explain xkcd - User contributions [en]

2424: Normal Conversation

2021-02-13T00:51:25Z

162.158.187.111: /* Explanation */ Mentioned a similar comic

{{comic
| number = 2424
| date = February 12, 2021
| title = Normal Conversation
| image = normal_conversation.png
| titletext = "I think I'll pass. These days I have a hard time feeling comfortable in crowded bars with loud music and lots of shouting." --me, after the pandemic, but now for a second reason
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by a BOT. Please mention here why this explanation isn't complete. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
[[Randall]]/[[Cueball]] has shown in many comics his inability to make small talk, or have a "normal" conversation ([[:Category:Social interactions]]). With the COVID-19 pandemic, he feels that others may have difficulty having normal conversations as well, and so this seems to be a "silver lining" for the pandemic that he can use this excuse instead of having to admit that he has difficulty in social situations. Randall also uses a false but plausible excuse to cover some unusual aspect of his behavior in [[1900: Jet Lag]].

In the title text, he shows his dislike, which existed prior to the pandemic, of going to crowded bars. In the future, even after the pandemic passes, Cueball will still use the excuse that the pandemic made him feel uncomfortable in crowded bars due to possible virus spread and that the feeling has persisted past the pandemic.

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
:[Two Cueballs wearing face masks are facing each other and talking]
:Cueball 1: So how's...everything.
:Cueball 1: I mean, I know everything is, um...but are you, uh...
:Cueball 1: Sorry, I feel like the pandemic has destroyed my ability to have a conversation like a normal human.
:Cueball 2: Haha, I know, right?

:[Caption below the panel]:
:I'm at least glad I have this excuse now.

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:COVID-19]]
[[Category:Social interactions]]
[[Category:Multiple Cueballs]]
[[Category:Comics featuring face masks]]

1037: Umwelt

2021-02-05T04:39:54Z

162.158.187.111: Noted more references to umwelt

{{comic
| number = 1037
| date = April 1, 2012
| title = Umwelt
| image = umwelt_the_void.jpg
| titletext = Umwelt is the idea that because their senses pick up on different things, different animals in the same ecosystem actually live in very different worlds. Everything about you shapes the world you inhabit--from your ideology to your glasses prescription to your web browser.
}}
{{TOC}}
==Explanation==
This was the third [[:Category:April fools' comics|April fools' comic]] released by [[Randall]]. The previous fools comic was
[[880: Headache]] from Friday April 1st 2011. The next was [[1193: Externalities]] released on Monday April 1st 2013.

This comic was released on April 1 even though that was [[:Category:Sunday comics|a Sunday]] (only the third comic to be released on a Sunday). But it was only due to the April Fool joke, as it did replace the comic that would have been scheduled for Monday, April 2nd. The next comic, [[1038: Fountain]], was first released on Wednesday, April 4th. This was the first that could be different for different readers.

An {{w|Umwelt}}, as the title text explains, is the idea that one's entire way of thinking is dependent on their surroundings. Thus, this {{w|April Fools}} comic changes based on the browser, location, or referrer. Thus, what the viewer is viewing the comic on, where they live, or where they came from determines which comic they actually see. As a result, there are actually multiple comics that went up on April Fools' Day, although only one is seen.
(The term 'Umwelt,' as mentioned in the comic, refers to the semiotic theories of Jakob von Uexküll and Thomas A. Sebeok)

Information about how the wide variety of data was collected and credit for the viewers who contributed can be found [http://www.reddit.com/r/xkcd/comments/rnst4/april_fools_xkcd_changing_comic/ here].

===The Void===
[[File:umwelt the void.jpg]]

If the device or browser you are using does not support Javascript, you will simply see a static image of a white swirl on a dark background.

Possible reference to The Ring (http://imgur.com/wlGmm), as though to suggest that using an alternative browser is dismal and horrific.

Davean (xkcd's sysadmin): "[This] comic isn't available everywhere and it can come up i[n] some situation[s] only for recognized browsers."

Browser: Alternative Browser

===Aurora===
[[File:umwelt aurora.png]]

One could interpret that since Megan didn't go out and therefore missed seeing the {{w|Aurora}} (northern lights), Cueball in his [[1350:_Lorenz#Knit_Cap_Girl|knit cap]] lied about it. That way, she wouldn't have felt sad that she missed out. Another interpretation could be that he decides that since she did not even bother to go outside to see such a spectacular sight he will not tell her about it. And yet another could be that he did not think it was interesting.

Cueball could possibly also be red-green colorblind, seeing the green aurorae as grey "clouds". This would serve as an example for the theme of the comic, as a non-colorblind person and a colorblind person seeing the same color would perceive it differently, one seeing it as its true color, and the other seeing it without the shade of color they cannot see. If this is the case, then it would be a reference to umwelt, as Cueball would be living in a world where the auroras do not reach his location.

This image changed based on the size of the browser window including different panels at different sizes.

Locations: Canada, Boston, Maine, New York, Ohio, Oregon, Texas, Minnesota, Norway, Denmark, France, Rhode Island (not sure if mobile only or not.) (also in virginia, but using ohio in the first panel) (also in maryland, but using canada in the first panel)

In [[1302: Year in Review]] a possibly different Megan has a completely different approach to the chance of seeing northern lights, as that was the only event she was looking forward to in 2013, and it failed. If this is the same Megan, perhaps she learned that there actually were northern lights in her area from another source, and so desperately wanted to have another chance to see them.

===Snake===
[[File:umwelt snake composite 1024.png]]
[[:File:umwelt snake composite.png|Full size]]

The joke here is the extreme length of snakes. The world's longest snake is the python, the longest ever being 33 feet or approx. 10 meters. The blue and orange circles refer to the hit game {{w|Portal}}.
There is also a reference to the book "The Little Prince" in the second panel, where there is a large bulge in the snake that looks like an elephant. The Little Prince starts out by mentioning a drawing that the author made when he was six that showed an elephant inside a snake.

Also, the number and content of the panels changes depending on the size of your browser window.

This image changed based on the size of the browser window including different panels at different sizes.

Specific AltText for this image: Umwelt is the idea that because their senses pick up on different things, different animals in the same ecosystem actually live in very different worlds. Everything about you shapes the world you inhabit -from your ideology to your glasses prescription to your browser window size.

Location: Texas (on Chrome Version 33.0.1750.154 m), New Jersey, California (on Chrome Version 39.0.2171.95), Maryland, Massachusetts (Safari for iOS, Chrome version 49.0.2623.112), Connecticut (Safari for iOS, Chrome Version 73.0.3683.103, Internet Explorer, and Microsoft Edge), Virginia (on Chrome), Michigan (Firefox v46.0.1), Penang (Chrome Version 65.0.3325.162).

===Black Hat===
[[File:umwelt tortoise 1024.png]]
[[:File:umwelt tortoise.png|Full size]]

Cueball as an analyst attempts to psychoanalyze [[Black Hat|Black Hat's]] [[72: Classhole|classhole]] tendencies. Cueball's quote and the whole setup is a direct reference to the movie {{w|Blade Runner}} (1982) and Black Hat is taking the Voight-Kampff test which is used to identify replicants from real humans.

Black Hat's reason for not helping the tortoise is that ''it '''knows''' what it did'' and thus in Black Hat's world view it deserves being turned over. The final part of the joke is that when zooming out it turns out that there is a tortoise behind Black Hat and he has actually already turned it over for what it did.

Location: Seems to appear mostly in "other countries" — those without location-specific comics.

===Too Quiet===
[[File:umwelt too quiet 1024.png]]
[[:File:umwelt too quiet.png|Full size]]

A reference to {{w|Jurassic Park (film)|Jurassic Park}} which has been [[87: Velociraptors|constantly]] [[135: Substitute|referred]] [[1110: Click and Drag|to]] [[155: Search History|before]] [[758: Raptor Fences|in]] this comic.

Also referencing the film {{w|2 Fast 2 Furious|2 Fast 2 Furious}}, an entertaining, yet intellectually unprovoking sequel in a popular film franchise, which is aimed at teenagers and young adults, prompting the blunt response from the stickman. The fact that Steve would use such a cliché {{w|2000s (decade)|noughties}} movie term in such an intense moment, and the subsequent curse, is the joke in this comic.

Location: short version — iPhone 5c Safari browser in Texas, iPhone 5 Chrome Browser in Minnesota, long version - Google Chrome browser in Indiana, Windows 8 Laptop

===Pond===
[[File:umwelt pond mobile.png]][[File:umwelt pond wide.png]]

Two different versions showed, the narrower version for mobile devices.

Location: The Netherlands and various other countries.

===Galaxies===
[[File:umwelt galaxies 1024.jpg]]
[[:File:umwelt galaxies.jpg|Full size]]

Megan is distracted from her conversation with [[Cueball]] by realizing that the space behind his head, from her vantage point, contains millions of galaxies. This is similar to an [http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/image/astro/hst_deep_field.jpg incredible photograph] taken by the Hubble Telescope, in which a tiny dark area of space in fact contained numerous galaxies.

The title text is an imaginative leap from this scenario: that the galaxies would be up to no good once Cueball is turned away from them. This is presumably a reference to [http://www.mariowiki.com/boo Boo], an enemy from certain Mario games who moves toward Mario only when Mario is facing away from Boo.

This comic was only reported once... the intended environmental context is a mystery.

Location: unknown

===xkcd Gold===
[[File:umwelt xkcd gold.png]]

This is probably a reference to the 4chan Gold Account, an implementation on 4chan that does not actually exist, and is usually used to trick newcomers into revealing their credit card numbers. The joke is that "Gold Account" users can supposedly block other users from viewing images they have posted. The fifth panel is probably a reference to Beecock, a notorious set of shocker images. 4chan's moderators have been known to give out "beecock bans" or "/z/ bans" to particularly annoying users, which redirect the user to a page containing beecock and the text "OH NO THE BOARD IS GONE".

Referrer: 4chan

===Yo Mama===
[[File:umwelt dog ballast.png]]

Possible reference to Kurt Vonnegut Jr.'s "{{w|Harrison Bergeron}}."

Possibly a veiled criticism of Facebook. This could be slightly rewritten as: "This comic takes place in a dystopian future where the government is afraid of dissent, so it tracks everyone at all times, and some people privately doubt the government, but not enough to stop submitting information to Facebook. But that dystopian future is now."
It's also possible that people's different experiences shape how they perceive the world in that the people who live in this world would perceive the joke as funny, while people in our world would not get it. This the idea of umwelt mentioned in the top of the context where different individuals perceive the world differently.

Referrer: Facebook

===Reddit===
[[File:umwelt reddit.png]]

Reference to referencing, because Reddit, as a referring site, likes references to its referencing in its references.

This comic also features recursive imagery similar to [[688: Self-Description|Self Description]] where the third panel embeds the entire comic within itself.

One of the browser tabs visible in the center panel is {{w|Elk}} on Wikipedia.

Referrer: Reddit

===Buns and Hot dogs===
[[File:umwelt somethingawful.jpg]]

This is a reference to the question "Why do hot dogs come in packages of 6 while buns come in packages of 8?"

Another, more sexual reference to this question can be found in [[1641: Hot Dogs]].

Referrer: SomethingAwful, Questionable Content, & MetaFilter

===Twitter===
[[File:umwelt twitter.jpg]]

A summary of the "content" typically found on Twitter.

In the tweet feed, there are three tweets about some podcast on the top, followed by the tweet containing link they clicked on to get to the comic, tweets about Rob Delaney, unspecified passive-aggressive tweets, and a tweet from [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Horse_ebooks Horse Ebooks] retweeted by one of the users the reader follows.

On the left, the topmost dialog, with profile information, shows that the user has posted 1,302 tweets, but only follows 171 people and has even fewer followers, at a measly 48. This is marked with a sad face, implying that the user wants more followers.

Below that is the "who to follow" dialog, which is written up as consisting of "assholes".

Below that is the "trending tags" dialog for the United States. It is full of tags about word games, tags about misogyny, and tags about Justin Bieber.

Below that is an unidentified dialog full of "stuff your eyes automatically ignore". And finally, on the bottom is the background colour, which is "a really pleasant blue".

Referrer: Twitter

===Wikipedia===
[[File:umwelt wikipedia wide.jpg]]
[[File:umwelt wikipedia mobile.png]]

The term {{w|Mile High Club}} (or MHC) is a slang term applied collectively to individuals who have had sexual intercourse while on board of an aircraft. Randall says that reading the news articles on it has distracted him from making that comic.

Two different versions shown, the narrower version (the single panel with all the text) for mobile devices.

Referrer: Wikipedia

===Google Chrome===
[[File:umwelt chrome1.jpg]]

{{w|Sergey Brin}} (born August 21, 1973) is an American computer scientist and Internet entrepreneur who, with Larry Page, co-founded Google, one of the most profitable Internet companies. As of 2013, his personal wealth was estimated to be $24.4 billion. Randall makes the joke that as the founder of Google, Brin's permission would be needed to use Google Chrome. Because there are millions of people who use Google, it is likely that at least some of the time Brin would be asleep, thus he would need to be woken.

Browser: Chrome

===Chrome/Firefox===
[[File:umwelt chrome2.png]]

Mozilla {{w|Firefox}} is a free and open-source web browser developed for Windows, OS X, and Linux, with a mobile version for Android and iOS, by the Mozilla Foundation and its subsidiary, the Mozilla Corporation. Cueball is complaining about {{w|Google Chrome}}, to which [[Ponytail]] replies that there is an {{w|add-on}} that fixes what he is complaining about. When questioned, she replies that the add-on is Firefox, which isn't an add-on at all and is instead a different browser.

Browser: Chrome

===Google Chrome-2===
[[File:umwelt chrome3.png]]

This panel references Google Chrome's error screen, which shows a puzzle piece. The comic humorously implies that Chrome is looking for that piece. When completing jigsaw puzzles, a common strategy is to figure out where the pieces must be from their geometry rather than from the picture they create. In this case, the text suggests that Chrome believes the puzzle piece connects to the pieces which form one of the corners of the puzzle, which may seem impossible because any piece that links up to a corner would usually have at least one flat edge, which this piece has none. However, more complicated puzzles have complex shapes and are not always simply approximate squares with tabs and blanks.

Browser: Chrome or silk on desktop view

===Mozilla Firefox Private Browsing===
[[File:umwelt firefox incognito.png]]

Another reference to crashing web browsers.
Firefox shows the history when it crashes.
Browser: Firefox (Incognito only?)

===Internet Explorer===
[[File:umwelt ie.png]]

Yet another reference to crashing web browsers

Browser: Internet Explorer

===Maxthon===
[[File:umwelt maxthon.png]]

Browser: Maxthon

===Netscape Navigator===
[[File:umwelt netscape womanoctopus.png]]

[[File:umwelt netscape man.png]]

{{w|Netscape Navigator}} was a web browser popular in the 1990s.

Browser: Netscape

===Rockmelt===
[[File:umwelt rockmelt.png]]

{{w|Rockmelt}} is a social-media-based browser.

Reference to the gospel song {{w|Longing for Old Virginia: Their Complete Victor Recordings (1934)|"There's no hiding place down here" by The Carter Family}}, later covered by Stephen Stills.

:I run to the rock just to hide my face
:And the rocks cried out, no hiding place
:There's no hiding place down here

It may additionally be a reference to the ''Babylon 5'' episode "And the Rock Cried Out, No Hiding Place," which featured the song.

Browser: Rockmelt

===Plugin Disabled===
[[File:umwelt plugin disabled.png]]

When the Google Chrome web browser does not have the required software (called a plug-in) to display a web page's content, it displays a puzzle piece icon and an error message. In this case, Chrome informs the user that the content is impossible to display.

Browser: Plugin (?) Disabled, Safari Desktop

===Corporate Networks===
[[File:umwelt corporate general.png]]
[[File:umwelt corporate amazon chrome.png]]
[[File:umwelt corporate amazon firefox.png]]
[[File:umwelt corporate amazon other.png]]
[[File:umwelt corporate google chrome.png]]
[[File:umwelt corporate microsoft chrome.png]]
[[File:umwelt corporate microsoft firefox.png]]
[[File:umwelt corporate microsoft other.png]]
[[File:umwelt corporate nytimes chrome.png]]
[[File:umwelt corporate nytimes other.png]]

These error messages appear if the user is on a network owned by one of the corporations noted. The error message includes a warning against speaking on the company's behalf.

ISP: Corporate networks of Amazon, Google, Microsoft, NY Times

===Military===
[[File:umwelt military.png]]

[[Cueball]] assumes that anyone using a military network has an important job like watching for incoming missiles. He includes a thank-you to the user for their military service.

ISP: Military networks

===T-Mobile===
[[File:umwelt tmobile.png]]

Reference to T-Mobile's distinguishing feature (at the time it was written) of weaker coverage, in relation to other major providers.

ISP: T-Mobile

===Verizon and AT&T===
[[File:umwelt verizon.png]]

[[File:umwelt att.png]]

Reference to Verizon and AT&T's scandals/controversy regarding implementation of bandwidth caps.

ISP: Verizon and AT&T

===France===
[[File:umwelt france.jpg]]

A common joke about France is that the nation does not win wars. This originated from France's annexation by Germany during World War II, and America's late entry into the war, which is sometimes portrayed humorously as a case of America 'saving' Europe, in this joke particularly France (the role of the French resistance is usually not mentioned), leading to a common American joke at the expense of France's military prowess [http://www.albinoblacksheep.com/text/victories.html][http://politicalhumor.about.com/library/images/blpic-frenchmilitaryvictories.htm][http://politicalhumor.about.com/library/jokes/bljokefrenchmilitaryhistory.htm]. When France did not form part of the coalition that invaded Iraq in 2003, aligning with the many countries that condemned U.S. action, the joke was revived.

A Google search of "French Military Victories" + 'I'm feeling lucky' used to direct to "did you mean: french military defeats" (due to a {{w|Google bomb}}). Cueball is trying to show this to his friend, who is French. However, his joke backfires, as his friends immediately points out that the stereotype of France not having military victories is undercut by the fact that one of the most innovative military commanders in history, Napoleon, was French by citizenship (though Italian/Corsican by culture, as the French annexed Corsica a few months before his birth to an Italian noble family), and in fact conquered much of Europe.

Follwing the theme of umwelt, the comic highlights the two characters' differing perspectives: The American thinks that France is a military failure, while the Frenchman thinks of Napoleon.

The last line of the comic further implies that Cueball is not as smart as he thinks he is in regards to anything French, as he mispronounces the French loan word "touché".

Locations: France & Quebec

===Germany===
[[File:umwelt germany.png]]

This comic references the {{w|Berlin airlift#The start of the Berlin Airlift|Berlin Airlift}}, a relief measure for citizens in West Berlin (surrounded by East Germany) instituted by the Western Allies after World War II. In reality, the Western Allies flew a grand total of 500,000 tons of food over the Soviet blockade in planes. Randall puts a twist on this event by making it more fun: dropping supplies from a grand chairlift. The play on words is that "chairlift" rhymes with "airlift" and thus makes an easy substitution. The chair force is also a name that other service branches use to make fun of the air force.

Location: Germany

===Israel===
[[File:umwelt israel.png]]

Transcript:

בחורה: אמא, פגשתי בחור נהדר! אבל הוא לא יהודי.‏

...

רגע, מה את אומרת, "גם אנחנו לא"?‏

אני לגמרי מבולבלת.‏

(Translation from Hebrew)

Person: Mom, I met a great guy! But he's not Jewish. ...Wait, what do you mean "neither are we"? I'm completely confused.

A reference to the multiple use of the word Jewish to denote both a religious group and a nationality/ethnicity, as well as the stereotype of Jews holding low opinions of interfaith marriage.

A side note: Randall accidentally drew an apostrophe instead of the similar-looking Hebrew letter י everywhere that letter should appear.

Location: Israel

===Carnot Cycle===
[[File:umwelt japan.png]]

A pun on "cycle"; a "{{w|Carnot cycle}}" is a thermodynamic cycle (e.g. refrigeration). Its efficiency depends on the temperature of the hot and cold 'reservoirs' in which it is operating. The icon on the side of the motorcycle resembles a [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Carnot_cycle_p-V_diagram.svg graph of the Carnot cycle.]

Location: Japan

===UK===
[[File:umwelt uk.jpg]]

He worded this as though to imply that the UK is a state of the U.S., and an unimportant one at that, which pokes fun at the UK, creating a paradox (sort of).

Location: UK

===Blizzard===
[[File:umwelt disasters blizzard.png]]

This comic is aimed at the debate over whether earthquakes or blizzards are harsher conditions to live under. In keeping with the theme of umwelt, the comic demonstrates that the two people perceive the world in two different ways due to their different experiences: The California perceives a mild earthquake and a severe blizzard, while the Northeasterner perceives a severe earthquake and a mild blizzard.

For each location this displayed in, the state name was substituted in the third panel.

Locations: Alabama, Boston, Chicago, Dallas, Georgia, Halifax, Illinois, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, the Northeast, Ohio, Oklahoma, Ottawa, Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Texas, Toronto, Tennessee, New York, Wisconsin

===Tornado===
[[File:umwelt disasters tornado.png]]

This comic is aimed at the debate over whether earthquakes or tornadoes are harsher conditions to live under. In keeping with the theme of umwelt, the comic demonstrates that the two people perceive the world in two different ways due to their different experiences: The California perceives a mild earthquake and a severe tornado, while the Midwesterner perceives a severe earthquake and a mild tornado.

For each location this displayed in the state name was substituted in the third panel.

Locations: Alabama, Dallas, Illinois, Georgia, The Midwest, Missouri, Ohio, Oklahoma, Ottawa, Tennessee, Texas (and Virginia, but it used Ohio in the third panel)

Tornadoes are a [[:Category:Tornadoes|recurring subject]] on xkcd. The picture used in [[1754: Tornado Safety Tips]] very reminiscent of the one from this version of Umwelt. [[Category:Tornadoes]]

===Hurricane===
[[File:umwelt disasters hurricane.png]]

This comic is aimed at the debate over whether earthquakes or hurricanes are harsher conditions to live under. In keeping with the theme of umwelt, the comic demonstrates that the two people perceive the world in two different ways due to their different experiences: The California perceives a mild earthquake and a severe hurricane, while the Easterner perceives a severe earthquake and a mild blizzard.

For each location this displayed in the state name was substituted in the third panel.

Locations: D.C, Florida, Georgia, Houston, Miami, New Jersey, North Carolina, South Carolina, Virginia

===Lake Diver Killer===
[[File:umwelt lake diver.png]]

This comic shows a news reporter standing in front of a lake. She is reporting on a serial killer who targets divers. As more divers are sent in to investigate and/or search for bodies, more divers go missing, the implication being that they were also murdered. The more likely reason is the lake itself is dangerous for diving, and the divers probably drowned from natural hazards (undercurrents, entanglement, running out of oxygen in tanks, etc.) instead of a malicious assailant. Also, this is a sort of loop, where each time a diver gets killed, the investigative team goes and investigates, causing more divers to get killed, causing more deaths, and so on.

Location: Bay Areas, Metro Detroit, Vermont showed an image specifically referencing Lake Champlain

===Lincoln Memorial===
[[File:umwelt lincoln memorial.png]]

Abraham Lincoln, the 16th president of the United States of America, was not an entity composed wholly of nanobots that attempted to consume the entire nation to then be imprisoned within the Lincoln Memorial.{{Citation needed}}

Locations: Illinois & Washington D.C.

===Helicopter Hunting===
[[File:umwelt helicoptor.png]]

In Alaska, governments and individuals have {{w|Wolf hunting#North America 2|shot wolves en masse from helicopters}} in an attempt to artificially inflate populations of game, such as moose and caribou, to make hunting them easier. This is opposed by many, as the game populations are not endangered (thus, this threatens ecological balance); wolves are a small threat to livestock in North America; most of the wolf body —including meat and bones— goes wasted as they are sought mainly for their pelts.

Location: Alaska

===Newspaper===
[[File:umwelt life scientists.png]][[File:umwelt life rit.png]][[File:umwelt life umass.png]]

Creating new life has long been a well understood process, in a lab or otherwise.

This comic is likely a reference to the title text of [[983: Privacy]]

Location: Various

Specific versions appeared for RIT and UMass Amherst

===Robot Paul Revere===
[[File:umwelt paul revere.png]]

Combination of the legend of {{w|Paul Revere#"Midnight Ride"|Paul Revere}} and a computer bit that differentiates between two situations by indicating a zero or a one.

Location: Boston

===Counting Cards===

All four colleges in this series are in Massachusetts and, being similar, in pairs, rival each other to some extent (Harvard-MIT, and Smith-Wellesley). The comic contains a reference to the {{w|MIT Blackjack Team}}, which entered popular culture via the {{w|21 (2008 film)|film 21}}, and a possible reference to Orwell's book '1984' and/or {{w|Chain of Command (Star Trek: The Next Generation)|popular homage to it via Star Trek}}: "There are four lights."[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ChYIm6MW39k]

Bonus: The thought-gears in panel 3 are spinning against each other.

Location: Harvard

[[File:umwelt counting cards harvard.png]]

Location: MIT

[[File:umwelt counting cards mit.png]]

"Course 15s" at MIT are the business major students, often mocked for taking a less-rigorous program. The different interpretation for why the MIT students could not count cards compared to Harvard may be a reference to the theme of umwelt.

Location: Smith

[[File:umwelt counting cards smith.png]]

Location: Wellesley

[[File:umwelt counting cards wellesley.png]]

Both Wellesley and Smith are all-women colleges in Massachusetts.

===Giant Box Trap===
[[File:umwelt box trap.png]]

Randall got his undergrad in Physics at the {{w|Christopher Newport University}}, and was scheduled to return shortly to give a talk. The "Trible" figure on the right is Paul Trible, the then-president of CNU. This comic depicts a classic trap, where an upside-down box is propped up with a stick. When the stick is removed, by pulling a string, the box falls and traps whatever is underneath it. Aside from the joke of the obvious trap, there's also the fact that the president would not be responsible for revoking unearned diplomas.

Location: Christopher Newport University

===Chemo Support===
[[File:umwelt chemo.jpg]]

[[Cueball]] has shaved his head in support of people going through {{w|chemotherapy}} but, as he is always depicted as a stick figure with no hair, no one can tell.

Randall's now-wife was diagnosed with breast cancer, and apparently DFCI is where they've been spending much of their time.

Location: Dana-Farber Cancer Institute

===Reviews===
[[File:reviews.png]]

The previous strip appears twice when using [[wikipedia:Tor (anonymity network)|Tor]].

Browser: Any using Tor, xkcd API (JSON, RSS, Atom), w3m, and reports of seeing it on a Kindle Fire HD; also happens if visiting with a browser that does not support JavaScript (such as Firefox with NoScript)

===Nothing===

[[File:Umwelt.png]]

The comic doesn't appear in iPad browsers. The top buttons and the bottom buttons are side by side, and you can only see the title in the top.

On April 28 and 29, 2019, a visit from San Francisco on macOS 10.14.4 using Chrome 74, Safari 12.1, or Firefox 66.0.3, all with JavaScript enabled, produced no comic, just two adjacent rows of navigation buttons.

On April 29, 2019, a visit from Utah using a T-mobile Samsung device running Android pie, yielded the same results

Since this comic's release, all devices viewing it have returned two rows of navigation buttons if near IP address 69.114.249.104.

It also doesn't work in Pennsylvania on the Chrome operating system.

There is a discussion about this in the ''Talk'' page.

==Transcript==
:[Note to courageous readers- The transcript has been reordered in the order in which the comics appear in the picture and appropriate names have been given.]

:'''The Void'''
:[An epic void with a bright light shining right on you.]

:'''Aurora'''
:[Cueball heading out past Megan comfortably sitting in front of a desk.]
:Cueball: Apparently there's a solar flare that's causing some Great Aurorae. CBC says they may even be visible here! Wanna drive out to see?
:Megan: Hockey's on.
:Cueball: Ok. Later.

:[An expansive, marvelous image of emerald green northern lights, floating down through the sky.]

:Megan: See anything?
:Cueball: No, just clouds.
:Megan: Not surprised.

:'''Aurora-US'''
:[Cueball heading out past Megan comfortably sitting in front of a desk.]
:Cueball: Apparently there's a solar storm causing northern lights over Canada. CNN say they might even be visible {Options: "As Far South As Us", "Here in Boston", "Maine", "Ohio", "Oregon", "New York"}! Wanna drive out to see?
:Megan: It's cold out.
:Cueball: Ok. Later.

:[An expansive, marvelous image of emerald green northern lights, floating down through the sky.]

:Megan: See anything?
:Cueball: No, just clouds.
:Megan: Not surprised.

:'''Snake'''
:[Two people standing next to each other. Megan is holding the head end of a snake. Depending on the width of your browser, the snake is: three frames, the third of which has a little bit of a bump; the first frame has a human-size bump, the second has a third person looking at the snake, and the third has the snake going though two Portals; a squirrel and the human-size bump in the first frame, a ring next to the third person in the second frame, and Beret Guy riding the snake in front of the portal; or The squirrel, a fourth person within the snake being coiled, and the human bump in the first frame, the ring, a fifth person in love, and the third person in the second frame, Beret Guy and the portal in the third frame, and the same two people in the fourth frame.]

:Megan: I found a snake, but then I forgot to stop.

:'''Black hat'''
:[Two people sitting at a desk. One is Black Hat. The other is an analyst. Black Hat has a number of terminals attached to his head.]
:Analyst: You come across a tortoise in the desert. You flip it over. It struggles to right itself. You watch. You're not helping. Why is that?

:Black Hat: It '''knows''' what it did.

:[View of the entire scene, with said turtle off in the distance on its back and trying to right itself.]

:'''Too quiet'''
:[A group of four scale down a wall into a field in the middle of the night. They walk off single-file.]
:Person 1: It's quiet.

:Person 3: Yeah - *Too* quiet.

:[A Velociraptor is off in the distance, following the group.]
:Person 4: Yeah - too *too* quiet.

:Person 2: Yeah - 2quiet2furious.
:Person 1: Fuck off, Steve.

:'''Pond'''
:[A landscape showing a pond, some reeds, and a set of mountains off in the distance.]

:'''Galaxies'''
:[A trio of galaxies.]
:Galaxy 1: He's not looking!
:Galaxy 3: Let's get him!
:[Lines draw in illustrating the eye-line of one of a pair of people.]
:Cueball: So he said he didn't get the text, but c'mon, he *never* misses texts. Right? ..hello?
:Megan: I'm just staring at your head freaked out by the fact that there are millions of galaxies *directly behind it*.

:'''xkcd Gold'''
:[Cueball holding bat.]

:Cueball: Sorry, but this comic

:[Cueball starts to wind up.]

:Cueball: requires

:[Cueball prepares to strike with bat.]

:Cueball: XKCD

:[Cueball swings at a beehive.]
:GOLD

:[Penis Bees fly out of the beehive.]

:'''Yo mamma'''
:[Cueball yells at a friend.]
:Cueball: Oh yeah? Well you mama's so ''cynical'', her only dog ballast is a ''leash''!
:(This comic takes place in a dystopian future where the government is afraid dogs can hover, so it requires them to wear weights at all times, and some people privately doubt the government, but not enough to stop buying dog weights.)

:'''Reddit'''
:Five seconds ago:
:[You sitting in front of a desk, reading a reddit thread.]
:You: Oh, hey, reddit has a link to some XKCD april fools comic.

:Now: [An image of the xkcd comic page.]
:Five seconds from now:

:You: ..hey

:30 seconds from now:
:[DANCE PARTY!]

:'''Buns and Hot dogs'''
:Cueball: What I wanna know is why do hot dogs come in packages of six while buns come in these huge sacks of ash and blood from which "Ave Maria" is faintly audible?
:[Chanting sacks of gore in the background.]

:'''Twitter'''
:[A Twitter account page with the following: Many tweets, fewer following, even fewer followers, A bunch of assholes in the suggested follow box, trending topics partitioned into: Word Games, Misogyny, and Bieber, stuff your eyes automatically ignore, A really pleasant blue. and the timeline: Something about a podcast, Someone confused because the description doesn't match the link, The link you clicked on to get to this comic, Rob Delaney, Passive Aggression, and horse ebooks.]

:'''Wikipedia'''
:[There's no comic here because instead of drawing one, I spent the last hour reading every news story cited in the Wikipedia article on The Mile High Club.]

:'''Google Chrome'''
:[A Chrome plugin error page.]
:Chrome: This plugin requires Sergey Brin's permission to run. Please wait while he is woken.

:'''Chrome/Firefox'''
:[Two people; Cueball is sitting at a desk in front of a laptop.]
:Cueball: Man, chrome's hardware acceleration really sucks.
:Ponytail: Oh - Theres' a great add-on that fixes it.
:Cueball: Oh? What's it called?
:Ponytail: "Firefox".

:'''Google Chrome-2'''
:[A Chrome plugin error page with the characteristic jigsaw piece.]
:Chrome: Chrome is looking for this piece. Have you seen it? Chrome thinks it links up with a corner.

:'''Mozilla Firefox Private Browsing'''
:[Firefox error page.]
:Firefox: Well, this is embarrassing. You know how I'm not supposed to peek at your browsing in private mode? Firefox.. is sorry. Firefox will not blame you if you
:[Button with text.]
:Click here to report this incident.

:'''Internet Explorer'''
:[IE error page.]
:IE: Error: Internet Explorer has given up.

:'''Maxthon'''
:Cueball: Maxthon? Hey, 2005 called. Didn't say anything. All I could hear was sobbing. This is getting harder. Anyway, yeah, Maxthon's still cool! Didn't know it was still around!

:'''Netscape Navigator'''
:[Two different versions exist: one with Cueball talking and one with Megan with tentacle arms talking.]
:Person: Netscape Navigator? Hey, the nineties called - drunk as usual. I hung up without saying anything. This is getting harder. Anyway - it's cool that you'e got netscape running.

:'''Rockmelt'''
:[Cueball running to laptop.]
:I ran to Rockmelt to hide my face

:[Cueball sitting at laptop.]
:But Rockmelt cried out -

:[Laptop shouting.]
:NO HIDING PLACE

:[zoom out.]
:NO HIDING PLACE DOWN HERE

:'''Google Chrome-3'''
:[A chrome plugin error page.]
:Chrome: There does not exist --nor could there '''ever''' exist-- a plugin capable of displaying this content.

:'''Microsoft/Amazon/The Times/Google - Chrome'''
:[Chrome error page.]
:Chrome: This plugin requires clearance from the corporate press office in order to run. Remember, Microsoft/Amazon/The Times/Google is a team; individual employees should ''never'' speak for the company without authorization.

:'''Microsoft/Amazon - Firefox'''
:[Firefox error page.]
:Error: This plugin requires clearance from the corporate press office in order to run. Remember, Microsoft/Amazon is a team; individual employees should ''never'' speak for the company without authorization.

:'''Microsoft/The Times'''
:[Error page.]
:Error: This plugin requires clearance from the corporate press office in order to run. Remember, Microsoft/The Times is a team; individual employees should ''never'' speak for the company without authorization.

:'''Corporate - Generic'''
:[Error page.]
:Error: This plugin requires clearance from the corporate press office in order to run. Remember, we work as a team; individual employees should ''never'' speak for the company without authorization.

:'''Military'''
:[Person looking at two browser windows.]
:Cueball: I know y'all know what you're doing. But if you're on a military machine and you're supposed to be watching for missiles or something, I hope you're keeping an eye on that in the background while you're reading comics. Also: Thanks.

:'''T-Mobile'''
:[Error page.]
:Data Error: T-Mobile was unable to establish a connection

:'''Verizon'''
:[Error page]
:Error: You have exceeded your Verizon monthly bandwidth cap. Mobile web browsing has been disabled.

:'''France'''
:[Two people; one of which is browsing using a laptop.]
:Cueball: Hey, you're French, right? Ever see what happens when you type "French Military Victories" into Google?
:French person: Does it take you to an article on Napoleon?

:French person: ..no? Strange, given how he kicked everyone's asses up and down Europe for over a decade.

:[Beat frame.]

:Cueball: Touche.
:French person: You know, that'd sound smarter if you didn't pronounce it like it rhymes with "douche".

:'''Germany'''
:[Cueball dropping food from an unorthodox high perch.]
:June 1948: In response to the Soviet blockade of East Germany, the western allies construct the Berlin Chairlift.
:Cueball on chairlift: Food!

:'''Israel'''
:[Person on phone.]
:Person (Translation from Hebrew): Mom, I met a great guy! But he's not Jewish. ...Wait, what do you mean "neither are we"? I'm completely confused.

:'''Carnot Cycle'''
:[Ponytail on a motorcycle with a heat-entropy graph on the side.]
:Ponytail: Check out my new Carnot Cycle!
:Cueball: Neat - how fast does it go?
:Ponytail: Depends how cold it is outside.

:'''Great Britain'''
:[Illustration of the Atlantic ocean.]
:American person: Sorry I don't have a comic poking fun at the UK here. I only had time to get to the most ''important'' US states.
:British person: Hey - At least we have free health care and real ale.

:'''Earthquake-Blizzard'''
:[Two people sitting at a desk, facing each other. The desk rattles.]
:Cueball: Stop jiggling your leg.
:Danish: I'm not ji-.. oh!
:Cueball: What!
:Danish: You'll get it..

:[EVERYTHING RUMBLES.]
:Cueball: ..HOLY CRAP IT'S AN EARTHQUAKE!
:Danish: Just a little one. Happens all the time back in San Francisco.

:Cueball: But this is {Options: "Alabama", "Boston", "Chicago", "Dallas", "Georgia", "Halifax", "Illinois", "Michigan", "Minnesota", "Missouri", "the Northeast", "Ohio", "Oklahoma", "Ottawa", 'Pennsylvania", "Philadelphia", "Texas", "Toronto", "Tennessee", "New York", "Wisconsin"}! That was huge!
:Danish: Seriously? That's the worst this place can do? Wow. I guess we grow up tougher in California.
:Cueball: Oh ''really''...

:Six Months Later..
:[Both people are trudging through a massive blizzard.]
:Danish: In pictures, snow always looked so nice and sof - ''AAAA! MY NECK! How do people live here?!''
:Cueball: Come on - it's only three more miles.

:'''Earthquake-Tornado'''
:[Two people sitting at a desk, facing each other. The desk rattles.]
:Cueball: Stop jiggling your leg.
:Danish: I'm not ji-.. oh!
:Cueball: What!
:Danish: You'll get it..

:[EVERYTHING RUMBLES.]
:Cueball: ..HOLY CRAP IT'S AN EARTHQUAKE!
:Danish: Just a little one. Happens all the time back in San Francisco.

:Cueball: But this is {Options: "Alabama", "Dallas", "Illinois", "The Midwest", "Missouri", "Ohio", "Oklahoma", "Ottawa", "Tennessee", "Texas"}!
:Cueball: That was huge!
:Danish: Seriously? That's the worst this place can do? Wow. I guess we grow up tougher in California.
:Cueball: Oh ''really''...

:Six Months Later..
:[Both people are in a shelter in a prairie with a rapidly-approaching tornado.]
:Danish: AAAA CLOSE THE SHELTER DOOR!
:Cueball: Say the magic words...
:Danish: THIS PLACE IS THE WORST!
:Cueball: Thank you.

:'''Earthquake-Hurricane'''
:[Two people sitting at a desk, facing each other. The desk rattles.]
:Cueball: Stop jiggling your leg.
:Danish: I'm not ji-.. oh!
:Cueball: What!
:Danish: You'll get it..

:[EVERYTHING RUMBLES.]
:Cueball: ..HOLY CRAP IT'S AN EARTHQUAKE!
:Danish: Just a little one. Happens all the time back in San Francisco.

:Cueball: But this is {Options: "D.C", "Florida", "Houston", "Miami", "New Jersey", "North Carolina", "South Carolina", "Virgina"}! That was huge!
:Cueball: That was huge!
:Danish: Seriously? That's the worst this place can do? Wow. I guess we grow up tougher in California.
:Cueball: Oh ''really''...

:Six Months Later..

:[Both are in the middle of a hurricane. Danish is grabbing onto a signpost to avoid being swept away.]
:Danish: AAAAA WHAT THE SHIIIIT!
:Cueball: Calm down - this is barely a category 2.

:'''Lake Diver Killer'''
:[TV Field Reporter in front of a cordoned-off lake.]
:Reporter: Police divers searching the bay say they have recovered the body of another victim of the "Lake Diver Killer."
:Reporter: During the search, three more divers were reported missing.

:'''Washington'''
:[The statue of Abraham Lincoln in the Lincoln Memorial.]
:In this Marble Prison As in the nightmares of the nation they tried to devour
:The nanobots that constituted Abraham Lincoln
:Are entombed forever.

:'''Alaska'''
:[A person with a gun chasing a helicopter on the back of a wolf in a snowy Alaskan field.]
:Some people hunt wolves from helicopters. I hunt helicopters from a wolf.

:'''Life in lab'''
:[Newspaper headline.]
:Scientists/UMass Amherst students/RIT students create life in lab
:[Caption under picture of scientists.]
:"The trick was fuckin'"

:'''American Revolution'''
:Robot Paul Revere: Remember: Zero if by land, One if by sea.

:'''MIT'''
:[Two people in front of a group of students.]
:Cueball: I've hired a team of MIT students to count cards for us.
:Hairy: We'll be rich!

:[Hairy deals some cards while the students watch.]

:[The gears turn..]

:Student: Five. There are five cards.
:Cueball: I see their admission standards have been slipping.
:Hairy: Yeah - there are actually four.

:'''MIT Course 15c'''
:[Two people in front of a group of students.]
:Cueball: I've hired a team of MIT students to count cards for us.
:Hairy: We'll be rich!

:[Hairy deals some cards while the students watch.]

:[The gears turn..]

:Student: Five. There are five cards.
:Cueball: I *knew* we shouldn't have picked course 15s.
:Hairy: Yeah - there are actually four.

:'''Smith/Wellesley'''
:[Two people in front of a group of students.]
:Cueball: I've hired a team of Smith/Wellesley students to count cards for us.
:Hairy: We'll be rich!

:[Hairy deals some cards while the students watch.]

:[The gears turn..]

:Student: Five. There are five cards.
:Cueball: We should've gone with Wellesley/Smith.
:Hairy: Yeah - there are actually four.

:'''CNU'''
:[Person unsuspectingly strolls under a giant box trap controlled by a Trible.]
:I worry that CNU only invited me back as a ruse because they realized I never turned in my final paper and want my diploma back. But if it turns out it's for real, I'll see you Wednesday at the Ferguson!

:'''Dana Farber'''
:[Cueball, pointing towards head.]
:Cueball: Check it out - In support of people going through chemo, I shaved my head.
:Lots of love to everyone reading this at Dana Farber. Cancer sucks. If you are new to DFCI, there's a great little garden on the third floor of the yawkey if you need somewhere quiet to just sit for a little bit and breathe.

:'''Reviews'''
:Shopping before online reviews:
:[Cueball and Megan stand in a store. Cueball points at a lamp on the table in front of him. There is another lamp on the table behind them.]
:Cueball: This lamp is pretty.
:Megan: And affordable.
:Cueball: Let's get it.
:Megan Ok!

:Shopping now:
:[Cueball points at a lamp on the table in front of him. Megan looks at her phone.]
:Cueball: This lamp is pretty.
:Megan: It's got 1 1/2 stars on Amazon. Reviews all say to avoid that brand.

:[Cueball and Megan are now both looking at their phones.]
:Cueball: This one has good reviews.
:Megan: Wait, one guy says when he plugged it in, he got a metallic taste in his mouth and his cats went deaf.
:Cueball: Eek. What about- ...no, review points out it resembles a uterus.

:[Cueball is still looking at his phone, Megan has hers at her side.]
:Cueball: Ok, I found a Swiss lampmaker with perfect reviews. Her lamps start at 1,300 Francs and she's only reachable by ski lift.
:Megan: You know, our room looks fine in the dark.

==Trivia==
*Reddit user [http://www.reddit.com/user/SomePostMan SomePostMan] created a [http://www.reddit.com/r/xkcd/comments/t6wmh/all_umwelt_1037_comics_in_two_imgur_albums/ post] that collected all of the Umwelt comics and added explanations. Much of his information is now included in this wiki.

*The transcript section for this comic also included a note alluding to its extreme length:
: <nowiki>[[Two people...]]</nowiki> ((..wait.. <scrolls through a listing of everything> oh goddammit Randall. Thanks a bunch, dude. I better get a raise for typing out all this))
: [[Two people standing next to each other. One is holding the head end of a snake...

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics with color]]
[[Category:April fools' comics]]
[[Category:Dynamic comics]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Ponytail]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Black Hat]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Beret Guy]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Danish]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Hairy]]
[[Category:Philosophy]]
[[Category:Penis]]
[[Category:Video games]]
[[Category:Velociraptors]]
[[Category:Your Mom]]
[[Category:Puns]]
[[Category:Squirrels]]
[[Category:Comics with blood]]

905: Homeownership

2021-01-21T01:53:38Z

162.158.187.111: Mentioned a double usage

{{comic
| number = 905
| date = May 30, 2011
| title = Homeownership
| image = homeownership.png
| titletext = New research shows over 60% of the financial collapse's toxic assets were created by power drills.
}}

==Explanation==
One common annoyance of American renters is their inability to make simple changes to their dwelling — for example, drilling a hole in a wall to hang a picture — without having to ask for permission from the property owner. In many cases, if the renter drills the hole without asking permission, they are charged for repairs. This is one reason that home ownership can be empowering, as it allows the owner to do anything they wish with their property. This can lead to mishaps however, as shown in the comic when [[Cueball]] drills holes in the house to prove his ownership, to the point of structural instability. Cueball's last statement expresses the fact that he was actually better off having someone who could dictate what could and could not be done with his residence.

The title text references fictional research showing that 60% of the {{w|toxic assets}} involved in the {{w|United States housing bubble}} were created by power drills. The implication being that Cueball is not alone in his hole drilling tendencies which created not only structural collapse of the homes, but also the financial collapse of the market as those houses would now be worth far less than the mortgages placed against them. Note the double usage of the word collapse.

==Transcript==
:[Cueball is in an empty room, on the phone with a friend.]
:Cueball: I've always rented, so this blows my mind—this house is ''mine''? I ''own'' a building?
:Friend: Yup!

:Cueball: I could, like, decide to drill a hole in that wall there, and nobody could do anything about it?
:Friend: That's right!

:[Cueball, off the phone, stands in silence.]

:Ten hours later:
:[Cueball is standing to the left a pile of rubble, on the phone with a friend.]
:Cueball: Can I come stay with you? My house has a... problem.
:Friend: Let me guess: you drilled holes in it until it collapsed?
:Cueball: I don't think I'm cut out for homeownership.

==Trivia==
*This may be the same Cueball as the one in [[616: Lease]], where he is signing a lease.

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

1152: Communion

2021-01-19T04:42:11Z

162.158.187.111: Mentioned that saliva has DNA

{{comic
| number = 1152
| date = December 26, 2012
| title = Communion
| image = communion.png
| titletext = The local police, growing increasingly concerned about this church, ask parishioners to take a sip of wine and then spit it back out for DNA testing. It's blood, and it matches a 1970s murder victim.
}}

==Explanation==
This comic plays on the Christian doctrine that the {{w|Eucharist|Holy Communion}} bread and wine are Jesus' flesh and blood. It is based on the words of Jesus from the {{w|synoptic gospels}} and {{w|Paul the Apostle|Paul's}} {{w|first epistle to the Corinthians}} during the {{w|Last Supper}}, today used by the priest as {{w|Words of Institution}}. According to the Roman Catholic doctrine of {{w|transubstantiation}}, as well as in the Eastern Christian tradition, the substance (using the {{w|Accident_(philosophy)|Aristotelian}} concept that all things have an accident, or physical make-up, as well as a substance, or true nature/purpose) of the bread and wine change to Jesus' flesh and blood, while their accidents remains the same. Many people, including many Catholics, believe this concept means the bread and wine literally turn (i.e., their accidents changes) into Jesus' flesh and blood during the ceremony. Some Protestant denominations reject this doctrine, both its actual and misunderstood application, with some taking the words as wholly symbolic of Jesus' sacrificial death and others believing the bread and wine create a real spiritual connection to Christ but do not change their substance.

In the second panel, [[Danish]] accurately describes what would happen at a traditional Christian Christmas service, though in such a way as to make it sound macabre.

After walking and thinking in panel three, she makes it more macabre when worrying that they, again, may have gotten hold of the wrong child for the sacrifice needed to drink blood and eat flesh.

The title text further spoofs the common understanding of the doctrine of {{w|transubstantiation}} and elaborates on [[Danish]]'s concern in the last panel by supposing that the act of taking a sip of wine during {{w|Eucharist|Holy Communion}} turns that wine into the blood, not of Jesus, but of a decades-old murder victim. Alternatively, the title text could be interpreted as saying that the wine actually acquires Jesus' DNA, and that Jesus was "killed" in the 1970s. The police, who investigated Jesus' 1970s death, would then have his DNA on file.
It should be noted that saliva includes DNA, so the positive result may be the DNA from the person who spit the wine/blood out and does not necessarily mean that that person was murdered by the church in order to prepare the wine/blood. This could be a reference to the resurrection of Jesus.

==Transcript==
:[Cueball and Danish are taking a stroll.]
:Cueball: How was Christmas? Did you go to church?

:Danish: Yup. We celebrated the birth of a child, then we ate of his flesh and blood.

:[Silence from Cueball.]

:Danish: ''Seriously'' hope we got the right child this time.
{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Christmas]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Danish]]
[[Category:Religion]]

Talk:688: Self-Description

2020-02-27T16:30:32Z

162.158.187.111:

This is one of the comics with a direct link at the bottom of xkcd. [[Special:Contributions/173.26.186.224|173.26.186.224]] 04:18, 29 December 2012 (UTC)

I do wish they said 'comic' rather than 'image' as for the longest time, I assumed 'image' only referred to the individual box, which doesn't make each one necessarily linked.[[Special:Contributions/24.70.188.179|24.70.188.179]] 06:52, 27 January 2013 (UTC)

:Anyone know what language Randall may have used to create this image? Perhaps Python? and how do you prevent it from entering an infinite feedback loop? [[User:Saibot84|Saibot84]] ([[User talk:Saibot84|talk]]) 23:02, 12 May 2013 (UTC)

::I'd do it in Perl, but that's because I'm a bit partial to Perl. I don't think it matters too much. It could even be a semi-manual process.
::However, whatever way it's done, if there was a loop (or a flip-flop state, i.e. more black pixels overall means less black pixels on a graph, which means less black pixels overall, without a point of stability) then I'd detect for that and work out which "immutable" parts (e.g. lengths of drawn axes) could be altered by an appropriate number of pixels to have another go at looking for stability. In Perl, that'd be detected by something like a simple "$coverage{$no_of_black_pixels}++" for every state visited, with an "if (exists $coverage{$no_of_black_pixels}) { reject_and_renew() }"-style check before that, probably "die"ing the program to let me read the log of rejections that led there and let me choose a basic change (or other mutable element) that could lead us in the right direction.
:::In an [http://www.maa.org/publications/periodicals/math-horizons/the-mathematics-behind-xkcd-a-conversation-with-randall-munroe interview], Randall Munroe explains that he did it completely by hand, counting the black pixels with Photoshop and iterating manually. Notice that, once you chose the radius of the disc, the width and scale for the rectangles of the second panel, and the text, decorations and legend, it is fairly easy to write the equations satisfied by the amount of black ink each panel. It turns out to be a set of linear equations, easily solved. This is for the continuous problem (say, if the comic strip were drawn with Bezier curves and a vector image). For the discrete problem, you have to iterate a little bit from this first insight, but not that much. [[Special:Contributions/138.96.199.247|138.96.199.247]] 10:15, 16 September 2013 (UTC)
::As a more simple example, if the original title-text hadn't turned out to be one where a certain stated number of characters made the text that same number of characters, I'd add, remove or change a word (or item of punctiation!) towards something that worked. As a dumb example of the way I'd do it: "This sentence has <foo> characters." has 35, there, including the five of "<foo>", so "thirty-five" would be six too many, "forty-one" would be 39-long, "thirty-nine" makes it "forty-one", and we know that loops back. I could be more intelligent and choose a number where own_length==(what it depicts, minus thirty), where the easy answer is "32" in digits. But there's no obvious set of number words that obet that rule, so let's change the sentence to "There are <foo> characters in this sentence.", and see where ''that'' leads us. Quick answer? 39+length of added number words. If I'm right, that's "forty-nine".
::Of course, there are multiple loop-backs with a self-referential image. But while it would be 'obvious' if extra spaces were inserted (or some removed!) to make a line of text fit itself in a self-referential way, an image has more "neutral space" (or 'fill') that can be changed with no effect on itself but (in a non-linear way and deminishing returns, especially with the multiple levels of recursion in the third panel) can shuffle values in the rest, perhaps to hit upon a self-consistent result overall. Narrowing or widening the panes (thus making more/less white space, and only slightly different black space) could change the ratio enough to hit a solution. Or altering the radius of the pie-chart by a pixel or three (while obviously also updating the angle filled in) could help. And if it didn't work with a pie-chart, for some reason, a big block of text saying "x% black vs y% white", or similar, could have possibly set up a result. The problem is not finding a method of solving the problem, but that there are way too many ways. But once you hit one that doesn't look forced, that'd be good enough and you could roll with it.
::Still, I'm rather in awe of the ''concept'' of the comic. I know I could repeat it (or something very like it), but to think of the idea ''in the first place'' is, I think, the most amazing thing about what we have here...
::Too wordy? Meh... There are three-hundred and twenty-one 'e's in this entry. [[Special:Contributions/31.111.35.144|31.111.35.144]] 19:39, 15 May 2013 (UTC)
::(Post-script: of course "three-hundred and twenty" would also have worked, there, assuming I counted correctly in the first place! [[Special:Contributions/31.111.35.144|31.111.35.144]] 19:39, 15 May 2013 (UTC))

This could be another reference to the mysterious 242 inside joke which is mentioned in another comic's title text (forgot which one)[[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.253|141.101.98.253]] 14:43, 22 January 2014 (UTC)
: 903:Extended Mind [[Special:Contributions/172.68.78.82|172.68.78.82]] 01:49, 14 January 2017 (UTC)

Should I make a picture of the mentioned dependency graph and put it in the article? Basically it would be like a less ugly version of [http://goo.gl/photos/99xQJzqdMFGqa38j8 this]. {{unsigned ip|Fabian42}}
:I don't think this would explain anything from the comic and I can't find a "dependency graph" mentioned.--[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 14:23, 25 August 2017 (UTC)
::In the mouseover text: "The graph of panel dependencies" Also this wiki explains everything in every possible detail, so I think it would be ok to include. The page is short for the amount of complexity in this comic anyway. [[User:Fabian42|Fabian42]] ([[User talk:Fabian42|talk]]) 14:36, 25 August 2017 (UTC)
:::Yup, I should have read everything before answering. Maybe some wiki articles should be mentioned too: {{w|Dependency graph}}, {{w|Circular dependency}}, and of course {{w|Dependency hell}}. The paragraph here definitively needs an enhancement. Your edits are welcome and a nice picture I can upload for you. And when necessary you also can set the incomplete tag.--[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 15:06, 25 August 2017 (UTC)

I created a composite image showing the original comic, then the scatterplot enlarged to the size of the original, then iterate a couple more times. Is there a way to upload and link images here, and would that be a useful addition to the explanation? [[User:Matchups|Matchups]] ([[User talk:Matchups|talk]]) 16:00, 21 February 2018 (UTC)

The time used to draw something like this out on paper must have been mind-boggling. [[User:QATEKLYXM|Klyxm]] ([[User talk:QATEKLYXM|talk]]) 4:05, 5 May 2018 (UTC)

SMBC did it first.

Talk:2272: Ringtone Timeline

2020-02-26T14:49:41Z

162.158.187.111:

Doing the Title Text. [[User:Netherin5|“That Guy from the Netherlands”]] ([[User talk:Netherin5|talk]]) 18:07, 24 February 2020 (UTC)

What about the era of "I would love to set my phone to a traditional ringing sound but this weird space garbage is the closest my phone will get"? [[Special:Contributions/173.245.54.61|173.245.54.61]] 18:53, 24 February 2020 (UTC)
: What kind of phone is this? circa 2000s flip phone? [[Special:Contributions/162.158.214.82|162.158.214.82]] 08:52, 25 February 2020 (UTC)

I've got my smartphone set to the classic monophoncic Nokia 3310 tune. You can easily tell the >25y from the <25y generation apart from their reaction. [[User:Gir|-- //gir.st/]] ([[User talk:Gir|talk]]) 19:22, 24 February 2020 (UTC)

I wonder if Randal actually found some data to support his timeline or if it's more of a general observation made by him. In my subjective experience, the trend towards having the phone on vibrate all the time has been going on since at least 2017-2018 rather than the future/present time indicated in his timeline. [[User:Bischoff|Bischoff]] ([[User talk:Bischoff|talk]]) 19:41, 24 February 2020 (UTC)

: And I've not even noticed the change. I still hear ringtones going off when people get calls. I'm not even sure how it would work, since surely you'd at least need it to ring while charging or when you don't have pockets (like a lot of dressier women's clothing). And then there's the trend I have noticed of people actually playing their music out loud without headphones, which makes me think that people are not becoming more concerned about their phones making noise. [[User:Trlkly|Trlkly]] ([[User talk:Trlkly|talk]]) 10:35, 25 February 2020 (UTC)

Early ringers were hand-cranked generators (or perhaps magnetos), so you might be able to tell who was calling by how fast they cranked.[[Special:Contributions/172.68.206.22|172.68.206.22]] 19:51, 24 February 2020 (UTC)
:No, in that period it was mostly still operators. I suppose you would know which operator was on duty, if your area was small enough. [[User:SDSpivey|SDSpivey]] ([[User talk:SDSpivey|talk]]) 22:07, 24 February 2020 (UTC)

Party lines shared the signal and differentiated the callee by ring. I grew up on 19-ring-12, i.e. line 19 (on the manual switchboard in the village) ringing one long and two short. There was a magneto, but you used it to request the operator to give you a line for an outgoing call; it signaled the switchboard, not another party.

I remember around 1982 staying over at a friend's house and hearing the electronic tweedling of their new landline phone and not knowing what it was. Prior to that all the phones I'd heard at homes, businesses, school, etc. were all normal ringers. So the cool space beeps starting around 1996 seems skewed to the right by about a decade. [[Special:Contributions/172.68.38.124|172.68.38.124]] 20:21, 24 February 2020 (UTC)Pat
: There's obviously plenty of overlap, and I think the boxes represent when a particular style was prevalent, not the entire duration. [[User:Barmar|Barmar]] ([[User talk:Barmar|talk]]) 20:37, 24 February 2020 (UTC)
: In the UK, the so-called trimphone was introduced in the sixties with a warbling ringtone instead of the traditional bell sound. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.159.12|162.158.159.12]] 23:12, 24 February 2020 (UTC)
: The initial tones for tweedling or beeping phones were often pure sine wave tones, which are difficult for the human ear to locate. If you had five phones (not uncommon in some offices) you would need to pick up each in succession to find the one that was ringing. [[User:Snezzy|Snezzy]] ([[User talk:Snezzy|talk]]) 10:07, 25 February 2020 (UTC)
: I also remember being told (in the era of mostly electromechanical bells, but echoed by the occasionally extant trimphone) that the time signature of the ringing was something weird, like 13/8 (or 8/13 - I'm not musical enough to know what the difference is, and it's probably not those numbers exactly anyway), on the basis that you couldn't subvert the rhythm into a pleasant tune (real or imagined) and so *had* to respond to it, like you possibly could with 2/4-time. And I've seen the mechanism at the (automatic, but largely mechanical) exchange that continually rotates with variously spotted electrical contacts on its axle that produce the required dialling/ringing/busy/etc signals to get 'tapped' for all currently relevent subscriber circuits (meaning that every phone in a street, neighbourhood or even whole town would be exactly in synch with any other phone also producing the same sound on either ringer or ear-speaker, notwithstanding speed-of-sound delays between the locales and audibility of each). A remarkable clockworkpunk solution to simplifying the otherwise quite complex array of Subscriber Trunk Dialling/etc mechanisms. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.159.76|162.158.159.76]] 15:09, 25 February 2020 (UTC)

Interesting contrast to [https://xkcd.com/479/ xkcd 479].
[[User:LHN|LHN]]

I would like to point out that "a phone on vibrate sitting on a hard surface" may not have been receiving a call at the time of the audio recording so technically Randall's ringtone could be utter silence (or a very low coil whine). [[Special:Contributions/172.68.226.46|172.68.226.46]] 00:56, 25 February 2020 (UTC)

I can't stand people who use the old fashioned 1950s bell ringtone. It's not cute anymore, it's just boring and overused. Almost as bad as the many "default" ringtones that people are too lazy to change. These are smartphones! You can easily use just about any song or sound imaginable! [[Special:Contributions/162.158.214.82|162.158.214.82]] 08:52, 25 February 2020 (UTC)
:Yeah, how dare people like something you don't You can easily use just about any song or sound imaginable, therefore you should limit certain ones because someone online might find it "boring".[[Special:Contributions/162.158.187.111|162.158.187.111]] 14:49, 26 February 2020 (UTC)

I will definitely not switch to vibration any time soon. I hate vibration in phones so much that I have installed multiple apps and mods to get rid of every single variant of vibration on my phone (which is surprisingly difficult), at least as long as the system is running. After shutdown it sadly still vibrates. Maybe I should screw off the vibration motor one day. [[User:Fabian42|Fabian42]] ([[User talk:Fabian42|talk]]) 09:54, 25 February 2020 (UTC)

1820s to 1870s: {{w|Steamship|whistle at end of long tube}}; (me, turn of the millenium: much abbreviated monophonic '[https://nokia.fandom.com/wiki/Composer Composer]' version of a complex polyphonic MIDI file of a {{w|In_the_Hall_of_the_Mountain_King|classical tune I quite liked}}); Mid 23rdC: {{w|USS_Enterprise_(NCC-1701)|electronic version of a whistle through a long tube}}; Mid 24thC {{w|USS_Enterprise_(NCC-1701-D)|beeps}} [[Special:Contributions/162.158.159.76|162.158.159.76]] 15:09, 25 February 2020 (UTC)
:I did that (entered my own ringtone Nokia's on-phone Composer thingummy) with the Thunderbirds theme tune. Learnt just enough how to extract note data from a MIDI file via a quick-and-dirty Perl script. Then had to monophonise it to get the vital trumpet refrain just right where it overlapped "Duh dah-dah-d(DAH-DAH-DAAAH!) ...". Would you believe I also tended to wear lots of very colourful/cartoony ties? Still got 'em. But my phones just (sort of) ring these days - No fun in it once you could just start to plug in sampled MP3s/etc of ''anything''. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.99.221|141.101.99.221]] 21:29, 25 February 2020 (UTC)

:Okay, now I want to change my ringtone with a slide whisle XD [[Special:Contributions/162.158.214.136|162.158.214.136]] 04:32, 26 February 2020 (UTC)

Talk:2266: Leap Smearing

2020-02-12T14:34:16Z

162.158.187.111:

Although to be fair, leap seconds are confusing. [[User:Unpopular Opinions|Unpopular Opinions ]] ([[User talk:Unpopular Opinions|talk]]) 04:08, 11 February 2020 (UTC)

Leap seconds are idiotic. The only people who care about keeping the Earth tied to the time are astronomers. And no one cares about them.[[User:SDSpivey|SDSpivey]] ([[User talk:SDSpivey|talk]]) 04:56, 11 February 2020 (UTC)
:Oh, you'll care about leap seconds when your GPS starts failing, i assure you.
:GPS does NOT compensate for leap seconds. That's why GPS time is drifting away from UTC. However, people would care eventually, when the time on the clock doesn't match up with the solar day (as pointed out by the next comment.) [[Special:Contributions/162.158.187.111|162.158.187.111]] 14:34, 12 February 2020 (UTC)
:Leap seconds are a mess, but so is changing the definition of UTC and letting it drift away from solar time. There are movements to try to make this change, but there are significant obstacles. (For example, the signatories to the 1884 International Meridian Conference agreed that the civil time everyone should use is based on mean solar time, and US Federal Law indicates that the legal time of the US is based on mean solar time.) [[User:Zmatt|Zmatt]] ([[User talk:Zmatt|talk]]) 06:30, 11 February 2020 (UTC)
::If we don't use leap seconds, then the GPS won't use them either. How many seconds difference before we humans could even notice? A century's worth or more, I'm certain. By then we could just fix the wobble of the Earth. [[User:SDSpivey|SDSpivey]] ([[User talk:SDSpivey|talk]]) 07:33, 11 February 2020 (UTC)
:::1. You use “we humans”, who do you think is studying and correcting with leap seconds? Robots? 2. I don’t think you realize just how quickly that would cause problems. [[User:Netherin5|“That Guy from the Netherlands”]] ([[User talk:Netherin5|talk]]) 12:52, 11 February 2020 (UTC)
:Leap seconds are added rougly every couple of years. If we stopped, it would take about a century to be off by a minute, and 6,000 years to be off by an hour. So maybe we should just plan on every 6K years we skip Daylight Saving Time to recover that hour. [[User:Barmar|Barmar]] ([[User talk:Barmar|talk]]) 16:26, 11 February 2020 (UTC)
::For half a year, then we're back to the situation we were ignoring. ;) ((Obviously, what we might need to do is move the Prime Meridian, send it on a very slow "world tour" by passing it onto the next suitable city. But I'm a bit of a conservative when it comes to historic locations, so we should just put Greenwich Observatory on {{w|Mortal_Engines|wheels}}, or {{w|Inverted_World|rails}}, if necessary.)) [[Special:Contributions/162.158.154.139|162.158.154.139]] 23:37, 11 February 2020 (UTC)

I believe the actual time would be 11:42am (on the 11th of February). [[User:Dakranon|Dakranon]] ([[User talk:Dakranon|talk]]) 06:20, 11 February 2020 (UTC)
:But the comic was released on 10t February Monday as always, but the date was written wrongly on the comic here. I have treid to calculate the time on February 10th. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 08:21, 11 February 2020 (UTC)

I think there is an error in the calculations given in the explanation, but it's possible some bistromathics got involved instead. By my reckoning, 24 hours smeared over 28 "days" make each "day" 24/28 hours (≈ 51 minutes, 26 seconds) longer than a day instead of 24/29. Also, conveniently for my calculations, the end of "14 February" should be exactly halfway through the month, meaning the CEO should have until exactly noon on the 15th to get away with the given excuse (12 extra hours, not 11). [[Special:Contributions/172.69.33.239|172.69.33.239]] 10:27, 11 February 2020 (UTC)
:Thanks for correcting my attempt. As I wrote in the incomplete tag I was not sure I did it right.

You guys are all missing the point! We should apply non-leap smearing to the other 11 months so that EVERY month has 28 days. No more crazy calendar day-shifting: if you were born on a Monday(e.g.) your birthday will always be Monday. [[User:Cellocgw|Cellocgw]] ([[User talk:Cellocgw|talk]]) 15:06, 11 February 2020 (UTC)
: Or {{w|Dayworld_(novel_series)|go even further}}... [[Special:Contributions/162.158.155.92|162.158.155.92]] 17:04, 11 February 2020 (UTC)
::Actually we should do as the hobbits in Tolkien's Lord of the Rings. They run 28 day months, 13 of them instead of 12 and that gives 364 days. I cannot remember the details correctly, but it is something like they then have a New Year day every year, and a leap day every four years after New Years day. The Year starts on a Monday as do all months. The New Year day (and Leap days) are not given any Weekday, so after Sunday 28th of December (or what the last month would be called) there are one or two days, without a weekday assigned, and the new year begins on Monday. It would all be soooo much more easy, but of course if you where born on a Monday you would always have your birthday on a Monday! ;-) --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 12:01, 12 February 2020 (UTC)

As of [https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=2266:_Leap_Smearing&oldid=187134 right now], I feel like the explanation is a bit of a mess. I already understand this comic but IMO someone who doesn't would not be able to follow this explanation. I think a better structure would be:
# Briefly explain what leap seconds are, since most readers will not know about them.
# Explain the "smear second" approach, and mention how the resulting time deviates by only half a second at the worst time.
# A line like "This comic suggests taking the smear second approach and applying it to leap days"
# Brief explanation/reminder of what leap days are - most readers will be familiar with this concept already, and those that don't can click on a Wikipedia link to read more.
# Explanation of how bad the results would be (some math here), the resulting date&time would be off by 24 hours at the worst time (end of Feb 29 will appear as the end of Feb 28). It's not 12 hours because unlike the smear second, the smear period will not be centered around the leap day but rather the leap day will be at the end of the smear period (which is all of February). Also mention exactly what the clock would show on the day of this comic's publication, and what the in-comic time actually is.

--[[User:NeatNit|NeatNit]] ([[User talk:NeatNit|talk]]) 19:00, 11 February 2020 (UTC)
:I guess this has happened more or less now? --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 12:01, 12 February 2020 (UTC)

This would violate the NTP 500ppm maximum slew rate, right? ;) {{unsigned ip|173.245.54.89}}

Talk:2266: Leap Smearing

2020-02-12T14:33:43Z

162.158.187.111:

Although to be fair, leap seconds are confusing. [[User:Unpopular Opinions|Unpopular Opinions ]] ([[User talk:Unpopular Opinions|talk]]) 04:08, 11 February 2020 (UTC)

Leap seconds are idiotic. The only people who care about keeping the Earth tied to the time are astronomers. And no one cares about them.[[User:SDSpivey|SDSpivey]] ([[User talk:SDSpivey|talk]]) 04:56, 11 February 2020 (UTC)
:Oh, you'll care about leap seconds when your GPS starts failing, i assure you.
:GPS does NOT compensate for leap seconds. That's why GPS time is drifting away from UTC. However, people would care eventually, when the time on the clock doesn't match up with the solar day (as pointed out by the next comment.)
:Leap seconds are a mess, but so is changing the definition of UTC and letting it drift away from solar time. There are movements to try to make this change, but there are significant obstacles. (For example, the signatories to the 1884 International Meridian Conference agreed that the civil time everyone should use is based on mean solar time, and US Federal Law indicates that the legal time of the US is based on mean solar time.) [[User:Zmatt|Zmatt]] ([[User talk:Zmatt|talk]]) 06:30, 11 February 2020 (UTC)
::If we don't use leap seconds, then the GPS won't use them either. How many seconds difference before we humans could even notice? A century's worth or more, I'm certain. By then we could just fix the wobble of the Earth. [[User:SDSpivey|SDSpivey]] ([[User talk:SDSpivey|talk]]) 07:33, 11 February 2020 (UTC)
:::1. You use “we humans”, who do you think is studying and correcting with leap seconds? Robots? 2. I don’t think you realize just how quickly that would cause problems. [[User:Netherin5|“That Guy from the Netherlands”]] ([[User talk:Netherin5|talk]]) 12:52, 11 February 2020 (UTC)
:Leap seconds are added rougly every couple of years. If we stopped, it would take about a century to be off by a minute, and 6,000 years to be off by an hour. So maybe we should just plan on every 6K years we skip Daylight Saving Time to recover that hour. [[User:Barmar|Barmar]] ([[User talk:Barmar|talk]]) 16:26, 11 February 2020 (UTC)
::For half a year, then we're back to the situation we were ignoring. ;) ((Obviously, what we might need to do is move the Prime Meridian, send it on a very slow "world tour" by passing it onto the next suitable city. But I'm a bit of a conservative when it comes to historic locations, so we should just put Greenwich Observatory on {{w|Mortal_Engines|wheels}}, or {{w|Inverted_World|rails}}, if necessary.)) [[Special:Contributions/162.158.154.139|162.158.154.139]] 23:37, 11 February 2020 (UTC)

I believe the actual time would be 11:42am (on the 11th of February). [[User:Dakranon|Dakranon]] ([[User talk:Dakranon|talk]]) 06:20, 11 February 2020 (UTC)
:But the comic was released on 10t February Monday as always, but the date was written wrongly on the comic here. I have treid to calculate the time on February 10th. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 08:21, 11 February 2020 (UTC)

I think there is an error in the calculations given in the explanation, but it's possible some bistromathics got involved instead. By my reckoning, 24 hours smeared over 28 "days" make each "day" 24/28 hours (≈ 51 minutes, 26 seconds) longer than a day instead of 24/29. Also, conveniently for my calculations, the end of "14 February" should be exactly halfway through the month, meaning the CEO should have until exactly noon on the 15th to get away with the given excuse (12 extra hours, not 11). [[Special:Contributions/172.69.33.239|172.69.33.239]] 10:27, 11 February 2020 (UTC)
:Thanks for correcting my attempt. As I wrote in the incomplete tag I was not sure I did it right.

You guys are all missing the point! We should apply non-leap smearing to the other 11 months so that EVERY month has 28 days. No more crazy calendar day-shifting: if you were born on a Monday(e.g.) your birthday will always be Monday. [[User:Cellocgw|Cellocgw]] ([[User talk:Cellocgw|talk]]) 15:06, 11 February 2020 (UTC)
: Or {{w|Dayworld_(novel_series)|go even further}}... [[Special:Contributions/162.158.155.92|162.158.155.92]] 17:04, 11 February 2020 (UTC)
::Actually we should do as the hobbits in Tolkien's Lord of the Rings. They run 28 day months, 13 of them instead of 12 and that gives 364 days. I cannot remember the details correctly, but it is something like they then have a New Year day every year, and a leap day every four years after New Years day. The Year starts on a Monday as do all months. The New Year day (and Leap days) are not given any Weekday, so after Sunday 28th of December (or what the last month would be called) there are one or two days, without a weekday assigned, and the new year begins on Monday. It would all be soooo much more easy, but of course if you where born on a Monday you would always have your birthday on a Monday! ;-) --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 12:01, 12 February 2020 (UTC)

As of [https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=2266:_Leap_Smearing&oldid=187134 right now], I feel like the explanation is a bit of a mess. I already understand this comic but IMO someone who doesn't would not be able to follow this explanation. I think a better structure would be:
# Briefly explain what leap seconds are, since most readers will not know about them.
# Explain the "smear second" approach, and mention how the resulting time deviates by only half a second at the worst time.
# A line like "This comic suggests taking the smear second approach and applying it to leap days"
# Brief explanation/reminder of what leap days are - most readers will be familiar with this concept already, and those that don't can click on a Wikipedia link to read more.
# Explanation of how bad the results would be (some math here), the resulting date&time would be off by 24 hours at the worst time (end of Feb 29 will appear as the end of Feb 28). It's not 12 hours because unlike the smear second, the smear period will not be centered around the leap day but rather the leap day will be at the end of the smear period (which is all of February). Also mention exactly what the clock would show on the day of this comic's publication, and what the in-comic time actually is.

--[[User:NeatNit|NeatNit]] ([[User talk:NeatNit|talk]]) 19:00, 11 February 2020 (UTC)
:I guess this has happened more or less now? --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 12:01, 12 February 2020 (UTC)

This would violate the NTP 500ppm maximum slew rate, right? ;) {{unsigned ip|173.245.54.89}}

2218: Wardrobe

2019-10-23T17:54:28Z

162.158.187.111: /* Explanation */ missing word

{{comic
| number = 2218
| date = October 21, 2019
| title = Wardrobe
| image = wardrobe.png
| titletext = If you'd just agree to hold your meetings in here, you'd have PLENTY of time to figure things out before the deadline.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by a NARNIAN-BRITISH BORDER CHECKPOINT. Please mention here why this explanation isn't complete. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
[[Megan]] leaves [[Cueball]] outside while she goes into a wardrobe to consult with Tumnus on the pressing question, if Narnia is part of the EU. It turns out they have joined after the UK, which makes Megan complain about another border to deal with. And Cueball waiting outside goes looking for a lock for the wardrobe door.

This comic references ''{{w|The Chronicles of Narnia}}'', a series of children's fantasy books by {{w|C.S. Lewis}} (some of which were later {{w|The Chronicles of Narnia (film series)|made into movies}}, plays, and TV and radio shows) about a group of children from England who travel to a magical land called Narnia. In the first book of the series (by publication date), ''{{w|The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe}}'', Narnia is accessible through a wardrobe. {{w|Mr. Tumnus}} is a {{w|faun}} in Narnia and the first character that the first human visitor, {{w|Lucy Pevensie}}, meets on her first trip through the wardrobe portal. Referencing Narnia is a [[:Category:Chronicles of Narnia|recurring theme]] in xkcd. Tumnus was depicted in the first comic to reference Narnia: [[665: Prudence]].

The comic also makes reference to membership in the {{w|European Union}} (short EU, not E.U. as [[Randall]] writes in the comic). The {{w|United Kingdom}} (UK) is a member of the EU at the time of this comic, but narrowly voted in 2016 to exit the EU (a process commonly referred to as {{w|Brexit}}, short for "British Exit"), but working out the details of this separation has proven more complicated than the simple in/out vote implied.

One of the major issues has been the border between {{w|Northern Ireland}} and the {{w|Republic of Ireland}}. The two countries share the {{w|island of Ireland}}, but Northern Ireland is part of the UK while Ireland is an independent country which remains part of the EU. If/when the UK exits the EU, it will have different customs regulations than the Republic of Ireland, and there will need to be some kind of customs border. The most obvious solution would be to establish a controlled land border between the two countries, but this would raise some serious difficulties and dangers.

Northern Ireland has had a long history of civil unrest and ethno-nationalist conflict. The most recent period of conflict, commonly referred to as {{w|The Troubles}}, resulted in over 3000 deaths between 1969 and 1998. In 1998, the UK and Ireland entered into a treaty, known as the {{w|Good Friday Agreement}} (overwhelmingly approved by referendums in both parts of Ireland). This treaty was intended to resolve many of the issues that drove the conflict, and has largely been successful in putting a stop to the violence. One of the agreements in the treaty was a totally open border between the two parts of Ireland. As both were in the EU, this was easily done, because they already shared a customs union. Over the following two decades, the ease of transit created major trade links between the two areas, and many people lived in one country and worked in the other. In the UK Brexit referendum, a majority of Northern Ireland voters voted to remain in the EU. Placing a hard border between the two countries would create major economic disruptions, and serious hardships for people living near the border. It would also undermine the intent of the Good Friday Agreement, which could lead to terrorist attacks and the rekindling of hostilities. The Irish government raised this issue from the time Brexit was first proposed, but their warnings were not fully heeded.

The alternative to this border would be to maintain open borders between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland, but institute customs checks between the island of Ireland and the United Kingdom. This solution is also considered extremely undesirable, as it would effectively separate Northern Ireland from the UK, which is unacceptable to many citizens of both Northern Ireland and Great Britain.

While the Northern Ireland/Republic of Ireland border issue has received the most attention, the UK has land borders with two other EU countries. The UK territory of Gibraltar shares a border with Spain. There are also two Sovereign Bases Areas that share a border with the Republic of Cyprus.

The portal in the wardrobe represents ''another'' border of the UK, namely the border between England and Narnia. This 'border', of course, exists only in fiction, but the joke here is that it must be dealt with in the Brexit negotiations, further complicating an already messy situation. A further source of implicit humor is the juxtaposition of a fantasy children's tale about the magical land of Narnia with the highly contentious, political, adult world of Brexit.

Cueball suggests solving the situation by simply locking the wardrobe (which was never very accessible, even in ''The Chronicles of Narnia''), effectively isolating the UK from Narnia and making the border problem moot. This wouldn't work even in the fictional world of the books, as new ways to enter Narnia pop up in every book, although most of them are accessible only to the kids from the first book and their friends.

The title text references the amount of time it has taken to complete the Brexit negotiations, currently three-plus years and counting. The negotiators have set a series of deadlines to complete the negotiations, but have repeatedly had to extend those deadlines because they haven't reached any agreement. The comic was posted roughly one week before the then-current Brexit deadline of Oct. 31, 2019. However [https://www.cnbc.com/2019/10/19/eu-says-britain-has-requested-an-extension-of-brexit-deadline-after-uk-lawmakers-delay-vote.html it was already expected that that deadline too would probably be extended]. In ''The Chronicles of Narnia'', time moves inconsistently in Narnia compared to Earth, usually passing more rapidly in Narnia than on Earth. Lucy Pevensie and her siblings enter the wardrobe as children, have extensive adventures in Narnia lasting many years, and then return to the real world to find that they are children again and that only a few minutes have passed. The suggestion here is that holding the slow, complex Brexit negotiations in Narnia would take relatively little time in the real world, and the whole affair could be completed in time for the deadline.

A punchline similar to the title text, where the slower passing of time was used to take on time-intensive real world problems, was also used for one of the comics in [[821: Five-Minute Comics: Part 3]]. The time difference was also mentioned in the title text of [[1786: Trash]].

==Transcript==
:[Megan is entering into an open wardrobe, while Cueball stands outside.]
:Megan: I'll go ask.
:Megan: You wait here.

:[Cueball stands outside the now-closed wardrobe.]

:[In a frame-less panel Cueball keeps standing outside the closed wardrobe with voices heard from inside the wardrobe. The characters talking are inferred from the context.]
:Mr. Tumnus (from inside wardrobe): Halt! Who goes there?
:Megan (from inside wardrobe): Hey Tumnus. Quick question.
:Mr. Tumnus (from inside wardrobe): Yes?

:[Cueball is walking away from the closed wardrobe. Voices can still be heard from inside the wardrobe.]
:Megan (from inside wardrobe): Is Narnia in the E.U.?
:Mr. Tumnus (from inside wardrobe): Yes, we joined after you did.
:Megan (from inside wardrobe): Oh great, ''another'' border to deal with.
:Cueball: I'll go find a lock for the door.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Chronicles of Narnia]]
[[Category:Politics]]

2218: Wardrobe

2019-10-23T17:52:08Z

162.158.187.111: /* Explanation */ Gibraltar, SBAs

{{comic
| number = 2218
| date = October 21, 2019
| title = Wardrobe
| image = wardrobe.png
| titletext = If you'd just agree to hold your meetings in here, you'd have PLENTY of time to figure things out before the deadline.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by a NARNIAN-BRITISH BORDER CHECKPOINT. Please mention here why this explanation isn't complete. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
[[Megan]] leaves [[Cueball]] outside while she goes into a wardrobe to consult with Tumnus on the pressing question, if Narnia is part of the EU. It turns out they have joined after the UK, which makes Megan complain about another border to deal with. And Cueball waiting outside goes looking for a lock for the wardrobe door.

This comic references ''{{w|The Chronicles of Narnia}}'', a series of children's fantasy books by {{w|C.S. Lewis}} (some of which were later {{w|The Chronicles of Narnia (film series)|made into movies}}, plays, and TV and radio shows) about a group of children from England who travel to a magical land called Narnia. In the first book of the series (by publication date), ''{{w|The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe}}'', Narnia is accessible through a wardrobe. {{w|Mr. Tumnus}} is a {{w|faun}} in Narnia and the first character that the first human visitor, {{w|Lucy Pevensie}}, meets on her first trip through the wardrobe portal. Referencing Narnia is a [[:Category:Chronicles of Narnia|recurring theme]] in xkcd. Tumnus was depicted in the first comic to reference Narnia: [[665: Prudence]].

The comic also makes reference to membership in the {{w|European Union}} (short EU, not E.U. as [[Randall]] writes in the comic). The {{w|United Kingdom}} (UK) is a member of the EU at the time of this comic, but narrowly voted in 2016 to exit the EU (a process commonly referred to as {{w|Brexit}}, short for "British Exit"), but working out the details of this separation has proven more complicated than the simple in/out vote implied.

One of the major issues has been the border between {{w|Northern Ireland}} and the {{w|Republic of Ireland}}. The two countries share the {{w|island of Ireland}}, but Northern Ireland is part of the UK while Ireland is an independent country which remains part of the EU. If/when the UK exits the EU, it will have different customs regulations than the Republic of Ireland, and there will need to be some kind of customs border. The most obvious solution would be to establish a controlled land border between the two countries, but this would raise some serious difficulties and dangers.

Northern Ireland has had a long history of civil unrest and ethno-nationalist conflict. The most recent period of conflict, commonly referred to as {{w|The Troubles}}, resulted in over 3000 deaths between 1969 and 1998. In 1998, the UK and Ireland entered into a treaty, known as the {{w|Good Friday Agreement}} (overwhelmingly approved by referendums in both parts of Ireland). This treaty was intended to resolve many of the issues that drove the conflict, and has largely been successful in putting a stop to the violence. One of the agreements in the treaty was a totally open border between the two parts of Ireland. As both were in the EU, this was easily done, because they already shared a customs union. Over the following two decades, the ease of transit created major trade links between the two areas, and many people lived in one country and worked in the other. In the UK Brexit referendum, a majority of Northern Ireland voters voted to remain in the EU. Placing a hard border between the two countries would create major economic disruptions, and serious hardships for people living near the border. It would also undermine the intent of the Good Friday Agreement, which could lead to terrorist attacks and the rekindling of hostilities. The Irish government raised this issue from the time Brexit was first proposed, but their warnings were not fully heeded.

The alternative to this border would be to maintain open borders between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland, but institute customs checks between the island of Ireland and the United Kingdom. This solution is also considered extremely undesirable, as it would effectively separate Northern Ireland from the UK, which is unacceptable to many citizens of both Northern Ireland and Great Britain.

While the Northern Ireland/Republic of Ireland border issue has received the most attention, the UK land borders with two other EU countries. The UK territory of Gibraltar shares a border with Spain. There are also two Sovereign Bases Areas that share a border with the Republic of Cyprus.

The portal in the wardrobe represents ''another'' border of the UK, namely the border between England and Narnia. This 'border', of course, exists only in fiction, but the joke here is that it must be dealt with in the Brexit negotiations, further complicating an already messy situation. A further source of implicit humor is the juxtaposition of a fantasy children's tale about the magical land of Narnia with the highly contentious, political, adult world of Brexit.

Cueball suggests solving the situation by simply locking the wardrobe (which was never very accessible, even in ''The Chronicles of Narnia''), effectively isolating the UK from Narnia and making the border problem moot. This wouldn't work even in the fictional world of the books, as new ways to enter Narnia pop up in every book, although most of them are accessible only to the kids from the first book and their friends.

The title text references the amount of time it has taken to complete the Brexit negotiations, currently three-plus years and counting. The negotiators have set a series of deadlines to complete the negotiations, but have repeatedly had to extend those deadlines because they haven't reached any agreement. The comic was posted roughly one week before the then-current Brexit deadline of Oct. 31, 2019. However [https://www.cnbc.com/2019/10/19/eu-says-britain-has-requested-an-extension-of-brexit-deadline-after-uk-lawmakers-delay-vote.html it was already expected that that deadline too would probably be extended]. In ''The Chronicles of Narnia'', time moves inconsistently in Narnia compared to Earth, usually passing more rapidly in Narnia than on Earth. Lucy Pevensie and her siblings enter the wardrobe as children, have extensive adventures in Narnia lasting many years, and then return to the real world to find that they are children again and that only a few minutes have passed. The suggestion here is that holding the slow, complex Brexit negotiations in Narnia would take relatively little time in the real world, and the whole affair could be completed in time for the deadline.

A punchline similar to the title text, where the slower passing of time was used to take on time-intensive real world problems, was also used for one of the comics in [[821: Five-Minute Comics: Part 3]]. The time difference was also mentioned in the title text of [[1786: Trash]].

==Transcript==
:[Megan is entering into an open wardrobe, while Cueball stands outside.]
:Megan: I'll go ask.
:Megan: You wait here.

:[Cueball stands outside the now-closed wardrobe.]

:[In a frame-less panel Cueball keeps standing outside the closed wardrobe with voices heard from inside the wardrobe. The characters talking are inferred from the context.]
:Mr. Tumnus (from inside wardrobe): Halt! Who goes there?
:Megan (from inside wardrobe): Hey Tumnus. Quick question.
:Mr. Tumnus (from inside wardrobe): Yes?

:[Cueball is walking away from the closed wardrobe. Voices can still be heard from inside the wardrobe.]
:Megan (from inside wardrobe): Is Narnia in the E.U.?
:Mr. Tumnus (from inside wardrobe): Yes, we joined after you did.
:Megan (from inside wardrobe): Oh great, ''another'' border to deal with.
:Cueball: I'll go find a lock for the door.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Chronicles of Narnia]]
[[Category:Politics]]