explain xkcd - User contributions [en]

Talk:2050: 6/6 Time

2018-09-24T17:09:56Z

162.158.74.243:

This is actually how time worked in ancient Greece, minus the 6 o'clock part. Sunrise was at 12, sunset at 12 and the length of each hour varied depending on the part of the year [[Special:Contributions/172.68.189.163|172.68.189.163]] 16:15, 24 September 2018 (UTC)

Not just Greece but most of medeaval Europe. The concept of a fixed length hour only arises with clockwork. that Noon, the ninth hour, now occurs at the sixth hour - that we call 12 - is mainly due to post black death labour shortages. {{unsigned|Arachrah}}

: Also ancient Rome. I ''think'' Romans borrowed this system from Greeks and it later spread along with the Roman Empire's influence. [[Special:Contributions/172.68.10.22|172.68.10.22]] 16:52, 24 September 2018 (UTC)

Some facts: {{w|September equinox}} was at 01:54 UTC on September 23 when in the entire US it still was September 22 as can be seen here: [http://aa.usno.navy.mil/seasons?year=2018&tz=-5&dst=1 U.S. Naval Observatory Astronomical Applications Department (Apsides and Seasons 2018)]. This comic was released two days later. --[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 16:32, 24 September 2018 (UTC)

Could the timing of this comic be related to the [https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-45366390 EU voting to end DST within its borders?] [[Special:Contributions/108.162.241.100|108.162.241.100]] 16:51, 24 September 2018 (UTC)
:This isn't about daylight saving time, which just moves clocks forwards and backwards by one hour in most cases. Cueball refers to an equinox when day and night are both 12 hours. --[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 17:05, 24 September 2018 (UTC)

The hours/minutes/seconds get really short/long in the polar regions.

Talk:2032: Word Puzzles

2018-08-13T17:55:46Z

162.158.74.243: Typo; possible additional explanation.

== Is it a real word puzzle? ==

Who wants to labouriously check if he's double-bluffed and used an actual word puzzle for this comic? :D [[Special:Contributions/162.158.154.181|162.158.154.181]] 17:45, 13 August 2018 (UTC)

"Jeopardy" is misspelled in the description. Can someone who is logged in please fix?

Many of the "clue" words can also be rearranged, anagram-wise, to form new words, e.g., parts ≈ strap.

Talk:2024: Light Hacks

2018-07-26T02:33:50Z

162.158.74.243: Added a question

We all know what we thinking, right :) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ECLvFLkvY7Y

Dyson spheres are the future but we’ll never see one in our lifetime, right? Maybe we can build small ones around candles and things as practice. Great art display for your local makerspace! [[Special:Contributions/162.158.63.100|162.158.63.100]] 11:03, 25 July 2018 (UTC)

Here’s a real light hack: https://hackaday.com/2016/02/29/fake-window-brings-natural-light-into-basement/ [[Special:Contributions/162.158.62.183|162.158.62.183]] 15:21, 25 July 2018 (UTC)

I used to think life hacks were cool. Then I read a few of them and realized they were just Hints from Heloise with a cooler, hipper name.[[Special:Contributions/172.68.59.30|172.68.59.30]] 16:17, 25 July 2018 (UTC)Pat

:Pro-tip: Use these five simple tricks to turn any Life Hack into instant click-bait!
:[[User:ProphetZarquon|ProphetZarquon]] ([[User talk:ProphetZarquon|talk]]) 17:57, 25 July 2018 (UTC)

This Ikea lamp is more sci-fi: https://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/00311498/ [[User:CityZen|CityZen]] ([[User talk:CityZen|talk]]) 20:16, 25 July 2018 (UTC)
:I'm proud to say I actually have that lamp in my bedroom [[User:Faultwire|I'm me(citation needed)]] ([[User talk:Faultwire|talk]]) 23:33, 25 July 2018 (UTC)

What's the comment about infrared studies being '''inconclusive''' about? I was under the impression that infrared light was one of the big reasons we knew there weren't any Dyson Spheres nearby. Is the comic referring to a study or something I haven't heard of, or am I overthinking this? [[Special:Contributions/162.158.74.243|162.158.74.243]] 02:33, 26 July 2018 (UTC)

Talk:1056: Felidae

2018-06-04T02:31:30Z

162.158.74.243: Oops

I'm pretty sure there's the saber-toothed tiger in the smilodon category too. That's gonna be ''faaar'' to the right. [[User:Davidy22|Davidy22]][[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 10:05, 23 December 2012 (UTC)
::@davidy: saber-toothed tiger == saber-toothed cat. Same animal, different name. [[Special:Contributions/189.135.115.199|189.135.115.199]] 21:38, 11 April 2013 (UTC)

If I'm not mistaken, Dracorex hogwartsia was specifically named for Hogwarts, so the name isn't disturbingly similar.[[User:Kdesltd|Kdesltd]] ([[User talk:Kdesltd|talk]]) 06:13, 16 February 2013 (UTC)

;this page is useless without a table of cat names to osx versions

cause where else am i going to go for that information?
obviously [explain]xkcd. [[Special:Contributions/68.201.90.115|68.201.90.115]] 22:43, 30 June 2013 (UTC)

{{w|OS X#Versions|Here!}} [[User:Dawfedora|Dawfedora]] ([[User talk:Dawfedora|talk]]) 18:27, 21 August 2013 (UTC)

I see your sarcasm and raise you one wikitable. {{unsigned ip|173.245.52.205}}

No one addresses what the Ox problem is - I believe that he could be referring to the fact that all the cool names are taken. Although it could be the strange order? Seems like the mountain lion version wasn't even out? Did he know that this was the name or did he guess? No matter what he did spot a problem since they did stop using cat names. [[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 16:24, 4 January 2014 (UTC)

The version Mountain Lion had been announced in (I believe) February of that year, so he would have known about the name. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.216.84|108.162.216.84]] 03:40, 9 April 2015 (UTC)
:I personally interpreted "the OSX problem" as them increasingly struggling to find cat names for their releases which top the previous names in some way. The first three releases were clearly moving up the scale of "which would win in a fight". The fourth takes a step backwards in "would win in a fight" but moves forward in "coolness of name". Then we see a step up in both scales. Then a double step back in coolness of name. Then further progress on coolness of name before finally taking steps backwards in BOTH "coolness of name" and "would win in a fight". -- plugwash

One other problem: cheetahs are the fastest animal on earth. 10.0 Cheetah was SLOW.[[Special:Contributions/173.245.50.174|173.245.50.174]] 18:15, 7 September 2015 (UTC)

The next versions of the OS X were named "Mavericks", "Yosemite" and "El Capitan". No more cats indeed. :-( [[Special:Contributions/162.158.102.231|162.158.102.231]] 09:42, 9 January 2016 (UTC)

Really have to disagree with the coolness of the name sort results in this comic. I'd rank them probably as: Lion < Snow Leopard < Leopard < Tiger < Jaguar [[User:Zorlax the Mighty|Zorlax the Mighty'); DROP TABLE users;--]] ([[User talk:Zorlax the Mighty|talk]]) 17:55, 2 June 2016 (UTC)

"Panther" is an ill-defined term, not only referring to the puma species but large black cats in general (see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Panther ) [[Special:Contributions/172.68.79.81|172.68.79.81]] 20:05, 11 December 2016 (UTC)

:You can use <nowiki>{{w|Panther</nowiki> to put {{w|Panther}} [[Special:Contributions/162.158.74.243|162.158.74.243]] 02:29, 4 June 2018 (UTC)

Talk:1056: Felidae

2018-06-04T02:29:28Z

162.158.74.243:

I'm pretty sure there's the saber-toothed tiger in the smilodon category too. That's gonna be ''faaar'' to the right. [[User:Davidy22|Davidy22]][[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 10:05, 23 December 2012 (UTC)
::@davidy: saber-toothed tiger == saber-toothed cat. Same animal, different name. [[Special:Contributions/189.135.115.199|189.135.115.199]] 21:38, 11 April 2013 (UTC)

If I'm not mistaken, Dracorex hogwartsia was specifically named for Hogwarts, so the name isn't disturbingly similar.[[User:Kdesltd|Kdesltd]] ([[User talk:Kdesltd|talk]]) 06:13, 16 February 2013 (UTC)

;this page is useless without a table of cat names to osx versions

cause where else am i going to go for that information?
obviously [explain]xkcd. [[Special:Contributions/68.201.90.115|68.201.90.115]] 22:43, 30 June 2013 (UTC)

{{w|OS X#Versions|Here!}} [[User:Dawfedora|Dawfedora]] ([[User talk:Dawfedora|talk]]) 18:27, 21 August 2013 (UTC)

I see your sarcasm and raise you one wikitable. {{unsigned ip|173.245.52.205}}

No one addresses what the Ox problem is - I believe that he could be referring to the fact that all the cool names are taken. Although it could be the strange order? Seems like the mountain lion version wasn't even out? Did he know that this was the name or did he guess? No matter what he did spot a problem since they did stop using cat names. [[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 16:24, 4 January 2014 (UTC)

The version Mountain Lion had been announced in (I believe) February of that year, so he would have known about the name. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.216.84|108.162.216.84]] 03:40, 9 April 2015 (UTC)
:I personally interpreted "the OSX problem" as them increasingly struggling to find cat names for their releases which top the previous names in some way. The first three releases were clearly moving up the scale of "which would win in a fight". The fourth takes a step backwards in "would win in a fight" but moves forward in "coolness of name". Then we see a step up in both scales. Then a double step back in coolness of name. Then further progress on coolness of name before finally taking steps backwards in BOTH "coolness of name" and "would win in a fight". -- plugwash

One other problem: cheetahs are the fastest animal on earth. 10.0 Cheetah was SLOW.[[Special:Contributions/173.245.50.174|173.245.50.174]] 18:15, 7 September 2015 (UTC)

The next versions of the OS X were named "Mavericks", "Yosemite" and "El Capitan". No more cats indeed. :-( [[Special:Contributions/162.158.102.231|162.158.102.231]] 09:42, 9 January 2016 (UTC)

:You can use <nowiki>{{w|Panther</nowiki> to put {{w|Panther}} [[Special:Contributions/162.158.74.243|162.158.74.243]] 02:29, 4 June 2018 (UTC)

Really have to disagree with the coolness of the name sort results in this comic. I'd rank them probably as: Lion < Snow Leopard < Leopard < Tiger < Jaguar [[User:Zorlax the Mighty|Zorlax the Mighty'); DROP TABLE users;--]] ([[User talk:Zorlax the Mighty|talk]]) 17:55, 2 June 2016 (UTC)

"Panther" is an ill-defined term, not only referring to the puma species but large black cats in general (see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Panther ) [[Special:Contributions/172.68.79.81|172.68.79.81]] 20:05, 11 December 2016 (UTC)

Talk:1975: Right Click

2018-05-30T22:46:53Z

162.158.74.243:

Sorry if this has been found already, but I'm going to post it since I haven't seen it anywhere in here. If you input the konami code into https://uni.xkcd.com/ weird stuff happens. First time around, it puts all the letters in caps. Second time, it doesn't seem to do anything? Next, text gets highlighted in red. Another and the screen starts shaking. Another; the screen sort of flashes and a character with a beard holding two katanas/machetes with XK CD surrounding it appears faintly in the background. I've done the code maybe 20 more times and nothing else seems to happen. [[User:Tidepool|Tidepool]] ([[User talk:Tidepool|talk]]) 21:47, 24 May 2018 (UTC)Tidepool

:That's probably Richard Stallman. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.74.243|162.158.74.243]] 22:46, 30 May 2018 (UTC)

I created this page manually. DgbrtBOT fail?

Also, notably, while the comic at xkcd.com works as intended (even from Chrome on Android, to a certain degree), the mobile site, m.xkcd.com, does not. It shows the standard system/browser-specific context menu. --[[User:Videblu|Videblu]] ([[User talk:Videblu|talk]]) 00:28, 2 April 2018 (UTC)
:The BOT didn't fail, the comic just wasn't released on Mon, Wen, or Fri. And in the past there was no comic on 1. April when it didn't fit into that rule. And the release was LATE; it was already the 2. April in Europe.--[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 09:45, 2 April 2018 (UTC)
:The mobile version at m.xkcd.com works fine in Android. --[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 10:56, 2 April 2018 (UTC)
::Untrue; going to m.xkcd.com on my Android devices brings up a '''non-interactive''' version of the comic, whereas going to xkcd.com (without setting the browser to present a Desktop client type) works fine. Viewing https://xkcd.com/1975 on mobile works fine for me; viewing https://m.xkcd.com/1975 does not work properly. I'm on Kit-Kat & Marshmallow, using the standard browsers; you? [[User:ProphetZarquon|ProphetZarquon]] ([[User talk:ProphetZarquon|talk]]) 16:04, 2 April 2018 (UTC)
:::You are right. I don't remember what I've tested before. It cannot work because the embedded [https://m.xkcd.com/1975/alto/comic.js JavaScript file] doesn't exist. Maybe this will be fixed in the future. --[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 17:46, 2 April 2018 (UTC)

How are we going to handle submenus submenus and subitems etc? (Also Captcha outdated! Update immediately!) [[Special:Contributions/162.158.238.34|162.158.238.34]] 01:46, 2 April 2018 (UTC)
:Um, I don't see a reCapatcha. Just saying...[[User:Fmccarthy|Fmccarthy]] ([[User talk:Fmccarthy|talk]]) 04:17, 2 April 2018 (UTC)
::There is one when saving edits. I'm assuming this is the one they mean. Also, aside from a table with way too many columns I don't really know. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.79.215|162.158.79.215]] 04:21, 2 April 2018 (UTC)
:::Captchas only appear for guests and young accounts. I haven't seen one since roughly the day after I signed up, LOL! (I commented a lot my first day, "taking" ownership of all my previous anonymous comments) [[User:NiceGuy1|NiceGuy1]] ([[User talk:NiceGuy1|talk]]) 04:44, 3 April 2018 (UTC)

Oh my gosh this is incredible. The Games section, especially, is mind boggling. Entropy! [[User:Hameltion|Hameltion]] ([[User talk:Hameltion|talk]]) 00:30, 2 April 2018 (UTC)

Whoever owns this site update ReCaptcha! [[User:Sizzilingbird|Sizzilingbird]] ([[User talk:Sizzilingbird|talk]]) 00:40, 2 April 2018 (UTC)

WOO!!! [https://uni.xkcd.com/ Unicode XKCD]!!! [[User:Phoenix Up|Phoenix Up]] ([[User talk:Phoenix Up|talk]]) 00:44, 2 April 2018 (UTC)

2 hours later I'm done, and the save picture button wouldn't work... rip[[User:Linker|Linker]] ([[User talk:Linker|talk]]) 11:38, 2 April 2018 (UTC)

This (uni.xkcd.com) is not new, I remember using this months (perhaps years) ago :P [[User:PotatoGod|PotatoGod]] ([[User talk:PotatoGod|talk]]) 02:44, 2 April 2018 (UTC)

Is there a second for easter eggs in there? Fork bombs ( :(){ :|: &};: ) work, I'm not sure what else. [[User:Waterlubber|Waterlubber]] ([[User talk:Waterlubber|talk]]) 02:52, 2 April 2018 (UTC)

Sorry if this is already well known, but there are a couple unlisted commands, e.g. you can delete things individually using rm -rf. It looks like auto-completion and * don't work. [[User:Power Factor|Power Factor]] ([[User talk:Power Factor|talk]]) 03:27, 2 April 2018 (UTC)

Reluctant to call it an Easter Egg, but Utilities / Identify Song / Hey Now / Hey now na now / Sing "This Corrosion" to me inverts the colours on the comic/background [[User:Maslink|Maslink]] ([[User talk:Maslink|talk]]) 02:02, 2 April 2018 (UTC)

: He missed a chance for a Rick Roll there (For all we know there may be a Rick Roll in here) [[User:Phoenix Up|Phoenix Up]] ([[User talk:Phoenix Up|talk]]) 02:36, 2 April 2018 (UTC)

SPOILER:

I managed to save the image by playing ADVENT.exe, has anyone else found other ways? [[Special:Contributions/162.158.75.172|162.158.75.172]] 00:54, 2 April 2018 (UTC)

'''COMIC MAY BE UNDER CONSTRUCTION''' I think one of the menu options change since the comic was first posted. Randall may still be changing things. --[[User:Videblu|Videblu]] ([[User talk:Videblu|talk]]) 01:15, 2 April 2018 (UTC)
: I agree. It's not just that menu items unlock. On a fresh refresh of the comic, items are there that weren't there before, such as file > find > who what etc., some that had been greyed out are no longer grey.
: Actually it's that once you do some things others "unlock". For instance, accessing File > Open > A:\ > Insert > Floppy disk, and then File > Open > A:\ you get the Games, Music, and the really cool Bookmarks catalog of comics. Also, as said above, completing the game ADVENT.exe lets you go to save:
{{Collapse top|title=Egg spoiler: Text adventure route}}
* Games
* ADVENT.EXE
* Castle
* Well
* Pull up the bucket
* Examine bucket
* Get key
* Back
* Back to the castle
* Open door
* Get clamp
* This might come in handy
* Get outta here
* Enter castle
* Examine machine
* Hmmm
* Put clamp in C-Remover
* Take lamp
* Leave
* Go back
* Cave
* Go deeper
* N
* E
* N
* N
* N
* W
* S
* W
* Examine nest
* Take egg
* ''Click''
Now you can save [https://i.imgur.com/X4LX3w9.png the image]! :)
{{Collapse bottom}}
: I made it hidden so that anyone who wants to explore on their own may still... [[User:Hameltion|Hameltion]] ([[User talk:Hameltion|talk]]) 02:01, 2 April 2018 (UTC)
:How did you solve the maze? Is there a clue anywhere or just brute force?{{unsigned ip|141.101.98.196}}
::When at the Well, maybe try wishing for wisdom[[User:Steampunkery|Steampunkery]] ([[User talk:Steampunkery|talk]]) 19:44, 2 April 2018 (UTC)
:: The Help menu changed after I refreshed the page (that is what I see at first glance), other things may have changed as well. [[User:Phoenix Up|Phoenix Up]] ([[User talk:Phoenix Up|talk]]) 02:29, 2 April 2018 (UTC)
::: Ah - I don't recall it being different, but I may have missed an earlier version. Anyway here is another way to make the image available:
: C-remover is a reference to the interactive fiction "[http://emshort.com/counterfeit_monkey/ Counterfeit Monkey]". (Adding it for future restructure) [[Special:Contributions/162.158.134.142|162.158.134.142]] 08:00, 2 April 2018 (UTC)
:: I claimed earlier that it was a Counterfeit Monkey reference on the Reddit thread, but someone who worked on the comic pointed out on [https://twitter.com/wirehead2501/status/980703946971860993 Twitter] that it is actually a reference to "Leather Goddesses of Phobos", though Counterfeit Monkey also uses that mechanic. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.90.52|172.69.90.52]] 16:23, 2 April 2018 (UTC)
{{Collapse top|title=Egg spoiler: London Underground route}}.
* Games
* Mornington Crescent
* Euston
* Warren Street
* Oxford Circus
* Green Park
* Victoria
* Pimlico
* Vauxhall
* Easter basket
* Take egg (''Click'')
Though in reality it may be [https://www.google.com/maps/dir/Mornington+Crescent,+London+NW1+2JA,+United+Kingdom/Vauxhall,+London,+UK/@51.5103249,-0.1720918,13z/data=!3m1!4b1!4m14!4m13!1m5!1m1!1s0x48761b2037dd36b9:0x11812a2d5cfb2ea3!2m2!1d-0.1388607!2d51.5343884!1m5!1m1!1s0x487604ec2b79a13d:0xdfa3f51e98dee89c!2m2!1d-0.1227798!2d51.4861366!3e1 faster to bike]?
{{Collapse bottom}}
:::This is really fun! (and there's [https://xkcd.com/1975/kat-bun-small.png this]) --[[User:Hameltion|Hameltion]] ([[User talk:Hameltion|talk]]) 02:43, 2 April 2018 (UTC)

I followed the "Land of 1000 dances" "na-na"s over 1000 times and didn't hit an end. It may be infinite. [[User:Jedi.jesse|Jedi.jesse]] ([[User talk:Jedi.jesse|talk]]) 02:45, 2 April 2018 (UTC)

Doing System > / > home/ > guest (''click'') takes you to [https://uni.xkcd.com/ uni.xkcd.com] which it pretty neat. [[User:Hameltion|Hameltion]] ([[User talk:Hameltion|talk]]) 02:53, 2 April 2018 (UTC)

List of D&D spells can be ported into explanation from [https://www.reddit.com/r/dndnext/comments/88vwoe/xkcds_latest_comic_has_a_dd_easter_egg/ here].
And [https://www.reddit.com/r/xkcd/comments/88v6if/xkcd_1975_right_click/dwnp4ml/ here] is a path through Mornington Crescent to an easter egg.
[[Special:Contributions/162.158.134.142|162.158.134.142]] 07:52, 2 April 2018 (UTC)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mornington_Crescent_(game) Mornington Crescent is a joke nonsensical game from an old British radio show. {{unsigned ip|141.101.98.142}}

You actually can install apt with brew. It can't actually install anything because it needs to create a package record during the initial operating system install, but you can do it if you want to. Not sure why you would though. EDIT: I can't find the package anymore, but I am pretty sure I was able to do this at one point. Might have been removed due to uselessness. [[Special:Contributions/172.68.34.64|172.68.34.64]] 00:08, 3 April 2018 (UTC)

;Land of 1,000 Dances
This goes on forever. Or at least well over 1000 levels: [Media:https://i.imgur.com/iiHDE3e.png number of popups checked with jQuery]--[[User:MikeOShay|MikeOShay]] ([[User talk:MikeOShay|talk]]) 04:21, 2 April 2018 (UTC)

;Transscript
Is the transscript really unfinished? It transcribes the entirety of the comic image itself, and the menu part is in explanations. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.238.142|162.158.238.142]] 05:36, 2 April 2018 (UTC)

;Release date
This comic was probably released on April 2, 00:00 UTC. But of course it was still April 1 in the US. I don't really care, but the release date here is probably wrong.--[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 11:31, 2 April 2018 (UTC)

;More discussions
No effect for iOS. --[[Special:Contributions/162.158.138.88|162.158.138.88]] 05:37, 2 April 2018 (UTC)

If you quickly right click on the comic after refreshing the page, it is possible to save the comic. Unfortunately there is no easter egg for doing so. [[User:Baquea|Baquea]] ([[User talk:Baquea|talk]]) 12:26, 2 April 2018 (UTC)

Added it to the page. ~~~~ 02:49, 3 April 2018 (UTC)

Katamari in the music bit is a reference to [https://youtu.be/iMH49ieL4es?t=48s this song] --[[Special:Contributions/141.101.99.137|141.101.99.137]] 13:31, 2 April 2018 (UTC)

spell list (half of it, i didnt test spells with material components): --norill
{{Collapse top|title=Spellbook}}
{| class="wikitable sortable"
!V !! S !! M !! L !! School !! Spell !! Class !! Result
|-
|V || - || - || 2 || Illusion || Blur || Wizard || Causes the screen/comic to appear blurry
|-
|V || - || - || 2 || Illusion || Blur || Sorcerer || Causes the screen/comic to appear blurry
|-
|V || - || - || 5 || Divination || Contact Other Plane || Wizard
|-
|V || - || - || 5 || Divination || Contact Other Plane || Warlock
|-
|V || - || - || 1 || Divination || Hunter's Mark || Ranger
|-
|V || - || - || 2 || Necromancy || Blindness/Deafness || Wizard
|-
|V || - || - || 2 || Necromancy || Blindness/Deafness || Sorcerer
|-
|V || - || - || 2 || Necromancy || Blindness/Deafness || Cleric
|-
|V || - || - || 2 || Necromancy || Blindness/Deafness || Bard
|-
|V || - || - || 9 || Enchantment || Power Word Kill || Wizard
|-
|V || - || - || 9 || Enchantment || Power Word Kill || Sorcerer
|-
|V || - || - || 9 || Enchantment || Power Word Kill || Warlock
|-
|V || - || - || 9 || Enchantment || Power Word Kill || Bard
|-
|V || - || - || 8 || Enchantment || Power Word Stun || Wizard || Links to https://what-if.xkcd.com/156/
|-
|V || - || - || 8 || Enchantment || Power Word Stun || Sorcerer || Links to https://what-if.xkcd.com/156/
|-
|V || - || - || 8 || Enchantment || Power Word Stun || Warlock || Links to https://what-if.xkcd.com/156/
|-
|V || - || - || 8 || Enchantment || Power Word Stun || Bard || Links to https://what-if.xkcd.com/156/
|-
|V || - || - || 6 || Enchantment || Irresistible Dance || Wizard || Links to https://xkcd.com/878/
|-
|V || - || - || 6 || Enchantment || Irresistible Dance || Bard || Links to https://xkcd.com/878/
|-
|V || - || - || 5 || Enchantment || Geas || Wizard || Links to https://xkcd.com/1559/
|-
|V || - || - || 5 || Enchantment || Geas || Paladin || Links to https://xkcd.com/1559/
|-
|V || - || - || 5 || Enchantment || Geas || Druid || Links to https://xkcd.com/1559/
|-
|V || - || - || 5 || Enchantment || Geas || Cleric || Links to https://xkcd.com/1559/
|-
|V || - || - || 5 || Enchantment || Geas || Bard || Links to https://xkcd.com/1559/
|-
|V || - || - || 1 || Enchantment || Command || Paladin || Links to https://xkcd.com/857/
|-
|V || - || - || 1 || Enchantment || Command || Cleric || Links to https://xkcd.com/857/
|-
|V || - || - || 0 || Enchantment || Vicious Mockery || Bard || Links to https://xkcd.com/732/
|-
|V || - || - || 9 || Transmutation || Time Stop || Wizard
|-
|V || - || - || 9 || Transmutation || Time Stop || Sorcerer
|-
|V || - || - || 8 || Transmutation || Glibness || Warlock
|-
|V || - || - || 8 || Transmutation || Glibness || Bard
|-
|V || - || - || 2 || Transmutation || Knock || Wizard
|-
|V || - || - || 2 || Transmutation || Knock || Sorcerer
|-
|V || - || - || 2 || Transmutation || Knock || Bard
|-
|V || - || - || 0 || Transmutation || Thaumaturgy || Cleric
|-
|V || - || - || 9 || Conjuration || Wish || Wizard
|-
|V || - || - || 9 || Conjuration || Wish || Sorcerer
|-
|V || - || - || 6 || Conjuration || Word of Recall || Cleric
|-
|V || - || - || 4 || Conjuration || Dimension Door || Wizard
|-
|V || - || - || 4 || Conjuration || Dimension Door || Warlock
|-
|V || - || - || 4 || Conjuration || Dimension Door || Sorcerer
|-
|V || - || - || 4 || Conjuration || Dimension Door || Bard
|-
|V || - || - || 4 || Conjuration || Guardian of Faith || Cleric
|-
|V || - || - || 2 || Conjuration || Misty Steep || Wizard
|-
|V || - || - || 2 || Conjuration || Misty Steep || Warlock
|-
|V || - || - || 2 || Conjuration || Misty Steep || Sorcerer
|-
|V || - || - || 7 || Evocation || Divine Word || Cleric
|-
|V || - || - || 3 || Evocation || Mass Healing Word || Cleric
|-
|V || - || - || 2 || Evocation || Prayer of Healing || Cleric
|-
|V || - || - || 2 || Evocation || Branding Smite || Paladin
|-
|V || - || - || 1 || Evocation || Healing Word || Druid
|-
|V || - || - || 1 || Evocation || Healing Word || Cleric
|-
|V || - || - || 1 || Evocation || Healing Word || Bard
|-
|V || - || - || 1 || Evocation || Faerie Fire || Druid
|-
|V || - || - || 1 || Evocation || Faerie Fire || Bard
|-
|- || S || - || 5 || Illusion || Mislead || Wizard
|-
|- || S || - || 5 || Illusion || Mislead || Bard
|-
|- || S || - || 0 || Divination || True Strike || Wizard
|-
|- || S || - || 0 || Divination || True Strike || Warlock
|-
|- || S || - || 0 || Divination || True Strike || Sorcerer
|-
|- || S || - || 0 || Divination || True Strike || Bard
|-
|- || S || - || 3 || Abjuration || Counterspell || Wizard
|-
|- || S || - || 3 || Abjuration || Counterspell || Warlock
|-
|- || S || - || 8 || Conjuration || Demiplane || Wizard
|-
|- || S || - || 8 || Conjuration || Demiplane || Warlock
|-
|V || S || - || 9 || Illusion || Weird || Wizard
|-
|V || S || - || 7 || Illusion || Mirage Arcane || Wizard
|-
|V || S || - || 7 || Illusion || Mirage Arcane || Druid
|-
|V || S || - || 7 || Illusion || Mirage Arcane || Bard
|-
|V || S || - || 5 || Illusion || Seeming || Wizard
|-
|V || S || - || 5 || Illusion || Seeming || Sorcerer
|-
|V || S || - || 5 || Illusion || Seeming || Bard
|-
|V || S || - || 4 || Illusion || Greater Invisibility || Wizard
|-
|V || S || - || 4 || Illusion || Greater Invisibility || Sorcerer
|-
|V || S || - || 4 || Illusion || Greater Invisibility || Bard
|-
|V || S || - || 4 || Illusion || Phantasmal Killer || Wizard
|-
|V || S || - || 3 || Illusion || Phantom Steed || Wizard
|-
|V || S || - || 2 || Illusion || Mirror Image || Wizard
|-
|V || S || - || 2 || Illusion || Mirror Image || Warlock
|-
|V || S || - || 2 || Illusion || Mirror Image || Sorcerer
|-
|V || S || - || 2 || Illusion || Silence || Ranger
|-
|V || S || - || 2 || Illusion || Silence || Cleric
|-
|V || S || - || 2 || Illusion || Silence || Bard
|-
|V || S || - || 1 || Illusion || Disguise Self || Wizard
|-
|V || S || - || 1 || Illusion || Disguise Self || Sorcerer
|-
|V || S || - || 1 || Illusion || Disguise Self || Bard
|-
|V || S || - || 5 || Divination || Commune with Nature || Ranger
|-
|V || S || - || 5 || Divination || Commune with Nature || Druid
|-
|V || S || - || 2 || Divination || Find Traps || Ranger
|-
|V || S || - || 2 || Divination || Find Traps || Druid
|-
|V || S || - || 2 || Divination || Find Traps || Cleric
|-
|V || S || - || 1 || Divination || Detect Magic || Wizard
|-
|V || S || - || 1 || Divination || Detect Magic || Sorcerer
|-
|V || S || - || 1 || Divination || Detect Magic || Ranger
|-
|V || S || - || 1 || Divination || Detect Magic || Paladin
|-
|V || S || - || 1 || Divination || Detect Magic || Druid
|-
|V || S || - || 1 || Divination || Detect Magic || Cleric
|-
|V || S || - || 1 || Divination || Detect Magic || Bard
|-
|V || S || - || 1 || Divination || Speak with Animals || Ranger
|-
|V || S || - || 1 || Divination || Speak with Animals || Druid
|-
|V || S || - || 1 || Divination || Speak with Animals || Bard
|-
|V || S || - || 1 || Divination || Detect Evil and Good || Paladin
|-
|V || S || - || 1 || Divination || Detect Evil and Good || Cleric
|-
|V || S || - || 0 || Divination || Guidance || Druid
|-
|V || S || - || 0 || Divination || Guidance || Cleric
|-
|V || S || - || 7 || Necromancy || Finger of Death || Wizard
|-
|V || S || - || 7 || Necromancy || Finger of Death || Warlock
|-
|V || S || - || 7 || Necromancy || Finger of Death || Sorcerer
|-
|V || S || - || 6 || Necromancy || Eyebite || Wizard
|-
|V || S || - || 6 || Necromancy || Eyebite || Warlock
|-
|V || S || - || 6 || Necromancy || Eyebite || Sorcerer
|-
|V || S || - || 6 || Necromancy || Eyebite || Bard
|-
|V || S || - || 6 || Necromancy || Harm || Cleric
|-
|V || S || - || 5 || Necromancy || Contagion || Druid
|-
|V || S || - || 5 || Necromancy || Contagion || Cleric
|-
|V || S || - || 4 || Necromancy || Blight || Wizard
|-
|V || S || - || 4 || Necromancy || Blight || Warlock
|-
|V || S || - || 4 || Necromancy || Blight || Sorcerer
|-
|V || S || - || 4 || Necromancy || Blight || Druid
|-
|V || S || - || 3 || Necromancy || Vampiric Touch || Wizard
|-
|V || S || - || 3 || Necromancy || Vampiric Touch || Warlock
|-
|V || S || - || 3 || Necromancy || Bestow Curse || Wizard
|-
|V || S || - || 3 || Necromancy || Bestow Curse || Cleric
|-
|V || S || - || 3 || Necromancy || Bestow Curse || Bard
|-
|V || S || - || 2 || Necromancy || Ray of Enfeeblement || Wizard
|-
|V || S || - || 2 || Necromancy || Ray of Enfeeblement || Warlock
|-
|V || S || - || 1 || Necromancy || Inflict Wounds || Cleric
|-
|V || S || - || 0 || Necromancy || Chill Touch || Wizard
|-
|V || S || - || 0 || Necromancy || Chill Touch || Warlock
|-
|V || S || - || 0 || Necromancy || Chill Touch || Sorcerer
|-
|V || S || - || 8 || Enchantment || Dominate Monster || Wizard
|-
|V || S || - || 8 || Enchantment || Dominate Monster || Warlock
|-
|V || S || - || 8 || Enchantment || Dominate Monster || Sorcerer
|-
|V || S || - || 8 || Enchantment || Dominate Monster || Bard
|-
|V || S || - || 5 || Enchantment || Dominate Person || Wizard
|-
|V || S || - || 5 || Enchantment || Dominate Person || Sorcerer
|-
|V || S || - || 5 || Enchantment || Dominate Person || Bard
|-
|V || S || - || 5 || Enchantment || Modify Memory || Wizard
|-
|V || S || - || 5 || Enchantment || Modify Memory || Bard
|-
|V || S || - || 4 || Enchantment || Dominate Beast || Sorcerer
|-
|V || S || - || 4 || Enchantment || Dominate Beast || Druid
|-
|V || S || - || 4 || Enchantment || Compulsion || Bard
|-
|V || S || - || 2 || Enchantment || Enthrall || Warlock
|-
|V || S || - || 2 || Enchantment || Enthrall || Bard
|-
|V || S || - || 2 || Enchantment || Zone of Truth || Paladin
|-
|V || S || - || 2 || Enchantment || Zone of Truth || Cleric
|-
|V || S || - || 2 || Enchantment || Zone of Truth || Bard
|-
|V || S || - || 2 || Enchantment || Calm Emotions || Cleric
|-
|V || S || - || 2 || Enchantment || Calm Emotions || Bard
|-
|V || S || - || 1 || Enchantment || Charm Person || Wizard
|-
|V || S || - || 1 || Enchantment || Charm Person || Warlock
|-
|V || S || - || 1 || Enchantment || Charm Person || Sorcerer
|-
|V || S || - || 1 || Enchantment || Charm Person || Druid
|-
|V || S || - || 1 || Enchantment || Charm Person || Bard
|-
|V || S || - || 1 || Enchantment || Heroism || Paladin
|-
|V || S || - || 1 || Enchantment || Heroism || Bard
|-
|V || S || - || 8 || Transmutation || Animal Shapes || Druid
|-
|V || S || - || 7 || Transmutation || Etherealness || Wizard
|-
|V || S || - || 7 || Transmutation || Etherealness || Warlock
|-
|V || S || - || 7 || Transmutation || Etherealness || Sorcerer
|-
|V || S || - || 7 || Transmutation || Etherealness || Cleric
|-
|V || S || - || 7 || Transmutation || Etherealness || Bard
|-
|V || S || - || 5 || Transmutation || Telekinesis || Wizard
|-
|V || S || - || 5 || Transmutation || Telekinesis || Sorcerer
|-
|V || S || - || 5 || Transmutation || Animate Objects || Wizard
|-
|V || S || - || 5 || Transmutation || Animate Objects || Sorcerer
|-
|V || S || - || 5 || Transmutation || Animate Objects || Bard
|-
|V || S || - || 4 || Transmutation || Fabricate || Wizard
|-
|V || S || - || 4 || Transmutation || Giant Insect || Druid
|-
|V || S || - || 3 || Transmutation || Blink || Wizard
|-
|V || S || - || 3 || Transmutation || Blink || Sorcerer
|-
|V || S || - || 3 || Transmutation || Plant Growth || Ranger
|-
|V || S || - || 3 || Transmutation || Plant Growth || Druid
|-
|V || S || - || 3 || Transmutation || Plant Growth || Bard
|-
|V || S || - || 3 || Transmutation || Speak with Plants || Ranger
|-
|V || S || - || 3 || Transmutation || Speak with Plants || Druid
|-
|V || S || - || 3 || Transmutation || Speak with Plants || Bard
|-
|V || S || - || 3 || Transmutation || Meld into Stone || Druid
|-
|V || S || - || 3 || Transmutation || Meld into Stone || Cleric
|-
|V || S || - || 2 || Transmutation || Alter Self || Wizard
|-
|V || S || - || 2 || Transmutation || Alter Self || Sorcerer
|-
|V || S || - || 2 || Transmutation || Magic Weapon || Paladin
|-
|V || S || - || 1 || Transmutation || Expeditious Retreat || Wizard
|-
|V || S || - || 1 || Transmutation || Expeditious Retreat || Warlock
|-
|V || S || - || 1 || Transmutation || Expeditious Retreat || Sorcerer
|-
|V || S || - || 1 || Transmutation || Purify Food and Drink || Paladin
|-
|V || S || - || 1 || Transmutation || Purify Food and Drink || Druid
|-
|V || S || - || 1 || Transmutation || Purify Food and Drink || Cleric
|-
|V || S || - || 0 || Transmutation || Prestidigitation || Wizard
|-
|V || S || - || 0 || Transmutation || Prestidigitation || Warlock
|-
|V || S || - || 0 || Transmutation || Prestidigitation || Sorcerer
|-
|V || S || - || 0 || Transmutation || Prestidigitation || Bard
|-
|V || S || - || 0 || Transmutation || Druidcraft || Druid
|-
|V || S || - || 9 || Abjuration || Prismatic Wall || Wizard
|-
|V || S || - || 8 || Abjuration || Mind Blank || Wizard
|-
|V || S || - || 8 || Abjuration || Mind Blank || Bard
|-
|V || S || - || 4 || Abjuration || Death Ward || Paladin
|-
|V || S || - || 4 || Abjuration || Death Ward || Cleric
|-
|V || S || - || 3 || Abjuration || Protection from Energy || Wizard
|-
|V || S || - || 3 || Abjuration || Protection from Energy || Sorcerer
|-
|V || S || - || 3 || Abjuration || Protection from Energy || Ranger
|-
|V || S || - || 3 || Abjuration || Protection from Energy || Druid
|-
|V || S || - || 3 || Abjuration || Remove Curse || Wizard
|-
|V || S || - || 3 || Abjuration || Remove Curse || Warlock
|-
|V || S || - || 3 || Abjuration || Remove Curse || Paladin
|-
|V || S || - || 3 || Abjuration || Remove Curse || Cleric
|-
|V || S || - || 3 || Abjuration || Dispel Magic || Wizard
|-
|V || S || - || 3 || Abjuration || Dispel Magic || Warlock
|-
|V || S || - || 3 || Abjuration || Dispel Magic || Sorcerer
|-
|V || S || - || 3 || Abjuration || Dispel Magic || Paladin
|-
|V || S || - || 3 || Abjuration || Dispel Magic || Druid
|-
|V || S || - || 3 || Abjuration || Dispel Magic || Cleric
|-
|V || S || - || 3 || Abjuration || Dispel Magic || Bard
|-
|V || S || - || 3 || Abjuration || Beacon of Hope || Cleric
|-
|V || S || - || 2 || Abjuration || Lesser Restoration || Ranger
|-
|V || S || - || 2 || Abjuration || Lesser Restoration || Paladin
|-
|V || S || - || 2 || Abjuration || Lesser Restoration || Druid
|-
|V || S || - || 2 || Abjuration || Lesser Restoration || Cleric
|-
|V || S || - || 2 || Abjuration || Lesser Restoration || Bard
|-
|V || S || - || 2 || Abjuration || Protection from Poison || Ranger
|-
|V || S || - || 2 || Abjuration || Protection from Poison || Paladin
|-
|V || S || - || 2 || Abjuration || Protection from Poison || Druid
|-
|V || S || - || 2 || Abjuration || Protection from Poison || Cleric
|-
|V || S || - || 1 || Abjuration || Shield || Wizard
|-
|V || S || - || 1 || Abjuration || Shield || Sorcerer
|-
|V || S || - || 9 || Conjuration || Storm of Vegance || Druid
|-
|V || S || - || 8 || Conjuration || Maze || Wizard
|-
|V || S || - || 8 || Conjuration || Incendiary Cloud || Wizard
|-
|V || S || - || 8 || Conjuration || Incendiary Cloud || Sorcerer
|-
|V || S || - || 7 || Conjuration || Conjure Celestial || Cleric
|-
|V || S || - || 6 || Conjuration || Transport via Plants || Druid
|-
|V || S || - || 6 || Conjuration || Planar Ally || Cleric
|-
|V || S || - || 5 || Conjuration || Cloudkill || Wizard
|-
|V || S || - || 5 || Conjuration || Cloudkill || Sorcerer
|-
|V || S || - || 5 || Conjuration || Tree Stride || Ranger
|-
|V || S || - || 5 || Conjuration || Tree Stride || Druid
|-
|V || S || - || 3 || Conjuration || Conjure Animals || Ranger
|-
|V || S || - || 3 || Conjuration || Conjure Animals || Druid
|-
|V || S || - || 3 || Conjuration || Create Food and Water || Paladin
|-
|V || S || - || 3 || Conjuration || Create Food and Water || Cleric
|-
|V || S || - || 3 || Conjuration || Call Lightning || Druid
|-
|V || S || - || 2 || Conjuration || Find Steed || Paladin
|-
|V || S || - || 1 || Conjuration || Fog Cloud || Wizard
|-
|V || S || - || 1 || Conjuration || Fog Cloud || Sorcerer
|-
|V || S || - || 1 || Conjuration || Fog Cloud || Ranger
|-
|V || S || - || 1 || Conjuration || Fog Cloud || Druid
|-
|V || S || - || 1 || Conjuration || Entangle || Druid
|-
|V || S || - || 0 || Conjuration || Acid Splash || Wizard
|-
|V || S || - || 0 || Conjuration || Acid Splash || Sorcerer
|-
|V || S || - || 0 || Conjuration || Poison Spray || Wizard
|-
|V || S || - || 0 || Conjuration || Poison Spray || Warlock
|-
|V || S || - || 0 || Conjuration || Poison Spray || Sorcerer
|-
|V || S || - || 0 || Conjuration || Poison Spray || Druid
|-
|V || S || - || 0 || Conjuration || Mage Hand || Wizard
|-
|V || S || - || 0 || Conjuration || Mage Hand || Warlock
|-
|V || S || - || 0 || Conjuration || Mage Hand || Sorcerer
|-
|V || S || - || 0 || Conjuration || Mage Hand || Bard
|-
|V || S || - || 0 || Conjuration || Produce Flame || Druid
|-
|V || S || - || 9 || Evocation || Meteor Swarm || Wizard
|-
|V || S || - || 9 || Evocation || Meteor Swarm || Sorcerer
|-
|V || S || - || 9 || Evocation || Mass Heal || Cleric
|-
|V || S || - || 7 || Evocation || Prismatic Spray || Wizard
|-
|V || S || - || 7 || Evocation || Prismatic Spray || Sorcerer
|-
|V || S || - || 7 || Evocation || Fire Storm || Sorcerer
|-
|V || S || - || 7 || Evocation || Fire Storm || Druid
|-
|V || S || - || 7 || Evocation || Fire Storm || Cleric
|-
|V || S || - || 6 || Evocation || Heal || Druid
|-
|V || S || - || 6 || Evocation || Heal || Cleric
|-
|V || S || - || 6 || Evocation || Blade Barrier || Cleric
|-
|V || S || - || 5 || Evocation || Mass Cure Wounds || Druid
|-
|V || S || - || 5 || Evocation || Mass Cure Wounds || Cleric
|-
|V || S || - || 5 || Evocation || Mass Cure Wounds || Bard
|-
|V || S || - || 3 || Evocation || Daylight || Ranger
|-
|V || S || - || 3 || Evocation || Daylight || Paladin
|-
|V || S || - || 3 || Evocation || Daylight || Druid
|-
|V || S || - || 3 || Evocation || Daylight || Cleric
|-
|V || S || - || 2 || Evocation || Scorching Ray || Wizard
|-
|V || S || - || 2 || Evocation || Scorching Ray || Sorcerer
|-
|V || S || - || 2 || Evocation || Spiritual Weapon || Cleric
|-
|V || S || - || 1 || Evocation || Burning Hands || Wizard
|-
|V || S || - || 1 || Evocation || Burning Hands || Sorcerer
|-
|V || S || - || 1 || Evocation || Magic Missle || Wizard
|-
|V || S || - || 1 || Evocation || Magic Missle || Sorcerer
|-
|V || S || - || 1 || Evocation || Thunderwave || Wizard
|-
|V || S || - || 1 || Evocation || Thunderwave || Sorcerer
|-
|V || S || - || 1 || Evocation || Thunderwave || Druid
|-
|V || S || - || 1 || Evocation || Thunderwave || Bard
|-
|V || S || - || 1 || Evocation || Hellish Rebuke || Warlock
|-
|V || S || - || 1 || Evocation || Cure Wounds || Ranger
|-
|V || S || - || 1 || Evocation || Cure Wounds || Paladin
|-
|V || S || - || 1 || Evocation || Cure Wounds || Druid
|-
|V || S || - || 1 || Evocation || Cure Wounds || Cleric
|-
|V || S || - || 1 || Evocation || Cure Wounds || Bard
|-
|V || S || - || 1 || Evocation || Divine Favor || Paladin
|-
|V || S || - || 1 || Evocation || Guiding Bolt || Cleric
|-
|V || S || - || 0 || Evocation || Fire Bolt || Wizard
|-
|V || S || - || 0 || Evocation || Fire Bolt || Sorcerer
|-
|V || S || - || 0 || Evocation || Ray of Frost || Wizard
|-
|V || S || - || 0 || Evocation || Ray of Frost || Sorcerer
|-
|V || S || - || 0 || Evocation || Shocking Gasp || Wizard
|-
|V || S || - || 0 || Evocation || Shocking Gasp || Sorcerer
|-
|V || S || - || 0 || Evocation || Eldritch Blast || Warlock
|-
|V || S || - || 0 || Evocation || Sacred Flame || Cleric
|-
|}
{{Collapse bottom}} {{unsigned ip|172.68.110.52}}

'''Recursive package managers''' are perfectly sane if the two package managers use different repositories, for example apt install python3-pip. The true hilarity arrives if you install a package manager for the sole purpose of installing another, or if they use the same repositories. But that's not unheard of either: apt install npm && npm install yarn -78.68.24.134 but your site thinks I'm [[Special:Contributions/162.158.134.130|162.158.134.130]] 16:42, 2 April 2018 (UTC)

;Bing image search
Surprisingly, when you are playing 20 questions and get into the section with the animals, all of the image requests go to Bing.

I'm curious if anyone will look at the traffic of Bing and compare the normal traffic with the traffic from this comic. I want to see just how much of a spike Bing image search gets from this.

And by the way, "Bing" is actually a red underlined misspelling according to Firefox.
[[User:Keybounce|Keybounce]] ([[User talk:Keybounce|talk]]) 19:48, 2 April 2018 (UTC)

Is there a reason why UniXKCD is under comic 721? Also, there are significant things missing from it, especially the special ctrl- functions! [[User:ChunyangD|ChunyangD]] ([[User talk:ChunyangD|talk]]) 02:56, 3 April 2018 (UTC)

I read the comic, tried to save, it saved. Check what saved, was the same comic. How boring. LOL! Guess Randall doesn't think people read XKCD on iPads (or maybe just that he doesn't think anybody is reading on an iPad 1 with iOS 5.1.1). :) [[User:NiceGuy1|NiceGuy1]] ([[User talk:NiceGuy1|talk]]) 04:44, 3 April 2018 (UTC)
:Not your iOS 5.1.1's problem, basically all the interactive comics are like that with iPads, even if using iOS 10. (On my iPad, [[1608: Hoverboard]] works but lags and controls are awful, [[1663: Garden]] can't run, [[1037: Umwelt]] refuses to appear, you can't do anything in [[1193: Externalities]], and as for ''this comic''... *flips table* ) The only comic that works perfectly on my iPad is [[1350: Lorenz]]. [[User:Herobrine|Herobrine]] ([[User talk:Herobrine|talk]]) 11:25, 3 April 2018 (UTC)
::Yeah, that's been my experience. I remember for Umwelt I got what looked like a black hole, which I think might have been the titular Umwelt. I seem to recall the description identified that as being some obscure set up I've never heard of, LOL! I also remember Garden didnt even do anything on my computer! I could change the lights, but that was it. I can't remember Externalities and Lorenz by name. But since my iPad CAN save images I hoped this would be different. Like saving it would, as promised, save a different comic (like Umwelt showed a different comic depending on your set up and connection). *sigh* [[User:NiceGuy1|NiceGuy1]] ([[User talk:NiceGuy1|talk]]) 04:28, 6 April 2018 (UTC)
::EDIT: Checking now, can't remember seeing Externalities, I've certainly never tried it on a computer (I think I just dismissed it as "Oh well" and moved on). Lorenz I did indeed try it a bit on a computer. Hoverboard I went literally everywhere reachable, LOL! [[User:NiceGuy1|NiceGuy1]] ([[User talk:NiceGuy1|talk]]) 04:34, 6 April 2018 (UTC)

;Graph
[https://i.imgur.com/4X4jD6j.png This] is what the whole network of menus looks like, minus the massive Comics tree. The big cluster near the center is the DnD game, and the single-file trail on the left is Who's on First. Blue circles are menus, red are links, purple are client-side JS calls, pinks are null (they just collapse the menu), and yellows are "tags" - client-side state variables that are set or unset by some menu options. The orphaned pair of grey dots at the top are the Save menu, which is only visible when a tag is set by the ADVENT.EXE or Mornington Crescent games. I'll try to make this some kind of interactive graph that people can explore - the actual DB I made contains more data than is visible in the image. [[User:Okofish|Okofish]] ([[User talk:Okofish|talk]]) 15:27, 3 April 2018 (UTC)

I made a scraper that downloads all the jsons, and also makes a graphviz graph. Code: https://github.com/ad1217/xkcd1975scraper, Graph: https://raw.githubusercontent.com/ad1217/xkcd1975scraper/master/out.svg (save the graph and open it in Inkscape or something, it is rather large). [[User:Ad1217|Ad1217]] ([[User talk:Ad1217|talk]]) 19:58, 3 April 2018 (UTC)

;Where is the javascript source?

Where is the source file for this comic? I had trouble figuring out what was happening from opening my browser console. I can usually figure out things like e.g. kittens game, etc. Which file has the source for the right click menu in this comic? [[Special:Contributions/108.162.210.130|108.162.210.130]] 17:41, 3 April 2018 (UTC)
:It's [https://xkcd.com/1975/alto/comic.js here], but the interesting stuff happens server-side. You'll get more info by looking at the network tab in your browser's developer tools. [[User:Okofish|Okofish]] ([[User talk:Okofish|talk]]) 19:03, 3 April 2018 (UTC)

None of the "links to ___" things actually link to anything here. I guess they use window.open or something similarly silly that does not work in real browsers. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.210.88|162.158.210.88]] 08:43, 4 April 2018 (UTC)

When you play the "Backup" noise, the audio quality isn't that great, it seems to be recorded from a device. Also, you can hear what seems to be a bird chirping and a mouse click. Can anyone else verify this? [[User:625571b7-aa66-4f98-ac5c-92464cfb4ed8|625571b7-aa66-4f98-ac5c-92464cfb4ed8]] ([[User talk:625571b7-aa66-4f98-ac5c-92464cfb4ed8|talk]]) 22:39, 4 April 2018 (UTC)

This morning I tried to follow the path in the cave again (in ADVENT.EXE) but found that it's changed, the cave leads me to a "grue" which ate me, now ADVENT.EXE just returns "you've been eaten by a grue" and doesn't let me go anywhere. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.221.113|108.162.221.113]] 13:06, 5 April 2018 (UTC) Sam

Sooooo just FYI, any similarities to Ready Player One are 100% unintentional. (I can't speak for Randall but I worked on that bit and I haven't read/seen it.) It was just an Easter egg unlock because it was... literally Easter. And we put it there and in Mornington Crescent as the longest/most complicated paths. Apparently if you throw enough 80s/90s nerd references at the wall now, you get Ready Player One. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ [[Special:Contributions/172.68.141.232|172.68.141.232]] 18:46, 5 April 2018 (UTC)

1321: Cold

2018-05-18T01:30:08Z

162.158.74.243: /* Transcript */ Its a dot plot not a bar graph

{{comic
| number = 1321
| date = January 24, 2014
| title = Cold
| image = cold.png
| titletext = 'You see the same pattern all over. Take Detroit--' 'Hold on. Why do you know all these statistics offhand?' 'Oh, um, no idea. I definitely spend my evenings hanging out with friends, and not curating a REALLY NEAT database of temperature statistics. Because, pshh, who would want to do that, right? Also, snowfall records.'
}}

==Explanation==
In this comic, White Knit Cap Guy and Black Knit Cap Guy are walking outside in sub 0 °F (-17.8 °C) White Knit Cap Guy complains about the '''brutal''' cold and uses it as evidence that {{w|global warming}} is not real. Black Knit Cap Guy explains that this kind of weather used to happen all the time back before the year 2000, showing that global warming is, in fact, very real.

This is illustrated in panel two by a graph showing the number of days with sub 0 °F as a function of year from 1970 to 2013 in the city of {{w|St. Louis}}, (where we learn that White Knit Cap Guy is from). It shows that these days used to be rather common between 1970 and 1999, only to be completely absent for the next 14 years until and including 2013. A [http://www.rcc-acis.org/climatecentral rcc-acis.org/climatecentral source link] for this graph is provided (though as of June 2014, the link is dead - see [[#Trivia|Trivia]] below).

Black Knit Cap Guy uses this graph to explain that not a single day like this has happened since 2000, until here in 2014 where a {{w|polar vortex}} pushed the temperature down below zero again for two days. This caused many people to react as if it had never been this cold before. He goes on to explain that since this weather is now unusual, we perceive it as being more cold, even though this was a common temperature to reach in past decades. However, White Knit Cap Guy continues to insist that it is too cold, demonstrating he learned nothing from their talk. Subzero {{w|Fahrenheit}} temperatures are very cold to be out in. See for instance the first panel of [[526: Converting to Metric]].

In the last panel, in a future St. Louis, a [[Cueball]] discovers a thin sheet of ice, suggesting the temperature has fallen just below 32 °F (0 °C), the freezing point of water. The suggestion here is that the environment has warmed to such an extent that temperatures below 32 degrees are very unusual, and the future Cueball repeats the same short-term fallacy that such "extreme cold" disproves global warming. Someone off-panel, presumably another Black Knit Cap Guy, sighs as the cycle continues.

The comic reacts to a simplified view of {{w|global warming}} by amateurs, including media, who fail to understand (or choose to ignore) the difference between {{w|climate}} and {{w|weather}}. Short, random weather fluctuations like the polar vortex are taken as examples or counter-examples of climate change and global warming. To understand climate change, one must look at global (not local) and long-term (not short-term) temperature trends.

Debates on the theory of global warming/climate change often center on whether the current warming trend is primarily caused by humans or is a natural change, as has happened in the past. Within the scientific community, there is an overwhelming consensus that the current trend is {{w|Human impact on the environment|anthropogenic}} (i.e. man-made), but many in the general public (including many politicians) are hesitant to accept this. There is clearly no doubt about where [[Randall]] stands on this debate, as many of his comics and blog posts continue to plead for humanity to do something about the ''man-made'' global warming trend - especially in comic [[1379: 4.5 Degrees]].

The title text suggests that gathering data about global warming is time-consuming and is the kind of stuff only a real nerd would do. Most people would rather hang out with friends, or at least spend their time with some more fun nerd activity. Randall has been known to use the title text to poke fun at himself over how much time he has spent researching topics and more generally how geeky his interests tend to be. Although the title text tries to deny this geeky behavior, he cannot help himself at the end by mentioning another ''interesting'' climate subject: ''Snowfall records''.

Climate change, especially global warming, is a [[:Category:Climate change|recurring theme]] in xkcd.

Knit caps have only been used a few times in xkcd, most prominently on [[1350:_Lorenz#Knit_Cap_Girl|Knit Cap Girl]] in [[1350: Lorenz]], see her section for more details. At the top of the huge chart in [[1732: Earth Temperature Timeline]], also referring to global warming a guy with a white knit cap similar to White Knit Cap Guy can be seen freezing between New York and Boston.

==Transcript==
:[It's cold, two Guys wearing knit caps (one knit cap is white the other black) are walking outside and the White Knit Cap Guy is shivering.]
:White Knit Cap Guy: It's '''''brutal''''' out. So much for global warming, huh?
:Black Knit Cap Guy: ''*sigh*'' This used to happen all the time.
:White Knit Cap Guy: What?

:[A dot plot relating the number of days with lows below zero Fahrenheit by year since 1970.]
:Black Knit Cap Guy (off-screen): You're from St. Louis, right?
:Black Knit Cap Guy (off-screen): On average, it used to get below 0 °F there a handful of days per year.
:Black Knit Cap Guy (off-screen): But you haven't had a day like that since the nineties.
:[Above the bar graph to the left is a label in a black frame:]
:Days with lows < 0°F
:[Below the graph are written the years:]
:1970 1980 1990 2000 2010
:[Below again is written in small letters:]
:Source: rcc-acis.org/climatecentral

:[Black Knit Cap Guy has stopped walking.]
:Black Knit Cap Guy: Then, in 2014, when the first polar vortex hit, it dipped below zero for two days. And everyone freaked out.

:[They continue walking.]
:Black Knit Cap Guy: Because what used to be normal now feels too cold.
:White Knit Cap Guy: It ''is'' too cold!

:[Above the last panel is written in a black frame:]
:The Future:
:[Cueball is pointing at a patch of ice.]
:Cueball: Look at this—'''''ice!''''' In '''''St. Louis!''''' So much for global warming.
:Person off-screen: ''*sigh*''

==Trivia==
*The link to the source rcc-acis.org/climatecentral is dead. [http://www.rcc-acis.org/ rcc-acis.org/] leads to the home page of ACIS which stands for ''Applied Climate Information System'' and this page is still on-line. But it seems like the ''climatecentral'' part of the source link, is now relocated to {{w|Climate Central|Climate Central's}} own web page: [http://www.climatecentral.org/ climatecentral.org/].
*[http://assets.climatecentral.org/pdfs/TVMFrigidNights2014_stlouis_med.jpg The graph] can still be found in Climate Central's assets. The graph is used to illustrate the point in the following article: ''[http://www.climatecentral.org/news/extreme-cold-events-in-a-climate-context-16931 Extreme Cold is Becoming More Rare]'' were similar graphs are shown or referenced for many other US cities.
*From the graph the following info can be found:
**During the 30 years before 2000 there were 89 days with subzero Fahrenheit temperatures, averaging almost three a year.
**During that period there were only one occurrence where there were two years in a row with '''no''' subzero days. This was then followed by a gap of 14 years without.
**The maximum was 13 subzero days in 1984, but no less than three years had more than 10 subzero days.
**As these record years are all in the 8-year period from 1977 to 1984, no less than 52 of these 89 subzero days occurred in those years.
**Here are the number of days from 1970 to 2000 as read of the graph:
***1970 - 4; 1971 - 0; 1972 - 4; 1973 - 0; 1974 - 4; 1975 - 0; 1976 - 1; 1977 - 11; 1978 - 5; 1979 - 8; 1980 - 1; 1981 - 3; 1982 - 11; 1983 - 0; 1984 - 13; 1985 - 2; 1986 - 1; 1987 - 0; 1988 - 1; 1989 - 0; 1990 - 5; 1991 - 0; 1992 - 0; 1993 - 1; 1994 - 3; 1995 - 0; 1996 - 3; 1997 - 6; 1998 - 0; 1999 - 2; 2000 - 0;
***Compared with the graph in the link above, there is one mistake in Randall's version, as there were two days not only one day in 1976 according to the on-line graph.
===NOAA data for St. Louis===
'''Note''' that this is not the same data set as mentioned in xkcd as this is regarding '''freezing''' days and not '''subzero''' days!

With the full [http://www.crh.noaa.gov/images/lsx/climate/stl/temp/temp_stl_ranked_32_0_occurrence.xls excel dataset] of the number of freezing days (i.e. below 32 °F) as obtained from the {{w|National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration}}'s homepage [http://www.crh.noaa.gov/lsx/?n=cli_archive NOAA] you get the following plot:

[[Image:stl-freeze-days-since-1874.png]]

*Blue points: Number of freezing days (<32 °F) for that year
*Red points: Number of freezing days averaged over 10 years (to make trending more readable)
*X-axis is the year (1874..2013)
*Y-axis is the number of days temperature is below 32 °F for St. Louis

From the same dataset [http://www.crh.noaa.gov/images/lsx/climate/stl/temp/temp_stl_ranked_32_0_occurrence.xls excel dataset] we can also get the number of sub-zero days i.e. below 0 °F (which are those mentioned in the XKCD strip) - plotting those and you get the following plot:

'''Note''' that this '''IS the same''' data set as mentioned in XKCD. This is '''subzero''' days!

[[Image:stl noaa days below 0F.png]]

*Blue points: Number of sub-zero days (<0 °F) for that year
*Red points: Number of freezing days averaged over 10 years (to make trending more readable)
*X-axis is the year (1874..2013)
*Y-axis is the number of days temperature is below 0 °F for St. Louis

While there were a number of very cold years with outliers in the 1970s - then the clear overall trend is still that there are fewer days with cold weather over the years.

So while '''weather is different every year''' (which is also illustrated by the outliers) the '''climate is defined by the long term trend''' - which is the point of this cartoon.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Characters with Hats]] 
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Bar chart]]
[[Category:Timelines]]
[[Category:Climate change]]

Talk:1321: Cold

2018-05-18T00:42:45Z

162.158.74.243: /* Bar Graph? */ new section

If you are not familiar with the US language some of the abbreviations used below makes it difficult (although still funny) to read the comments... But here are the explaination of two that are used more than once:
*{{w|POV}}: Point of view
*{{w|AGW}}: Anthropogenic Global Warming
[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 19:35, 29 June 2014 (UTC)
 
 
I really hate when articles on science get a POV tag. Science isn't politics (hint: evolution and gravity aren't POV either). Related to the comic, I just had a similar rant on Facebook in the last week or two where I linked to [http://www.skepticalscience.com/print.php?r=54 this article] when someone said it was too cold for Global Warming. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.237.64|108.162.237.64]] 12:24, 24 January 2014 (UTC)
:Actually evolution ''is'' a POV. For a start, it absolutely depends on the non-scientific assumption/philosophy/belief that there is nothing other than the material universe. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.222.227|108.162.222.227]] 01:59, 29 January 2014 (UTC)
::Why do you think evolution depends on such a thing? In other words, if there were anything other than the material universe, why would that rule out evolution? [[Special:Contributions/199.27.128.66|199.27.128.66]] 17:01, 3 February 2014 (UTC)
:::Evolution is so ridiculously unlikely that just about any explanation involving a non-material cause is more likely. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.222.50|108.162.222.50]] 10:21, 8 July 2014 (UTC)
I really hate it when people think the global warming scam is science, when it really is nothing more than politics masquerading as science. The IPCC has been proven to be a bunch of liars, and really there's nothing left but a bunch of whining left-wing lunatics who are desperately clinging to their hope of continuing to use this lie to raise energy prices/taxes. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.219.17|108.162.219.17]] 12:55, 24 January 2014 (UTC)
:Well you're wrong, and apparently delusionally paranoid about what the political left wants, but the bigger question is why is this in a wiki discussion page? [[Special:Contributions/108.162.249.117|108.162.249.117]] 13:21, 24 January 2014 (UTC)
::No, ''you'' are wrong, and still buying into the AGW myth that has been proven false (IPCC and others were basically caught lying). Why is this in a wiki discussion page? Well, apparently Randall has decided to use his webcomic as a vehicle to promote a left-wing agenda, so discussion of it here is totally legit. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.219.17|108.162.219.17]] 14:03, 26 January 2014 (UTC)
:::I think the most important words there are "his comic", so it's his call on what he writes. Also, honestly, the idea that climate change is a scam to control energy prices is pretty absurd.[[User:Pennpenn|Pennpenn]] ([[User talk:Pennpenn|talk]]) 13:39, 28 January 2014 (UTC)
::::Also, I thought it was well-known that Randall was a liberal. He's made it pretty clear in the past which side of the fence he's on politically. But that's beside the point, and I agree with 108.162.249.117: You honestly would have to deliberately choose to ignore the whole of the scientific community to believe that the concept of climate change is some sort of political scam. It really isn't - you can see evidence of it everywhere, if only you were to open your eyes and take a look around you. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.246.120|108.162.246.120]] 01:38, 29 January 2014 (UTC)
:::::Evidence of what? That's what makes insistence so irrational and, when pushing policy, dangerous. With a millionth of geologic time in empirical evidence and tons of extrapolation, you've got daisy-chained assumptions all the way to end-times superstition. It's downright medieval. If the "scientific community" actually speculated that warming might lengthen growing seasons, expand habitability and bring other benefits, the effort might look somewhat objective. But instead, the only understanding of warming is ineluctable catastrophe straight out of a Hollywood screenplay. Seriously, step back and contemplate how insane that is. Every five years someone claims the world has five years left. Actually, I'd say "it was five years ago people claimed hurricane intensity would increase because reasons," but it was nine years ago, and nothing happened. Well, intensity dropped. And yet, ironically, like the characters in this strip, people desperate to believe in a meteorological eschatology will seize at anything -- anything at all -- to threaten and shame others for not accepting that industry means carbon dioxide means temperature change means ??? means doom. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.221.86|108.162.221.86]] 23:50, 30 January 2014 (UTC)
:::::: Wake up sheeple! {{unsigned ip|172.68.11.87}}
:::Amongst other falsehoods 108.162.219.17 tells this science denier whopper: "the AGW myth that has been proven false (IPCC and others were basically caught lying)." It is you who is telling lies 108.162.219.17 - wittingly or otherwise. But hey if you disagree then tell us exactly how, in your mind, AGW Theory has been "proven false". {{unsigned ip|199.27.128.124}}

Although it doesn't directly mention it, this is partly related to people's confusion over the difference between 'weather' and 'climate' - the former being what the conditions are at a given moment in time, and the latter referring to long-term trends.[[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.228|141.101.98.228]] 14:52, 24 January 2014 (UTC)

I think the one with whit wolly hat is whitehat [[User:Halfhat|Halfhat]] ([[User talk:Halfhat|talk]]) 16:10, 24 January 2014 (UTC)

Can anyone provide an exact URL for (or procedure for finding) the data shown in the upper-right panel? --[[Special:Contributions/108.162.221.71|108.162.221.71]] 18:00, 26 January 2014 (UTC)

Randall has cherry picked data for his conclusion and the graph in the comic. The full history is available from the NWS. The one for my home town can be found here http://www.erh.noaa.gov/iln/climo/below0.php The 1970's were unusually cold, which makes the present seem warmer by comparison. --[[Special:Contributions/108.162.210.254|108.162.210.254]] 16:33, 24 January 2014 (UTC)
:All of those show a dropoff in frequency of below-zero temps since the 90s. [[Special:Contributions/199.27.128.66|199.27.128.66]] 17:08, 3 February 2014 (UTC)

Apparently Randall hasn’t seen this:
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f5/All_palaeotemps.png
:No, that's not at all apparent. Perhaps he has. But the character in the white hat doesn't have a memory going back that far, so it isn't relevant. [[Special:Contributions/199.27.128.66|199.27.128.66]] 17:08, 3 February 2014 (UTC)

To quote Michael Z. Williamson:
29 years in the last century is not an "average" of the last 300 million years.

Any finding based on that "average" is complete bullshit. You may as well use 1300-1305 hours on Apr 23 as your "average." You'll be about as accurate, and save time over actual data collection. {{unsigned ip|173.245.55.67}}

The claim that 0 Fahrenheit / -17 Celsius is ''really fucking cold'' is supported by [[526: Converting to Metric]]. [[User:Fryhole|Fryhole]] ([[User talk:Fryhole|talk]]) 00:41, 25 January 2014 (UTC)
:We've been getting some ball-chilling winter with the cold fronts suddenly appearing in Florida, which is a drastic change from the sweaty weather just last week. I've added "fuckfuckfuckcold" to my personal lexicon. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.237.64|108.162.237.64]] 04:16, 25 January 2014 (UTC)

Is that possibly WHITE HAT not CUEBALL (except for the last panel)? {{unsigned ip|108.162.240.18}}

The one in black is not black hat.
He sits around memorising weather data, and lack malice. [[User:Halfhat|Halfhat]] ([[User talk:Halfhat|talk]]) 18:29, 25 January 2014 (UTC)

Can anyone provide an exact URL for (or procedure for finding) the data shown in the upper-right panel? [[Special:Contributions/108.162.221.71|108.162.221.71]] 18:00, 26 January 2014 (UTC)

;rcc-acis.org/climatecentral

The source [http://rcc-acis.org/climatecentral rcc-acis.org/climatecentral] provided by Randall doesn't work. What's wrong? --[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 21:30, 26 January 2014 (UTC)
:The source quoted on [http://xkcd.com/1321/ xkcd] is no long a URL, but simply "'rcc-acis/climatecentral'" [[User:Boxy|Boxy]] ([[User talk:Boxy|talk]]) 03:07, 27 January 2014 (UTC)
::ClimateCentral made some graphs based on rcc-acis data for a few dozen cities. Here is the link [http://www.climatecentral.org/news/extreme-cold-events-in-a-climate-context-16931#cities In Much of U.S., Extreme Cold is Becoming More Rare][[User:Jamesprescott|Jamesprescott]] ([[User talk:Jamesprescott|talk]]) 19:16, 28 January 2014 (UTC)

Oh Dear. I can't believe what I'm reading. Either you guys are being ironic or Randall needs to expand his comic to encompass some of you.[[Special:Contributions/141.101.99.235|141.101.99.235]] 09:00, 28 January 2014 (UTC)
I'm really surprised that so many people could love xkcd (apparently) but also hate science. {{unsigned ip|108.162.238.197}}

:Despite missing links in evolution tree and missing {{w|Quantum gravity}} theory, we know much more about both that about the climate. Climate politics isn't actually based on science, as scientists failed to produce results fast enough. I would really like to see science result on global warming, but with the amount of money at stake, I don't believe I can. Maybe later. Also, it's a pity that the global warming discussion shadowed REAL ecologic problems. I don't need global warming to see that burning fosil fuels is bad idea. -- [[User:Hkmaly|Hkmaly]] ([[User talk:Hkmaly|talk]]) 01:25, 29 January 2014 (UTC)
::Not quite so fast, there. '''Can you tell me anything you know about evolution, any one thing that is true? I tried that question on the geology staff at the Field Museum of Natural History and the only answer I got was silence. I tried it on the members of the Evolutionary Morphology Seminar in the University of Chicago, a very prestigious body of evolutionists, and all I got there was silence for a long time and eventually one person said, "I do know one thing -- it ought not to be taught in high school".' Dr. Colin Patterson (Senior Paleontologist, British Museum of Natural History, London). Keynote address at the American Museum of Natural History, New York City, November 5, 1981.'' [[Special:Contributions/108.162.222.227|108.162.222.227]] 01:59, 29 January 2014 (UTC)

::To those of you who claim climate change is a scam: Have you ever actually looked at any one of the hundreds, perhaps thousands, of science papers, studies, documentaries and photo comparisons done on the polar ice caps and mountain glaciers around the world? Have you ever looked at the Great Barrier Reef off the east coast of Australia? Are you even aware that drastic and very sudden changes have happened to these things in just the last 20 years? (And in the case of the Reef, the two major bleaching events in 1998 and 2002 occurred over just a few DAYS each.) These are things that existed, mostly unchanged, for thousands of years and are suddenly disappearing or being damaged beyond repair. The evidence is overwhelming. I have a really hard time believing that anyone can be faced with such extreme evidence and choose to just plug their ears and go "LA LA LA, LIBERAL LIES" like you morons are doing. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.246.120|108.162.246.120]] 01:47, 29 January 2014 (UTC)
:::(To be frank, the people I'm referring to here sound like they came from this comic: http://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/258:_Conspiracy_Theories ). [[Special:Contributions/108.162.246.120|108.162.246.120]] 01:56, 29 January 2014 (UTC)

:::You said it yourself. "Climate change". I agree that anyone denying the climate is changing is ... how did you said it ... moron. What I'm challenging is the belief that if we tax production of carbon dioxide (or implement some other of plans "against global warming"), the climate will change back. There's nothing scientific on that. Especially considering how low is chance that any taxing would actually lower amount of carbon dioxide produced globally ... usually, it only causes businesses to relocate. Another thing I'm challenging is the "unprecedented" bit often used by global warming proponents. Geologically speaking, climate changes happens often ... and scientists have very little or no data on previous changes. What is few thousands of years in history of Earth? (And in fact, we don't even have data for those thousands of years. We have data for few last hundreds top.) -- [[User:Hkmaly|Hkmaly]] ([[User talk:Hkmaly|talk]]) 10:37, 29 January 2014 (UTC)
::::Okay, it wasn't clear earlier that your point was about USING climate-change as a means to scare people into paying taxes, etc. I saw often-repeated arguments that climate-change ITSELF is a myth and a political football - that there's no proof it's happening. I can understand questioning political actions taken as a result of the science, but the fact that the climate is changing is undisputable.
::::As for whether this form of climate change is unusual in the grand scale of time, you're right that we don't have detailed records going back more than a few hundred years, and ecologically speaking, that's not a long time. But we DO have direct evidence that humans are responsible for a significant portion of the current change, including the incredibly sharp increase in global human population in just the last 100-150 years. And my point is that there really are people out there who firmly believe the scientific community is smoking crack and promoting some dastardly political agenda, and all the photos and documentation of mass coral bleaching events, glacier and ice-cap melt, species extinctions, etc., are all elaborate hoaxes. (Just like us landing on the moon, right?) [[Special:Contributions/108.162.246.120|108.162.246.120]] 23:59, 29 January 2014 (UTC)

::::Amongst other climate science denier talking points Hkmaly sets up this straw man: "What I'm challenging is the belief that if we tax production of carbon dioxide... the climate will change back." The notion that if we reduced greenhouse gas emissions then the "climate would change back" is nothing but a climate science denier straw man. AGW Theory does not say that - it instead says that due to man-made greenhouse gases already in the atmosphere the globe will continue to warm the Earth no matter what we do, and also that if we reduced greenhouse gas emissions then future global warming will be mitigated.

::::Hkmaly also repeats this science denier falsehood: "And in fact, we don't even have data for those thousands of years." And if fact, you are wrong: we have temperature proxy data going back for not only thousands of years but for far longer than that too. {{unsigned ip|199.27.128.124}}

:::::I don't care what AGW Theory says. I care about what politicians says, because THAT will influence the world. And politicians says we need to reduce carbon dioxide production and everything will be ok. It won't. We should start adapting. (Although stoping burning fossil fuels is also good idea, as I already said.) Also, we don't have direct measurements of those thousands of years. Proxy data are not as reliable as direct measurements AND are less reliable the further in past we get (because only the less reliable methods works for long periods). Now, about other points: the rise of human (and wheat) population may be MORE dangerous than the rise of industrial carbon dioxide, but it's not mentioned as often, because most politicians are not ready do DO something with rising human population (and the ones who DO - like Bashar al-Assad - are not doing it because of global warming). Also, the species extinction is certainly bad thing, but most species go extinct because of things totally unrelated to global warming - things more obviously caused by humans, BTW. Things which don't get as much coverage and support as global warming. Probably because there is not enough money there. -- [[User:Hkmaly|Hkmaly]] ([[User talk:Hkmaly|talk]]) 10:31, 25 June 2014 (UTC)

::::::The reason that AGW gets more attention than overpopulation or habitat destruction is that (1) it's easier to quantify, (2) our current actions matter more, and (3) we have solutions that don't involve killing or starving people. If you're worried about water shortages due to overpopulation, those 3 reasons will stop you. (1) How much time and money do we have to actually invest, and how many people will it help; (2) why don't we just make that technology later when it becomes a problem; and (3) no one wants to touch the issue of restricting population growth to reduce land/water consumption. On the other hand, with AGW, it's easier. (1) We know the relative costs of fossil fuels and renewable energy, and we have tentative estimates of the damage climate change can cause. Also, the cost of a carbon tax and its effect on the economy aren't too hard to figure out; (2) we can't just push it under the rug like other issues. If we ignore it completely right now, we'll be stuck with a 5-10 degree F increase by 2100; and (3) It involves no killing or restricting basic rights - you can mitigate climate change just by setting taxes or trade quotas. Sure, those aren't particularly popular, but it's easier on the conscience than killing people off. Also, although the effects of climate change are sometimes exaggerated, they are still on the same level as the other ecological problems. Sure, our current 1.5 degrees of warming hasn't done much damage, but that's because it's within the earth's natural variation. Add on another 5+ degrees and it'll get tough for quite a few biomes. When a heat wave hits on top of that, you're just begging for extinctions, or at least a large drop in genetic diversity. I agree that other ecological issues are overshadowed by AGW in the media, but that doesn't discredit the importance of dealing with AGW.[[Special:Contributions/108.162.216.84|108.162.216.84]] 04:50, 28 June 2014 (UTC)

Isn't the point of this one the fact that the cold days standing out being part of the point. People use rare cold snaps to question global warming, but they're ignoring the fact that the cold snap wouldn't be that out of the ordinary years ago. {{unsigned ip|173.245.55.78}}

It's not GulfStream that matters, it's the proximity to the ocean that keeps the temperatures moderate. Seattle is located much farther North than St. Louis AND next to an arctic cold ocean stream, yet it's much warmer in the winter (and colder in the summer). The dry continental air has much higher temperature differences between the summer and winter. The pattern of the mountain chains in the North America tends to bring the cold arctic air from the North to the middle of the continent. Also, 0F/-18C is not brutally cold, it's moderately cold. -40 (either C or F) is brutally cold.
[[Special:Contributions/199.27.128.66|199.27.128.66]] 05:11, 2 February 2014 (UTC)

An article about Gulfstream: http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/new-simulations-question-gulf-stream-role-tempering-europes-winters/ [[Special:Contributions/199.27.128.66|199.27.128.66]] 05:24, 2 February 2014 (UTC)
:I wrote that 0F/-18C is ''fucking'' cold, just to emphasize human feelings about that temperature. Someone changed this to ''brutall''. And the Gulf Stream is just one example to show Europeans how different the climate can behave. And of course the northern American climate is not covered by this.--[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 21:23, 2 February 2014 (UTC)
::To those of us who constantly live with much lower temperatures, that's not that cold at all. In fact, -18*C in the middle of winter would be a warm day. It'd be better to validate your statements with locational data supporting it, such as, "Floridians would go mad if it snowed" or "If all the snow melted on time, Canadians would go crazy". [[Special:Contributions/108.162.245.7|108.162.245.7]] 14:22, 9 February 2014 (UTC)

== Bar Graph? ==

I'm pretty sure that's a dot plot.
[[Special:Contributions/162.158.74.243|162.158.74.243]] 00:42, 18 May 2018 (UTC)

983: Privacy

2018-01-26T13:57:27Z

162.158.74.243: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 983
| date = November 28, 2011
| title = Privacy
| image = privacy.png
| titletext = Eventual headline: 'University Researchers Create Life in Lab! Darkness, Faulty Condoms Blamed.'
}}

==Explanation==
This comic is about [[Cueball]] and [[Megan]] attempting to find some privacy to "hook up", which is slang for engaging in sexual activity.

They start at a dormitory, which would offer some privacy{{Citation needed}}. Unfortunately, the door is locked. They go to another dorm, but it is occupied by someone playing a {{w|Massively multiplayer online role-playing game|MMORPG}} and is "in a {{w|Raid (gaming)|raid}}", which means that the gamer is teaming up with others to "raid" something, probably an enemy, and loot their items. This also pokes fun at the fact that some raids may take a very long time to execute, in this case apparently taking on the order of 24 hours. (This comic was published on a Monday morning.)

In the third frame, the two try to go to the library's rare book collection. Such a place would usually be deserted, making it usable for sexual activity. However, it is currently occupied by a visiting {{w|Nelson Mandela}}, who is on a tour of the school.

Moving on to more bizarre places, they next try an {{w|Particle accelerator|accelerator tunnel}}, another place that would be private. However, the particle accelerator is in use and the door is sealed tight. This would be a normal safety feature to protect researchers from being exposed to potentially dangerous ionizing radiation from the particle beam.

The couple then try a {{w|beaver lodge}}, which, despite being private, is too tiny to fit in, and the only entrance is underwater. What makes it more difficult to get in is that it is winter, and the ground is presumably frozen solid.

The last place they attempt to go to is {{w|hyperspace}}, a nickname for the alternate dimension that starships enter when traveling faster than the speed of light. The name is commonly used in {{w|Star Wars}}. However, there is no proof that hyperspace exists in reality, as the current understanding of physics makes it impossible for it to exist.

The caption is a parody of other laws of physics, such as "brightness is inversely proportional to distance from the source".

The title text indicates that the two eventually found privacy for sex in a laboratory, but inadvertently got Megan pregnant. This is a parody of news articles discussing whether scientists can create synthetic life in a lab. This eventual headline appears in a few [[1037: Umwelt]] frames as "Scientists Create Life In Lab", with a similar secondary headline/caption as the punchline.

The comic [[658: Orbitals]] is similar.

==Transcript==
:Dorm:
:[Cueball and Megan holding hands in front of a door. Megan is attempting to turn the doorknob.]
:Locked

:Other Dorm:
:[Cueball and Megan holding hands inside another dorm room. The roommate is sitting at a computer wearing a headset.]
:Roommate: I'll be done Tuesday.
:Roommate in raid

:Library Rare Book Collection:
:[Cueball and Megan looking through a closed door. Inside Nelson Mandela and two university workers are talking amongst various items on display.]
:Occupied by tour for visiting Nelson Mandela

:Accelerator Tunnel:
:[Cueball and Megan in silhouette in front of an imposing-looking door. The door is marked "NO ENTRY" with a radioactive trefoil symbol, and has a passcode scanner beside it.]
:Sealed while beam is in operation

:Beaver Lodge:
:[Megan climbing on top of a dirt mound while Cueball stands on the ice beside it. A cross-section reveals a beaver inside the mound and a submerged entrance.]
:Frozen over for winter to keep out predators, only accessible via underwater entrance

:Hyperspace:
:[Megan reading a textbook in front of a table piled with five other textbooks. Cueball looks over Megan's shoulder.]
:Cueball: Are you ''sure''?
:Ruled out by current understanding of physics

:College Law #27:
:The availability of private space is inversely proportional to the desirability of the hookup.

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]
[[Category:Comics featuring real people]]
[[Category:Sex]]
[[Category:Video games]]
[[Category:Physics]]

288: Elevator

2018-01-25T15:31:09Z

162.158.74.243: /* adding humor */

{{comic
| number = 288
| date = July 11, 2007
| title = Elevator
| image = elevator.jpg
| titletext = Quick, try it with 'LOVE'.
}}

==Explanation==
[[Cueball]] is in an elevator, and notices that, beneath the certificate of [[Elevator Inspection]], mandatory in all U.S. elevators at least, there are buttons for Floor 1, 2, 3, and 4, and then a mysterious unlabeled button. Possible logical conclusions he might have made include (1) there is a fifth floor reachable by pushing the bottom button which for some reason is not labeled; or (2) the button has some other function, a common one is to stop the elevator wherever it may be; or (3) the panel with the buttons is from a template used for various elevators with up to five floors, and as this particular elevator only goes to four floors, the bottom button is unlabeled, and nothing will happen if he pushes it.

He has, however, chosen to accept a different explanation: the fifth button is not currently assigned, but giving it a label will assign it to whatever floor or other function he can give it. The possibilities are truly endless. And so, the intrepid Cueball writes "Zeppelin!" on a slip of paper and tapes it next to the unassigned button, thereby assigning it to move the elevator not to Floor 5, but to a {{w|Zeppelin}}. And it works – the elevator opens aboard a Zeppelin floating in the air, high above a land with many lakes.

The title text is most likely a reference to the Aerosmith song "Love in an Elevator," which really is about sex in an elevator{{Citation needed}}. However, it would also be great if one could reach the elevation of love by getting there in a magic elevator.

==Transcript==
:[Elevator panel, with a Certificate of Inspection and five floor buttons, numbered 1–4. The fifth button is unlabeled.]
:[Cueball thinks.]
:[Cueball writes something on a small piece of paper.]
:''Write Write''
:[Cueball tapes it onto the panel.]
:[Elevator panel, with the same Certificate and buttons, and with the piece of paper labeling the fifth button "Zeppelin."]
:[Cueball presses the new "Zeppelin" button.]
:[Elevator moves.]
:Elevator: ''Ding''
:[Cueball is looking out the door of a Zeppelin. The Zeppelin is flying over a green landscape with many lakes.]

==Trivia==

*There is a [https://youtu.be/z9U9MN7_jus fan made animated version of this comic].

{{Comic discussion}}
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics with color]]
[[Category:Airships]]
[[Category:Elevators]]

1897: Self Driving

2017-10-04T00:44:42Z

162.158.74.243: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 1897
| date = October 2, 2017
| title = Self Driving
| image = self_driving.png
| titletext = "Crowdsourced steering" doesn't sound quite as appealing as "self driving."
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|First draft}}
This comic references the approach of using {{w|CAPTCHA}}<nowiki>s</nowiki> input to solve problems, particularly those involving image classification, which are not solvable by computers.

Such an approach can serve to create the learning set as the basis for training an {{w|artificial intelligence}} (AI) to better recognize or respond to similar stimuli. This approach was used by Google to identify house numbers for Google Street View, and nowadays Google also uses CAPTCHAs to identify street signs and objects in pictures. This might be a reasonable way to help improve the performance of the AI in a self-driving car that responds to video input, by reviewing images it might encounter and flagging road signs, etc. that it should respond to.

However, the temptation might be to simply sidestep the hard problem of AI by having all instances 'solved' by "offloading [the] work onto random strangers" through CAPTCHAs. For example, this has been used to defeat CAPTCHAs themselves; people were asked to solve CAPTCHAs to unlock pornographic images in a computer game, while the solution for the CAPTCHA was relayed to a server belonging to cybercriminals. (See [http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/7067962.stm PC stripper helps spam to spread] and [https://doi.org/10.1016/S1353-4858(08)70036-9 Humans + porn = solved Captcha]).

Alarmingly, the developers of this '{{w|Self-driving car|self driving}}' car seem to have gone for the lazy approach. Instead of teaching an AI, the CAPTCHA answer is used in real time to check whether the "self-driving" car is about to arrive at an intersection with a stop sign. This information is pretty critical, as failing to mark the stop could cause an accident. The user is unlikely to respond to the CAPTCHA in time to avert disaster, not to mention that any interruption to the car's internet connection could prove fatal. [[:Category:Self-driving cars|Self driving cars]] has become a recurrent theme on xkcd.

The system depicted is a {{w|Wizard of Oz experiment}} whereas actual self-driving cars, to the extent that they can use Re CAPTCHA-style human detection systems, would involve an asynchronous decision system. Other synchronous decision systems which actually exist are political voting and money as a token of the exchange value of trade.

The title text explains that this method could be called "crowdsourced steering", {{w|crowdsourcing}} meaning sending the data on the internet to let several users provide their ideas and input on a problem. People would naturally suspect that this is considerably less safe than a car which is actually capable of self-driving; if the internet can barely [[1333: First Date|collectively steer a videogame character]], what chance do they have steering an actual, physical vehicle?

This also suggests that [[Randall]] is a bit skeptical of the current stage of AI, as this doubts whether the AI technology really is working in the way that we expect. It also comments on how what we call 'progress' actually is putting our work onto other people.

==Transcript==
:[Inside a frame there is the following text above an image:]
:To complete your registration, please tell us whether or not this image contains a stop sign:

:[The square image is a drawing of a road leading up to a sign post with a hard to read word at the top part of the sign. The sign also has two smaller signs left and right with unreadable text. The image is of poor quality, but trees and other obstacles next to the road can be seen. Darkness around the edges of the image could indicate that it is night and the landscape is only lit up by a cars head lights.]
:Sign: Stop

:[Beneath the image there are two large gray buttons with a word in each:]
:No Yes

:[Beneath the buttons are the following text:]
:Answer quickly – our self-driving car is almost at the intersection.

:[Caption beneath the frame:]
:So much of "AI" is just figuring out way to offload work onto random strangers.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Self-driving cars]]
[[Category:Artificial Intelligence]]

1897: Self Driving

2017-10-04T00:44:06Z

162.158.74.243: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 1897
| date = October 2, 2017
| title = Self Driving
| image = self_driving.png
| titletext = "Crowdsourced steering" doesn't sound quite as appealing as "self driving."
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|First draft}}
This comic references the approach of using {{w|CAPTCHA}}<nowiki>s</nowiki> input to solve problems, particularly those involving image classification, which are not solvable by computers.

Such an approach can serve to create the learning set as the basis for training an {{w|artificial intelligence}} (AI) to better recognize or respond to similar stimuli. This approach was used by Google to identify house numbers for Google Street View, and nowadays Google also uses CAPTCHAs to identify street signs and objects in pictures. This might be a reasonable way to help improve the performance of the AI in a self-driving car that responds to video input, by reviewing images it might encounter and flagging road signs, etc. that it should respond to.

However, the temptation might be to simply sidestep the hard problem of AI by having all instances 'solved' by "offloading [the] work onto random strangers" through CAPTCHAs. For example, this has been used to defeat CAPTCHAs themselves; people were asked to solve CAPTCHAs to unlock pornographic images in a computer game, while the solution for the CAPTCHA was relayed to a server belonging to cybercriminals. (See [http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/7067962.stm PC stripper helps spam to spread] and [https://doi.org/10.1016/S1353-4858(08)70036-9 Humans + porn = solved Captcha]).

Alarmingly, the developers of this '{{w|Self-driving car|self driving}}' car seem to have gone for the lazy approach. Instead of teaching an AI, the CAPTCHA answer is used in real time to check whether the "self-driving" car is about to arrive at an intersection with a stop sign. This information is pretty critical, as failing to mark the stop could cause an accident. The user is unlikely to respond to the CAPTCHA in time to avert disaster, not to mention that any interruption to the car's internet connection could prove fatal. [[:Category:Self-driving cars|Self driving cars]] has become a recurrent theme on xkcd.

The system depicted is a {{w|Wizard of Oz experiment}} whereas actual self-driving cars, to the extent that they can use Re CAPTCHA-style human detection systems, would involve an asynchronous decision system. Other synchronous decision systems which actually exist are political voting and money as a token of the exchange value of trade.

The title text explains that this method could be called "crowdsourced steering", {{w|crowdsourcing}} meaning sending the data on the internet to let several users provide their ideas and input on a problem. People would naturally suspect that this is considerably less safe than a car which is actually capable of self-driving; if the internet can barely {{1333: First Date|collectively steer a videogame character}}, what chance do they have steering an actual, physical vehicle?

This also suggests that [[Randall]] is a bit skeptical of the current stage of AI, as this doubts whether the AI technology really is working in the way that we expect. It also comments on how what we call 'progress' actually is putting our work onto other people.

==Transcript==
:[Inside a frame there is the following text above an image:]
:To complete your registration, please tell us whether or not this image contains a stop sign:

:[The square image is a drawing of a road leading up to a sign post with a hard to read word at the top part of the sign. The sign also has two smaller signs left and right with unreadable text. The image is of poor quality, but trees and other obstacles next to the road can be seen. Darkness around the edges of the image could indicate that it is night and the landscape is only lit up by a cars head lights.]
:Sign: Stop

:[Beneath the image there are two large gray buttons with a word in each:]
:No Yes

:[Beneath the buttons are the following text:]
:Answer quickly – our self-driving car is almost at the intersection.

:[Caption beneath the frame:]
:So much of "AI" is just figuring out way to offload work onto random strangers.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Self-driving cars]]
[[Category:Artificial Intelligence]]

Talk:1878: Earth Orbital Diagram

2017-08-20T00:56:24Z

162.158.74.243:

I guess first off, we should note the "solstice" is *not* the Bristish equivalent of "equinox" -- they are actually opposites. The equinoxes occur in April and September, when the day & night are equal length, and the solstices occur in June and December, when the length of daylight and nightime, respectively, are at their longest. [[User:JamesCurran|JamesCurran]] ([[User talk:JamesCurran|talk]]) 15:30, 18 August 2017 (UTC)

:Technically, the opposite of solstice is the other solstice. Solstice and equinoxes are orthogonal. -- [[User:Hkmaly|Hkmaly]] ([[User talk:Hkmaly|talk]]) 00:01, 20 August 2017 (UTC)

"Determinant of the date of Easter" refers to the fact that in the Catholic Church (and possibly other Christian denomiations) the date of Easter is the first Sunday after the first full moon of Spring, which means it is an astronomical calculation, but completely unrelated to the indicated angle. [[User:JamesCurran|JamesCurran]] ([[User talk:JamesCurran|talk]]) 16:28, 18 August 2017 (UTC)
:Well, everyone celebrates Easter on the same day, right? So it's the first Sunday after the first full moon for everybody. [[User:Berets|Berets]] ([[User talk:Berets|talk]]) 23:20, 18 August 2017 (UTC)
::No, not all denominations agree on the date of Easter; a particular example being the Orthodox church, which usually has Easter a week after the Catholic church, but sometimes as much as five weeks later. The difference is caused by the two denominations using different idealized calendars, both lunar and solar, as well as a slight difference in the definition. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.69.57|162.158.69.57]] 18:41, 19 August 2017 (UTC)
"Astral planes" might as well be a Unicode reference, taking into account Randall's occasional mention of emoji, since emoji reside on one of the astral planes: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plane_%28Unicode%29 {{unsigned ip|141.101.105.168}}
:That supplementary planes humorously refer also to {{w|Astral plane|Astral planes}} as mentioned in this explanation.--[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 19:54, 18 August 2017 (UTC)

Solstice comes from the Latin ... Sol = Sun .. Sistere = Stand still. It literally means the day the sun stands still and refers to the longest day of the year (summer) and the shortest day of the year (winter). So how does the Sun "stand still". On those days the Earth reaches either end of orbital ellipse and returns around the other side. If you stick a pole in the ground and observe its shadow every day at Noon you will see the shadow grow longer every day from winter to summer and grow shorter every day from summer to winter. The shadow is shortest when the Sun is highest in the sky at mid-summer and the shadow is longest when the sun is lowest in the sky at mid-winter. The sun is either getting higher in the sky or lower in the sky every day. When the Earth is at the end of the ellipse and the transition takes place the shadow will not make any noticeable change from one day to the next and one could say that the "Sun has stood still". [[User:Rtanenbaum|Rtanenbaum]] ([[User talk:Rtanenbaum|talk]]) 19:36, 18 August 2017 (UTC)

I think that Solstice/Equinox thing is a reference to Randall having a hobby of spreading linguistic misinformation, as seen in 1677:Contrails.
[[Special:Contributions/172.68.26.251|172.68.26.251]] 00:32, 19 August 2017 (UTC)

I'm not sure what the labels of the planes are, but they certainly aren't Greek letters. They look like alchemical symbols to me.
[[Special:Contributions/162.158.74.243|162.158.74.243]] 00:56, 20 August 2017 (UTC)

1805: Unpublished Discoveries

2017-03-01T16:31:16Z

162.158.74.243:

{{comic
| number = 1805
| date = March 1, 2017
| title = Unpublished Discoveries
| image = unpublished_discoveries.png
| titletext = If you must know, I'm currently researching how to save this emailed tax form as a regular PDF so I can print and sign it. Our work isn't a lock for the Nobel, but we're in the running.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by a BOT - Please change this comment when editing this page.}}

Title text: Apparently converting documents to PDFs is such a complicated endeavor that Randall considers such a feat Nobel Prize-worthy.

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript}}
Ponytail: When you make a big scientific discovery, it takes a while to get it published. Right?

Megan: Mm hmm.

Ponytail: So there are probably several research teams out there who are sitting on Nobel-Prize-worthy discoveries, but haven't told the rest of us yet.

Megan: Makes sense.

Ponytail: Sooo... What are you working on?

Megan: It isn't me!

Ponytail: I promise I won't tell.

Megan: Shoo! Go bother someone else.
{{comic discussion}}

1802: Phone

2017-02-22T23:12:25Z

162.158.74.243:

{{comic
| number = 1802
| date = February 22, 2017
| title = Phone
| image = phone.png
| titletext = [*disables social networking accounts*] [*social isolation increases*] Wait, why does this ALSO feel bad?
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Check for grammar errors and organize paragraphs.}}

When someone asks you if you wanna go for a walk they often expect to have a conversation, while enjoying both the exercise, the fresh air and the company. Thus any disturbance not related to the walk is not welcome. Going for a walk is often seen as a way to relax from all the daily stress, as it takes the walkers away from work and chores.

[[Cueball]] agrees to go for a walk, but not to all the associated expectations. His first instinct is to bring along his smartphone, though rather than call it such, he opts for a lengthy description detailing all the functions he intends to use. Conspicuously, long-distance communication (ostensibly the primary function of a smartphone) is not listed.

Instead he describes the phone as his device that gives him a continuous ({{w|24/7 service|24/7}}) stream of information, much of which is often out of context. The stream contains peoples opinions, context free but scary news, and other random stimuli.

The opinions could be from news or bloggers but it could also just be from his friends on social media platforms. News stories that are shared on social media are often scary, which becomes even worse because news outlets is likely to use a title that exaggerates the topic to create a fear reaction. The random emotional stimuli could be from many things such as text messages/emails and pictures of kittens and babies on social network, and shared internet memes or viral videos. All things that could cause a quick shift in emotions.

As if all this was not enough to leave the phone at home, Cueball even says he will also take his spare battery, so he won't risk that his {{w|Web feed|constant feed}} could be interrupted, because he will not be able to recharge his phone during the walk.

All in all his choice and constant need for staying updated and being on-line violates all the usual expectations, that his friend could have expected from asking him out for a walk.

The title text shows it would be possible to take an action to avoid this feed. In the first bracket a person (could be Cueball or [[Randall]]) ''disables all his social networking accounts''. Most of his news feed will thus disappear. But this leads to the next bracket which states that such a choice would lead to ''increased social isolation'', since he will no longer be in contact with any of his on-line friends. And today many people also get into contact with their "real" local friends through social media. One might thus miss out on events like parties or get-together, plus his friends not sharing a dislike for social media will not understand the decision. And this leads to the final sentence ''Wait, why does this ALSO feel bad?'' So there is not good choice, because it is bad to be off-line, but being on-line all the time is also bad. And it is hard to find the right balance. This problem with finding the right balance between two things seems related to the recent [[1796: Focus Knob]]

This comic could be seen as a counter to [[1773: Negativity]], as both deal with the inability to escape the media during objectively peaceful pastimes. While in the former, the nature attacks Cueball with the types of comics he wishes to avoid, here, he brings along his phone even though it will ruin the goal of the walk he is going to take.

==Transcript==
:[Someone off-panel asks Cueball a question which he answers while walking to a small table with some items laying on it.]
:Off-panel voice: Wanna go for a walk?
:Cueball: Sure, just need to grab my device that feeds me a 24/7 stream of opinions, context-free scary world news, and random emotional stimuli.
:Cueball: Plus a spare battery so the feed won't be interrupted.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Social networking]]
[[Category:Smartphones]]

1801: Decision Paralysis

2017-02-21T20:25:09Z

162.158.74.243:

{{comic
| number = 1801
| date = February 20, 2017
| title = Decision Paralysis
| image = decision_paralysis.png
| titletext = Good point--making no decision is itself a decision. So that's a THIRD option I have to research!
}}

==Explanation==

This comic illustrates a common problem in the internet era where, with the wealth of knowledge available to us at all times, one puts undue weight on otherwise arbitrary decisions.

This is taken to a comedic extreme by showing how [[Cueball]] is unable to make a critical, time-sensitive choice without putting hours of research in to justify it. Any benefit to researching the imminent decision of "which car will get us to our destination fastest" will be more than offset by the time it takes to make that decision. The inability to make a snap judgement in this case will prove to be equally as destructive as the bomb mentioned by [[Megan]], which will likely have detonated before they get to their base.

In the caption below the comic [[Randall]] gives the reader one of his recurring [[:Category:Protip|protips]]. In the tip, he reveals a weakness for his potential opponents to exploit([[1800: Chess Notation|??]]). Randall admits to having the same problems with decision-making as Cueball, and suggests that if he were placed in an equally urgent situation testing his (in)ability to choose, he would fail just as spectacularly. As the old saying goes, "give 'em enough rope, and they'll hang themselves"; in this case, give Randall enough internet access, and he'll get caught in an indefinite research loop.

This is not the first time that Randall has made a comic that tells his readers how to trick him (or his friends) like in [[1121: Identity]], where he notes how to get his password from a friend.

The title text continues this absurdity by bringing a third option to the table, the choice of inaction (which by wasting his time on calculations and research, Cueball has taken!..), a choice here that seems unacceptable, but the time spent mentioning (and researching it) simply adds to that already spent researching the two cars. Of course this option ensures that they are not killed when the bomb explodes, because they will not be anywhere close to the base. That might make it the only reasonable choice left after wasting so much time pondering which car to steal.

The band {{w|Rush (band)}} touched on the subject in the title text with their song {{w|Freewill (song)}}, with the lyrics written by {{w|Neil Peart}}. The lyrics are, "If you choose not to decide - You still have made a choice".

The difference in time/effort needed to steal either car is likely presumed to be insignificant to this scenario.

Supposing both of them know how to drive (and steal) a car, the best option in this situation is to leave the phone in the pocket and steal both cars, and see who gets there first to defuse the bomb. This would both ensure one of them reaches the base as quick as possible and at the same time resolve the problem of which car would be best for the problem. Of course that would also have defused the joke, [[No Pun Intended]]...

In [[1445: Efficiency]] Randall describes why he is so inefficient (again, demonstrating the option 3 beautifully,) and in [[309: Shopping Teams]] two nerds out shopping have to choose between two similar objects and end up in a similar situation, though without a deadly deadline.

[[356: Nerd Sniping]] portray a situation where a scientist forgets everything around him when presented with an interesting problem. However, here it is the solution to a math problem, not a choice between two similar options that "snipes" the scientist.

The problem of choosing between cars with different accelerations and top speeds is the center of the car customization mechanic introduced in the seventh installment of the {{w|Mario Kart}} series. It is known that Randall has played some version of the game, as it has become a [[:Category:Mario Kart|recurring theme]].

Although presented as joke, this is a very real problem in electronics design. ''{{w|Buridan’s principle}}'' by none other than {{w|Leslie Lamport}} [http://research.microsoft.com/users/lamport/pubs/buridan.pdf states]:
:A discrete decision based upon an input having a continuous range of values cannot be made within a bounded length of time.

==Transcript==
:[Megan and Cueball are standing next to two sporting cars. Megan points excitedly at the cars and Cueball looks at a smartphone in his hand.]
:Megan: There! If we steal one of those cars, we can get to the base and defuse the bomb!
:Cueball: Hmm, the one on the left accelerates faster but has a lower top speed.
:Cueball: Ooh, the right one has good traction control. Are the roads wet?

:[Caption below the frame:]
:Protip: If you ever need to defeat me, just give me two very similar options and unlimited internet access.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]
[[Category:Protip]]