explain xkcd - User contributions [en]

Talk:3036: Chess Zoo

2025-01-10T23:40:05Z

172.68.71.101:

For the transcript, I’m thinking of saying that “there are alternating white and grey squares, with smaller black squares imposed on them. The pattern of squares goes ''[something like GWBWGWBWGBW]''“. Would that work? Or is it too confusing? '''[[User:42.book.addict|42.book.addict]][[User talk:42.book.addict|Talk to me!]]''' 19:03, 10 January 2025 (UTC)
:Re: "GWBWGWBWGBW", knowing who we are here, I presume people might want to distinguish black-on-white from black-on-gray. We'd probably have to have a full markup system for background (gray/white) and foreground (empty, human, barrier, white pawn, gray pawn...). Maybe something like {[gE][wE][gB][wQg]}... Hrm... Because, of course, it has to be as complicated and precise as possible. :) [[Special:Contributions/172.70.46.135|172.70.46.135]] 19:15, 10 January 2025 (UTC)
::I don’t really like the current transcript because I believe that it’s more confusing to read than my version. Anyone have thoughts? '''[[User:42.book.addict|42.book.addict]][[User talk:42.book.addict|Talk to me!]]''' 23:28, 10 January 2025 (UTC)

I don't think it's safe to allow people to go into the bishop enclosure, especially with high aggression in that area since both colors are able to look at each other there but not capture. One of those bishops is eventually going to take it out on someone. --[[Special:Contributions/162.158.90.210|162.158.90.210]] 19:34, 10 January 2025 (UTC)
:I don't know how dangerous they are to visitors in general, but I wouldn't leave children with them unattended. Maybe the enclosures with the knights would be good petting zoos. [[User:Barmar|Barmar]] ([[User talk:Barmar|talk]]) 19:49, 10 January 2025 (UTC)
:Thank you for reporting the bishop feeding gate being open, as this was the fifteenth time the one responsible failed to close it after feeding, he has been summarily fired.[[Special:Contributions/172.70.47.106|172.70.47.106]] 20:02, 10 January 2025 (UTC)
The zoo seems to be missing an area for knights and bishops to interact. (It has a knight/queen area, a knight/rook area, and a rook/bishop area. It can't have queen/rook or queen/bishop areas if it wants to have areas for rooks or bishops that exclude queens, because nothing blocks queens without blocking rooks and bishops. But it could have a knight/bishop mingling area, accessible to knights via wall-jump and to bishops via a diagonal corridor, and it doesn't.) [[Special:Contributions/162.158.187.84|162.158.187.84]] 20:07, 10 January 2025 (UTC)
:Similarly, couldn't the pawn promoting zones be more centrally located each side, and have passages respectively for queens/rooks and for knights? Of course then those could enter and interact with promoting pawns, but why would that be deemed a problem? --[[Special:Contributions/172.69.222.164|172.69.222.164]] 20:41, 10 January 2025 (UTC)
I don't have permissions to upload an image to this wiki, but if anyone who does would like to copy it over, I illustrated each piece's range of movement here[https://pasteboard.co/64VsBMA5af8l.png]. [[User:D5xtgr|D5xtgr]] ([[User talk:D5xtgr|talk]]) 20:09, 10 January 2025 (UTC)

The plan of the zoo looks like opposing Lewis Chess Men! [[User:Nicholasbailey87|Nicholasbailey87]] ([[User talk:Nicholasbailey87|talk]]) 23:28, 10 January 2025 (UTC)

the transcript needs to be descriptive rather than a text-based diagram so it's screenreader accessible. if someone thinks it's necessary they can move the ascii art to the description. [[Special:Contributions/172.68.71.101|172.68.71.101]] 23:40, 10 January 2025 (UTC)

Talk:1493: Meeting

2024-09-02T18:32:53Z

172.68.71.101:

It's been registered since [http://who.is/whois/http://companyname.website November], just what the hell was Randall planning on doing with this site four months ago? [[User:Schiffy|Schiffy]] ([[User_talk:Schiffy|Speak to me]]|[[Special:Contributions/Schiffy|What I've done]]) 05:32, 2 March 2015 (UTC)
:He's said before that he buys domains and holds them until he finds a use. Maybe this was one of those? {{unsigned|Mikemk}}
::Just went to the site. It redirects to xkcd.com [[Special:Contributions/108.162.238.171|108.162.238.171]] 16:01, 2 March 2015 (UTC)
:I know another webcomic artist who upgrades daily and currently has a three-month buffer (comics drawn ahead until early June of this year). Maybe Randall also has a buffer, and this cartoon was originally drawn in November and has been waiting in the buffer ever since.[[Special:Contributions/108.162.216.191|108.162.216.191]] 03:15, 6 March 2015 (UTC)

:: Yes, that is true, https://xkcd-drawings.livejournal.com explicitly mentions that some automation software is used to make a bufér. [[Special:Contributions/172.64.238.111|172.64.238.111]] 08:48, 11 May 2023 (UTC)

I want to know what that "physically cannot die" thing is about. {{unsigned ip|199.27.128.179}}
:Let's see... mystical powers check. Immortality check. If he weren't so naive and clueless, I'd think Beret Guy is supposed to represent God. [[User:Mikemk|Mikemk]] ([[User talk:Mikemk|talk]]) 07:54, 2 March 2015 (UTC)
::The phrase that comes to mind is "Quantum Immortality", although that doesn't seem to produce what I want from a web-searth, so perhaps I've got the term wrong. Basically, at every point where a quantum-level decision leads (immediately or eventually) to death or life for an individual, we only follow the probability path (in a many-worlds type scenario) that leads towards life. The fully observed "living cat" in Schrödinger's experiment, each and every time you try the experiment, so to say. Forever, given that accidents can be avoided by taking a different route home, serious diseases can be avoided by not catching them, physical aging/illness can (probably!) be avoided by not accumulating various nasty biological copy-errors (not sure what happens with mental processes, even assuming the physical impediments to brain function (such as plaques) are already dealt with, but let's assume that there's a "best result" in this life-path, also). Call it "life save-scumming", perhaps. Given how White Hat seems to have a charmed life, it would certain explain how things things seem to always turn out for the better (and more interesting, in a nice way) for him. Though obviously there's also a "many worlds" White Hat company board that has been this 'lucky' so far but ''now'' finds that their offices get struck by a de-orbitting bit of space-debris, against all odds. (Not that we'd follow them. We'd be more likely to see the versions that had built/rented their offices fifty yards further down the street, thus avoiding that fate.) [[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.181|141.101.98.181]] 11:50, 2 March 2015 (UTC)
: That which can eternal lie, can not die.[[Special:Contributions/108.162.254.98|108.162.254.98]] 16:25, 2 March 2015 (UTC)
:Remember that this is Beret Guy we're talking about. They may actually be unable to die. [[Special:Contributions/173.245.56.189|173.245.56.189]] 19:54, 2 March 2015 (UTC)
:I have a feeling that it's from Beret Guy's mystic powers, that maybe he actually can't die. In that case, while the other two "strengths" are pretty useless, Immortality easily makes up for them. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.249.187|108.162.249.187]] 07:54, 3 March 2015 (UTC)
:: This should be in the [[Strange Powers of Beret Guy]] [[Special:Contributions/172.68.142.137|172.68.142.137]] 04:54, 30 June 2017 (UTC)
::: Linked it for you. To link it, put double brackets on both sides of the phrase or word. You're welcome!

Ok I may be way off base here but could it be possible that he is referencing the show Helix? In the show there is a group of immortals who formed a corporation name Ilaria and it's not clear how they make their money. {{unsigned ip|199.27.128.85}}

Now that we have [[1032|three]] [[1293|comics]] on the subject ([[1021|arguably]] [[1117|more]]), should we have a Category:Beret Guy's Business? '''''[[User:LockmanCapulet|LockmanCapulet]][[User talk:LockmanCapulet| I plead the third!]]''''' 08:01, 2 March 2015 (UTC)
:Done :-). --[[User:DaB.|DaB.]] ([[User talk:DaB.|talk]]) 16:01, 2 March 2015 (UTC)
:I added the two other pages to the category, but then realised that the wiki was getting confused about slight character differences (’:U+2019 vs ':U+0027) so I set up a redirect and now Category:Beret_Guy’s_Business (broken link to keep this page out of the cat) contains its self? Halp (although it does seem fitting of how Beret Guy frequently bends the laws of physics). [[User:Pixali|Pixali]] ([[User talk:Pixali|talk]]) 23:52, 2 March 2015 (UTC)

Could the immoralitly refer to the whole "corporations as a legal person" thing? [[User:CDave]]

I think 'beetle' might refer to a [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Volkswagen_New_Beetle VW Beetle] given that they're talking about cars. --[[Special:Contributions/108.162.254.54|108.162.254.54]] 09:00, 2 March 2015 (UTC)
:I doubt it, because it was in the hall. Probably a literal beetle. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.217.119|108.162.217.119]] 16:01, 2 March 2015 (UTC)
::Just because they were talking about a car earlier doesn't mean they're still talking about a car. I suspect he's talking about the insect. Adding a layer about Volkswagen into the joke just doesn't seem funny enough. I think the line claiming it could be a Volkswagen should be removed from the explanation. --[[Special:Contributions/199.27.133.38|199.27.133.38]] 18:52, 2 March 2015 (UTC)

Could this be an intentional parody of Randall's own business model for xkcd? Since, beyond the store and his book he hardly operates as a standard business, but people just keep giving him money to do what he does anyway. {{unsigned ip|141.101.98.21}}

Is the "cool red beetle" a ladybug? Would be consistent with Beret Guy not knowing many common nouns. [[User:Djbrasier|Djbrasier]] ([[User talk:Djbrasier|talk]]) 15:42, 2 March 2015 (UTC)

To be fair, corporations aren't really immortal, in much the same way a football team isn't. The team, of course, is constantly changing out its members, and in this sense can remain vigorous long beyond the lifespan of an ordinary human. But corporations are vulnerable to the fatal flaw of being utterly dependent on engaging the interest of quite a lot of people during their whole lifespan. Football needs players, investors, managers and coaches, children playing and learning the game in the decades leading up to league level play - not to mention millions of fans. If any of those groups lose interest, the whole enterprise evaporates, practically overnight. So the chief concern of corporations, even above profits, is to convince large groups of people to engage them, as buyers, workers, suppliers and so on. I am not sure how aware they are of this, nor am I sure I want them aware of it, but that's what it boils down to. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.242.84|108.162.242.84]] 16:38, 2 March 2015 (UTC)

I thought "State Police" (probably Highway Patrol) was a reference to a police car chase. Usually police chase cars to stop them for violating laws. This time the police chased a car just to stop it. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.210.121|108.162.210.121]] 22:53, 2 March 2015 (UTC)
:I was under the assumption that the car was being chased down for some kind of violation. The statement "Has come to an end about 90 miles out of town" is the kind of thing you'd have in a news report describing the events of a real police chase. Of course, for Beret Guy, it looks like it was more or less a successful test. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.249.187|108.162.249.187]] 07:54, 3 March 2015 (UTC)

I remembered the mysterious apple car spotted weeks ago, that "launched" by accident the company's self-driving car project rumors. [[User:Nantunes|Nantunes]] ([[User talk:Nantunes|talk]]) 13:40, 3 March 2015 (UTC)

It looks like Beret Guy turns into a child in the last panel . . . doesn't it? [[Special:Contributions/173.245.50.108|173.245.50.108]] 19:52, 3 March 2015 (UTC)
:Using GIMP, I can see he's got about the same overall height, but the distance between his head and his feet is smaller, and his head is bigger, so it does look like he became a child. However, it's more likely a drawing mistake. If I remember correctly, Randall is more likely to draw things again than copy pasting for accuracy, and I suppose it's hard to draw things in exactly the same dimensions. [[Special:Contributions/188.114.99.189|188.114.99.189]] 22:53, 10 December 2015 (UTC)

Aren't the "three main strengths" a reference to the Spanish Inquisition?[[Special:Contributions/188.114.110.47|188.114.110.47]] 21:54, 3 March 2015 (UTC)
:No. The part of the Spanish Inquisition sketches you're talking about have the Inquisitor saying more things than he's said at the start ("Our chief weapon is surprise and fear- Our two weapons are fear, surprise, and ruthless efficiency-" and so on). This is just a list of silly things. -Pennpenn [[Special:Contributions/108.162.250.155|108.162.250.155]] 00:32, 6 March 2015 (UTC)

I assumed the self-driving car was more along Toyota and the accelerator being stuck, or something like that. A runaway car. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.216.76|108.162.216.76]] 01:59, 4 March 2015 (UTC)
:I also take it that it was a runaway car. I imagine a scene where all the people in the carpool jump out of the car while it's driving at high speed, just to see how far it will "drive itself". Saibot84 21:50, 5 March 2015 (UTC)

Just a random headcanon on this, but I get the feeling that CompanyName.Website's "web-facing chairs" are chairs pointed at actual spiderwebs. --[[Special:Contributions/199.27.128.179|199.27.128.179]] 10:49, 18 April 2015 (UTC)

Is anyone reminded of Welcome to Night Vale by that hovertext? Seriously, it sounds like something Cecil would say in a message from his sponsors.

Is it possible that Beret Guys business is a money manufacturing facility?as in place that prints money?[[Special:Contributions/141.101.75.53|141.101.75.53]] 20:33, 6 August 2015 (UTC)

Talk:859: (

2024-07-27T23:42:07Z

172.68.71.101:

) Here you go, you're free now. --[[Special:Contributions/199.27.128.150|199.27.128.150]] 01:55, 3 January 2014 (UTC)
:Thanks but I will need some more: ))))) ooohh! ))))))) aaahh!! {{unsigned ip|162.158.90.194|12:26, 21 March 2016}}
:: but now we have the opposite problem, unmatched close parenthesises! [[Special:Contributions/172.68.71.101|172.68.71.101]] 23:42, 27 July 2024 (UTC)

In saying: "The programming language Lisp (also featured in 224: Lisp is known for large numbers...", a closing parenthesis was omitted. Was this intentional?

:Maybe. >.> <.< [[User:Lcarsos|lcarsos]] ([[User talk:Lcarsos|talk]]) 03:21, 9 October 2012 (UTC)

:You would need to check the source to be sure... --[[User:Bpothier|B. P.]] ([[User talk:Bpothier|talk]]) 19:08, 9 October 2012 (UTC)

:(Muahahahahahahahaha! [[Special:Contributions/108.162.245.8|108.162.245.8]] 02:04, 7 May 2014 (UTC)

::)[[Special:Contributions/162.158.255.148|162.158.255.148]] 22:24, 16 December 2019 (UTC)

If this comic bothers you, [[312: With Apologies to Robert Frost|#312]] can help. [[User:Joey|Joey]] ([[User talk:Joey|talk]]) 03:07, 20 December 2012 (UTC)

I do not think it's productive to explain the joke using the joke itself without clearly indicating that such is happening. So, ''It also refers to this awkward feeling when you see something (like an unmatched parentheses, speling error or a randomly-placed, comma.'' does not explicitly indicate the reflexive usage of the joke. I hope I'm not being overly pedantic, but my first instinct was to correct the spelling error. An an example the passage is fine, but it should be made to stand apart from the "real explanation" in some way, maybe in a callout or italicized as I have it here --[[User:Smartin|Smartin]] ([[User talk:Smartin|talk]]) 03:36, 4 January 2013 (UTC)
:"I hope I'm not being overly pedantic [...] An an example the passage is..." Perhaps you meant "As". [[Special:Contributions/108.162.237.161|108.162.237.161]] 04:41, 24 May 2015 (UTC)
::[[wikipedia:Muphry's law]] [[Special:Contributions/172.68.65.240|172.68.65.240]] 02:00, 15 March 2018 (UTC)

This reminds me of when I used to program the TI-83. It would automatically close any parentheses at the end of a line, and all the programming guides told me not to close them, since it would save a tiny bit of memory. I must have annoyed my teachers a lot when this bled over into my homework. I know I've gotten graded down for it. [[Special:Contributions/70.102.89.181|70.102.89.181]] 04:17, 28 June 2013 (UTC)
:This happens to me too!! Sometimes when I'm writing something, I don't put the closing ), though, I think this happens to most people sometimes. anyway, here's some TI-BASIC code:
:-1→Xmin:1→Xmax
:-1→Ymin:1→Ymax
:AxesOff
:Degrees
:While 1
:For(X,0,359,5
:sin(X-120→A
:sin(X→B
:sin(X+120→C
:Line(0,1,A,.3
:Line(0,1,B,.3
:Line(0,1,C,.3
:Line(0,-1,-A,-.3
:Line(0,-1,-B,-.3
:Line(0,-1,-C,-.3
:Line(.3,A,-.3,-B
:Line(.3,A,-.3,-C
:Line(.3,B,-.3,-A
:Line(.3,B,-.3,-C
:Line(.3,C,-.3,-A
:Line(.3,C,-.3,-B
:End
:End

:('s: 16
:)'s: 0
:(However, technically there are no ('s, because they are actually part of the For(, sin(, and Line( tokens, not the separate symbol.

:I '''still''' get syntax errors when programming in other languages! {{unsigned ip|173.245.56.180}}

))))))))) aaaahhhh [[User:Plm-qaz snr|Plm-qaz snr]] ([[User talk:Plm-qaz snr|talk]]) 12:39, 27 August 2014 (UTC)

My hobby is (not really an hobby but a life's work (or calling)) (is explaining in detail (especially detail allowing me to indulge my hobby (not really an hobby but a life's work (or calling) where did this come from>)?

Damn!

[[User:Weatherlawyer| I used Google News BEFORE it was clickbait]] ([[User talk:Weatherlawyer|talk]]) 14:44, 24 January 2015 (UTC)

I know lisp and see the connection, but where in the comic does it actually mention programming? Parentheses are used in ordinary English too, and they also have to be paired with each other. I think this comic is actually about lack of closure in a much more general way. Only the title text brings up programming, but only in the context of parsing strings. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.219.180|108.162.219.180]] 23:12, 3 May 2015 (UTC)
:Parsing strings is part of programming. The title text is part of the comic. What is the problem? \[[Special:Contributions/173.245.54.58|173.245.54.58]] 16:53, 29 July 2015 (UTC)

I'd like to mention that Google's result page shows the title of this comic differently from the other xkcd comics. I think Randall broke it. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.237.161|108.162.237.161]] 04:41, 24 May 2015 (UTC)

You know what's evil? Combining this comic with the substitution list comics! That is, changing an empty character to the place of the ')'. [[User:Zorlax the Mighty|Zorlax the Mighty'); DROP TABLE users;--]] ([[User talk:Zorlax the Mighty|talk]]) 11:48, 2 August 2016 (UTC)

Only just need ')' to complete, there you go! Boeing-787lover 13:46, 16 January 2018 (UTC)

I just made an edit for you to suffer! [[User:Lettherebedarklight|aoijgpisbHtejsykl7ekderhtsjk6r64os4kys\\\[]jsrtjgdrghtvgwrhtejyku5dli6;78t7l6rk5j4h|||||#Rty-----WWWWWWfflfllfllfllfeogk0q9wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww4-cv;c;;c;c[;]z\]d;v[\]????????OH GOD IT'S CRASIHNG MY PC��]] ([[User talk:Lettherebedarklight|talk]]) 13:43, 3 November 2020 (UTC)

<{((((( {{User:PoolloverNathan/Signature}} 14:16, 20 September 2022 (UTC)

Here ya go. This closes all parentheses/brackets/quotation marks in the comic, comic title, mouseover text, explanation, and ones added by other commenters. (It would be way more but most canceled each other out.)))}> [[User:Danish|Danish]] ([[User talk:Danish|talk]]) 18:01, 21 December 2020 (UTC)

)) [[User:Beanie|Beanie]] ([[User talk:Beanie|talk]]) 10:01, 29 April 2021 (UTC)

AAUGHH THIS IS KILLING MEEEEEE [[User:Marethyu|⟨Winter is coming⟩ Marethyu]] ([[User talk:Marethyu|talk]]) 21:57, 5 May 2022 (UTC)

I accidentally placed an unpaired parenthesis in the trivia section. You may fix it if you like. [[User:ColorfulGalaxy|ColorfulGalaxy]] ([[User talk:ColorfulGalaxy|talk]]) 14:04, 6 August 2022 (UTC)

((({[[[({( {{User:PoolloverNathan/Signature}} 11:31, 2 May 2023 (UTC)

apparently most people here use li... *segfault rn* {{unsigned ip|172.64.236.12|14:50, 2 September 2023}}

note: above post was made by me before creating account [[User:An user who has no account yet|An user who has no account yet]] ([[User talk:An user who has no account yet|talk]]) 22:09, 2 September 2023 (UTC)