{{comic
| number = 1930
| date = December 18, 2017
| title = Calendar Facts
| image = calendar_facts.png
| titletext = While it may seem like trivia, it (causes huge headaches for software developers / is taken advantage of by high-speed traders / triggered the 2003 Northeast Blackout / has to be corrected for by GPS satellites / is now recognized as a major cause of World War I).
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|There seem to be some possible correct statements, which should be recognized and added as part of the explanation. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
[[Randall]] presents what appears to be a generator of 156,000 facts [20 x 13 x (8 + 6 x 7) x 12], about calendars, most of which are false or have little meaning{{Citation needed}}. The facts are seeded by a mishmash of common tidbits about the time of year.

The formula for each generated fact goes as follows: "Did you know that '''[a recurring event]''' '''[occurs in an unusual manner]''' because of '''[a phenomenon or natural property]'''? Apparently '''[wild card statement]'''."

This is the fifth time that Randall has referred to the phenomenon of a [[:Category:Supermoon|Supermoon]], which he typically makes fun of, most prominent in [[1394: Superm*n]].

The title text continues the chart with an inside information of what this tiny trivia actually have of real life consequences.

==Table==
{| class="wikitable"
! Entry
! What it is
! Relation to other entries
|-
! colspan="3" | Recurring Events
|-
| The [Fall/Spring] Equinox
| The time of year at which the apparent position of the overhead sun passes the equator. During the equinox, the time that the Sun is above the horizon is 12 hours across the globe.
| Before the adoption of the Gregorian Calendar in 1582, the equinoxes fell on earlier and earlier dates as the centuries went by, due to the Julian calendar year being 365.25 days on average compared to the tropical Earth year of 365.2422 days. Pope Gregory's decision to remove the leap days on years that were multiples of 100 but not 400 corrected the average length of the calendar year to 365.2425 days.
|-
| The [Winter/Summer] Solstice
| The time of year when the apparent position of the overhead sun reaches its most extreme latitude. During the Winter and Summer solstices the days are the shortest in the Northern and Southern hemisphere, respectively.
| Similar to the equinoxes, the solstices were also falling on earlier dates every year before the Gregorian Calendar.
|-
| The [Winter/Summer] Olympics
| The Olympic Games occur during the summer and the winter, alternating between the two seasons every two years.
| The Olympic Games do not have any set dates, and seem to only be included humorously as something else that alternates between occurring during the summer and winter.
|-
|Daylight [saving/savings] time
| Daylight saving time, commonly referred to as daylight savings time, is the practice of setting clocks ahead by one hour during the summer months of the year.
| Daylight saving time will push the time of certain events such as sunrise and sunset past their "natural" times. For example, solar noon will occur around 1:00 PM instead of 12:00 noon when daylight saving time is active, making it the "wrong" time.
|-
| Easter
| Easter is a holiday celebrating the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. It is defined as the Sunday after the first full moon after the spring equinox. This complicated formula has a long tradition behind it, known as [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Computus Computus].
| When Pope Gregory decided to change the calendar in 1582, it was because the spring equinox was putting Easter on unexpectedly early dates.
|-
| Toyota Truck Month
| Toyota offers a discount for Tacoma trucks one month a year. Mainly notable because radio and television ads hype this discount up as "Toyota Truck Month".
|
|-
| [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shark_Week Shark Week]
| Every year, the Discovery channel dedicates a week during the summer to programming featuring or about sharks.
|
|-
! colspan="3" | Unusual manners in which the events occur
|-
| happens [earlier/later/at the wrong time] every year
| colspan="2" | The solstices and equinoxes happened earlier every year ''before'' the decree by Pope Gregory in 1582. The earliest sunrise happens one hour later than it "should" happen due to daylight saving time having turned the clocks forward one hour.
|-
| drifts out of sync with the [sun/moon]
| colspan="2" | The Sun and Moon are generally what calendars are based on. If something were to drift out of sync, some corrective mechanism would have to be put in to put it back. This is the motivation behind leap years, leap months (in countries with lunisolar calendars) and leap seconds.
|-
| drifts out of sync with the [zodiac]
| colspan="2" | The dates on which the Sun crosses the constellations in the traditional zodiac has shifted in the past centuries due to the precession of the Earth's axis. In the period of time traditionally known as Aries (March 21-April 20), for example, the Sun actually points to Pisces instead.
|-
| drifts out of sync with the [Gregorian/Mayan/lunar/iPhone] calendar
| colspan="2" |
*The Gregorian calendar is a solar calendar with a mean calendar year length of 365.2425 days.
*The Mayan calendar is based on two cycles or counts, with a 260-day count combined with a 365-day "vague" solar year.
*A lunar calendar is based on Moon's phases, with each lunation being approximately 29.5 days, and a lunar year lasting roughly 354 days. An example of a lunar calendar is the Islamic calendar.
*The iPhone calendar is listed humorously due to its data synchronization issues.
|-
! colspan="3" | Phenomena or political decisions
|-
| time zone legislation in [Indiana/Arizona/Russia]
| Some states or provinces have time zone legislation that sets the standard time to something other than what the natural longitude of that location would suggest.
|
* The state of Arizona generally does not observe daylight saving time, keeping their clocks on UTC-7:00 Mountain Standard Time year round. However, the Navajo nation inside Arizona does observe it, causing the two regions to have different times in the summer and the same time in the winter.
* Time zones in Russia are all one hour ahead of what their longitude would suggest, which puts them in a "permanent" state of daylight saving time. (For example, St. Petersburg is 30°E, which means that its natural time zone is UTC+2:00, but its time zone is actually UTC+3:00.) Since 1981 until 2011 Russia used to have the daylight saving time on top of it as well. The other changes include the abolishment of the one-hour shift in 1991 and returning it back in 1992, increasing it to two hours in 2011 and restoring back to one hour in 2014.
* Indiana has a complicated history with daylight saving time, likely related to the state being split between two Time Zones. (see [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Time_in_Indiana Time in Indiana])
|-
| a decree by the Pope in the 1500s
| In 1582, Pope Gregory introduced the Gregorian Calendar, the calendar we use today, to replace the Julian Calendar. The calendar applied retroactively to the birth of Jesus Christ, which means that they had to skip 10 days, going straight from October 4 to October 15, 1582, during the switchover.
| The introduction of the Gregorian calendar brought Easter and the dates that months started back in sync with what they were in the 3rd century AD.
|-
| the [precession]
| The Earth's axis is slowly changing position, in a phenomenon called the [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Axial_precession precession of the equinoxes].
| The precession of the equinoxes causes the seasons to occur about 20 minutes earlier than would be expected with the Earth's position relative to the stars, which could be construed as the equinox happening "later every year" if you use the stars as your frame of reference.
|-
| the [libration]
| The Moon is [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tidal_locking tidally locked] to its orbit around the Earth, which means that the same side of it tends to face the Earth at any given point in time. However, there are slight variations in the angle over the course of a month, which are known as [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Libration libration].
| The libration of the Moon does not affect anything else in the chart, and seems only be included humorously as another example of a celestial phenomenon.
|-
| the [nutation]
| Besides precession, there is also a smaller wobbling effect called [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Astronomical_nutation nutation].
|
|-
| the [libation]
| A [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Libation libation] is a ritual offering of liquid to a deity by pouring it onto the ground or into something that collects it.
| This entry seems to have been included simply as a humorous misspelling of the word "libration".
|-
| the [eccentricity]
| The Earth's orbit is slightly elliptical. It travels faster when it's closer to the Sun and slower when farther away.
| The Earth's eccentric orbit causes the equinoxes and solstices to occur at irregular intervals. For example, summer in the northern hemisphere lasted 93 days in 2017, while fall only lasted 90 days.
|-
| the [obliquity]
| The tilt of the Earth's axis relative to the ecliptic is also known as its obliquity.
|
|-
| the [Moon]
| The Moon is the primary satellite of the Earth.
|
|-
| the [Sun]
| The Sun is the star that the Earth orbits around.
| The Sun is the basis for many timekeeping events, such as the day and year{{Citation needed}}.
|-
| the [Earth's axis]
| The Earth's axis of rotation defines the North and South Pole as well as the lines of latitude.
|
|-
| the [Equator]
| The Equator is the line on the Earth's surface which is equidistant from both poles of the Earth's axis.
|
|-
| the [Prime Meridian]
| The Prime Meridian is the line that starts at the North Pole, runs through the [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Royal_Observatory,_Greenwich Greenwich Royal Observatory] in London, and ends at the South Pole. It is the basis for longitude when calculating coordinates for positions on the surface of the Earth.
| The Prime Meridian (and in particular the Greenwich Observatory) gives us Greenwich Mean Time (GMT), which is the basis for UTC and the time zone system.
|-
| the [International Date Line]
| The International Date Line is a line on the opposite side of the Earth as the Prime Meridian that separates regions that use time set behind UTC versus regions that are set ahead of UTC. It has many irregularities due to political changes that put certain countries or islands on either side of the divide contrary to their natural longitude.
| The irregular shape of the International Date Line means that certain regions of the Pacific Ocean (such as Kiribati) are more than 24 hours ahead of some other regions (such as Baker Island and American Samoa), which may cause problems with timekeeping.
|-
| the [Mason-Dixon Line]
| The Mason-Dixon line is a line delineating a portion of the border between Pennsylvania, Maryland, and Delaware.
| The Mason-Dixon line is included as a humorous example as another imaginary geographic line.
|-
| magnetic field reversal
| The Earth's magnetic field has been reversed several times in its geologic history, so that what we would currently call the "magnetic North Pole" was actually the magnetic South Pole about 780,000 years ago, before the most recent reversal.
|
|-
| an arbitrary decision by [Benjamin Franklin]
| Benjamin Franklin wrote [http://www.webexhibits.org/daylightsaving/franklin3.html a letter to the Journal of Paris in 1784] in which he advised them to rise with the sun in order to save candlelight, after he observed that the Parisiens were getting up at the same time by the clock and burning a lot of candles in the winter as a result.
| Benjamin Franklin is often touted as "the father of daylight saving time", despite him never actually proposing to alter the clocks.
|-
| an arbitrary decision by [Isaac Newton]
| Apparently a reference to how Newton divided the colour spectrum into the now-familiar seven colours of the rainbow, on a somewhat arbitrary basis.
| This is one of those standard bits of trivia of the kind the chart alludes to. Although it has nothing to do with time-keeping, Newton is the sort of person who seems like he should have made decisions like this.
|-
| an arbitrary decision by [FDR]
| Franklin Delano Roosevelt set all time zones one hour ahead year-round during World War II. The law was repealed after the war ended.
| Setting the time permanently one hour ahead would make everything happen at the "wrong" time celestially.
|-
! colspan="3" | Consequences
|-
| It causes a predictable increase in car accidents.
| colspan="2" | The week following daylight saving time, car accidents increase by about 5-7%<ref>http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/end-of-daylight-saving-time-2015-6-eye-opening-facts-1.3296353</ref>.
|-
| That's why we have leap seconds.
| colspan="2" | Leap seconds occur because the time required for one rotation of the Earth is actually slightly longer than the 86,400 seconds in a standard UTC day. The Earth's rotation is slowing down by about 2 × 10-5 seconds every year due to tidal friction caused by the Moon's gravity; however, this is not one of the possible entries in the list of phenomena.
|-
! colspan="3" | Title Text
|-
| causes huge headaches for software developers
| colspan="2" | Trying to support time zones correctly for all dates present and historic is a mishmash of different regional laws, time zones, and DST changes. The headache is best exemplified in[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-5wpm-gesOY this video] by Tom Scott.
|-
| is taken advantage of by high-speed traders
| colspan="2" | A leap second must be taken into account by trading software, and may cause bugs if not accounted properly. Because leap seconds happen at midnight UTC, it might happen in regular trading hours for somebody living in Seattle, where the time zone is UTC-08:00. Somehow, a high-frequency trader may try to take advantage of any bugs in the software if they are not built to handle this particular case. This scenario is relatively unlikely because the market software can keep its own "market-official time" and synchronize with the correct time while the market is closed.
|-
| triggered the 2003 Northeast Blackout
| colspan="2" | The [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northeast_blackout_of_2003 Northeast blackout of 2003] was caused by a race condition in the energy management software at a power plant in Ohio. Race conditions can theoretically be caused by mismatched timestamps.
|-
|}

<references />

==Examples of true complete statements==

# Did you know that '''the spring equinox''' '''drifts out of sync with the zodiac''' because of '''the precession of the Earth's axis'''? Apparently '''it was even more extreme during the Ice Age'''.
# Did you know that '''daylight saving time''' '''might happen twice this year''' because of '''zone regulation in Russia'''? Apparently '''there's a proposal to fix it, but it actually makes things worse'''. (True in Russia in 1981)

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

<big>-Calendar Facts-</big>

[Shown below is a branching flow chart of sorts that begins at the phrase "Did you know that", then flows through various paths to build up a sentence. (Note that the "→" arrow symbol is used below to indicate a new branch with no intermediate text from a previous branch.)]

* Did you know that:
** the ( Fall | Spring ) Equinox
** the ( Winter | Summer ) ( Solstice | Olympics )
** the ( Earliest | Latest ) ( Sunrise | Sunset )
** Daylight ( Saving | Savings ) Time
** Leap ( Day | Year )
** Easter
** the ( Harvest | Super | Blood ) Moon
** Toyota Truck Month
** Shark Week
* →
** happens ( earlier | later | at the wrong time ) every year
** drifts out of sync with the
*** Sun
*** Moon
*** Zodiac
*** ( Gregorian | Mayan | Lunar | iPhone ) Calendar
*** atomic clock in Colorado
** might ( not happen | happen twice ) this year
* because of
** time zone legislation in ( Indiana | Arizona | Russia )
** a decree by the pope in the 1500s
** ( precession | libration | nutation | libation | eccentricity | obliquity ) of the
*** Moon
*** Sun
*** Earth's axis
*** equator
*** prime meridian
*** ( international date | mason-dixon ) line
** magnetic field reversal
** an arbitrary decision by ( Benjamin Franklin | Isaac Newton | FDR )
* ?
* Apparently
** it causes a predictable increase in car accidents.
** that's why we have leap seconds.
** scientists are really worried.
** it was even more extreme during the
*** Bronze Age.
*** Ice Age.
*** Cretaceous.
*** 1990s.
** there's a proposal to fix it, but it
*** will never happen.
*** actually makes things worse.
*** is stalled in congress.
*** might be unconstitutional.
** it's getting worse and no one knows why.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Charts]]
[[Category:Comics featuring real people]]
[[Category:Daylight saving time]]
[[Category:Time]]
[[Category:Science]]
[[Category:Astronomy]]
[[Category:Supermoon]]

1930: Calendar Facts

2017-12-19T01:11:53Z

162.158.126.28: /* Table */

1930: Calendar Facts

2017-12-19T00:50:02Z

162.158.126.28: Oops!

1930: Calendar Facts

2017-12-19T00:49:25Z

162.158.126.28: /* Table */

1930: Calendar Facts

2017-12-19T00:36:09Z

162.158.126.28: /* Table */

Talk:1930: Calendar Facts

2017-12-19T00:32:10Z

Talk:1909: Digital Resource Lifespan

2017-11-07T14:58:42Z

162.158.126.28: Books and microfilm pre-date the 1980's!

Even PDFs can be broken, which is why we have PDF/A (archive) - a subset of PDF that has no external dependencies and thus should last forever.
[[User:JakubNarebski|JakubNarebski]]
:To clarify: .PDF files are *frequently* created with content such as fonts (or really anything other than the actual text) referenced within the document but not *embedded* within the document. This is usually done to reduce file size, but it's usually not advisable. Whether it's a .pdf or a .ppt or a .exe it is best to keep your dependencies embedded whenever possible!
:.PDF files (or any files) can of course also suffer from hash failure (CRC errors, etc) and PDF/A does not provide redundancy tables; Always make an extra copy on another drive (ideally both off-site & locally).
[[Special:Contributions/162.158.69.77|162.158.69.77]] 06:07, 1 November 2017 (UTC)

'''CD scratched, new computer has no CD drive anyway.''' - First, you can still buy external CD-ROM drive, for example connected via USB cable. Second, you can try recover data from scratched CD with tools such as ddrescue (free and OSS) or IsoBuster (shareware). --[[User:JakubNarebski|JakubNarebski]] ([[User talk:JakubNarebski|talk]]) 17:51, 30 October 2017 (UTC)

: Scratches on the DATA layer of any optical disk destroys that DATA. There is also the consideration that the plastics of the majority of optical disks degrade with time and heat. There are some optical media that are designed to prevent such scratching or corruption like the commercially available M-Disk or laser etching into a micro format into a crystal like a 5D disk. Even then the DATA stored must be in an ISO format to read as well as the equipment to read the media needs to be maintained. I have often told people that their data is never safe unless there is a constant effort to copy, check for quality, and make multiple backups using multiple modern mediums as often as humanly possible. All form of digital media can fail, even the extended warranty on a high end HDD will not cover the data lost and most EULAs for cloud storage will say the same.

::Pressed commercial CD-ROMs carry their information between two 0.6 mm thick plastic discs which are glued together, which makes them pretty resilient against scratches on either side – just remove some material with abrasive methods like toothpaste. Often the glue is the bigger issue with low-quality pressings in the long run. This is in contrast to recordable CDs, which are coated with the reflective layer on top of a single disc. –[[User:TisTheAlmondTavern|TisTheAlmondTavern]] ([[User talk:TisTheAlmondTavern|talk]]) 12:24, 31 October 2017 (UTC)

:Or cheaper than an external drive, borrow a friend's computer and copy the CD onto the cloud somewhere. --[[User:Angel|Angel]] ([[User talk:Angel|talk]]) 18:39, 30 October 2017 (UTC)

::What if you don't have any friends? (or what if none of your friends has a CD drive) --[[Special:Contributions/108.162.216.40|108.162.216.40]]

:::You can still buy external friends that have CD drives.--[[Special:Contributions/162.158.89.61|162.158.89.61]] 13:12, 3 November 2017 (UTC)

: Yet something affected by that would just as likely be affected by "Broken on new OS, not updated". For example, I've got a multimedia encyclopedia which runs on Win 3.11, and thus can't run on 64-bit windows.
:: Ehrm... You do realise the limitation is the other way around right? You can't run 64-bit application on 32-bit Windows, but 64-bit windows can perfectly well run 32-bit apps. Though Win 3.11 is far enough back it might actually be a fun challenge to see if it runs :D [[Special:Contributions/162.158.202.202|162.158.202.202]] 10:57, 31 October 2017 (UTC)
:::You can not – Win 3.1(.1) was a 16bit operation system – and Microsoft dropped the 16-bit-layer in win7. --[[User:DaB.|DaB.]] ([[User talk:DaB.|talk]]) 19:18, 31 October 2017 (UTC)

Interestingly, static .PDF files are intended to be electronic equivalents of printed books - an electronic microfiche if you will [[User:RIIW - Ponder it|RIIW - Ponder it]] ([[User talk:RIIW - Ponder it|talk]]) 18:57, 30 October 2017 (UTC)

I'm wondering if data on an older, static, website would still be readable. Would likely still be there (or on archive.org), but might be suffering progressive link rot. Also a little surprised that the start of microfilm is so recent; I remember the library having microfilm readers (that nobody ever used) when I was young enough to spend ages staring at a machine, trying to determine its purpose. Guess it depends on the subject, when it was put into that format. --[[User:Angel|Angel]] ([[User talk:Angel|talk]]) 18:39, 30 October 2017 (UTC)
: archive.org returns contemporary pages for links on archived pages, so that should be still safe. The worst nightmare with archive.org is a newly-set robots.txt file: Wayback Machine will just pretend to know nothing about the page even if it has been archived in the past. It sometimes crawl pages, after all. --[[Special:Contributions/172.68.54.16|172.68.54.16]] 07:22, 3 November 2017 (UTC)

Angel, note both the My in the title and the left arrow implying that the resource (like books) were about before Randal had access. [[User:RIIW - Ponder it|RIIW - Ponder it]] ([[User talk:RIIW - Ponder it|talk]]) 18:57, 30 October 2017 (UTC)
: Should those white left arrows be noted in the transcript? The gray right arrows are implied by "past", perhaps something like "Before 1980-past 2020"[[Special:Contributions/162.158.63.16|162.158.63.16]] 17:39, 1 November 2017 (UTC)

"Only to realize'''d'''"? -[[Special:Contributions/172.68.110.22|172.68.110.22]] 23:08, 30 October 2017 (UTC)
:This is probably a typo'''ed'''.--[[Special:Contributions/162.158.89.61|162.158.89.61]] 13:19, 3 November 2017 (UTC)

[Subject] wiki, anyone? Wikis have rather detailed analyses of even obscure topics in my line of work/study. --[[User:Nialpxe|Nialpxe]], 2017. [[User_talk:Nialpxe|(Arguments welcome)]] (P.S. just to be clear I mean wikis maintained by researchers and professionals in [Subject] field, not Wikipedia)

There's a wealth of thought about exactly this problem by librarians; [https://www.loc.gov/preservation/resources/rfs/TOC.html the Library of Congress has some recommendations] along with [https://www.loc.gov/preservation/digital/formats/index.html a database evaluating over a hundred formats] along a variety of axes: is the format documented openly? Is it widely used? Is it inherently transparent to inspection even if the specification is lost? Can it contain its own metadata? What sort of external dependencies does it have? Is it patent-encumbered, and are there technical access restrictions like DRM? (tl;dr, images as TIFF, text as EPUB or PDF/A, sound as WAV. They're very conservative.) [[Special:Contributions/108.162.249.106|108.162.249.106]] 05:07, 31 October 2017 (UTC)

Note that digital data have big advantage over books when dealing with bigger quantity. The amount of work you need to make to preserve printed book is same no matter how many books you have - so it's thousand times more when you have thousand books. Meanwhile, the amount of work needed to preserve for example collection of digital images doesn't really depend on collection size. Let's say that the used format is going out of use: you can automatically convert all images fairy quickly. Of course, harder with applications ... -- [[User:Hkmaly|Hkmaly]] ([[User talk:Hkmaly|talk]]) 08:23, 31 October 2017 (UTC)

The software not running after OS update is such a Mac problem. Linux updates would break if closed software was commonly available, but open source can be recompiled, and Windows maintain a scarry amount of backwards compatibility, and only system-admin or DRM-crippled software ever stops working.[[Special:Contributions/162.158.202.202|162.158.202.202]] 10:54, 31 October 2017 (UTC)
:I must strongly disagree there; Networking features have been known to break following Windows updates, & Android is *terribly* prone to breaking apps or even removing what may be considered core system features with an OS update. Search "kitkat sd", for just one good example. Even Linux can turn into dependency hell when repositories change their branch structure. Then there's the incredible variety of different hardware which only a specific version of Windows with specific hardware once supported: I still can't get an affordable analog serial port adapter that will work with my favorite flight controller.[[Special:Contributions/162.158.75.10|162.158.75.10]] 06:37, 1 November 2017 (UTC)

Here in the UK, the library access would also have ended some time in the last few years...[[Special:Contributions/162.158.155.32|162.158.155.32]] 11:33, 31 October 2017 (UTC)

Nothing lasts forever (or at least that's what seems to be true for anything observed by humanity). Data becomes corrupted and lost over time and usage, and books become damaged and lost over time and usage. Not to mention, thousands of books were burned during the Nazi regime. Human minds are inevitably subject to corrupted memories as well. We lose information all the time, and we try to recover what remains. However, it is also worth mentioning that our digital technology is still pretty young compared to books and other sources of information. Information used to be recorded on papyrus, tablets (I understand that this contradicts my point as some tablets have stood the test of time), etc. Some of the earliest Chinese inks were created with soot and animal glue. The first (attempts of) photographs required hours of light exposure and would fade away quickly. Over time, we discovered ways to improve upon these sources of information. The same could apply to our digital information today. We are essentially in the "papyrus" phase of electronic technology (one could argue with other descriptions, but this isn't significant to my statements). In time, we may achieve more successful long-term solutions to maintaining original data. There are so many avenues for the advancement of technology, and those avenues continue to multiply with each step. At this time, we just need to continue to work on our projects and experiments for the progress of humanity. [[User:NAE|NAE]] ([[User talk:NAE|talk]]) 14:29, 31 October 2017 (UTC)

Randall did a good job frightening me this Halloween... [[Special:Contributions/172.68.34.88|172.68.34.88]] 02:10, 1 November 2017 (UTC)

I wonder if Randall is aware of digital archiving solutions such as those provided by Preservica (https://preservica.com/), formerly part of Tessella plc. Their solutions are aimed at precisely this problem. Their library/museum clients include "the MoMA, the Frick Collection, the Museum of Fine Arts Houston, Yale Library, The National Library of Australia, The Royal Danish Library, The Philadelphia Museum of Art, McNay Art Museum, DC Public Library and the University of Manchester" and their archive clients include "15 leading pan-national and national archives, 18 US state archives, major corporate archives at BT, HSBC, Unilever and the Associated Press". [[Special:Contributions/108.162.249.88|108.162.249.88]] 03:32, 1 November 2017 (UTC)

Randall forgot my personal favorite: UTF-8 formatted .txt files. Since 1993 & counting, never had an issue opening one. I still have my first copy of The Anarchist's Cookbook, copied from a Kaypro II running CP/M on a 5-1/4" floppy to an 8088XT running MS-DOS on a 30mb hard drive to an IBM PS/2 286 on 20mb hard drive to an Asus 486 on a 3.5" floppy to a 1.2gHz Pentium on a 100mb Zip drive to a Core 2 Duo on a CD-R to an i7 system on a 128gb solid state drive, which was finally backed up to a 1tb hard drive & archived, as there's a newer copy to carry around. That original file still opens just fine on any PC I've ever used (including mobile).

Also, I believe Linus Torvalds once said (talking about code, but it applies to anything sufficiently desirable) "Only wimps use tape backup, real men just upload their important stuff on ftp, and let the rest of the world mirror it ;)" I can certainly attest to that. I once made a torrent of all the Star Trek I'd accumulated (IE, all the Star Trek ever) & uploaded that. Two years later an old hard drive died & I was able to recover all 200+ gb in a little over 6 hours, simply by downloading my own torrent from other seeds. Thanks Trekkies![[Special:Contributions/162.158.75.10|162.158.75.10]] 07:22, 1 November 2017 (UTC)

The transcripts for the books and microfilm should state the date range as "before 1980's" to represent the arrows on the chart, just as "past ..." is used for the bars that have arrows at their right ends. I wonder if there is any significance to the fact that the arrows are done differently for "before" and "after".[[Special:Contributions/162.158.126.28|162.158.126.28]] 14:58, 7 November 2017 (UTC)

Talk:1809: xkcd Phone 5

2017-03-13T14:10:12Z

162.158.126.28:

Darn, I was almost fast enough to get the cot-caught merger explanation in there. That being said, now I really want a phone with a Zelda style hook shot. [[User:Andyd273|Andyd273]] ([[User talk:Andyd273|talk]]) 14:02, 10 March 2017 (UTC)
--I just came to say the same. I want the hookshot! [[Special:Contributions/172.68.78.100|172.68.78.100]] 14:05, 10 March 2017 (UTC)

It's way more likely that this refers to the Zelda hook shot, as it looks like a little tube where some sort of grappling hook could potentially shoot out from. It doesn't look like it could shoot out basketballs, though. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.238.17|108.162.238.17]] 15:28, 10 March 2017 (UTC)

It looks like "Hook Shot" is a clever suggestion for a feature name: the lens attaches to the camera with a 'hook' so you can take great 'shot's. [[User:Schnitz|Schnitz]] ([[User talk:Schnitz|talk]]) 18:01, 10 March 2017 (UTC)

::And how is the Hook shot not a DotA/DotA 2 reference? My first reaction upon seeing the Hook shot was DotA. See http://dota2.gamepedia.com/Clockwerk and http://dota.wikia.com/wiki/Clockwerk --[[Special:Contributions/162.158.126.28|162.158.126.28]] 14:10, 13 March 2017 (UTC)

It's worth noting that most of the Loran-C system (which presumably is what would be used on a phone) has been decommissioned in the last decade or so, including all the stations operated by the US and Canadian governments. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.62.201|162.158.62.201]] 15:52, 10 March 2017 (UTC)

'''Notice''' the new [[what if?]] ''{{what if|156|Electrofishing for Whales}}'' released the day before this comic! Only 9 days between releases... --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 16:33, 10 March 2017 (UTC)
:OFF TOPIC: Can you imagine how much Randall must have been laughing while looking at all those funny electrofishing sources he is citing... ROFL--[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 19:44, 10 March 2017 (UTC)

LORAN -- I was under the impression that the US LORAN base stations were turned off in 2010. Perhaps a few years later in some other parts of the world. So a LORAN reciever is of less use than a chocolate teapot.--[[Special:Contributions/162.158.62.21|162.158.62.21]] 18:08, 10 March 2017 (UTC)

I understand "Can Feel Pain" as the next step up for Siri (or Google or Alexa or...) to become conscious. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.219.160|108.162.219.160]] 18:18, 10 March 2017 (UTC)

The phone is slightly round. What could this mean? It's not like Galaxy Edge.--[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 19:44, 10 March 2017 (UTC)

I think part of the joke of "Squelch knob" is that a lot of people simply don't know what a squelch knob does. May as well put this mysterious knob on a phone, too. Does anyone else agree? [[Special:Contributions/162.158.106.18|162.158.106.18]] 01:36, 11 March 2017 (UTC)

It was really funny for me personally that this comic came out this Friday as right before I came home and saw the new xkcd phone I had just picked up my new smartphone. It was "just" a Samsung so great I didn't see this first because then I would have been disappointed by the few features my new phone has. But at least it is now easier to make such a comment like this on the phone --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 16:17, 11 March 2017 (UTC)

Pokemon spoiler inside (rot 13): Va rcvfbqr 16 bs gur Cbxrzba bevtvany frevrf, Nfu, Zvfgl, Oebpx, Wrffvr, naq Wnzrf, nybat jvgu gurve znal Cbxrzba, ner genccrq ba n obng. Orvat irel uhatel, gurl pbafvqre rngvat Wnzrf'f Zntvxnec, hagvy Zrbjgu ovgrf Zntvxnec...naq oernxf uvf grrgu.[[Special:Contributions/162.158.78.208|162.158.78.208]] 21:05, 11 March 2017 (UTC)
:Vf vg ernyyl n fcbvyre gb erirny n cybg cbvag 18+ lrnef nsgre gur bevtvany nve qngr?[[User:These Are Not The Comments You Are Looking For|These Are Not The Comments You Are Looking For]] ([[User talk:These Are Not The Comments You Are Looking For|talk]]) 03:14, 12 March 2017 (UTC)

Every time I see another one in this lame series I get a stronger impression that this is Randall's way of "phoning in" a comic when his creative well goes dry. ''— [[User:Tbc|tbc]] ([[User talk:Tbc|talk]]) 04:32, 12 March 2017 (UTC)''

"there is an xkcd Phone 2 available" - really? (Not really.)
Real "haptic" (touch) technology on devices includes producing the sensation of touching a real version of a virtual object, as well as a device sensing not only being touched, but how it is touched. On the other hand, I don't think our relationships with devices will be improved if they can feel pain. Or fear, which logically comes next. That's wrong, even if they are already doing it to us. rja.carnegie@excite.com [[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.160|141.101.98.160]] 03:34, 13 March 2017 (UTC)

I think "retina storage" is like a retina scanner -- except it's not read-only. --[[Special:Contributions/172.68.54.112|172.68.54.112]] 05:05, 13 March 2017 (UTC)

;Layout question
We have five xkcd phone explanations. Three of them are using a bullet list and two (including this) use a table. I prefer the bullets, not only because it's easier for editors. A table cell where the text needs a couple of lines is either bad text or bad layout. I think it's the layout. What do you think?--[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 19:57, 10 March 2017 (UTC)
:I like the table but I do not wish to use the time to change any of these explanations. Also it is not important to me but I would prefer the five explanations used the same layout. So I would not object if all where made into bullets lists. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 08:14, 11 March 2017 (UTC)
::It's me - I have copied the tabular layout from the other phone comic explanation. I like tables more than bullet lists even if the explanation is large, because tables keep explained items visually separate, so you can easily find the one you're looking for - and there's a sortable version. It is more troublesome for editors indeed. Maybe we should use wiki definition lists (which translate directly to HTML definition lists) to combine the best of both worlds. It may be possible to add some nice CSS for a better look but I don't know how do do it in wiki. Or maybe create some new pretty macro? I don't know anything about creating wiki macros. Below I put an example definition list to show how to write it in wiki markup and how it looks like - definitely better than bullet list IMHO. -- [[User:Malgond|Malgond]] ([[User talk:Malgond|talk]]) 10:38, 13 March 2017 (UTC)

; something to explain : long and windy explanation of a really trivial topic that users of this site really love to write
; xkcd : just a point in four-letter namespace