explain xkcd - User contributions [en]

Talk:1137: RTL

2019-12-02T15:26:56Z

108.162.229.110:

There's a typo in the comic - hte should be eht for "the" spelled backwards -jars99

:Unless you consider "th" a single character, which by the way makes a lot of sense as it is derived from old-english "eth". {{unsigned|62.245.198.190}}
::Unless you further consider that "they" doesn't share that in the comic, making it internally inconsistent. [[Special:Contributions/76.122.5.96|76.122.5.96]] 11:40, 21 November 2012 (UTC)
:::It should be noted that at some point, "the" was corrected. [[User:Rawmustard|Rawmustard]] ([[User talk:Rawmustard|talk]]) 16:42, 22 November 2012 (UTC)

Acutally, unicode 202e doesn't "flip proceeding text back-to-front", it overrides the direction, setting it to "right-to-left" for the following text. It's back-to-front for most of us like "left-to-right" is to other writing systems. I know it's nitpicking, but xkcd readers should appreciate the symmetry. [[User:BKA|BKA]] ([[User talk:BKA|talk]]) 07:23, 21 November 2012 (UTC)

I don't see the reversed title. My window manager is not UTF-8 compatible, so when a window title is set to string containing UTF-8 characters, it doesn't change. This brings the question if it really is a browser problem or if the browsers behave as expected and the window manager is at fault. -- [[Special:Contributions/89.177.52.2|89.177.52.2]] 09:17, 21 November 2012 (UTC)

:It's not a ''problem'' per sec. Browsers that get the reversed title are processing the UTF symbol correctly, there's no bug there. And the window manager has no bearing on the title text except for maybe font. [[User:Davidy22|Davidy22]][[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>(talk)</tt>]] 09:32, 21 November 2012 (UTC)

::Well its the window manager that renders the window title, but it is composed by the Browser. I think that the browser should insert an appropriate number of U+202c characters, in this case it should be "xkcd: [U+202e]LTR[U+202c] - Mozilla Firefox". That would render as xkcd: RTL - Mozilla Firefox". By the way, the tab caption in Firefox is "xkcd: LTR". In Chromium and Opera it is shown correctly as "xkcd: RTL". [[User:Joha.ma|Joha.ma]] ([[User talk:Joha.ma|talk]]) 09:47, 21 November 2012 (UTC)

Another way to see this in effect is to try to type in this test page: http://www.fileformat.info/info/unicode/char/202e/browsertest.htm - and this also works in etherpad, as suggested in the caption.--[[User:Anarcat|Anarcat]] ([[User talk:Anarcat|talk]]) 00:09, 22 November 2012 (UTC)

Black Hat seems to have used U+202b, not e. The individual characters are left-to-right. Check the D, E, L, N, S, and ? [[Special:Contributions/24.193.153.138|24.193.153.138]] 02:46, 22 November 2012 (UTC)
:No, U+202e does not actually mirror the characters themselves, just the displayed order. U+202b only changes the order for characters that don't have embedded direction, such as the period, which can be used with multiple languages. [[User:Bugefun|Bugefun]] ([[User talk:Bugefun|talk]]) 05:00, 22 November 2012 (UTC)
::Actually, it does mirror some characters, namely those that have the ''mirrored'' property. For example, the parentheses or mathematical relations like the less-than sign. [http://www.unicode.org/Public/UNIDATA/BidiMirroring.txt Here] is a list of them. --[[User:Ulm|Ulm]] ([[User talk:Ulm|talk]]) 12:34, 22 November 2012 (UTC)
:::‮The text is not always mirrored - some browsers and font-sets do not 'understand' U+202E, so the text here might be displayed with a box before it. [[Special:Contributions/173.49.135.77|173.49.135.77]] 15:24, 27 December 2012 (UTC)

The title of this comic has an embedded RTL in the title, as has been noted somewhere. Because of this, Randall's Archive page is now screwed up, with all titles before this comic (listed after this comic on the Archive page in descending order) now being reversed. Ha, ha! He hacked himself!
[[Special:Contributions/70.111.5.179|70.111.5.179]] 01:59, 14 January 2013 (UTC)larK

just randomly came across this comic today, and not only is the title LTR, but also preceeded by some gibberish characters: "â€®LTR" using firefox, don't know how - i don't think it has always been like that on my machine... [[Special:Contributions/162.158.89.187|162.158.89.187]]
:Same here (as in on Firefox). Kinda messed up my 'looking stuff up on explainxkcd' workflow... It also shows up like that on InternetExplorer.[[Special:Contributions/108.162.229.110|108.162.229.110]] 15:21, 2 December 2019 (UTC)

Talk:1137: RTL

2019-12-02T15:21:34Z

108.162.229.110:

There's a typo in the comic - hte should be eht for "the" spelled backwards -jars99

:Unless you consider "th" a single character, which by the way makes a lot of sense as it is derived from old-english "eth". {{unsigned|62.245.198.190}}
::Unless you further consider that "they" doesn't share that in the comic, making it internally inconsistent. [[Special:Contributions/76.122.5.96|76.122.5.96]] 11:40, 21 November 2012 (UTC)
:::It should be noted that at some point, "the" was corrected. [[User:Rawmustard|Rawmustard]] ([[User talk:Rawmustard|talk]]) 16:42, 22 November 2012 (UTC)

Acutally, unicode 202e doesn't "flip proceeding text back-to-front", it overrides the direction, setting it to "right-to-left" for the following text. It's back-to-front for most of us like "left-to-right" is to other writing systems. I know it's nitpicking, but xkcd readers should appreciate the symmetry. [[User:BKA|BKA]] ([[User talk:BKA|talk]]) 07:23, 21 November 2012 (UTC)

I don't see the reversed title. My window manager is not UTF-8 compatible, so when a window title is set to string containing UTF-8 characters, it doesn't change. This brings the question if it really is a browser problem or if the browsers behave as expected and the window manager is at fault. -- [[Special:Contributions/89.177.52.2|89.177.52.2]] 09:17, 21 November 2012 (UTC)

:It's not a ''problem'' per sec. Browsers that get the reversed title are processing the UTF symbol correctly, there's no bug there. And the window manager has no bearing on the title text except for maybe font. [[User:Davidy22|Davidy22]][[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>(talk)</tt>]] 09:32, 21 November 2012 (UTC)

::Well its the window manager that renders the window title, but it is composed by the Browser. I think that the browser should insert an appropriate number of U+202c characters, in this case it should be "xkcd: [U+202e]LTR[U+202c] - Mozilla Firefox". That would render as xkcd: RTL - Mozilla Firefox". By the way, the tab caption in Firefox is "xkcd: LTR". In Chromium and Opera it is shown correctly as "xkcd: RTL". [[User:Joha.ma|Joha.ma]] ([[User talk:Joha.ma|talk]]) 09:47, 21 November 2012 (UTC)

Another way to see this in effect is to try to type in this test page: http://www.fileformat.info/info/unicode/char/202e/browsertest.htm - and this also works in etherpad, as suggested in the caption.--[[User:Anarcat|Anarcat]] ([[User talk:Anarcat|talk]]) 00:09, 22 November 2012 (UTC)

Black Hat seems to have used U+202b, not e. The individual characters are left-to-right. Check the D, E, L, N, S, and ? [[Special:Contributions/24.193.153.138|24.193.153.138]] 02:46, 22 November 2012 (UTC)
:No, U+202e does not actually mirror the characters themselves, just the displayed order. U+202b only changes the order for characters that don't have embedded direction, such as the period, which can be used with multiple languages. [[User:Bugefun|Bugefun]] ([[User talk:Bugefun|talk]]) 05:00, 22 November 2012 (UTC)
::Actually, it does mirror some characters, namely those that have the ''mirrored'' property. For example, the parentheses or mathematical relations like the less-than sign. [http://www.unicode.org/Public/UNIDATA/BidiMirroring.txt Here] is a list of them. --[[User:Ulm|Ulm]] ([[User talk:Ulm|talk]]) 12:34, 22 November 2012 (UTC)
:::‮The text is not always mirrored - some browsers and font-sets do not 'understand' U+202E, so the text here might be displayed with a box before it. [[Special:Contributions/173.49.135.77|173.49.135.77]] 15:24, 27 December 2012 (UTC)

The title of this comic has an embedded RTL in the title, as has been noted somewhere. Because of this, Randall's Archive page is now screwed up, with all titles before this comic (listed after this comic on the Archive page in descending order) now being reversed. Ha, ha! He hacked himself!
[[Special:Contributions/70.111.5.179|70.111.5.179]] 01:59, 14 January 2013 (UTC)larK

just randomly came across this comic today, and not only is the title LTR, but also preceeded by some gibberish characters: "â€®LTR" using firefox, don't know how - i don't think it has always been like that on my machine... [[Special:Contributions/162.158.89.187|162.158.89.187]]
:Same here. Kinda messed up my 'looking stuff up on explainxkcd' workflow... It also shows up like that on InternetExplorer.[[Special:Contributions/108.162.229.110|108.162.229.110]] 15:21, 2 December 2019 (UTC)

Talk:57: Wait For Me

2014-10-25T15:19:57Z

108.162.229.110:

This could also be a reference to relativity, but I may be overthinking it. [[Special:Contributions/130.160.145.185|130.160.145.185]] 06:24, 9 March 2013 (UTC)

I'm going with the more fantastical route. Cueball could have gone to Narnia in the ninety seconds she was gone. He could have had an affair and a child that is her age within that time. [[Special:Contributions/72.193.184.110|72.193.184.110]] 10:51, 18 May 2013 (UTC)

And is maybe even a half-fawn? ;) [[Special:Contributions/178.98.31.27|178.98.31.27]] 23:06, 24 June 2013 (UTC)

Who is "Scott"? He is mentioned here a couple of times so, we do need a category for him at this wiki.--[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 22:27, 25 June 2013 (UTC)
:We already have [[Scott|a page for him]]. I've adjusted the two pages that refer to him in the title text to wikilink his name like the third already did. [[User:Markhurd|Mark Hurd]] ([[User talk:MMarkhurd|talk]]) 01:37, 26 June 2013 (UTC)

The 90 seconds could refer to time to read the comic for some people?[[Special:Contributions/87.242.215.146|87.242.215.146]] 14:13, 18 July 2013 (UTC)

I strongly feel that cueball is making a joke about relativity. [[Special:Contributions/199.107.68.166|199.107.68.166]] 19:22, 20 September 2013

The joke is about relativity. A very popular example found in books is the so-called twin paradox, where one brother stays on earth and the other travels at a speed of light. When the traveling twin returns, he finds his brother having aged years while only hours had passed for the traveler.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Twin_paradox

[[Special:Contributions/75.109.152.5|75.109.152.5]] 05:41, 22 September 2013 (UTC)

I feel pretty strongly that Cueball's hesitation is more because he is embarrassed, than because he is joking. bringing cueball's son into the situation would then pull relativity into the matter. [[User:GallantChaos|GallantChaos]] ([[User talk:GallantChaos|talk]]) 17:51, 22 September 2013 (UTC)

It seems to me more like a sketch based on the premise of the Bill Nighy film About Time where the males of the family can travel backwards in time, sometimes changing the future as a result [[Special:Contributions/141.101.99.214|141.101.99.214]] 10:57, 8 November 2013 (UTC)Pab
:How could Randall have referenced a 2013 movie in 2006? -- Oh. I see what you did there. {{unsigned|Madbadger2742}}

A woman announces: '''One minute...'''—that's the joke!--[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 21:38, 8 November 2013 (UTC)

He may be also referring to Star trek episode 'The Inner Light'

792: Password Reuse

2014-08-28T20:29:20Z

108.162.229.110: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 792
| date = September 13, 2010
| title = Password Reuse
| image = password_reuse.png
| titletext = It'll be hilarious the first few times this happens.
}}

==Explanation==
This comic has three layers: hacking, philosophy, and Google-satire.

It starts off on a practical level, with Black Hat describing a devious social engineering scheme. It relies on the fact that people commonly reuse the same password on multiple websites, and tend to create accounts on new websites somewhat indiscriminately. Thus, one could create a simple Web service to collect users' usernames, email addresses, and passwords. Since many users will reuse this combination on other websites as well, the website owner can try to hack their accounts on other common sites, such as Amazon or PayPal, using the same login info.

In panel 6, the comic suddenly develops a philosophical and ethical bent. Black Hat reveals that he has already carried out step 1, through his numerous unprofitable Web services which he had been running for this very purpose. However, after successfully executing the hack, he realizes that he does not know what to do with all this power.
He reveals that he is already financially self-sufficient, and makes a point that money can't buy happiness. He could use his power to realize his sadistic pleasures of messing with people, but he's already a serial asshole. If he had any beliefs or ideology, he could use this power to try to spread them. However, he reveals that "since March of 1997" he doesn't really believe in anything (possibly related to the March 26, 1997 incident in San Diego, California, where 39 Heaven's Gate cultists committed mass suicide at their compound). The dilemma: Black Hat has cleverly executed a hack that has given him a lot of power, but he doesn't know what to do with it.

The last part of the comic now transitions to a satire on how Google has already gone through both the stages described above. It describes how all of Google's free services are simply a ploy to collect and control all the world's information, similar in concept but grander than the hack described in part 1. It satirizes the notion that behind Google's "Don't be evil" motto is actually an end-goal of using their powers eventually for evil. However, just like Black Hat, once Google reaches the stage where they are able to capitalize on their powers, they find that there is nothing evil left for them to desire. They already make a lot of money, and anything remaining that they wish to do, such as throwing {{w|Call of Duty|CoD}} tournaments, isn't evil at all.

This comic was directly referenced in [[1286: Encryptic]].

==Transcript==
:[Cueball at a computer with Black Hat behind him.]
:Black Hat: Password entropy is rarely relevant. The real modern danger is password reuse.
:Cueball: How so?
:Computer: Password too weak.

:Black Hat: Set up a Web service to do something simple, like image hosting or tweet syndication, so a few million people set up free accounts.

:Black Hat: Bam, you've got a few million emails, default usernames, and passwords.

:Black Hat: Tons of people use one password, strong or not, for most accounts.

:[Diagram showing a table of emails, usernames, and passwords.]
:Black Hat: Use the list and some proxies to try automated logins to the 20 or 30 most popular sites, plus banks and PayPal and such.

:Black Hat: You've now got a few hundred thousand real identities on a few dozen services, and nobody suspects a thing.
:Cueball: And then what?

:Black Hat: Well, that's where I got stuck.
:Cueball: You did this?
:Black Hat: Why do you ''think'' I hosted so many unprofitable web services?

:Black Hat: I could probably net in a lot of money, one way or another, if I did things carefully. But research shows more money doesn't make people happier, once they make enough to avoid day-to-day financial stress.

:Black Hat: I could mess with people endlessly, but I do that already. I could get a political or religious idea out to most of the world, but since March of 1997 I don't really believe in anything.

:Black Hat: So, here I sit, a puppetmaster who wants nothing from his puppets.
:Black Hat: It's the same problem Google has.
:Cueball: Oh?

:[A meeting at Google headquarters. An executive is talking to some others.]
:Google...
:Executive 1: Okay, everyone, we control the world's information. Now it's time to turn evil. What's the plan?
:Executive 2: Make boatloads of money?

:Executive 1: We already do!
:Executive 2 (off-panel): Set up a companywide CoD4: Modern Warfare tournament each week?
:Executive 1: ''That's not evil!''
:Executive 2: Ooh, dibs on the lobby TV!
:Executive 1: Okay, we ''suck'' at this.

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

1324: Weather

2014-08-28T18:52:53Z

108.162.229.110: /* Explanation */ I think this explanation fits the title text better. Anonymous.

{{comic
| number = 1324
| date = January 31, 2014
| title = Weather
| image = weather.png
| titletext = At least if you're really into, like, Turkish archaeology, store clerks aren't like 'hey, how 'bout those Derinkuyu underground cities!' when they're trying to be polite.
}}
==Explanation==
Social norm accepts casual small-talk as an ice breaker for interaction — usually it is always safe to talk about the weather without hitting any disagreements as there are rarely any personal view points about the weather — in contrast small-talk is never about political subjects or similar where chances are that there are strong personal view points.

In this strip [[Cueball]] is an expert on {{w|meteorology}} and {{w|weather forecasting}}. When [[Hairy]] makes a comment about the weather, Cueball launches into a detailed technical discussion, not realizing Hairy is simply trying to engage in small-talk. Only weather experts would have this problem, but this topic is a common opening for a conversation in casual small-talk. Cueball switches to small-talk once he realizes that Hairy is confused and didn't expect this level of technical information.

As to the jargon:
* {{w|Jet stream|Jet streams}} are strong air currents high in the atmosphere which have a big influence on the weather.
* 18z is 18:00 {{w|Coordinated Universal Time|UTC}} (6 PM in Greenwich, England, 10 AM in California). See {{w|ISO 8601}} at Wikipedia. The letter "Z" is used as 'Zulu' in the {{w|NATO phonetic alphabet}}, meaning just UTC.
* GFS is the {{w|Global Forecast System}} (also known as NCEP-GFS). It is a computer model used by the {{w|National Weather Service}} to predict the weather up to 16 days in advance. The model is run 4 times a day and the output is distinguished by the UTC hour it was started (18z in this case).
* Part of the prediction is the {{w|atmospheric pressure}} expressed in {{w|Bar (unit)|mbar}} (or mb). 960 mbar is very low pressure, which is usually associated with seriously bad weather (record low pressure for Minnesota was 963 mbar till 1998).
* While the "Think it'll verify?" is fairly self-explanatory, it is also jargon; simply put, a forecast "verifies" when it becomes reality.

The title text clarifis the problem weather nuts like Cueball here have: Unlike other geeky pursuits (like, say, the {{w|Derinkuyu Underground City|Derinkuyu Underground Cities}}, one of the most well-known {{w|History of Turkey|archaeological sites in Turkey}}) weather is a fairly common small talk subject. As a result, weather geeks have to be constantly vigilant so as not to launch into technical monologues.

==Transcript==
:[Cueball and Hairy are talking.]
:Hairy: So, how 'bout this weather?
:Cueball: I ''know,'' right? The whole jet stream layer is ''nuts!''
:Hairy: Um, sure...
:Cueball: The 18z GFS forecasts 960mb by Tuesday. Think it'll verify?
:Hairy: What?
:Cueball: ...Right. Sorry. Uh, yeah! Weather sure has been crazy.

:Weather geeks have it tough.
{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Hairy]]