108.162.219.232]] 14:07, 5 June 2018 (UTC)

;Magnetic North
I would have liked the "magnetic north" thing to be due to the geographical orientation of the teams home courts (if the Cavaliers are the only team to have a court that happens to be roughly north-south oriented, it would explain the higher points value). Looking at the Stupid Name Arena, however, it appears that the court inside is probably about NW-SE. Too bad. [[User:Chrullrich|Chrullrich]] ([[User talk:Chrullrich|talk]]) 14:15, 4 June 2018 (UTC)

I was thinking that might be a reference to the Cleveland Cavaliers playing their home games at a slightly high latitude than the (San Fransico-based) Golden State Warriors. (However, they are nearly at the same latitude, and neither is anywhere near 75 degrees North) [[User:JamesCurran|JamesCurran]] ([[User talk:JamesCurran|talk]]) 19:24, 4 June 2018 (UTC)

;SSN to Free Throw%
Would it be too much of a stretch to add in the fact that Stephen Curry's point is highlighted on the chart, as a nod to the fact that (the majority of) one's SSN can actually be determined if one knows details about personal information such as where one was born? [[Special:Contributions/108.162.219.130|108.162.219.130]] 16:08, 4 June 2018 (UTC)
:Not anymore. My three kids were all born in the same hospital -- same wing; rooms only meters apart -- but have TOTALLY different SSN's. (No, I'm not sharing them as proof!) We even asked the local SS office what happened and they said they're starting to reuse numbers at random. I think it's not "reuse" as much as "reallocate", but either way the strict geographical basis is no longer valid. --'''BigMal''' // [[Special:Contributions/172.69.70.209|172.69.70.209]] 16:31, 4 June 2018 (UTC)
:Originally, the first three digits indicated the office where the person requested an SSN. It didn't really signify anything. It was just that each office was given on a block of numbers to assign, and that block all started with the same three digits. Since in the early days of Social Security, a person got theirs, not at birth, but when they first got a job, it was more of an indication of where they happened to be living then, rather than where they were born. By the 60s, SSN assignment had been centralized, but they still tried to maintain the regional number, based on the zip code of the person requesting an SSN. Apparently, they have more recently realized that's just a waste of time and just started issuing them sequentially. [[User:JamesCurran|JamesCurran]] ([[User talk:JamesCurran|talk]]) 19:17, 4 June 2018 (UTC)
::New method started in 2011, so until around 2029 we'll be able to use the "SSN to FT% in NBA" metric, and have it tie to location at time of SSN generation.[[Special:Contributions/162.158.74.165|162.158.74.165]] 21:37, 4 June 2018 (UTC)

Does anyone know what the "sandwiches" graph is a reference to? I don't believe I have heard anything about the Warriors and a love for sandwiches. [[Special:Contributions/172.68.46.101|172.68.46.101]] 17:03, 4 June 2018 (UTC)
:Maybe this? [[https://www.si.com/extra-mustard/2015/04/10/warriors-stephen-curry-45-point-game-sandwich]] [[Special:Contributions/162.158.62.39|162.158.62.39]] 17:23, 4 June 2018 (UTC)

;More on SSN to Free Throw%
I did a quick digitization of the SSN /FT% graph, and the Steph Curry point is at about FT% = 92.5% and SSN ~ 300-XX-XXXX, which corresponds to his 2018 ft% of 92.1% (from wikipedia) and his birthplace of Ohio having a SSN in the range of 268-302 https://www.ssofficelocation.com/social-security-number-prefix . Even if SSN prefixes are random now, they probably weren't when he was born 30 years ago, so it is probably safe to conclude that the location of the point is deliberate. [[User:Acflip|Acflip]] ([[User talk:Acflip|talk]]) 19:01, 4 June 2018 (UTC)
:They changed in 2011 to random generation. I doubt there's any 7 year old NBA players, so until 2029 we'll be able to use this -ahem- metric.[[Special:Contributions/162.158.74.165|162.158.74.165]] 21:34, 4 June 2018 (UTC)

== On the pog collection ==

Is it possible that the "pog collection" also refers to the player's collection of Player of the Game awards? Lebron James would surely have a staggering amount of it, and Steph Curry would have considerably less, since Steph Curry has a lot of other good teammates.
[[User:Skybreak|Skybreak]] ([[User talk:Skybreak|talk]]) 07:58, 5 June 2018 (UTC)Skybreak

== Best Sport ==

Lets be real here. The odds of them being better at a sport then basketball are basically nill. Unless you use an unusual definition of "sport" or "better".
[[Special:Contributions/108.162.219.232|108.162.219.232]] 14:07, 5 June 2018 (UTC)

Talk:2002: LeBron James and Stephen Curry

2018-06-05T14:04:41Z

108.162.219.232: /* Best Sport */ new section

I have no idea what this is about, but wondered if Stephen Curry was related to the Curry twins Tom and Ben, who are both over 6' - or to Tim, who isn't except in heels.
[[User:Arachrah|Arachrah]] ([[User talk:Arachrah|talk]]) 07:53, 4 June 2018 (UTC)
: Both LeBron James and Stephen Curry are famous NBA players. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.190.4|172.69.190.4]] 08:46, 4 June 2018 (UTC)
::How would you not know that? And even if you don't know who they are, you must have at least heard about them before, right? [[User:Herobrine|Herobrine]] ([[User talk:Herobrine|talk]]) 09:21, 4 June 2018 (UTC)
::: Not everyone is from USA. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.190.4|172.69.190.4]] 09:41, 4 June 2018 (UTC)
:::: That excuse could work, except your IP address is based in the USA :) [[User:Zachweix|Zachweix]] ([[User talk:Zachweix|talk]]) 12:01, 4 June 2018 (UTC)
::::: So is mine right now, but that doesn't mean I'm '''from''' here, and they didn't make us memorise every NBA player on the plane. (Hey cool, this IP has edited here before too) -[[Special:Contributions/162.158.186.60|162.158.186.60]] 15:36, 4 June 2018 (UTC)

::: I like Curry. You know, the dish. And the actor. Tim, that is. [[User:Elektrizikekswerk|Elektrizikekswerk]] ([[User talk:Elektrizikekswerk|talk]]) 11:58, 4 June 2018 (UTC)
Not everyone in the USA follows sports. I've heard of LeBron James, but only in passing. The only Curry I know of is a fictional one from some old movie. {{unsigned ip|162.158.74.147}}
;Nate Silver

Nate Silver is famous for his numerical approach and extensive use of statistics and simulations.
He foresaw a probability of 28.6% for Donald to win the electoral college just before the election. That is a greater chance than most political commentators would have granted Donald. Typical betting sites saw Hillary 5:1 ahead at the evening of the election.
So I would not at all say that he got everything wrong in 2016. He predicted that Hillary would be a formidable number of votes ahead as most probable outcome, but also that many states would be very tight.
[[https://projects.fivethirtyeight.com/2016-election-forecast/]]. Sebastian --[[Special:Contributions/172.68.110.106|172.68.110.106]] 09:21, 4 June 2018 (UTC)

;Definitions needed
Hi! Could definitions be added for some of the terms used, such as "bleachers"? Thanks! [[Special:Contributions/162.158.155.200|162.158.155.200]] 11:30, 4 June 2018 (UTC)

;Magnetic North
I would have liked the "magnetic north" thing to be due to the geographical orientation of the teams home courts (if the Cavaliers are the only team to have a court that happens to be roughly north-south oriented, it would explain the higher points value). Looking at the Stupid Name Arena, however, it appears that the court inside is probably about NW-SE. Too bad. [[User:Chrullrich|Chrullrich]] ([[User talk:Chrullrich|talk]]) 14:15, 4 June 2018 (UTC)

I was thinking that might be a reference to the Cleveland Cavaliers playing their home games at a slightly high latitude than the (San Fransico-based) Golden State Warriors. (However, they are nearly at the same latitude, and neither is anywhere near 75 degrees North) [[User:JamesCurran|JamesCurran]] ([[User talk:JamesCurran|talk]]) 19:24, 4 June 2018 (UTC)

;SSN to Free Throw%
Would it be too much of a stretch to add in the fact that Stephen Curry's point is highlighted on the chart, as a nod to the fact that (the majority of) one's SSN can actually be determined if one knows details about personal information such as where one was born? [[Special:Contributions/108.162.219.130|108.162.219.130]] 16:08, 4 June 2018 (UTC)
:Not anymore. My three kids were all born in the same hospital -- same wing; rooms only meters apart -- but have TOTALLY different SSN's. (No, I'm not sharing them as proof!) We even asked the local SS office what happened and they said they're starting to reuse numbers at random. I think it's not "reuse" as much as "reallocate", but either way the strict geographical basis is no longer valid. --'''BigMal''' // [[Special:Contributions/172.69.70.209|172.69.70.209]] 16:31, 4 June 2018 (UTC)
:Originally, the first three digits indicated the office where the person requested an SSN. It didn't really signify anything. It was just that each office was given on a block of numbers to assign, and that block all started with the same three digits. Since in the early days of Social Security, a person got theirs, not at birth, but when they first got a job, it was more of an indication of where they happened to be living then, rather than where they were born. By the 60s, SSN assignment had been centralized, but they still tried to maintain the regional number, based on the zip code of the person requesting an SSN. Apparently, they have more recently realized that's just a waste of time and just started issuing them sequentially. [[User:JamesCurran|JamesCurran]] ([[User talk:JamesCurran|talk]]) 19:17, 4 June 2018 (UTC)
::New method started in 2011, so until around 2029 we'll be able to use the "SSN to FT% in NBA" metric, and have it tie to location at time of SSN generation.[[Special:Contributions/162.158.74.165|162.158.74.165]] 21:37, 4 June 2018 (UTC)

Does anyone know what the "sandwiches" graph is a reference to? I don't believe I have heard anything about the Warriors and a love for sandwiches. [[Special:Contributions/172.68.46.101|172.68.46.101]] 17:03, 4 June 2018 (UTC)
:Maybe this? [[https://www.si.com/extra-mustard/2015/04/10/warriors-stephen-curry-45-point-game-sandwich]] [[Special:Contributions/162.158.62.39|162.158.62.39]] 17:23, 4 June 2018 (UTC)

;More on SSN to Free Throw%
I did a quick digitization of the SSN /FT% graph, and the Steph Curry point is at about FT% = 92.5% and SSN ~ 300-XX-XXXX, which corresponds to his 2018 ft% of 92.1% (from wikipedia) and his birthplace of Ohio having a SSN in the range of 268-302 https://www.ssofficelocation.com/social-security-number-prefix . Even if SSN prefixes are random now, they probably weren't when he was born 30 years ago, so it is probably safe to conclude that the location of the point is deliberate. [[User:Acflip|Acflip]] ([[User talk:Acflip|talk]]) 19:01, 4 June 2018 (UTC)
:They changed in 2011 to random generation. I doubt there's any 7 year old NBA players, so until 2029 we'll be able to use this -ahem- metric.[[Special:Contributions/162.158.74.165|162.158.74.165]] 21:34, 4 June 2018 (UTC)

== On the pog collection ==

Is it possible that the "pog collection" also refers to the player's collection of Player of the Game awards? Lebron James would surely have a staggering amount of it, and Steph Curry would have considerably less, since Steph Curry has a lot of other good teammates.
[[User:Skybreak|Skybreak]] ([[User talk:Skybreak|talk]]) 07:58, 5 June 2018 (UTC)Skybreak

== Best Sport ==

Lets be real here. The odds of them being better at a sport then basketball are basically nill. Unless you use an unusual definition of "sport" or "better".

1997: Business Update

2018-05-23T20:49:25Z

108.162.219.232: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 1997
| date = May 23, 2018
| title = Business Update
| image = business_update.png
| titletext = Our customers keep sending us their personal information, even though we've repeatedly asked them to stop. The EU told me I'm the heir to some ancient European throne that makes me exempt from the GDPR, but we should probably still try to fix that.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by a MAGIC CEO - Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
This comic shows a meeting at Beret Guy's business (as seen in [[:Category:Beret Guy's Business|these other comics]]). As usual, those in the business demonstrate a misuse of business terminology and take strange happenings within the business in stride.

Though maintaining a semblance of business-savviness through the use of many corporate buzzwords, it becomes clear that what is normally metaphorical in a usually boardroom meeting is actually quite likely what is actually in development. The Quarterly Reports are probably physically attractive, though the business dealings they are reporting may be disastrous. There is likely a bunch of dollar bills in one of the office rooms. Stocks (pillory?) are being manufactured. At least one of their customers (a child?) is experiencing physical growth. Assets liquidated in a thermostat glitch may have been ice or some other material that melted; the kitchen sink producing original content may have been back flooding from the sewer or a leaky faucet. The largest source of revenue is likely not producing much if any revenue at all; it can still be the biggest if there are no others.

Transmuting lead into gold was a [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuclear_transmutation#Alchemy goal of alchemists] for many centuries. It is actually [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuclear_transmutation now possible to accomplish transmutation of lead into gold, and gold into lead, via nuclear transmutation], though the expense far exceeds the value of the gold produced. Via modern nuclear methods, it is actually [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuclear_transmutation#Modern_physics far easier to turn gold into lead than the reverse.] However, this does necessarily not contradict the statement in the dialog ("Our biggest expense is to transmute it back") as it is unlikely that the business is actually transmuting any elements whether by alchemical or modern methods. It is quite possible to generate expense, and even revenue, without actually producing a product--especially if the revenue and expense is small or zero.

In the last panel, "the girl from ''The Ring''" refers to Sadako Yamamura, the antagonist of the ''Ring'' series by Koji Suzuki, who has been referenced several times in xkcd in the past. Beret Guy claims she has made several appearances in their video conferences, which may be possible if someone has hacked their video feed to play footage from the 2002 movie. However, some of Beret Guy's employees then proceed to remark that she has made contributions to the meetings in question, implying that the image of Yamamura is not only alive but sentient and communicating with the employees. Rather than ponder how this is possible, they simply suggest hiring her, showing that Beret Guy's sheer eccentricity has affected his employees to the point that a digital spectre would not be an abnormal employee.

The title text refers to the May 25 deadline to implement the European Union's {{w|GDPR|General Data Protection Regulation}}; this comic focuses on a business meeting about what the company is doing to prepare for it. The regulation is about the handling of personal information, so customers sending them theirs might be a problem. For some inexplicable reason Beret Guy is exempt because he is royalty of some kind (even though such exemption is not part of GDPR); on the other hand if customers are willingly sending him information without his requesting it he may be exempt because it is freedom of expression and information by his customers and is not his responsibility as such.

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
:[Beret Guy, Ponytail, Hairy, Hairbun and Megan sit around a table, left to right. Beret Guy and Megan are sitting on chairs at the ends. All others are behind the table with no visible chairs. All characters face Beret Guy]
:Beret Guy: Quarterly reports are looking good.
:Beret Guy: Our office is full of cash, we're producing stocks faster than ever before, and our customers are experiencing rapid growth.
:Beret Guy: Any Updates?

:[Closeup on Ponytail, facing left]
:Ponytail: Bad news: many of our assets were liquidated this morning due to a thermostat glitch.
:Ponytail: Good news: the sink in the kitchen has stopped producing original content.

:[Same as panel one, but characters are facing Megan]
:Beret Guy: How are our finances?
:Megan: Our biggest source of revenue is our ongoing project to transmute lead into gold.
:Megan: Our biggest expense is our project to transmute it back.

:[Closeup on Beret Guy, facing right, offset to the left of the panel. Two characters speak from off-panel right]
:Beret Guy: Lastly, any luck getting the girl from ''The Ring'' to stop showing up in our video conferences?
:From Right 1: No, but honestly, she's made some good contributions.
:From Right 2: Yeah, I think we should hire her.

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Beret Guy]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Ponytail]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Hairy]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Hairbun]]
[[Category:Beret Guy's Business]]

1236: Seashell

2018-01-24T02:30:55Z

108.162.219.232: improved grammar

{{comic
| number = 1236
| date = July 10, 2013
| title = Seashell
| image = seashell.png
| titletext = This is roughly equivalent to 'number of times I've picked up a seashell at the ocean' / 'number of times I've picked up a seashell', which in my case is pretty close to 1, and gets much closer if we're considering only times I didn't put it to my ear.
}}

==Explanation==
The equation should be read as follows: (The probability that I'm near the ocean, given that I picked up a seashell) is equal to (The probability that I picked up a seashell, given that I'm near the ocean) multiplied by (The probability that I'm near the ocean) divided by (The probability that I picked up a seashell). This method of relating the probabilities of two events is known as {{w|Bayes' theorem|Bayes' Theorem}}.

If you put a seashell up to your ear, you can hear {{w|Seashell resonance|a sound similar to the ocean}} apparently inside the shell. But the idea that this sound is actually the sound of the sea is just a popular myth: hold only your hands close to your ears and you will hear the same sound. The comic, through an application of Bayes' Theorem, points out that most of the time when you pick up a seashell, you are in fact at the beach next to the real ocean, so hearing the ocean at that location is not all that impressive, but it's just real.

The title text points out that most instances where the author has picked up a seashell have been at the beach, and nearly all of the times where he has picked up a seashell and not put it to his ear have been there.

This comic was released late. In the first version, the formula was incorrect, but it has since been corrected.

==Transcript==
:At the top of the panel is an equation showing Bayes' Theorem for the probability that a person is near the ocean given that they just picked up a seashell.
:The probability that I'm near the ocean given I picked up a seashell equals the probability I picked up a seashell given I'm near the ocean times the probability I'm near the ocean all divided by the probability I picked up a seashell.

:[Cueball holds a seashell and stands to the left of the panel, to the right a few birds are flying around and the sound of a wave crashing against the shore is depicted.]
:''Crashhh'' ''Sploosh''

:Statistically speaking, if you pick up a seashell and ''don't'' hold it to your ear, you can probably hear the ocean.

{{Comic discussion}}
[[Category:Math]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]

210: 90's Flowchart

2017-07-11T02:38:45Z

108.162.219.232: Another explanation of the title text.

{{comic
| number = 210
| date = January 15, 2007
| title = 90's Flowchart
| image = 90s_flowchart.png
| titletext = Freestyle rapping is basically applied Markov chains.
}}

== Explanation ==

Here you can see an apparent flowchart. However, it has non-standard notation. The oval normally represents either the start or stop of a process. Here, both the ''yes'' and ''no'' end up in ''stop'', which would normally imply that nothing below can be reached.

Unless we are in the 90's, this doesn't matter, as there is nothing after the stop. But in the 90's, two processing paths follow, and both are from the lyrics of two hit rap songs from the 90's:
*''{{w|U Can't Touch This}}'' by {{w|MC Hammer}}, says "Break it down. Stop! Hammertime."
*''{{W|Ice Ice Baby}}'' by {{w|Vanilla Ice}} says "All right, stop. Collaborate and listen."

In both instances, the sense of the lyric is that you should interrupt what you are doing, and switch to the new action. Interpreted in terms of flowchart terminology, we could consider that the 'stop' just pauses the main thread, and secondary threads are launched to perform the 'Hammertime' and the 'Collaborate' and 'Listen' activities.

The title text compares {{w|freestyle rapping}} with {{w|Markov chain|Markov chains}}. Markov chains are mathematical constructs in which the state at the next time step is dependent only upon the current state and probability, and not the state at previous times. This is somewhat similar to freestyle rapping, in which what is said next must bear some relationship to what was just said, but the "freestyle" part means that almost anything can be brought in (hence the probabilistic part); furthermore, freestyle rapping allows the rapper to say something next that bears relationship to what was just said, but not to what was said before that.
There have been several flowchart comics, all of which are listed [[:Category:Flowcharts|here]].

== Transcript ==
:90's Flowchart
:Start: The 90's?
:No: Stop
:Yes: Stop
::Hammertime
::or
::Collaborate, Listen

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Flowcharts]]
[[Category:Music]]

1835: Random Obsessions

2017-05-15T13:52:09Z

108.162.219.232:

{{comic
| number = 1835
| date = May 10, 2017
| title = Random Obsessions
| image = random obsessions.png
| titletext = I take the view that "open-faced sandwiches" are not sandwiches, but all other physical objects are.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|New page, what sandwich debate? What is "bacon" referring to?}}

This comic is formatted as a graph showing various Internet trends over the years according to [https://trends.google.com/trends/explore?date=all&q=robot%20monkeys,pirates%20vs%20ninjas,zombies,bacon,definition%20of%20sandwich Google Trends]. The caption states that these "random obsessions," as stated in the title, have 9-10 year cycles, and so predicts that the sandwich debate will be over by around 2024.

Discussions about the definition of "sandwich" are surprisingly common on the web, such as "Is hot dog a sandwich?" (See this [https://www.reddit.com/r/Sandwiches/comments/6587ub/what_is_a_sandwich_debate/ discussion] on Reddit)

The title text is a joke based on the debate over the definition of a sandwich. The speaker, presumably [[Randall]], starts out with the fairly reasonable stance that open-faced sandwiches are not true sandwiches, but then veers off into the absurd by claiming that literally every other physical object in the universe ''is'' a sandwich. We can only hope that Randall does not extend this view to {{w|Cannibalism|human beings}}. (On the other hand, Randall may simply be defining a sandwich in an unusual way without implying that all other items are edible. Such strange definitions have been seen before, in the title text of 1405.)

The other obsessions mentioned are, in order: robot monkeys, pirates vs ninjas, zombies, and bacon.

Though the trend is dying out, as seen by the fact the graph is past the peak, there has been an explosion in bacon flavored/scented products as well as items of clothing and decor that look like bacon. The YouTube channel Epic Meal Time was also part of the bacon fad, as adding large quantities of bacon to the meal being prepared was one of the running gags of the channel.

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript}}
The comic shows curves plotted in an (x,y)-plane. The x-axis shows years from 2004 to 2017, with every even year labeled. The y-axis is labeled "popularity relative to peak (based on google trends)". There are five vaguely Bell-shaped curves, each stretching over 9-10 years. It is implied that they rise from a value close to zero, to which they also return.
* The curve labeled "robot monkeys" peaks in early 2005 and ends near the x-axis in late 2011. (Presumable the curve starts rising in 2001, but it is only shown from 2004 on.)
* The curve labeled "pirates vs ninjas" peaks in late 2008 and ends in late 2014.
The remaining 3 curves all end in mid 2017 (presumably on May 10).
* The curve labeled "zombies" starts in late 2007 and peaks in early 2013. By 2017 it has fallen to about 1/3 of its peak value.
* The curve labeled "bacon" starts in late 2009 and peaks in mid-2015. By 2017 it shows a value of about 90% of its peak value.
* The curve labeled "definition of a sandwich" starts in late 2013; in 2017 it has reached approximately half its peak value; a peak in 2020 or 2021 is implied.

{{comic discussion}}

Talk:1718: Backups

2017-01-11T20:06:19Z

108.162.219.232: Add another reasonable way this could be slower than Moore’s Law

I think this makes more sense if only a small portion of all files from the laptop complete the ENTIRE loop. if the total percentage of files which complete the entire loop is 0.0004% , and he backups once a month, that should give him exponential growth slightly smaller than Moore's Law. At 18 months, his total file size would be about 168% of the original. [[Special:Contributions/172.68.58.245|172.68.58.245]] 22:03, 10 August 2016 (UTC)
: "Cueball: Wait. My laptop is backing up some folders to this server..." Because of that I agree with you. It's saying "Some" folders are being backed up. The wording heavily implies it's not everything in the computer being backed up just a part. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.61|141.101.98.61]]
: Even if all the files do make the round trip they might use good deduplication. If all the files round trip but only the changes and a few kilobytes of metadata per file are duplicated then the growth can be exponential. This is only true if none of the backups are compressed or encrypted, though.

Also, the title text my refer to that often when you lose a project and have to start over from scratch, the project become so much better. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.133.102|162.158.133.102]] 01:55, 11 August 2016 (UTC)



This happens. It can really surprise you when the exponential curve is flat enough. We had a case where we kept a log of the backups on a server that was backed up. This went fine for years, until at some point when we ran out of backup space we found that backups of the logs of backups consumed over 99% of our diskspace.[[Special:Contributions/162.158.87.11|162.158.87.11]] 10:04, 11 August 2016 (UTC)
:Tee hee! This is why the first thing I exclude from backup is the log directory, or the whole /var tree (with a few selected exceptions, like /var/spool/cron/crontabs - this is a royally misplaced location, it should go under /etc). The logs that need to be kept are sent to a log server, online, by the logger daemon itself. If there's no log server (small systems) at least send the logs to backup place during log rotation. -- [[Special:Contributions/162.158.203.151|162.158.203.151]] 18:59, 11 August 2016 (UTC)
:I once managed to backup / to the backup disk at /media/Backup Disk. D'oh. Backupception. --[[Special:Contributions/162.158.150.228|162.158.150.228]] 12:17, 11 August 2016 (UTC)

I think there should be an explanation, why this setup leads to exponential growth. IMO, it is linear or polynomial of degree 2 at most. Let's assume, the notebook does only contain one file: /A.txt. After one backup-cycle there are two files: /A.txt and /backups/A.txt. After the next one, there are three: /A.txt, /backups/A.txt and /backups/backups/A.txt. Thus the amount of files does only grow in a linear way. Only the path-information is growing faster: The amount of additional directories in the file's path is growing with the square of the amount cycles (it's the sum of all integers from 1 to the cycle-count).
Can anybody explain the exponential growth? [[User:Epaminaidos|Epaminaidos]] ([[User talk:Epaminaidos|talk]]) 06:44, 12 August 2016 (UTC)

: The number of files grows exponentially, if not a certain amount of data but a percentage of the data is backed up in each cycle. --[[Special:Contributions/162.158.83.228|162.158.83.228]] 07:31, 12 August 2016 (UTC)
:: Can you elaborate this? I don't get it. [[User:Epaminaidos|Epaminaidos]] ([[User talk:Epaminaidos|talk]]) 09:50, 12 August 2016 (UTC)

: I guess most backup systems keep older backups. First, there's /A.txt. Next, there's /A.txt and /backup/2016-08-12/A.txt. Third, there's /A.txt, /backup/2016-08-12/A.txt, /backup/2016-08-13/A.txt and /backup/2016-08-13/backup/2016-08-12/A.txt. --[[User:SlashMe|SlashMe]] ([[User talk:SlashMe|talk]]) 09:38, 12 August 2016 (UTC)
:: Cueball is talking about "syncing folders", not about a backup-system that keeps old versions. [[User:Epaminaidos|Epaminaidos]] ([[User talk:Epaminaidos|talk]]) 09:50, 12 August 2016 (UTC)
::: ????? The first two panels say they are creating back-ups. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.210.196|108.162.210.196]] 12:35, 12 August 2016 (UTC)
::: Actually, there are two backup systems and one sync involved. --[[User:SlashMe|SlashMe]] ([[User talk:SlashMe|talk]]) 13:17, 12 August 2016 (UTC)

Talk:1784: Bad Map Projection: Liquid Resize

2017-01-11T06:58:00Z

108.162.219.232: Ask relevant question

I'm not too experienced with PhotoShop, but I think that the tool is a selective delete that he used on water bodies, so removing most of the water while maintaining relative shapes and sizes?
Mostly just from the fact that India looks desiccated.
[[Special:Contributions/162.158.166.197|162.158.166.197]] 05:06, 11 January 2017 (UTC)Girish
Australia is pretty mutilated, so I think the tool was used on land too [[Special:Contributions/162.158.178.111|162.158.178.111]] 05:55, 11 January 2017 (UTC)

Where are Laos and Cambodia missing? [[Special:Contributions/108.162.246.11|108.162.246.11]] 06:14, 11 January 2017 (UTC)

The tool removes spaces of uniform color automagically. If you have big countries like India or Australia, they get caught by the algorithm as well. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.69.9|162.158.69.9]] 06:16, 11 January 2017 (UTC)

Can anybody figure out the projection before the application of the tool? [[Special:Contributions/108.162.219.232|108.162.219.232]] 06:58, 11 January 2017 (UTC)

Talk:392: Making Rules

2016-12-24T09:40:09Z

108.162.219.232:

I always called it "Slug Bug" growing up... have I been wrong this entire time? [[Special:Contributions/173.245.50.156|173.245.50.156]] 14:36, 8 April 2015 (UTC)
We also called it "Slug Bug." It took me quite a few years to realize that the word "slug" in "No slug back" was meant to mean "hit."[[Special:Contributions/199.27.130.228|199.27.130.228]] 06:00, 27 April 2015 (UTC)

Not mentioned in either the comics or here is the important issue of how the girlfriend feels about this. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.219.232|108.162.219.232]] 09:40, 24 December 2016 (UTC)