explain xkcd - User contributions [en]

Talk:713: GeoIP

2024-02-08T03:54:22Z

141.101.99.43:

The title text is more than hyperbole: In the United States, if someone is "living in their mom's basement", it implies they can not or will not get a job allowing them to move out. i.e.: they are a loser. The resultant weak response "Screw you, GeoIP" seems to push that depiction even further. [[Special:Contributions/173.245.56.186|173.245.56.186]] 23:11, 16 July 2014 (UTC)
: I don't get this. The title text goes "Meet hot young singles in your mom's basement today?" Not their. Isn't this another "yo' mama" joke, simply implying that your mama has hot young singles in her basement?[[User:Mumiemonstret|Mumiemonstret]] ([[User talk:Mumiemonstret|talk]]) 08:02, 20 October 2014 (UTC)
:: I think it just means that you can do the same trick on *your* IP, just replacing the string "low earth orbit" with "your mom basement". [[User:MGitsfullofsheep|MGitsfullofsheep]] ([[User talk:MGitsfullofsheep|talk]]) 17:12, 24 October 2014 (UTC)
:: I think this means that your mum is the hot young single in her basement... [[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.241|141.101.98.241]] 12:27, 18 February 2015 (UTC)
:::Yes nothing hyperbole here. It is just another of Randall's many your mom jokes and can be insulting in almost anyway you think about the sentence. Have tried to change the explanation of the title text according to this. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 21:28, 13 February 2016 (UTC)
::::I don't think this is a "Your Mom" joke. I agree with the first comment. It is simply that GeoIP has gotten so accurate that it can now pinpoint the user's location to his Mom's basement. An adult living in his parent's house is termed shameful in US as it means that the adult does not have a job and cannot support himself/herself. That is why he's hiding in the basement in the first place, instead of it just being 'Mom's house'. The ad is usually like this -- "Meet hot young singles in <user's location>" where the <user's location> part is filled in from GeoIP. Clearly, there are no "hot young singles" in his Mom's basement and it feels like GeoIP is unknowingly shaming the user by reminding him that he is in his mom's basement, and hence the "Screw you" response. [[Special:Contributions/199.27.130.216|199.27.130.216]] 00:54, 14 February 2016 (UTC)
:::::But it's ''your'' mom's basement, so that suggests you are online dating with a close relative? I don't understand it. [[User:Jacky720|That's right, Jacky720 just signed this]] ([[User talk:Jacky720|talk]] | [[Special:Contributions/Jacky720|contribs]]) 20:30, 12 December 2016 (UTC)
:::::: No that is simply GeoIP being fooled just like the ISS entry being put in. If someone living his his/her mom's basement got that ad, they already know there is no hot young girls in that area otherwise he would not be online trying to find close hot young girls. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.216.166|108.162.216.166]] 13:38, 3 August 2017 (UTC)
::::::: The title text is saying that GeoIP is very accurate, and, just like it "assumed" that there were "local girls" in low earth orbit, it "assumes" that there are local girls in "your mom's basement", even though there are actually none.[[User:TaperingBirch|TaperingBirch]] ([[User talk:TaperingBirch|talk]]) 14:05, 2 December 2019 (UTC)

Is it just me or do the girls look like they're floating in zero gravity? [[User:Tbodt|Tbodt]] ([[User talk:Tbodt|talk]]) 00:13, 17 September 2017 (UTC)

420??? 🌿 🌿 🌿 “in low Earth orbit; a distance of roughly 420 kilometers above the Earth surface” [[User:42.book.addict|42.book.addict]] ([[User talk:42.book.addict|talk]]) 03:08, 8 February 2024 (UTC)
:It varies (like "413 perigee to 422 apogee" frequent orbital variation, with periodic decay/reboost over time), but yes. Hubble is at ~540km up, and Iridium sats are at 780ish. LEO is arbitrarily defined as up to 2000km, but usage is skewed to the lower end of the not-totally-scraping-the-atmosphere range, including all manned space-stations (and all manned missions that aren't trans-lunar) of past and present. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.99.43|141.101.99.43]] 03:54, 8 February 2024 (UTC)

2873: Supersymmetry

2023-12-28T19:44:22Z

141.101.99.43: /* Explanation */ It's a more basic diagram than it could be...

{{comic
| number = 2873
| date = December 27, 2023
| title = Supersymmetry
| image = supersymmetry 2x.png
| imagesize = 313x375px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = High-speed collisions at the Baby Park track may support the hypothesis that Daisy is her own evil twin, a theory first suggested by Nintendo in the game Majorana's Mask.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by A RELATIVISTIC WALUIGI ANNIHILATING AN UNSUSPECTING LUIGI - Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

This comic imagines a "theory of supersymmetric Mario Bros." that merges the theoretical physics concept of {{w|supersymmetry}} (explained in detail [[#Background on subatomic particles|below]]) with another "super" thing, {{w|Super Mario Bros.}}, originally developed for the {{w|Nintendo Entertainment System}} and later the ''Super'' Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES), two home game consoles popular during Randall's childhood. The comic humorously combines the two domains by equating certain subatomic particles and Mario game characters. Mario is the titular protagonist of his franchise and Luigi is his brother, and their centrality to the games being similar to the nucleus (proton and neutron) being the center of an atom.

In {{w|particle physics}}, a depiction such as a {{w|Feynman diagram}} can be used to try to explain elementary (and composite) particles, and how various interactions occur between them. At the atomic level, this may involve the bulky nucleons (protons and neutrons, these being each a particular triumvirate of quark 'flavors'), electrons (smaller, charged fermions) and various others (such as neutrinos, also fermions, chargeless and often ''nearly'' massless). Sometimes other more exotic/fundamental particles (force-mediating or otherwise transient) are included. The subatomic particles that feature in this comic, and their character equivalents, are:

{| class="wikitable" style="margin:auto"
|-
! Particle !! Symbol !! Type !! Charge !! Mass !! Mario Character !! Notes
|-
| {{w|Proton}}
| p / p+
| Baryon ('uud' quarks)
| +1
| ≲1 {{w|Dalton (unit)|mu}}
| Mario
| The hero-protagonist of many of the games
|-
| {{w|Neutron}}
| n / n⁰
| Baryon ('udd' quarks)
| 0
| ≳1 mu
| Luigi
| The brother, and secondary protagonist, of many of the games
|-
| {{w|Antiproton}} (not involved in the diagram)
| p / p-
| Antibaryon ('uud' quarks)
| -1
| as proton*
| Wario
| Wario is the "evil" version of Mario
|-
| {{w|Antineutron}} (not involved in the diagram)
| n / n-0
| Antibaryon ('udd' quarks)
| 0
| as neutron*
| Waluigi
| Waluigi is the "evil" version of Luigi
|-
| {{w|Electron}}
| e-
| Lepton (charged)
| -1
| 5.5x10-4 mu
| (Princess) Peach
| The "damsel in distress" and/or reward-giver, when not a character in her own right
|-
| {{w|Positron}} / Antielectron (not depicted/involved)
| e+
| Antilepton (charged)
| +1
| as electron*

|-
| {{w|Electron Neutrino}}
| νe
| Lepton (uncharged)
| 0
| Assumed >0 (very small*)
| (Princess) Daisy
| Another "damsel in distress" and/or reward-giver, when not a character in her own right
|-
| Electron {{w|Neutrino#Antineutrinos|Antineutrino}} (not depicted, hypothetical)
| νe
| Antilepton (uncharged)
| 0
| as electron neutrino*

|}
<nowiki/>* - to within experimental error

Just as Mario is attracted to Princess Peach in the first generation of Mario games, so is the Mario particle (proton) attracted to the Peach particle (electron).

The "Free Luigi Decay" diagram is a {{w|Feynman diagram}} reinterpreting the process of {{w|free neutron decay}}. In Free Neutron Decay, a neutron that is left alone — not part of a nucleus — is unstable and one of its constituent quarks will transform, making a more stable proton, by emitting a W- boson (not shown, or renamed), after around 10 to 30 minutes. The boson will then almost immediately decay into a suitable electron and neutrino. In Free Luigi Decay, the Luigi particle decay leads into there being a Mario, a Peach, and a (right-handed) Daisy. This would humorously explain why we don't see any Luigi-only video games.

The '''title text''' is a pun on the title of the Nintendo 64 game ''{{w|The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask}}'' and the concept of {{w|Majorana fermion}}, which attempts to reconcile how, while many particles have separate antiparticle counterparts, certain ones do not. Until this is resolved, scientists may depict a theoretical antiparticle in place of a neutrino in order to preserve various total values across the diagram. But scientists do wonder if a neutrino is its own antiparticle, much as they have also previously wondered if {{w|Neutrino oscillation|they also flip their 'flavor'}} as a way to explain certain experimental results.

Baby Park is an oval-shaped race track in the ''{{w|Mario Kart}}'' series and used as a particle collider in the title text, first featured in ''{{w|Mario Kart: Double Dash|Mario Kart: Double Dash!!}}'' on the Nintendo GameCube.

===Background on subatomic particles===
Added within the {{w|standard model}} are the "{{w|antiparticle}}s" that are oppositely charged (or built up of more fundamental antiparticles), and further issues have required extending this further through theories of '''supersymmetry''' which further adds counterparts that have alternate '{{w|Spin (physics)|spin}}'s.

The right-handed Daisy (Electron Neutrino) means that Daisy’s direction of spin (in subatomic terms, a measurement which does not now match that of the angular momentum in classical physics which inspired its naming) is the same as the direction of motion. A left-handed Daisy (Electron Neutrino) would have the opposite value.

Certain current understandings of the process require that the electron neutrino be an ''anti''neutrino, but antineutrinos have not so far been sufficiently confirmed to exist, with some theorising that a neutrino can be its own anti-particle (unlike the neutral neutron, composed of charged quarks, which has the similarly neutral antineutron, composed of oppositely charged antiquarks).

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

:Mario : Proton
:Luigi : Neutron

:Wario : Antiproton
:Waluigi : Antineutron

:Peach : Electron
:Daisy : Electron neutrino

:Free Luigi decay:
:[Illustration of Luigi → Mario + Peach + Daisy]
:[Label below Daisy:] (Right-handed)

:[Caption below the panel:]
:The theory of Supersymmetric Mario Bros suggests that each fundamental particle has a Super Nintendo partner.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Video games]]
[[Category:Mario Kart]]
[[Category:Physics]]

763: Workaround

2020-12-16T04:03:07Z

141.101.99.43: /* Explanation */ slightly more idiomatic

{{comic
| number = 763
| date = July 7, 2010
| title = Workaround
| image = workaround.png
| titletext = I once worked on a friend's dad's computer. He had the hard drive divided into six partitions, C: through J:, with a 'Documents' directory tree on each one. Each new file appeared to be saved to a partition at random. I knew enough not to ask.
}}

==Explanation==
A relative of [[Cueball]] is depicted, who explains how he goes about sending a {{w|YouTube}} video to someone. The relative appears to be a stereotypical 'non-computer person', perhaps the father or grandfather of Cueball. The relative explains how he first saves a web page and opens it in Microsoft Word, then uses the 'Share' feature in Word to generate an email that contains the web page reformatted as a Word document, then sends that email to a service that extracts YouTube videos. Perhaps this service would then email back a link to some extracted file on some server, and this link could in turn be copied and pasted in another email, which could finally be sent to the intended recipient. It's all very complicated.

The premise is that non-computer-literate people will find a clumsy, highly elaborate way of achieving some task on a computer. They will do this by stringing together the functions they stumble upon in the few software packages they have limited familiarity with, rather than taking a more sensible, straightforward route. In this case, a much faster and simpler route would be to copy the address of the YouTube video from the address bar in the browser, then paste the address in an email to the intended recipient.

The caption says that though [[Randall]] encourages his relatives to solve their computer problems on their own, by trial and error, he has to resist the urge of asking them the method they used. That method is likely to be unnecessarily complicated. Perhaps this complexity, inefficiency or illogicality will cause Randall to be exasperated, or perhaps Randall feels it is unwise to tell them why their method is inefficient because of the possibility of humiliating or upsetting them, especially after they have spent a long time experimenting to arrive at this suboptimal solution; it would be disrespectful to correct them. Or perhaps it would take too long to explain an alternative, even a much simpler one, because of the questions that it would lead to or because of the further misconceptions that would be exposed of which the relative should be disabused.

The title text just explains another example of a complicated and elaborate way of working that people who don't understand computers can create. {{w|Disk partitioning|Partition}}s on a hard drive are separately managed regions of storage. Common uses of partitions is for recovery purposes or to load different operating systems. It seems that Randall's friend's dad has created 6 partitions for no real purpose, and files are arbitrarily being saved to a random partition.

==Transcript==
:[A relative stands at a computer terminal. Cueball stands behind him with his head in his hands, double-facepalming.]

:Relative: See, I've got a really good system: if I want to send a YouTube video to someone, I go to File → Save, then import the saved page into Word. Then I go to "Share this Document" and under "recipient" I put the email of this video extraction service...

:[Caption below the panel:]
:I'll often encourage relatives to try to solve computer problems themselves by trial and error. However, I've learned an important lesson: if they say they've solved their problem, ''never'' ask how.

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Computers]]
[[Category:Multiple Cueballs]]

1522: Astronomy

2015-05-08T12:19:28Z

141.101.99.43: /* Transcript */ typo (no => to)

{{comic
| number = 1522
| date = May 8, 2015
| title = Astronomy
| image = astronomy.png
| titletext = Astrobiology is held back by the fact that we're all too nervous to try to balance on the ladder while holding an expensive microscope.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|New page}}

For many ordinary objects, one can achieve a better view in two ways: (#1) by looking at the object from a distance through a telescope, or (#2) by approaching the object and looking at it through a magnifying glass. Magnifying glasses typically have a very short resolving distance, usually on the order of a tenth of a meter, so approach #2 is effective only in the case where you can get very close to the object in question.

In the comic, the objects being viewed are celestial bodies. Megan takes approach #1, looking at them through a telescope. Beret Guy attempts approach #2, using a step-ladder to try to get close to the celestial bodies, and then looking through a magnifying glass. This approach could be successful only if the celestial bodies were within a few meters of us. In fact they are many orders of magnitude further away than that, and Beret Guy's use of the ladder would yield no appreciable improvement in his view of celestial bodies through a magnifying glass. The history of astronomy is filled with drastic underestimates of distances to celestial bodies, but none quite so comical as Beret Guy's very extreme underestimate. The comic is funny because although Beret Guy's approach is absurd, it still works.

Although Beret Guy approach to astronomy seems ill-informed, previous comics such as [[1486: Vacuum]] and [[1490: Atoms]] shows that his unusual understanding of science actually works.

The title text assumes (for comic effect) that the only thing wrong with Beret Guy's strategy is that the ladder would be unstable, when in fact his approach would be quite obviously bound to fail for the reasons described above.

In the title text, the word "astrobiology" is the joining of the prefix astro- and biology and refers to the study of life (or possibility thereof) elsewhere in the universe.

It might be interesting to note that a lot of developments in "terrestrial" biology were made by the use of a simple microscope (a.k.a. a magnifying lens), so Beret Guy's approach might be an attempt to build on that.

==Transcript==

[Megan looks at the stars through a telescope about twice her size, touching it at the base]

[Beret Guy enters the panel holding a ladder and a magnifying glass]

[Beret Guy places the ladder next to Megan and her telescope. The ladder is stands like a triangle, is slightly larger than Megan, but smaller than the telescope]

[Beret guy climbs to the top of the ladder, and looks at the stars through a magnifying glass]

{{comic discussion}}


[[Category:Science]]
[[Category:Astronomy]]
[[Category:Biology]]
[[Category:Portmanteau]]

Talk:1485: Friendship

2015-02-12T10:40:31Z

141.101.99.43: A plea in the Wikipedia edit summary

In the article Randall wants to make us believe friendship is a rather new phenomenon or trend and its "early" occurences are something special,which may be true for bromance - at least for the term - but not for the concept. Sebastian --[[Special:Contributions/108.162.231.68|108.162.231.68]] 07:44, 11 February 2015 (UTC)

I'm afraid I'm not currently up to doing it, but I feel we need further details of, and definitely citations for, the articles that have been vandalised. Maybe we could even have graphs showing view, edit, and vandalism spikes. Davii [[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.154|141.101.98.154]] 11:18, 11 February 2015 (UTC)

Why am I not surprised that this lead to Wiki-vandalism? [[Special:Contributions/108.162.216.109|108.162.216.109]] 12:25, 11 February 2015 (UTC)

The explanation currently seems to suggest that this is the page for "Bromance", trying to bring it into line with "Friendship". But with the "Friendship page" being the ''target'' of the comic, "How to improve the Bromance page" titletext and the "Portmanteau of 'Friend' and 'Ship' (i.e. romantic linking)" bits, I read the comic as "If Bromance is being used for non-homosexual same-sex associations, then Friendship 'obviously' now means for homosexual same-sex (indeed, it appears male/male only!) relationships. This is similar to complaints (which I personally have sympathy for) about the word "Guesstimate" being an unnecessary neologistic portmanteau in common use, as someone using it often ''actually'' means "Estimate" in its normal state of the term and thus must imagine "Estimate" is something far more strict. (Or else they invoke th term when they actually mean "Guess" in the first place, either to make it sound 'better than a guess' or with the same 'shove-over' attitude applied to ''that'' word, e.g. guess is "only ever out of thin air" rather than often-as-not based upon a semi-educated hunch if not more.) So, anway, as it it currently stands, I don't agree with the way the explanation goes. But I can't actually say it's wrong either! We now return you to your regularly-scheduled programme. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.99.112|141.101.99.112]] 14:03, 11 February 2015 (UTC)
:Completely off topic for the comment, but a guestimate is an estimate without the math, using intuitive averaging, and thus, more kin to a guess than an estimate.[[User:Seebert|Seebert]] ([[User talk:Seebert|talk]]) 14:45, 11 February 2015 (UTC)
:Additionally, I meant to add that I'm surprised that Randall didn't "Bluetext" the word Ship, indicating a link to {{w|Shipping_(fandom)}}. But then the fictional Wiki editors he's emulating are notoriously inconsistent with what they do link and what they don't link (upon first appearance in an article), so it's accurate enough. ;) [[Special:Contributions/141.101.99.112|141.101.99.112]] 14:10, 11 February 2015 (UTC)
:(Although, to reply to myself, given the inclusion of the phrase "There is also something called 'friendshipping', or a 'BrOTP' (a portmanteau of the terms bromance and one true pairing).", there'd be some weird recursiveness that arises if all the competing claims for word-origin are true!) [[Special:Contributions/141.101.99.112|141.101.99.112]] 14:16, 11 February 2015 (UTC)

@ Sebastian - I think you totally misunderstand the intentions of the cartoon. I think the point is a very simple one. It is similar to Liz Feldman's argument that people should not call it 'gay marriage': it's marriage. "You know, because I had lunch this afternoon, not gay lunch. I parked my car; I didn’t gay park it" [[http://www.salon.com/2013/06/26/lets_end_gay_marriage/]} Or in this case: Call it friendship - marking the fact that it is between men as if that is in some way abnormal is a homophobic thing to do. [[User:Andries|Andries]] ([[User talk:Andries|talk]]) 15:14, 11 February 2015 (UTC)

:In my experience the term bromance is used to describe a particularly strong and close friendship, one which exceeds the normal bounds of simple friendship. In the same way that two close but non-related males might cal themselves blood brothers. Noting that the term is almost exclusively used for male-male relationships (due to the use of 'bro') is entirely valid, and personally I don't see any suggestion that friendship between men is abnormal in Sebastians comment. --[[User:Pudder|Pudder]] ([[User talk:Pudder|talk]]) 16:39, 11 February 2015 (UTC)
:I tend to agree with Pudder here.[[Special:Contributions/199.27.128.195|199.27.128.195]] 16:53, 11 February 2015 (UTC)

I used the FoxReplace plugin to see what this would look like, with some hilarious results:
<pre>The first legislation on the subject was The Fanclub Act of 1792 which provided, in part:

That each and every free able-bodied white male citizen of the respective States, resident therein, who is or shall be of age
of eighteen years, and under the age of forty-five years (except as is herein after excepted) shall severally and respectively
be enrolled in the fanclub, ... every citizen, so enrolled and notified, shall, within six months thereafter, provide himself with
a good musket or firelock....

During the nineteenth century, each of the states maintained its fanclub differently, some more than others.</pre>
[[Special:Contributions/199.27.128.195|199.27.128.195]] 16:53, 11 February 2015 (UTC)

Pretty sure this isn't the first WP-related comic that then led to vandalism of the pages in question, and I'll be damned if it will be the last. [[User:Schiffy|Schiffy]] ([[User_talk:Schiffy|Speak to me]]|[[Special:Contributions/Schiffy|What I've done]]) 22:19, 11 February 2015 (UTC)

Anyone notice [https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Friendship&diff=prev&oldid=646768341 this edit?] Well, not so much the edit, but the edit summary... [[Special:Contributions/141.101.99.43|141.101.99.43]] 10:40, 12 February 2015 (UTC)

1485: Friendship

2015-02-12T10:32:21Z

141.101.99.43: /* Explanation */ All protected now

{{comic
| number = 1485
| date = February 11, 2015
| title = Friendship
| image = friendship.png
| titletext = The only other Wikipedia vandalism that I would feel zero remorse about is editing the article on active US militia groups to replace "militia" with "fanclub".
}}

==Explanation==
'Bromance' is a modern slang term for a strong non-romantic relationship between two males. It is a portmanteau of the words bro, implying a male friend (like "brother"), and romance.

Although current in popular media, some commentators have criticized the implicit homophobia in the term, suggesting that it denotes cultural discomfort at relationships of emotional closeness between men. [http://www.xojane.com/entertainment/for-the-love-of-god-please-stop-saying-bromance]

In this comic, Randall is implying the Wikipedia page for the word "bromance" should more accurately represent what most bromances actually are: friendships. This could be a joke to reference the fact that some males prefer to not call friendships as such, for fear of looking unmasculine, or being confused as a gay couple. The comic makes light of the fact that the word bromance and friendship are interchangeable, and should be treated as such.

The comic later contains parts of the edited article, mocking the use of "bromance" in popular culture, implying that "friendships" can be used just as easily to describe platonic male relationships.

Despite supposedly vandalizing the "bromance" article, the article is titled "friendship", giving a similar result to word-replacement browser extensions, as in [[1031: s/keyboard/leopard/]].

The title text implies Randall does not agree with Wikipedia vandalism, except in the case of bromance/friendship, and also militia/fanclub, possibly to make light of the harsh sounding word in a negative light.

In the wake of this comic, several Wikipedia pages were vandalized, among them {{w|Bromance}}, {{w|Militia organizations in the United States}}, {{w|Militia (United States)}}, and {{w|Friendship}}. All these pages have been semi-protected by an administrator against further attempts for another week.

The day this comic was published a vote to delete the Bromance article was initiated on Wikipedia.[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Articles_for_deletion/Bromance_%282nd_nomination%29]

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript}}

[A Wikipedia style layout is shown for an article titled Friendship]

:'''Friendship'''
:A Friendship is a close non-romantic relationship between two (or more) men, a form of affectional or homosocial intimacy.[1]
: Contents [Hide]
:1 Etymology
:2 Characteristics
:3 Portrayal of friendship
::3.1 Celebrity and fictional friendships
::3.2 Historical and political friendships
::3.3 Gay-straight friendships
:4 See also
:5 References

:'''Etymology'''
:''Friendship'' is a portmanteau of the words ''friend'' and ''ship''. Editor Dave Carnie coined the term in the skateboard magazine ''Big Brother'' in the 1990s to refer to the sort of relationships that develop between skaters who spend

:'''Portrayal of Friendship'''
:'''Celebrity and Fictional Friendships'''
:A number of celebrities have engaged in friendships with fellow celebrities. Examples include Ben Affleck and Matt Damon, described as "perhaps ''the'' pioneering friendship in showbiz history"[9] which led to a hit off-broadway play

:Friendship on television has also become more commonplace, with some critics tracing its origins back to shows such as ''The Odd Couple''.[14] In October 2008, ''TV Guide'' placed Gregory House (Hugh Laurie) and James

:The Japanese and Korean music industry actively encourages friendship among male celebrities (particularly members of boy bands) as part of the fan service to please the audience.[19][20]
:In fiction, what had once been called buddy films have to a degree been rebranded as friendship films, although

:'''Historical and political friendships'''
:Politically, the relationship between Bill Clinton and Al Gore has been called a precursor to the friendship.[6] The relationship between George W Bush and former press

:'''How to improve the "Bromance" Wikipedia article'''

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics with color]]

[[Category:Wikipedia]]

797: debian-main

2015-02-01T11:45:36Z

141.101.99.43: /* Explanation */ as per comments: why would a computer wear clothes?

{{comic
| number = 797
| date = September 24, 2010
| title = debian-main
| image = debian_main.png
| titletext = dpkg: error processing package (--purge): subprocess pre-removal script returned error exit 163: OH_GOD_THEYRE_INSIDE_MY_CLOTHES
}}

==Explanation==
{{w|Debian}} is a Linux distribution most notable for introducing {{w|Advanced Packaging Tool|APT}} (Advanced Packaging Tool). APT is a tool that functions as an automated general software installer for Linux systems; all one has to do is tell it what software package they would like to install, and the program will automatically fetch the software and all of its dependencies (other packages that a program relies on, such as a library for processing ZIP archives) from a central ''repository''. It will also automatically handle upgrades by automatically checking if the repository version of a package is higher than the currently installed version, and it can even handle the use of multiple repositories and linking between them; for example, if a piece of software is deemed worthy of inclusion in Debian's main repository, but as a stable release, the software developers can provide their own repository to provide a more experimental version for users who want it, and once that repository is added to APT's source list, APT will automatically realize that it should use the experimental version, since it has a higher version than that of the main repository. Although this wasn't the first package management system for easy Linux installation (that honor goes to {{w|RPM Package Manager|RPM}}), it is the first one that seamlessly integrated online installation and upgrades into the mix.

debian-main is Debian's main repository, included by default in all Debian installations. It's what you might call the "canon" of Debian, containing only those packages that have been approved by official Debian developers. Thus, getting a package on debian-main means that it, theoretically, conforms to a standard of quality.

In this case, however, the Debian developers seem to have not noticed that one of the dependencies for the package is "locusts." {{w|Locust}}s are real insects, the migratory forms of several grasshopper species, that are best known for breeding extremely quickly, swarming, and devouring all green plant matter they come across, resulting in crop devastation (some consider this a plague). In some parts of the world they are also considered a delicacy. [[Cueball]] probably does not appreciate this as they crawl over his body searching for food, apparently spontaneously generated by APT as it saw that it needed "locusts" to install the package.

The title text is an error line from <code>dpkg</code>, the program used to install/remove APT packages. Every package contains several scripts (although some of them may be empty) that are run on various events related to that package; these are used to perform any setup/cleanup tasks the package needs. This line is an error line indicating that one of those scripts has failed. The relevant portions are:

*<code>error processing package (--purge)</code>: --purge is the option to purge a package completely from the system. This means that the program itself, all related data files, and all configuration files are removed from the system. So, the user was attempting to completely remove the locusts from the system without leaving a trace.
*<code>subprocess pre-removal script</code>: The pre-removal script is the code run before actually removing a piece of software. Mostly, this allows long-running software (such as webservers) to stop themselves before removing anything, to avoid corrupting the hard disk. That means the error came while the computer was preparing to get rid of the locusts.
*<code>returned error exit 163</code>: "Returned error" means just what it says, the script returned an error. "Exit" means that the error was a result of calling the <code>exit()</code> function with a non-zero value, specifically the value 163. The exact value has no real significance other than signifying to a user or other application that understands what the code means; neither <code>dpkg</code> nor the Linux kernel itself treat any exit value specially, apart from checking whether the value is 0 (which means no error).
*<code>OH_GOD_THEYRE_INSIDE_MY_CLOTHES</code>: This is the message returned along with the error. This seems to be a message from the programmer, somewhat like the apocryphal "Help! I'm trapped in ... factory" [[10|urban myth]]. The programmer has failed to write a functioning pre-removal script, due to locusts and is calling for help via an error message.

==Transcript==
:AAAAAAAA
:[A swarm of insects cover Cueball and his computer. He is leaning back on their chair, flailing to get away.]

:My package made it into Debian-main because it looked innocuous enough; no one noticed "locusts" in the dependency list.

==Trivia==
*This is fixed in [http://packages.debian.org/changelogs/pool/main/m/mingetty/current/changelog#versionversion1.07-2 Debian's mingetty 1.07-2] and above.
{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Linux]]