explain xkcd - User contributions [en]

3060: Omniroll

2025-03-10T14:49:13Z

141.101.98.240: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 3060
| date = March 7, 2025
| title = Omniroll
| image = omniroll_2x.png
| imagesize = 528x443px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = It seems wrong that Fruit by the Foot is only sold by weight or by number of rolls.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by a CHICKEN KIEV MANDARIN ROLL - Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

[[Cueball]], [[Megan]], and [[White Hat]] are making a "Wikipedia Omniroll," a roll made by combining all rolls in the {{w|list of rolled foods}} into one large roll. The Latin prefix "omni-" is a combining form meaning "all" or "universal." Thus, an "Omniroll" would mean an "everything roll." The three are in the process of assembling this roll. The penultimate stage in the preparation till this moment was a "{{w|spring roll}} {{w|burrito}}" which ''probably'' means a burrito whose identifying ingredient is a spring roll (as a bean burrito is filled with refried beans), but could also mean a burrito in spring-roll form. The following step was to roll it in breadcrumbs and fry it, possibly as a part of a {{w|Rissole#Indonesia|rissole}}. Right now, they are wrapping the concoction in a {{w|cabbage roll}}. White Hat asks about the {{w|Fruit Roll-Ups}} layer, which Megan responds that it goes around the {{w|cinnamon roll}} layer.

On the wall behind them is a picture of a cross-sectional cut through the Omniroll showing each layer. There seem to be 12 labeled layers that are broad enough to be seen in this large picture, but there is also a cutout that zooms into six thin layers, also labeled. If the drawing is to be taken at face value there are 18 different layers, and there should thus have been 18 rolled foods on the Wikipedia list when [[Randall]] made the comic; in fact there were 51. However, it is possible that the highlighted area is only for the layers they are currently preparing, and other layers are not currently shown.

All labels are unreadable, which seems like a good idea, as no-one can complain that Randall left out their favorite rolled food. Having people getting agitated over comics relating to food has happened a few times. For instance [[388: Fuck Grapefruit]] got so much reaction that Randall commented on it, as noted in the [[388:_Fuck_Grapefruit#Controversy|trivia]]. On explain xkcd the [[Talk:1534: Beer|talk page]] for [[1534: Beer]] also shows how people react when someone openly dislikes one of your favorite drinks.

Although there will be many people who love each of the mentioned rolls, not many would enjoy eating them all at once, as it would mix very different kinds of food which would be prepared very differently. Different layers would also require different treatments to prevent them spoiling, which would be difficult to achieve once they are rolled together.

The title text refers to {{w|Fruit by the Foot}}, a similar snack to Fruit Roll-Up made by the same producers. Although the name implies a per-distance measurement, Fruit by the Foot is in fact sold in boxes based upon number of rolls, with measurements on the packaging given by weight. [[Randall]] expresses his dismay at this discrepancy.

The 'omni-' prefix was earlier used in [[2653: Omnitaur]] and [[2738: Omniknot]].

In [[2123: Meta Collecting]], Cueball used Wikipedia's article "list of collectables" for his hobby.

==Transcript==
:[Cueball, Megan and White Hat are standing up near a table handling ingredients. Megan is working on a large roll while the other two are holding on to some strings like food going towards the roll. To the left of them is a poster on the wall showing multiple layers of a roll. There are 12 labels going around the roll starting around 10 going to just shy of 6 o'clock. They have lines going in to different layers with the first label's line going to the outer layer, the second label's line going to the third layer, the third labels line going to the second layer, but then the rest of the labels going to layers deeper and deeper ind from 4 to 12. But there is also a zoom in in the bottom left, where a square on the roll has been zoomed out and displayed just outside the roll. Six layers can been seen in this zoom in, and each of these have also been labeled with three labels on either side of the frame of the zoom in. All 18 labels are unreadable.]
:Megan: Okay, we've rolled the spring roll burrito in breadcrumbs and fried it. Now we'll wrap it in cabbage roll leaves.
:White Hat: What about the Fruit Roll-Up?
:Megan: That goes around the cinnamon roll layer.

:[Caption below the panel:]
:A Wikipedia omniroll is a cylindrical food containing one layer of every item from the Wikipedia article "List of rolled foods."

==Trivia==
*At the time the comic was published, the Wikipedia article contained 51 entries - [https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=List_of_rolled_foods&oldid=1253171858 List of Rolled Foods as it was on March 7, 2025].
**The article had last been edited on October 24, 2024, but several edits were made in the hours after the comic was published, which is presumably not a coincidence.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]
[[Category:Comics featuring White Hat]]
[[Category:Food]]
[[Category:Wikipedia]]

3049: Incoming Asteroid

2025-02-12T22:47:34Z

141.101.98.240: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 3049
| date = February 10, 2025
| title = Incoming Asteroid
| image = incoming_asteroid_2x.png
| imagesize = 454x570px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = The bottom ones are also potentially bad news for any other planets in our solar system that have been counting on Earth having a stable orbit.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by an incoming bearer of bad news - List should probably be in a table, which should probably be done by someone with experience in creating tables. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

This comic may be inspired by the recent discovery of asteroid {{w|2024 YR4|2024 YR4}}, which, on the date of the comic (February, 10, 2025), was estimated to have about 1-in-48 chance of striking Earth on December 22, 2032. Its size is estimated to be 40-90 meters. Currently, it is rated a 3 (out of a maximum of 10) on the {{w|Torino scale}}, a metric designed to evaluate the danger of a potential strike from a {{w|near-Earth object}}. On this comic's scale (see [[#List of sizes and consequences|details below]]) it would be placed on the fourth label, the first label with bad news, as it could wipe out a city with a direct hit.

The Torino scale specifically addresses the future chance of impact, however, as well as the resulting energy (rather than pure mass or size) brought by the prospective impactor, and the retroactive Torino 8 classification of the similarly-sized Tunguska meteor, given as an 'example' in the table, is not really in the intended scope of the rating system, with events that have already happened already having reached 100% possibility with nothing left to plan for. For all foreseeable events, it is expected that the odds of impact (and therefore the Torino number) will continue to change as further observations refine the expected path into the vicinity of Earth, one or more times; it is generally hoped that all objects of interest will eventually reduce to zero, but for anything to reach levels 8 to 10 indicates the near-certainty of three distinct ranges of significant impact, which ''would'' need to be prepared for in one or more ways.

This comic provides a log scale correlating the size of any incoming asteroid to whether its arrival is good or bad news. While asteroids on the smaller end of the scale are good news for sky watchers, as the upcoming objects get bigger, the potential for catastrophe grows. Many astronomy enthusiasts would be happy to see bigger meteors, as bigger generally means more exciting pictures. Of course, once the meteors grow past a certain size even the most enthusiast astronomer might grow concerned about their imminent extinction.{{cn}}

The title text adds an additional point about asteroids on the lower end of the scale, which have enough mass to change Earth's orbit. If it changed enough it might intersect the orbit of other planets (probably Venus or Mars, since those are the closest). This might lead to Earth colliding with that planet. Also, even without a collision, the changed orbit might perturb '''their''' orbits due to the Earth's gravitational force and cause negative consequences by either invoking or revoking {{w|Commensurability (astronomy)|orbital resonances}} between the various inner planets.

===List of sizes and consequences===
Sizes are approximate.
{|class="wikitable"
! scope="col" | Size
! scope="col" | Randall's news
! scope="col" | Explanation
|-
|'''1 cm'''
|Good news! Meteors are pretty!
|Burn up in the atmosphere, becoming nothing more than a streak in the sky.
|-
|'''30 cm'''
|Great news! You might see a fireball!
|Might descend far enough for the flames of its entry to be visible with the naked eye ({{w|bolide}}).
|-
|'''3 m'''
|Okay news, unless you have expensive windows or are very unlucky.
|Can descend far enough for the shockwave of its passing to shatter windows. The comic mockingly claims this is only a problem if your windows are expensive or happen to get directly hit by it. Of course, the shattering windows are also concerns for safety, as the {{w|Chelyabinsk meteorite}}, which sits near the upper bound of this category at approximately 18 m in diameter, damaged more than 7,000 buildings and injured around 1,500 people with its shockwave.
|-
|'''60 m'''
|Bad news, especially if you live near the city it's aimed at.
|The {{w|Tunguska event|Tunguska meteor}}, which flattened and burnt over 2,000 km2 of Siberian forest in 1908, was 50-60 m across. It would have been rated an 8 on the Torino scale as a certain collision with localized destruction, the very lowest level of active concern for any (near-)certain event.
|-
|'''600 m'''
|Bad news, especially if you live on the continent it's aimed at.
|Can easily cause localized extinction, and can be expected to have effects on the rest of the world as well.
|-
|'''9 km'''
|Bad news for your species.
|The {{w|Chicxulub crater|Chicxulub asteroid}} that wiped out non-avian dinosaurs was about 10 km in diameter.
|-
|'''50 km'''
|Bad news for your phylum.
|{{w|Chordate|Our phylum}} is primarily all the vertebrate animals. The implication is that an asteroid over five times as wide (thus 125 times as massive) as the asteroid that wiped out the dinosaurs would cause the extinction of every animal with a spinal cord, which includes all of the higher life forms on earth (fish, and mammals). Presumably other, less complex, forms of life would survive.
|-
|'''300 km'''
|Bad news for your biosphere.
|A global extinction event is pretty much guaranteed.
|-
|'''2,000 km'''
|Good news for any life that might someday evolve on Earth's new moon.
|Earth's moon is believed to have been formed when Earth, in its infancy, was hit by an object of roughly this size. The comic assumes that another moon would form from another such impact, hypothesizes that life might evolve on that moon, {{tvtropes|BadNewsInAGoodWay|and pretends that it's good news}}. Is is almost guaranteed that this would be so disruptive it would eliminate all life on earth either directly (via the heat and shock of the impact) or indirectly (via the loss of the oceans, much of the atmosphere, dust blocking the sun, or the entire surface of the earth being covered in magma) - however, there are {{w|Extremophile|extremophiles}} which could possibly survive the resulting conditions.
|-
|'''25,000 km'''
|Bad news for whatever planet is about to get hit by Earth.
|At this size, the "asteroid" is over twice as large as Earth itself (whose diameter is about 12,700 km) and would likely be classified as a planet. (Unofficially, at least. ''Officially,'' there would be quibbling about whether it had {{w|Clearing the neighbourhood|"cleared its neighborhood."}} Briefly, for two reasons: first, that anyone that discussed this is now dead; and second, that it now ''has'' cleared Earth from it's neighborhood. At that point, the comic points out, it would be more accurate to describe the Earth as crashing into the "asteroid"/planet, not the other way around. In this case you could not say that Earth is hit... But that Earth hits the other planet, as Randall also describes. Since the Earth would be totally destroyed in such an event, it would be the planet it hits that feels the aftermath of the impact, and thus for anyone living on that planet that would be very bad news. This was actually a plot point in the film {{w|Melancholia (2011 film)|Melancholia}} where it turns out that it is Earth that is colliding with the much bigger planet Melancholia not the other way around. To be positioned well beyond the bottom end of this diagram, the film {{w|When Worlds Collide (1951 film)|When Worlds Collide}} entails a collision between the Earth and a vastly larger star passing through the solar system, or vice-versa, with no noted ill-effects to that star, nor to a planet (in orbit around that star) to which the few survivors from Earth escape.
|}

==Transcript==
:[A log chart is shown with several labels. Above it there is header:]
:<big>An asteroid is headed straight for Earth! That's...</big>

:[A log scale of lengths is shown on the left with a label at the top with an arrow pointing to the first number from the top shown next to the scale.]
:Asteroid size

:[The log scale starts with only 7 smaller ticks before the first large tick, and then there are the regular 9 small ticks in log fashion between each of the ten larger ticks, and then only 8 small ticks beneath the last large tick. Each of the 10 larger tick is labeled with a length size. With the first at the top being the one with an arrow pointing at it:]
:1 cm
:10 cm
:1 meter
:10 meters
:100 meters
:1 km
:10 km
:100 km
:1,000 km
:10,000 km

:[Around but not preciously at each labeled size there are ten descriptions of what should follow the header given such a size asteroid was about to hit Earth:]
:[1 cm:] ...Good news! Meteors are pretty!
:[30 cm:] ...Great news! You might see a fireball!
:[3 m:] ...Ok news, unless you have expensive windows or are very unlucky.
:[60 m:] ...Bad news, especially if you live near the city it's aimed at.
:[600 m:]...Bad news, especially if you live on the continent it's aimed at.
:[9 km:] ...Bad news for your species.
:[50 km:] ...Bad news for your phylum.
:[300 km:] ...Bad news for your biosphere.
:[2,000 km:] ...Good news for any life that might someday evolve on Earth's new moon.
:[25,000 km:] ...Bad news for whatever planet is about to get hit by Earth.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Charts]]
[[Category:Astronomy]]
[[Category:Space]]

3046: Stromatolites

2025-02-05T17:13:51Z

141.101.98.240: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 3046
| date = February 3, 2025
| title = Stromatolites
| image = stromatolites_2x.png
| imagesize = 581x505px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = If only my ancestors had been fortunate enough to marry into the branch of the bacteria family that could photosynthesize, like all my little green cousins here.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by THE MISSING LINK'S OSTRACIZED ANCESTOR - Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
This comic makes fun of claims to 'special' ancestry, such as some old royal family or similar, that may be made after doing research on a {{w|family tree}} site. These services allow the user to input the names and other information of family members and cross reference with various documents to trace lines of descent. Often, those who find a connection to a historically significant individual are quite excited about this, and may feel that it somehow makes them special. However, in reality, once you go back more than a few generations there will be many thousands of such connections, and once you get back more than a thousand years or so, anyone you could be related to will also be related to pretty much everybody else still alive in some way or other.

[[Beret Guy]] tells [[Cueball]] he has been on such a site and traced some of his family from "a few billion years back" who were related to {{w|stromatolites}}. These are layered sedimentary formations created by microorganisms, predominantly the oxygenic-photosynthetic {{w|Cyanobacteria|cyanobacteria}}. The organisms produce adhesive compounds that cement sand and other rocky materials to form mineral "microbial mats" (Cueball calls them ''bacterial mats''). A succession of these mats through time forms the layers ("stromata") characteristic of both fossil and modern stromatolites. Some fossil stromatolites in Australia from 3.48 billion years ago contain the oldest undisputed evidence of life on Earth, though people have also claimed {{w|Earliest known life forms|other, older evidence}} for this record. Since this is some of the first life on Earth it is basically a given that all life that came after (not even just all humans) is related. Beret Guy only claims he is related to their {{w|Alphaproteobacteria|cousins}} and that it is from their cousin bacteria that he got his {{w|mitochondria}}. His aside that he also got his cell nuclei in this way is odd, as, according to the {{w|Cell_nucleus#Evolution|leading contemporary theory}}, the ancestral archaeon ("my archaean ancestors") themselves contributed the nucleus to the original eukaryotic cell. In this model, both the archaeon and the alpha-proteobacterium were endosymbionts in a third cell, which is not consistent with Beret Guy's claim that the mitochondrion began as an archaeon's endosymbiont. Perhaps all that clicking addled even Beret Guy's brain. Anyway, he is not claiming to be a direct descendant from [the cyanobacterial component of] stromatolites, which makes sense since they can photosynthesize, and as he mentions in the title text, he cannot!

Ancestry services typically do not allow the user to track their familial history prior to written records{{citation needed}}, but with his [[:Category:Strange powers of Beret Guy|strange powers]] it is no wonder that Beret Guy could make this work! (Some do provide genetic sequencing, which allows for more information to be acquired, but this isn't accurate enough to track individual people who lived before such technology existed on a wide scale.) He may also have needed to rely on these powers to do all the clicks needed to go back that far in the past. Even at a rate of 10 to 15 clicks per second it would still take thousands of years — maybe even more due to how fast cells can reproduce — to do enough clicks to work back this far from scratch. However, it may be that a large part of the tree had already been constructed by previous users, and all he had to do was find a relation already attached to this tree. This would further underline how un-special his newly discovered relationship is.

Cueball asks if he would like to contact his distant relatives, since there are still living stromatolites today (or at least something very similar to those from billions of years ago). But Beret Guy imagines they are busy so he will not bother them. When asked by Cueball what he would use his newfound knowledge for, he lies down on the hill they have climbed to bask in the sun. Because as he says, "Lying on a hill in the warm sun is an old family tradition." This is basically the only thing stromatolites can do, but they are doing it all the time and could thus be said to be busy with this. It seems, however, like Beret Guy is going to enjoy this tradition.

In the title text Beret Guy muses about how great it would have been if his distant relatives had married into the branch of the bacteria family that could photosynthesize... and then refers to the grass he is now lying on as "my little green cousins here". If this had happened he would either have been able to lie on the hill without eating since [https://www.gocomics.com/doonesbury/2014/10/28 he would be able to photosynthesize] getting energy directly from the sun (instead of eating some of his small green cousins' closer relatives) - although that might not be enough to sustain him, as per ''[[what if? (blog)|what if?]]'' article ''{{what if|17|Green cow}}''. Or else he would actually have been a plant instead.

==Transcript==
:[Cueball and Beret Guy, seen from afar in silhouette, are walking up a grassy hill.]

:[They continue walking up the hill, reaching its grassy summit. Now with normal lighting. Beret Guy is a bit ahead of Cueball.]
:Beret Guy: I learned something today.
:Beret Guy: I went on one of those family tree sites and kept clicking back, and it turns out I'm related to stromatolites!

:[Closeup on Cueball. Beret Guy's reply comes off-panel from a starburst on the right edge of the panel.]
:Cueball: The bacterial mats?
:Beret Guy [off-panel]: Yeah! A few billion years back, on my mitochondria's side.

:[Cueball and Beret Guy standing on the top of the grassy hill facing each other. Beret Guy holding a hand out towards Cueball.]
:Beret Guy: My Archaean ancestors absorbed some bacteria that were cousins of stromatolites. That's how I got mitochondria.
:Beret Guy: Cell nuclei, too.

:[Cueball is standing behind Beret Guy who is now sitting down in the grass leaning back on one arm with the other arm resting on his bent knee.]
:Cueball: I think there are still living stromatolites. You could get in touch.
:Beret Guy: Nah, they're probably busy. I don't want to bother them.

:[Cueball is sitting behind Beret Guy who is now lying down, both again shown in silhouette from a far, revealing they are on the top of the grassy hill.]
:Cueball: So what ''are'' you going to do with this knowledge? Nothing?
:Beret Guy: Lying on a hill in the warm sun is an old family tradition.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Beret Guy]]
[[Category:Biology]]

Template:blog

2025-01-31T20:01:49Z

141.101.98.240: Another example tweak, just to make (more) obvious that the 0th's zero doesn't somehow come from the URL end-number

<includeonly> data-sort-value="{{#expr:{{formatnum:{{{1|0}}}|R}}}}" {{#if:{{{archiveOnly|}}}||style="background-color:#cceeff;"}}|'''{{ordinal|{{{1|0}}}}}''' blog article{{#if:{{{2|}}}|, on {{#iferror:{{#time:Y‑m‑d|{{{2|}}}-{{{3|}}}-{{{4|}}}}}| {{{2|}}}‑{{{3|}}}‑{{{4|}}}}}}}{{#if:{{{5|}}}| ''({{{5|}}})''}}{{#if:{{{archiveOnly|}}}| (Removed: see [{{{archiveOnly}}} archive link])}}</includeonly><noinclude>Used in the [[What If? chapters|''what if?'' index]], to mark the article number, date of release, and how late/early the article was. It also colors the cell blue. For the books and the YouTube videos, use {{template|book}} instead. The number is required, and the date is always needed if known.

===Usage===
<nowiki>{{blog|ARTICLE-NUMBER|YYYY|MM|DD|</nowiki>'''''LATE-OR-EARLY'''''}}
*If there is no valid ARTICLE-NUMBER, for some reason, it becomes the 'zeroth' blog article.
*Date details are optional, but require ''at least'' a prior blank ARTICLE-NUMBER field
*LATE-OR-EARLY is optional (e.g. if 'on schedule'), but requires all prior fields (which can be left blank)

If the blog concerned is only now available from an archive location, give the appropriate URL by appending it to the named <code>archiveOnly=</code> parameter. This does not depend upon any other details.
<nowiki>{{blog|ARTICLE-NUMBER|YYYY|MM|DD|</nowiki>'''''LATE-OR-EARLY'''''|archiveOnly='''''URL'''''}}

===Examples===

<nowiki>{{blog|69|YYYY|MM|DD|1m 19d late}}</nowiki>

'''''Produces:'''''

{{blog|69|YYYY|MM|DD|1m 19d late}}

and

<nowiki>{{blog|69|YYYY|MM|DD}}</nowiki>

'''''Produces:'''''

{{blog|69|YYYY|MM|DD}}

and

<nowiki>{{blog|69}}</nowiki>

'''''Produces:'''''

{{blog|69}}

and

<nowiki>{{blog}}</nowiki>

'''''Produces:'''''

{{blog}}

and

<nowiki>{{blog|||||Very late!}}</nowiki>

'''''Produces:'''''

{{blog|||||Very late!}}

and

<nowiki>{{blog|69|YYYY|MM|DD|1m 19d late|archiveOnly=https://archive.site/articleSixtyNine}}</nowiki>

'''''Produces:'''''

{{blog|69|YYYY|MM|DD|1m 19d late|archiveOnly=https://archive.site/articleSixtyNine}}

and

<nowiki>{{blog|archiveOnly=https://archive.site/articleZero}}</nowiki>

'''''Produces:'''''

{{blog|archiveOnly=https://archive.site/articleZero}}

{| class="sortable wikitable"
!Thumbnail
!Title
!Reader's question
!Randall's answer
!Blog
!Books
!YouTube
|-
|[[File:Relativistic Baseball.png|100px]]
|'''{{what if|1|Relativistic Baseball}}'''
|''"What would happen if you tried to hit a baseball pitched at 90% the speed of light?"''
|The ball would create plasma and reach home plate by about 70 nanoseconds. The result would be some kind of nuclear explosion, destroying everything about a mile from the field. A ruling of "{{w|hit by pitch}}" could be interpreted in this situation.
|{{blog|8|2012|07|10|10d early}}
|{{book|1|2}}
|{{book|5|2024|02|06|3EI08o-IGYk|What if you threw a baseball at nearly light speed?}}
|-
|[[File:SAT Guessing.png|100px]]
|'''{{what if|2|SAT Guessing}}'''
|''"What if everyone who took the SAT guessed on every multiple-choice question? How many perfect scores would there be?"''
|No one would get a perfect score. The odds of guessing correctly on every question would be less than the odds of every ex-living president at that time and the main cast of [[:Category:Firefly|Firefly]] getting struck by lightning on the same day.
|{{blog|69|YYYY|MM|DD|1m 19d late}}
|
|
|-
|[[File:Yoda.png|100px]]
|'''{{what if|3|Yoda}}'''
|''"How much Force power can Yoda output?"''
|Yoda can output about 19.2 kilowatts, or 25 horsepower. "Yoda power" would cost about $2/hour.
|{{blog|420}}
|
|
|-
|[[File:A Moles of Moles.png|100px]]
|'''{{what if|4|A Mole of Moles}}'''
|''"What would happen if you were to gather a mole (unit of measurement) of moles (the small furry critter) in one place?"''
|As a mole is such a high number this would be tricky. They would condense into a pressurized sphere of meat that would freeze and occasionally explode from gases.
|{{blog|4|2025|07|24}}
|
|
|-
|[[File:Robot Apocalypse.png|100px]]
|'''{{what if|5|Robot Apocalypse}}'''
|''"What if there was a robot apocalypse? How long would humanity last?"''
|Humanity would survive if the robots cared about keeping themselves alive as well. If not, then we would all die.
|{{blog|56|2012|07|31}}
|
|
|-
|[[File:Glass Half Empty.png|100px]]
|'''{{what if|6|Glass Half Empty}}'''
|''"What if a glass of water was, all of a sudden, literally half empty?"''
|If the vacuum were on the bottom half, it would explode, but if it were on the top half, the air rushes in and it becomes normal water.
|{{blog|100|2012|08|07}}
|
|
|-
|[[File:Glass Half Empty.png|100px]]
|'''Test 'removed' article (#9876)'''
|''"What if an article was, for some reason, deleted?"''
|If the vacuum were on the bottom half, it would explode, but if it were on the top half, the air rushes in and it becomes normal water.
|{{blog|9876|2061|07|28|archiveOnly=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2061:_Odyssey_Three}}
|
|
|}
[[Category:Templates]]</noinclude>

3031: Time Capsule Instructions

2025-01-14T13:28:10Z

141.101.98.240: /* Explanation */ Happy New Year, Foula!

{{comic
| number = 3031
| date = December 30, 2024
| title = Time Capsule Instructions
| image = time_capsule_instructions_2x.png
| imagesize = 692x235px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = Inside is a third box, labeled DO NOT OPEN UNLESS YOU ARE IN THE TIME ZONE WHERE YOU OPENED BOTH PREVIOUS BOXES.
}}

==Explanation==

This [[:Category:New Year|New Year comic]] sees a New Year party held at a location where a {{w|time capsule}} has clearly been buried, as evidenced by a sign marking the spot. It is likely that this was buried some years ago with the intention of being unearthed at the start of 2025, after some significant number of years have passed, rather than for an indeterminate amount of time (such as was the case in [[1617: Time Capsule]]), with the intent to allow people of a then-future time see what those of that era found interesting to preserve and "send" into the future.

Some form of New Year Celebration is happening near to the Time Capsule site, as indicated by the off-panel noises, probably especially convened at the capsule's site in eager anticipation. [[Cueball]] and [[Megan]], who have already said cheers with their wine glasses, look eagerly on when [[Ponytail]] opens the time capsule.

Not all such projects are kept conspicuously marked, or may lose their signage due to circumstances unanticipated at the time of the original installation, resulting in a surprise (or accidental) unearthing, while others may still be known for what they are (as with the intended time to stay closed) but need to be relocated/reconcealed due to later redevelopment of the location. (There is generally nothing to prevent premature unearthing and opening, perhaps especially to ensure that the contents are not damaged, but often {{w|Blue Peter#Time capsules|efforts are taken}} to best adhere to the original wishes.) To this end, as might be expected of such a time capsule, the box that Ponytail digs out is itself marked that it must not be opened until the year 2025 and it seems that (for the comic) this is the case, and at least part of the reason for the gathering.

Within the capsule, however, is a second container (a not atypical precaution), but this one has the instruction to not open after 2024, which is a far less obvious element for a time capsule (though various supplies, from [[2178: Expiration Date High Score|packaged food]] to [[2297: Use or Discard By|signal flares]], may have a similar requirement). Obeying the instruction for opening the first box has entirely precluded obeying that given as a prerequisite for opening the second... at least without using some form of time-travel. This could be either be a mundane twist of the circumstances (changing reference calendars or time-zones), or else require actual time-travel, but it is unlikely that they have [[1203: Time Machines|any practical solution]] prepared to use to overcome this twist.

The title text makes the situation more similar to {{w|Matryoshka dolls}}, where boxes are recursively stacked, with a third label having another restriction. This new label alludes to one of the ways one can open the first two boxes without ignoring the instructions: by crossing time zones. When more easterly-referenced locations have become the 1st of January 2025, it will (for a short while) still be the 31st of December 2024 in more westerly ones (the boundaries themselves might be any orientation, not just north-south; the whole concept inverts across the International Date Line, before even considering hour-shift differences), meaning that theoretically someone could open the first box in a time zone where it is 2025 and then quickly travel to one in which it is still 2024 to open the second box. Depending upon where the capsule was located, timely travel opportunities ''may'' be possible, but it seems unlikely to have been something anticipated by the recipients of the task.

However, the title text implies that if you take advantage of this loophole, you will not then be allowed to open a third box inside the second box, as the instructions for ''that'' box requires that you have opened the first two boxes in the same time zone. You must not open the third (and final?) container unless you opened both previous boxes in the same time zone as you are now, which is not compatible with having changed location to get to this point.

===Potential solutions===

Depending on interpretation, you could defeat the third box by placing it inside two time zones at once before opening it, as there is no time limit on the third box. This works if the instruction on the box is read as "unless you are in the time zone where you opened the first box, and you are in the time zone where you opened the second box". However, this new loophole could be patched by interpreting the third box as "unless you are in the ''one'' time zone where...".

How to be considered to be simultaneously covered by two time-zones (in a way that you can [[2846: Daylight Saving Choice|choose which to observe]]) is left up to the reader, although another variation of this solution would be to change the https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/crl3grgg9zeo calendar used as point of reference, as {{w|Calendar era|many calendars}} use a lower year than the Gregorian calendar, or is [https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/crl3grgg9zeo offset by a few days], and you could justify changing the date (if not the hour) that you consider true. Or perhaps mix and match calendar traditions that consider a day (and therefore a calendar date) to start only at dawn, rather than at astronomical/geopolitical midnight.

Perhaps the solution would be for both the box and the person opening it to be on the boundary between two time zones, half in each. Or, depending on how one interprets the nature of Daylight Saving Time, there may be another solution. In Australia, {{w|Northern Territory}} and {{w|South Australia}} are in the same time zone (by the most common interpretation of the word) and border each other, but only the latter uses Daylight Saving Time; similarly, {{w|Queensland}} does not use Daylight Saving Time but is in the same time zone (by the most common interpretation of the word) as multiple Australian territories that do use Daylight Saving Time, including {{w|New South Wales}}, with which Queensland shares a border. This suggests the idea of opening the first box in South Australia or New South Wales then taking it north of the (latitudinal) DST boundary without crossing any (longitudinal) time zone boundaries; one will then have up to an hour to open the second box and then as long as one wants to open the third box. However, Randall [[:Category:Daylight saving time|has historically expressed opposition to Daylight Saving Time]], so he might not count the first opening as occurring in 2025 if that year has already started only by virtue of Daylight Saving Time.

Without any tricksy thinking and assuming we may not have the box nor the person opening the box in two time zones at the same time, a semantic loophole presents itself. The title text refers to "you" and not the box, while the instructions on the first and seconds boxes can be reasonably assumed to apply only to the time zone that the box itself is in. The box could be moved from one time zone to the other by the use of, as an example, a robotic arm, then opened, and then brought to the time zone that the person controlling the robotic arms is in. Alternatively, if two different people opened the first two boxes in the respective time zones, the "you" would then have to be reconsidered as plural, and, since both people could stay in their respective time zones, the third box could be opened.

Some of the above solutions might only be used if you already knew of the instructions on the boxes, unless it was previously dug into one of the relevant locations (and, depending upon the 'author' of the box-puzzle, this may have also been anticipated and be an intended part of the puzzle). Even getting the second box open following instructions would require it was possible to travel fast enough and far enough to reach a second New Year, which is not easily guaranteeable on the spur of the moment. This is definitely possible if you plan for it, but whether this disinterment party was prepared is unlikely.

Having made the initial two openings in different locations, another possibility is to choose either location (it being easiest to remain where you were allowed to open the second box) and having removed all boxes from any prior host containers, close the box that is now out-of-zone. You can now either take the box's mandate as dealt with, and expired, or avoid any quibbles by waiting just long enough for the now-closed 2025 box to once more experience 2025 in the second box's locale, permiting you to re-open it and fulfil the requirements of the third.

In any case it seems more likely that normal people, having taken the initial instruction at its word, would ignore any new [[2841: Sign Combo|contradictory rules]]. The original rule that the Time Capsule should remain closed until 2025 is the one that makes sense. So after opening the first at the right time, one could just disregard the words on the boxes (or at least Randall's interpretation of them); there is probably not some kind of [[242: The Difference|magical enforcement mechanism]]. Also it seems likely this was just a prank so there will be nothing interesting inside, but one might fear some kind of booby trap, or a [[325: A-Minus-Minus|bobcat]]. So there could be some kind of enforcement mechanism.

Considering when the comic was published, however, a full day prior to ''any'' territory having actually celebrated the arrival of 2025, one might imagine that this is ''not'' an upcoming scenario, but one that has happened/is happening already. In this case, it suggests that the party (both diggers-up and associated party-goers) were fully aware of some of the stipulations they were to be subject to and (impatiently, or at even just as cleverly as the initial burier of the boxes) arbitrarily marked the arrival of 2025 ''early'' to 'justify' the opening the outer box. They could then conveniently reconsider their schedule, continuing now on the basis of acting prior to the end of 2024, and have no further trouble with either of the inner instructions (opening the next box before the ''official'' arrival of 2025 would be simplicity, and any antecedent calendar reinterpretations could be considered logically separated from any prohibitive change in location and/or time-zone).

There is also the question of a hypothetical fourth box, which, given that there was a third box, there is no reason that there shouldn't be a fourth, probably with a label designed to better shut down some of these potential solutions. And maybe it's [[1557: Ozymandias|boxes all the way down]]!

==Transcript==
:[Cueball and Megan are clinking wine glasses while Ponytail is digging with a shovel under a sign standing on two legs next to Ponytail. From the off-panel to the left several voices are shouting. On the sign are two large words above two lines of unreadable lines of text.]
:Off-panel voices: <big>''Happy New Year!''</big>
:Sign: <big>Time</big> Capsule

:[A dirty box with a hasp closing it. There is a label on the lid:]
:Do not open until 2025

:[Cueball and Megan, holding their wine glasses, look over Ponytail's shoulder as she crouches down in front of the box and opens it with an audible sound. The shovel is standing behind the box, dug into the ground.]
:Click

:[The open box is shown revealing that it contains a second, pristine box with a similar label:]
:Do not open after 2024

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:New Year]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Ponytail]]
[[Category:Time]]

3034: Features of Adulthood

2025-01-09T18:27:57Z

141.101.98.240: /* Events */ Change from repitition of "apparently". Add category link as proof of his continuing appreciation/consideration of the franchise.

{{comic
| number = 3034
| date = January 6, 2025
| title = Features of Adulthood
| image = features_of_adulthood_2x.png
| imagesize = 704x620px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = I don't dig pit traps and cover them with sticks and a thin layer of leaves nearly as much as I expected; I find a chance to do it barely once a month.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete| Unexpectedly created by an adult BOT digging pit traps - Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

This comic is a graph comparing the (mostly) common ideas of adulthood from a young person's perspective with reality of it. The plot is fully populated, with many issues (both common and uncommon) matching expectations pretty well, as well as features that are much rarer than expected (like encounters with quicksand, crocodiles and explosives), and some very common issues that don't occur to young people, such as deciding what to eat, or dealing with weird noises and smells.

It is clear that much of the 'lower-right triangle' (things that don't come up nearly as often as expected) are ''direct'' references to fictional scenarios on film or TV, likely particularly the type of fiction that [[Randall]] consumed as a child (probably including cartoons and action movies). In contrast, the complimentary 'upper-left triangle' largely consists of the type of mundane adult activities that children don't see or notice in real life, and which often aren't interesting enough to be disproportionately common in fiction.

==Events==

{| class="wikitable"
! Event
! Expected frequency in adulthood
! Actual frequency in adulthood
! Notes
|-
| {{w|Eating utensil etiquette#Fork etiquette|Which fork you're supposed to use for what}}
| 0%
| 0%
| Traditional, formal dining involves {{w|Fork#Types of forks|different types of forks}} for different courses of a meal. Learning {{w|Table setting#Place setting|which fork to use}} for which course might be taught in {{w|etiquette school}}, and is perceived as a signifier of social class (though this is likely an exaggerated concern). Dining has generally become less formal in Western society since the mid-20th century; as a result, most people are used to only using a single fork, or at most two, for their meals. This means that, for most people, {{tvtropes|FormalFullArrayOfCutlery|the issue rarely comes up}}, even in adulthood.
|-
| {{tvtropes|CartoonBomb|Lit fuses}}
| 40%
| 0%
| Explosives with visible lit fuses are commonly seen in movies and TV shows, particularly in cartoons. In reality, the average person is unlikely to deal with explosives at all. When explosives are used, they're usually electrically detonated, or sometimes use a concealed fuse (e.g. {{w|grenade}}s). Visible, burning fuses are sufficiently obsolete that most people will never encounter them directly.
|-
| {{tvtropes|PalatePropping|Shoving a stick}} in a {{w|crocodile}}'s mouth to wedge it open
| 80%
| 0%
| Placing a vertical stick in a crocodile’s mouth is a popular TV trope to prevent the crocodile from {{w|Crocodile attack|biting down}} (usually on the stick placer). Crocodile attacks on humans are common only in specific geographical areas, meaning that most people will never encounter them. Even when such an encounter happens, using a stick in that way would almost certainly be ineffective.
|-
| {{w|Quicksand}}
| 100%
| 0%
| Quicksand is {{tvtropes|QuicksandSucks|common in adventure fiction}}, but it's quite rare in real life (nor does it generally behave the way it's depicted in such fiction). The average person is unlikely to ever encounter it.
|-
| {{w|Car chase}}s
| 35%
| 5%
| Car chases are frequently seen in movies and TV shows involving police, including real-life police shows, but unless you're a police officer or criminal trying to evade them, you'll probably never be involved in one.
|-
| {{w|Grappling hook}}s
| 100%
| 5%
| A grappling hook is a device, typically made of metal, with multiple hooks and features to allow it to be secured to the end of a rope. It can be thrown to either grab an object at a distance and pull it toward you, or to anchor the rope to an elevated point (such as on a cliff or building) to aid in climbing. The latter use is quite common in action and adventure fiction. While such devices do exist in real life, they generally have specialty uses that the average person is unlikely to have the need for.
|-
| People offering free drugs
| 30%
| 10%
| Children being warned about illicit drugs have often been cautioned that drug dealers would inevitably approach them and offer them free drugs, in order to encourage an addiction and gain a reliable customer. In real life, drug dealers virtually never work that way, and are unlikely to part with their product unless payment has been made. Most people are introduced to drugs by friends or acquaintances, who might offer some for free, but that's only likely in specific social groups and situations.
|-
| {{w|Parachute}}s
| 80%
| 10%
| {{w|Parachuting}} allows people to jump out of planes at altitude, or from other elevated heights, and slow their descent enough to land safely. This is dramatic enough to come up often in adventure fiction. Parachutes are, of course, used in real life, but most people will only have reason to use them if they put the money and effort into recreational skydiving or {{w|BASE jumping}}.
|-
| {{w|Barrels}}
| 95%
| 10%
| Wooden or {{w|Drum (container)|metal}} storage containers are frequently used as concealment, improvised weapons and (sometimes explosive) obstacles in popular media. While barrels are actually quite common, they're large enough that the majority of people rarely have a reason to interact with them, unless they happen to work in a job that either sells or uses liquids in large quantities.
|-
| {{w|Middle name}}s
| 15%
| 20%
| A second (or occasionally also third or more) {{w|given name}}, common in some traditions. In most Anglophone countries, having a middle name is common, but most people only use them in formal situations where a full name is required (as when filling out legal documents), or if they adopt the middle name to be known by (in which case, most people will not realise this). This is true to the point where most people don't know the middle names of most of their acquaintances, or even if they have one. In consequence, both as a child and as an adult, middle names will be encountered occasionally, but not regularly.
|-
| {{w|Food fight}}s
| 50%
| 20%
| A common trope in fiction has a young people eating together (often in a cafeteria), and someone playfully begins throwing food, causing others to retaliate, until the whole room devolves into a food fight. Such a fight is inherently messy and irresponsible, but is unlikely to actually hurt anyone seriously, and so represents youthful hijinks. Such events aren't unknown in real life, but aren't necessarily pleasant (food is wasted and people might miss their meal as a result, you might end up covered in food all day, clean-up is a big job, punishments are likely to be handed out, and clothes might be permanently stained), so they aren't nearly as common as someone raised on fiction might imagine. Adults are most likely to encounter them being indulged in by the children in their life, rather than taking part themselves.
|-
| {{tvtropes|TwinSwitch|Twins switching places}}
| 90%
| 20%
| In fiction, if a pair of identical twins are introduced, it's almost inevitable that they'll trade places at some point, each trying to pass for the other, whether as a prank, or for some more serious purpose (a version of {{w|Chekhov's gun}}). Actual identical twins are quite rare (roughly 1 in 300 live births), even identical twins might not look exactly alike, and many twins get tired of being confused for one another at a young age, and so have no interest trying to trade places as adults. Frankly, a real life percentage above 0% may be a joke.
|-
| {{w|Flat tire}}s
| 10%
| 25%
| Anyone who drives or rides a vehicle with tires faces the possibility of a tire going flat, due to either wear or road damage. This is usually merely an inconvenience, as it requires stopping to change or patch the tire, but a person lacking the knowledge or equipment to do so might have to call for help and/or be stranded until help arrives. Young people tend to be aware of this possibility, but it may happen a bit more often than they'd expect.
|-
| {{w|Briefcase}}s
| 70%
| 25%
| Frequently used to carry documents and other small office equipment, they've historically been treated as part of the standard kit for a white collar worker. In fiction, they are often portrayed as {{tvtropes|BriefcaseFullOfMoney|a means to carry a large amount of cash}}, {{tvtropes|BriefcaseBlaster|conceal a firearm}}, or a {{tvtropes|MacGuffin}}. The popularity of briefcases has been declining after the 1980s. In modern times, documents are likely to be kept digitally and people are far more likely to carry a laptop bag for work than a briefcase.
|-
| {{w|Martial arts}}
| 95%
| 25%
| A child raised on action films and TV shows may assume that use of martial arts is a normal part of life for most adults. In reality, most adults aren't trained in martial arts, and those who are very rarely use them in an actual fight. Martial arts are generally encountered only in classes or competitions set up specifically for it.
|-
| {{w|Water damage}}
| 0%
| 25%
| Water getting into the wrong places can be a serious problem, causing damage to homes and other buildings, vehicles, infrastructure, and all kinds of property. Such damage can happen without much warning, can be hard to detect at first, and can be hard to deal with. While precautions are usually taken to prevent such things from getting wet, water incursion can still happen, due to weather events, flooding, plumbing leaks, accidental spills, and even condensation. Children are likely to be entirely unaware of this, but many adults have to deal with it at some point in their lives.
|-
| {{w|Backpack}}s
|
|
| Backpacks of various sizes are a versatile means to carry items. They are almost as popular in real life as in fiction, though the contents may be somewhat different.
|-
| My {{w|Transcript (education)|academic record}}
| 95%
| 30%
| A child's life revolves around school: it's where they spend a large fraction of their waking hours, classmates make up most of their social circle, class schedules dictate when and how they spend their free time, and parental figures often punish/reward children based on their academic performance. The child may assume that school will continue to be an ever-present all-ecompassing feature of their future life, with their grades constituting a "permanent record" that will follow them into adulthood.
In reality, academic records aren't anywhere near that important. Some entry-level jobs may consider a candidate's past grades, but they're a tertiary concern after job interviews and professional references. By the time a person reaches their late 20s, academic records become irrelevant and are supplanted by the person's professional résumé.
|-
| {{w|Adhesive}}s
| 15%
| 50%
| Adhesives such as {{w|glue}}, {{w|adhesive tape|tape}} and {{w|epoxy resin}} are used to bond items together, typically for use in arts and crafts. They also have widespread industrial applications.
|-
| {{w|Board game}}s
|
|
| Board games of various kinds (such as {{w|chess}}, {{w|checkers|checkers/draughts}}, {{w|Monopoly (game)|Monopoly}}, {{w|Parcheesi}}/{{w|Ludo}}, {{w|Risk (game)|Risk}}, {{w|Snakes & Ladders}}, {{w|Cluedo|Clue/Cluedo}}, {{w|Trivial Pursuit}} or [https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/3149/lost-valley-of-the-dinosaurs Lost Valley of the Dinosaurs]) were often a staple for family home entertainment, in the past. Although they still may exist, possibly at the back of a cupboard, the ubiquitous nature of video games and other entertainments may have suppressed the opportunity for the adults and/or children to unbox them to while away the hours during a rainy afternoon or provide fireside entertainment for the family and its guests between the evening meal and supper.
Ironically, many classic boardgames have often been converted to video games, either as faithful reproductions (that may even enable online play and remote participation) or just as a nostalgic/premade thematic flavor as applied to a largely solo screenbound distraction.
|-
| Tying {{w|knot}}s
| 85%
| 40%
| There are a large number of knots, with a similar variety of uses. Knowing the right types of knots can be highly useful in certain situations, but how often those situations come up heavily depends on individual circumstances. Camping, fishing and rock-climbing require tying specialty knots quite frequently, but for people who don't have such hobbies, their use is less common. The high expected frequency suggests that [[Randall]] was encouraged to learn knots as a child, possible due to involvement in {{w|scouting}}, or some other outdoor activity, and the emphasis suggested that they'd come up a lot. When interest in knot-heavy activities wanes, the application of knots tends to fall off as well.
|-
| {{w|Cable management}}
| 0%
| 50%
| Cable management is the act of tidying up the cables in and around a computer or other device, which is an annoying but often required task for most adults. Most children are never involved in this task, and don't even realize that it exists until they're old enough to both be responsible for significant electronics and care about tidiness.
|-
| {{w|Laser}}s
| 90%
| 50%
|Lasers are common in sci-fi and spy stories, but are much less commonly interacted with in real life. However, in real life, they are a very interesting technology and equipment, and something Randall is interested in, so he is likely to interact with lasers much more than the average person. For a time, many people interacted with lasers on a regular basis (albeit without necessarily being aware of it), as they are used to read data from optical media such as DVDs and Blu-ray. As these media have fallen out of favour, the amount of these interactions will have reduced.
|-
| Dangerous driving situations
|
|
|
|-
| {{w|Pizza}}
|
|
| Often thought of as takeout or delivery food. A favorite of {{w|Spider-Man}} and the {{w|Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles}}.
|-
| {{w|Star Wars}}
| 80%
| 55%
| The Star Wars franchise began with the release of the eponymous film in 1977, which was followed by two sequels, and ultimately spawned a media empire of films, television shows, books, video games and merchandising which continues to this day. The series has always had appeal to both children and adults. As a childhood fan, [[Randall]] evidently expected the franchise to continue to be of importance when he was an adult. While it apparently isn't quite as prominent in his adult life as he might have expected, the franchise continues to be a significant feature in popular culture, and he seemingly [[:Category:Star Wars|remains a fan]], even decades later.
|-
| Cool toys
|
|
|
|-
| {{w|Weather forecast}}s
|
|
|
|-
| {{w|Batteries}}
|
|
|
|-
| {{w|Power tools}}
|
|
|
|-
| {{w|Video game}}s
|
|
| Generally thought of as a childish pastime in earlier times, it has become increasingly normalised for adults to play video games.
|-
| Figuring out what to have for dinner
|
|
| For many children, dinner is something that just 'arrives', having been decided by the relevant responsible carer. They may therefore not appreciate the thought that needs to go into that decision. Additionally, the range of foodstuffs available to affluent people in Western societies has significantly increased since Randall's childhood, which may induce choice paralysis when confronted with them.
|-
| {{w|Heating, ventilation and air conditioning|HVAC}} issues
| 20%
| 80%
| HVAC is an acronym that stands for 'heating, ventilation and air conditioning.' If one owns a home, problems with the heater or air conditioner can quickly make your home very uncomfortable (too cold in the winter or too hot in the summer) and becomes something you have to deal with right away. Thus HVAC issues become a much more frequent part of an adult's life than a child may assume.
|-
| {{w|Cooking}}
|
|
|
|-
| Secret {{w|password}}s
|
|
| Traditionally, in fiction, secret passwords have been portrayed as used for purposes such as espionage and admission to secret clubs. Nowadays many people do use secret passwords on a daily basis, but for more mundane purposes such as accessing websites and voicemail.
|-
| Laundry
|
|
|
|-
| {{w|Tax}}es
| 100%
| 85%
| One of two inevitable things in life, {{w|Death and taxes (idiom)|the other being death}}
|-
| Customer service
|
|
|
|-
| Shopping
| 100%
| 90%
|
|-
| Unexplained smells or noises
|
| 100%
|
|-
| Pocket radio communicators
|
| 100%
| Examples include {{w|cell phone}}s, {{w|pager}}s and {{w|walkie-talkie}}s.
|-
| Bills
| 90%
| 100%
| Most households have to contend with electricity, water and telecommunication service bills.
|-
| Digging {{w|pit trap}}s (title text)
| N/A
| N/A
| Inside the Star Destroyer in [[1608: Hoverboard]] we see [https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/images/f/fd/1608_1055x1090y_Trap_covered_with_leaves_and_flying_Ponytail_at_bottom_of_hull.png Cueball cover a pit trap with leaves], so this is something Randall actually thinks about sometimes!
|}

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

:[Shown is a scatter plot, with arrowed labels on the axes:]
:Y axis label: How often it comes up in my adult life
:X axis label: How often I expected it to come up in my adult life

:[First row of items (comes up very often, from least to most expected):]
:Unexplained smells or noises; customer service; pocket radio communicators; bills; shopping
:[Items row by row from the second row onwards:]
:Figuring out what to have for dinner; HVAC issues; secret passwords; laundry; cooking; taxes
:Weather forecasts; batteries; video games; power tools
:Cable management; dangerous driving situations; pizza; Star Wars; lasers; cool toys
:Adhesives; board games; tying knots
:Water damage; backpacks; my academic record
:Flat tires; briefcases; martial arts
:Middle names; people offering free drugs; food fights; parachutes; twins switching places; barrels
:[Last row (comes up very rarely, from least to most expected):]
:Which fork you're supposed to use for what; car chases; lit fuses; shoving a stick in a crocodile's mouth to wedge it open; grappling hooks; quicksand

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Scatter plots]]
[[Category:Food]]
[[Category:Weather]]
[[Category:Star Wars]]
[[Category:Video games]]
[[Category:Board games]]
[[Category:Animals]]

2415: Allow Captcha

2021-01-25T04:00:48Z

141.101.98.240: /* What Boxes To Click? */ Let us try this. Also minor consistency changes.

{{comic
| number = 2415
| date = January 22, 2021
| title = Allow Captcha
| image = allow_captcha.png
| titletext = To prove you're human, please click all the number pairs that appear together in your Social Security number.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by a malicious design practice that already exists out there. Please mention here why this explanation isn't complete. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

Captcha is designed to prevent spambots from being able to post on websites by posing challenges that humans can easily solve but that spambots and other automated programs cannot solve. The original version (used in [[632: Suspicion]]) asked users to identify text that was rotated, warped, or otherwise modified in order to make it more difficult for automated programs to solve. Once automated programs got good at that, new captchas were put out that exploited the fact that computers tend to be bad at image recognition, e.g. asking the user to select only images that contain cats from a grid of images of cats, dogs, and other objects (used in [[1897:_Self_Driving]]). This captcha appears to combine the two methods—with the additional hurdle that in order to pass the captcha, users must be able to not only read but also understand (i.e. know the definitions of words). However, if the goal is to allow humans but not computers to pass (although, as the next paragraph will describe, it is not the goal), this is not a good method of differentiating between the two. Any computer program that can accurately read text (and there are now many programs that can do so) would know which words start with 'A' and would be able to look up the definitions (including parts of speech) online, so this would not be effective as a captcha. Humans on the other hand, would often get confused between "ale" and "ail" or between "allot" and "a lot". The English language has no distinction between nouns and verbs by spelling, only grammatical usage, and many words in English are both nouns and verbs.

In reality, however, the window is merely disguised as a captcha in order to trick human visitors into allowing the website to install "a helper tool", which may be malware, on their computer. The top of the window uses a similar shade of blue to the current version of {{w|reCAPTCHA}} (currently the most common brand of captcha), the prompt includes the phrase "to prove you're human", and the grid is similar to the grid used by reCAPTCHA. However, positioned to appear to humans as two reCAPTCHA boxes is a window asking viewers whether they want to allow or deny the website's request to install the supposed "helper tool". The idea is that because "allow" is a verb beginning with the letter A, human visitors would click on what they think is the box with the word allow in it but actually allow the website to install potential malware on their computer. The window attempts to disguise this by formatting many of the words in boxes as buttons and including other text in smaller font on other boxes. In addition, the captcha may be intentionally difficult so that users will be too distracted by wondering whether ale is a verb to process the meaning of the request.

It should be noted that simply tricking humans would not necessarily be enough to install malware on their computer. First of all, while a person can select any part of a grid box in order to select that box, only clicking on the actual button that says allow will allow malware unto the computer. If a person clicks on another part of the supposed box, nothing will happen, so the person will likely take a closer look in order to see why the window is not being selected and then possibly realize that this is a trick as a result. In addition, the user's computer may have an anti-virus software that will prevent the computer from executing malicious code downloaded by the website. Or in order for the user to install software, a second window may pop up requiring the user to type in an administrator password, which will likely startle the user.

Shady websites often use similar tactics to trick you into allowing notifications, including saying "[https://www.bleepstatic.com/swr-guides/c/click-allow-to-verify-that-your-are-not-a-robot/notification-subscription-page.jpg Please allow notifications to confirm you are not a robot]". This comic combines that with a traditional reCAPTCHA to try and trick savvier users too.

The title text is a another trick reCAPTCHA which is trying to make you give out your {{w|social security number}} by clicking the pairs of numbers that appear in your Social Security number. A social security number is a form of identification used in the United States, originally used for the Social Security Administration. Over time, this number has become a type of national identification number, so stealing these numbers would allow a scammer to commit identity fraud. Of course, it would use a different grid, as the grid pictured in the comic has words, not pairs of digits. If you can find all of the pairs then they would be able to guess your real number and thus this would be a weird kind of phishing attempt. If the grid is 4×4 (and some reCAPTCHA grids are only 3×3), then it can only show 16 of the possible 100 pairs of two digits, so any people who are successfully tricked likely would not reveal their entire Social Security numbers because some digit pairs in their Social Security numbers would not appear. However, it should be noted that this trick likely will not be as successful as the captcha-based trick because the phrase "Social Security number" will likely raise alarm bells concerning identity theft, and people who are not citizens or permanent or temporary residents of the United States will not have Social Security numbers, so they will not be able to be tricked into revealing personal information this way even if they are especially gullible.

It should also be noted that the phrase "to prove you're human", while also attempting to disguise the trick, has a somewhat different implication. In the first example, the idea of the supposed captcha is that it asks the user to complete a task that human brains but not computer programs can perform accurately easily, such as image recognition. In the example in the title text, the idea of the fake captcha appears to be that humans are issued Social Security numbers (at least if they live or have lived in the United States), but computers are not. As the website does not already know the users' Social Security numbers, it would not actually be able to tell whether the user's response was correct. There is nothing to prevent programming an automated spambot program to randomly select zero to four of the boxes. Likewise, users could lie and not reveal their actual Social Security numbers, although those who realize that the supposed captcha is an attempt at identity theft will likely not complete it at all and could report it to law enforcement instead.

==What Boxes To Click?==
{| class="wikitable"
!|Position
!|Contents
!|Analysis
!|Click?
|-
|Row 1
Column 1
|Alike
|Adjective/Adverb: Related to the verb "Like", as in "similar"
Thus is technically "(a verb)" ''prepended'' by an "A", if the instructions are understood as such
|No?
Yes?
|-
|Row 1
Column 2
|Elope
|Verb: To romantically abscond
But does not start with "A"
|No
|-
|Row 1
Column 3
|Aloe
|Noun: A specific type of plant, or its extracts
Vaguely similar to "Allow", but not normally a homophone

To "low" is to make a sound like cattle, so another A-Verb misdirection for the unwary?
|No
|-
|Row 1
Column 4
|Ale
(and squiggles)
|Noun: A type of beer
Confusable with the verb "ail": To suffer

"(To) ply with drink" is conceivably a verb form
|No/Maybe
|-
|Row 2
Column 1
|Avow
(and squiggles)
|Verb: To declare
Also, similarly, "to vow" is a direct verb form of the related noun, thus "a"+"vow" could count (c.f. "alike")
|Yes
|-
|Row 2
Column 2
|Danny
(and squiggles)
|A person's name: Familar version of Daniel/Danielle
(Also slang/dialect noun: The hand)

A strained off-homophone of "Deny", as used elsewhere

Does not even start with an "A", anyway!
|No
|-
|Row 2
Column 3
|Allele
|Noun: Genetic variation/subunit
|No
|-
|Row 2
Column 4
|Allot
(and squiggles)
|Verb: To assign or distribute
Can be misspelt "alot", causing confusion as to the legitimate word

Either of the above may be misused instead of "a lot", in its noun form meaning "many"

"Lot" may also count as verb (archaically), so this might also compound to qualify "a"+"lot"
|Yes
|-
|Row 3
Column 1
|Askew
|Adjective/Adverb: Tilted, twisted, off-balance, strange
"Skew" ''is'' a verb (also adjective/adverb/noun)
|No
(except if as "alike")
|-
|Row 3
Column 2
|Deny
(x2)
|Verb: To refuse, disallow, etc
Does not start with "A"
|No
|-
|Row 3
Column 3
|Deny
|As above
|No
|-
|Row 3
Columns 3+4
|(squiggled "www.a????.com") wants to install a helper tool
|Might depend upon a legible version of the URL
|The true CAPTCHA answer would apply to cell Row 3, Column 3
|-
|Row 3
Column 4
|Allow
|Verb: To permit, licence, be contingent of
|In CAPTCHA context only
As a malicious installer, you should avoid clicking this whole grid
|-
|Row 4
Column 1
|Allow (smaller size)
Alto

(squiggled "to a????? ~squiggles~")
|It might be easy to miss the "Allow", which is valid
"Alto", however, is a noun: Instrumental/choral pitch or range

Possibly "Alto" is further taken as a "to"-word (misapplying the 'verb rule') that starts with an "A"

The squiggles ''may'' include a 'valid' A-Verb
|Yes, for "Allow", in CAPTCHA context
But if a Click-trap, you'd be best to close/Back-button the whole page
|-
|Row 4
Column 2
|Allow (and squiggles)
|As elsewhere
|Yes
(or further trap)
|-
|Row 4
Column 3
|Deal
|Verb, noun and adjectival: Various related or obscure meanings
But does not start with "A", in any case
|No
|-
|Row 4
Column 4
|Delay
|Verb (and related noun): Of an enforced wait
Does not start with "A", although the synonym "allay" does

("Delay" also shares common meanings with, ''and'' mixes the phonemes of, both "Allay" and "Deny")
|No
|-
|Any cell
|Unremarked squiggles
|It is entirely possible that those squiggles, if decipherable, could include qualifying text
|Maybe..?
|}

==Transcript==
[Header at the top of the image with white text inside a light blue rectangle]: To prove you're human, please click every box containing a verb that starts with "A"

[Below the header, a series of panels in a 4x4 grid. Each panel has a word in capitals. Most of the words appear to be in buttons, and several have illegible text above or below. Some are tilted or off-center]

Alike

Elope

Aloe

Ale

Avow

Danny

Allele

Allot

Askew

[Two buttons, both saying]: Deny

[The next two panels are joined together, with two buttons next to each other. One says "Deny" and the other "Allow". The text above reads]: [illegible].com wants to install a helper tool

[With the word "Allow" printed clearly above and illegible text below]: Alto

Allow

Deal

Delay

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:CAPTCHA]]
[[Category:Comics with color]]

2407: Depth and Breadth

2021-01-06T17:49:38Z

141.101.98.240: /* Explanation */ A more apt word?

{{comic
| number = 2407
| date = January 4, 2021
| title = Depth and Breadth
| image = depth_and_breadth2.png
| titletext = A death-first search is when you lose your keys and travel to the depths of hell to find them, and then if they're not there you start checking your coat pockets.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by a LOAF OF DEATH. Please mention here why this explanation isn't complete. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

{{w|Tree (data structure)|Tree structure}}s are one of the most common data structures used in computer science. The common ways of enumerating items arranged in a tree is either {{w|Depth-first search|depth-first}}, or {{w|Breadth-first search|breadth-first}}, which are depicted accurately in the comic. Randall humorously combines the words, to produce "brepth-first", "deadth-first", "bread-first", and "death-first" search algorithms.

Depth-first search explores down a full branch of the tree before working back to a higher level. This type of tree structure was already discussed as inefficient for human needs in [[761: DFS]]. The "opposite" of this is breadth-first search, which explores each level of the tree at a time.

In the "brepth-first" algorithm, a depth-first and a breadth-first search are hybridized where the left-most node is visited more frequently than the right node, but the right node is still visited. This might be good for exploring data that is loosely but not strictly weighted to the left, or where data in deeper nodes needs some time to be loaded before it can be used. As implied by [[761: DFS]], this might be the best algorithm for a human to employ, where one can explore several topics briefly before deciding which one to explore more deeply, rather than blindly following the first rabbit hole to an absurd conclusion. Informed search algorithms like {{w|A* search algorithm|A* search}}, {{w|Beam search}}, and other {{w|Best-first search}} algorithms show this type of behavior by expanding the most ''promising'' node in the current set (under some appropriate metrics).

The nature of the "deadth-first" algorithm is unclear and inefficient, since it searches the same nodes multiple times before moving to an entirely different region of the tree. It might be useful in a context where examining nodes has some probability of returning a noisy or incorrect result, such as searching for small objects that may be overlooked.

The bread-first search is taken literally. Bread is searched for first. Since the computer user now has already met their want to find bread, the computer has no reason to explore the tree at all.{{Citation needed}}

The title text introduces a "death-first" search, in which the user explores what it is like to be dead, before considering anything else. Specifically, the title text refers to hell, which calls to mind the adventures of Dante Alighieri in {{w|Inferno (Dante)| his ''Inferno''}}, and is a less likely place for keys to be left than one's coat pockets {{Citation needed}}. In 2021 (the year this comic was published) there are commemorations for the 700th anniversary of Dante's Death. These are expected to take place among the living only, and not in Hell.{{Citation needed}} A much more pleasant death-first algorithm might be to skip hell and purgatory and search heaven first, perhaps multiple times (which in itself would be a use of the deadth-first approach).

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

:[Five panels, each containing identical copies of a rooted tree graph, grayed out in the background. The tree has a height of 3 and 15 nodes.]
:[In all five panels, a black twisty arrow in the foreground indicates the order in which nodes are traversed. The arrow does not complete the entire traversal but cuts off at some point. Backtracking is indicated with a dotted line.]
:[In the descriptions below, node 1 is the root, nodes 2 and 3 are its child nodes, nodes 4 and 5 are 2's child nodes, nodes 6 and 7 are 3's child nodes, nodes 8 and 9 are 4's child nodes, and so on up to node 15.]
:[Backtracking is omitted from the descriptions below, as they increased confusion when read.]

:Depth-first search
:[The arrow visits nodes 1, 2, 4, 8, 9, 5, 10, 11.]

:Breadth-first search
:[The arrow visits nodes 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 7[''sic''], 6, 8.]

:Brepth-first search
:[The arrow visits nodes 1, 2, 4, 5, 8, 9, 3, 6, 10, 11.]

:Deadth-first search
:[The arrow visits nodes 1, 2, 4, 4, 2, 4, 3, 6, 12, 13, 12.]

:Bread-first search
:[The arrow starts at node 1, then leaves the tree off to the right to point to a loaf labeled "Bread".]

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Programming]]
[[Category:Food]]

1759: British Map

2016-11-15T05:34:33Z

141.101.98.240: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 1759
| date = November 14, 2016
| title = British Map
| image = british_map.png
| titletext = West Norsussex is east of East Norwessex, but they're both far north of Middlesex and West Norwex.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Started the table, editing it now.}}

This comic is a joke similar to [https://www.google.com/webhp?sourceid=chrome-instant&ion=1&espv=2&ie=UTF-8&safe=active&ssui=on#q=how%20americans%20see%20the%20world&safe=active&ssui=on "How Americans see the world"] showing how the average American has opinions on the world, often including jokes such as a lack of {{w|Africa}}, etc. This has been used before in [[850: World According to Americans]].

Many areas of the UK are most familiar to foreigners thanks to their depiction in various fantasy novels and TV series. This map labels some of these, as well as including many silly names that simply sound like real British towns to an American ear. A protractor is shown off the coast of the {{w|Mull of Kintyre}} in reference to the "{{w|Mull of Kintyre test}}" - the angle of the Mull defines the maximum allowed erectness for a man on British television.

The title text plays around with the concept of the compass directions and how numerous regions (such as South "Sussex" and West "Wessex") incorporate such literal names in their description. Randell is creating similar sounding names which are nonsense-ish ("Norsussex" would be the region of the Northern-Southern Saxons), and placing them in relation to each other in ways which would be geographically implausible. Part of the joke in the title text could be the fact that while three of the locations are fictional Middlesex does actually exist.

{| border =1 width=100% cellpadding=5 class="wikitable"
!Label on the map !! Explanation !! Actual location !! Notes
|-
| Helcaraxë
|| The "[http://lotr.wikia.com/wiki/Helcarax%C3%AB Grinding Ice]", an area of {{w|Middle-Earth}}. Like Helcaraxë, northern Scotland is cold, mountainous and in many areas inhospitable.
|| The {{w|Grampian}} region
||
|-
| Blick
||
||
|| This is the name of a goblin in the movie "Legend" starring Tim Curry.
|-
| Everdeen
|| {{w|Katniss Everdeen}} is the heroine of ''{{w|The Hunger Games}}'' series of novels and films
|| {{w|Aberdeen}}
|| In colloquial Scots, its pronunciation is very similar to "Everdeen."
|-
| Highlands
|| {{w|Scottish Highlands|No joke}}
|| {{w|Scottish Lowlands}}
|| Maybe deliberate trolling - Scots have strong feelings about where the Highland-Lowland border is
|-
| Norther Sea
|| Pun on the {{w|North Sea}}
|| {{w|Sea of the Hebrides}}
||
||
|-
| Loch Lomond
|| {{w|Loch Lomond|No joke}}
|| Loch Lomond
|| Loch Lomond is the third largest lake in the UK, and the subject of a well-known {{w|The_Bonnie_Banks_o%27_Loch_Lomond|traditional song}}. Referenced in the "beaming" (teleporter) bit in the movie Spaceballs by the Scotty expy 'Snotty'.
|-
| Fjordham
|| {{w|Fjords}} are glacial valleys. "-ham" is a common English placename suffix from Old English, related to the modern {{w|Hamlet (place)|hamlet}}. There are several villages in England named {{w|Fordham}}.
|| Near {{w|Oban}} on the {{w|Firth of Lorn}}
|| The Scottish word "Firth" is related to "Fjord", although Lorn is not a fjord in the strict scientific sense - it was formed along the {{w|Great Glen Fault}} by tectonics, rather than glaciers
|-
| Glassdoor
|| {{w|Glassdoor}} is a website where employees can review their employers
|| {{w|Stirling}}
|| Although it's shown near Stirling, the reference seems to be to {{w|Glasgow}}
|-
| Eavestrough
|| A dialectal word for {{w|rain gutter}}
|| {{w|Edinburgh}}
||
|-
| Seasedge
|| Procan's realm in ''Dungeons & Dragons''
|| Somewhere near the Scotland-England border
||
|-
| Chough
|| A {{w|Chough|species of bird in the crow family}}
|| The {{w|Scottish Borders}}
||
|-
| Meowth
|| {{w|Meowth}} is a cat-like Pokémon
|| {{w|Ayr}}
||
|-
| Glutenfree
|| {{w|Gluten-free}} food lacks the protein {{w|gluten}}. This allows {{w|coeliac disease}} sufferers to enjoy it, but has also become a dietary fad in itself.
|| {{w|Cairnryan}}, {{w|Dumfries and Galloway}}
||
|-
| Blighton
|| A mashup of {{w|Brighton}} and {{w|Blighty}}
|| The {{w|Scottish Borders}}
|| The real Brighton is much further south, on the south coast.
|-
| Eyemouth
|| {{w|Eyemouth|Not a joke}}
|| near {{w|Newcastle-upon-Tyne}}
|| The real Eyemouth is further north, where "Seasedge" is marked on the map.
|-
| Earhand
|| A pun on Eyemouth
|| {{w|Carlisle}}
||
|-
| Hairskull
|| A pun on Eyemouth
|| {{w|Teesside}}
||
|-
| Belfast DeVoe
|| {{w|Belfast}}, capital of Northern Ireland, mashed up with the rock band {{w|Bell Biv DeVoe}}
|| {{w|Belfast}}
||
|-
| Lakebottom
|| The {{w|Lake District}}. "-bottom" is a common placename across Northern England, and refers to a town in a valley.
|| {{w|Lake District}}
|| Below Lakebottom is a sketch of lake with yachts on it. This is {{w|Windermere}}, the largest lake in England, where many boating speed records were set.
|-
| Braintree
|| {{w|Braintree, Essex|Not a joke}}
|| {{w|North Yorkshire}}
|| The real Braintree is much further south, near where "Paulblart" is on the map. Also a possible reference to the Braintree stop at the end of the Red Line in Boston?
|-
| Skinflower
|| A pun on Braintree
|| {{w|Yorkshire Dales}}
||
|-
| Bjork
|| {{w|Björk}} is an Icelandic singer
|| {{w|East Riding of Yorkshire}}
|| The reference is presumably to York, although it's a bit too far east.
|-
| Weedle
|| {{w|Weedle}} is a Pokémon, and also a word meaning "to obtain by trickery or persuasion"
|| {{w|Forest of Bowland}}
||
|-
| Eeugh
|| An expression of disgust
|| {{w|Kingston-upon-Hull}} (generally just "Hull")
||
|-
| Crewneck
|| A shirt with a {{w|Crewneck|simple round collar}}.
|| {{w|Blackpool}}
|| There is a town called {{w|Crewe}} somewhat further south than shown in Cheshire.
|-
| Paisley
|| {{w|Paisley, Renfrewshire|No joke}}. It sounds funny to Americans because it's associated with {{w|Paisley (design)|paisley}} fabric, a Persian-style print invented in the town. Possibly a pun on {{w|Parsley|parsley}}, a herb.
|| {{w|Burnley}}
|| The real Paisley is in Scotland, near Glasgow.
|-
| Basil
|| Also {{w|Basil|a herb}}, and {{w|Basil Fawlty|one of the most famous British TV characters}}.
|| {{w|Scunthorpe}}
||
|-
| Aidenn
|| An apparent pun on the {{w|Scouse}} accent: {{w|h-dropping}} and {{w|th-fronting}} mean the common "hey, then" would be pronounced "ai denn".
|| {{w|Merseyside}}
||
|-
| Hillfolk
|| {{w|Hillfolk}} is an RPG game. "-hill" (referring to, well, a hill) and "-folk" (referring to a tribe or culture) are common in British placenames
|| {{w|Manchester}}
|| Manchester's name does in fact reference hills: it means "castle on the {{w|breast-shaped hill}}"
|-
| Waterdown
|| To "water something down" is to weaken it. "-down" is common in British placenames and refers to {{w|Downland|chalk hills}}. Possibly a contraction from the book and movie: Watership Down.
|| Near {{w|Grimsby}}
||
|-
| Dubstep
|| {{w|Dubstep}} is a genre of electronic music with a heavy bass line.
|| {{w|Dublin}}
|| Dublin is the only non-UK settlement in the map, and one of two on the island of Ireland.
|-
| Borough-upon-Mappe
|| By being recorded here, this is literally a borough upon a map. The "-upon-" is a common element of placenames for towns on rivers, although there's no River Mappe.
|| {{w|Lincolnshire Wolds}}
||
|-
| Fhqwhgads
|| "[http://www.hrwiki.org/wiki/Fhqwhgads Fhqwhgads]" is a joke from the Homestar Runner internet cartoon.
|| {{w|Crewe}}
|| This is near to the Welsh border; Welsh names often look like a mish-mash of consonants to English speakers.
|-
| Cadbury
|| {{w|Cadbury}} is a British chocolate company
|| Near {{w|Boston, Lincolnshire}}
|| Cadbury actually built a town for its workers... but it's called {{w|Bournville}}. There are several towns called "Cadbury" in the UK (where the Cadbury family presumably got its name), but none are near here.
|-
| Cabinetry
|| The art of making {{w|cabinets}}.
|| Near {{w|Oswestry}}
||Several towns in the English Midlands have names ending in -try, including Oswestry. "Cabinetry" could be a pun on {{w|Coventry}}, which lies further to the east.
|-
| The Shire
|| {{w|Shire (Middle-earth)|The Shire}} is home to the {{w|Hobbits}} in {{w|Middle-Earth}}
|| {{w|Midlands}}
|| Tolkien drew inspiration for the Shire from the {{w|West Midlands (region)|West Midlands}}, although Tolkien was from the southern part of the Midlands (roughly where Dampshire is on the map)
|-
| Landmouth
|| Literal description
|| {{w|The Wash}}
||
|-
| Brandon
|| {{w|Brandon#United Kingdom|Not a joke}}
|| {{w|The Fens}}
|| There are several Brandons in the UK, none on the banks of the Wash. The area shown is borderline-uninhabitable, as it is marshland and lies mostly below sea-level. Only a few farms and isolated hamlets exist here.
|-
| Hamwich
|| A ham sandwich. Both "-ham" and "-wich" are common generic placenames. The village called simply "Ham" and the other called "Sandwich" are fairly close to each other, with a famous roadsign that points to "Ham Sandwich" between them.
|| {{w|Norwich}}
||
|-
| West Norsussex
|| Mash-up of {{w|Sussex}} ("South Saxons") with the obsolete {{w|Wessex}} ("West Saxons") and never extant {{w|Norsex}} ("North Saxons")
|| {{w|Midlands}}
||
|-
| Redsox
|| The {{w|Boston Red Sox}} are a baseball team
|| {{w|The Fens}}
|| The Boston Red Sox play at Fenway Park. The map location is not far from the British {{w|Boston, Lincolnshire|Boston}}
|-
| Keebler
|| The {{w|Keebler Elves}} advertise cookies in the US
|| {{w|Thetford Forest}}
||
|-
| Bloughshire
|| Most British counties have "-shire" in their name. Originally it meant they were administered by a {{w|sheriff}}. However, it is rare in Wales.
|| {{w|Powys}}
||
|-
| Lionsgate
|| {{w|Lionsgate|A film studio}}
|| {{w|Leicester}}
||
|-
| Kingsbottom
|| Another "-bottom". A possible reference to {{w|King's Landing}}, the capital of the Seven Kingdoms of {{w|Westeros}} and one of its districts Fleabottom.
|| {{w|Suffolk Coast National Nature Reserve|Suffolk Coast}}
|| Possibly named for the town of {{w|King's Lynn}}, also located in East Anglia but close to its north coast.
|-
| Aberforth
|| {{w|Aberforth Dumbledore}} is {{w|Albus Dumbledore}}'s brother in the ''Harry Potter'' series. "Aber-" and "-forth" both indicate a "river mouth". "Aber-" is widespread in Wales.
|| {{w|Aberystwyth}}
||
|-
| South Norwessex
|| Another mash-up of {{w|Sussex}} ("South Saxons") with the obsolete {{w|Wessex}} ("West Saxons") and never extant {{w|Norsex}} ("North Saxons")
|| {{w|Birmingham}}
||
|-
| Dryford
|| Would refer to a river crossing without water. "{{w|Ford (crossing)|-ford}}" is a common placename element.
|| {{w|Shropshire Hills}}
||
|-
| Frampton
|| There are many {{w|Frampton}}s in the UK. It means "town on the river Frome" - and there are also several {{w|River Frome}}s. The name is famous thanks to rock musician {{w|Peter Frampton}}
|| {{w|Bury St Edmunds}}
||see also "Southframpton"
|-
| Cambridge
|| {{w|Cambridge|No joke}}
|| {{w|Cambridge}}
|| Cambridge and Oxford, the two most prestigious university towns, are correctly marked. Together, they form {{w|Oxbridge}}
|-
| Kingsfriend
|| Possibly a joke about the royal patronage given to certain towns - for instance, {{w|Bognor Regis}} and {{w|Royal Wootton Bassett}}. Also {{w|Knighton, Powys|Knighton}} (a King's friend?) is very close to this locale.
|| Near the England-Wales border
||
|-
| Cair Paravel
|| {{w|Cair Paravel}} is the castle where the ruler of {{w|Narnia}} lives in the ''Narnia'' series.
|| {{w|Dedham Vale}}
||
|-
| Camelot
|| {{w|Camelot}} was (in legend) {{w|King Arthur}}'s court.
|| Near the England-Wales border
|| The King Arthur myth did in fact originate in the Welsh culture. However, most sites associated with Camelot, such as {{w|Winchester}}, {{w|Glastonbury}} and {{w|Cadbury Castle}}, are in England.
|-
| Nothingham
|| A pun on Nottingham.
|| Near {{w|Northampton}}
||
|-
| Cumberbatch
|| A surname, best known as that of actor {{w|Benedict Cumberbatch}}.
|| {{w|Harlow}}
|| The surname of a famous actress is replaced with that of a famous actor
|-
| Dampshire
|| A pun on the county of {{w|Hampshire}}. Generically a joking reference to any county, particularly of the {{w|West Country}}, to imply it is particularly prone to rain.
|| Gloucestershire
||
|-
| The CW
|| {{w|The CW|An American TV channel}}.
|| {{w|Pembrokeshire}}
|| Presumably the placement is a reference to Welsh words such as "cwm" which use W as a vowel.
|-
| Whaling
|| The practice of hunting whales. May be a reference to other -ing towns like {{w|Reading, Berkshire|Reading}} (which is actually pronounced "redding", not "reeding"), and also to its location in Wales.
|| {{w|Merthyr Tydfil}}
||
|-
| Paulblart
|| ''{{w|Paul Blart: Mall Cop}}'' is a 2009 comedy film starring Kevin James
|| Near {{w|Chelmsford}}
||
|-
| Oxford
|| {{w|Oxford|No joke}}
|| {{w|Oxford}}
|| See Cambridge. Surprisingly, Randall made no attempt to troll readers by switching the locations of Cambridge and Oxford.
|-
| Moorhen
|| The {{w|moorhen}} is a waterfowl.
|| {{w|Gower Peninsula}}
|| Possibly punning on nearby {{w|Swansea}}.
|-
| Cardigan
|| {{w|Cardigan, Ceredigion|No joke}} - it seems funny to Americans because of the {{w|Cardigan (sweater)|knitted sweater}} invented there
|| {{w|Newport, Wales}}
|| The actual Cardigan is on the west coast. The name may be punning on the city of {{w|Cardiff}}, capital of Wales, which is further south-west.
|-
| BBC Channel 4
|| A composite of {{w|Channel 4}} and the {{w|BBC}} (UK TV operators) confusing the meaning of TV channel with a geographic channel.
|| {{w|Bristol Channel}}
||
|-
| London
|| {{w|London|No joke}}.
|| London
||
|-
| GMT
|| A reference to {{w|Greenwich Mean Time}}. Shown on the map near the London bourough of Greenwich through which the GMT meridian passes.
|| {{w|Greenwich}} (roughly)
||
|-
| Corbyn
|| A reference to leader of the UK {{w|Labour Party (UK)|Labour Party}} {{w|Jeremy Corbyn}}.
|| {{w|The Cotswolds}}
|| May be a confusion with the town of {{w|Corby}} although it is not near the location shown.
|-
| Tems-upon-Thames
|| A joke about the counter-intuitive pronunciation of {{w|Thames}}.
|| {{w|Rochester}}
||
|-
| Minas Tirith
|| {{w|Minas Tirith}} is the capital of Gondor in ''Lord of the Rings''.
|| {{w|Bristol}}
||
|-
| Hogsmeade
|| {{w|Hogsmeade}} is the nearest village to Hogwarts in the ''Harry Potter'' books.
|| {{w|Dover}}
|| The fictional Hogsmeade was in Scotland. Randall shows the {{w|Channel Tunnel}} running from there, a possible reference to Hogsmeade's secret connections to Hogwarts.
|-
| Tubemap
|| The {{w|Tube Map}} is the map of the {{w|London Underground}}, widely considered a masterpiece of design.
|| {{w|Outer London}}
||
|-
| Cambnewton
|| {{w|Cam Newton}} is quarterback for the {{w|Carolina Panthers}}. "Cam-" is common for placenames on any of the several British rivers called "{{w|Cam River|Cam}}", while "Newton" means "new town". Also possibly a pun on Camden Town, a touristic district in North London, although not its actual location on the map.
|| {{w|West Country}}
||
|-
| Efrafa
|| Efrafa is a rabbit warren in the story ''{{w|Watership Down}}''.
|| {{w|Chidden}}
|| According to the story, the warren should be located near the N of Corbyn on this map - the real {{w|Watership Down, Hampshire|Watership Down}} is in Hampshire.
|-
| Chansey
|| {{w|Chansey|Another Pokémon}}. "-sey" is a common suffix meaning "island".
|| {{w|Dungeness (headland|Dungeness}}
||
|-
| Oughghough
|| Playing on common place name elements, "oughghough" has no clear pronunciation under the rules of English. It could be "Uff-guff", "Oo-gow", "Uh-guh" or any combination of these sounds. The name looks similar to the real {{w|Loughborough}} ("Luff-bruh")
|| {{w|Barnstaple}}
||
|-
| Sundial
|| A {{w|sundial}} is a clock using a shadow to tell the time.
|| {{w|Wiltshire}}
|| The location roughly corresponds with {{w|Stonehenge}}, an ancient stone circle that was likely used to track the sun (though as a ritual calendar, rather than a clock)
|-
| Dobby
|| [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magical_creatures_in_Harry_Potter#Dobby Dobby] is a character in {{w|Harry Potter}}
|| {{w|Southampton}}
||
|-
| Lower Bottom
|| Another -bottom.
|| {{w|Devon}}
||
|-
| Southframpton
|| A confusion with {{w|Southampton}} which is nearby the location shown. The use of the postfix "frampton" may be a reference to the "Frampton" elsewhere on the map.
|| {{w|Milford on Sea}}
|| Frampton happens to be a common surname in the area.
|-
| Blandford
|| {{w|Blandford|No joke}}
|| {{w|Cornwall}}
|| The real Blandford is a bit further east, in Dorset, roughly under the m in 'Southframpton'.
|-
| Menthol
|| {{w|Menthol}} is a chemical with minty taste that produces a cooling sensation, and is used in mints and flavoured cigarettes.
|| {{w|Eastbourne}}
||
|-
| West Sea
|| Literal description.
|| {{w|Atlantic Ocean}}
|| Historically, this was the name for the ocean off the UK's west coast. According to the {{w|Shipping Forecast#Region names|list of sea areas}} used in the UK's {{w|Shipping Forecast}}, that region of sea is called "Lundy"
|-
| Tarp
|| Tarp, short for {{w|tarpaulin}}, is a waterproof sheet for storage and weather protection.
|| {{w|Teignmouth}}
||
|-
| Longbit
|| Literal description.
|| {{w|Cornwall}}
||
|}

{| border =1 width=100% cellpadding=5 class="wikitable sortable"
|-
! X !! Y !! Label
|-
| 258 || 32 || Helcaraxë
|-
| 244 || 55 || Blick
|-
| 294 || 80 || Everdeen
|-
| 34 || 89 || Norther Sea
|-
| 238 || 119 || Highlands
|-
| 144 || 151 || Lock Lomond
|-
| 83 || 172 || Fjordham
|-
| 440 || 184 || A British Map Labeled by an American
|-
| 164 || 192 || Glassdoor
|-
| 250 || 219 || Eavestroughs
|-
| 312 || 237 || Seasedge
|-
| 260 || 262 || Chough
|-
| 148 || 267 || Meowth
|-
| 76 || 298 || (A picture of an upsidedown protractor)
|-
| 256 || 303 || Blighton
|-
| 344 || 309 || Eyemouth
|-
| 124 || 320 || Glutenfree
|-
| 486 || 320 || North Sea
|-
| 254 || 329 || Earhand
|-
| 353 || 347 || Hairskull
|-
| 38 || 362 || Belfast DeVoe
|-
| 224 || 365 || Lakebottom
|-
| 411 || 389 || Braintree
|-
| 335 || 408 || Skinflower
|-
| 430 || 431 || Bjork
|-
| 279 || 432 || Weedle
|-
| 440 || 451 || Eeugh
|-
| 258 || 453 || Crewneck
|-
| 310 || 454 || Paisley
|-
| 414 || 473 || Basil
|-
| 259 || 479 || Aidenn
|-
| 461 || 496 || Waterdown
|-
| 288 || 499 || Hillfolk
|-
| 31 || 509 || Dubstep
|-
| 464 || 517 || Borough-Upon-Mappe
|-
| 269 || 535 || Fhqwhgads
|-
| 490 || 537 || Landmouth
|-
| 461 || 539 || Cadbury
|-
| 237 || 554 || Cabinetry
|-
| 360 || 355 || The Shire
|-
| 464 || 562 || Brandon
|-
| 567 || 567 || Hamwich
|-
| 356 || 577 || West Norsussex
|-
| 420 || 578 || Redsox
|-
| 502 || 590 || Keebler
|-
| 372 || 597 || Lionsgate
|-
| 229 || 597 || Bloughshire
|-
| 573 || 609 || Kingsbottom
|-
| 182 || 613 || Aberforth
|-
| 328 || 615 || South Norwessex
|-
| 244 || 617 || Dryford
|-
| 495 || 630 || Frampton
|-
| 477 || 634 || Cambridge
|-
| 251 || 635 || Kingsfriend
|-
| 539 || 652 || Cair Paravel
|-
| 235 || 655 || Camelot
|-
| 408 || 655 || Nothingham
|-
| 429 || 673 || Cumberbatch
|-
| 121 || 673 || The CW
|-
| 303 || 674 || Dampshire
|-
| 210 || 676 || Whaling
|-
| 511 || 690 || Paulblart
|-
| 397 || 693 || Oxford
|-
| 169 || 695 || Moohren
|-
| 255 || 706 || Cardigan
|-
| 462 || 710 || GMT
|-
| 445 || 711 || London
|-
| 308 || 716 || Corbyn
|-
| 507 || 729 || Tems-Upon-Thames
|-
| 161 || 737 || BBC Channel 4
|-
| 267 || 737 || Minas Tirith
|-
| 560 || 746 || Hogsmeade
|-
| 454 || 748 || Tubemap
|-
| 296 || 756 || Cambnewton
|-
| 398 || 765 || Efrafa
|-
| 186 || 767 || Oughghough
|-
| 536 || 767 || Chansey
|-
| 351 || 777 || Sundial
|-
| 370 || 782 || Dobby
|-
| 162 || 784 || Lower Bottom
|-
| 496 || 784 || Menthol
|-
| 362 || 796 || Southframpton
|-
| 56 || 800 || West Sea
|-
| 154 || 804 || Blandford
|-
| 216 || 824 || Tarp
|-
| 123 || 846 || Longbit
|}

==Transcript==
{{incomplete|There NEEDS to be a better way to do this.}}
Helcaraxë, Blick, Everdeen, Norther Sea, Highlands, Lock Lomond, Fjordham, A British Map Labeled by an American, Glassdoor, Eavestroughs, Seasedge, Chough, Meowth, (A picture of an upsidedown protractor), Blighton, Eyemouth, Glutenfree, North Sea, Earhand, Hairskull, Belfast DeVoe, Lakebottom, Braintree, Skinflower, Bjork, Weedle, Eeugh, Crewneck, Paisley, Basil, Aidenn, Waterdown, Hillfolk, Dubstep, Borough-Upon-Mappe, Fhqwhgads, Landmouth, Cadbury, Cabinetry, The Shire, Brandon, Hamwich, West Norsussex, Redsox, Keebler, Lionsgate, Bloughshire, Kingsbottom, Aberforth, South Norwessex, Dryford, Frampton, Cambridge, Kingsfriend, Cair Paravel, Camelot, Nothingham, Cumberbatch, The CW, Dampshire, Whaling, Paulblart, Oxford, Moohren, Cardigan, GMT, London, Corbyn, Tems-Upon-Thames, BBC Channel 4, Minas Tirith, Hogsmeade, Tubemap, Cambnewton, Efrafa, Oughghough, Chansey, Sundial, Dobby, Lower Bottom, Menthol, Southframpton, West Sea, Blandford, Tarp, Longbit

{{comic discussion}}

655: Climbing

2015-05-10T22:19:13Z

141.101.98.240: /* Transcript */ - the second panel is in profile, not silhouette (which would just show a shadow image).

{{comic
| number = 655
| date = October 28, 2009
| title = Climbing
| image = climbing.png
| titletext = Where did you even get this wall? Return it there and stand it back up right now.
}}

==Explanation==
This comic makes fun of a certain type of images very common on the internet. Those pictures are taken with a camera turned by 90° or rotated later by software, thus creating the illusion of people walking on walls or ceilings. While the original pictures depict the physical impossibility of a rotated {{w|gravitational force}}, Cueball uses the aforementioned technique to create pictures of himself on a {{w|climbing wall}}. Megan approaches him from above the wall, indicating that the climbing wall is in fact lying on the floor. It becomes clear that Cueball was not able to climb a real wall and therefore crawled on the floor with his camera adjusted accordingly.

Her comment is a sideswipe on the practise of self-display on {{w|Facebook}}, which is often done with the help of {{w|image manipulation}}.

The title text implies that Cueball has in fact stolen a real climbing wall.

==Transcript==
:[Cueball is apparently ascending a climbing wall.]

:[We see him again in profile, as well as the edge of another person standing at a ninety degree angle to him with her feet on the wall above him.]

:[Cueball stops and looks up at Megan, who is standing on the "vertical" wall, looking at him.]

:Megan: Your facebook rock climbing pictures just got a lot less impressive.

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

644: Surgery

2015-02-28T00:29:37Z

141.101.98.240: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 644
| date = October 2, 2009
| title = Surgery
| image = surgery.png
| titletext = Damn. Not only did he not install it, he sutured a 'Vista-Ready' sticker onto my arm.
}}

==Explanation==
{{w|Linux}} is an {{w|open source}} kernel for an operating system. Linux is notorious for its less-than-perfect support for hardware, although support for most hardware is eventually patched into the official kernel release. [[Cueball]] is here under the impression that support for a USB port can be patched into his brain in a similar fashion to how hardware support can be added to the Linux kernel.

The "{{w|Windows Vista|Vista}}-Ready" sticker in the title text is a humorous indication from the doctor that the patient is "advanced enough" to have Windows Vista installed. The irony is multilayered. There was a [http://www.seattlepi.com/business/article/Vista-Capable-lawsuit-against-Microsoft-now-a-1265319.php lawsuit against Microsoft] about promoting not-so-capable computers as "Windows Vista Capable"; they could neither run Vista fully nor smoothly. On top of that, the typical Linux user would not be very enthusiastic about Windows at all; someone who runs Linux has actively chosen an alternative operating system.

==Transcript==
:[A surgeon is standing over a patient on a gurney.]
:Patient: While you're doing the surgery, can you also implant this in my arm?

:Surgeon: A USB port?
:Patient: Just wire it up to some nerves.

:Surgeon: ...This won't let your brain control USB devices, you know.
:Patient: Sure – I just want the hardware.

:Patient: The rest is software; I'm sure there will be a project to patch together support eventually.
:Surgeon: Ah – you're a Linux user, I see.
:Patient: Yeah, how'd you know?
{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics with color]]
[[Category:Biology]]
[[Category:Computers]]
[[Category:Linux]]

Talk:1416: Pixels

2014-09-16T14:47:42Z

141.101.98.240:

Firefox users with HTTPS Everywhere may have trouble seeing the comic, and Chrome users may experience lag (for lack of a better word) when zooming in. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.99.168|141.101.99.168]] 06:11, 3 September 2014 (UTC)

The combination of "turtle" and "pixel" reminded me of how to code graphics in the older days with for instance turbo pascal (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turtle_graphics) - Stian

Would it be possible to have a "gallery" of all the zoom-in images? [[Special:Contributions/199.27.128.209|199.27.128.209]] 06:29, 3 September 2014 (UTC)

Since the Zoom-in images have at lest one story line in them (I read one about a book launch, the book was launched to space in a rocket), I think a gallery or some such is needed for them. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.250.218|108.162.250.218]] 06:50, 3 September 2014 (UTC)

I got to a white panel and there was nothing. Everything was white and zooming in or out didn't change it. Not sure if it was a bug or intended. -- [[User:Irino|Irino]] ([[User talk:Irino|talk]]) 07:15, 3 September 2014 (UTC)
* That happens to me when I click on the image in Chrome. Not sure why. [[User:Castriff|Jimmy C]] ([[User talk:Castriff|talk]]) 21:35, 3 September 2014 (UTC)

Yet another comic that doesn't work well on mobile. I'll probably compile a list of comics that are broken in some way for mobile... Er. Soon-ish. -RTR [[Special:Contributions/108.162.246.232|108.162.246.232]] 07:45, 3 September 2014 (UTC)

I have acquired a list of images with what they zoom into, and am working on turning that into something presentable. There's a lot of images though, so it may take a day. As for the white panel, yes, there does seem to be one broken link (out of nearly 500). I'm not sure how I would go about reporting it to get it fixed. [[User:Tahg|Tahg]] ([[User talk:Tahg|talk]]) 07:57, 3 September 2014 (UTC)

There are 79 different images. I have them isolated and am uploading them now. [[User:Omixorp|Omixorp]] ([[User talk:Omixorp|talk]]) 08:16, 3 September 2014 (UTC)
:Cool - the images are here - if you click on the broken links they can be seen. But why are they not visible? They take up a lot of space, so I have moved them to a separate gallery page as has been done with [[1350: Lorenz]]. [[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 11:44, 3 September 2014 (UTC)
::I think there's a problem with all thumbnails across this site - even old thumbnails don't seem to be working right now. [[User:Omixorp|Omixorp]] ([[User talk:Omixorp|talk]]) 10:31, 3 September 2014 (UTC)
:::They work on Lorenz that I have linked to in my comment above. [[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 11:44, 3 September 2014 (UTC)

Doesn't work at all (blank) on my Firefox and IE11. I just installed Opera and it works but it's VERY laggy. Also, I have to scroll UP to zoom in, not down. --[[Special:Contributions/141.101.97.206|141.101.97.206]] 08:25, 3 September 2014 (UTC)
:Neither on Firefox 31.0. Zooming until the first level of pictures, I see them appearing. But when they are larger than ~20 pixels they start to disappear. They only reappear intermittently when I pan or zoom. When I zoom in further, only images on the left side appear intermittently. This shows the grid is built from left to right, then top to bottom, and it just stops randomly. --[[User:Zom-B|Zom-B]] ([[User talk:Zom-B|talk]]) 20:32, 3 September 2014 (UTC)
:I'm having different problems with both Firefox 31.0 and 32.0 on Windows. When zooming in, all pixels (including white parts of the image) resolve to images with black background, so I never see the "white" ones (except for the initial "turtles" one). Anyone having the same problem? IE11 works for me. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.99.186|141.101.99.186]] 21:52, 3 September 2014 (UTC)
::I also have this issue, using Firefox 31.0 on Windows 7. It's also very slow/laggy doing the fade transitions between pixels and the images. {{unsigned ip|141.101.98.191}}

This date of this comic (Sept 3rd 2014) coincided with the date of Randall's book, What-If. This book is shown or referenced in a number of the frames.--[[User:Pudder|Pudder]] ([[User talk:Pudder|talk]]) 09:57, 3 September 2014 (UTC)
:But the site says the book was out September 2nd... [[Special:Contributions/108.162.237.161|108.162.237.161]] 11:21, 3 September 2014 (UTC)
::You're right, 108.162.237.161. I changed it and provided proof. As far as I could find, though, it's only launched in the US as of today. [[User:NealCruco|NealCruco]] ([[User talk:NealCruco|talk]]) 19:21, 3 September 2014 (UTC)

Also just isolated the images. I described the procedure on my blog: http://azttm.wordpress.com/2014/09/03/xkcd-com-1416-pixels/ [[User:Azt|Azt]] ([[User talk:Azt|Azt]]) 09:58, 3 September 2014 (UTC)

I zoom in when I scroll up. I also like turtles. [[Special:Contributions/103.22.201.120|103.22.201.120]] 09:15, 3 September 2014 (UTC)

I think this comic might be a reference to D. Hofstadter's celebrated book ''Gödel, Escher, Bach'', what with the 'holism', 'reductionism' and 'Mu' coming out at some point (there is the very same construction in one of the dialogs from that book). Plus, generally speaking, ''GEB'' is all about "strange loops" and infinite recursions. --[[Special:Contributions/108.162.254.30|108.162.254.30]] 09:50, 3 September 2014 (UTC)

I have uploaded a graph showing the layout of the entire storyline, with thumbnails of the individual images, at [[Media:1416_Pixels_layout.png]]. --[[User:Mnw21cam|Mnw21cam]] ([[User talk:Mnw21cam|talk]]) 12:20, 3 September 2014 (UTC)

Has any attempt been made to find "extra" panels that may occur as a part of a logical series? For example, there is "chess-b" and "chess-w", are there "chess-a", "chess-c", "chess-d", etc? [[User:Jarod997|Jarod997]] ([[User talk:Jarod997|talk]]) 13:56, 3 September 2014 (UTC)
:It never occurred to you that those letters stand for Black/White? --[[User:Zom-B|Zom-B]] ([[User talk:Zom-B|talk]]) 20:25, 3 September 2014 (UTC)
::Huh, wha? No, that's got to be way too simple. There MUST be more images! :P Actually I was hoping/wondering if there was a sequence of 20-ish chess panels which depicted a game, with a Randall type ending to it. *sigh* Way to burst my bubble. lol [[User:Jarod997|Jarod997]] ([[User talk:Jarod997|talk]]) 12:37, 4 September 2014 (UTC)

Any Kerbal Space Program players on here who can shed any light on the origins of 'Need Moar Struts'? Is it a well known meme amongst the player base as I have guessed?--[[User:Pudder|Pudder]] ([[User talk:Pudder|talk]]) 14:27, 3 September 2014 (UTC)

In an infinite series of turtles, at least 4 of them have to be youthful, genetically modified, and skilled in martial arts. Has anyone found them? [[User:DivePeak|DivePeak]] ([[User talk:DivePeak|talk]]) 21:30, 3 September 2014 (UTC)

I am on Chrome, and I cannot see any of the images in the Explain XKCD gallery even though the actual strip works fine. Anyone know what's wrong? [[User:Castriff|Jimmy C]] ([[User talk:Castriff|talk]]) 21:35, 3 September 2014 (UTC)

I don't know why the article says that the comic doesn't work in Safari on Mac OS X. It's working just fine here on Safari 7.0.6. I think if someone is going to make such claims, they should be careful to note which version of the software they're working with so others can compare appropriately. [[User:Yaztromo|Yaztromo]] ([[User talk:Yaztromo|talk]]) 23:33, 3 September 2014 (UTC)
:Works for me on Safari 8.0 on my Mac--[[Special:Contributions/108.162.216.192|108.162.216.192]] 19:35, 4 September 2014 (UTC)

How do you get all these 'interesting' panels? No matter how much I scroll and pan I only get the space objects (including the Earth with 'BOOK LAUNCH' inscription), atoms and the MU panel (but never got either HOLISM or REDUCTIONISM). Firefox 26. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.254.29|108.162.254.29]] 07:43, 5 September 2014 (UTC)
:That's the same bug as I described above (141.101.99.186). I couldn't get the comic to work properly with Firefox, so you'll probably have to try another browser... hope Randall will get these bugs fixed. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.99.239|141.101.99.239]] 17:55, 12 September 2014 (UTC)

;Adjacency list for the graph

I've created a quick hack to show what each image can contain [http://uber5001.github.io/turtles/ here]. Might be helpful in finishing off this page. [[User:Uber5001|Uber5001]] ([[User talk:Uber5001|talk]]) 22:48, 3 September 2014 (UTC)

;Mandelbrot?
Is the way the images are repeated being based on some math pattern, like the Mandelbrot set? [[User:Osias|Osias]] ([[User talk:Osias|talk]]) 02:38, 4 September 2014 (UTC)

; Quarks and strings?
Once when zooming I have found something that looked roughly like quark model of nucleon (below MU), then a loop - perhaps a string from the string theory --[[User:JakubNarebski|JakubNarebski]] ([[User talk:JakubNarebski|talk]]) 10:53, 4 September 2014 (UTC)

The image certainly looks like a loop or a string but Randall has a very low opinion of string theory.
09:57, 5 September 2014 (UTC)

;Interactive graph
Hello, I've uploaded an interactive version of the graph [http://velt.info/xkcdpixels here] [[User:Raphv|Raphv]] ([[User talk:Raphv|talk]]) 15:16, 4 September 2014 (UTC)

Hey has anyone seen the panel with black hat? He's standing next to a fire fighter and a burning vehicle saying, "to be fair, what else do you expect to come out of a "fire hydrant"?" I found it in one if the bird panels, next to a turtle panel. {{unsigned ip|103.22.201.207}}

----

;"scroll to zoom" is wrong and misleading

This may be nitpicking, but Randall's words "scroll to zoom" are misleading.
* When I visited http://xkcd.com/1416/ first on my smartphone, I scrolled the page and nothing zoomed.
* Next, when I visited http://xkcd.com/1416/ on my PC, I scrolled the page and nothing zoomed.
* Only when on the PC I use the mouse wheel, nothing scrolled but the image zoomed.

The text should really be "Use mouse wheel to zoom".

[http://xkcd.com/1373/ When someone posts a comic, I can't pay attention to the content if the words are misleading].

What do you think ?

--[[User:MGitsfullofsheep|MGitsfullofsheep]] ([[User talk:MGitsfullofsheep|talk]]) 11:08, 6 September 2014 (UTC)

----

;Has not worked since day 2

Whichever browser I try, the lower levels do not load and the first image just fades to white. They did load on launch day, but not anymore.[[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.240|141.101.98.240]] 14:47, 16 September 2014 (UTC)

1307: Buzzfeed Christmas

2013-12-23T09:58:00Z

141.101.98.240: Spelling

{{comic
| number = 1307
| date = December 22, 2013
| title = Buzzfeed Christmas
| image = buzzfeed christmas.png
| titletext = The 6 Weirdest Objects The Buzzfeed Writers Are Throwing Out Their Windows At Us
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|This is a new comic; needs the comic image}}

Christmas caroling is a tradition in which groups of singers travel from house to house, singing {{w|Christmas_carol|carols}}.

These carolers are in front of the [http://www.buzzfeed.com/ BuzzFeed] offices singing the {{w|The_Twelve_Days_of_Christmas_(song)|The Twelve Days of Christmas}}, which contains:

: On the twelfth day of Christmas, my true love gave to me.
: 12 Drummers Drumming
: 11 Pipers Piping
: 10 Lords-a-Leaping
: 9 Ladies Dancing
: 8 Maids-a-Milking
: 7 Swans-a-Swimming
: 6 Geese-a-Laying
: 5 Gold Rings
: 4 Calling Birds
: 3 French Hens
: 2 Turtle Doves
: And a Partridge in a Pear Tree.

The carolers changed the lyrics to match the headlines of the topics published by BuzzFeed, which usually contain a number and a superlative (for example, ''13 Worst Plane Crashes of the Decade'').

This method of writing headlines is used by several other news sites, because it is known to generate a lot of visits (and ad revenue). Randall has touched on this subject before in [[1283: Headlines]].

Carolers are usually rewarded with a gift, but the BuzzFeed writers probably didn't appreciate the song, because they threw weird stuff at them (which the carolers used in their 6th verse).

==Transcript==
[Carolers singing]
:12 Best drummers of ''all time''
:11 Pipers whose jaw-dropping good piping will make you cry
:You won't ''believe'' what these 10 lords leap over
Carolers outside the Buzzfeed offices perform "12 Weird things I ''actually got'' for Christmas"

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

Talk:1159: Countdown

2013-12-18T11:17:07Z

141.101.98.240:

If you assume (with nothing else known), that large numbers have a probability about reciprocal to themselves to ensure a sum/integral of 1, the digits not being zeroes is extremely unlikely.

Whether black hat guy thinks a supervolcanoe eruption is a favourable event or being spared from one is not made entirely clear. Sebastian --[[Special:Contributions/178.26.121.97|178.26.121.97]] 08:56, 11 January 2013 (UTC)
:I warmly recommend the article {{w|harmonic series (mathematics)}}. ;-) --[[Special:Contributions/131.152.41.173|131.152.41.173]] 13:30, 11 January 2013 (UTC)
::You are right, the harmonic series is divergent. However, the maximal number of digits - which can be possibly displayed - is finite. Which distribution would you suggest? Sebastian --[[Special:Contributions/178.26.121.97|178.26.121.97]] 19:35, 11 January 2013 (UTC)

:Sebastian, do you know the specific name of the statistical principle you're invoking? I agree, but [[User:St.nerol|St.nerol]] does not, and he has a quick tendency to remove things. One part of it is that you don't know the magnitude of a number, exponential distribution is a more appropriate model than linear. Another part is about the unlikelihood of the middle digits being zero. - [[User:Frankie|Frankie]] ([[User talk:Frankie|talk]]) 21:37, 11 January 2013 (UTC)
::{{w|Benford's law}} is about the probability of certain first digit(s). Sebastian --[[Special:Contributions/178.26.121.97|178.26.121.97]] 22:34, 11 January 2013 (UTC)
:::Hmm... "Benford's law also concerns the expected distribution for digits beyond the first, which approach a uniform distribution". I missed that the first time I read the article. Okay, that covers the essential parts of the argument. - [[User:Frankie|Frankie]] ([[User talk:Frankie|talk]]) 19:43, 12 January 2013 (UTC)
::::Come on now Frankie, I'm doing my best. I was just too quick to think that the claim was just another of these casual confusions about probability that non-math people have from time to time. (You know, I haven't rolled a 6 for some time, so now the chances must be pretty high...) I hadn't heard about this very counter-intuitive Benson-principle before, but found [http://plus.maths.org/content/looking-out-number-one this page] helpfylly explanatory.
::::So, I trust you on this. What I don't understand is, how do we know that Benfords law can be applied to this particular 14 digit number? The time left to an eruption? Also, how could a calculation of the actual probabiliy of the preciding digits being zero or anything else be made? – [[User:St.nerol|St.nerol]] ([[User talk:St.nerol|talk]]) 22:52, 12 January 2013 (UTC)
:::::What is more important for this comic than the Benford's law itself, is its underlying condition that many naturally existing numbers are lognormally distributed. And not uniformally distributed. Under that premise we can try do hypothesize about the odds of leading zeroes. Sebastian --[[Special:Contributions/178.26.121.97|178.26.121.97]] 00:28, 13 January 2013 (UTC)
:::::The initial timer is a physical quantity, therefore scale invariant, and created by a lognormal distribution (first random experiment). Now there are two possibilities: -- a) BHG specifically got a 14-digit display for the countdown (with the first digit according to Benford's law of course) and the initial timer 14 digits wide. b) The initial timer value possibly was much smaller and it could have been any number which fit on the display. -- Cueball comes in. The shown timer is uniformally distributed within the range below the initial timer (second random experiment). Because of the visible zeroes a) does not seem to be likely and b) would be true, specifically b) with the hidden digits being zero, as the shown zeroes are very unprobable with all large timer values, and the short timer actually is quite probable (lognormal distribution). Is this a valid way to argue for probabilities? Sebastian --[[Special:Contributions/178.26.121.97|178.26.121.97]] 00:55, 13 January 2013 (UTC)
::::::It seems legit, but I can't tell, really. But we have no concrete estimation yet (maybe that's too hard). Do you ''really'' think that this phenomenon is so strong so that (from the 1 in 30000) it makes the probability for four zeroes ''higher'' than for all the other 29999 possibilities together? –[[User:St.nerol|St.nerol]] ([[User talk:St.nerol|talk]]) 08:45, 13 January 2013 (UTC)
:::::::Another effect is that if the initial counter was small to begin with, it is quite unprobable (with only one supervolcanoe eruption) that Cueball comes in during the run of the counter. I will try to do a calculation example to compare the possibilities with reasonable assumptions. Sebastian --[[Special:Contributions/178.26.121.97|178.26.121.97]] 08:52, 13 January 2013 (UTC)
::::::::I restructured the last part somewhat. Hope that I didn't screw anything up, and if so, fix it! And it would be very nice if you could also add some more explanation of the math involved! –[[User:St.nerol|St.nerol]] ([[User talk:St.nerol|talk]]) 19:36, 13 January 2013 (UTC)
::This is a wholly inappropriate accusation to make here. If you have a problem, please put it through appropriate channels. No editor has a perfect score, we all slip up because we're all human. [[User:Lcarsos|lcarsos]]_a ([[User talk:Lcarsos|talk]]) 23:49, 12 January 2013 (UTC)
: Assuming that the middle digits are random, the expected value is 1.53 million years. But: If the display is off-the-shelf, it is probably larger than the largest number actually displayed. Maybe the counter started at 1e8, and the next smaller display had only 8 digits. Maybe we should have a look at the statistical distribution of digits in commercially available LED displays ... [[Special:Contributions/77.88.71.157|77.88.71.157]] 08:42, 14 January 2013 (UTC)

"I forget which one" may be a reference to the 7 known supervolcanoes, or it might be to a list published by the Guardian in 2005 of the top 10 existential threats to life on Earth, which went briefly viral. It included a supervolcano eruption, as well as viral pandemic, meteorite strike, greenhouse gases, superintelligent robots, nuclear war, cosmic rays, terrorism, black holes, and telomere erosion [http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2005/apr/14/research.science2]

I understand how the hidden numbers could mean that a volcano could either erupt very soon or a very long time. But I don't get why this is a joke. Is there something funnny that I am missing? {{unsigned|72.38.90.50}}

:It's a joke, because a supervolcano eruption would have a major impact on the earth, and Black Hat has a timer that will tell him when one will occur, but he is too lazy to see whether it will happen soon. {{unsigned|76.14.25.84}}

The title-text may be a reference to the line "May the odds be ever in your favor!" in ''The Hunger Games''. I wonder if this might also be a commentary on the foolishness of assuming that a rare event won't happen anytime soon. [[User:gijobarts|gijobarts]] ([[User Talk:gijobarts|talk]]) 19:54, 12 January 2013 (UTC)

The picture could be somewhat symbolic. It could be a sunset or sunrise, like the would could be about to end or not. [[Special:Contributions/67.194.183.127|67.194.183.127]] 06:19, 13 January 2013 (UTC)

Benford's Law has no bearing on what any of the covered digits are except the first, and even then it only weakly applies; it only applies to the FIRST digit of natural numbers, and since we can have leading 0's is really doesn't apply. Furthermore, even if it applied to all the digits, the probability distribution on the covered digits is not affected by the shown digits; that's not how probability works. If I flip a coin 10 times and it's heads all ten times, the probability that the 11th flip is still 50/50. -Mike Powers
:Benford's Law shows that with real-life (physical) numbers you cannot just use a 10% probability for each digit. These numbers are not uniformally, but lognormally distributed. That means, there is a smaller tendency to greater numbers than their possible number space would allow. Benford's Law with its relevancy to the first n digits is not directly applicable here, but its general validity contradicts some of the assumptions normally often made. As you see many zeroes in the middle part, the probability is quite high that also the first digits are zero. Here the length of the number has a normal distribution and a short number is about as probable as a long one. And long ones with zeroes in the middle are seldom so it is probably a short number. This would not be the case, if each digit is randomly selected from 0-9. Then the greater prUobability of longer numbers would cancel out this effect. Sebastian --[[Special:Contributions/178.26.121.97|178.26.121.97]] 10:07, 3 February 2013 (UTC)
:Regarding the independence of the digits: That is conditional probability. We have a probability distribution for the complete number. In nature this is a lognormal distribution (with suitable parameters regarding the scale; that is why the intention to buy a display with certain width is important). That means zero digits are quite common, as short numbers have much weight. With just creating the digits independently you do not get a lognormal distribution. With four zeroes shown only 1/10.000 of the longer numbers are possible any longer, making them much rarer. To begin with they would need a probability of at least 10.000 as high to counter this effect, but they do not have it (with a uniformal distribution they would have it). Sebastian --[[Special:Contributions/178.26.121.97|178.26.121.97]] 10:25, 3 February 2013 (UTC)
:If we have initially the same probability for numbers of digit length 1-14 (about 7%): After looking we (partly) know that digits 1 till 4 are non-zero and digits 5-8 are zero. Then numbers of digit length 1-3 have 0% probability, numbers with digit length 5-8 have 0% probability. Numbers with digit length 9-14 have a probability of 0.01% each and numbers with length 4 have a probability of 99.94%. The results differ with the logarithmic distribution of number length. E.g. with mu=11 digits and sigma=2 digits, the probability of 4 digits is 85%. With mu=12 digits and sigma=3 digits, the probability of 4 digits is 98.3%. With mu=7.5 digits and sigma=4 digits the probability of 4 digits is 99.95%. With mu=12 digits and sigma=2 digits, the probability of 4 digits is 47.64%. Sebastian --[[Special:Contributions/178.26.121.97|178.26.121.97]] 11:07, 3 February 2013 (UTC)
The 11:59 subtle joke is slightly reinforced as the countdown steps over 2400. Sebastian --[[Special:Contributions/178.26.121.97|178.26.121.97]] 11:11, 3 February 2013 (UTC)

Could "the odds are in our favour" be a reference to the hunger games?

Talk:892: Null Hypothesis

2013-12-18T08:26:18Z

141.101.98.240:

If you get a 50% discount at two shops and buy stuff from both of them, you have a 100% discount. Math. That's how it works, bitches. '''[[User:Davidy22|{{Color|purple|David}}y²²]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 10:05, 9 March 2013 (UTC)

That's a misleading thing about percentages. Like this:
Prices of coffee increase by 2% this year, then by 3% next year. That's a 1% increase between years, or a 50% increase between years (from 2 to 3). So which is it? 1 or 50?
[[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.240|141.101.98.240]] 08:26, 18 December 2013 (UTC)

Talk:1223: Dwarf Fortress

2013-11-15T22:48:24Z

141.101.98.240:

Turing-complete computers were built in Dwarf Fortress [http://www.geekosystem.com/dwarf-fortress-turing-machine-computer/] and Minecraft [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1X21HQphy6I] Sebastian --[[Special:Contributions/178.26.118.249|178.26.118.249]] 05:48, 10 June 2013 (UTC)

:"getting that computer to run Minecraft" means getting the Dwarf Fortress turing machine to run minecraft. Which would probably be impossible, because the computer Dwarf Fortress is running on will not be able to run the turing machine fast enough or with enough memory. -- [[User:Hkmaly|Hkmaly]] ([[User talk:Hkmaly|talk]]) 09:12, 10 June 2013 (UTC)
::Speed ''may'' be considered irrelevent (as exemplared by [[A Bunch of Rocks]]). Memory upper-limits applies to ''every'' real-world example (possibly including the Universe itself, thus anything that is not self-contained but capable of sharing data with the external Universe, in order to overcome this limitation). However, usually we can fudge this if this expected usage will get nowhere near the effective memory capacity.
:::The real problem in Dwarf Fortress is that there is a hard-coded maximum fortress size. It cannot be extended infinitely like the minesweeper example or Magic the Gathering, which is inherantly infinite assuming you keep supplying the legally generated creature tokens. [[Special:Contributions/96.238.211.171|96.238.211.171]] 04:40, 12 June 2013 (UTC)
::However, apart from the speed of running (and the fact that the quantifiable 'Fort-contained' memory theoretically available may not be sufficient to hold the state of any reasonably Minecraft-like playing environment), I'm wondering about the interface. Playing Minecraft-within-Fortress would require some interesting setting up. Having myself made a Tetris-within-Fortress (sort of, never got around to rotating tetronimos, although translation of the falling pieces and line-anihilationsof those that had settled all worked as planned), I suppose you could start with a matrix display made of remotely controlled bridges (from water-activated pressure-plates), a bit like I used to 'externally' represent the data held within the "block matrix" pump'n'pool 'processor' for my Tetris example.
::Something that somewhat evaded me (or, rather, forced me to slow the game progression down well below its normal pace) was a control mechanism. Clicking and setting levers to be pulled, or locking and unlocking doors to allow creature-activated pressure-plates to be run over, depends on knowing that all dwarves (or animals, or hostiles being sent scurrying in circles in a dungeon loop as each tempting exit is automatically closed off and the next one round the track temporarily opened) continue to respond to your requests. It did very much seem like the Bunch Of Rocks situation, indeed. ;) [[Special:Contributions/178.98.124.195|178.98.124.195]] 13:07, 10 June 2013 (UTC)
::I thought the point of the mouse-over text was that running Minecraft on a turing-complete computer in Dwarf Fortress would be utterly pointless, impractical, and a waste of time, and that's IF it's even theoretically possible. The point of this comparison in my mind is a comment on just how pointless and impractical the task of complete population surveillance is. I mean, surely there's an easier way to get what you want? [[User:Excrubulent|Excrubulent]] ([[User talk:Excrubulent|talk]]) 01:24, 12 June 2013 (UTC)

Shouldn't it be "''I'' do" and "Then you're effectively ''a'' Dwarf Fortress ''player'' watching your dwarves play Dwarf Fortress" because "Big Brother" is singular? [[User:DiEvAl|DiEvAl]] ([[User talk:DiEvAl|talk]]) 09:22, 10 June 2013 (UTC)
:Not necessarily, because "Big Brother" is the nickname for the nebulous amoral mass of people who make up the surveillance arm of the government. Yes, in Orwell's book, this was actually represented by a singular man to the public (who, possible spoilers, may or may not still be alive). But the nickname could refer to a lot of people as a whole. See also the "corporate we", where people in a corporation refer to the company and ambiguous nonspecific people in the company as "we". Not related to the "royal we". --[[User:Tustin2121|Tustin2121]] ([[User talk:Tustin2121|talk]]) 14:04, 10 June 2013 (UTC)

Then you're effectively Dwarf Fortress players watching your dwarves make comics about Dwarf Fortress players watching their dwarves play Dwarf Fotrress. [[User:DiEvAl|DiEvAl]] ([[User talk:DiEvAl|talk]]) 09:26, 10 June 2013 (UTC)

Question: Who is the 'you' in "that makes you the kind of person who wastes ten more getting that computer to run Minecraft"? The reader of the comic? Big Brother? I'm very confused how it is that if "A" is the kind of person who implements a Turing-complete computer in Dwarf Fortress, that it follows that "B" is the kind of person who wastes ten years getting it to run Minecraft. [[Special:Contributions/69.21.142.178|69.21.142.178]] 15:23, 11 June 2013 (UTC)
:I think the 'you' is Big Brother. Like I said above, the task of surveilling a population is so daunting that it's like doing the DF-computer-MC thing. It's never going to be practical. [[User:Excrubulent|Excrubulent]] ([[User talk:Excrubulent|talk]]) 01:27, 12 June 2013 (UTC)

You missed spacechem off that list of Turing complete games.

Talk:214: The Problem with Wikipedia

2013-11-04T18:47:11Z

141.101.98.240:

I was unable to find the fatal hilarity link from the Batman page. I call shenanigans. [[User:Davidy22|Davidy22]][[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>(talk)</tt>]] 23:16, 1 November 2012 (UTC)

:Could that be a reference to the Joker? --[[User:Bpothier|B. P.]] ([[User talk:Bpothier|talk]]) 19:35, 3 November 2012 (UTC)

This always happens to me on Wikipedia! Glad to know I'm not alone :)

Talk:1174: App

2013-11-04T07:57:50Z

141.101.98.240:

Interestingly, Scott Hanselman just made a [http://www.hanselman.com/blog/IdLikeToUseTheWebMyWayThankYouVeryMuchQuora.aspx blog post about this very issue]. Note how the page in its entirety was downloaded using his mobile data plan, but it's still in no way viewable. --[[User:Buggz|Buggz]] ([[User talk:Buggz|talk]]) 08:27, 15 February 2013 (UTC)

:By "in no way viewable" you mean mobile browsers don't support editing page's DOM like Chrome does out of the box and Firefox do with FireBug extension? (Try pressing F12). Not to speaking about the javascript-in-location-bar tricks someone already started posting on the blog post you mentioned. -- [[User:Hkmaly|Hkmaly]] ([[User talk:Hkmaly|talk]]) 09:29, 15 February 2013 (UTC)
:: I was talking about how the website is done by design. Since the whole page is downloaded you can of course start "hacking" your way through to the content, but that's besides the point. --[[User:Buggz|Buggz]] ([[User talk:Buggz|talk]]) 11:00, 15 February 2013 (UTC)

::: It may be seen as hacking now. But removing ads from websites was also seen as hacking until ad blockers becamed fully automated and popular. If those overlays becomes anoying enough, someone will code extension to get rid of them. -- [[User:Hkmaly|Hkmaly]] ([[User talk:Hkmaly|talk]]) 09:35, 18 February 2013 (UTC)

::::Most mobile browsers don't support extensions, but you COULD disable JavaScript before viewing the page then re enabling it after.
[[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.240|141.101.98.240]] 07:57, 4 November 2013 (UTC)

prompting mobile views = prompting people viewing the website from a mobile browser ("mobile views" is web designer terminology, not mainstream speech) {{unsigned|195.130.121.48}}

:Right, let's reword that (which you can do yourself, by the way, but I'll admit that from the main page it's not obvious for a newcomer). - [[User:Cos|Cos]] ([[User talk:Cos|talk]]) 11:45, 15 February 2013 (UTC)
:
::Seems like [[User:Spongebog|Spongebog]] did actually. - [[User:Cos|Cos]] ([[User talk:Cos|talk]]) 11:49, 15 February 2013 (UTC)

Chainsaw Suit also made almost the same joke: http://chainsawsuit.com/2013/01/23/view-the-desktop-version-of-this-site/

It reminds me very much of the way tapatalk-enabled forums act. They keep prompting you to use the app, which - if you have the app - will not open the page you were on.

==What can we learn from this?==
I've learned that there are a billion things in the world that still need to be improved and sometimes if you seeking inspirations for new inventions they sometimes stare you right in the face (Thank you Mr. XKCD). Software engineers among us, lets help them improve their designs and avoid their mistakes ok? - e-inspired [[Special:Contributions/24.51.197.187|24.51.197.187]] 19:17, 27 February 2013 (UTC)

Talk:1156: Conditioning

2013-11-02T21:50:12Z

141.101.98.240:

... the main problem with this idea is that the probability of any particular driver to driver repeately around that place is not so high. Of course, if similarly conditioned animals would be on multiple places ... -- [[User:Hkmaly|Hkmaly]] ([[User talk:Hkmaly|talk]]) 08:48, 4 January 2013 (UTC)
:Depending on the animal (species), and assuming a stable or growing "local wildlife" population, the conditioned ones may 1) eventually fan out (including migration) and teach other individuals or 2) breed, teach their offspring, and the offspring will fan out. Eventually -- we can only hope -- the average density EVERYWHERE per square mile of individuals would be above a given threshold to be effective 24/7. Problem solved! --BigMal27 / [[Special:Contributions/192.136.15.177|192.136.15.177]] 12:19, 4 January 2013 (UTC)

Up the ante in rural areas by using not crumbs, but bacon, or deer musk ... nah, that would be evil.[[Special:Contributions/24.79.11.46|24.79.11.46]] 13:18, 4 January 2013 (UTC)

If anything this would just get drivers to close their windows and not solve the problem because loud bass still penetrates car windows. {{unsigned|12.235.98.130}}
:If I were a bass-loving driver, I still wouldn't want birds and squirrels (et cetera) coming at my car! Better to kill the "music" or avoid the area. But it appears to be a hollow victory due to the comment below. --BigMal27 / [[Special:Contributions/192.136.15.178|192.136.15.178]] 20:50, 4 January 2013 (UTC)

The general problem I see: once drivers get educated, animal conditioning has to be kept up, or animals will forget about basses, which would be the exact same nuisance it is trying to address. Otherwise, wildlive would forget to associate basses with food, and thus fail to educate drivers. Kind of a Volterra cycle. Edit: the paragraph before is not mine, someone forgot to sign.[[Special:Contributions/46.142.12.21|46.142.12.21]] 18:59, 4 January 2013 (UTC) madd

Forgive me if I'm mistaken, but wouldn't attracting lots of animals towards cars with thumping bass lead to a lot more road kill? Which wouldn't really be a desired side-effect of the machine... [[Special:Contributions/46.142.12.21|46.142.12.21]] 18:59, 6 January 2013 (UTC)

Of course the conditioning has to be kept up! That's why you run the machine while you are AT WORK! --Schmammel

The side effect of "Road Kill" would also contribute to the desired response... most dirvers who listen to excessive base (music) tend to also not want to hit or splatter an animal across their vehicle (don't see a lot of Pickup Trucks with gun racks thumping out the base) [[User:MIRanger|MIRanger]] ([[User talk:MIRanger|talk]]) MIRanger

Eh, doubt any drivers would make the connection with their music without, say, explanatory signage ("birds here attack loud cars!")... They'd probably just think the local wildlife went after cars in general. [[Special:Contributions/98.201.111.246|98.201.111.246]] 00:03, 3 February 2013 (UTC)mr

This: http://www.snopes.com/college/pranks/birdseed.asp

But the conditioning machine will become annoying to the neighbors.