explain xkcd - User contributions [en]

Talk:167: Nihilism

2015-10-12T22:00:11Z

108.162.237.158:

That's his logic for dong random stuff?[[User:Guru-45|Guru-45]] ([[User talk:Guru-45|talk]]) 16:33, 10 March 2013 (UTC)

:He is saying that climbing a tree is as reasonable a response to nihilism as acting all mopey and depressed. [[Special:Contributions/184.66.160.91|184.66.160.91]] 03:21, 27 August 2013 (UTC)

:And also suggesting that it is the better option (or at least the one he'd rather be doing) of the two. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.237.158|108.162.237.158]] 22:00, 12 October 2015 (UTC)

And he is soooo correct. I wish I knew now what a waste of time worrying about certain things happening or not happening would wind up being. I wish I'd spent more time climbing trees or doing other things that made me feel happy or that I had fun doing instead of worrying about how I would look to others doing so. Life should come with a users manual or at least a FAQ or something. I know, I know there's lots of books out there that attempt to do that but I mean one that you KNOW is true because it was written for YOU. [[Special:Contributions/173.245.54.190|173.245.54.190]] 10:37, 2 April 2015 (UTC)

Talk:471: Aversion Fads

2015-09-06T22:06:16Z

108.162.237.158:

The inclusion of a Fox is notable, within the Furry community foxes are the most populous species [Citation: https://sites.google.com/site/anthropomorphicresearch/home ] and subjected to a degree of derision from other furs.

[[Special:Contributions/78.40.152.129|78.40.152.129]] 10:45, 12 January 2013 (UTC) Feefers (A Furry)

:Your mention of fox-morphism reminds me of {{w|Lady into Fox}}, from the 1920s... Probably not relevent, but perhaps interesting as a pre-Internet example that is not itself an ancient fable, legend or allegory. (No Rule 34ing, though, that I recall). [[Special:Contributions/178.107.249.215|178.107.249.215]] 22:22, 11 June 2013 (UTC)
::At that novel a lady suddenly turns into a real fox, this is not true for this comic. It's just the Furry community.--[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 19:02, 12 June 2013 (UTC)

Does anyone know if this is Randall's actual opinion of furries? I've wondered that ever since I first read this comic. [[User:Leafy Greens|Leafy Greens]] ([[User talk:Leafy Greens|talk]]) 15:37, 16 November 2014 (UTC)

It's possible that the "Hey, kid" line is a reference to the "Hey, kid, wanna yiff?" meme (possibly based on another, "hey kid, wanna see a dead body") which was made 4 months -1 day prior to this strip release, apparently for a furry pick-up line contest on FurAffinity [got this from knowyourmeme]. Also, the title " Aversion Fad" might be suggesting that the anti-Furry attitude/meme/whatever is just a fad or meme. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.237.158|108.162.237.158]] 19:27, 6 September 2015 (UTC)

Talk:471: Aversion Fads

2015-09-06T19:27:10Z

108.162.237.158:

The inclusion of a Fox is notable, within the Furry community foxes are the most populous species [Citation: https://sites.google.com/site/anthropomorphicresearch/home ] and subjected to a degree of derision from other furs.

[[Special:Contributions/78.40.152.129|78.40.152.129]] 10:45, 12 January 2013 (UTC) Feefers (A Furry)

:Your mention of fox-morphism reminds me of {{w|Lady into Fox}}, from the 1920s... Probably not relevent, but perhaps interesting as a pre-Internet example that is not itself an ancient fable, legend or allegory. (No Rule 34ing, though, that I recall). [[Special:Contributions/178.107.249.215|178.107.249.215]] 22:22, 11 June 2013 (UTC)
::At that novel a lady suddenly turns into a real fox, this is not true for this comic. It's just the Furry community.--[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 19:02, 12 June 2013 (UTC)

Does anyone know if this is Randall's actual opinion of furries? I've wondered that ever since I first read this comic. [[User:Leafy Greens|Leafy Greens]] ([[User talk:Leafy Greens|talk]]) 15:37, 16 November 2014 (UTC)

It's possible that the "Hey, kid" line is a reference to the "Hey, kid, wanna yiff?" meme (possibly based on another, "hey kid, wanna see a dead body") which was made 4 months -1 day prior to this strip release, apparently for a furry pick-up line contest on FurAffinity [got this from knowyourmeme]. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.237.158|108.162.237.158]] 19:27, 6 September 2015 (UTC)

11: Barrel - Part 2

2015-09-06T19:08:35Z

108.162.237.158: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 11
| date = September 30, 2005
| title = Barrel - Part 2
| image = barrel mommies.jpg
| titletext = Awww.
}}

==Explanation==
Like in the previous comic in the Barrel series, the boy is floating in the ocean in a barrel. The previous comic made a point about the uncertainty of life; here, the boy's lament at not finding a mother is pure sentimentality, as accentuated by the title text.

According the Freud, the first stage of psychosexual development is the Oral Stage which relates to a baby's relationship with its mother. The realisation that mommy cannot be found is the first point at which a person learns to stop trusting the world{{citation needed}} and realises that the world is not always comforting and safe.

This is the second in a six-part series of comics whose parts were randomly published during the first several dozen strips. The series features a [[:Category:Barrel|character]] that is not consistent with what would quickly become the [[xkcd]] [[stick figure]] style. The character is in a barrel.

After Randall released the full [http://liveweb.archive.org/web/20070207052159/http://www.xkcd.com/barrel.html The Boy and his Barrel] story on xkcd it has been clear that the original [[Ferret]] story should also be included as part of the barrel series.

The full series can be found [[:Category:Barrel|here]]. But below they are listed in the order Randall has put them in his collection linked to above:
* [[1: Barrel - Part 1]]
* [[20: Ferret]]
* [[11: Barrel - Part 2]]
* [[22: Barrel - Part 3]]
* [[25: Barrel - Part 4]]
* [[31: Barrel - Part 5]]

==Transcript==
:[A boy sits in a barrel which is floating in an ocean.]
:Boy: None of the places i floated had mommies.

==Trivia==
*This was the 13th comic originally posted to [[LiveJournal]].
**The previous was [[14: Copyright]].
**The next was [[15: Just Alerting You]].
*This comic kept it's original title: "Barrel - Part 2 "
*Original [[Randall]] quote: "The story continues."
*This was one of the [[:Category:First day on LiveJournal|thirteen first comics]] posted to LiveJournal within 12 minutes on Friday September 30, 2005.
*This comic was posted on [[xkcd]] when the web site opened on Sunday the 1st of January 2006.
**It was posted along [[:Category:First day on xkcd|with all 41 comics]] posted before that on LiveJournal as well as a few others.
**The latter explaining why the numbers of these 41 LiveJournal comics ranges from 1-44.
*One of the original drawings drawn on [[:Category:Checkered paper|checkered paper]].
*The drawing style is very reminiscent of the {{w|The Little Prince|Little Prince}}.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics posted on livejournal| 13]]
[[Category:First day on LiveJournal| 13]]
[[Category:First day on xkcd]]
[[Category:Checkered paper]]
[[Category:Barrel|03]]

Talk:11: Barrel - Part 2

2015-09-06T19:06:56Z

108.162.237.158:

None of the places you floated probably had land either. '''[[User:Davidy22|Davidy22]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 14:08, 8 January 2013 (UTC)

Maybe there's a chance this is a Doctor Who reference; The Empty Child http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Empty_Child aired 4 months before this comic, with the iconic "Are you my mommy?" quote. {{unsigned ip|108.162.229.45}}

Elián González reference? [[User:Danshoham|Mountain Hikes]] ([[User talk:Danshoham|talk]]) 23:15, 22 August 2015 (UTC)

What was the purpose of the paragraph about Freud's worldview/theories? The comic doesn't mention Freud. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.237.158|108.162.237.158]] 19:06, 6 September 2015 (UTC)

Talk:453: Upcoming Hurricanes

2015-06-25T07:52:48Z

108.162.237.158:

I wonder, is there a reason why Randall chose cos(x) over sin(x)? Is there a y-axis somewhere on the map? Not that it matters; just curious... [[User:Bobidou23|Bobidou23]] ([[User talk:Bobidou23|talk]]) 23:24, 22 September 2012 (UTC)
:''cos(x)'', ''sin(x)'', they're the same thing, plus or minus pi/4... -- [[User:IronyChef|IronyChef]] ([[User talk:IronyChef|talk]]) 02:57, 23 September 2012 (UTC)
Something seems off about this explanation. Like reading a blog. [[Special:Contributions/76.122.5.96|76.122.5.96]] 05:14, 28 October 2012 (UTC)

:If something is less than satisfactory, you are fully welcome (and even encouraged) to edit the explanation to be better. [[User:Lcarsos|lcarsos]] ([[User talk:Lcarsos|talk]]) 06:37, 28 October 2012 (UTC)

Whoever said hurricanes cannot form within 5 degrees of the equator was wrong... It is not likely but it is possible. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cyclone_Agni http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Typhoon_Vamei [[Special:Contributions/152.2.128.198|152.2.128.198]] 14:36, 5 November 2012 (UTC)

This title-text seems strangely prophetic after Tropical Storm Sandy in 2012. {{unsigned|107.204.46.198}}
:Yes, I agree. [[User:David1217|David1217]] ([[User talk:David1217|talk]]) 17:18, 19 January 2013 (UTC)
::There is more to win from predicting something that is going to happen than there is to lose from predicting something that doesn't happen. [[User:Tharkon|Tharkon]] ([[User talk:Tharkon|talk]]) 19:30, 1 December 2013 (UTC)

Has anyone any idea what the "&" symbol is about in Hurricane Where-The-Hell-Is-Bermuda? [[Special:Contributions/141.101.97.215|141.101.97.215]] 12:32, 13 May 2014 (UTC)

Regarding Hurricane cos(x):
*If {{w|Equator}} is the x-axis and the y-axis goes through the {{w|Prime meridian}} of {{w|Prime meridian (Greenwich)|Greenwich}} it would be possible to say if this was a true cosine function hurricane.
*A cosine would be 1 (the maximum value) at x=0 (i.e. the maximum value would occur under {{w|Greenwich}}), whereas a sine would be 0 at x=0.
*If it had been a basic cos(x) without any constants added, then it should have been centered along the equator instead of as it is - ranging from about 5.5° to 9.5° north {{w|latitude}}.
*But if the formula was of the form a*cos(b*x)+c with a, b and c given constant, the wave could move to the center of this range with c=7.5°. With the constant a=2° the wave would move between the max and minimum of the range, and then b could be chosen to make the wave length fit with the path shown in the map.

--{{unsigned|Kynde}}

:There is no reason to assume the axes are on the meridian and equator. [[User:Tharkon|Tharkon]] ([[User talk:Tharkon|talk]]) 02:41, 7 September 2014 (UTC)

The details for Hurricane cos(x) mentions a trivia section, which is not present in this article. [[User:SuperSupermario24|Just some random derp]] 17:41, 21 June 2015 (UTC)
:I was about to post the same comment but then I decided to read these first. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.237.158|108.162.237.158]] 07:52, 25 June 2015 (UTC)

Talk:969: Delta-P

2015-06-20T05:14:43Z

108.162.237.158:

First, it is worth noting that water jet velocity = (Q/A) = sqrt(2 * g * d).
As such, it is not dependent on the opening size of the wardrobe.
The figures given appear to assume the wardrobe is 2 square meters, which is probably fairly large.

Second, there is also the matter of momentum.
The water mass is ~400,000 kg/sec, at ~200 m/sec, for a net of 80,000,000 kg meter/sec.
If the receiving portal is subject to conservation momentum and is another wardrobe, it will be traveling at over 99% of the water jet speed.
(The reduction would actually be less than the adjustment for the correct gravitational force.)
So part of what the white queen would have to worry about is this wardrobe darting all over the place at ~700 km/hour or ~440 miles/hour.
Of course, the sending wardrobe will be zipping around the ocean as well, which might make "[http://what-if.xkcd.com/6/ Glass Half Empty]" relevant.

[[User:Divad27182|Divad27182]] ([[User talk:Divad27182|talk]]) 15:39, 5 October 2012 (UTC)
:Two wardrobes? [[Special:Contributions/108.162.237.158|108.162.237.158]] 05:14, 20 June 2015 (UTC)

Well, the suction of the vacuum might increase the momentum of the wardrobe AND the jet.--[[User:Castriff|Jimmy C]] ([[User talk:Castriff|talk]]) 15:01, 12 November 2012 (UTC)

I have a feeling that the inconstant passage of time, between the two realms, should factor into this somehow. At the start, Lucy is in Narnia for a whole evening, and returns moments later. By the end the whole ''group'' stay for many years and are hardly away for much longer (while the 'tour' is still passing). So the amount of water that leaves Earth's oceans in a short time can probably afford to trickle out into the Lantern Wastes at a much lower volume/time.
In reverse, would the passive thermal energy of Narnia (even during its snowbound period) over a long Narnian period now be exiting Earthside in a compressed form (if not in frequency, certainly in rate) making the open wardrobe door furnace, like?
Or, given the above, and that nobody seems to notice any strange dilation effects during transition, and the fact that Edmund enters shortly after Lucy yet is not several days later in arriving (though ''possibly'' up to an hour or two) there may be a "time lock" facility, which means that one or more transitional areas betwixt Earth and Narnia are sealed shut behind one traveller while they start travelling further into (or out of) the furs/firs hybrid areas. We already know that the 'normal' wardrobe back can present itself at times when transit isn't required, so who knows whether it's an active compartmentalising, or just passively not wormholing betwixt the relevent domains.

And for my ''next'' essay, I shall be discussing how to automate the use of the rings made by the original Magician (the Professor's Uncle) in order to transfer spent nuclear waste to Charn, or some other, similar dead world. (And the security measures needed to ensure that Jadis does not obtain the necessary material to make radiologically-active weaponry in her conquests of other worlds brought into being by Aslan.) [[Special:Contributions/178.105.230.21|178.105.230.21]] 16:24, 23 April 2013 (UTC)

Why do you suppose that so called Nuclear Waste needs drastic measures to deal with it?
You should know by now that vested interests are making silly money out of merely collecting it. They don't need to even ensure it is kept safely if silly minions are so easily controlled by stupid initiatives.

If they had a pressing need to dispose of it carefully and immediately I am pretty sure that competent engineers could readily be found to ensure that they do so. Stop frightening yourself into believing you need to give rich people money. You don't. [[User:Weatherlawyer| I used Google News BEFORE it was clickbait]] ([[User talk:Weatherlawyer|talk]]) 20:04, 22 January 2015 (UTC)

After the loooong trip mentioned above, the owner of the wardrobe (the Magicians Nephew) explains that they should not expect to ever get back into Narnia again through the Wardrobe. It will of course only open for children, and not for anyone throwing it into the ocean or for anyone shooting a portal gun through the door. So nothing would be hitting the witch! ;-) Who by the way is dead at that time. Time passes in Narnia so it fits with what is needed for the children to be the right place at the right time. But nice spotted though that it would be a problem if the portal was indeed always open.
However, if the door could be kept open and the witch was still alive... There is not a connecting wardrobe in Narnia, but just a forest - the fur skins in the wardrobe suddenly turns into threes. So there would be no wardrobe shooting around.
Finally - if the earth oceans would be transferred to Narnia - the whole Narnia world would be flooded, and the heat capacity of the earths water would surely melt all snow and ice without freezing over, since new water would continue to flow through for a very long time. (See the What if - Drain the Oceans: http://what-if.xkcd.com/53/ )[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 19:26, 16 January 2014 (UTC)

The doors look ready to be surprised or in the process of so being. The anchor on the other hand is too smug for its own good.

Suppose that the anchor is ripped off at impact and the doors slam shut. The flow rate is now dramatically altered. Isn't this what comics and magic is all about? [[User:Weatherlawyer| I used Google News BEFORE it was clickbait]] ([[User talk:Weatherlawyer|talk]]) 20:04, 22 January 2015 (UTC)

Talk:1537: Types

2015-06-12T23:33:19Z

108.162.237.158:

Relevant: WAT talk https://www.destroyallsoftware.com/talks/wat {{unsigned ip|‎108.162.254.108}}

Are (6) and (7) about completing sequences?

If the sequence was [1, 2, 3, ?] we would expect the ? to be a placeholder for 4. So [1, 2, 3]+2 is wrong := FALSE. But [1, 2, 3]+4 is correct := TRUE. {{unsigned ip|141.101.99.22}}

"+2 appears to be applying a unary + to the number 2" : or it adds the number of the line, 10, to 2 => 12. Also, the eleventh line, "2+2" may add 2 to all the following 2, explaining line 12. (that theory is from a friend of mine) [[User:Seipas|Seipas]] ([[User talk:Seipas|talk]]) 12:17, 12 June 2015 (UTC)
: Also, for the lines 6 and 7, the operation "[1,2,3]+x" may add x to the set [1,2,3] and return true if the operation succeeded or false if not. Adding 2 to the set [1,2,3] returns false because 2 is already in [1,2,3]. [[User:Seipas|Seipas]] ([[User talk:Seipas|talk]]) 12:23, 12 June 2015 (UTC)

Yellowish Blue: http://www.livescience.com/17948-red-green-blue-yellow-stunning-colors.html is NaN! {{unsigned ip|108.162.221.129}}

''"The ironic thing is that fractions with 2 in the nominator are not the kind of numbers that typically suffer from floating point impreciseness."''
- This is not technically correct. Should read "fractions with 'power of 2' in the '''de'''nominator. However, the 3/2 would cause precision errors. {{unsigned ip|108.162.221.129}}
: I don't know proper English wording for things, but 3/2=3*2^-1, so it would be represented exactly under IEEE-754 too. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.89.217|141.101.89.217]] 13:58, 12 June 2015 (UTC)

Is there more to this comic, a fixed set of rules that can tie all the examples together, or does each line make its own joke independently? [[Special:Contributions/108.162.219.5|108.162.219.5]] 12:54, 12 June 2015 (UTC)

;"normally"

<blockquote>This would make sense if it was <code>[] + 2</code></blockquote>

It really wouldn't. Javascript returns <code>"2"</code> (god knows why) and Python gives an error. Don't really feel like testing many other languages, but I also think it's not really a logical assumption to make at all. Can't think of a reason for <code>[] + 2</code> to return <code>[2]</code>... ever. It ''might'' make a little bit of sense in Randall's oddly typed language, but not in any sane one. --[[User:TotempaaltJ|TotempaaltJ]] ([[User talk:TotempaaltJ|talk]]) 12:35, 12 June 2015 (UTC)

: Javascript first converts <code>[]</code> (the empty array) to the empty string (using the rule "stringify each element and join with a comma"), then treats the operation as <code>"" + 2</code>, which results in conversion of the other operand to string and then concatenation. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.97.214|141.101.97.214]] 12:46, 12 June 2015 (UTC)

line 4: asci code of N + 2 = asci code of P [[User:SirKitKat|sirKitKat]] ([[User talk:SirKitKat|talk]]) 13:07, 12 June 2015 (UTC)

My favourite xkcd in a while. =8o) Of the list I got a good laugh out of numbers 8 and 13. [[User:Jarod997|Jarod997]] ([[User talk:Jarod997|talk]]) 13:11, 12 June 2015 (UTC)

I think a lot of this is his joke about programming languages loving the number 4. 2 + "2" = "4", [1,2,3] + 4 = true, 2+2 = DONE, and the range one all seem to support this. Also reminds me of this: http://xkcd.com/221/ {{unsigned ip|173.245.52.112}}

Why isn't yellowish blue just green? [[User:Djbrasier|Djbrasier]] ([[User talk:Djbrasier|talk]]) 16:18, 12 June 2015 (UTC)
:Because yellow and blue don't make green. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.237.158|108.162.237.158]] 23:33, 12 June 2015 (UTC)

line 4: I read NaP as Not a Problem. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.104.12|141.101.104.12]] 17:00, 12 June 2015 (UTC)
: So did I. [[User:Xynariz|Xynariz]] ([[User talk:Xynariz|talk]]) 23:12, 12 June 2015 (UTC)

Line 3 is missing its prompt. There does not appear to be any relevance to the joke, nor has anyone yet explained why it should be missing. Typo? [[Special:Contributions/108.162.221.183|108.162.221.183]] 17:10, 12 June 2015 (UTC)

Note that some programming languages avoid the problem of overloaded '+' operator between operands of vividly different types by using other symbols for string concatenation (be it "a"~"b" or "a"."b") and numerical addition. The real WTF is abusing '+' for string concatenation, which has very different properties from numerical addition, not being symmetrical for example: concat("aa", "bb") == "aabb", while concat("bb", "aa") == "bbaa" != "aabb". --[[User:JakubNarebski|JakubNarebski]] ([[User talk:JakubNarebski|talk]]) 17:38, 12 June 2015 (UTC)

Series of comics? I don't recall any others about Randall's new programming language... [[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.29|141.101.98.29]] 19:13, 12 June 2015 (UTC)

;+2
I think this is a japanese language joke. The + sign can also refer to the kanji 十, which is 10 in japanese. This would explain the result being twelve. 十二, or 10 2, is twelve in japanese. {{unsigned|Rafaeladson}}

I think number 5 is an escaped quote (two consecutive double quotes yields one double quote), a plus sign, and another escaped quote. The result is shown with an alternate form of escaped quotes (the apostrophe and double quote can both be used to show a string). NSIS scripting language uses this notation.[[Special:Contributions/108.162.221.180|108.162.221.180]] 20:19, 12 June 2015 (UTC)

Clearly this is what the xkcd phone's OS is written in (with some help from StackOverflow) {{unsigned ip|162.158.68.113}}

Great job at explaining the outputs. I clearly would have missed some interpretations without your insights. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.254.146|108.162.254.146]] 21:10, 12 June 2015 (UTC)

explain xkcd:Community portal/Miscellaneous

2015-06-05T12:58:00Z

108.162.237.158: /* What-If */

<noinclude>{{Community portal}}</noinclude>

== The Community Portal's design ==

{{tl|Community portal}} looks too Wikipedia-ish (because that's where I got it). Someone who can design things should probably fix that. It isn't protected for the time being, though it probably will be in the future (high-visibility template). --''[[User:Philosopher|Philosopher]]'' [[User talk:Philosopher|Let us reason together.]] 00:54, 4 August 2012 (EDT)

== Common mistake ==

This affects all pages that ever say "alt text" in reference to the TITLE text on xkcd images. "Alt text" is incorrect; Alt text refers to the text that is shown as an alternative when images are not displayed. Title text is what xkcd uses and is shown as a tool tip-like bubble when images are hovered over.

I would correct this myself but I saw no way to edit the main page. --[[User:Jillysky|Jillysky]] ([[User talk:Jillysky|talk]]) 14:21, 6 August 2012‎ (UTC)

:You actually don't need to edit the main page to fix it, as what's there is just a mirror (transclusion) of the actual content from the comic page, at [[Curiosity]], which is open for editing by anyone. Then again, the "alt-text" in that case is generated by a template, {{tl|comic}}, so that's where we should fix this. The template's code, however, is currently a terrible mess (sorry!), so I went ahead and took care of it. Thanks for catching that! --[[User:Waldir|Waldir]] ([[User talk:Waldir|talk]]) 16:24, 6 August 2012 (UTC)

:Ah? So it's wrong, for instance, on http://m.xkcd.com? because of that I took it for granted that we could call it the alt-text... - [[User:Cos|Cos]] ([[User talk:Cos|talk]]) 17:38, 6 August 2012 (UTC)

:: Yes. If you look at the page's html source, you'll see:
<nowiki><img
id="comic"
src="http://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/curiosity.png"
title="As of this writing the NASA/JPL websites are still overloaded. Trying CURIOSITY-REAR-CAM_[256px_x_256px].torrent.SwEsUb.DVDRip.XviD-aXXo.jpg instead."
alt="Curiosity"></nowiki>
::(line breaks added for clarity) --[[User:Waldir|Waldir]] ([[User talk:Waldir|talk]]) 23:54, 6 August 2012 (UTC)

:::That was my error in the template. I knew "image text" that has been commonly used by Jeff was not techically correct, but I didn't actually go back and confirm it was alt text before I included that tag in the template. That's to Waldir (I believe?) for correcting the template. [[User:TheHYPO|TheHYPO]] ([[User talk:TheHYPO|talk]]) 14:14, 7 August 2012 (UTC)

== When the "official" transcript is wrong? ==
I did [[903: Extended Mind]]. Interestingly, the transcript on xkcd.com is missing the bottom line "When Wikipedia has a server outage, my apparent IQ drops by 30 points." I assume we want a complete transcript, rather than whatever xkcd.com says it is...? [[User:Stevage|Stevage]] ([[User talk:Stevage|talk]]) 04:10, 17 November 2012 (UTC)

:We're focusing on the actual transcript of the comic, not the xkcd.com transcript. The official transcript is usually right, but even Randall makes mistakes sometimes. [[User:Davidy22|Davidy22]][[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>(talk)</tt>]] 04:24, 17 November 2012 (UTC)

== Milestone: half the comics explained!! ==

Hi all! I'm pleased to announce that we have just broke the 50% mark for xkcd explanations! The page that balanced the count (568 explained, 568 to go, at the time) was [[877: Beauty]], created 01:31 UTC, 21 November 2012 by [[User:Davidy22]]. Congratulations!! :D --[[User:Waldir|Waldir]] ([[User talk:Waldir|talk]]) 03:10, 21 November 2012 (UTC)

:The caterer's been called! The punch will be arriving soon! Go [[User:Davidy22|Davidy22]]! [[User:Lcarsos|lcarsos]]_a ([[User talk:Lcarsos|talk]]) 06:53, 21 November 2012 (UTC)

::[[File:freedom.png]] Punch is served! [[User:Davidy22|Davidy22]][[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>(talk)</tt>]] 07:11, 21 November 2012 (UTC)

But the Main page says 407 explanations, 731 to go! What's up with that? --[[User:St.nerol|St.nerol]] ([[User talk:St.nerol|talk]]) 21:00, 23 November 2012 (UTC)

== Reverse? ==

Why in the Archive why are all the thing up until "Heatmap" in Reverse? Can someone please answer? [[User:Tmack3|Tmack3]] ([[User talk:Tmack3|talk]]) 08:28, 20 February 2013 (UTC)
:Archive? Can you provide a link or screenshot? '''[[User:Davidy22|Davidy22]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 04:43, 19 February 2013 (UTC)

http://xkcd.com/archive/ [[User:Tmack3|Tmack3]] ([[User talk:Tmack3|talk]]) 08:28, 20 February 2013 (UTC)

::Ah, that's because the comic right after that, rtl, has a right-to-left character in it that flips all the proceeding text. '''[[User:Davidy22|Davidy22]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 00:13, 20 February 2013 (UTC)

Ah, ok, i see that now. When I 1st saw that RTL I just thought that it was random letters, thankyou for explaining it for me. [[User:Tmack3|Tmack3]] ([[User talk:Tmack3|talk]]) 08:28, 20 February 2013 (UTC)

It also depends on what browser you are on because on Google Chrome it was normal. [[User:Tmack3|Tmack3]] ([[User talk:Tmack3|talk]]) 09:08, 20 February 2013 (UTC)

== Do you think this question was asked by one of the xkcd people? ==

http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20090301060752AAtYugc [[User:Tmack3|Tmack3]] ([[User talk:Tmack3|talk]]) 08:38, 20 February 2013 (UTC)

== Matthew Reilly ==

I would just like to tell everyone that I asked Matthew Reilly (the author) if he is ever scared that a velociraptor is going to attack him, and he said NO! He clearly needs to start worrying about them! [[User:Tmack3|Tmack3]] ([[User talk:Tmack3|talk]]) 10:45, 22 February 2013 (UTC)

== What can we learn section ==
First of all I love your work. I believe deeper understanding of each XKCD can make a world a better place and I thank you sincerely for starting this webpage. I wanted to ask what you think about "What can we learn?" section I've been adding to some of the pages. Thank you - [[User:E-inspired|E-inspired]] ([[User talk:E-inspired|talk]]) 13:27, 28 February 2013 (UTC)

:This site is actually the work of multiple editors working slowly and steadily to fill in explanations for all the old comics. Some of the xkcd comics are incredibly deep - comic [[956]] is such a poignant comic that digs into the DRM issue on so many levels. Your reflections on many of the comics are very much warranted and you're helping us create talk pages with high-quality opening posts, which is great for future discussion on this wiki. It'd be nice if you could refrain from putting headers in talk pages, technical limitations of the wiki make long explanation pages choke when headings are in the discussion page. Other than that, keep up the good work! '''[[User:Davidy22|Davidy²²]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 13:42, 28 February 2013 (UTC)

::I've put in my 2 cents to comic [[956]], and thank you for teaching me how to comment and link to other comics - [[User:E-inspired|E-inspired]] ([[User talk:E-inspired|talk]]) 13:58, 28 February 2013 (UTC)

::: FYI, you can always make pseudo-headings using a horizontal rule and a bold "header", but honestly I think a simple standard opening sentence would suffice. --[[User:Waldir|Waldir]] ([[User talk:Waldir|talk]]) 12:14, 2 March 2013 (UTC)

:Oh, and the guy who draws xkcd is called {{w|Randall Munroe}}. So many glowing things to be said about him. '''[[User:Davidy22|Davidy²²]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 13:44, 28 February 2013 (UTC)

::Yes, I can't thank him enough for simplifying complex issues to funny stories, I think it's exactly what our generation needs - [[User:E-inspired|E-inspired]] ([[User talk:E-inspired|talk]]) 13:58, 28 February 2013 (UTC)

:I'm in favor of a Mr. Rogers style of 'what lesson can be learned' on the talk page, but make sure your comments don't come across as sanctimonious and holier-than-thou as that can be really off-putting. [[User:Lcarsos|lcarsos]]_a ([[User talk:Lcarsos|talk]]) 19:06, 28 February 2013 (UTC)

:: You are absolutely correct, I have not thought of that, please trust me I did not do it on purpose. Thank you Mr. Lcarsos - [[User:E-inspired|E-inspired]] ([[User talk:E-inspired|talk]]) 19:55, 28 February 2013 (UTC)

Thank you David, and I apologize that I've not made it clear that by your work, I do mean your collective work (the wiki is only as good as all the people behind it). I was trying to put the headers to allow others to find the section easier in case they start looking for it, perhaps I could make a suggestion to make it a standalone section so that others would be encouraged to contribute their own understanding of lessons they have noticed from each comic. I know the lessons I've seen, but I would love to learn from others as much as I hope they can learn from me and Mr. XKCD, thank you. - [[User:E-inspired|E-inspired]] ([[User talk:E-inspired|talk]]) 13:48, 28 February 2013 (UTC)

== DING DONG THE WITCH IS DEAD ==

Hello fellow editors. Do you remember the last time we were hit by a surge of automated spam? Neither do I. ConfirmEdit has really done a number on the volume of spam that we're eating - one spam account has been created since we finished configuring confirmEdit, and zero anon edits have been spam. Zero. Can you say happiness? Can you say party? '''[[User:Davidy22|Davidy²²]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 14:41, 1 March 2013 (UTC)

:Hehe, I'm glad! Thanks for being so relentless on the spam-fighting all this time! Maybe we should make up a new reason to make Jeff remove the /wiki/ in the URL? ;) –[[User:St.nerol|St.nerol]] ([[User talk:St.nerol|talk]]) 18:11, 1 March 2013 (UTC)

:: Awesome news! Finally the patrolling feature will be usable: [{{fullurl:Special:RecentChanges|hideanons=1&hidepatrolled=1&from=20121204025000&days=365&limit=1000}} Unpatrolled changes by registered users] / [{{fullurl:Special:RecentChanges|hideliu=1&hidepatrolled=1&from=20121204025000&days=365&limit=1000}} Unpatrolled changes by anonymous users] :) --[[User:Waldir|Waldir]] ([[User talk:Waldir|talk]]) 12:27, 2 March 2013 (UTC)

== 1000th comic explanation!! ==

Hi all! It apparently went unnoticed that '''we have recently surpassed the mark of 1000 comic explanations!''' Some calculations based on [[:Category:Comics]] and [[Special:NewPages]] led me to the conclusion that the 1000th explanation was [[681: Gravity Wells]], created by [[User:AlexRNL]] just yesterday! Yay! This calls for a celebration, no? Congrats to [[Special:ContributionScores|everyone]] who made this happen! I'll edit [[Mediawiki:Sitenotice]] with a congratulatory message. Way to go, guys! --[[User:Waldir|Waldir]] ([[User talk:Waldir|talk]]) 16:04, 10 April 2013 (UTC)
:ps - I also took the opportunity to flesh out our [[explain xkcd|about/history page]]. Please take a look and fix/add any details I might have missed. --[[User:Waldir|Waldir]] ([[User talk:Waldir|talk]]) 16:06, 10 April 2013 (UTC)

== Style guide ==
Is there a style guide for this wiki? --[[User:PeterMortensen|PeterMortensen]] ([[User talk:PeterMortensen|talk]]) 20:14, 10 August 2013 (UTC)
:Oh, sorry, I did forget to answer here. A guide on this is not easy, many individual comics do need special layouts because they have content never can match to a style guide. But I will give a try [[Help:Style Guide]].--[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 21:18, 15 August 2013 (UTC)

== Adblock ==

I've whitelisted the site in adblock, but the ads are still blocked.
Anyone know what' going on here and how I can fix it?--[[User:ParadoX|ParadoX]] ([[User talk:ParadoX|talk]]) 04:34, 27 September 2013 (UTC)
:Huh. I was wondering why our impression counts weren't rising. I thought it was just because this site had high turnover. I've changed the webpage that the word whitelisting links to, try the instructions there instead. Project wonderful is our ad provider, and they've been pretty good to us so far. Also, thanks for helping to support the site! '''[[User:Davidy22|{{Color|#707|David}}y²²]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 04:40, 27 September 2013 (UTC)
::Great! I don't really mid ads as long as they aren't intrusive. Works now, Hope everyone else does it as well.--[[User:ParadoX|ParadoX]] ([[User talk:ParadoX|talk]]) 05:16, 27 September 2013 (UTC)
::I saw you wrote "the webpage that the word whitelisting links to" so I went to the search box and typed whitelisting. My search didn't yield anything useful: [http://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?search=whitelisting&go=Go&title=Special%3ASearch]. I don't know how to create the missing page but there oughta be a link for someone like me who searches for whitelist or whitelisting, to take them to the instructions you refer to. [[User:SaxTeacher|SaxTeacher]] ([[User talk:SaxTeacher|talk]]) 10:59, 17 May 2014 (UTC)
:::We already have this linked somewhere, but [https://www.projectwonderful.com/adblock.php this] is the link you want. '''[[User:Davidy22|{{Color|#707|David}}y²²]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 13:41, 17 May 2014 (UTC)

I normally access this site through the android app "xkcd browser". That app only links to the content part of the site and doesn't show the side bar, so the adds aren't shown either. Might be worth discussing it with the author. [[Special:Contributions/109.158.126.139|109.158.126.139]] 08:06, 27 September 2013 (UTC)

:We support those avenues completely, you don't need to feel bad if you use an app to browse this site. We're only really concerned when we put up ads and our impressions are less than half our page hits, because that essentially means more than half our readers aren't contributing to server costs. That's really hard to deal with. We have enough daily page hits to qualify as web publishers at very big ad agencies, but we've had to settle for relatively low rates at the smaller Project Wonderful because 60% of our users were using adblock, so the agencies rejected us because our valuable "paying" audience was too low for them to consider us. That's been the difference between us using dedicated servers to host the site and hiring a contractor to set it up, and the (admittedly somewhat decent) shared hosting plan that we have to settle for now. We can only afford the shared hosting, because the small-scale advertisers at Project Wonderful don't even pay for full days of advertising; most of the time, we make less per day than the posted $3.90 price. That said, we're grateful that Project Wonderful would take us as a publisher when no one else would, but it really feels like the difference between being accepted to community college and being accepted to an ivy league school. For a similar reason, the Google ads route was not sufficient to satisfy our needs; not a large enough proportion of our users were looking at ads, so we either needed to spam them and degrade the site, or we needed to make them refresh, which makes pages slow and causes needlessly high traffic for a lot of users. We didn't want our ads to make the site worse, because that would drive away users and defeat the purpose of us being a public resource for xkcd readers. We actually decided to go the agency route pretty early, because adsense takes a massive cut of revenues and gives us little control over what ads or advertisers actually showed, which was not okay with us. Whoah, I wrote a lot. I hope it was coherent. Maybe someday I'll collect my thoughts and write a proper summary on how and why we advertise. Also, if you have any questions about anything ad-related, you can always ask us at [[explain xkcd talk:Advertise Here]]. '''[[User:Davidy22|{{Color|#707|David}}y²²]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 11:15, 27 September 2013 (UTC)

== Feynman? ==

Feynman (both in [[182: Nash|living]] and [[397: Unscientific|zombie]] form) probably deserves an entry in the [[Template:Navbox characters|character navbox]] template doesn't he? [[Special:Contributions/128.250.152.198|128.250.152.198]] 02:21, 1 October 2013 (UTC)
:That's two comics out of 1200+. Three if you count the song. Not quite enough yet. '''[[User:Davidy22|{{Color|#707|David}}y²²]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 02:27, 1 October 2013 (UTC)
:: If that's the criterion, then we need to get rid of [[Brown Hat]]. [[User:Djbrasier|Djbrasier]] ([[User talk:Djbrasier|talk]]) 19:30, 11 March 2015 (UTC)

== Job Interview (Electric Soup) ==

The soup is clearly being poured out of an electric socket. This "electric soup" is probably not a reference to the alcoholic brew favoured by Scottish tramps, but more likely to the virtual nature of the company. {{unsigned|Sulis}}
:Hey, go here [[Talk:1293: Job Interview‎]] for discussions. --[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 19:58, 20 November 2013 (UTC)

== Is there a similar, transcripted service for The Oatmeal? ==

Hi everyone - this site is a real gem, I've sent it to a friend of mine who can't read XKCD because she's blind. The transcripts on this site are a real boon!

Does anyone know if there is a similar service for The Oatmeal? I've searched and searched, but found nothing so far.

Thanks :)

Jeff

:As far as I know we are kind of unique in the web comics world. I think we get away with it because Randall publishes all his comics as Creative Commons Attribution, Non-Commercial. We liberally link back to xkcd, and we don't make a penny (The ads are just to cover server expenses, because wikis and the databases that support them get big when you're covering a body of work like xkcd). I haven't looked into the copyright Matt uses for the Oatmeal, but he seems like a cool enough guy to not kill a community transcripting effort of his comics. [[User:Lcarsos|lcarsos]]_a ([[User talk:Lcarsos|talk]]) 20:32, 4 March 2014 (UTC)

== what if 103: Vanishing Water - comics ==

Please explain the 2nd and the 4th comics from http://what-if.xkcd.com/103/

"Just tried to sail my boat over land, because I didn't learn from that kid in the Zephyr." (who's the kid from Zephyr?)

"A third time?" (maybe whales were dropped twice before in other what-ifs?) [[User:Daniel Carrero|Daniel Carrero]] ([[User talk:Daniel Carrero|talk]]) 21:57, 9 July 2014 (UTC)

:"A third time?" is a reference to a whale falling twice in "Hitchiker's guide to the Galaxy". Been a while, so I don't remember the details of how this fit in, but the second time it happened to the whale, he thought "Not again" or something along those lines. [[User:Djbrasier|Djbrasier]] ([[User talk:Djbrasier|talk]]) 18:49, 11 March 2015 (UTC)

Raises the question of if we should explain jokes imbedded in What If comics. [[User:Djbrasier|Djbrasier]] ([[User talk:Djbrasier|talk]]) 18:49, 11 March 2015 (UTC)

== Discussion usage ==

Am I being a killjoy in feeling that the discussion section should be mainly limited to discussion on improving the explanation, gathering consensus and that type of thing.
Specifically, the discussion for [[1418: Horse]] is quickly turning into every man and his dog posting a sentence in the style of the comic, which doesn't really add anything to the page other than clutter.

Personally, I'd just delete most of them, but I think I might be turning into a grumpy old bugger... --[[User:Pudder|Pudder]] ([[User talk:Pudder|talk]]) 20:32, 10 September 2014 (UTC)
:The discussion is also there for just talking about the comic. Those guys aren't wildly off-topic, there's no need to clamp down on what they get to talk about. '''[[User:Davidy22|{{Color|#707|David}}y²²]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 17:44, 10 September 2014 (UTC)

::Yep, I must just be grumpy and draconian! Lesson learned --[[User:Pudder|Pudder]] ([[User talk:Pudder|talk]]) 20:32, 10 September 2014 (UTC)

== 2014 Christmas header ==

Since the header for the site current contains a [http://imgs.xkcd.com/store/store_default.png graphic link to the store] that promises that Randall probably won't ship you a [[:Category:Bobcats|bobcat]], it seems to me that probably ought to be preserved and explained somewhere. [[Special:Contributions/173.245.56.189|173.245.56.189]] 17:45, 3 December 2014 (UTC)

== XKCD at LanguageLog ==

Arnold Zwicky (of the well-known linguistics blog Language Log) has put together a list of linguistics-related XKCD strips, here: http://arnoldzwicky.org/the-language-of-comics/comics-lists/xkcd-cartoons/ I thought it might be appropriate for a copy of the list (maybe a category) to be created from it. [[Special:Contributions/199.27.133.79|199.27.133.79]] 03:48, 28 December 2014 (UTC)
:[[:Category:Language]] '''[[User:Davidy22|{{Color|#707|David}}y²²]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 04:39, 28 December 2014 (UTC)

== Bookmarklet ==

Hello there, I've created a little bookmarklet (https://ginkobox.fr/shaarli/?a77vQw) and I thought it might be useful for someone out there.

When launched, it adds the 'explain' before xkcd.com and the browser loads the explainxkcd page. I've tested it only on Firefox.

(Contact @ https://ginkobox.fr/wiki/doku.php?id=about) {{unsigned ip|‎108.162.229.100}}

== Is there a RSS feed for What If? ==

Is there a RSS feed for What If?--[[User:17jiangz1|17jiangz1]] ([[User talk:17jiangz1|talk]]) 11:59, 29 March 2015 (UTC)
:No, because we cover the comics. '''[[User:Davidy22|{{Color|#707|David}}y²²]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 18:57, 29 March 2015 (UTC)

== My User Page ==

Can someone help me with [[user:17jiangz1|my user page]]? I can't seem to remove the large space on top.--[[User:17jiangz1|17jiangz1]] ([[User talk:17jiangz1|talk]]) 07:43, 9 April 2015 (UTC)
: The only solution I've found is to remove the contribution scores (data6=...). Not sure what exactly is triggering this bug. --[[User:SlashMe|SlashMe]] ([[User talk:SlashMe|talk]]) 21:02, 9 April 2015 (UTC)
I am receiving "Expression error: Unrecognised punctuation character ""." for <code><pre>{{#expr: {{formatnum:{{#cscore:17jiangz1|pages}}|R}}/{{formatnum:{{NUMBEROFARTICLES}}|R}}*100 round 5 }}</pre></code>--[[User:17jiangz1|17jiangz1]] ([[User talk:17jiangz1|talk]]) 05:46, 10 April 2015 (UTC)
:Bump?--[[User:17jiangz1|17jiangz1]] ([[User talk:17jiangz1|talk]]) 06:48, 14 April 2015 (UTC)

== What-If ==

It hasn't updated for 2 weeks. why?--[[User:17jiangz1|17jiangz1]] ([[User talk:17jiangz1|talk]]) 06:50, 25 April 2015 (UTC)
:Looks like they're on hold for a few months (Until July 14th). Too bad, I enjoyed them. ([http://what-if.xkcd.com/ Look at the top of the What-If page]) --[[User:Zman9600|Zman9600]] ([[User talk:Zman9600|talk]]) 20:24, 6 May 2015 (UTC)
:What is so special about the date and time? Seems very specific: ''July 14th, 2015 at 7:49:59 AM EDT.'' --[[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.99|141.101.98.99]] 12:48, 28 May 2015 (UTC)
Looks like it's set for the 40th anniversary of the Apollo-Soyuz mission launch.

1529: Bracket

2015-05-25T11:45:47Z

108.162.237.158: typo

{{comic
| number = 1529
| date = May 25, 2015
| title = Bracket
| image = bracket.png
| titletext = I'm staring at the "doctor" section, and I can't help but feel like I've forgotten someone.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|New comic}}
A {{w|Bracket (tournament)|Tournament bracket}} shows the planned series of games in a tournament. In this comic Randall has shown a plan for a tournament between a wide range of cultural icons, both real and fictional, based mostly on similarities in their names. Various internet groups have speculated on who would win in a fight between characters from different films. It may be relevant that the film {{w|Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice}} is soon to be released.

The [[title text]] is likely a reference to {{w|Dr. Dre}}, particularly as a reference to his 2001 song "{{w|Forgot About Dre}}". Additionally, the title text could be talking about Mr. Spock's friend {{w|Leonard McCoy}} or simply be a reference to the large number of pop culture references that include the word "Doctor" to include {{w|Julius Erving|Dr. J}}, {{w|Dr Pepper}}, and {{w|Doctor Doom}}, among others. Another possibility is that the [[title text]] is supposed to make the readers ask themselves "{{w|Doctor who}}?" then realize that {{w|The Doctor}} is already listed, still making them feel they forgot someone.

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript}}

:{{w|Louis Armstrong}}
:{{w|Neil Armstrong}}
:{{w|Lance Armstrong}}
:{{w|Stretch Armstrong}}

:{{w|Jeff Gordan}}
:{{w|Jeff Bridges}}

:{{w|Jeff Daniels}}
:{{w|Jack Daniels}}

:{{w|Orson Welles}}
:{{w|H.G. Wells}}

:{{w|Geroge Orwell}}
:{{w|Wells Fargo}}

:{{w|Kurt Russell}}
:{{w|Russell Brand}}
:{{w|Russell Crowe}}
:{{w|Russell Simmons}}

:{{w|Richard Simmons}}
:{{w|Gene Simmons}}

:{{w|Gene Hackman}}
:{{w|Hugh Jackman}}
:{{w|Alan Rickman}}

:{{w|Alan Parsons}}
:{{w|Alan Partridge}}

:{{w|Jenny McCarthy}}
:{{w|Joseph McCarthy}}
:{{w|Eugene McCarthy}}
:{{w|Eugene V. Debs}}

:{{w|Gene Wilder}}
:{{w|Olivia Wilde}}
:{{w|Oscar Wilde}}

:{{w|Oscar De La Renta}}
:{{w|Oscar De La Hoya}}

:{{w|Jack Nicklaus}}
:{{w|Jack Nicholson}}

:{{w|Phil Mickelson}}
:{{w|Nicholas Nickelby}}

:{{w|Ryan Adams}}
:{{w|Bryan Adams}}

:{{w|Chubby Checker}}
:{{w|Fats Domino}}

:{{w|Colin Firth}}
:{{w|Colin Farrell}}

:{{w|Will Ferrell}}
:{{w|The Farrelly Brothers}}

:{{w|Joseph Gordon-Levitt}}
:{{w|Jennifer Love Hewitt}}

:{{w|Danny Glover}}
:{{w|Donald Glover}}

:{{w|Donnie Wahlberg}}
:{{w|Mark Wahlberg}}

:{{w|Mark Ruffalo}}
:{{w|Mark Shuttleworth}}

:{{w|Philip Pullman}}
:{{w|Bill Pullman}}
:{{w|Bill Paxton}}

:{{w|Bill Murray}}
:{{w|Dan Aykroyd}}

:{{w|Ginger Rogers}}
:{{w|Mister/Fred Astaire/Rogers}}

:{{w|Mister Spock}}
:{{w|Doctor Spock}}
:{{w|Doctor Octopus}}

:{{w|Doctor Manhatten}}
:{{w|Doctor Strangelove}}
:{{w|Doctor Strange}}

:{{w|Dr. No}}
:{{w|The Doctor}}
:{{w|Cory Doctorow}}

:{{w|Jerry Lee Lewis}}
:{{w|Jerry Lewis}}

:{{w|Jenny Lewis}}
:{{w|Xeni Jardin}}

:{{w|Chris Evans}}
:{{w|Chris Hemsworth}}

:{{w|Chris Pine}}
:{{w|Chris Pratt}}

:{{w|Shallots}}
:{{w|Scallops}}
:{{w|Scallions}}

:{{w|Siouxie Sioux}}
:{{w|Suzanne Vega}}

:{{w|Tom Arnold}}
:{{w|Arnold Palmer}}
:{{w|Amanda Palmer}}

:{{w|Wes Craven}}
:{{w|Wes Anderson}}

:{{w|Paul Thomas Anderson}}
:{{w|Poul Anderson}}

:{{w|Sir Walter Scott}}
:{{w|Sir Walter Raleigh}}

:{{w|Sir Francis Drake}}
:{{w|Frank Drake}}

:{{w|Van Halen}}
:{{w|Van Morrison}}
:{{w|Van Wilder}}

:{{w|Robert Van Winkle}}
:{{w|Rip Van Winkle}}

:{{w|Rip Torn}}
:{{w|Natalie Imbruglia}}

:{{w|The Body Shop}}
:{{w|Bath and Body Works}}

:{{w|Bed Bath and Beyond}}
:{{w|Beyond Thunderdome}}

:{{w|Beyoncé}}

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Charts]]
[[Category:Comics featuring real people]]

1466: Phone Checking

2014-12-29T16:52:55Z

108.162.237.158: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 1466
| date = December 29, 2014
| title = Phone Checking
| image = phone_checking.png
| titletext = 'Where were you when you learned you'd won?' 'I was actually asleep; I woke up when I refreshed the webite and saw the news.'
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Title text not explained.}}
Megan announces that there's a Compulsive Phone Checking Championship, presumably an award for the person who checks his or her phone the most often. Megan checks her phone to see if the winner has been announced, but finds the site's server is {{w|server overload|overloaded}}, which would be exactly what would happen if many people were checking their phones simultaneously. Given the nature of the contest, we can presume this is indeed the case. As a solution, Megan tries refreshing repeatedly, sending more load to the server and, thus, making it unavailable longer.

This compulsive behavior predates the popularity of mobile phones as shown in [[477: Typewriter]] and [[862: Let Go]].

The title text implies that Megan checks her phone so compulsively she even does it in her sleep. This probably contributed to her victory.

==Transcript==
:[Cueball approaching Megan.]
:Cueball: What's up?
:Megan: They're announcing the winner of the compulsive phone-checking championship.

:[Megan checks her phone.]

:[Megan puts her phone away.]

:[Megan checks her phone again.]
:Cueball: Did you win?
:Megan: Site's down.
:Cueball: Weird.
:Megan: I'll keep refreshing.

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

1429: Data

2014-10-13T03:23:39Z

108.162.237.158: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 1429
| date = October 3, 2014
| title = Data
| image = data.png
| titletext = If you want to have more fun at the expense of language pedants, try developing an hypercorrection habit.
}}

==Explanation==

"Kirk vs. Picard" is a debate that many ''{{w|Star Trek}}'' fans engage in — specifically which was a better captain of the {{w|Starship Enterprise|starship ''Enterprise''}} on the TV show. Captain {{w|James T. Kirk}} and {{w|Jean-Luc Picard}} each were captains of the ship in different periods (Kirk was captain of USS ''Enterprise'' (NCC-1701) in {{w|Star Trek: The Original Series|The Original Series}}, while Picard was captain of USS ''Enterprise''-D (NCC-1701-D) in ''{{w|Star Trek: The Next Generation|The Next Generation}}''), but fans argue over who was the "best". Most third-place candidates are pretty distant, resulting in a more multi-faceted debate. Cueball seems to be looking at results of polling for this ''third'' most popular character.

The humor in this comic stems from the fact that the Latin word ''data'' is a plural form of the word ''datum.'' Due to very few uses for the singular form and general lack of knowledge of Latin among modern population, many people do not think about it and assume ''data'' to be singular. Under the overwhelming dominance of this misconception, referring to ''data'' as singular is becoming increasingly (but not universally) accepted as grammatically correct — the ''Wall Street Journal'', for instance, recently announced that it is moving away from saying "data are," while the ''New York Times''' manual of style allows for both variants depending on usage scenario, and ''USA Today'' is consistently using ''data'' as a plural ("data are"). Naturally, the purists insist on the form that is correct from the Latin grammar point of view and see "data is" as an example of a subject-verb agreement error. This type of error is present in the beginning of the sentence that Cueball is citing ("According to this polling data," while the grammatically correct variant would be "According to these polling data").

The second error in the same sentence is due to the fact that {{w|Data (Star Trek)|Data}} is a character from ''Star Trek: The Next Generation.'' Since it is a character's name, when used to refer to the character, "Data" should be treated as singular.

By reversing the verb agreement in both cases, Cueball is basically going out of his way to annoy grammatically obsessed people.

The title text suggests the mocking of language pedants/amateur {{w|Grammar Nazi|grammar Nazis}} by {{w|Hypercorrection|hypercorrecting}} one's use of language. The sentence itself is an example of this:
* The general rule is that words starting with a consonant should be preceded by ''a,'' while words starting with a vowel should be preceded by ''an.'' However,
* The letter ''h'' is a special case, since in words like ''honor'' (/ˈɒnəɹ/) and ''hour'' (/ˈaʊəɹ/) the ''h'' is silent so the words actually start with a vowel sound, thus leading to the use of ''an.'' But beyond this, there is a [http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?p=3328463#post3328463 specific longstanding controversy] over whether to use ''a'' or ''an'' with words that start with a non-silent ''h'' sound followed by an unstressed vowel, such as ''historical'' and arguably ''hypercorrection'' in the title text. In many accents of English, when these words take the indefinite article, the article ''an'' is used and the ''h'' becomes silent. In others, the article ''a'' is used and the ''h'' remains pronounced.

This comic complements two of the [http://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/Category:My_Hobby My Hobbies] comics [[326: Effect an Effect]] (which discusses the trolling of amateur grammar Nazis) and [[1405: Meteor]] (which mocks pedantry). This comic could also just as well have been labelled as one of [[Randall|Randall's]] Hobbies.

This comic also appears to be an example of {{w|Self-irony|self-irony}} as the author himself has previously exhibited certain inclination to insist on grammatically strict mode of usage of words loaned from Latin. One such example is the fact that [http://fora.xkcd.com/ xkcd's online discussion forums] are called ''fora'' (which is a correct plural nominative form of ''forum'' in Latin).

==Transcript==
:[Cueball reading off a smart phone to someone off the panel]
:Cueball: According to this polling data, after Kirk and Picard, the most popular Star Trek character are Data.
:Off-panel character: Augh!
:Annoy grammar pedants on all sides by making "data" singular except when referring to the android.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Language]]

1375: Astronaut Vandalism

2014-07-18T13:20:34Z

108.162.237.158: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 1375
| date = May 30, 2014
| title = Astronaut Vandalism
| image = astronaut_vandalism.png
| titletext = That night, retired USAF pilots covertly replaced the '62' with '50'.
}}

==Explanation==
Signs like this normally show the distance to places on earth's surface. This sign also has an arrow pointing away from earth and towards "space", with a distance of 62 miles (100 km), due to "astronaut vandalism".

We think of Space as being so very far away. This comic puts into perspective that it's really a lot closer to get to Space than to many destinations we're used to getting to by car or airplane. We think of 62 miles as being an easy trip on the ground, but that same 62 miles is incredibly hard when going vertically, against the force of gravity. Distance-wise, however, it's the same.

The title text states that the distance to "space" was changed later from 62 miles (100 km) to 50 miles (80 km) by retired Air Force pilots. This indicates that the pilots wanted to reduce the altitude considered to be "space", so that their own high altitude flights could be considered space flights.

The {{W|U.S. Air Force|USAF}} and other military branches will award {{W|astronaut wings}} to rated astronauts who fly higher than 100 kilometers (62 miles). The 100-kilometer barrier known as the {{W|Kármán line}} was designated as the official boundary between the {{W|Earth's atmosphere}} and {{W|outer space}} by the {{W|Fédération Aéronautique Internationale}} (FAI) in the mid-1950s. Notwithstanding this definition, some test pilots in the 1960s received astronaut wings by the {{w|United States Air Force|USAF}} for their greater-than-50mi (80.5 kilometers) flights on the {{w|X-15}}.

This comic thus both points out that the limit where space starts is arbitrarily chosen and also that space is often much closer than for instance the two largest cities in some randomly chosen location in the US. One possible location is Grenada, MS, which is about 100 miles from Memphis, TN and about 114 miles from Jackson, MS.

==Transcript==
:[A signpost with three arrows.]
:[Arrow pointing up:]
:Space 62
:[Arrow pointing right:]
:Jackson 115
:[Arrow pointing left:]
:Memphis 98

==Trivia==
*See [http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/explainer/2004/09/where_does_space_begin.html Slate: Where does space begin?] for more background.
*This comic was published on the same day that Version 2 of the {{w|Dragon (spacecraft)|Dragon spaceship}} was unveiled.
*The mileage of the sign indicates the "[http://welcometheplutians.joelbonner.com/wp/?p=33 scene of the crime]" to be at Grenada, Mississippi.
*The development codename of Windows 98 was "Memphis".
* As said in related What If: [http://what-if.xkcd.com/58/ The reason it's hard to get to orbit isn't that space is high up. It's hard to get to orbit because you have to go so fast.]
*In the title text to this [http://www.qwantz.com/index.php?comic=2420 Dinosaur comic] both xkcd and Randall is mentioned in combination with the fact that space is only 100 km up and that you are much closer to space than to most other places on earth!
{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Space]]