explain xkcd - User contributions [en]

1753: Thumb War

2016-10-31T15:14:01Z

162.158.214.217: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 1753
| date = October 31, 2016
| title = Thumb War
| image = thumb_war.png
| titletext = "Seventeen, eighteen, nineteen, twenty--" / "Can't we just read Pat the Bunny?"
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Just... More.}}
A thumb war is a common game for children, in which two players hold hands and attempt to pin each other's thumb down. The game is often started with both players chanting "one, two three, four, I declare a thumb war, five, six, seven, eight, try to keep your thumb straight", referencing the goal of the game.

The standard concept is subverted here: Black hat interprets the simulation of hand-to-hand combat with thumbs differently, comparing it with real conflict. He shows this in further lines, invented by himself.

The second rhyme, "finger guns proliferate." represents the idea that hand-to-hand combat is outclassed by combat with arms (guns, specifically). This holds true, of course, for any technological advancement able to make a significant difference in resulting military tactics in a war. Black hat transfers this into the "thumb war universe", introducing finger guns into the thumb hand-to-hand combat. The finger gun faction uses their military superiority to establish dominance, and thus proliferate, that is, extend territory or numbers. This is, of course, nonsensical.

The third rhyme continues the counting until twelve, thus entering the two digit number space, the idea being that multiple digits (numbers) have united against a common foe, since one alone cannot protect itself, according to [[Black Hat]]. It is left open from what the thumbs are supposed to be protected, maybe multiple digits. This is funny because of the pun involved: Digits are glyphs of numbers (compare single-digit number vs. multi-digit number) as well as one's fingers. Thus, also "fingers can't protect themselves".

The last line is utterly nonsensical: Black hat states that, even though this useless thumb war goes on and on, the "thumb U.N.", the thumb war universe equivalent to our United Nations, won't try to put an end to it using diplomatic power. In real life, the U.N. has the power to mandate intervention using (blue-helmet) peace forces in war zones to put an end to violence or give out a mandate to nations so that they can intervene in some crisis on their own behalf.

All of this is a nonsensical continuation of the original rhyme since fingers don't reproduce or own territory nor unite to form a common Organization. It is, instead, a quite cynical portrayal of our world, criticizing the "might is right" mentality that is the sad reality of our globe, and the government of the world by the militarily strongest nations. It puts the UN in an unfavorable light since it portrays it either as corrupt or apathetic, both equally bad.

[[Hairy]], meanwhile, is bored and annoyed by all this and wants to stop playing. This could be a metaphor for how our industrialized, fun-oriented societies only care about entertainment and not the real problems mankind has. Hairy could portray a happy European or American, who is only satisfied with instant gratification, games, and joy instead of confronting the problems we western nations brought about as would be our responsibility or duty.

−
Black Hat continues to make Hairy uncomfortable as an adult, such as in [[1210: I'm So Random]].
In the title text, Hairy adds another verse, requesting to do something more appropriate for children, reading a picture book.

This is the second time a young Black Hat has been used. The first was in [[1139: Rubber and Glue]].

==Transcript==
[A young Black Hat and Hairy are sitting across from each other. A toy truck is on Black Hat's left, and a stack of blocks is on Hairy's right.]

:Black hat: One, two, three, four, I declare a thumb war.
:Black hat: Five, six, seven, eight, finger guns proliferate.
:Black hat: Nine, ten, eleven, twelve, digits can't protect themselves.
:Black hat: Thirteen, fourteen, fifteen, sixteen, thumb U.N. won't intervene.
:Hairy: I don't want to play with you anymore.

{{comic discussion}}

Talk:1732: Earth Temperature Timeline

2016-09-16T03:07:45Z

162.158.214.217:

The jump of 0.5 degrees from 2000 to 2016 has been shown to be false. It exists because "scientists" went back and changed (or "seasonally adjusted") their data to fit their preconceived conclusions. Just look at Al Gore's 'Inconvenient [Non]Truth', pretty much every doomsday scenario has not occurred. I expect better of XKCD.[[Special:Contributions/173.245.48.77|173.245.48.77]] 20:58, 15 September 2016 (UTC)

Well, never mind then. Oh well. -- [[User:JayRulesXKCD|JayRulesXKCD]] ([[User talk:JayRulesXKCD|talk]]) 1:02, 12 September 2016
:I acknowledge that the picture is WAY too long, so I added a "skip to explanation" bar, to speed things up. --[[User:JayRulesXKCD|JayRulesXKCD]] ([[User talk:JayRulesXKCD|talk]]) 17:32, 12 September 2016 (UTC)

Is it just me or does the picture not render all the way down in full resolution on firefox? I found it worked on Chrome and explorer... And Wauw, just after I had created the new [[:Category:Climate change]]... Was also just watched a [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LxEGHW6Lbu8 QandA program] yesterday where [[1644: Stargazing|Brian Cox]] tried to convince some Australian politician about global warming, but the other one just cried conspiracy... Will take some time to make this one complete I guess? Great ;-) --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 17:53, 12 September 2016 (UTC)
:That's the thing with this kind of stuff. It takes a LONG time to make it just right. --[[User:JayRulesXKCD|JayRulesXKCD]] ([[User talk:JayRulesXKCD|talk]]) 19:08, 12 September 2016 (UTC)

Please delete the ridiculous trivia
*The colors used to represent temperature vary from blue (the perceived hue of a black body at 20000K) to pale red (perceived at 2200K).
[[Special:Contributions/108.162.221.139|108.162.221.139]] 19:44, 12 September 2016 (UTC)

Of course you can pretty much ignore the part of the diagram that is in dotted line, you can't rely on that data. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.246.119|108.162.246.119]] 20:40, 12 September 2016 (UTC)
:Note that even if we ignore the extrapolated future, the warming in the past century is already a vastly more abrupt climate shift than anything that happened in the preceding 219 centuries. - [[User:Frankie|Frankie]] ([[User talk:Frankie|talk]]) 21:15, 12 September 2016 (UTC)
::Actually we don't know what the shifts were on that scale in the past. The dotted line before modern measurement is a very limited estimate. We have no idea what the year to year changes were in the past, at best we can work out an average. I am reminded of a house mouse(life span of about 1 year) looking at the leaves fall from the tress and saying "Surely this is the end of the world". [[Special:Contributions/108.162.246.119|108.162.246.119]] 14:44, 13 September 2016 (UTC)
:::Randall explicitly addresses your specious complaint at 15900 BCE. Year-to-year fluctuations are not the same as the current century-long surge. Either show scientific evidence or go away, Mr Troll from Seattle Cloudflare. - [[User:Frankie|Frankie]] ([[User talk:Frankie|talk]]) 16:11, 13 September 2016 (UTC)
::::I should have known better to enter into a religious debate on the internet. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.246.119|108.162.246.119]] 00:17, 14 September 2016 (UTC)
:::::No it is not that which is the problem, but that you try to disqualify the data without even bothering to look through them. Aa mentioned Randall tries to let us know that such a high fluctuation as we have in these last 100 years would not be hidden in the old data. As mentioned by Fankie this is explained between 16000 and 15500 BCE... --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 14:30, 14 September 2016 (UTC)
::::::I refuse to debate a matter of faith with you. Note that 15500-16000 is 500 years, perhaps when we have 500 years of accurate temperature measurements we will know more. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.246.119|108.162.246.119]] 03:54, 15 September 2016 (UTC)
:::::::Why even bring your faith into this? [[Special:Contributions/108.162.212.92|108.162.212.92]] 16:29, 15 September 2016 (UTC)
:::::::I call Troll. Talking about the significance of where the subchart/Legend/footnote lies? Like what years it's next to actually has any significance? Either he's too dim to actually look, or he's trolling. The standard recommendation is "Don't feed the trolls". :) - NiceGuy1 [[Special:Contributions/108.162.218.118|108.162.218.118]] 02:55, 16 September 2016 (UTC)
:Have you read the referenced papers? Well you fit well with the people he refers to between the two lines at the top. ;-) We are heading for troublesome times :-( [[164: Playing Devil's Advocate to Win]]... --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 21:22, 12 September 2016 (UTC)

*the use unqualified of the words "still many people" is exactly the kind of weasely nonsense that this comic is designed to refute. there are "still many people" who claim the earth is flat, that they have been abducted by aliens, or that the MMR jab made their children autistic. those people are deluded or insincere. the difference with deniers of climate change is that there are in their ranks scientists who are clear-sighted but who have decided that funding at any price is better than none. this site should be better than that. --[[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.84|141.101.98.84]]
::You're absolutely right, the ranks of climate deniers do indeed include a few scientists willing to sell their voices to the highest bidder (e.g. http://www.polluterwatch.com/heartland-institute ). But is that what you meant to say? - [[User:Frankie|Frankie]] ([[User talk:Frankie|talk]]) 11:50, 13 September 2016 (UTC)
:::that the wording be changed to reflect that. --[[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.84|141.101.98.84]] 11:59, 13 September 2016 (UTC)

For a large post like this, it's a wonder that we can all keep up and edit something like this all at once. Wow. --[[User:JayRulesXKCD|JayRulesXKCD]] ([[User talk:JayRulesXKCD|talk]]) 11:56, 13 September 2016 (UTC)
:Also, anyone else notice that this was a top trending post on Facebook last night? I don't know if I could call it a milestone but it's still pretty cool. And '''WE''' edited it! :D --[[User:JayRulesXKCD|JayRulesXKCD]] ([[User talk:JayRulesXKCD|talk]]) 12:06, 13 September 2016 (UTC)
::Very interesting, so it was explain xkcd and not xkcd that where the top trending post? Could you post a link to where you found this out? --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 20:15, 13 September 2016 (UTC)
:::I can see you are right from the fact that Randall has chosen to postpone his next comic in order to keep this one on the front page for all the new visitors as has now been noted in the explanation and in the trivia section. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 14:30, 14 September 2016 (UTC)

Maybe someone should add the fact that the transcript may be a reference to oxidation?[[User:Transuranium|Transuranium]] ([[User talk:Transuranium|talk]]) 19:21, 13 September 2016 (UTC)Transuranium
:I think you mean the "title text" not the transcript? And that you refer to the recent comic [[1693: Oxidation]] which is indeed referened in the title text, then that has been written at the bottom of the main explanation and has been there already since the 12th edit less than 1½ hour after the comic came out... --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 20:02, 13 September 2016 (UTC)

Is nobody else having a problem seeing the comic? Both here and on XKCD I get an "Image not found" icon, a blue question mark. I thought maybe this was an interactive comic that doesn't work on my iPad (like that garden thing, though that did nothing on my computer either). If I tap it on XKCD nothing happens, here it leads to the picture's Wiki page - also with the question mark - which says it's a PNG, which I know this iPad can show. It's 11pm EST, maybe night maintenance on XKCD? Or the file got renamed without updating the sites? - NiceGuy1 [[Special:Contributions/162.158.126.227|162.158.126.227]] 03:12, 14 September 2016 (UTC)
:I had trouble seeing it on my own PC using Firefox but not the other browsers I have. See my early comment above. I guess the file is too big for your iPad as it is a very huge file. I tried to download it but it failed. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 14:07, 14 September 2016 (UTC)
::It's weird that I got what is clearly an "Image not found" icon, though. Maybe my 1st Gen iPad's Safari saw the file, decided "No way I'm loading that!"(or "that size can't be right", LOL!) and chose to show the error icon instead. When I force the issue, by going directly to the image URL listed on XKCD, the first time Safari crashed rather than load the image (but it crashes on a regular basis, so that didn't deter me), the second time it crashed, the third time it actually loaded, and I was able to see it. After seeing mentions here of spelling errors (though I have to disagree on "Pokemon", generally only people connected to the show bother with the accent. Like how I'm the only one who spells Hallowe'en correctly, with the apostrophe), I thought maybe the comic was taken down to correct it, but guess not. LOL! - NiceGuy1 [[Special:Contributions/108.162.218.239|108.162.218.239]] 20:54, 14 September 2016 (UTC)

I feel that the missing bottom axis is a usability problem, so I fixed it. [http://info.org.il/data/earth_temperature_timeline_bottom_axis.png See it here.] [[User:Hananc|Hananc]] ([[User talk:Hananc|talk]]) 10:42, 14 September 2016 (UTC)
:Nice but I'm sure it was on purpose to indicate that time continues down,as well as a possible even worse temperature change. As shown in the previous global warming comic [[1379]] Earth has been 8 degree hotter than now... And apart from the last small segment (albeit a very important one) you either remember that white is normal and bluer is colder redder is warmer or else you cannot use the chart in between the top and bottom, and since this is the longest xkcd comic so far it would be a shame. :-) --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 14:07, 14 September 2016 (UTC)

Okay, now that I've managed to SEE the damn thing, I have a question. There's no mention of why this is using "BCE" and "CE" instead of the standard "BC" and "AD", never mind what these stand for (thinking and thinking about it, my guess is "Before Christ Era" and "Christ Era"). This is the kind of thing that should be mentioned on ExplainXKCD, LOL! Fun fact: when I searched this page for "BCE", to confirm it wasn't explained, I got "Over 100 matches". :) Anyway, I figure maybe those are currently accepted scientific terminology, especially since "AD" is Latin, unlike "BC", but the average person still uses BC and AD. In fact, I think this is the first time I've ever seen BCE and CE (unless it's been on XKCD before and I just dismissed it as a typo or something. This time there are WAY too many for it to be a mistake every time, including here in the explanation!) - NiceGuy1[[Special:Contributions/108.162.218.239|108.162.218.239]] 21:20, 14 September 2016 (UTC)
:It's "Before Common Era" and "Common Era", an alternative to BC/AD. Pretty common alternative, though I don't know why off-hand - probably to remove the religious connotations of "Christ" and "Year of our Lord". --[[Special:Contributions/108.162.215.236|108.162.215.236]] 23:23, 14 September 2016 (UTC)
::Because they're the standards in the scientific community. The guy above assumed his way is standard, but that's inaccurate. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.212.92|108.162.212.92]] 00:26, 15 September 2016 (UTC)
:::I assume nothing. My statements are completely accurate. I OBSERVE it is the standard, the only standard anybody (else) seems to use. BC/AD is the "standard" because it is standard practice to use it. For good reason, since I would estimate just about everybody knows what it means, while I am sure I am in the majority in having never heard BCE/CE. It is also not "my" way, I made no choice here, it is the established convention, it is the way accepted and adopted by society. While I would normally be more inclined towards terminology devoid of religion (as seems to be the point here, now that someone kindly clarified these acronyms for me), I feel this would be a losing fight, one it would be foolish to attempt, the classic terminology is too ingrained in society. Sorry. - NiceGuy1 [[Special:Contributions/108.162.218.118|108.162.218.118]] 02:44, 16 September 2016 (UTC)
:: For the convenience of archeologists working in the Middle East. [[User:Wwoods|Wwoods]] ([[User talk:Wwoods|talk]]) 01:16, 15 September 2016 (UTC)
::Thank you! Yes, it sounds to me like the point would be to remove the religious aspect. Personally, I don't really mind the religious terminology, I just see it as historical, keeping a record of where the names and numbering came from. - NiceGuy1 [[Special:Contributions/108.162.218.118|108.162.218.118]] 02:44, 16 September 2016 (UTC)

What this comic doesn't show is what kind of changes occurred in the previous interglacial period as opposed to the current one. Since the current one is not yet over there could still be a stage of an interglacial with rapid temperature rise which we are only now reaching, but has happened in previous interglacial periods.
[[Special:Contributions/108.162.219.54|108.162.219.54]] 02:32, 15 September 2016 (UTC)

I think this would be first time where I see global thermonuclear war described as "best case scenario". There was and still is lot of discussion about how much is current warming caused by humans, but that's not important. Important question is "can we stop it?" and the answer is "not without literally billions of dead" (and even that might not suffice). Any money currently used for most plans to reduce CO2 (which usually fails to reduce CO2, not speaking about global warming, but succeed in their main goal, which is moving the money into pockets of their proponents) would be better spent on ADAPTING to the change. Only plans for reducing CO2 actually worth doing are the ones related to stopping burning fossil fuels, because we will soon need fossil fuels to make food (and other stuff) from. Oh, and also stop burning FOOD. So we should replace fossil fuel power plants with only viable alternative - NUCLEAR. So called renewable power sources like solar are good addition, but doesn't scale to the amount of power and stability we need. -- [[User:Hkmaly|Hkmaly]] ([[User talk:Hkmaly|talk]]) 14:12, 15 September 2016 (UTC)

So disappointing to see that Randall Hitler Munroe subscribes to the obviously false "global warming" religion. He should know better. [[Special:Contributions/172.68.55.83|172.68.55.83]] 00:11, 16 September 2016 (UTC)
: Troll troll trolly trolly troll troll troll [[Special:Contributions/162.158.214.217|162.158.214.217]] 03:07, 16 September 2016 (UTC)

1703: Juno

2016-07-06T18:25:07Z

162.158.214.217: /* Press speaks first */

{{comic
| number = 1703
| date = July 6, 2016
| title = Juno
| image = juno.png
| titletext = "The name wasn't a tip-off?" "Honestly, at first I thought you were saying 'Juneau'. A gravity assist seemed like a weird way to get to Alaska, but I figured it must be more efficient or something."
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Just a first draft.}}

This comic was written in honor of the {{w|Juno (spacecraft)|Juno space probe}}, which made headlines the day before this comic aired. And it have been reported that Juno arrived at its orbit [http://www.usatoday.com/story/tech/nation-now/2016/07/06/how-juno-arrived-jupiter-one-second-off-schedule/86745128/ one second off schedule].

Speaking at a {{w|NASA}} press conference a blonde woman standing behind a lectern announces that Juno has arrived at {{w|Jupiter}} within one second of its scheduled arrival. After traveling 1.7 billion miles (2.8 billion km) such a precision is very impressive which is acknowledged by someone from the press.

The joke is that one of the NASA engineers, [[Megan]], reveals that they actually intended for Juno to arrive at {{w|Saturn}}, but actually arrived at Jupiter with a timing that was still apparently the same within one second. Given the reaction from the spokesperson she new this but it was not supposed to slip out.

This is of course ridiculous because if Saturn had been the intended target, Juno would have been off course by 10.25 AU when it arrived at Jupiter. Randall might be making a subtle reference to {{w|Mars Climate Orbiter|past difficulties}} NASA has had with [[Converting to Metric|converting to metric]] — in July 2016, Jupiter was 870 million ''kilometers'' from Earth, while Saturn was 850 million ''miles'' from Earth (and half the distance traveled by Juno). A similar measurement coincidence was noted in [[what if?]] ''{{what if|4|A Mole of Moles}}''. Also Saturn is a [http://www.space.com/18477-how-far-away-is-saturn.html maximum of 1.7 billion '''kilometers'''] away from the Earth. For Jupiter [http://www.space.com/18383-how-far-away-is-jupiter.html this distance] is 968 million km (601 million miles) away. But when traveling between planets long detours are necessary to reach the goal with a velocity that enables the space craft to go into orbit. So it is just a coincidence that Juno has traveled a distance to get to Jupier in miles that fits with a possible distance to Saturn in kilometres.

==Title text==
Currently there is a disagreement about who says what in the title text. Maybe they will need to be listed as alternatives.

It should be noted that Juno is mostly linked to Jupiter and not to Saturn (the probe was sent to Jupiter in the real world), which fit best with the press speaks first explanation. Also this fits with the order of speaking. NASA, press, NASA and then in the title text press again.

===Press speaks first===
In the title text someone from the press asks if the name of the space probe, ''{{w|Juno (mythology)|Juno}}'', wasn't a tip of given the relation to Jupiter? The goddess Juno was the wife of {{w|Jupiter (mythology)|Jupiter}} the chief deity in the {{w|Roman mythology}}. He is however also her sister and her father is {{w|Saturn (mythology)|Saturn}} so there are relations to both Gods/planets. Her relationship to Jupiter, however, is most likely more common knowledge explaining the naming of the probe.

However, instead of mentioning this dual relationship one of the three NASA representatives say that at first they even believed it was for {{w|Juneau, Alaska|Juneau}}, the capital of {{w|Alaska}}. Showing that the engineers did not have a clue about the object of the mission. They did wonder why a {{w|gravity assist}} was planned to get there but guessed it was a more efficient method. Given that gravity assist is only relevant for interplanetary missions requiring a flyby of a planet it would never make sense to use to get between two destinations on Earth. Even though {{w|Cape Canaveral Air Force Station}} in Florida, from where the probe was launched, is about as long away from Juneau as it is possible to get inside the borders of the United States.

===NASA speaks first===
In the title text someone, likely a member of the NASA team, asks if the name of the space probe, ''{{w|Juno (mythology)|Juno}}'', wasn't a tip off. In {{w|Roman mythology}} the goddess Juno was the daughter of {{w|Saturn (mythology)|Saturn}} (though also the wife of {{w|Jupiter (mythology)|Jupiter}}). However, instead of mentioning this, someone (presumably a member of the press) replies that at first they had thought the probe was named for {{w|Juneau, Alaska|Juneau}}, the capital of {{w|Alaska}}. They had wondered why NASA wanted to use {{w|gravity assist}} to get there, but had guessed that it must be more efficient.

===Megan continues speaking===
The title text might also be continued discussion amongst the NASA representatives. After being shushed, Megan begins needling the spokeswoman about the huge error NASA made. The spokeswoman then admits to being confused about why the mission was so complicated.

==Transcript==
:[At a NASA press conference stands a blonde woman behind a lectern with the NASA logo. To the left stands Megan to the right Cueball, both looking towards the blonde woman.]
:Blonde woman: After traveling 1.7 billion miles, the ''Juno'' spacecraft reached Jupiter within one ''second'' of its scheduled arrival time.
:Logo: NASA

:[A person off-panel to the left comments and all three turns towards the speaker.]
:Off-panel voice: Very impressive!
:Blonde woman: Thank you.
:Logo: NASA

:[All three look straight out as Megan comments on the praise.]
:Megan: I mean, we were ''aiming'' for Saturn. Still, nailed the time.
:Blonde woman: ''Shhhh.''
:Logo: NASA

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Space probes]]

1703: Juno

2016-07-06T18:23:28Z

162.158.214.217: /* Press speaks first */

{{comic
| number = 1703
| date = July 6, 2016
| title = Juno
| image = juno.png
| titletext = "The name wasn't a tip-off?" "Honestly, at first I thought you were saying 'Juneau'. A gravity assist seemed like a weird way to get to Alaska, but I figured it must be more efficient or something."
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Just a first draft.}}

This comic was written in honor of the {{w|Juno (spacecraft)|Juno space probe}}, which made headlines the day before this comic aired. And it have been reported that Juno arrived at its orbit [http://www.usatoday.com/story/tech/nation-now/2016/07/06/how-juno-arrived-jupiter-one-second-off-schedule/86745128/ one second off schedule].

Speaking at a {{w|NASA}} press conference a blonde woman standing behind a lectern announces that Juno has arrived at {{w|Jupiter}} within one second of its scheduled arrival. After traveling 1.7 billion miles (2.8 billion km) such a precision is very impressive which is acknowledged by someone from the press.

The joke is that one of the NASA engineers, [[Megan]], reveals that they actually intended for Juno to arrive at {{w|Saturn}}, but actually arrived at Jupiter with a timing that was still apparently the same within one second. Given the reaction from the spokesperson she new this but it was not supposed to slip out.

This is of course ridiculous because if Saturn had been the intended target, Juno would have been off course by 10.25 AU when it arrived at Jupiter. Randall might be making a subtle reference to {{w|Mars Climate Orbiter|past difficulties}} NASA has had with [[Converting to Metric|converting to metric]] — in July 2016, Jupiter was 870 million ''kilometers'' from Earth, while Saturn was 850 million ''miles'' from Earth (and half the distance traveled by Juno). A similar measurement coincidence was noted in [[what if?]] ''{{what if|4|A Mole of Moles}}''. Also Saturn is a [http://www.space.com/18477-how-far-away-is-saturn.html maximum of 1.7 billion '''kilometers'''] away from the Earth. For Jupiter [http://www.space.com/18383-how-far-away-is-jupiter.html this distance] is 968 million km (601 million miles) away. But when traveling between planets long detours are necessary to reach the goal with a velocity that enables the space craft to go into orbit. So it is just a coincidence that Juno has traveled a distance to get to Jupier in miles that fits with a possible distance to Saturn in kilometres.

==Title text==
Currently there is a disagreement about who says what in the title text. Maybe they will need to be listed as alternatives.

It should be noted that Juno is mostly linked to Jupiter and not to Saturn (the probe was sent to Jupiter in the real world), which fit best with the press speaks first explanation. Also this fits with the order of speaking. NASA, press, NASA and then in the title text press again.

===Press speaks first===
In the title text someone from the press asks if the name of the space probe, ''{{w|Juno (mythology)|Juno}}'', wasn't a tip of given the relation to Jupiter? The goddess Juno was the wife of {{w|Jupiter (mythology)|Jupiter}} the chief deity in the {{w|Roman mythology}}. He is however also her sister and her father is {{w|Saturn (mythology)|Saturn}} so there are relations to both Gods/planets. Her relationship to Jupiter, however, is most likely more common knowledge explaining the naming of the probe.

However, instead of mentioning this dual relationship one of the three NASA representatives say that at first they even believed it was for {{w|Juneau, Alaska|Juneau}}, the capital of {{w|Alaska}}. Showing that the engineers did not have a clue about the object of the mission. They did wonder why a {{w|gravity assist}} was planned to get there but guessed it was a more efficient method. Given that gravity assist is only relevant for interplanetary missions requiring a fly by of a planet it would never make sense to use to get between two destinations on Earth. Even though {{w|Cape Canaveral Air Force Station}} in Florida, from where the probe was launched, is about as long away from Juneau as it is possible to get inside the birders if the United States.

===NASA speaks first===
In the title text someone, likely a member of the NASA team, asks if the name of the space probe, ''{{w|Juno (mythology)|Juno}}'', wasn't a tip off. In {{w|Roman mythology}} the goddess Juno was the daughter of {{w|Saturn (mythology)|Saturn}} (though also the wife of {{w|Jupiter (mythology)|Jupiter}}). However, instead of mentioning this, someone (presumably a member of the press) replies that at first they had thought the probe was named for {{w|Juneau, Alaska|Juneau}}, the capital of {{w|Alaska}}. They had wondered why NASA wanted to use {{w|gravity assist}} to get there, but had guessed that it must be more efficient.

===Megan continues speaking===
The title text might also be continued discussion amongst the NASA representatives. After being shushed, Megan begins needling the spokeswoman about the huge error NASA made. The spokeswoman then admits to being confused about why the mission was so complicated.

==Transcript==
:[At a NASA press conference stands a blonde woman behind a lectern with the NASA logo. To the left stands Megan to the right Cueball, both looking towards the blonde woman.]
:Blonde woman: After traveling 1.7 billion miles, the ''Juno'' spacecraft reached Jupiter within one ''second'' of its scheduled arrival time.
:Logo: NASA

:[A person off-panel to the left comments and all three turns towards the speaker.]
:Off-panel voice: Very impressive!
:Blonde woman: Thank you.
:Logo: NASA

:[All three look straight out as Megan comments on the praise.]
:Megan: I mean, we were ''aiming'' for Saturn. Still, nailed the time.
:Blonde woman: ''Shhhh.''
:Logo: NASA

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Space probes]]

Talk:1693: Oxidation

2016-06-17T20:30:47Z

162.158.214.217:

The white balance is off in this comic. [[User:Mikemk|Mikemk]] ([[User talk:Mikemk|talk]]) 04:39, 13 June 2016 (UTC)
:Where? I checked it in gimp and the white balance is fine. In fact, the .png file for this comic uses the greyscale colour mode.[[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.130|141.101.98.130]] 09:57, 13 June 2016 (UTC)
:Reference to [http://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/1014:_Car_Problems 1014: Car Problems] [[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.132|141.101.98.132]] 18:47, 13 June 2016 (UTC)
Maybe Randall drew this one on paper, which had already started oxidizing before it was scanned. ;D
[[Special:Contributions/108.162.216.91|108.162.216.91]] 08:36, 13 June 2016 (UTC)

I thought the arthropods mentioned were meant to be a reference to pubic lice (crabs). [[Special:Contributions/141.101.104.42|141.101.104.42]] 06:11, 13 June 2016 (UTC)

Okay, who else had immediately thought of Skitter? [[Special:Contributions/172.68.11.43|172.68.11.43]] 09:52, 13 June 2016 (UTC)
:I can't say that I did, but I like this reference. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.219.80|108.162.219.80]] 12:55, 14 June 2016 (UTC)

There's no reason to think the Title Text is from Megan to Pony tail. It could just as easily be the other way around. [[Special:Contributions/173.245.54.47|173.245.54.47]] 12:30, 13 June 2016 (UTC)
:Yes there is reason to think so. Ponytail tries to downplay the fact that she has crashed Megans car and made it burn, and then Megan downplay her revenge of covering Ponytail in spiders etc. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 09:19, 15 June 2016 (UTC)
::Or Ponytail, who has just demonstrated her tendency to downplay quantitative differences, is just continuing on in the same vein. It could easily go either way, though I like the revenge scenario.[[User:Geek Prophet|Geek Prophet]] ([[User talk:Geek Prophet|talk]]) 19:30, 15 June 2016 (UTC)
:::Yes it is true that Ponytail has done it once. But I'm quite sure she is just trying to remove the blame from herself. Not like she would be talking like this all the time. It fits so much better with Megans revenge. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 08:26, 16 June 2016 (UTC)

Could this be a prequel to [http://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/1014:_Car_Problems 1014: Car Problems]? [[User:Luc|Luc]] ([[User talk:Luc|talk]]) 15:33, 13 June 2016 (UTC)
:No I do not see that. Here it is clear that it is Ponytail that has caused the fire, and also she is not among the people looking at Megan's picture, and it is clear that she obviously suspects one of them to have caused the fire. But it is interesting enough to include that Megan has some troubles with her cars. And someone already did. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 08:26, 16 June 2016 (UTC)

Possibly inspired by What If #97? Randall talks about oxidation and mentions car rusting vs. car combustion. [[User:Meareaperson|Meareaperson]] ([[User talk:Meareaperson|talk]]) 18:05, 13 June 2016 (UTC)
:For sure, thanks, I will put a link to it in the explanation --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 09:19, 15 June 2016 (UTC)

Possibly the title text is a reference to the theory, that higher concentration of oxygen (this comic being about oxidation, which obviously requires oxygen) in the air would result in larger insects? [http://www.livescience.com/1083-oxygen-giant-bugs.html] [http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/notrocketscience/2012/06/04/giant-insects-disappeared-thanks-to-falling-oxygen-levels-and-agile-birds/] [http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2011/08/110808-ancient-insects-bugs-giants-oxygen-animals-science/] [[Special:Contributions/172.68.11.49|172.68.11.49]] 11:14, 14 June 2016 (UTC)
:Oxidation does not require oxygen. It is simply a term used to describe a reaction with a loss of electrons. There's a mnemonic to remember this, "OIL RIG; Oxidation Is Loss, Reduction Is Gain" and a few others as well. It is called oxidation because diatomic oxygen was the first recognized oxidizing agent.[[User:Lackadaisical|Lackadaisical]] ([[User talk:Lackadaisical|talk]]) 13:26, 14 June 2016 (UTC)

I believe it might have been a missed opportunity that the author didn't go for a variation of "We're all dying slowly anyway" in the title text. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.218.209|108.162.218.209]] 16:02, 14 June 2016 (UTC)

I believe the oxidation Ponytail is referring to is the controlled combustion of the internal combustion engine, this is merely a difference in scale in her opinion.[[Special:Contributions/173.245.54.35|173.245.54.35]] 11:41, 15 June 2016 (UTC)
:I believe you are wrong. Because Ponytail states that the car has been oxidizing since she got it, and she has not been running the cars engine ever since she got it. But the rusting begins even before the car is finished... --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 08:26, 16 June 2016 (UTC)
:: I see your point, but I can truthfully say I've been living in my house since I moved in, even if it is a technically discontinuous period of time because I leave the premises at some point for work, school, etc.[[Special:Contributions/108.162.221.32|108.162.221.32]] 09:42, 16 June 2016 (UTC)

They should add "Ponytail vs. Megan" as a category and put this comic, along with "Herpetology", "Nachos" and a few others I can't remember right now. {{unsigned ip|188.114.97.36}}
:I second this. Having at least three(?) qualifies to be a category. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.215.21|108.162.215.21]] 22:48, 16 June 2016 (UTC)BK201
:Please don't. There are probably other pairs of characters that are in direct conflict three or more times; they just don't happen to be the two main female characters.

1693: Oxidation

2016-06-13T20:52:41Z

162.158.214.217: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 1693
| date = June 13, 2016
| title = Oxidation
| image = oxidation.png
| titletext = Calm down--there were lots of arthropods living on your skin already. These ones are just bigger.
}}

==Explanation==
In this comic [[Ponytail]] has set [[Megan]]'s car on fire, possibly by crashing it.

{{w|Oxidation}} refers to a whole class of chemical reactions. Any chemical reaction that involves the loss of electrons is called "oxidation" (since a lot of these involve oxygen).

One oxidation reaction is {{w|rusting}}: the reaction of iron atoms in the steel of the car with oxygen and moisture to produce iron oxide hydrate. Rusting is extremely difficult to prevent, and all cars are rusting slowly.

Another oxidation reaction is {{w|combustion}}: the violently {{w|exothermic}} reaction of flammable parts of the car with oxygen to produce a whole load of nasty gases and particulates, as well as a lot of heat. {{w|Vehicle fire|Vehicle fires}} can burn very quickly and destroy a vehicle within minutes.

From the most detached viewpoint, these are both oxidation reactions (although they occur in different places: rusting normally happens to the car chassis while fires are usually isolated to the engine) and Ponytail argues that as all cars oxidize, the fire that she has caused has only accelerated the inevitable destruction of the vehicle.

In the title text the small {{w|arthropods}} (invertebrates that have jointed bodies and exoskeletons) are referencing microscopic {{w|mites}} – tiny creatures that can live on the human body without normally causing any harm (you probably have {{w|eyelash mite}}s, for instance).

Presumably as a form of revenge, Megan has caused Ponytail to become covered in much larger arthropods - most probably {{w|spiders}}, judging by [[Randall|Randall's]] [[:Category:Spiders|fixation with them]], but it could be any combination of these often feared animal: spiders, {{w|scorpions}}, {{w|insects}}, {{w|crabs}}, {{w|centipedes}}, {{w|millipedes}} etc.

Megan's car also caught fire in [[1014: Car Problems]].

==Transcript==
:[Ponytail is holding a finger up in front of Megan while gray smoke and heat waves pours in to the frame from off-panel left.]
:Ponytail: In my defense, your car has been oxidizing since you got it.
:Ponytail: It's just happening a lot faster now.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Ponytail]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]
[[Category:Chemistry]]
[[Category:Animals]]
[[Category:Spiders]]

1674: Adult

2016-05-24T17:31:20Z

162.158.214.217: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 1674
| date = April 29, 2016
| title = Adult
| image = adult.png
| titletext = (1) That shopping cart is full of AirHeads, and (2) I died at 41 from what the AirHeads company spokesperson called 'probably natural causes.'
}}

==Explanation==
In this comic, [[Cueball]] performs several mundane '''adult''' tasks, namely shopping for groceries, buying furniture, and applying for a mortgage. In each instance thought bubbles show his apparent surprise or amusement at the fact that he is behaving like an adult.

In the last panel [[Megan]] is reading Cueball's will. Instead of containing standard language, it expresses Cueball's feelings at the fact that he was actually creating a will. This is such an adult thing to do, that Cueball's mind boggles and he cannot believe he is doing so. As is revealed in the title text, Megan reads this to his family because Cueball died early, but when he wrote it (no later than about 40 years of age per the title text), he probably did not envision that it was needed any time soon, and thus also explains why he cannot believe he is writing a will already.

[[Randall]] frequently addresses the issue of growing up and being expected to be an adult, despite still seeing oneself as a child in many ways. In this strip, Cueball finds himself performing tasks that he's used to thinking of as things that grown-ups have to worry about, from shopping for food to preparing for one's own death. In each case, he treats the situation as if he were a child suddenly finding himself taking on adult responsibility, which seems to be how he sees himself.

Randall also frequently addresses the issue of finding oneself in adulthood, despite feeling unprepared and immature. In some, he points out that this can be freeing, because it allows us the power to redefine adulthood on our own terms (see [[150: Grownups]] and [[219: Blanket Fort]]). In others (as in this case), he addresses the surprise that comes with realizing that adult responsibilities belong to you, and fear about his ability to handle them (see [[441: Babies]], [[905: Homeownership]], and [[616: Lease]]).

In the title text we learn that the shopping cart is filled with {{w|AirHeads}}, a tangy, taffy-like, chewy candy, predominantly known for its sweet taste and texture. The title text thus suggests that Cueball still retains some more childish instincts, namely using the freedom of adulthood to indulge in AirHead candies, to fatal consequences, explaining why they already read out his will in front of his family in the last panel. It also suggests that the candy company would be quick to portray that death as "natural causes", to downplay the involvement of their product in someone's death.

Randall has previously made a comic displaying what happened to him when he suddenly was able to freely make or buy the kind of food his parents would have limited his access to in [[418: Stove Ownership]], where it was bacon in the comic and Frosting (or icing) in the title text.

==Transcript==
:[Cueball is holding onto a shopping cart more than half filled with items looking quite similar. Above his head is a large thought bubble.]
:Cueball (thinking): Haha, look at me grocery shopping! I'm such an adult.

:[Cueball is standing, arms in his sides, in front of a sofa with a price tag. He is thinking again, this time the frame of the panel is the lower part of the thought bubble, as there is no frame around the text in the "bubble".]
:Cueball (thinking): Buying a sofa! Ooh, look how domestic I am!

:[Cueball is sitting in an office chair. at a desk, leaning in over it while writing something. The desk is filled with office items, and on the opposite side of the desk sits a man with a wisp of hair in another office chair. Cueball is thinking again with the text in a large thought bubble above their heads.]
:Cueball (thinking): Applying for a mortgage! As if I'm a real grown-up.

:[Megan is reading out loud from a piece of paper, while standing in front of a long table, where Hairbun, Hairy, and White Hat are sitting. White hat sits at the end of the table in an office chair.]
:Megan: ...And I, being of sound mind and body, am totally writing a will right now!
:Megan: Can you believe this?

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Hairbun]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Hairy]]
[[Category:Comics featuring White Hat]]
[[Category:Food]]

1572: xkcd Survey

2016-05-04T21:59:13Z

162.158.214.217: /* Difficult words */ Removed the speculation about the difficult words not in dictionaries a test for liars. All but 2 words have usage examples, and one of those has a given derivation.

{{comic
| number = 1572
| date = September 2, 2015
| title = xkcd Survey
| image = xkcd_survey.png
| titletext = The xkcd Survey: Big Data for a Big Planet
}}
*The comic links to [http://goo.gl/forms/B5RaBeZ6nw The xkcd survey] on Google.

==Explanation==
As the comic image states, it links to a survey created with [https://www.google.com/forms/about/ Google Forms], containing a series of questions. The questions range from mundane typical survey questions such as “Do you have any food allergies?”, to rather strange, such as “Fill this text box with random letters by randomly mashing keys on your keyboard.” (See [[1530: Keyboard Mash]]).

The stated goal of the survey is to “create an interesting and unusual data set for people to play with”. A strange data set is a ripe opportunity for a sampling of readers. It's also supposed to be “a search for weird correlations” – presumably the goal is to be able to say things like “people who have been skydiving are (more/less) likely than average to dislike cilantro”. (See also [[882: Significant]] about finding presumably-spurious correlations between unrelated data.)

This explanation will undoubtedly expand when the data comes in.

{{w|Image_map#Client-side_image_map|HTML image maps}} is a technique for marking up areas of an image on a web page, such that each area can be a link without the whole image being a link. [[Randall]] could have used this type of image map to make only the “Click here to take the survey” button be a link, and none of the rest of the image. But he cannot get the hang of it (or knowing his skills, does not wish to take the time to learn it). Not getting the hang of HTML image maps was also referenced on [http://imgs.xkcd.com/store/tour-news.png the banner for his book tour] from [http://web.archive.org/web/20140901023821/http://xkcd.com/ September 2014]

The title text is a joke off of {{w|Big Data}}, which is a name for analysis of a set of data that includes a huge amount of information. He also says "for a big planet" because the Earth is big.{{Citation needed}}

The survey is closed, and the questions replaced with the text: "The xkcd survey is now closed. Thank you for all your answers! Response data is being collected and will be posted soon." As of 28 April 2016, the same caption is still there, with no indication of exactly how soon the data is intended to be posted. (Apparently, Randall crashed google forms, so the data is taking a long time to be retrieved [https://www.reddit.com/r/xkcd/comments/40mhve/what_ever_happened_to_the_survey_we_took/ (see this reddit thread)] - much like his breaking of [http://what-if.xkcd.com/imgs/a/62/balloon_wolfram.png/ Wolfram Alpha]] during answering a reader's question on [[What If]])

==The Survey==
The Survey started off with the following statement:

<nowiki>This is an anonymous survey. After it's done, a database of everyone's responses will be posted.
There's no specific reason for any of the questions. The goal is to create an interesting and unusual data set for people to play with. This is obviously not going to be a real random sample of people, but in the interest of getting cooler data, if you're sharing this with friends, try sending it to some people who wouldn't normally see this kind of thing!

WARNING: This survey is anonymous, but your answers WILL BE MADE PUBLIC. Depending what you write, it's possible that someone may be able to identify you by looking at your responses. None of these questions should ask about anything too private, but don't write anything that you don't want people to see. If you're not comfortable answering a question, just skip it.</nowiki>

'''Note:''' The order of the possible answers (the list of possibilities) was random, and changed every time the page is reloaded. So do not try to fix the order here below...

===Plane===
*Have you ever been in a plane?
**No
**Yes

===Skydiving===
*Have you ever been {{w|Parachuting|skydiving}}?
**No, but I might someday
**Yes
**No

===The Dress===
*When you first saw {{w|The dress (viral phenomenon)|The Dress}}, what color was it? — (Also see [[1492: Dress Color]] and the [[Blag]] ENTRY [http://blog.xkcd.com/2010/05/03/color-survey-results/ Color Survey Results]).
**White and gold
**A color combination not listed here
**I don't remember
**Blue and black
**What dress?

===Popular food===
*What's a really popular food that you don't like?
**''Text box''

===Floaters===
*When you look at a blue sky, do you see those swirly {{w|floater|floaters}} in your vision?
**Yes, constantly
**I'm not sure what things you mean
**Yes, occasionally
**No

===Running out of gas===
*Have you ever had a car run out of gas while you were driving it?
**Yes
**No

===Animals===
*Name the first five animals you can think of
**''Multi line text box''

===Weather===
*What's the weather like where you are right now?
**''Text box''

===Activities===
*Which of these can you do reasonably well?
*(Check all that apply)
**{{w|slam dunk|Dunk}} a basketball — A "slam dunk" or simply "dunk" is the act of jumping up and putting the ball through the net with a lot of force
**Tie a {{w|sheet bend}} or {{w|bowline}} — A sheet bend is a knot that joins two ropes together; A bowline is a knot used to form a fixed loop at the end of a rope. Although tied differently, the resulting knots are identical.{{Citation needed}}
**Roller skate
**[http://www.huffingtonpost.com/news/high-heel-race/ Run in high heels]
**Drive a stick shift — See {{w|Manual transmission}} of a car
**Solve a {{w|Rubik's cube}}
**Dive headfirst off a diving board — See {{w|Springboard}} and {{w|Diving platform}}
**Ice skate
**{{w|Skateboarding|Skateboard}}
**Walk on {{w|stilts}} — Stilts are poles, posts or pillars used to allow a person to walk at a height above the ground
**Ski
**Cut vegetables with a knife
**Swim
**Ride a horse
**{{w|Unicycle}}
**Change the oil on a car
**Do a back {{w|Handspring (gymnastics)|handspring}} — A handspring is an exercise in gymnastics in which you jump through the air landing on your hands, then again landing on your feet
**Juggle — {{w|Toss juggling}} (the most recognizable form of juggling) consists in throwing objects into the air and catching them.

===Spelling===
*What word can you never seem to spell on the first try?
**''Text box''

===Condiments===
*Do you eat {{w|condiments}} directly out of the fridge as a snack?
**No
**Yes

===Thermostat===
*When you adjust a thermostat that was set by someone else, it's usually because you want the room to be...
**Cooler
**Warmer

===Clothing===
*What color is the shirt/dress/upper-body-clothing you're wearing right now, if any?
**''Text box''

===Colds===
*Do you get {{w|Common cold|colds}} often?
**No
**Yes

===Number===
*Pick a number from 1 to 100
**''Text box''

===Spelling===
*On a scale of 1 to 10, how good at spelling are you? (Note that the question does not specify which end of the scale is good or bad.)
**''Tick off list with numbers from 1 to 10.''

===Myers-Briggs===
*Do you know your {{w|Myers–Briggs_Type_Indicator|Myers-Briggs type}}?
**No
**Yes

===Astrology===
*Do you know your {{w|astrological sign}}?
**No
**Yes

===Siblings===
*How many older siblings do you have?
**''Text box''
*How many younger siblings do you have?
**''Text box''
*How many twin/etc siblings do you have?
**''Text box''

===Sleepiness===
*Do you feel sleepy a lot?
**Yes
**No

===Movie star===
*Name a movie star
**''Text box''

===Time in sun===
*Do you spend a lot of time in the sun?
**Yes
**No

===Broccoli===
*Does {{w|broccoli}} taste bitter to you?
**Yes
**No
**I've never had it

===Wakefulness===
*Do you regularly stay awake much later than you meant to?
**Yes
**No

===Keyboard mashing===
*Fill this text box with gibberish by mashing random keyboard keys (See [[1530: Keyboard Mash]]).
**''Broad multi-line text box''

===Driving===
*On a scale of 1 to 5, where 1 is terrible and 3 is average, how good a driver do you think you are?
**''Tick off list with numbers from 1 to 5.''

===Allergies===
*Do you have any food allergies?
**No
**Yes

===Thunder===
*Have you heard thunder or seen lightning in the past year? — (The title-text of [[831: Weather Radar]] mentions the belief that thunderstorms seemed more common when one was a kid. Since the survey also asks for age this question is likely a test of that belief.)
**Yes
**No

===Flavor preference===
*Which do you prefer? (It seems to be missing the ''neither'' option...)
**Chocolate
**Vanilla

===Number (reprise)===
*Pick another number from 1 to 100 (Supposedly should not be the same as in the first pick a number box).
**''Text box''

===Internet===
*When you think about stuff on the internet, where do you picture it being physically located? Even if you know it's not really how things work, is there a place you imagine websites and social media posts sitting before you look at them? If so, where is it?
**''Broad multi-line text box''

===Roll tongue===
*Can you {{w|Tongue rolling|roll your tongue}}?
**Yes
**No
**What?

===Toes===
*Can you pick things up with your toes?
**No
**Yes

===Age===
*How old are you?
**''Text box''

===Walls===
*What color are the walls around you right now?
**''Text box''

===Cell phone===
*What kind of cell phone do you have?
**{{w|iPhone}}
**{{w|Android (operating system)|Android}}
**Other smartphone
**Non-smartphone
**I don't have a cell phone

===Eating===
*What's the last thing you ate?
**''Text box''

===Difficult words===
*Which of these words do you know the meaning of?
*Some of these words don’t appear in any of the following dictionaries: the Oxford English Dictionary, the New Oxford American Dictionary, Wiktionary, or Dictionary.com. With one exception, however, reviewers on this site have found verifiable examples of use for the words in question.
*[http://dictionary.reference.com/ Dictionary.com] has an index of difficulty (measured in pixels, with class name <code>difficulty-indicator</code>). We add it at the right of the words that have it. N/A means that a word isn't present in Dictionary.com, or that it doesn't have an index.
**Slickle – Not in any standard dictionary. However, it [http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Slickle is in] the crowd-sourced in Urban Dictionary, as well as a suggested planet name in [[1253: Exoplanet Names]]
**[https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/rife Rife] – [http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/rife 117]
**[https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/soliloquy Soliloquy] – [http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/soliloquy 150]
**Fination – not in any dictionary. Appears infrequently in Victorian texts (e.g., [http://books.google.com/books?id=ghNOAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA245&dq=Fination 1889], [http://books.google.com/books?id=nwlCAQAAMAAJ&pg=PA214&dq=Fination 1839])
**[https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/stipple Stipple] – [http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/stipple 144]
**[https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/peristeronic Peristeronic] – [http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/peristeronic N/A]. Randall used it and defined it for readers in [[798: Adjectives]].
**[https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/modicum Modicum] – [http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/modicum 120]
**Trephony – Not available in reference dictionaries. An obsolete spelling of "{{w|Trephine}}" (especially when used as a verb for the process of {{w|Trepanning|trephination}}). Initially a transliteration of Greek [http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.04.0057:entry=tru/panon τρυπάω] for the same.
**Tribution – A regular construction from [https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/tribute#Verb Tribute (verb)] using "-tion" to transform into a noun. Using this regular formation, the term would mean the act of tribute, but no examples of actual use are available. It is worth noting that the use of "tribute" as a verb is generally considered obsolete and the few forms that persist in use relate primarily to the tributary and distibutary river systems
**[https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/phoropter Phoropter] – [http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/phoropter N/A] 1.An instrument used in eye examinations to determine an individual's prescription, the patient looking through various lenses at a chart on the other side.
**Unitory – Not available in reference dictionaries. An obsolete spelling of "Unitary," chiefly British. While long obsolete in normal usage, it persisted longer in mathematics that it did elsewhere (particularly for "Unitory Method" and "Unitory Matrices"). Example of use: [https://books.google.com/books?id=Wl1BAQAAMAAJ&pg=RA5-PA27&lpg=RA5-PA27&dq=unitory+method&source=bl&ots=rfRKJXAJqV&sig=Wsr_gV7xG6Airah9Lx1M0hi-7Zc&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0CDsQ6AEwBmoVChMInd_R9qTbxwIVChU-Ch36IAh_#v=onepage&q=unitory%20method&f=false (1)]
**[https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/amiable Amiable] – [http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/amiable 123]
**[https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/salient Salient] – [http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/salient 69]
**[https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/regolith Regolith] – [http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/regolith 162]
**[https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/lithe Lithe] – [http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/lithe 105]
**Revergent – technical word from {{w|fern}} biology, referring to the edges of fern leaves which curl back on themselves (see [http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2FBF00985044 Schölch, 2000])
**[https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/hubris Hubris] – [http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/hubris 117]
**[https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/fleek Fleek] – [http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/fleek N/A]
**Cadine – A rare loan-word for [https://fr.wiktionary.org/wiki/cadine a sultan's wife or a noble ottoman woman] which comes to English through the French. Examples of Use: [https://books.google.com/books?id=4yz-Y-_OOO0C&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q=cadine&f=false (1)]. Also the name of an [https://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cadine italian city].
**[https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/apricity Apricity] – Not available in reference dictionaries. An obsolete word for the sun's heat in winter (e.g., [http://books.google.com/books?id=CFBGAAAAYAAJ&pg=PT76&dq=apricity Bailey 1775]). According to the What If? book (page 80), this is Randall's single favourite word in the English language.

===cat===
*Please type "cat" here:
**''Text box''

===Dreams===
*Do you usually remember your dreams?
**No
**Yes

===Text editors===
*Do you have strong opinions about text editors? (See {{w|Editor war}})
**Yes
**No

===Emoji===
*How do you feel about {{w|emoji}}?
**Negative 😠 (Unicode 1f620 - Angry face)
**Positive 😊 (Unicode 263a - Smiling face)
**Neutral 😐 (Unicode 1F610 - Neutral face)

===Snow===
*Does it ever snow where you live?
**No
**Yes

===Taste of food===
*Do you strongly dislike the taste or texture of any of these things?
**Eggs
**Chocolate ice cream
**Beer
**White wine
**{{w|Carbonation}} (or Fizz)
**Red wine
**{{w|Cilantro}}
**Coffee
**Tomatoes
**Yogurt

===Beverages===
*Which of these do you regularly drink?
**Caffeinated soda (e.g. Coca-Cola, Dr. Pepper)
**Noncaffeinated soda
**Coffee
**Fruit juice
**Milk
**Beer
**Wine
**Tea
**{{w|Maple syrup}}
**Water

===Random words===
*Type five random words
**''Broad multi-line text box''

===Flying===
*Are you nervous about flying?
**Yes
**No
**A little

===Favorite number===
*On a scale of 1 to 5, which number is your favorite?
**''Tick off list with numbers from 1 to 5.''

===Sandwich===
*Which of these would you consider a {{w|sandwich}}?
*(Check all that apply)
**{{w|Taco}}
**{{w|Quesadilla}}
**{{w|Submarine sandwich|Sub/Hoagie}}
**{{w|Cheesesteak}}
**{{w|Hamburger}}
**{{w|Open-faced sandwich}}
**{{w|Calzone}}

===Animal affinity===
*Which of these describes you?
*(Check all that apply)
**Dog person
**Cat person
**Half-cat half-person
**Part of a subterranean race of dog people
**Literally named "Catherine Person"

===Sense of direction===
*Would you say you have a good sense of direction?
**Yes
**No

===Socks or underwear===
*Have you ever thrown out all your different pairs of socks/underwear, bought a bunch of replacements that were all one kind, and then told all your friends how great it was and how they should do it too?
**Yes
**No
**I did the throwing out thing, but didn't talk to everyone about it
**No, but I'm totally doing that now

==Transcript==
:[A simple comic with text only. The ''click here'' part is inside a black frame.]
:Introducing
:'''The xkcd Survey'''
:A search for weird correlations
:Note: This survey is anonymous, but
: all responses will be posted publicly 
:so people can play with the data.
:'''Click here to'''
:'''take the survey'''
:Or click here, or here.
:The whole comic is a link,
:because I still haven't gotten
:the hang of HTML imagemaps.

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

Talk:1676: Full-Width Justification

2016-05-04T21:44:39Z

162.158.214.217: spacing

I added the emoji snake. Is emoji snake the same as a Unicode snake would be? [[User:Azule|Azule]] ([[User talk:Azule|talk]]) 05:46, 4 May 2016 (UTC)
:I assumed Unicode snakes would use three different characters: a head, a body segment, and a tail. Your solution is good, but objectively not perfect compared to what's shown in the comic.
:So what ''would'' be the optimal snake transcription method here? A parenthetical aside saying "''A drawing of a snake stretches to the right end of the line.''"? Or should we just blackmail the Unicode consortium again? [[User talk:AgentMuffin|~AgentMuffin]]
::The correct solution is obviously to include a 16 Mpixel image of a snake.[[User:Henke37|Henke37]] ([[User talk:Henke37|talk]]) 07:41, 4 May 2016 (UTC)
:::Emoji full snake is already in Unicode as Azule knows. &#x1f40d = 🐍
:::Segmented snake needs at least three characteres: head, e.g. °, body e.g ~ and tail, e.g. ◝.
:::Three segment snake °~◝
:::Four segment snake: °~~◝
:::[[User:Demro|Demro]] ([[User talk:Demro|talk]]) 12:45, 4 May 2016 (UTC)

Could the title text also be a reference to the snake in umwelt? [[User:Azule|Azule]] ([[User talk:Azule|talk]]) 05:46, 4 May 2016 (UTC)

Amazon is notorious for being bad at this. Here's a somewhat related [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kzdugwr4Fgk Computerphile video]. [[User:Eno|Eno]] ([[User talk:Eno|talk]]) 06:32, 4 May 2016 (UTC)

Also, funnily enough, the filler text and the snakes were used in medieval (hand-written) manuscripts. Although it's not a snake but usually a nondescript wriggle that could only pass as a snake when you're squinting really hard. For filler text it's usually low-content words like "truly", "verily", "indeed", "without fail", "in truth" or stuff like that. So it's really an old problem with no satisfactory solution developed in hundreds of years... [[Special:Contributions/162.158.85.93|162.158.85.93]] 08:19, 4 May 2016 (UTC)
:This practice of filling the line with a dingbat carried on into the days of handset letterpress (i.e. up until the early 1900's), although it gradually became more whimsical and so less frequent in serious works.[[Special:Contributions/108.162.241.123|108.162.241.123]] 12:28, 4 May 2016 (UTC)

In practice you reformulate. Not necessarily insert filler words, but just reorder the sentence enough that justification works. That is assuming the automated justification doesn't work, which will try a combination of multiple methods like word-spacing, letter-spacing and hyphenation. Imagine hyphenating at "de-" instead, but adding a little bit extra letter space in "between", and almost double normal word space between "between" and "de-".[[Special:Contributions/162.158.114.222|162.158.114.222]] 08:20, 4 May 2016 (UTC)
:Reformulating can only be done with the (tacit or explicit) permission of the author. There are situations where rewording would not be allowed.[[Special:Contributions/108.162.241.123|108.162.241.123]] 12:28, 4 May 2016 (UTC)

While the arabic part is interesting, I don't feel it to be very relevant here. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.249.156|108.162.249.156]] 09:11, 4 May 2016 (UTC)
:It is relevant because is yet another solution (useful only in Arabic). [[User:Demro|Demro]] ([[User talk:Demro|talk]]) 12:47, 4 May 2016 (UTC)

Sorry- how do add a [citation needed] in superscript? [[User:Transuranium|Transuranium]] ([[User talk:Transuranium|talk]])Transuranium

The "snake" option is actually less out there than the current explanation indicates. Snakes proper were not necessarily the go-to, but the same general strategy (decorative filling) was used heavily in illuminated manuscripts in the medieval period.
[[Special:Contributions/162.158.214.217|162.158.214.217]] 14:36, 4 May 2016 (UTC)
:Came here just to say that. The current explanation needs reworking because that's actually one of the oldest ways of dealing with text justification. Check for example [https://nelabligh.files.wordpress.com/2012/11/book-of-kells-1.jpg the Book of Kells] [[Special:Contributions/162.158.203.141|162.158.203.141]] 20:15, 4 May 2016 (UTC)

:Modified the explanation accordingly.[[Special:Contributions/162.158.214.217|162.158.214.217]] 21:44, 4 May 2016 (UTC)

Talk:1676: Full-Width Justification

2016-05-04T21:44:04Z

162.158.214.217: snakes conversation

I added the emoji snake. Is emoji snake the same as a Unicode snake would be? [[User:Azule|Azule]] ([[User talk:Azule|talk]]) 05:46, 4 May 2016 (UTC)
:I assumed Unicode snakes would use three different characters: a head, a body segment, and a tail. Your solution is good, but objectively not perfect compared to what's shown in the comic.
:So what ''would'' be the optimal snake transcription method here? A parenthetical aside saying "''A drawing of a snake stretches to the right end of the line.''"? Or should we just blackmail the Unicode consortium again? [[User talk:AgentMuffin|~AgentMuffin]]
::The correct solution is obviously to include a 16 Mpixel image of a snake.[[User:Henke37|Henke37]] ([[User talk:Henke37|talk]]) 07:41, 4 May 2016 (UTC)
:::Emoji full snake is already in Unicode as Azule knows. &#x1f40d = 🐍
:::Segmented snake needs at least three characteres: head, e.g. °, body e.g ~ and tail, e.g. ◝.
:::Three segment snake °~◝
:::Four segment snake: °~~◝
:::[[User:Demro|Demro]] ([[User talk:Demro|talk]]) 12:45, 4 May 2016 (UTC)

Could the title text also be a reference to the snake in umwelt? [[User:Azule|Azule]] ([[User talk:Azule|talk]]) 05:46, 4 May 2016 (UTC)

Amazon is notorious for being bad at this. Here's a somewhat related [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kzdugwr4Fgk Computerphile video]. [[User:Eno|Eno]] ([[User talk:Eno|talk]]) 06:32, 4 May 2016 (UTC)

Also, funnily enough, the filler text and the snakes were used in medieval (hand-written) manuscripts. Although it's not a snake but usually a nondescript wriggle that could only pass as a snake when you're squinting really hard. For filler text it's usually low-content words like "truly", "verily", "indeed", "without fail", "in truth" or stuff like that. So it's really an old problem with no satisfactory solution developed in hundreds of years... [[Special:Contributions/162.158.85.93|162.158.85.93]] 08:19, 4 May 2016 (UTC)
:This practice of filling the line with a dingbat carried on into the days of handset letterpress (i.e. up until the early 1900's), although it gradually became more whimsical and so less frequent in serious works.[[Special:Contributions/108.162.241.123|108.162.241.123]] 12:28, 4 May 2016 (UTC)

In practice you reformulate. Not necessarily insert filler words, but just reorder the sentence enough that justification works. That is assuming the automated justification doesn't work, which will try a combination of multiple methods like word-spacing, letter-spacing and hyphenation. Imagine hyphenating at "de-" instead, but adding a little bit extra letter space in "between", and almost double normal word space between "between" and "de-".[[Special:Contributions/162.158.114.222|162.158.114.222]] 08:20, 4 May 2016 (UTC)
:Reformulating can only be done with the (tacit or explicit) permission of the author. There are situations where rewording would not be allowed.[[Special:Contributions/108.162.241.123|108.162.241.123]] 12:28, 4 May 2016 (UTC)

While the arabic part is interesting, I don't feel it to be very relevant here. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.249.156|108.162.249.156]] 09:11, 4 May 2016 (UTC)
:It is relevant because is yet another solution (useful only in Arabic). [[User:Demro|Demro]] ([[User talk:Demro|talk]]) 12:47, 4 May 2016 (UTC)

Sorry- how do add a [citation needed] in superscript? [[User:Transuranium|Transuranium]] ([[User talk:Transuranium|talk]])Transuranium

The "snake" option is actually less out there than the current explanation indicates. Snakes proper were not necessarily the go-to, but the same general strategy (decorative filling) was used heavily in illuminated manuscripts in the medieval period.
[[Special:Contributions/162.158.214.217|162.158.214.217]] 14:36, 4 May 2016 (UTC)
:Came here just to say that. The current explanation needs reworking because that's actually one of the oldest ways of dealing with text justification. Check for example [https://nelabligh.files.wordpress.com/2012/11/book-of-kells-1.jpg the Book of Kells] [[Special:Contributions/162.158.203.141|162.158.203.141]] 20:15, 4 May 2016 (UTC)
:Modified the explanation accordingly.[[Special:Contributions/162.158.214.217|162.158.214.217]] 21:44, 4 May 2016 (UTC)

1676: Full-Width Justification

2016-05-04T21:42:58Z

162.158.214.217: /* Explanation */ spelling

{{comic
| number = 1676
| date = May 4, 2016
| title = Full-Width Justification
| image = full_width_justification.png
| titletext = Gonna start bugging the Unicode consortium to add snake segment characters that can be combined into an arbitrary-length non-breaking snake.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|hasty & impatient placeholder. Still an early draft; needs citations, fact-checking, and it also needs the Wikipedia links to be fixed.}}
The comic refers to an irritating problem in laying out text to fit from edge to edge, the problem of {{w|justification (typesetting)|justification}}, where you want multiple-line text to line up on the left side (common), the right side (less common), or both sides, which is commonly called full justification. This strip is dealing with how to make text fit such that it lines up on both sides while still looking good. Sometimes, as before a long word like "[[:wikt:deindustrialization|deindustrialization]]," there's no universal good way to make the typography work. It is a difficult problem to make text look good and be easily legible especially in a narrow space, with the biggest issue being how to handle words that are too long to fit nicely.

The comic shows several solutions to this problem, some realistic and others less so, but each unsatisfying. "'''Giving up'''" is ugly, leaving a line break which doesn't fit with the rest. "'''Letter spacing'''" looks pretty confusing as people may think it is an acronym. "'''Hyphenation'''" is also confusing as it often leaves two partial non-words ("deindus-" looks like an independent, unfamiliar word, pronounced "dayn-duss", whereas "trialization" seems like something having to do with trials, whether legal or tests), it requires more work on the reader's end to mentally recombine it into one word, and there are rules to follow on exactly where it is acceptable to split a word; nevertheless, this is the most common way of handling those extreme cases. "'''Stretching'''" is unnatural, probably hard to code or render, unfamiliar and quite ugly. Adding "'''Filler'''" words, a radical solution, could easily make the writing worse (in the case of the example, making the tone too informal), however it might be reasonable if the filler words are added by a human rather than by an automated process, especially if that human is the same one that wrote the original words. Finally, adding a decorative image like "'''Snakes'''" (but not necessarily snakes in particular) to fill the extra space is a justification practice of significant historical interest (it was particularly common for illuminated manuscripts in the medieval era and remained prominent until the invention of the printing press) but little modern relevance.

The title text suggests that in order to facilitate this last method of "solving" the problem, the {{w|Unicode Consortium}}, the organization in charge of the common text standard {{w|Unicode}}, should add "snake-building characters" (similar in concept to the existing {{w|Box Drawing}} block), to allow variable-length snake images to be used as filling. Currently, there are four snake characters in Unicode: [http://unicode-search.net/unicode-namesearch.pl?term=SNAKE]
*U+1DC2   <big>᷂</big>   <big>[S᷂]</big>
**A diacritical {{w|combining character}} used in Americanist phonetic notation to indicate lenis (weak) articulation.
*U+2E92   <big>⺒</big>
**A {{w|CJK character}} which might be interpreted as "snake".
*U+1D9DC   <big>𝧜</big>
**One of the poorly-supported characters in the {{w|signWriting|signwriting block}}.
*U+1F40D   <big>🐍</big>
**An {{w|emoji}} snake.

The use of the phrase "non-breaking" in the title text is a play on {{w|non-breaking space}} and implies that an automatic line break could not be inserted after a snake segment; the whole snake would shift down if it were too wide to fit on a given line. This suggestion would likely be rejected; the Unicode consortium is very specific about which characters are added{{Citation needed}}, and always require a good reason{{Citation needed}} before adding a character or set of characters to the standard. Strange decisions by the consortium have previously been referenced in [[1253: Exoplanet Names]], [[1513: Code Quality]], and [[1525: Emojic 8 Ball]].

==Transcript==
:[Caption above the panels:]
:Strategies for full-width justification

:[Below the caption is a column with six boxes, each showing a different "strategy" for justification which is annotated beside it. Here the annotation is written at the top and the text below. The top and bottom of the text is cut of in the middle, but as it can be "read" this is written anyway. Only for hyphenation does an extra word appear at the end. In the last with snakes, a snake is drawn to cover the entire space from the end of between to the right border.]

:Giving up
::their famous paper
::on the relationship
::between
::deindustrialization
::and the growth of

:Letter spacing
::their famous paper
::on the relationship
::b  e   t   w   e  e   n
::deindustrialization
::and the growth of

:Hyphenation
::their famous paper
::on the relationship
::between deindus-
::trialization and the
::growth of ecological

:Stretching
::their famous paper
::on the relationship
::<big><big><big>between</big></big></big>
::deindustrialization
::and the growth of

:Filler
::their famous paper
::on the relationship
::between crap like
::deindustrialization
::and the growth of

:Snakes
::their famous paper
::on the relationship
::between 🐍 [a snake filling the gap]
::deindustrialization
::and the growth of

==Trivia==
*The full text (with alternate changes) reads:
::''...their famous paper on the relationship between [crap like]/[ 🐍 ] deindustrialization and the growth of [ecological]...''
*An approach not depicted is to treat justification as part of a global typesetting strategy which allows words to move between lines even where this is not locally optimal. This approach is used by {{w|TeX}}.
*In Arabic, it is common to stretch the lines connecting letters as a relatively elegant and satisfying resolution to this problem. This trick is called "{{w|kashida}}" (كشيدة). There does in fact exist a Unicode character, U+0640: (ـ), to help with this: using it to extend "كشيدة" would result in something like "كشـــــــــــيدة" (which, incidentally, looks a lot like a snake).
*Jim Chapman, developer of Windows 10 e-reader app Freda, [http://www.teleread.com/xkcd-and-full-justification-by-snake/#comment-62118 has announced] the next version of Freda will incorporate snake-justification.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Animals]]

1676: Full-Width Justification

2016-05-04T21:25:45Z

162.158.214.217: /* Explanation */ corrected snakes commentary

{{comic
| number = 1676
| date = May 4, 2016
| title = Full-Width Justification
| image = full_width_justification.png
| titletext = Gonna start bugging the Unicode consortium to add snake segment characters that can be combined into an arbitrary-length non-breaking snake.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|hasty & impatient placeholder. Still an early draft; needs citations, fact-checking, and it also needs the Wikipedia links to be fixed.}}
The comic refers to an irritating problem in laying out text to fit from edge to edge, the problem of {{w|justification (typesetting)|justification}}, where you want multiple-line text to line up on the left side (common), the right side (less common), or both sides, which is commonly called full justification. This strip is dealing with how to make text fit such that it lines up on both sides while still looking good. Sometimes, as before a long word like "[[:wikt:deindustrialization|deindustrialization]]," there's no universal good way to make the typography work. It is a difficult problem to make text look good and be easily legible especially in a narrow space, with the biggest issue being how to handle words that are too long to fit nicely.

The comic shows several solutions to this problem, some realistic and others less so, but each unsatisfying. "'''Giving up'''" is ugly, leaving a line break which doesn't fit with the rest. "'''Letter spacing'''" looks pretty confusing as people may think it is an acronym. "'''Hyphenation'''" is also confusing as it often leaves two partial non-words ("deindus-" looks like an independent, unfamiliar word, pronounced "dayn-duss", whereas "trialization" seems like something having to do with trials, whether legal or tests), it requires more work on the reader's end to mentally recombine it into one word, and there are rules to follow on exactly where it is acceptable to split a word; nevertheless, this is the most common way of handling those extreme cases. "'''Stretching'''" is unnatural, probably hard to code or render, unfamiliar and quite ugly. Adding "'''Filler'''" words, a radical solution, could easily make the writing worse (in the case of the example, making the tone too informal), however it might be reasonable if the filler words are added by a human rather than by an automated process, especially if that human is the same one that wrote the original words. Finally, adding a decorative image like "'''Snakes'''" (but not necessarily snakes n particular) to fill the extra space is a justification practice of significant historical interest (it was particularly common for illuminated manuscripts in the medieval era and remained prominent until the invention of the printing press) but little modern relevance.

The title text suggests that in order to facilitate this last method of "solving" the problem, the {{w|Unicode Consortium}}, the organization in charge of the common text standard {{w|Unicode}}, should add "snake-building characters" (similar in concept to the existing {{w|Box Drawing}} block), to allow variable-length snake images to be used as filling. Currently, there are four snake characters in Unicode: [http://unicode-search.net/unicode-namesearch.pl?term=SNAKE]
*U+1DC2   <big>᷂</big>   <big>[S᷂]</big>
**A diacritical {{w|combining character}} used in Americanist phonetic notation to indicate lenis (weak) articulation.
*U+2E92   <big>⺒</big>
**A {{w|CJK character}} which might be interpreted as "snake".
*U+1D9DC   <big>𝧜</big>
**One of the poorly-supported characters in the {{w|signWriting|signwriting block}}.
*U+1F40D   <big>🐍</big>
**An {{w|emoji}} snake.

The use of the phrase "non-breaking" in the title text is a play on {{w|non-breaking space}} and implies that an automatic line break could not be inserted after a snake segment; the whole snake would shift down if it were too wide to fit on a given line. This suggestion would likely be rejected; the Unicode consortium is very specific about which characters are added{{Citation needed}}, and always require a good reason{{Citation needed}} before adding a character or set of characters to the standard. Strange decisions by the consortium have previously been referenced in [[1253: Exoplanet Names]], [[1513: Code Quality]], and [[1525: Emojic 8 Ball]].

==Transcript==
:[Caption above the panels:]
:Strategies for full-width justification

:[Below the caption is a column with six boxes, each showing a different "strategy" for justification which is annotated beside it. Here the annotation is written at the top and the text below. The top and bottom of the text is cut of in the middle, but as it can be "read" this is written anyway. Only for hyphenation does an extra word appear at the end. In the last with snakes, a snake is drawn to cover the entire space from the end of between to the right border.]

:Giving up
::their famous paper
::on the relationship
::between
::deindustrialization
::and the growth of

:Letter spacing
::their famous paper
::on the relationship
::b  e   t   w   e  e   n
::deindustrialization
::and the growth of

:Hyphenation
::their famous paper
::on the relationship
::between deindus-
::trialization and the
::growth of ecological

:Stretching
::their famous paper
::on the relationship
::<big><big><big>between</big></big></big>
::deindustrialization
::and the growth of

:Filler
::their famous paper
::on the relationship
::between crap like
::deindustrialization
::and the growth of

:Snakes
::their famous paper
::on the relationship
::between 🐍 [a snake filling the gap]
::deindustrialization
::and the growth of

==Trivia==
*The full text (with alternate changes) reads:
::''...their famous paper on the relationship between [crap like]/[ 🐍 ] deindustrialization and the growth of [ecological]...''
*An approach not depicted is to treat justification as part of a global typesetting strategy which allows words to move between lines even where this is not locally optimal. This approach is used by {{w|TeX}}.
*In Arabic, it is common to stretch the lines connecting letters as a relatively elegant and satisfying resolution to this problem. This trick is called "{{w|kashida}}" (كشيدة). There does in fact exist a Unicode character, U+0640: (ـ), to help with this: using it to extend "كشيدة" would result in something like "كشـــــــــــيدة" (which, incidentally, looks a lot like a snake).
*Jim Chapman, developer of Windows 10 e-reader app Freda, [http://www.teleread.com/xkcd-and-full-justification-by-snake/#comment-62118 has announced] the next version of Freda will incorporate snake-justification.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Animals]]

Talk:1676: Full-Width Justification

2016-05-04T14:36:26Z

162.158.214.217:

1663: Garden

2016-04-06T12:35:38Z

162.158.214.217:

{{comic
| number = 1663
| date = April 4, 2016
| title = Garden
| image = garden.png 
| titletext = Relax.
}}
<div class="toclimit-3" style="float:right; margin-left: 10px;">__TOC__</div>
*'''Note''' this is an interactive comic. Go to xkcd to try it out.
*Currently there are links to '''images of items that can appear in the comic''' here: [[1663: Garden/Images]]! In time it could be the actual images as well.
*'''Post screen shots of your garden''' (or others gardens and other images) on this page [[1663: Garden/Screen-shots]]!
*'''Post links to your own garden''' on this page [[1663: Garden/Users gardens]] to let other users see what you have created!

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Include a table with all possible items as [[1663: Garden/Images#Images of items|listed here]] with image, links to image on xkcd, explanations and link to a screenshot/download of a garden where each item "grows". Only screen shots are useful for the real explanation [[1663: Garden/Screen-shots|post them here]], as content of urls change with time. More on how color of light and lamp position etc. affect growth as well as different positions in image develop different plant and items.}}

This comics represents the [[:Category:April fools' comics|April fools' comic]] of 2016, and it is [[Randall|Randall's]] celebration of {{w|April Fools' Day}} Friday, April 1, 2016.

Due to technical problems (or to make [[#April Fool's header text|fools of his fans?]]) the comic did not go live until Sunday evening (after midnight, so technically first on Monday April 4th) so there was no Friday release in the week before, and the Wednesday comic [[1662: Jack and Jill]] got a lot more attention than it would usually have had.

This comic thus turned in to the Monday release instead, as no other comic was released later that Monday (which would have taken attention away from this very special comic), even though it was called the ''April 1st comic '' and later ''Friday comic'' in the [[#April Fool's header text|header text]] displayed at the top of xkcd to explain why there was no Friday comic. This stayed, but changed from April 1st and during the weekend until the late release past midnight Sunday in the US. (It was even past midnight {{w|pacific time}}, but not yet on Hawaii...) There were thus only two comics released in the week before this Monday, which may be the first time since xkcd went live on {{xkcd||xkcd.com}} in 2006.

The comic begins with a [http://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/images/f/f1/Garden_Loading_collage.png loading screen] with a revolving tree and the text "loading..." This is because the first time a computer loads this dynamic comic it can take a while.

Once it is loaded it displays "your '''Garden'''" being the barren landscape with a lamp as shown at the top of the explanation here. But if you leave the lights on and wait (or "relax", as the reader is told to do by the title text), then plants and other items will start to appear. The reason it is correct to call it "your garden" is that every time this comic is loaded from scratch, a new garden will be created with a unique url-address. By saving this link (making a bookmark for it), the user will be able to return to their garden again and again. As the garden only develops very slowly this is important. (If users wish to share their garden they can do it in the table on the page for '''[[1663: Garden/Users gardens|Users gardens]]''').

Plants appear one at a time, and sometimes it takes a long time. Only a few of the plants actually grow. For instance there are some large trees that begins as [http://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/images/2/27/1663_garden_Fast_growing_tree_-_leafless.png a large trunk] and from there [http://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/images/6/67/1663_garden_Fast_growing_tree_-_lots_of_leaves.png grows branches and leaves]. This can sometimes happen quite fast. Most other plants just appear. Most of the plants sway in the breeze. Also animals and characters including [[Cueball]], [[Megan]] and [[Beret Guy]] (see [http://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/images/6/6b/1663_garden_Megan_with_sword%2C_trees_octopuses_with_Cueball_bunny_ducklings.png Megan and Cueball] and [http://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/images/7/77/1663_garden_Beret_guy_and_cat_and_much_more.png and Beret Guy's torso]) may appear as well as buildings and other items (see [http://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/images/1/15/1663_garden_Megan_Monolith_Animals_and_more.png Monolith and birdbath] and in the above a gate). See all the possible items images here [[1663: Garden/Images]] and real examples from users gardens here [[1663: Garden/Screen-shots]].

Every so often the image will refresh. You can change the number of lamps, their position, direction, beam width and the color temperature which always begins somewhere between white and yellow, but can change all the way from red to blue (See this [http://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/images/b/b8/Garden_Three_Lamp_screen_shot.png example] with one lamp selected and three colors of light). Other colors than those four may appear where two lamps light cone of different colored light overlap.

How much the color affects the growth is too early to say, but there is definitely some correlation. If this comic is scientifically accurate, that correlation will be based on {{w|photosynthetically active radiation}}. For instance areas under lights set to the blue end of the spectrum develop an aquatic theme with lots of octopuses and maybe a Cueball. Areas under lights set to the red end of the spectrum develop a desert theme with cactus and turtles. Yellow light seems great for plants and animals, and mixed light seems to be able to do the same. Nothing seems to be able to grow with not light or in extreme light (lamp(s) very close to the ground), although lamps shining from underground may produce fountains [http://www.xkcd.com/1663/#e8552cc6-fbbe-11e5-8001-42010a8e0012] and ducks [http://www.xkcd.com/1663/#0544006e-fbbf-11e5-8001-42010a8e0017].

The title text "Relax" is self-explaining but there are actually two other title texts as well. And although they are also self-explanatory they should be mentioned. They are explanations for what the two icons in the top right corner does and appear when the cursor hovers over them. They are ''Create new light'' and ''Remove selected (delete key)'', the last explaining that the delete key can also be used.

===Functionality===
====Lamps====
*The position of the lamp can be moved by clicking and dragging the lamp.
*The angle of the lamp can be rotated by clicking the lamp to reveal the red control triangle, and dragging it left or right, rotating it around the lamp.
*The area of the lamp can be adjusted from a narrow beam to a wide flood by clicking the lamp to reveal the red control triangle, and dragging it towards (wider) or away from (narrower) relative to the lamp.
*The light's color can be changed by clicking the lamp to reveal the red control dot, and by rotating the dot around the lamp. From the Center position (Yellow) the dot can be rotated Right (Magenta/Red) or Left (Cyan/Blue).
*Additional lamps (up to three total) can be added by clicking the black plus lamp icon along the right of the window.
*Lamps can be removed by clicking the lamp, then clicking the red X icon along the right of the window, or pressing the Delete key on the keyboard.

====Grown Items====
*Grown items may be highlighted by clicking on them.Selected grown items will be highlighted with a red circle, and appear slightly lighter then other items.
*Grown items may be "pruned" by the red X icon along the right of the window, or pressing the Delete key on the keyboard.
*Some items (such as the large tree) can be deleted in minor parts by selecting a branch or smaller set of leaves without deleting the entire tree.

====Saving images====
*In Edge, Firefox and Chrome, the image plus light cones but minus lamps and icons elements, can be saved by right clicking in the image.
**They do not always save in the same way as some browsers saves the part of the background without any light cones as white, and other save it as no background, in which case it may render black, basically hiding any black items outside the light.
***For those images it depends on which viewer is used to see the image, if everything can be seen or only that in the light cones. (Example will follow later).
*An image of the whole screen can be captured, by pressing the PrtSc key on the keyboard & then pasting the content into a blank image.

====Permanent link====
*There is no [[1350#Permalink|permalink button]] as in the last two years' April Fool's comics.
*The URL is different for every garden that is loaded, but stays the same. It links to a server-side copy of the scene, which then changes depending on what the users does with their gardens.
**Sharing a URL will connect a new browser to the same garden session, but only the original browser will be allowed to edit.
**The user can always return to change the garden with the link, but only from the same browser on the same computer.
*The garden itself will thus continue to develop further from the time when the url was copied, and events will happen from now on even though the garden is not opened in any browser.
**If the user doesn't keep it, it will become infested with weeds.
**So most likely the garden is serverside, as all browsers are allowed to see the development of this garden, but users following the url are not allowed to edit anything.
*Here is an example garden [http://www.xkcd.com/1663/#0d11a2c8-fa8f-11e5-8001-42010a8e000e linked by ID] versus the same garden:
**In the original [http://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/images/7/7f/1663_garden_tree_turtle_birdbath.png screenshot from April 4th] from when the url was created
**In a [http://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/images/7/7c/1663_garden_Flying_birds_deer_gate_with_cactus_turtles_snake_etc.png screenshot from April 5th] the day after.
**Here [http://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/images/5/5a/1663_garden_Pruned_garden_with_birds_deer_gate_cactus_turtles_snake_gate.png example] after the user pruned the garden in the examples.
*Starting two browser windows or tabs pointing to the same URL will allow you to edit from either window.
**linden.xkcd.com holds all the data; the UUID just corresponds to your access key, held in your browser's local storage.

===Bugs===
*There have been several bugs mentioned already after the first day. Please include any spotted here:
**Also some problems that may now be fixed.
*May not run on some tablets or smart phones (i.e. touch-screen only devices).
*There are some browser versions of Chrome and Firefox where it doesn't run.
*The lamps may be invisible for a few seconds after loading.
*The whole page used to refresh at random intervals and lose the whole progress.
**It still does on April 5th.
**Sometimes (in some browsers?) the garden is reloaded when refreshing.
***This may though be because of the url (semi-permalink?).
***Seems to be dependent on the browser type.
*Some lamps jumped back to their starting position after a few minutes, without the ehole page reloading.
*For a few hours after its apparition, the loading didn't seem to stop for some people, making them think that the rotating tree was the whole joke, with people expected to "relax" while looking at it.
*Occasionally invisible objects are added. They can be deleted, and they have bounding boxes in the debugger. [http://xkcd.com/1663/?debug#d12a0932-faaa-11e5-8012-42010a8e0006]
*Doesn't work over https, you have to use http instead.
*It is possible to save the image in Chrome and in Firefox, but not in Explorer.
**It is possible to save the visible portion of the image (in any browser) by pressing the Print-Screen key to perform a screen capture.
**But in Chrome the image is black where there is no light.
**In Firefox everything is visible, wth the light cones (in color) shown.
*Appears to have a memory leak at least in some Windows/Firefox versions, as keeping the page open for a long time will cause Windows to kill Firefox for insufficient memory.
*Does not work in many Linux versions

==Transcript==
:[After a '''loading image''' with a rotating tree in the middle and the text "Loading..." with the three dots appearing one at a time, and then disappear when all three have been there the image shown above in the explanation will appear:]

:['''Description of the image above''': A piece of bare landscape is shown. At the edges there are some rocks or stones raising the level from the general level through the center of the panel. Above the middle, a little more than halfway to the to of the panel, is a light bulb sitting inside a lamp that reminds of the desk lamp from the movie Luxo Jr. The lamp shines a yellow light down on the landscape in a broad cone that jus reaches the first rock to the left, but not those to the right. The lamp just hovers in the air. In the top right corner are two gray icons. The top one has a black frame and shows an image of a lamp, tilted left as opposed to the straight position of the lamp in the image. There is a + sign below in the left corner. The second icon without a frame has a large white cross in the middle.]

:[This turns out to be a '''web applet''' and using the "+ lamp" icon two more lamps can be added getting up to three. They are all adjustable both regarding position, direction, color of light and beam width. When selecting a lamp a red circle appear around it with a small circle on top that can be used to control the light color from blue to the left to red to the right. In front is a red arrow that can turn the lamp and it can also be used to change the beam width by pulling it away from the lamp or pushing it back. The lamps can be moved by just clicking on it and moving it. The other icon with a X can be used to remove the lamps (and later any object that appear in the garden). When any object is selected there is a red circle around it. When this is done the gray cross icon becomes red and can the be used to delete the selected item. When no item is selected (either because it is deleted, or by clicking in a part of the screen with no items), then the cross icon turns gray again. When all three lamps are on, then the "+ lamp" icon is faded out.]

:['''If you wait''' (or relax, as in the title text), then a plant will grow or animals, humans and other items may appear. This could be birds, snakes, octopuses or turtles, Megan or Cueball or a birdbath, a monolith or a tall gate just as a few examples. Most of the items appear in one go, but at least the largest trees grow up with a big stem first and then adds parts later with leaves or empty branches. Also one item may appear on top of another item and for instance birds may fly in the air.]

==Trivia==
===April Fool's header text===
*There is some debate as to whether this comic is an April Fool's comic or not. And if instead the April fool's joke was the text written above the comic in the header of xkcd.
*Here below is the text (with links) to that text:
**On Friday, April 1st, 2016, the xkcd website [http://web.archive.org/web/20160401204749/https://xkcd.com/ began displaying] a message where the standard message "XKCD updates every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday." usually is:
::The xkcd April 1st comic is currently experiencing technical difficulties.
::Please stand by!
:*Towards the end of Friday, the message [http://web.archive.org/web/20160402144823/http://xkcd.com was updated]:
::The xkcd April 1st comic is currently experiencing technical difficulties.
::Status update: Please stand by.
::Status update: This is fine. Everything is fine.
::Status update: Everything is on fire.
::Status update: Searching for calendar systems in which Saturday is April 1st.
:*On Sunday April 3rd, the message was again [http://web.archive.org/web/20160403234504/https://xkcd.com/ changed] to:
::The Friday xkcd comic is currently experiencing technical difficulties
::[Editor's note: Everything is on fire] and has been delayed until Sunday night.
:*The comic did not come out until past midnight in the entire North America (coming out just before midnight in Hawaii).
:*When it was released very early on Monday April 4th, the text [http://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/images/5/53/Garden_Loading_screen_shot.png returned] to the old standard text for xkcd for a short while:
::XKCD updates every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.
:*During April 4th, the message then changed to
::'''Protip:''' If you don't like how your garden is growing, you can click to prune it.
:*And then later on April 4th (staying at least like this until April 5th), the message [http://web.archive.org/web/20160404185353/http://www.xkcd.com/#96d6515a-fa96-11e5-8001-42010a8e000f changed] to:
::'''Protip:''' If you don't like how your garden is growing, you can click to prune it.
::You can copy the URL to share your garden. From other browsers, it will be view-only.
*Several things can be deduced from the above:
**It is clear that this comic did actually come out as promised, at least as promised in the third message about release on Sunday night.
**It is also clear that it is regarded as the Friday comic, even in the last update before the release.
**It is also clear that this was a very complex comic, and it is realistic that Randall did have problems with making it work. Even on day two there still seems to be several minor bugs, so he may even still be working on it.
*Both of the last two April Fool's comics, [[1350: Lorenz]] and [[1506: xkbutt]], have had no real meaning or joke in the comic. The jokes appeared from user input, and here from waiting.
**This makes people who spend too much time on them April Fools (or if they rather wish to be called a nerd than a fool, then they have been victim of [[356: Nerd Sniping|nerd sniping]]).
**So, even if Randall ''did'' play a joke on people who [[Talk:1662: Jack and Jill#What happened to Friday's comic|eagerly awaited the comic]], then he did deliver as promised a spectacular comic Sunday night.
*There are other reasons for believing that Randall would have preferred the comic to get out on Friday April 1st.
**Apart from it being a time consuming comic that in it self is April Fool's comic material, then by getting it out Friday this special comic that he must have used lots of time to prepare, would have had one more day as the first comic.
**Getting it out before a weekend would have let many more users spend time looking at their garden. Now many would not spend enough time to appreciate the comic, as it came out right when the new work week began.
**And before next weekend two more comics will (presumably) have been released taking some of the focus away from this one.
**Randall lives of his fans goodwill and to deliberately make a pun on them like this would probably not seem like a good bossiness proposal, apart from the fact that the comic now gets less attention than by coming out before the weekend.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics with color]]
[[Category:Dynamic comics]]
[[Category:Interactive comics]]
[[Category:Comics with animation]] 
[[Category:April fools' comics]] 
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]] 
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]] 
[[Category:Comics featuring Beret Guy]] 
[[Category:Animals]] 
[[Category:Mars rovers]] 
[[Category:Protip]]

Talk:1663: Garden

2016-04-04T17:23:22Z

162.158.214.217: /* Linux */ new section

===Finally Garden is up on xkcd===
It is here the comic we have been waiting for, and it seems it is a April fool comic although it first came out past midnight in all of the US except Hawaii...
:I do not know when it will be on this page but for those impatient...
:[[File:Garden Loading screen shot.png]]
:It says to Relax, while it loads, but it will eventually get to a barren land with a growth lamp that can be moved:
:[[File:Garden Lamp screen shot.png]]
:The lamp can be moved and change color.
:[[File:Garden Red Lamp screen shot.png]]
:It may be there will be something growing if we wait long enough?
:And there will be more lamps and new items:
:[[File:Garden Three Lamp screen shot.png]]
:Yes he is messing with us for sure but at least not by not making a comic :-) --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 09:46, 4 April 2016 (UTC)
::I succeeded to get a small plant, but I'm not sure how. --[[Special:Contributions/162.158.86.167|162.158.86.167]] 10:16, 4 April 2016 (UTC)
:::Try not to cover everything with every light wavelength. I'm sure you get different plants with different wavelengths:
:::[[File:aprilfool-2016-xorg.png]]
:::Also, I've noticed a constant cpu usage, indicating some kind of number crunching. The script's name "linden" reminded me of linden dollars and crowdsourcing bitcoin mining with javascript, but afair linden dollars were never mined nor based on cryptography. -- [[User:Xorg|Xorg]] ([[User talk:Xorg|talk]]) 10:30, 4 April 2016 (UTC)
::::"Linden" is probably a reference to the Linden trees, a genus (Latin name Tilia). It would make more sense than a reference to dollars, at least. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.135.57|162.158.135.57]] 12:14, 4 April 2016 (UTC)
:::::My first thought were {{w|Lindenmayer system}}s --[[Special:Contributions/198.41.242.240|198.41.242.240]] 16:29, 4 April 2016 (UTC)
:::Ok, it's *moving*. The leaves wobble in the wind. That explains the cpu usage. So far I have seen the following images: <code>asdfx2=""; for (asdfx in garden.linden.imgCache.imgs) { asdfx2 += asdfx+" "; } asdfx2

"http://xkcd.com/1663/art/background.png http://xkcd.com/1663/art/talltrunk-2.png http://xkcd.com/1663/art/shrub-8.png http://xkcd.com/1663/art/wavyplant-3.png http://xkcd.com/1663/art/turtle-1.png http://xkcd.com/1663/art/shrub-6.png http://xkcd.com/1663/art/birdbath.png http://xkcd.com/1663/art/cactus-2.png http://xkcd.com/1663/art/trunk-6.png http://xkcd.com/1663/art/branch-11.png http://xkcd.com/1663/art/branch-18.png http://xkcd.com/1663/art/woman-1a.png http://xkcd.com/1663/art/branch-21.png http://xkcd.com/1663/art/rover.png http://xkcd.com/1663/art/leaves-7.png http://xkcd.com/1663/art/leaves-6.png "
</code> -- [[User:Xorg|Xorg]] ([[User talk:Xorg|talk]]) 12:10, 4 April 2016 (UTC)

For those who are in https (with firefox for example) and don't see the "comic", there is mixed content. Click on the padlock on the up-left corner, then on the arrow, then "disable the protection against not secure elements" (or something like that). [[User:Seipas|Seipas]] ([[User talk:Seipas|talk]]) 11:32, 4 April 2016 (UTC)

The comic is finally here! ... but it won't load on my computer. Does anybody know what the problem might be or how I can fix it? [[User:Soad Kraken|Soad Kraken]] ([[User talk:Soad Kraken|talk]]) 12:45, 4 April 2016 (UTC)

Does not load (continually Loading...) on IE/FF/Chrome for me (in UK, non-https, ad-blockers turned off) any ideas? {{unsigned ip|141.101.98.114}}

Loads for me in Chrome, but then every time it refreshes, it resets the lamps to the default (one lamp in center). Removes the ones I added. Does this happen to anyone else? [[User:Vixy|Vixy]] ([[User talk:Vixy|talk]]) 16:51, 4 April 2016 (UTC)

Did someone try the debugmode?
:http://xkcd.com/1663/?debug#YourCode

It also logs data in the console
[[User:Magno|Magno]] ([[User talk:Magno|talk]]) 12:51, 4 April 2016 (UTC)

Post new images here: [[1663: Garden/Images]]. Anyone know what happens to the site, it looks really weird and it is difficult to use the site now. [[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 13:52, 4 April 2016 (UTC)

== April Fools? ==

What's the evidence that this is an April Fools comic? I think that the April Fools joke this year was the absence of a comic, and all the silly excuses about it when it was never coming. [[User:JoDu987|JoDu987]] ([[User talk:JoDu987|talk]]) 15:48, 4 April 2016 (UTC)
:It's interactive. April Fools comics are always interactive. Normal comics rarely are. [[User:Mikemk|Mikemk]] ([[User talk:Mikemk|talk]]) 16:52, 4 April 2016 (UTC)

== Mobile ==

Like many of the dynamic comics, Garden doesn't interact well with mobile devices, but I have found a workaround for this one. On my Android tablet, going to m.xkcd.com/1663 gives me a page where I can manipulate the lights - tap once on a light to reveal the handles, tap in whitespace to hide them - but the landscape and growth are not rendered.

But, as I manipulate the lights, a string is appended to the URL; if I replace the initial '''m''' with '''www''' while preserving this string, I get a page where the landscape and growth are displayed. But from this page, I cannot manipulate the lights. But it does appear that the string includes enough information to prevent "losing progress", as several iterations of swapping between the mobile and desktop URLs retained all existing growth. Therefore, some level of timestamp information may also be included in the composition of this string. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.216.73|108.162.216.73]] 14:18, 4 April 2016 (UTC)

:Actually, it doesn't look like the URL changes when I move the lights after all. So now instead I'm guessing it's more of a unique identifier or something. If two people both use the same string, will one person's act of moving a light be reflected by the other user refreshing their browser? [[Special:Contributions/108.162.216.73|108.162.216.73]] 14:33, 4 April 2016 (UTC)

== Resets ==

Resets occur sporadically, because they are actually happenning when there was a connection_error event in the WebWorker. The "game" is continually contacting the server (linden.xkcd.com) and is resetting the page on the connection errors. The fact that this resets the progress is probably a bug. --[[User:DukeBG|DukeBG]] ([[User talk:DukeBG|talk]]) 16:52, 4 April 2016 (UTC)

== Linux ==

Anyone else NOT able to get it to work on Linux. Tried Chrome, and FF, both with all extensions disabled. Linux Mint (like Ubuntu). Constantly says "Loading..."
[[Special:Contributions/162.158.214.217|162.158.214.217]] 17:23, 4 April 2016 (UTC)