explain xkcd - User contributions [en]

2264: Satellite

2023-04-12T23:10:59Z

108.162.245.109: grammar correction

{{comic
| number = 2264
| date = February 5, 2020
| title = Satellite
| image = satellite.png
| titletext = If you're going to let it burn up, make sure it happens over the deep end of the bathtub and not any populated parts of the house!
}}

==Explanation==
This comic humorously compares the relationship between humans and {{w|satellites}} to the relationship between humans and {{w|pet}}s. "He followed me home, can we keep him?" is a stock phrase said by children pleading with their parents to keep a "found" animal as a pet. The stock response is to admonish the child to look after the pet's needs, especially the less fun ones, like cleaning up after the pet. In this comic, [[Science Girl]] wishes to adopt an "abandoned" satellite, but rather than being asked to clean up after the satellite's waste, she is lectured by her parents on how to properly discard it once it stops working. This would be like saying "you have to promise to bury the dog in the backyard when it dies, not leave its corpse to decompose in the dining room like the last one," which is not how most pet-adoption conversations go.{{Citation needed}}

A {{w|graveyard orbit}} is an orbit far away from operational satellites. Graveyard orbits are used when a satellite is far enough away from the Earth that de-orbiting it into Earth's atmosphere is too expensive to be practical. The most widely-used graveyard orbit is approximately 300 km above {{w|geostationary orbit}}; a satellite at the end of its life will briefly accelerate to move further away from Earth, so Science Girl's parents refer to "boosting" the satellite into a graveyard orbit.

{{w|Kessler syndrome}} is a proposed scenario in which satellite collision(s) produce many pieces of orbiting space junk, which then hit other satellites and create even more pieces of junk, which hit more satellites, and so on. In this scenario Earth becomes surrounded by so much man-made debris that the risk of a collision makes space activities difficult. Apparently Science Girl has recreated this scenario before in her parents' home, requiring extensive cleanup of the dining room and making it unusable for weeks. Kessler syndrome was the premise of the movie ''{{w|Gravity_(2013_film)|Gravity}}'', where the collision of two satellites produces pieces of shrapnel that go on to tear apart other satellites including the {{w|International Space Station}} and a {{w|Space Shuttle}}. A variation of Kessler syndrome was the focus of the first part of the {{w|Neal Stephenson}} novel ''{{w|Seveneves}}'', where cascading collisions of fragments of the moon led to natural and artificial debris fields around the Earth.

The title text is more advice from Science Girl's parents. They tell her that if she is going to let her satellite reenter the atmosphere and burn up, she should do it above the deep end of the bathtub. This echoes how satellites in orbit can be purposefully de-orbited, and are usually planned so that any debris that isn't fully destroyed lands in the ocean and does not pose a safety risk. When it is possible, satellites are generally directed towards the South Pacific Ocean Uninhabited Area, commonly known as the "{{w|spacecraft graveyard}}", to land over a thousand miles away from any populated landmass.

Abandoned satellites were in the news recently, as two defunct satellites [https://www.space.com/no-satellite-crash-of-space-junk-iras-ggse-4.html had a near miss] on January 29, 2020, the week before this comic strip was published. This is becoming more of an issue, especially in Low Earth Orbit, as more and more satellites are built, and old satellites go defunct.

Humans orbited by satellites were previously featured in [[1300: Galilean Moons]]; here, of course, the satellites were natural satellites, i.e. moons.

An alternative reading is that the characters are actually planet-sized creatures around which the discarded debris of primitive lifeforms, carelessly sent into space, orbits. Saturn happens to have a density less than that of water, so it could conceivably float in a suitably-sized bathtub.

==Transcript==
:[Science Girl is facing Cueball and Megan. A small satellite orbits her, indicated by a tilted circle around her at about neck height. The satellite is between her and her parents.]
:Science Girl: Hey, look, I found a satellite! Can I keep it? Please?
:Cueball: Sweetie, no.
:Megan: Put it back where you found it.

:[Zoom in on Science Girl who looks straight out of the panel, the satellite is passing by her ear with the circle going behind her. The satellite is detailed in this zoom in. There is a central main part of the satellite, almost square, with a small protrusion at the "top" and two small lines (antennae) at the "bottom." Two solar panels extend on either side, each longer than the central part.]
:Science Girl: But I think it was abandoned!
:Science Girl: And it's so cute!
:Science Girl: Please?
:Science Girl: ''Pleeeease?''

:[Back to all three again, Science Girl has her arms raised above her head. The satellite is beneath her head.]
:Megan: Fine. But you have to promise to boost it to a graveyard orbit when it stops working. Don't just leave it drifting around.
:Science Girl: Yaaaay!

:[Same setting as in the first panel, so Science Girl has lowered her arms.]
:Cueball: We're serious. I am '''''not''''' cleaning up after Kessler syndrome again.
:Megan: We couldn't use the dining room for ''weeks!''
:Science Girl: I promise, I promise.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Science Girl]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]
[[Category:Space probes]]

611: Disaster Voyeurism

2021-08-29T22:47:45Z

108.162.245.109: Added to hurricanes category, since not only does comic mention hurricanes, but the alt-text does as well.

{{comic
| number = 611
| date = July 17, 2009
| title = Disaster Voyeurism
| image = disaster voyeurism.png
| titletext = Hurricane forums are full of excited comments about central pressure and wind speed and comparisons to Camille and 1931 and 1938, with hastily-tacked-on notes about how it will be tragic if anyone dies and they hope it's a dud.
}}

==Explanation==
The comic is referring to a phenomenon known as gaping or {{w|rubbernecking}}. The terms are applied to people who stand around as spectators at the site of a disaster. Apparently, many people are attracted to terrible scenes out of a sort of morbid curiosity. While fascinated by the spectacle, most people also feel a sense of shame and guilt at the same time, unsure of whether it is morally wrong to be entertained by other's misfortunes.

This feeling of conscience is expressed in the comic by [[Megan]], who secretly cherishes hope that a hurricane might strike but feels guilt despite knowing she isn't the cause of any danger. [[Black Hat]] on the other hand regards these feelings as perfectly natural. In the comic, he gives three more examples of how he enjoys other people's misfortune, each more sinister than the last, eventually partaking in the disaster itself which is another thing entirely:
* Watching shuttle launches because you don't want to miss a disaster, referring to the Challenger shuttle explosion shortly after launch on January 28, 1986. This example is similar to Megan's scenario, where they're not doing anything illegal or not allowed.
* Dressing as an intern and sneaking into operating rooms to watch surgeries in case a patient dies, in hopes of watching organs be harvested. This is not allowed in operating rooms{{Citation needed}} and would be seen as socially unacceptable, but in this case he's not actually causing any harm. The organ harvesting could be a normal case of donating organs upon one's death, but could also be referring to illegal organ harvesting.
* Detour signs are usually used when there is construction down a main road; the signs direct drivers down a longer and more roundabout path. In this case, Black Hat uses stolen detour signs to direct cars down a much more dangerous path. His backwoods roads are strewn with caltrops, small weapons that have a spike pointed upward no matter how they are thrown. They were used in World War 2 to burst tires, and Black Hat plans to do the same thing to the unsuspecting drivers’ car tires. He plans to then shoot at their windows and hunt them down on horseback. In this example, Black Hat would actually be causing the danger, potentially injuring or killing passengers in the car, which would be a very mean thing to do. {{Citation needed}}

It becomes clear that he actually enjoys it when other people are hit by tragedies. He reveals that he even actively promotes or causes the tragic fates of others. Him being a {{w|sadism|sadist}} concurs with the characterization depicted in other comics. Megan understands that the two of them are in fact leading entirely different conversations, as Black Hat is not in the least able to comprehend her scruples.

The title text aims at hurricane enthusiasts in internet forums, who are distracted by their scientific curiosity from the danger a hurricane may present to humans.

==Transcript==
:[Megan is watching TV. Black Hat is leaning on the back of her chair.]
:Megan: I've realized that I always secretly root for hurricanes. I watch the news hoping that they'll get really big and hit a city. I know my hopes don't actually affect it, but I feel bad.

:Black Hat: Nah, that's just natural human attraction to spectacle. It's like watching the shuttle launch because you don't want to miss it if there's a disaster.
:Megan: ...I guess?

:Black Hat: Or dressing as an intern to sneak into operating rooms, in case a patient dies and you can watch them harvest organs.
:Megan: Wait, you ''do'' that?

:Black Hat: Or stealing detour signs to direct highway drivers down backwoods roads strewn with caltrops. After the tires burst, you start shooting out their windows.

:Black Hat: Then, when they flee the car in terror, you hunt them on horseback, like ''men'' once did.
:Megan: I realized a while back that we're having entirely different conversations.

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

898: Chain of Command

2016-10-17T23:26:06Z

108.162.245.109: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 898
| date = May 13, 2011
| title = Chain of Command
| image = chain of command.png
| titletext = Themistocles said his infant son ruled all Greece -- "Athens rules all Greece; I control Athens; my wife controls me; and my infant son controls her." Thus, nowadays the world is controlled by whoever buys advertising time on Dora the Explorer.
}}
==Explanation==
The President of the United States is at the top of the US Nuclear Chain of Command, but the engineer is ''de facto'' above him because the engineer is in charge of configuring how the button works, and thus could have installed an override so that he could block the President's use of the button and/or use it himself. The "Red Button" is a simplification denoting procedures for the worst-case scenario, i.e. launching all strategic nuclear capabilities.

This paradoxical situation applies in many other fields. In a major corporation commercially sensitive information is generally hidden from employees at lower levels but available to management, but the systems administrator (who usually sits low on the hierarchy and doesn't manage any other employees) can access not only the sensitive information but the raw data that it's calculated from. Not only that, but the systems administrator is usually responsible for controlling who has access to the information - making him/her the most powerful person in the company (as far as the IT infrastructure is concerned). Many managers think of themselves as being "above" engineers and have trouble coming to grips with this concept.

{{w|Themistocles}}, mentioned at the title text, was an Ancient Greek politician. In the title text is a similar joke placed at the top of the chain of command, this time in Ancient Greece. It refers to Plutarch's [http://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Plutarch/Lives/Themistocles*.html#p53 ''Life of Themistocles'']:
Of his son, who lorded it over his mother, and through her over himself, he said, jestingly, that the boy was the most powerful of all the Hellenes; for the Hellenes were commanded by the Athenians, the Athenians by himself, himself by the boy's mother, and the mother by her boy.

The part about television advertisements is a proposal that, by controlling the "infant sons" of important political figures (as well as the aforementioned Red Button engineer), one could control said political figures, and thus the entire world. ''{{w|Dora the Explorer}}'' is an educational show for young children, something a busy man like the President (or the engineer) might turn on for his/her child.

==Transcript==
:[A flowchart shows the President at the top, with an arrow to the Secretary of Defense, and then fourteen arrows leading to a series of boxes labeled Unified Combat Commanders. On the side, a box with a dotted outline has a dotted arrow leading to the president. It's labeled "Engineer Who Installed the Red Button."]
:US NUCLEAR CHAIN OF COMMAND

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

Talk:1736: Manhattan Project

2016-09-28T07:04:33Z

108.162.245.109:

The Manhattan Project employed up to 139,000 people, so it were not only the top minds, but a huge logistical effort. Sebastian --[[Special:Contributions/162.158.85.183|162.158.85.183]] 16:58, 21 September 2016 (UTC)
:But without the great minds, which also encompasses those who managed to get so many people working together on one project, but mainly the scientist, it would not have succeeded! --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 19:18, 21 September 2016 (UTC)

Maybe reference to "1217 - Cells" could be added. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.93.159|162.158.93.159]] 19:09, 21 September 2016 (UTC)--Dancsa
:Yes for sure, have added it - it is related to the title text --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 19:18, 21 September 2016 (UTC)

Seems like Randall has been looking at [[1355: Airplane Message]]. The title text was also a fact in [[1732]] and this is the first cancer comic since that comic and also included text on a banner... ;-) Have added this on all three comics explanations --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 19:38, 21 September 2016 (UTC)

Is there a need for a new category for Nuclear weapons? And should it then just be called that? --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 20:16, 21 September 2016 (UTC)

This comic today could have been inspired by an announcement by Microsoft on 20 September 2016 that it will "Cure Cancer by treating it like a computer virus" Stories: [http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/gadgets-and-tech/news/microsoft-cancer-cure-research-solved-machine-learning-cells-programming-diseases-a7317616.html independent.co.uk], [https://news.slashdot.org/story/16/09/20/2111240/microsoft-will-solve-cancer-within-the-next-10-years-by-treating-it-like-a-computer-virus-says-company?utm_source=rss0.9mainlinkanon&utm_medium=feed slashdot]. Also, on 21 September (the same day the comic was released), the Chan Zuckerberg foundation announced a $3 billion initiative to "cure all diseases" Story: [https://tech.slashdot.org/story/16/09/21/1958249/mark-zuckerberg-and-priscilla-chan-announce-3-billion-initiative-to-cure-all-diseases Slashdot]. Either or both of these could be considered Manhattan-like projects. --[[User:Johnm4|Johnm4]] ([[User talk:Johnm4|talk]]) 23:47, 21 September 2016 (UTC)
:Thanks have included these news stories in the explanation. Feel free to do so another time :-) --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 12:46, 22 September 2016 (UTC)

In my original google search link ([https://www.google.ca/webhp?sourceid=chrome-instant&ion=1&espv=2&ie=UTF-8#q=%22we+need+a+new+manhattan+project%22]) my point was to show multiple hits for people talking about a new Manhattan Project, for multiple different purposes. It has been replaced with one single instance, which was not the intent. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.242.132|108.162.242.132]] 12:21, 22 September 2016 (UTC)
:We usually avoid google links as they can be different in different countries and will change over time. I have reverted again. If you think more of your Google hits are relevant then place a couple more as examples with direct links. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 12:46, 22 September 2016 (UTC)
::Fair enough. I replaced with the direct links in my first page on google [[Special:Contributions/108.162.242.132|108.162.242.132]] 13:08, 22 September 2016 (UTC)
:::Maybe a bit over the top, but I will leave it to others to decide if a few could be trimmed away ;-) --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 13:14, 22 September 2016 (UTC)

The difference between the Manhattan project and cancer cure is that the principles of an atomic bomb were understood in general before the start of the project. All they needed to do was to figure out all the necessary detail and actually implement it in practice. A huge engineering effort but with the roadmap visible at the start of it. On the other hand nobody has a good understanding of the principles of how the cancer works (except maybe that there is more than one way in which it works, and some first glimpses into some of these ways). So there is not even a clear roadmap to the solution. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.245.109|108.162.245.109]] 07:04, 28 September 2016 (UTC)

1516: Win by Induction

2016-09-04T13:28:52Z

108.162.245.109: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 1516
| date = April 24, 2015
| title = Win by Induction
| image = win by induction.png
| titletext = This would be bad enough, but every 30th or 40th pokéball has TWO of them inside.
}}
==Explanation==
In the {{w|Pokémon}} franchise, human characters called Trainers capture fantastical creatures from the wild, the titular Pokémon (a shortened form of "Pocket Monsters"), and train them to battle one another. Pokémon are captured and stored in devices called Poké Balls, which shrink the creatures down to pocket size (hence "Pocket Monsters"). The anime's English dub has enshrined the phrase "''<Pokémon's name>'', I choose you!" into popular culture memory. When Trainers do battle, they often shout this phrase while throwing the ball to the ground, releasing the Pokémon at full size.

In this comic, a Pokémon chosen at some point was a {{w|Pikachu}} (the "poster child" for Pokémon, and the most publicly-known type), which does not intend to engage in the battle himself. Instead, the Pikachu chooses another Pikachu to fight for him. This process then repeats itself. Behind the Pikachu with the Pokéball is a long line of other Pikachu, suggesting that this process has been going on for a while.

Nearby stands [[Cueball]], holding a closed Pokéball, and [[Megan]], looking at her watch. This suggests that Cueball intends to have his own Pokémon fight the Pikachu, but is waiting to see which enemy his Pokémon must face before the battle can actually begin (waiting in vain, if the above described process repeats indefinitely), while Megan is growing impatient with the delay. Given that Cueball is holding a closed Pokéball he has not deployed yet, Megan cannot herself be his Pokémon. She could be his opponent, or a spectator.

The joke in this comic comes from analogy with the mathematical {{w|proof by induction}}, which is a proof about a base case, followed by a never ending sequence of steps, each step leading to the next. Induction proves an assertion is true for one case, and then infers that it must also be true for all related cases. The title suggests that the process of Pikachu choosing Pikachu will never end, effectively postponing the battle indefinitely. But the title is '''win''' by induction, by which Randall implies that we have been given enough information to reason logically whether Megan or Cueball will win. We have here turned mathematical induction on its head: part of the humour in the comic is that the logic of induction doesn't work in reverse. We cannot reason about an initial case by inferring something from a related case whose proof is dependent on knowledge about the initial case. Or perhaps the "win" referred to is precisely that the battle is indefinitely postponed.

The name "induction" comes from logic and discrete mathematics, and is thus unrelated to the physical phenomena of {{w|electromagnetic induction}}; but the fact that Pikachu is an "Electric-type" Pokémon could be a word play connecting the two ideas.

If there were always only a single Pikachu in each Pokéball, this would spawn an unlimited number of Pikachu growing at a constant rate. Since, as the title text notes, there are occasionally two of them in a Pokéball, this would lead to exponential growth assuming each of the spawned Pikachu in this case is bearing a Pokéball!

Pikachu was used in one of the storylines of [[1350: Lorenz]]. See all the attack moves it made [[1350: Lorenz#Pok.C3.A9mon|here]].

==Transcript==
:[There is a long queue of Pikachu extending out of the frame to the left. They are all just out from their ball, at least the last eight Pikachu's open balls lie in two parts on the ground at their feet. They are standing in front of Megan and Cueball. Cueball is holding a closed pokéball while Megan checks the time on her watch. The frontmost Pikachu, holding a closed pokéball, speaks.]

:Pikachu at the front: Pikachu, I choose ''you!''

==Trivia==
*For some reason Pikachu is drawn without its lightning shaped tail.
*In Pokémon canon, Pokémon are only allowed to hold on to an ''empty'' Pokéball when stored in a Pokéball.
*In Pokémon canon, only one Pokémon can exist in a Pokéball, contrary to the title text.
*Randall has drawn the Pokéballs with the button that opens them in the middle of the red half. Whereas in actual (modern) Pokéballs the button is located where the two different halves meet. However, in the Pokémon canon, earlier Pokéballs are shown with buttons or timers on top, though it is doubtful this is the intention, unless the infinite line of Pikachus has been continuing for over thirty years.
*The open Pokéballs are shown broken in two. While early Pokémon games occasionally stated Pokéballs could break, they are now always shown to be connected by a hinge. It is an uncommon visualization that the two halves are fully separate.

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]
[[Category:Math]]
[[Category:Video games]]
[[Category:Pokémon‏‎]]

1724: Proofs

2016-08-25T03:07:42Z

108.162.245.109: Comment about proof by induction.

{{comic
| number = 1724
| date = August 24, 2016
| title = Proofs
| image = proofs.png
| titletext = Next, let's assume the decision of whether to take the Axiom of Choice is made by a deterministic process ...
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|More on the match, especially the title text.}}
[[Miss Lenhart]] is back teaching a math class. She begins a proof when one of her students ([[Cueball]]) interrupts her asking if this is one of those {{w|Magic_(programming)#Variants|Dark Magic}} proofs. She says no, but it soon turns out that it is; Cueball exclaims that he just knew it would be.

If this actually refers to the proof being magical, or just to the fact that many students often feel like the resulting proof just appeared without any reason, i.e. either the teacher did not do it clearly, or the student is not up to the task of understanding proofs of that complexity, is not clear.

The proof she starts setting up resembles a {{w|proof by contradiction}}. These often involve making an assumption that there exists some formula or figure that fulfills the requirements given and plucking that answer out of abstract mathematics, much like summoning of demons is associated with black magic. This is usually done by relying on knowledge of the constraints of the form (for example, having the square root of 2 be ''a/b'' where ''a'' and ''b'' are both integers and have no common factors when proving that the square root of 2 is irrational). This common usage is then shown to be not the case in the comic as the proof then goes to claim that the answer will be written in a specific place (though this could be taken as indicating that the result is finite or has a simple algorithm for continuing it). This may also be a reference to proof by induction, which can be thought of as a proof of the existence of an infinite number of more specific proofs.

In the title text the decision of whether to take the {{w|axiom of choice}} is made by a deterministic process. The {{w|axiom of determinacy}} is {{w|Axiom_of_determinacy#Incompatibility_of_the_axiom_of_determinacy_with_the_axiom_of_choice|incompatible}} with the {{w|axiom of choice}}, which is the continuation of the joke of these dark magic proofs. The axiom of choice was mentioned earlier in [[804: Pumpkin Carving]].

Although Miss Lenhart did retire a year ago after [[1519: Venus]], she seems to have returned here for a math course at university level, but continues the trend she finished with in the her undergraduate class...

==Transcript==
:[Miss Lenhart is standing facing left in front of a whiteboard writing on it. Eleven left aligned lines of writing is shown as unreadable scribbles. A voice interrupts her from off-panel right.]
:Miss Lenhart: ... Let's assume there exists some function ''F''(''a,b,c''...) which produces the correct answer-
:Cueball (off-panel): Hang on.

:[In a frame-less panel Cueball is sitting on a chair at a desk with a pen in his hand taking notes.]
:Cueball: This is going to be one of those weird, dark magic proofs, isn't it? I can tell.

:[Miss Lenhart has turned right towards Cueball, who is again speaking off-panel. The white board is also off-panel.]
:Miss Lenhart: What? No, no, it's a perfectly sensible chain of reasoning.
:Cueball (off-panel): All right...

:[Miss Lenhart is facing the whiteboard again writing more scribbles behind some of the lines from before (the first line has disappeared). The lines that have more text added are now number three and five (four and six before). Cueball again speaks off-panel.]
:Miss Lenhart: Now, let's assume that the correct answer will eventually be written on the board at the coordinates (''x, y''). If we—
:Cueball (off-panel): I ''knew'' it!

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Miss Lenhart]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Math]]

1700: New Bug

2016-06-29T06:08:42Z

108.162.245.109: Remove separate "title text" section, to be consistent with other explanations. Sorry about the excessive number of edits

{{comic
| number = 1700
| date = June 29, 2016
| title = New Bug
| image = new_bug.png
| titletext = There's also a unicode-handling bug in the URL request library, and we're storing the passwords unsalted ... so if we salt them with emoji, we can close three issues at once!
}}

==Explanation==

{{incomplete|Explain why the third issue can be closed}}

Cueball asks if an offscreen character can look at his bug report, promising that it's a "normal one" and not a "horrifying" one which "proves that the whole project is broken beyond repair and should be burnt to the ground". This implies that there have been reports of the "horrifying" variety in the past.

The fact that the server crashes when a user's password is a resolvable URL implies that the server is in some way attempting to resolve passwords as if they were URLs. This is of course just silly, and suggests something is horrifically wrong with the way the server is handling sensitive passwords. Realizing this, the offscreen character resigns themselves to burning the project to the ground as referenced in the second panel.

The title text explains that by salting the passwords with emoji, they can close three bug reports at once.

When the passwords are salted with emoji, the URL request library will fail to resolve any (salted) passwords due to its lack of unicode support. Since the server only crashes on ''resolvable'' URls, this should mean the server won't crash anymore. In addition, the passwords will now be salted.

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript}}
(Cueball sits in front of his computer.)

Cueball: Can you take a look at the bug I just opened?

Off-panel: Uh oh.

Off-panel: Is this a normal bug, or one of those horrifying ones that prove your whole project is broken beyond repair and should be burned to the ground?

Cueball: It's a normal one this time, I promise.

Off-panel: OK, what's the bug?

Cueball: The server crashes if a user's password is a resolvable URL.

Off-panel: I'll get the lighter fluid.

{{comic discussion}}

1700: New Bug

2016-06-29T06:05:16Z

108.162.245.109: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 1700
| date = June 29, 2016
| title = New Bug
| image = new_bug.png
| titletext = There's also a unicode-handling bug in the URL request library, and we're storing the passwords unsalted ... so if we salt them with emoji, we can close three issues at once!
}}

==Explanation==

{{incomplete|Explain why the third issue can be closed}}

Cueball asks if an offscreen character can look at his bug report, promising that it's a "normal one" and not a "horrifying one which proves that the whole project is broken beyond repair and should be burnt to the ground". This implies that there have been reports of the "horrifying" variety in the past.

The fact that the server crashes when a user's password is a resolvable URL implies that the server is in some way attempting to resolve passwords as if they were URLs. This is of course just silly, and suggests something is horrifically wrong with the way the server is handling sensitive passwords. Realizing this, the offscreen character resigns themselves to burning the project to the ground as referenced in the second panel.

====Title text====

The title text explains that by salting the passwords with emoji, they can close three bug reports at once.

When the passwords are salted with emoji, the URL request library will fail to resolve any (salted) passwords due to its lack of unicode support. Since the server only crashes on ''resolvable'' URls, this should mean the server won't crash anymore. In addition, the passwords will now be salted.

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript}}
(Cueball sits in front of his computer.)

Cueball: Can you take a look at the bug I just opened?

Off-panel: Uh oh.

Off-panel: Is this a normal bug, or one of those horrifying ones that prove your whole project is broken beyond repair and should be burned to the ground?

Cueball: It's a normal one this time, I promise.

Off-panel: OK, what's the bug?

Cueball: The server crashes if a user's password is a resolvable URL.

Off-panel: I'll get the lighter fluid.

{{comic discussion}}

1700: New Bug

2016-06-29T06:03:03Z

108.162.245.109: /* Tooltip */

{{comic
| number = 1700
| date = June 29, 2016
| title = New Bug
| image = new_bug.png
| titletext = There's also a unicode-handling bug in the URL request library, and we're storing the passwords unsalted ... so if we salt them with emoji, we can close three issues at once!
}}

==Explanation==
Cueball asks if an offscreen character can look at his bug report, promising that it's a "normal one" and not a "horrifying one which proves that the whole project is broken beyond repair and should be burnt to the ground". This implies that there have been reports of the "horrifying" variety in the past.

The fact that the server crashes when a user's password is a resolvable URL implies that the server is in some way attempting to resolve passwords as if they were URLs. This is of course just silly, and suggests something is horrifically wrong with the way the server is handling sensitive passwords. Realizing this, the offscreen character resigns themselves to burning the project to the ground as referenced in the second panel.

====Title text====

The title text explains that by salting the passwords with emoji, they can close three bug reports at once.

When the passwords are salted with emoji, the URL request library will fail to resolve any (salted) passwords due to its lack of unicode support. Since the server only crashes on ''resolvable'' URls, this should mean the server won't crash anymore. In addition, the passwords will now be salted.

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript}}
(Cueball sits in front of his computer.)

Cueball: Can you take a look at the bug I just opened?

Off-panel: Uh oh.

Off-panel: Is this a normal bug, or one of those horrifying ones that prove your whole project is broken beyond repair and should be burned to the ground?

Cueball: It's a normal one this time, I promise.

Off-panel: OK, what's the bug?

Cueball: The server crashes if a user's password is a resolvable URL.

Off-panel: I'll get the lighter fluid.

{{comic discussion}}

1700: New Bug

2016-06-29T05:57:14Z

108.162.245.109: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 1700
| date = June 29, 2016
| title = New Bug
| image = new_bug.png
| titletext = There's also a unicode-handling bug in the URL request library, and we're storing the passwords unsalted ... so if we salt them with emoji, we can close three issues at once!
}}

==Explanation==
Cueball asks if an offscreen character can look at his bug report, promising that it's a "normal one" and not a "horrifying one which proves that the whole project is broken beyond repair and should be burnt to the ground". This implies that there have been reports of the "horrifying" variety in the past.

The fact that the server crashes when a user's password is a resolvable URL implies that the server is in some way attempting to resolve passwords as if they were URLs. This is of course just silly, and suggests something is horrifically wrong with the way the server is handling sensitive passwords. Realizing this, the offscreen character resigns themselves to burning the project to the ground as referenced in the second panel.

===Tooltip===

When the passwords are salted with emoji, the URL request library will fail to resolve any (salted) passwords due to its lack of unicode support. Since the server only crashes on *resolvable* URls, this should mean the server won't crash anymore. In addition,

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript}}
(Cueball sits in front of his computer.)

Cueball: Can you take a look at the bug I just opened?

Off-panel: Uh oh.

Off-panel: Is this a normal bug, or one of those horrifying ones that prove your whole project is broken beyond repair and should be burned to the ground?

Cueball: It's a normal one this time, I promise.

Off-panel: OK, what's the bug?

Cueball: The server crashes if a user's password is a resolvable URL.

Off-panel: I'll get the lighter fluid.

{{comic discussion}}

1700: New Bug

2016-06-29T05:45:49Z

108.162.245.109: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 1700
| date = June 29, 2016
| title = New Bug
| image = new_bug.png
| titletext = There's also a unicode-handling bug in the URL request library, and we're storing the passwords unsalted ... so if we salt them with emoji, we can close three issues at once!
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete}}

Cueball asks if an offscreen character can look at his bug report, promising that it's a "normal one" and not a "horrifying one which proves that the whole project is broken beyond repair and should be burnt to the ground". This implies that there have been reports of the "horrifying" variety in the past.

The fact that the server crashes when a user's password is a resolvable URL implies that the server is attempting to resolve passwords in some way. This is of course just silly, and suggests something is horrifically wrong with the way the server is handling sensitive passwords. Realizing this, the offscreen character resigns themselves to burning the project to the ground as referenced in the second panel.

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript}}
(Cueball sits in front of his computer.)

Cueball: Can you take a look at the bug I just opened?

Off-panel: Uh oh.

Off-panel: Is this a normal bug, or one of those horrifying ones that prove your whole project is broken beyond repair and should be burned to the ground?

Cueball: It's a normal one this time, I promise.

Off-panel: OK, what's the bug?

Cueball: The server crashes if a user's password is a resolvable URL.

Off-panel: I'll get the lighter fluid.

{{comic discussion}}

1700: New Bug

2016-06-29T05:42:47Z

108.162.245.109: /* Explanation */

Talk:1690: Time-Tracking Software

2016-06-06T13:31:23Z

108.162.245.109:

I don't know how to interpret the "This list is incomplete; you can help by expanding it." on the List of sexually active popes wiki page.
[[Special:Contributions/141.101.104.224|141.101.104.224]] 10:19, 6 June 2016 (UTC)
:They're asking you to become a pope, and be sexually active. Then you can get arrested, and do a helicopter prison escape to start the 'List of helicopter prison escapes involving sexually active popes.'
:It's because we can't know for sure if every single pope is secretly sexually active or if it's just limited to the ones caught red-handed. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.5|141.101.98.5]] 11:35, 6 June 2016 (UTC)

Those ''estimated'' percentages have a strangely high degree of precision, I'd think limiting them to whole number percentages would do. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.58|141.101.98.58]] 11:48, 6 June 2016 (UTC)

Replacing lightsabers in Star Wars movies may be a reference to this amusing video of the sword fight in The Princess Bride where swords are replaced with light sabers.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VYVQooRSlzg

The Jack and Diane remix with one line repeated may be a reference to svantana's brilliant re-do of a Human League number: http://svantana.bandcamp.com/track/you-were-workin-as-a-waitress-in-a-cocktail-bar [[Special:Contributions/108.162.245.109|108.162.245.109]] 13:31, 6 June 2016 (UTC)