explain xkcd - User contributions [en]

68: Five Thirty

2015-06-27T12:39:38Z

141.101.98.66: /* Comic Panels' Explanations (Numbered left to right, top to bottom) */

{{comic
| number = 68
| date = February 24, 2006
| title = Five Thirty
| image = five_thirty.jpg
| titletext = The 8th panel is my favorite
}}

==Explanation==
At 5:30 AM, one's sleep-deprived mind sometimes comes up with things that seem like nonsense later.

None of the twelve panels in this comic seem to have any correlation with one another, each one being its own "story," and none of them really make any sense. It is unknown whether Randall really wrote this comic while awake at 5:30 in the morning, or if he wrote it while completely alert and is trying to pass off his rejected ideas by saying what one's mind may experience when trying to process information at an hour when the person is not used to being awake.

== Comic Panels' Explanations (Numbered left to right, top to bottom) ==

1: "80s night" is a special theme many nightclubs hold, inviting their guests to wear fashions that were popular in the 1980s while playing dance music from the same period.

2: {{w|Jack the Ripper}} was an infamous serial killer in Victorian {{w|England}}. {{w|Jack Black}} is a rock star and actor. "There is no Tuesday" is likely a reference to ''{{w|The Matrix}}''.

3: There doesn't seem to be too much to this panel that isn't self-explanatory, but it's possible that there's a reference to the ''{{w|Civilization (video game)|Civilization}}'' series of video games, in which it's possible (albeit unlikely) for medieval soldiers to attack and destroy 20th-century military helicopters.

4: Stick figures standing upright are indeed drawn without any thought as to which section of their legs are the shins.

5: It's hard to tell what the two stick figures are actually doing, but the most common guess it that they're both wearing watches. In that case they likely forgot to adjust their clocks for a time change (shortly before this comic was released, {{w|Daylight Savings Time}} had just begun in the United States) and were off in their schedules as a result.

6: "Ointment" may be a reference to the infamous lotion scene in ''{{w|Silence of the Lambs}}'', as the panel appears to be invoking horror movie visuals.

7: The farthest left angle is labeled theta. The joke is that finding the cosine, the length of the adjacent leg divided by the length of the hypotenuse, would be difficult as the adjacent leg is poorly drawn and does not resemble a straight line to be measured.

8: Lots of jokes have been made out of the template "does liking X make you gay?", where the speaker is afraid that he may be a homosexual. Here, the speaker has apparently transformed into a {{w|mermaid}} at some point. His friend seems to be eager to both turn into a mermaid himself, and confirm himself for a homosexual.

Another explanation may be that the friend thinks that a man who was a mermaid for five minutes, should be homosexual afterwards, because he simply can't imagine something else about it. In this explanation the friend has no interest in others being gay or not, he just thinks that this may be a realistic progress.

9: Waving a gun around and declaring that things you hate are "for pussies" is stereotypical "{{w|macho}}" behavior. Possibly, the man with the gun is going to cut the other man's hair with bullets because it's more "macho" than going to the barber.

10: This doesn't seem to mean anything whatsoever. However, both of the characters say something irrational: "My hair is bleeding" is irrational because strands of hair can't bleed, and "√3" is an {{w|irrational number}}.

11: A bachelor party is traditionally raucous party that is thrown for a groom on the night before his wedding. Because these parties can be wild, (involving drinking and such) this may explain why the figure is upside down.

12: Likely a reference to the "{{w|ant on a rubber rope}}" thought experiment. Apparently in Randall's mind the experiment does not end well for the ant.

----

The title text could actually refer to two different panels. If a person chooses to read the comic left-to-right, top-to-bottom, the eighth panel could be the one with where Cueball asks "Does being a mermaid for five minutes make you gay?" However, if a person chooses to read the comic top-to-bottom, left-to-right, the eighth panel will instead be the one with Cueball hanging upside down shouting "Bachelor party!"

==Transcript==
:Comics from 5:30 AM
:[A succession of unrelated and completely random panels.]

:Cueball: It's 80's night at the club. Wanna go?

:Friend: There is no Tuesday.
:Cueball: Jack the Ripper or Jack Black?

:[Cueball in this panel is holding a glinting sword.]
:Friend: You crashed my helicopter!
:Cueball: Verily!

:[A small figure is talking with a larger figure.]
:Figure 1: Basically, neither of us have shins.
:Figure 2: Over and out.

:[Two men are shown: one with three arms, and another with just two. All arms have round appendages at their ends.]
:Men: shitshitshitshitshitshitdaylightsavingsshitshitshitshitsh

:[Two figures with pumpkins (carved with faces) for heads.]
:Figure 1: You're out of ointment and out of time!

:[A diagram of a right-angled triangle, with a theta at the smallest angle.]
:FUCK THE COSINE

:Friend: Does being a mermaid for five minutes make you gay?
:Cueball: I hope so!

:[The friend is holding a gun to Cueball's head.]
:Friend: Barbershops are for pussies.

:Friend: My hair is bleeding.
:Cueball: √3

:[Cueball seems to be walking on the ceiling.]
:Cueball: Bachelor party!

:[Warning sign with picture of an ant.]
:WARNING: STRETCHY DEATH

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

Talk:862: Let Go

2015-06-25T09:21:19Z

141.101.98.66:

Try an RSS feed. You only have to refresh one source, which cuts back on all the links that you visit daily massively. Google reader is what I prefer myself, but that's just me. '''[[User:Davidy22|{{Color|purple|David}}y²²]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 10:04, 9 March 2013 (UTC)
:RIP Google Reader. --[[User:Jeff|Jeff]] ([[User talk:Jeff|talk]]) 19:17, 31 March 2013 (UTC)

First of all, please pardon my english, I am not a native speaker. I'm afraid I don't entirely share your point of view about Oman and the Indian Ocean. First because what I see on the map is not the Indian Ocean. It's Cyprus, Northern Egypt and the Middle East (lands are white) and the Mediterranean Sea, the Red Sea and the Persian Gulf (seas are grey).
'''I agree that we can't see Oman on this map''', though. But (99% of) Oman is not situated on the Persian Gulf; it's on the Gulf of... Oman and on the Arabian Sea, both of which can be considered as parts of the Indian Ocean.
Nevertheless, thanks for your explanation. I love xkcd and I am sure I used to miss a lot of the fun, when I read it without knowing this wiki. Xavier [[Special:Contributions/82.226.129.79|82.226.129.79]] 12:40, 3 August 2013 (UTC)

:That's the joke, right? That they don't know where it is or can't find it. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.215.158|108.162.215.158]] 12:28, 30 December 2014 (UTC)
::So, where are the bees?
I get the impression that dormant African bee genes won out over the Italian strain when they were confronted with the poisonous residue from careless orchard owners. It would explain that some bees remained whilst whole colonies deserted.

Wherever they are: May the force be with you, little sweeties.

[[User:Weatherlawyer| I used Google News BEFORE it was clickbait]] ([[User talk:Weatherlawyer|talk]]) 14:20, 24 January 2015 (UTC)

I just checked, and Cards Against Humanity came out a few months after this comic, so "Bees" wouldn't be a reference - if anything, CAH would be referencing XKCD.[[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.66|141.101.98.66]] 09:21, 25 June 2015 (UTC)

Talk:1528: Vodka

2015-05-25T05:44:44Z

141.101.98.66: c

Moving three comments below (between --- and ---) from the page [[1528]] that was not named correctly to begin with --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 12:53, 22 May 2015 (UTC)

---

Weirdly enough, 80 proof vodka and the human body are both about 60% water. If you replaced the remaining 30-odd percent of volume in your body with pure alcohol, you could sustain yourself purely on vodka! Or become vodka. [[User:Consumer|Consumer]] ([[User talk:Consumer|talk]]) 09:37, 22 May 2015 (UTC)

That Polytail is a pretty hardcore lady - it looks like she's drinking directly from the bottle. --[[User:RenniePet|RenniePet]] ([[User talk:RenniePet|talk]]) 12:39, 22 May 2015 (UTC)

:I kinda think she's looking into the bottle, to see if it is really 'talking', rather than drinking from it. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.66|141.101.98.66]] 05:44, 25 May 2015 (UTC)

---

Fun fact: vodka is named by adding a feminine diminutive to the Russian word for "water." A somewhat more literal translation (for anime fans, at least) would be calling it "water-chan". —[[User:Robotech|Robotech]] ([[User talk:Robotech|talk]]) 14:46, 22 May 2015 (UTC)
: Somewhat like whiskey/whisky or akvavit or eau de vie, all of which mean "water of life."[[User:Taibhse|Taibhse]] ([[User talk:Taibhse|talk]]) 16:00, 22 May 2015 (UTC)
:: Does that mean the Bene Gesserit were all just drunk off their collective asses on Whiskey the whole time? -Pennpenn [[Special:Contributions/108.162.250.162|108.162.250.162]] 00:12, 25 May 2015 (UTC)

Talk:1521: Sword in the Stone

2015-05-06T08:30:45Z

141.101.98.66:

In Arthurian legend, whoever can remove the Sword in the Stone is the lawful king of England. Arthur is an orphan being raised in secret; he notices the sword, removes it, and is proclaimed king. The sword is sometimes identified as Excalibur, although in other versions Excalibur was acquired by King Arthur from the Lady of the Lake. The most familiar version of this story is ''The Sword in the Stone'' by T. H. White which is based on ''Le Mort d'Arthur'' by Sir Thomas Malory. Having a woman remove the sword would introduce difficulties. [[User:The Dining Logician|The Dining Logician]] ([[User talk:The Dining Logician|talk]]) 06:12, 6 May 2015 (UTC)

Seriously? Megan being transgender is preposterous. The comic mentions a throne, not a king. The proposition that the character needs to be a man is far fetched and a bit sexist. The legend usually mentions a ruler, not a kind per se. Even if it were a king, that is a baseless statement. Legends are up to interpretation. If a woman pulls out a sword it is possible that she be crowned Queen without having a king. Case in point, Queen Elizabeth, Queen Victoria -of England; they both have seen the glory days of Britain. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.221.152|108.162.221.152]] 07:27, 6 May 2015 (UTC)BK201

: And there was {{w|Jadwiga of Poland}}, female who was crowned '''king'''. --[[User:JakubNarebski|JakubNarebski]] ([[User talk:JakubNarebski|talk]]) 07:33, 6 May 2015 (UTC)

In a visual novel, [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saber_(Fate/stay_night) King Arthur is a girl]. --[[Special:Contributions/108.162.222.169|108.162.222.169]] 08:06, 6 May 2015 (UTC)

Should be lawful king of Britain. King Arthur was fighting against the English. --[[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.66|141.101.98.66]] 08:30, 6 May 2015 (UTC)

224: Lisp

2014-11-10T11:30:28Z

141.101.98.66: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 224
| date = February 16, 2007
| title = Lisp
| image = lisp.jpg
| titletext = We lost the documentation on quantum mechanics. You'll have to decode the regexes yourself.
}}

==Explanation==
{{w|Lisp (programming language)|Lisp}} is a computer programming language with highly regular syntax. The language's most notable feature is that programs take the same form as the language's primary data structure (the list). This blurs the line between code and data and permits programs to inspect and even alter their own source code, thereby opening up opportunities for metaprogramming. Lisp is also a {{w|Functional programming|functional programming language}} (more or less), meaning that programs are expressed in terms of lambda calculus, a mathematical framework for computation.

The phrase ''A suffusion of blue'' is a reference to {{w|Douglas Adams}}' book ''{{w|The Long Dark Tea-Time of the Soul}}''. In it, an ''{{w|I Ching}}'' calculator calculates everything above the value of 4 is ''a suffusion of yellow''.

In the comic, Cueball marvels at the fundamental and complete nature of the language of creation that he sees in his dream. In the lisp programming language, "car" is a fundamental function which produces the first item in a list. The line "My God, It's full of '{{w|CAR_and_CDR|car}}'s" is a pun, most likely referring to the movie {{w|2010}}, the sequel to {{w|2001: A Space Odyssey (movie)}}. In the book {{w|2001: A Space Odyssey (novel)}} when astronaut David Bowman accidentally activates a star gate he exclaims as he enters it "The thing's hollow — it goes on forever — and — oh my God - it's full of stars!", although he does not say anything in the first movie during the final sequence.

Cueball's remarks about patterns, metapatterns, and the disappearance of syntax are reactions to the elegant simplicity of the lisp programming language.

God replies that the universe was actually hacked together with the programming language {{w|Perl}}. Perl employs an idiosyncratic syntax which borrows from a number of other languages. Although a versatile language often employed for assembling projects quickly (some might say "hastily"), the language has a reputation for being ugly and inelegant. It was famously described as a "Swiss-Army chainsaw", because it is very powerful but also unwieldy and unattractive.

The joke is that the Creator, like many software developers, was in a bit of a hurry and chose to throw something together rather sloppily.

The title text continues the analogy by suggesting that the theory of {{w|quantum mechanics}} was written in {{w|Regular expression|regular expressions}} ("regexes"), a complex language for pattern matching used heavily in Perl. Regular expressions are often criticized as being a {{w|write-only language}}, that is, a language so complicated that any significant program cannot be understood by anybody (often not even the original author). Documentation is essential to assist in the understanding of complex regular expressions. The title text claims that at some point, the documentation for quantum mechanics was lost, which explains why quantum mechanics is so bizarre and complex.

==Transcript==
:[Floating in space.]
:Speaker: Last night I drifted off while reading a Lisp book.
:Cueball: Huh?
:Speaker: Suddenly, I was bathed in a suffusion of blue.

:[Floating in space before a vast concept tree.]
:Speaker: At once, just like they said, I felt a great enlightenment. I saw the naked structure of Lisp code unfold before me.
:Cueball: My God
:Cueball: It's full of 'car's
:Speaker: The patterns and metapatterns danced. Syntax faded, and I swam in the purity of quantified conception. Of ideas manifest.

:[Close-up of floating in space before part of a concept tree.]
:Truly, this was the language from which the gods wrought the Universe.

:[Floating in space with God appearing through a line of clouds.]
:God: No, it's not.
:Cueball: It's not?
:God: I mean, ostensibly, yes. Honestly, we hacked most of it together with Perl.

==Trivia==
*In his [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zJOS0sV2a24#t=29m11s Google-speech], [[Randall]] said that he spent 3–4 hours on getting the blue shading just right.

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics with color]]
[[Category:Programming]]
[[Category:Religion]]

224: Lisp

2014-11-10T11:29:15Z

141.101.98.66: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 224
| date = February 16, 2007
| title = Lisp
| image = lisp.jpg
| titletext = We lost the documentation on quantum mechanics. You'll have to decode the regexes yourself.
}}

==Explanation==
{{w|Lisp (programming language)|Lisp}} is a computer programming language with highly regular syntax. The language's most notable feature is that programs take the same form as the language's primary data structure (the list). This blurs the line between code and data and permits programs to inspect and even alter their own source code, thereby opening up opportunities for metaprogramming. Lisp is also a {{w|Functional programming|functional programming language}} (more or less), meaning that programs are expressed in terms of lambda calculus, a mathematical framework for computation.

The phrase ''A suffusion of blue'' is a reference to {{w|Douglas Adams}}' book ''{{w|The Long Dark Tea-Time of the Soul}}''. In it, an ''{{w|I Ching}}'' calculator calculates everything above the value of 4 is ''a suffusion of yellow''.

In the comic, Cueball marvels at the fundamental and complete nature of the language of creation that he sees in his dream. In the lisp programming language, "car" is a fundamental function which produces the first item in a list. The line "My God, It's full of '{{w|CAR_and_CDR|car}}'s" is a pun, most likely referring to the movie {{w|2010}}, the sequel to {{w|2001: A Space Odyssey (movie)}}. In the book {{w|2001: A Space Odyssey (novel)}} when astronaut David Bowman accidentally activates a star gate he exclaims as he enters it "The thing's hollow — it goes on forever — and — oh my God - it's full of stars!", although he does not anything in the first movie during the final sequence.

Cueball's remarks about patterns, metapatterns, and the disappearance of syntax are reactions to the elegant simplicity of the lisp programming language.

God replies that the universe was actually hacked together with the programming language {{w|Perl}}. Perl employs an idiosyncratic syntax which borrows from a number of other languages. Although a versatile language often employed for assembling projects quickly (some might say "hastily"), the language has a reputation for being ugly and inelegant. It was famously described as a "Swiss-Army chainsaw", because it is very powerful but also unwieldy and unattractive.

The joke is that the Creator, like many software developers, was in a bit of a hurry and chose to throw something together rather sloppily.

The title text continues the analogy by suggesting that the theory of {{w|quantum mechanics}} was written in {{w|Regular expression|regular expressions}} ("regexes"), a complex language for pattern matching used heavily in Perl. Regular expressions are often criticized as being a {{w|write-only language}}, that is, a language so complicated that any significant program cannot be understood by anybody (often not even the original author). Documentation is essential to assist in the understanding of complex regular expressions. The title text claims that at some point, the documentation for quantum mechanics was lost, which explains why quantum mechanics is so bizarre and complex.

==Transcript==
:[Floating in space.]
:Speaker: Last night I drifted off while reading a Lisp book.
:Cueball: Huh?
:Speaker: Suddenly, I was bathed in a suffusion of blue.

:[Floating in space before a vast concept tree.]
:Speaker: At once, just like they said, I felt a great enlightenment. I saw the naked structure of Lisp code unfold before me.
:Cueball: My God
:Cueball: It's full of 'car's
:Speaker: The patterns and metapatterns danced. Syntax faded, and I swam in the purity of quantified conception. Of ideas manifest.

:[Close-up of floating in space before part of a concept tree.]
:Truly, this was the language from which the gods wrought the Universe.

:[Floating in space with God appearing through a line of clouds.]
:God: No, it's not.
:Cueball: It's not?
:God: I mean, ostensibly, yes. Honestly, we hacked most of it together with Perl.

==Trivia==
*In his [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zJOS0sV2a24#t=29m11s Google-speech], [[Randall]] said that he spent 3–4 hours on getting the blue shading just right.

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics with color]]
[[Category:Programming]]
[[Category:Religion]]

224: Lisp

2014-11-10T11:18:29Z

141.101.98.66: Undo revision 78608 by 141.101.98.66 (talk)

{{comic
| number = 224
| date = February 16, 2007
| title = Lisp
| image = lisp.jpg
| titletext = We lost the documentation on quantum mechanics. You'll have to decode the regexes yourself.
}}

==Explanation==
{{w|Lisp (programming language)|Lisp}} is a computer programming language with highly regular syntax. The language's most notable feature is that programs take the same form as the language's primary data structure (the list). This blurs the line between code and data and permits programs to inspect and even alter their own source code, thereby opening up opportunities for metaprogramming. Lisp is also a {{w|Functional programming|functional programming language}} (more or less), meaning that programs are expressed in terms of lambda calculus, a mathematical framework for computation.

The phrase ''A suffusion of blue'' is a reference to {{w|Douglas Adams}}' book ''{{w|The Long Dark Tea-Time of the Soul}}''. In it, an ''{{w|I Ching}}'' calculator calculates everything above the value of 4 is ''a suffusion of yellow''.

In the comic, Cueball marvels at the fundamental and complete nature of the language of creation that he sees in his dream. In the lisp programming language, "car" is a fundamental function which produces the first item in a list. The line "It's full of '{{w|CAR_and_CDR|car}}'s" is a pun, referring to the book {{w|2001: A Space Odyssey}} in which astronaut David Bowman accidentally activates a star gate and exclaims as he enters it "Oh my God - it's full of stars!"

Cueball's remarks about patterns, metapatterns, and the disappearance of syntax are reactions to the elegant simplicity of the lisp programming language.

God replies that the universe was actually hacked together with the programming language {{w|Perl}}. Perl employs an idiosyncratic syntax which borrows from a number of other languages. Although a versatile language often employed for assembling projects quickly (some might say "hastily"), the language has a reputation for being ugly and inelegant. It was famously described as a "Swiss-Army chainsaw", because it is very powerful but also unwieldy and unattractive.

The joke is that the Creator, like many software developers, was in a bit of a hurry and chose to throw something together rather sloppily.

The title text continues the analogy by suggesting that the theory of {{w|quantum mechanics}} was written in {{w|Regular expression|regular expressions}} ("regexes"), a complex language for pattern matching used heavily in Perl. Regular expressions are often criticized as being a {{w|write-only language}}, that is, a language so complicated that any significant program cannot be understood by anybody (often not even the original author). Documentation is essential to assist in the understanding of complex regular expressions. The title text claims that at some point, the documentation for quantum mechanics was lost, which explains why quantum mechanics is so bizarre and complex.

==Transcript==
:[Floating in space.]
:Speaker: Last night I drifted off while reading a Lisp book.
:Cueball: Huh?
:Speaker: Suddenly, I was bathed in a suffusion of blue.

:[Floating in space before a vast concept tree.]
:Speaker: At once, just like they said, I felt a great enlightenment. I saw the naked structure of Lisp code unfold before me.
:Cueball: My God
:Cueball: It's full of 'car's
:Speaker: The patterns and metapatterns danced. Syntax faded, and I swam in the purity of quantified conception. Of ideas manifest.

:[Close-up of floating in space before part of a concept tree.]
:Truly, this was the language from which the gods wrought the Universe.

:[Floating in space with God appearing through a line of clouds.]
:God: No, it's not.
:Cueball: It's not?
:God: I mean, ostensibly, yes. Honestly, we hacked most of it together with Perl.

==Trivia==
*In his [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zJOS0sV2a24#t=29m11s Google-speech], [[Randall]] said that he spent 3–4 hours on getting the blue shading just right.

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics with color]]
[[Category:Programming]]
[[Category:Religion]]

224: Lisp

2014-11-10T11:15:21Z

141.101.98.66: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 224
| date = February 16, 2007
| title = Lisp
| image = lisp.jpg
| titletext = We lost the documentation on quantum mechanics. You'll have to decode the regexes yourself.
}}

==Explanation==
{{w|Lisp (programming language)|Lisp}} is a computer programming language with highly regular syntax. The language's most notable feature is that programs take the same form as the language's primary data structure (the list). This blurs the line between code and data and permits programs to inspect and even alter their own source code, thereby opening up opportunities for metaprogramming. Lisp is also a {{w|Functional programming|functional programming language}} (more or less), meaning that programs are expressed in terms of lambda calculus, a mathematical framework for computation.

The phrase ''A suffusion of blue'' is a reference to {{w|Douglas Adams}}' book ''{{w|The Long Dark Tea-Time of the Soul}}''. In it, an ''{{w|I Ching}}'' calculator calculates everything above the value of 4 is ''a suffusion of yellow''.

In the comic, Cueball marvels at the fundamental and complete nature of the language of creation that he sees in his dream. In the lisp programming language, "car" is a fundamental function which produces the first item in a list. The line "It's full of '{{w|CAR_and_CDR|car}}'s" is a pun, referring to the book {{w|2001: A Space Odyssey}} in which astronaut David Bowman accidentally activates a star gate and exclaims as he enters it "My God - it's full of stars!"

Cueball's remarks about patterns, metapatterns, and the disappearance of syntax are reactions to the elegant simplicity of the lisp programming language.

God replies that the universe was actually hacked together with the programming language {{w|Perl}}. Perl employs an idiosyncratic syntax which borrows from a number of other languages. Although a versatile language often employed for assembling projects quickly (some might say "hastily"), the language has a reputation for being ugly and inelegant. It was famously described as a "Swiss-Army chainsaw", because it is very powerful but also unwieldy and unattractive.

The joke is that the Creator, like many software developers, was in a bit of a hurry and chose to throw something together rather sloppily.

The title text continues the analogy by suggesting that the theory of {{w|quantum mechanics}} was written in {{w|Regular expression|regular expressions}} ("regexes"), a complex language for pattern matching used heavily in Perl. Regular expressions are often criticized as being a {{w|write-only language}}, that is, a language so complicated that any significant program cannot be understood by anybody (often not even the original author). Documentation is essential to assist in the understanding of complex regular expressions. The title text claims that at some point, the documentation for quantum mechanics was lost, which explains why quantum mechanics is so bizarre and complex.

==Transcript==
:[Floating in space.]
:Speaker: Last night I drifted off while reading a Lisp book.
:Cueball: Huh?
:Speaker: Suddenly, I was bathed in a suffusion of blue.

:[Floating in space before a vast concept tree.]
:Speaker: At once, just like they said, I felt a great enlightenment. I saw the naked structure of Lisp code unfold before me.
:Cueball: My God
:Cueball: It's full of 'car's
:Speaker: The patterns and metapatterns danced. Syntax faded, and I swam in the purity of quantified conception. Of ideas manifest.

:[Close-up of floating in space before part of a concept tree.]
:Truly, this was the language from which the gods wrought the Universe.

:[Floating in space with God appearing through a line of clouds.]
:God: No, it's not.
:Cueball: It's not?
:God: I mean, ostensibly, yes. Honestly, we hacked most of it together with Perl.

==Trivia==
*In his [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zJOS0sV2a24#t=29m11s Google-speech], [[Randall]] said that he spent 3–4 hours on getting the blue shading just right.

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics with color]]
[[Category:Programming]]
[[Category:Religion]]

1444: Cloud

2014-11-07T10:54:34Z

141.101.98.66: Added wiki reference to Pareidolia

{{comic
| number = 1444
| date = November 7, 2014
| title = Cloud
| image = cloud.png
| titletext = Cloud computing has a ways to go.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Initial explanation added, needs more detail. Title text explanation}}
[[Cueball]] and [[Megan]] are lying outside on the grass and looking up at the clouds. Following the human disposition known as [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pareidolia Pareidolia] of finding patterns where there are none, it is common for people to interpret the cloud formations as looking like someone or something. Indeed, Cueball asks Megan what she thinks a particular cloud looks like.

Rather than responding with her own interpretation, Megan takes a picture of the cloud with her phone, and uses Google's [http://www.google.com/insidesearch/features/images/searchbyimage.html Search by Image] feature. This feature replaces the usual keyword search, and instead based a search on the content of the uploaded image, and can be used to identify unknown people, objects, movies, etc. The result of the search comes back stating that the image is most likely a cloud, which is factual, but not the desired response. Google is currently unable to understand the context of a query, and the anticipated or desired response.

Whether this exposes limitations in the abilities of the software, or flaws in human logic is up for debate.

{{w|Cloud computing}} involves remote data storage for sharing across multiple devices and has nothing to do with literal clouds. It has been discussed in [[908: The Cloud]] and [[1117: My Sky]].

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript}}
[Cueball and Megan are lying outside on their backs]

Cueball: What do you think that cloud looks like?

[Megan takes a photo with a handheld device, which makes a "Snap" sound]

[Cueball starts to sit up, Megan interacting with handheld device]

Google -> Search by image

[Uploading...]

[Response from device]

Best guess for this image: Cloud

Cueball: Keep trying, Google.

{{comic discussion}}

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