explain xkcd - User contributions [en]

Talk:2838: Dubious Islands

2023-10-07T18:37:39Z

172.70.162.155:

As a native of the North Country of Northern New York, I'm really disappointed that Randall didn't label the St. Lawrence river. :-( [[Special:Contributions/162.158.158.253|162.158.158.253]] 22:49, 6 October 2023 (UTC)

Had a go at the Transcript. Plenty of problems with it, but I was attempting to be partway methodical (generally heading north-to-south, seemed easier than "north-and clockwise" or any other sweep, once I started to do it) and not actually mention 'quoted' words more than once. Unless they're actually written multiple times. (looking at you, Mississippi!) 
But had no option but to repeat some of the quoted text ''within'' the label-descriptor 'tags', perhaps each actual fragment should indeed by given ''all'' boundaries, but I think that's better left for the table that will inevitably have to be put into the main Explanation. There one can actually list the named ''and unnamed'' bordering waters (river, canal, lake, sea and ocean) for actual reference. 
Also the wording. Tried not to repeat "bounded by" synonyms too much, but maybe I should just have chosen one option and repeated it anyway, given the difficulties and contextual issues of doing it absolutely unrepeatably. But it's my best try (at just gone midnight, indicating how personally familiar I might be with the continental US's geography, or not). And thus over to you people who actually know more about the Mississippi than merely how to spell it. (Not sure I've read, and thus spelt, some of the other names given right, either. Definitely check and edit as necessary.) Perhaps a geographic map could (e.g.) even identify the "Nunavuk+" territory with a better actually known descriptor, too! Canada is even less my forté than the US. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.74.63|162.158.74.63]] 23:50, 6 October 2023 (UTC)

Im shocked that Randall conflated the hudson and Champlain when the two dont connect, missing each other by a slim margin.
Source: i live close to lake george, the missing point [[Special:Contributions/172.69.59.47|172.69.59.47]] 00:52, 7 October 2023 (UTC)
: The Champlain Canal crosses that gap. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.154.63|162.158.154.63]] 06:13, 7 October 2023 (UTC)

Southern NJ is made an island by the Delaware River, the Delaware and Raritan canal and the Raritan river. -- [[User:162.158.158.98|162.158.158.98]] ([[User talk:162.158.158.98|talk]]) 03:06, 7 October 2023 (UTC) ''(please sign your comments with <nowiki>~~</nowiki>~~)''

I came to this comic hoping to learn the names of the islands, and then to the explanation hoping they were present but hidden in some way. Irrational! [[User:JohnHawkinson|JohnHawkinson]] ([[User talk:JohnHawkinson|talk]]) 07:43, 7 October 2023 (UTC)

;Where is Long Island?
Oh! Wait. The map only shows _dubious_ islands. {{unsigned ip|172.70.38.72|06:28, 7 October 2023}}
:All actual islands (Hawaii, the myriad of ones in the Canadian arctic, etc) are not there, so I take it as read that this is the contiguous mainland continental North America (stopping at the Panama cut) with divided by all cross-waterways of any significance. i.e. major rivers, hence why no lichen-like tributary 'fan' incursions into these areas; major canals, which means massive irrigation projects (and any actual ship-navigable ones, I presume) or else ever ditch or drain would count, lakes of course (but there's a lot of lakes in the Canadian north that are not shown, let alone used as might be hydrodynamically linked).
:Compared with [https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/90/Map_of_canals_of_the_United_Kingdom.png what Great Britain might look like], so subdivided, it looks positively restrained. I mean, you can probably remove all those with dead-ends to make the 'disconnection map' simpler. And, in today's age, all stretches that are no longer viable/continuous/navigable for various reasons like railways and major roads being slapped over/next to them and rendering them obsolete/uncared-for/etc, but that still leaves quite a lot of [https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/07/England_Wales_Waterway_Map_Simplified.svg islands], such the cut(s, several!) between Thames and Severn, the Humber to various Lancashire 'outlets', etc. And that link doesn't even show the Caledonian Canal cross (alongside/within the Great Glen), the more southerly Forth And Clyde route, etc. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.19|141.101.98.19]] 16:08, 7 October 2023 (UTC)

No mention of [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Two_Ocean_Pass Two Oceans Creek]? {{unsigned ip|108.162.221.13|17:52, 7 October 2023}}
:Um... yes? There's a link to Parting Of The Ways (I made a grammatical/contextual edit, to make more sense, but might need another tweak) which involves the Atlantic Creek/Pacific Creek split from North Two Ocean Creek, or so I just read myself. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.162.155|172.70.162.155]] 18:37, 7 October 2023 (UTC)

User talk:While False

2022-10-31T20:58:14Z

172.70.162.155: /* I think you accidentally enabled a spambot... */

== Vandalbot ==

I just found a bug in the vandal bot: if a page starts with "crap", it won't vandalize. Should we run a similar bot that just prepends the word crap once instead of replacing the text with the word repeated, to "vaccinate" the pages? One crap in addition to the page content would be a lot less disruptive than a page full of it. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.245.251|108.162.245.251]] 22:03, 3 May 2022 (UTC)

::Maybe. (See the source for some code that might work) <div style="display: none">crap</div> [[Special:Contributions/108.162.245.251|108.162.245.251]] 22:11, 3 May 2022 (UTC)

== Thanks for fixing the "crap" on my page ==

Hi While False 
Saw your comment on my page, and did not see the [https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=User_talk:Kynde&oldid=232561 crap post] before I was looking into this here. Also read about the problems you had with FaIse account. Sad this happens. Sadly I'm not an admin and have no way on contacting any of them. Shame that the x.k.c.d account again is active. But it is very annoying. Thanks for putting [https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=User_talk:Kynde&direction=next&oldid=232561 my page] right again. Hope it stays that way. Not sure what we can do, I'm not tech wizard... --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 08:59, 4 May 2022 (UTC)

== My Script ==

I thought I owed you a little explanation, since you showed interest earlier.
# Yeah, all the API stuff is indeed by Ozank.
# The tweaks to automatically run the rollback are by my friend [[wikia:w:c:c:User:KockaAdmiralac|KockaAdmiralac]] who I called on shortly before entering the fray.
# I contributed... An autoconfirmed account and enough knowledge of JavaScript to turn down the timer on the script and almost lock myself out of my account by refreshing constantly.
So, you know who to thank. Troll slain. Back to business as usual. [[User:Jacky720|That's right, Jacky720 just signed this]] ([[User talk:Jacky720|talk]] | [[Special:Contributions/Jacky720|contribs]]) 01:22, 5 May 2022 (UTC)
: More context:
:* The base [[wikia:w:c:dev:Rollback|script]] ''is'' by Ozank, though it got [[wikia:w:c:dev:Special:Diff/130753|rewritten]] by me at some point (probably without changing the API calls, though)
:* It also had to be adapted to work on vanilla MediaWiki at all
:* The last about two thousand reverts were made in part by a different script I wrote on this occasion, that I can rerun later if needed
: [[User:KockaAdmiralac|Cube-shaped garbage can]] ([[User talk:KockaAdmiralac|talk]]) 09:54, 5 May 2022 (UTC)

== Concision and clarity ==

In case it helps, I think that [https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=1740:_Rosetta&diff=286099&oldid=286098 your edit] was in response to the same person as did a few other edits not long ago, that I reverted. Encompassed by the following lines in Recent Changes, at the end of 2nd June:
* 23:09 1490: Atoms‎‎ (2 changes | history) . . (0)‎ . . [162.158.159.137‎; 108.162.245.173‎]
* 23:08 1368: One Of The‎‎ (2 changes | history) . . (0)‎ . . [162.158.159.137‎; 162.158.107.52‎]
* 20:43 352: Far Away‎‎ (2 changes | history) . . (0)‎ . . [162.158.159.87‎; 108.162.245.43‎]
* 20:41 1140: Calendar of Meaningful Dates‎‎ (2 changes | history) . . (0)‎ . . [162.158.159.87‎; 108.162.246.154‎]
:''Leaving you to find and follow the links, tabbing around to copy and paste addresses to link directly is quite awkward, since the latest update of this browser... Urgh!''
By 'coincidence' or not, all the IPs involved in these original edits we reverted have Contrib histories showing various disruptions from the recent vandal. Not proof in itself, but the insertion of uselessly florid language ( <- no stranger to that myself, admittedly! ) - it looks like a new phase of "trying to mess things up" from the same geographic-at-least source. Subtle and not so disruptive, but maybe a drip drip drip thing with a long-game, unless even cleverer than currently obvious.
 Anyway glad I'm not the only one who thought it was odd. Just thought I'd say. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.162.155|172.70.162.155]] 12:43, 3 June 2022 (UTC)
:Thanks for letting me know. Seems malucious indeed. [[User:While False|While False]] ([[User talk:While False|talk]]) 21:59, 3 June 2022 (UTC)
:I've just reverted several more of the same kind. [[User:While False|While False]] ([[User talk:While False|talk]]) 22:12, 3 June 2022 (UTC)

== 'Interesting' edits... ==
{{notice|This commenter has a point.}}
{{notice|{{notice|{{notice|{{notice|{{notice|This comment has been taken to heart.}}}}}}}}}}
I get ''some'' of the reasoning behind the splurge of edits you just made, but must admit that the whole also looks like it has a lot of rather random tweaking. No complaints, but... perhaps some of the things you really meant to Sandbox (or at least Preview and then abandon without actually saving) whilst you were exploring whatever it was you thought it worth trying out? [[Special:Contributions/162.158.34.71|162.158.34.71]] 22:54, 2 October 2022 (UTC)
:Perhaps it is so. [[User:While False|While False]] ([[User talk:While False|speak]]) 06:35, 3 October 2022 (UTC)

== I think you accidentally enabled a spambot... ==

I could be wrong, but the [https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=User:ZitaPortus3&curid=25674&diff=296168&oldid=296003 only edit they have so far made] definitely link-spammed with what appears to be spam-links (not followed them myself, just based upon my spidey-sense upon reading the raw URLs). With no obvious attempt of xkcd-ish parody/irony. Looks (semi-)automated copypasta. — Anyway, I've reverted it (much against my principles, but leaving an 'obvious SEO-fodder' seemed an even worse result) but I would defer to any future "Hey, this ''is'' real!" from the user (despite it being a spammer-type username), yourself or the other mods who may investigate my interference and come to the other conlusion. FYI, however, so that you know (sooner) to actually check it yourself. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.86.132|172.70.86.132]] 10:43, 7 October 2022 (UTC)
:Oh, that was not my intention. Your revert is obviously sensible. --[[User:While False|While False]] ([[User talk:While False|speak]]|[[User:While False/explain xkcd museum|museum]]) 19:59, 7 October 2022 (UTC)
...you did it again. Not going to link, you can easily find the page I 'blanked' (or replaced, as it turns out) and look at what happened. Plus loads of other weird page-creations. Really no idea what you need to do it all for. Try sandbox/preview-only/your own pages and subpages, perhaps, for most of the little experiments you're doing today. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.162.155|172.70.162.155]] 20:58, 31 October 2022 (UTC)

Talk:2690: Cool S

2022-10-28T15:44:38Z

172.70.162.155:

Wow. Never seen a blank one before [[User:Boatster|Boatster]] ([[User talk:Boatster|talk]]) 14:23, 26 October 2022 (UTC)
: Apologies for my mediocre attempt, new to this [[User:Boatster|Boatster]] ([[User talk:Boatster|talk]]) 14:30, 26 October 2022 (UTC)

I used to do these chains! [[Special:Contributions/108.162.237.25|108.162.237.25]] 15:38, 26 October 2022 (UTC)Bumpf
:You must have used to be {{w|DNA polymerase}}, then! —[[User:While False|While False]] ([[User:While False/explain xkcd museum|'''museum''']] | [[User talk:While False|talk]] | [[special:Contributions/While_False|contributions]] | [[special:Log/While_False|logs]] | [[Special:UserRights/While_False|rights]]) 19:27, 26 October 2022 (UTC)

As a molecular biologist, I'm a bit annoyed any time I see DNA drawn as a left-handed helix. Perhaps this was intentional on Randall's part.

: To expand on Bumpf's comment -- DNA is typically right-handed, so it was most probably derived from the "cool Z". (Yes, Z-DNA (q.v.) is left-handed -- perhaps leading to Randall's presentation) [[Special:Contributions/172.70.178.221|172.70.178.221]] 17:04, 26 October 2022 (UTC)
: I mean, I've never seen on so angular before either. 17:15, 26 October 2022 (UTC)
: Z DNA was not discovered until the 1980s and is a minor form. Also, it doesn't really look much like the regular helix. Franklin had X-ray data on A and B form DNA. B is the most well known form. Also, so as not to have someone else blamed for my comment, the left-hand comment was "docpelletier," me.

This was actually a rediscovery, Celtic decorators had discovered it before. [[User:Fabian42|Fabian42]] ([[User talk:Fabian42|talk]]) 18:56, 26 October 2022 (UTC)

Dosen't the transcript generally not have the title text included? --[[Special:Contributions/172.70.82.167|172.70.82.167]] 19:14, 26 October 2022 (UTC)
:Correct. The transcript is of the image only. —[[User:While False|While False]] ([[User:While False/explain xkcd museum|'''museum''']] | [[User talk:While False|talk]] | [[special:Contributions/While_False|contributions]] | [[special:Log/While_False|logs]] | [[Special:UserRights/While_False|rights]]) 19:23, 26 October 2022 (UTC)
: Should we try a more descriptive transcript? I could write up a description, but wasn't sure if I should. [[User:MAP|MAP]] ([[User talk:MAP|talk]]) 23:00, 26 October 2022 (UTC)
:: Yes, we always should. Remember that it's partly for people who cannot see the images and need something fully understandable read out to them (an easier ask than trying to accomodate every single possible relevent text-search for comic feaures, which is another reason to have it.) I was tempted myself, but not had the time. But anybody can 'improve' more or less anything (acknowledging that it's subjective) so if you have the means, motive and opportunity then why not? [[Special:Contributions/172.69.79.163|172.69.79.163]] 23:38, 26 October 2022 (UTC)

Not giving her the Prize because she was already dead is still discrimination. Didn't Pratchett even had word for that? -- [[User:Hkmaly|Hkmaly]] ([[User talk:Hkmaly|talk]]) 19:29, 26 October 2022 (UTC)
:There is debate to be had on whether it is or isn't discrimination when as a rule, the prize isn't awared posthumously unless the person recieved the award before death.--[[User:Mapron01|Mapron01]] ([[User talk:Mapron01|talk]]) 19:44, 26 October 2022 (UTC)
:From the world of Pratchett: "Undead, not Unperson!" - Although that might only count if Franklin also became like [[896: Marie Curie]], at least in time for the original award being decided). [[Special:Contributions/172.71.186.163|172.71.186.163]] 20:52, 26 October 2022 (UTC)

I think there's more to the controversy over Rosalind Franklin than just being omitted from the Nobel Prize. The significance of her contribution was downplayed in the media in general. Practically everyone has heard of Watson and Crick, but relatively few lay people have heard of Franklin. Although I guess that can be considered a natural result of them receiving the Nobel. [[User:Barmar|Barmar]] ([[User talk:Barmar|talk]]) 20:08, 26 October 2022 (UTC)
:She's at least getting (assuming it can be rearranged) a {{w|Rosalind Franklin (rover)|Mars rover}}... I think C&W aren't getting anything like that, whatever past supplemental honours they got in response/parallel to their Nobelisations... [[Special:Contributions/172.71.186.163|172.71.186.163]] 20:52, 26 October 2022 (UTC)

I think we need a clarification. Whether a spiral winds clockwise or widdershins when you look at it end-on depends which end you are looking at.[[User:MarquisOfCarrabass|MarquisOfCarrabass]] ([[User talk:MarquisOfCarrabass|talk]]) 05:09, 27 October 2022 (UTC)
:Except it doesn't. Take apart your nearest pen and try looking at the spring inside from either end, and you'll see. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.77.62|141.101.77.62]] 06:51, 27 October 2022 (UTC)
::The spring in my pen twists to the right as it goes down, whichever end I hold upward. [[User:Nutster|Nutster]] ([[User talk:Nutster|talk]]) 13:42, 27 October 2022 (UTC)
::This is a trick comment - when you take apart a pen the spring will invariably fly off somewhere never to be found again, so you won't be able to examine it.[[Special:Contributions/172.70.162.155|172.70.162.155]] 15:44, 28 October 2022 (UTC)

Talk:2685: 2045

2022-10-17T20:34:29Z

172.70.162.155:

I've add a CITATION NEEDED for the medical appointment because in many countries and in the past Soviet Statesit took that long and so is a questionable claim
I've been waiting for Randall to do a comic related to the DART mission. I think I'm going to have to be satisfied with the title text being inspired by it -- altering the orbits of the earth and/or moon would be infinitely harder. [[User:Barmar|Barmar]] ([[User talk:Barmar|talk]]) 16:56, 14 October 2022 (UTC)
: Whatever the old soviet joke is (probably related to the American myth that Canadian medical care takes longer?) it's behind a paywall, so no one can read it anyhow. [[Special:Contributions/172.68.66.45|172.68.66.45]] 19:58, 17 October 2022 (UTC)
:: It's probably the one about the Soviet citizen finally getting permission to obtain a washing machine/fridge/car/whatever, but being told that it would take five/ten/fifteen years to be delivered, or so. "AM or PM?", he asks. Because, as he explains, he has the plumber/electrician/decorator/... due to start work that particular morning. (It's probably on {{w|Russian political jokes|this page}}, or a close version of it, but that's a read and a half and I think I'll go through it later.) [[Special:Contributions/172.70.162.155|172.70.162.155]] 20:34, 17 October 2022 (UTC)

though it says Black Hat is rejecting the invitation sarcastically, considering Black Hat it's also possible he's planning something else for the total eclipse, such as playing a prank on people who don't know it's coming, or messing with the meeting under discussion. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.241.51|108.162.241.51]] 17:31, 14 October 2022 (UTC)
:Or planning to be actively messing with the eclipse... [[Special:Contributions/172.70.85.97|172.70.85.97]] 18:59, 14 October 2022 (UTC)

That reminds me: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CLW7r4o2_Ow https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CLW7r4o2_Ow] [[Special:Contributions/162.158.239.32|162.158.239.32]] 19:33, 14 October 2022 (UTC)

Here’s a source for moving the Earth or the Sun requiring vast amounts of energy: [https://qntm.org/moving https://qntm.org/moving]. It doesn’t really cover moving the Moon though. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.33.133|172.69.33.133]] 02:23, 15 October 2022 (UTC)

:And with that breaks the 104-comic streak where we never saw Black Hat. I'm pretty sure that's the longest ever. [[User:ISaveXKCDpapers|ISaveXKCDpapers]] ([[User talk:ISaveXKCDpapers|talk]]) 03:52, 15 October 2022 (UTC)

:Is this Megan or Danish? [[Special:Contributions/172.69.33.117|172.69.33.117]] 05:28, 15 October 2022 (UTC)

Can somebody please calculate the minimum needed energy amount, if you start now? --[[Special:Contributions/172.70.242.157|172.70.242.157]] 11:09, 15 October 2022 (UTC)
: And how many probe impacts that would require. [[Special:Contributions/172.71.178.5|172.71.178.5]] 08:41, 17 October 2022 (UTC)

pretty sure the explanation needs to be sanitized of invisible control characters or zero-width whitespace - there were several edits that added thousands of characters but did not result in a visually different page, and those edits were never reverted --[[Special:Contributions/172.70.115.30|172.70.115.30]] 12:43, 15 October 2022 (UTC)
:edit: just now did it, lmk if i missed anything--[[Special:Contributions/162.158.63.8|162.158.63.8]] 12:46, 15 October 2022 (UTC)
::unedit: just now undid it, lmk if i missed anything
:::cheeky bastard 💀

Corrected date of annular eclipse to Oct 14 2023 link https://www.greatamericaneclipse.com/ Peter 15:13, 15 October 2022 (UTC)

Somebody should add one of those links that redirects to comic no. 2045 to avoid confusion (I'm not super familiar with Mediawiki) [[User:Mushrooms|Mushrooms]] ([[User talk:Mushrooms|talk]]) 09:06, 17 October 2022 (UTC)
:Not as important, because just trying "2045" sends you there (where there is the {{template|distinguish}} template pointing you here), yet you have to actually try a bit to land here ''instead'' of your true intent to go there. But I just now put one here that tells you about that one, anyway.
:Not sure how many other comics using a <code><nowiki>{{distinguish|...the other comic...}}</nowiki></code> are similarly reciprocated on their 'less favoured sibling' without checking. Could be inconsistently done, if I recall correctly how it was recently set up as a kind of disambiguation measure. [[Special:Contributions/172.71.178.17|172.71.178.17]] 10:21, 17 October 2022 (UTC)

It claims that 'The moon being hard to move' needs a citation. I know it's a joke, but I have wanted to do the kinetic energy calculations since I saw this, so I give you this: You want a citation? I'll give you a citation! [[User:SqueakSquawk4|SqueakSquawk4]] ([[User talk:SqueakSquawk4|talk]]) 15:58, 17 October 2022 (UTC)

User talk:DogeraPom

2022-10-17T15:00:27Z

172.70.162.155: /* The Poms */

==The Poms==
Oh, are [[user:DogeraPom|you]], [[user:CerakiaPom|Cerakia]] and [[user:RibavoPom|Ribavo]] family? [[User:While False|While False]] ([[User talk:While False|speak]] | [[User:While False/explain xkcd museum|museum]]) 14:30, 17 October 2022 (UTC)
:I've a feeling the (mostly thwarted) spam-account creator just used the same 'Lastname' for these. Or at least the one that uses for FirstnameLastname, rather than FirstnameLastnameDigits or the other obvious patterns. But I suspect you were being sarcastic, and already knew this. (I hope this one doesn't try to SEO, like the last one, once you created them a valid page to edit...) [[Special:Contributions/172.70.162.155|172.70.162.155]] 15:00, 17 October 2022 (UTC)

2685: 2045

2022-10-14T18:50:59Z

172.70.162.155: /* Explanation */ puncs

{{comic
| number = 2685
| date = October 14, 2022
| title = 2045
| image = 2045_2x.png
| imagesize = 350x457px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = "Sorry, doctor, I'm going to have to come in on a different day--I have another appointment that would be really hard to move, in terms of the kinetic energy requirements."
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by a GIGANTIC NUCLEAR FURNACE (THE SUN) - Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
The characters are talking about upcoming total {{w|solar eclipses}}, the next two of which in most of North America are on April 8, 2024 and August 12, 2045. (There's also an {{w|annular eclipse}} on October 14, 2023.) Making plans for eclipses is awkward given how infrequently they occur and the uncertainty present for anything far in the future, such as whether the attendees will have children by then, and even whether another scheduling program will catch on and replace Google Calendar.

Partial solar eclipses are fairly frequent (2-5 per year), but total eclipses are less frequent (about every 18 months), and most of them will not be in convenient locations for a particular set of people. Cueball seems to be talking about total eclipses visible in much of North America: {{w|Solar eclipse of April 8, 2024}} and {{w|Solar eclipse of August 12, 2045}}

Black Hat claims he can't make it, as he has "a thing" on August 12th, 2045. Events as minor and unspecific as "a thing" are not typically scheduled at a precise date this far in the future,{{Citation needed}} and this is likely Black Hat sarcastically rejecting Cueball's invitation.

The title text is someone canceling a medical appointment to see the eclipse. The eclipse is hard to move because that would require hastening or delaying it by moving the Earth, Moon or Sun, any of which would require vast amounts of energy.{{Citation needed}} People also don't often schedule doctor's appointments decades in advance.

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
:[Cueball, another person, Danish, and Black Hat are standing together. Danish is looking at her phone.]
:Cueball: ...And then after the one in 2024, there's another on August 12, 2045.
:Friend: We're in! We can invite our kids, assuming we have any.
:Danish: I'll create an event. Do you think we'll still be using Google Calendar in 2045?
:Black Hat: Sorry, I'd love to make it, but I have a thing that day.

:Caption: It's weird making plans for eclipses.

{{comic discussion}}

2684: Road Space Comparison

2022-10-13T08:10:51Z

172.70.162.155:

{{comic
| number = 2684
| date = October 12, 2022
| title = Road Space Comparison
| image = road_space_comparison_2x.png
| imagesize = 740x1157px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = I wonder how hard it would be to ride an electric scooter in a hamster ball.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by a WALKABLE CITIES ENJOYER - Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
The comic is a parody of a common comparison done in arguments for walkable cities - the amount of usable space taken up by cars and car-centric infrastructure that could be eliminated for other useful public amenities. The first of these may be from 1978[https://www.fietsersbond.nl/nieuws/van-wie-is-de-ruimte/].

The first 4 images are common, real-life comparisons involving people walking, people on bicycles, public transport, and cars, which distinctly show how cars take up significantly more space for the same number of people than the other methods of transport. However, from this point the comic becomes more and more absurd in its comparisons.

The 5th one shows 50 people on a tandem cycle. This would obviously be impractical in a city due to the tandem's sheer length and would not be able to work with fewer people due to its sheer mass. The longest tandem bicycle holds 52 people<ref>https://www.active.com/articles/bicycle-built-for-52-pedals-into-guinness-book</ref>.

The 6th one involves 20 people driving 40 cars, with each person driving 2 cars at a time by straddling them in the middle. Besides being unwieldy and impractical, it would also be extremely dangerous as the cars could go out of control at any time. Perhaps the cars would be a paired mix of left-hand-drive and right-hand-drive models, although with enough push-rods/levers (to also reach the traditional foot controls, and also gearsticks unless ''fully'' automatic) this might not be as important. However, even if the cars were perfectly safe to drive, it would be unsafe to drive them on most roads; roads with only one lane per direction are common, everywhere from city streets to exit ramps, and attempts to drive a pair of cars down such a road side by side are unlikely to end well.

(Of course, worse than any of these petty safety concerns is the fact that each person takes up twice as much road space, making most infrastructure a bit less efficient.)

The 7th one has 30 cars riding on 6 buses by stacking them on top of each other. Assuming the same people-per-car/bus from the earlier examples, this arrangement would have about 345 people riding on the same road! (Unless, of course, the busses are carrying 30 cars ''instead of'' their normal passengers.) In addition, people getting out of the cars when they reach their destination would be a problem for most cars in this arrangement due to them being stacked under other cars or surrounded by them. And as in the previous example, it would be impossible to safely drive anywhere without two clear lanes...and the body count would be considerably higher.

The 8th panel has 50 people in hamster balls. Randall has shown his interest in human sized [[:Category:Hamster Ball|hamster ball]] transportation before, and indeed this would be an enjoyable way to traverse a road, provided no other hamster balls try to drive into you and knock you off the road. The image shows 39 hamster balls, implying that roughly one in four has a passenger; under these constraints, they appear to be slightly more efficient than cars.

The 9th panel has 40 tiny cars pulling a big one. Such feats of strengths are a common sight while setting world records, so maybe this is a world record attempt by the cars in question. It is unknown how many people fit in the big car; judging by its size, it likely fits more than a single bus and less than three.

The 10th panel is a 50 person variation on the classic {{w|wolf, goat and cabbage problem}} (which has also been [[2348: Boat Puzzle|referenced before]] by Randall) except this one involves 30 goats, 20 cabbages and 10 wolves trying to cross the now-flooded road with a single boat. It is not known how many people (or cabbages for that matter) the boat fits, but since humans significantly outnumber the goats, cabbages and wolves, it doesn't seem like too much of a problem.

The title text proposes a problem related to another alternative form of transport – the electric scooter. Randall wonders how well an electric scooter would function when run inside the hamster ball. This would probably function like some sort of spherical {{w|monowheel}}.

==Transcript==
[Overhead views of many traffic scenarios are shown, with the last one being part of a river with road on either side.]
{|class="wikitable" style="marginauto"
|+Road space comparision
|-
!50 people walking!!50 people riding bikes!!50 people riding a bus!!50 people in 33 cars!!50 people on one tandem bicycle
|-
|[A picture of 50 people walking on the left lane of a road.]||[A picture of 50 bicycles with people on them on the left lane of a road.]||[A picture of a single bus.]||[A picture of 33 cars filling the road.]||[A picture of 50 people on one long tandem bicycle.]
|-
!20 people driving 40 cars!!30 cars riding on 6 buses!!50 people in human-sized hamster balls!!One giant car pulled by 40 smaller ones!!50 people with 30 goats, 20 cabbages, and 10 wolves
|-
|[A picture of 40 cars with 20 people between them with one leg in each side window.]||[A picture of 30 cars stacked as to fit on 6 buses.]||[39 hamster balls, each containing a person.]||[A large car connected to 40 normal cars by rope.]||[A picture of a road separated by a river. In said river is a dock and boat, and on the side closest to us are 50 people, 30 goats, 20 cabbages, and 10 wolves.]
|-
|}
{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Hamster Ball]]
[[Category:Animals]]
[[Category:Food]]

1643: Degrees

2022-10-03T10:10:36Z

172.70.162.155: /* Degrees Fahrenheit */ Added "with". Rephrased to remove suggestions of current Imperial adherene (at least officially). Alluded to the issue of gallons, etc.

{{comic
| number = 1643
| date = February 15, 2016
| title = Degrees
| image = degrees.png
| titletext = "Radians Fahrenheit or radians Celsius?" "Uh, sorry, gotta go!"
}}

==Explanation==
[[Cueball]] is being asked by a friend for the {{w|temperature}}. While he is checking his smartphone for the weather, he begins pondering what unit he should use when answering the question. (See below for [[#Cueball's reasoning|Cueball's reasoning]].)

In the US (where Cueball and [[Randall]] are from), the {{w|Conversion of units of temperature|temperature scale}} used in daily life is {{w|Fahrenheit}}. However, most of the rest of the world uses {{w|Celsius}} in daily life, and even in the US it is commonly used for science. This is also why Randall has previously made the comic [[526: Converting to Metric]]. There are also people who wish the US to change to the metric system, although some of them still wish to keep the Fahrenheit scale as mentioned in [[1982: Evangelism]]

:'''The Celsius scale''' is from the {{w|metric system}}. Though this system has been officially sanctioned for use in the US since 1866, it is not frequently used in daily American life (except for some things, like liter bottles of soda), although it is the preferred system for trade and commerce according to the {{w|Metric Conversion Act}} of 1975. The US remains the only industrialized country, and one of few countries period, that does not use the metric system for everyday measurements, and in which official government documents and signage do not enforce metric units. The unit ''degree Celsius'' or °C is an accepted {{w|International System of Units#Derived units|derived unit}} from the {{w|International System of Units}} (SI units) used in science (which again is the modern form of the metric system). The SI unit of temperature is the {{w|kelvin}}, but this temperature scale is linearly related to the Celsius scale, which is why Celsius can be derived from it.
:'''The Fahrenheit scale''' is from the {{w|United States customary units|US customary system}} and the (British) {{w|Imperial units|imperial system}}. The unit is ''degree Fahrenheit'' or °F, and the relation to the Celsius scale is not easy to find in a mental calculation. The relations are: [°F] = [°C]×9⁄5 + 32 or [°C] = ([°F] − 32)×5⁄9. (For this exact reason Randall has previously made a helpful table for these situations in [[526: Converting to Metric]].)

Unlike most areas of measurement, where the metric system is widely considered superior, there is considerable debate about the relative merits of Fahrenheit vs. Celsius. Cueball weighs up the benefits of both scales, but fails to find a solution he can live with, and since he feels he has to give his friend an answer now, he panics and gives the answer 0.173 {{w|radians}}.
:'''Radian''' is the standard unit of angular measure, used in many areas of mathematics. An angle's measurement in radians is numerically equal to the length of a corresponding arc of a {{w|unit circle}}. It has no units and is denoted with the superscript c, but more commonly rad, lest it be confused with {{w|Degree (angle)|angular degrees}}. One radian is an angle of approximately 57.3 degrees.
:'''Angular degrees''' is a system used to measure {{w|angles}} in {{w|geometry}}, and although it too uses the symbol ° and the word "degrees", it has nothing to do with temperature measurements of any sort.

Thus, this answer is unhelpful and the joke is that traditionally both geometric angles and temperature are measured in "degrees", but there is no connection between the two.

The title text indicates that Cueball's friend still wants to know whether the answer is in radians Fahrenheit or radians Celsius, which, despite being a silly way to express temperature, would actually enable the friend to get some meaning out of the reply. But this just takes Cueball back to the problem he failed to solve in the first place of choosing one scale in preference to the other, so suddenly he announces has to go and runs off without ever clarifying what he meant. This result is probably because he is afraid of being a bad friend according to his very last point regarding Fahrenheit: ''Valuing unit standardization over being helpful possibly makes me a bad friend.''

The answer Cueball gives of 0.173 radians corresponds to a geometric angle 9.91° (0.173 × 360°/2π). If this were "radians Celsius" it would be 9.91 °C corresponding to 49.8 °F and if it were "radians Fahrenheit" it would be 9.91 °F corresponding to -12.3 °C. [http://boston.cbslocal.com/2016/02/13/new-england-freezing-temperatures-valentines-day-weekend/ Given the temperatures] in {{w|Massachusetts}} (where Randall lives) when this comic came out, the day after Valentine's Day 2016, Cueball was probably giving his answer in radians Fahrenheit.

=== Cueball's reasoning ===
==== Degrees Celsius ====
;International standard
:Degrees Celsius is derived unit in the SI system of units used to measure temperature in most countries today. Using the SI system would allow Cueball to be easily understood in most countries and is by far the most recognized system, but it is not the most commonly used in the United States, his presumed location in the comic.
;Helps reduce America's weird isolationism
:The United States uses its own set of units, including degrees Fahrenheit, called the {{w|United States customary system}} (similar but not equal to the imperial system), in contrast to most of the rest of the world, which uses the SI system. The US's system of units is therefore considered "weird" as it makes the US different from most of the world, but previous efforts to convert the US to the SI system have failed. Cueball evidently believes that by using SI units, he will help to eventually convert the US to the SI system, bringing considerable trade and tourism benefits and reducing confusion when dealing with foreigners.
;Nice how "negative" means below freezing
:On the Celsius scale, the freezing point of water at standard atmospheric pressure (101.325 kilopascals) is very close to 0 °C, and any temperature below that is below the freezing point. The Fahrenheit scale uses different points of reference (using a water/ammonium chloride chemical reaction for the lower calibration, while the upper calibration is set such that water freezing and water boiling are 180 degrees apart), and as a result the freezing point of water is a less memorable 32 °F.
;Physics major loyalty
:Cueball is apparently a physics major, like Randall, and SI units are more commonly used for scientific work (as the kelvin scale is sometimes used in physics and other sciences), even in the US. By using the Celsius scale in casual conversation, he would show his loyalty to the system used by actual physicists.
;Easier to spell
:"Celsius" is generally considered to be an easier word to spell than the German surname "Fahrenheit" (at least this is the case for Cueball, but not necessarily for those who more commonly use Fahrenheit than Celsius). In this case the word is being spoken and the point is not immediately relevant, but part of the joke is that Cueball is overthinking things and worrying about the general use of the word when an answer is needed in this specific case.
;We lost a Mars probe over this crap
:The {{w|Mars Climate Orbiter|Mars Climate Orbiter}} disintegrated in Mars' atmosphere because Lockheed used US customary units instead of the contractually specified metric units. This had nothing to do with temperature scales, but was the use of the unit pound-seconds where newton-seconds should have been used. This was a great and tragic loss for science in general, Mars exploration in particular, and thus also for Randall who has shown deep interest in any kind of space exploration, especially regarding Mars (mentioning many Mars probes in his comics so far).

====Degrees Fahrenheit====
;0 °F to 100 °F good match for temperature range in which most humans live
:In the context of air temperature, 0 °F and 100 °F correspond to "just about as cold as it gets" and "just about as hot as it gets" in temperate zones, thereby making Fahrenheit a useful temperature scale for weather reporting where most people live. By contrast, in Celsius a range of common temperatures in temperate zones is -20 °C to 40 °C, which is a less intuitive range for those used to the Fahrenheit scale.
;Rounds more usefully (70's, 90's)
:An argument sometimes heard for the continued use of Fahrenheit temperatures is that each 10 degrees change is meaningful in how we feel the temperature. Thus, it is convenient to talk about the temperature being in the 70's today, or in the 90's, etc. Since the Celsius degrees are almost twice as large, a similar statement about the temperature being in the 20's or 30's is not as useful, unless more precision is added by using phrases like low 20's or high 30's. However, this seems likely to be more a matter of which scale you are used to using than anything inherent in one scale or the other.
;Unit-aware computing makes imperial less annoying
:If you need to constantly convert between imperial and SI measurements in your head, or even between different imperial units (e.g., ounces and pounds), it gets annoying and is a strong argument for everyone using metric measurements all the time. But when it is easy to get the temperature - or any other measurement - reported in whatever units you want just by selecting the units you want your computer to report, then the annoyance is minimized, and the arguments for why we should stop using a familiar scale are weakened. Note that Cueball is looking at his smart-phone to get the current temperature.
:As with many Americans, Randall is treating the {{w|United States customary units|United States customary system}} as identical to the {{w|imperial system}} as previously used in most of the rest of the English speaking world. There have many commonalites, and both systems have temperature measured in degrees Fahrenheit, but also differ in some ways (especially with certain units of volume).
;SI prefixes are less relevant for temperatures
:One of the nice things about SI measurements is how the same basic unit scales by factors of 10 with common prefixes - e.g., kilometer, millimeter, kilogram, milligram, etc. Imperial measurements don't have this feature - you don't talk about long distances as kiloinches or small weights as millipounds. But, we generally don't use multiple units for atmospheric temperature (millidegrees or kilodegrees), so this argument for using SI measurements for length, mass, volume, etc., isn't as applicable for temperature scales.
;Fahrenheit is likely more clear in this context
:The fact that Cueball is having this conflict at all implies that the conversation is taking place in America, presumably between Americans. Given that, and given that the discussion is about the weather, the typical assumption is that temperatures will be given in Fahrenheit, unless specified otherwise. An answer in Fahrenheit is therefore likely to be easily understood, while an answer in Celsius risks being confusing, or even incomprehensible.
;Valuing unit standardization over being helpful possibly makes me a bad friend
:The final thing Cueball considers is to question why he would give an answer that attaches more value to promoting standardization of units when all his friend wants to know is whether it is cold or warm outside. Wouldn't it be more friendly to just answer the question the way his friend will find most convenient? This is probably the reason he ends up not giving any real answer, as giving the answer in Celsius would make him a bad friend. Panicking and giving the answer in radians makes him a weird friend, which might or might not be preferable to being a bad friend.

==Transcript==
:[Cueball is looking at his smartphone while a friend calls to him from off-panel. Cueball is thinking as indicated with a thought bubble.]
:Off-screen voice: Hey, what's the temperature outside?
:Cueball (thinking): Should I give it in °F or °C?

:[Zoom in on Cueballs head with a list of reason to use Celsius above him:]
:'''Degrees Celsius'''
:* International standard
:* Helps reduce America's weird isolationism
:* Nice how "negative" means below freezing
:* Physics major loyalty
:* Easier to spell
:* We lost a Mars probe over this crap

:[Same view of Cueballs head, but wider frame to accommodate a broader a list of reason to use Fahrenheit:]
:'''Degrees Fahrenheit'''
:* 0°F to 100°F good match for temperature range in which most humans live
:* Rounds more usefully (70's, 90's)
:* Unit-aware computing makes imperial less annoying
:* SI prefixes are less relevant for temperatures
:* Fahrenheit is likely more clear in this context
:* Valuing unit standardization over being helpful possibly makes me a bad friend

:[Cueball is holding his smartphone down while thinking as indicated with another thought bubble floating at the top. He then speaks and gets a reply from his off-panel friend.]
:Cueball (thinking): Crap, gotta pick something. Uhh...
:Cueball: ...0.173 radians.
:Off-screen voice: I'll just go check myself

==Trivia==
* At -0.698 radians (-40 degrees) it would not have mattered whether it was radians Celsius or radians Fahrenheit as the two scales are equal at this point: -40 °F is the same temperature as -40 °C.

* The Fahrenheit/Celsius debate was later referenced in [[1923: Felsius]].

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Science]]
[[Category:Physics]]
[[Category:Space probes]]
[[Category:Social interactions]]
[[Category:Weather]]

2677: Two Key System

2022-09-26T22:24:07Z

172.70.162.155: /* Transcript */ Not a briefcase.

{{comic
| number = 2677
| date = September 26, 2022
| title = Two Key System
| image = two_key_system_2x.png
| imagesize = 645x316px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = Our company can be your one-stop shop for decentralization.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by a SELF-TURNING BOT - Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

As an allegory, the comic relates the results of software development to the reputed safeguards of nuclear missile launch systems.

Such precautions include the {{w|Two-man rule|need for two independent operators for authorization}}, to prevent honest mistakes or the rogue actions of lone-actors. This in several ways may include the use of the {{w|Nuclear Briefcase}} (or 'Football'), where a verification process involves senior figures other than the current leader, but in this case it is more clearly depicting the kind of procedure used at a launch site, where two duty officers need to turn two respective keys at the same time, physically separated so that neither can possibly initiate the sequence by themselves.

In being related to software development, and perhaps the rise of 'auto-filling' password fields in a browser, it is shown that the 'nuisance' of the safeguards (e.g. having to remember your password every time you visit a site) has prompted the development of a method to circumvent the previously enforced requirement. Rather than typing in passwords on every visit, browsers have long since been capable of remembering authentication details, and/or web-sites often providing {{w|HTTP cookie|'cookies'}} if you ask them to "Remember your login" each time you connect to them – which may be fine for most situations. Thus, in the comic, something else is developed to make the safeguards easier to deal with, a dual key-turner device that allows the deliberately secure operation (the requirement that you provide your password) to be accomplished as if it were a single-operator task (the computer does that all by itself).

And thus we find out that the thing used to make the safeguards less of a nuisance actually defeats the purpose of the safeguards. As with website passwords, where the use of a computer or device by someone else could allow ''them'' to use the autologin capabilities, or even to view all passwords used locally and take away for their own use, the whole point of the deliberately included security factor has been negated. It was only the perceived need for two independent operators that created the initial situation of requiring two separated keys, or indeed any keys at all!

Hence, after a further cycle of development, in order to restore the security of the two-key system, the two-key turning device (rather than being removed or made unworkable) is provided for use but ''only'' if it can be removed from a secure cabinet (labelled as giving access to the 'key turner', much as the original unit was labelled as giving access to a missile) with the requirements to open it being… …two seperate keys to be used at the same time! This could be seen as the same as {{w|password manager}}s being introduced, either as a part of a browser or third-party add-ons, which automatically provide the user's passwords for any given access attempt but only when they are given a password (or other security factor) themselves.

And so, rather than removing a 'problem', a new safeguard is added which does the exact same thing as the original, the possible nuisance (but hopefully also the necessary element of security) included.

Password management, as a process, is actually far more complex than key-turning. Common failure-modes for passwords are either forgetting your own long-term passwords (especially if you asked your computer to remember them for you, ages ago, then had to change computers) or tending to use just a single password for everything (which, if ever compromised in one situation, could lead to being compromised across many others). Possibly a Password Manager can alleviate such issues, as it can be capable of 'spitting out' (or transfering) remembered login details at will as well as letting you use many different passwords (even generating and using the kinds of passwords nobody should be able to guess, [[936: Password Strength|or remember!]]) across your many different websites, etc. But this must itself be secure, and so should be functionally accessible perhaps only through use of a 'master password' or some other kind of authentication process, which may be subject to the same issues of forgetting and/or leaking. Various forms of {{w|multi-factor authentication}}, plus backup authentication methods for password recovery/reset, goes some way to alleviate this, but the balance between ease of use and security is never quite so simple and universal.

The title text mentions a one-stop-shop for decentralization. The drive to make use of one-stop-shops (such as a website aggregating searches for the best insurance) and ''also'' to decentralize (in this case not relying upon any one vendor, even that single aggregator who might actually not be the best aggregator) is another self-contradiction — because a one-stop-shop is by definition centralized.

This comic is posted on September 26th as a reference to Stanislav Petrov correctly rejecting the false detection of an incoming nuclear missile strike from the US on September 26th, 1983. [[2052: Stanislav Petrov Day]]

For related xkcd on software cycles, see [[2044: Sandboxing Cycle]] and [[1306: Sigil Cycle]].

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
:[Caption:]
:All software development, eventually

:[Cueball is talking, while pointing to a drawing. It represents two keys, pointing to Cueball and Ponytail turning keys at either end of a missile launch system - a large anonymous cabinet except for a picture of a missile upon it]
:Cueball: We've installed a two-key system to prevent accidental missile launches.

:[An arrow is pointing to the next panel:] Soon

:[The drawing now represents a device which allows Cueball to activate the unit by himself]
:Cueball: We've developed a dual-turner device to allow a user to efficiently turn multiple keys.

:[An arrow is pointing to the next panel:] Soon

:[The drawing now represents two keys, pointing to Cueball and Ponytail turning keys at either end of a large similarly anonymous cabinet, except for the picture upon it being of the device of panel 2]
:Cueball: We've installed a two-key lock on the dual-turner device to prevent accidental use.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Ponytail]]
[[Category:Programming]]
[[Category:Nuclear weapons]]

Talk:2675: Pilot Priority List

2022-09-22T09:07:41Z

172.70.162.155:

Who else googled 'words ending with ate' and had an extra chuckle at what could have been? My favorites: circumnavigate, excommunicate, disarticulate. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.175.30|172.70.175.30]] 05:08, 22 September 2022 (UTC)

How about 'exterminate'? [[User:MarquisOfCarrabass|MarquisOfCarrabass]] ([[User talk:MarquisOfCarrabass|talk]]) 05:13, 22 September 2022 (UTC)
: My thoughts exactly! (Note: I moved your signature up) [[User:Elektrizikekswerk|Elektrizikekswerk]] ([[User talk:Elektrizikekswerk|talk]]) 07:19, 22 September 2022 (UTC)

What categories does this kind of list belong in. I guess Randall has made similar lists before? Should there be a category for this kind of comics, that do not easily belong in any other. I added Food category because of the cake, but that was just for the title text... Also if anyone has a better link to a good picture of a layered cake, as [https://3brothersbakery.com/product/wedding-white-chandelier-tier/ the one currently] in the title text explanation please add that. But it is a good picture resembling the airspace diagram inverted very much --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 08:53, 22 September 2022 (UTC)
:I can see that for instance this comic with a list, [[1957: 2018 CVE List]], has been added to the [[:Category:Charts]]. In that case this comic should also, but to me this is not really a chart. Maybe a Category:Lists would work? Should it be "lists" rather than "list"? Not native English speaker. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 08:56, 22 September 2022 (UTC)
::Other list comics (Feel free to add to mine without signature):
:::[[2525: Air Travel Packing List]]

Afterate - enjoy a waffer-thin mint.[[Special:Contributions/172.70.162.155|172.70.162.155]] 09:07, 22 September 2022 (UTC)

1854: Refresh Types

2022-09-06T18:40:24Z

172.70.162.155: /* Hardest refresh */ ...decades to finally reload, by which time you find that it's only serving Gopher pages this time round.

{{comic
| number = 1854
| date = June 23, 2017
| title = Refresh Types
| image = refresh_types.png
| titletext = The hardest refresh requires both a Mac keyboard and a Windows keyboard as a security measure, like how missile launch systems require two keys to be turned at once.
}}

==Explanation==
In this comic [[Randall]] presents five different levels of refresh operations for web applications. The first three (''soft refresh'', ''normal refresh'', and ''hard refresh'') are common operations to keep the content in the browser retrieved from the server up to date. The other two (''harder refresh'' and ''hardest refresh'') are fictional operations to perform ''refresh'' operations on remote resources. The terms are probably adopted from {{w|Reboot (computing)|soft}} and {{w|Hardware reset|hard reset}} operations used to restart broken computers or e.g. smartphones.

=== Soft refresh ===
''Soft refresh'' refers to an operation in a web page, commonly known as {{w|Ajax (programming)|Ajax}}, that requests new information without reloading the entire page. The given example, {{w|Gmail}}, includes a feature that allows users to poll new emails and show it in the inbox interface. It is a command using {{w|JavaScript}} to load new contents from the server in the background and only update necessary components of the page. Modern web applications do this automatically in short time intervals such that these buttons are mostly unnecessary - for example, in Gmail, a user will see a new message instantly.

=== Normal refresh ===
The ''normal refresh'' is a browser operation that reloads the complete web page, text and other content that has changed since the original load will be updated. The operation can be triggered by refresh buttons in browsers, though it also can be requested using the common keyboard commands as listed by Randall. Many pages -- like the main page at xkcd.com -- don't have a refresh button. If the page has been opened before a new comic release, pressing F5 afterwards causes reload and the new comic is shown.

=== Hard refresh ===
What Randall calls ''hard refresh'' is a less common browser operation forcing the browser to re-download every part of the web page, ignoring any cached content. Caching is a common way of decreasing web page load times. Browsers save resources such as images or {{w|Cascading Style Sheets|CSS stylesheets}} on the first visit on a web page and use the local copy on subsequent visits. It allows them to decrease amount of transfer needed to show the web page, but can prevent showing changes made to the resources (for example a web developer changing the stylesheet). In those cases the ''hard refresh'' ensures that each part of the website is downloaded in its newest form.

If there is a {{w|Proxy server|proxy}} or a cache (like used for this wiki) in between the browser and the server this type of refreshing may not work. In this case, unless a purge link is available, the user has to wait until the cache entry is expired and a new request to the web server is done. Someone may try to avoid this behavior by including special headers in the HTTP reply to control caching, but not all proxies or clouds follow these instructions.

=== Harder refresh ===
''Harder refresh'' is a joke that extends the existing naming scheme. The joke is that if a ''hard refresh'' resets the browser display and cache, a ''harder refresh'' should reset the source of the data by cycling power in the data center. Assuming no damage was done, this would reset the memory on the server, erasing any information that had not been written to disk, and setting the server to the state it was in at launch. This would cause considerable downtime, and would be unlikely to help the user at all.

In {{w|Orchestration (computing)|orchestrated}} environment it may indirectly cause some virtual machines in the {{w|Cloud computing|cloud}} to be rebooted and assigned to another web server needing more workload. But a growing workload is caused by hundreds or thousands additional requests and not just a single key combination from one browser. While there are administrative web tools allowing to perform a reboot (physical or virtual server) just by clicking a single button, this is not what is being referred to in the comic. A standard (non-administrative) user rebooting an actual physical server using a common web page is not possible, unless there is a software or operating system bug that will cause exactly this. This would be considered an extremely critical problem and its resolution would be given an extremely high priority by the server owners.

The ''harder refresh'' uses six keys, including the non-standard '[https://askubuntu.com/questions/19558/what-are-the-meta-super-and-hyper-keys HYPER]' key, a feature of the {{w|Space cadet keyboard}}. Hyper could also refer to the Linux modifier key Hyper, similar to Control, Alt, and Super.

=== Hardest refresh ===
The fifth option, ''hardest refresh'', moves beyond resetting the source of the data and resets the entire internet back to {{w|ARPANET}}, an early military network which was a forerunner to the modern internet. The implications of this are not made clear, but it should be noted that it wouldn't help to immediately fix any problems a user is experiencing in-browser, as {{w|HTTP}}, the protocol by which web pages are sent, was not developed until late 1990, the year ARPANET was decommissioned.

The ''hardest refresh'' shortcut uses fifteen keys, including non-standard ones such as Ø and ⏏. (The former is a key found on Danish and Norwegian keyboards, the latter is the "eject" key found on Mac keyboards and some laptops.) The shortcut makes amusing comparisons about a shortcut that includes not only the F5 function key, but also the keys for the letter "F" and the digit "5", as well as the similarity in appearance between O, 0, and Ø.

The title text suggests that the inclusion of both the {{w|Windows key}} and {{w|Command key}} in the ''hardest refresh'' shortcut is a security measure akin to the {{w|Two-man rule}}, as it would require two keyboards to enter. Normally this would not work in practice as the modifier keys are handled per keyboard and not combined across keyboards for most operating systems allowing more than one keyboard.

==Transcript==
:[A table with three columns is shown. The header is:]
:Refresh Type; Example Shortcuts; Effect

:[First row:]
:Soft Refresh
:[The word refresh has a border to mimic a button:]
:Gmail REFRESH Button
:Requests update within JavaScript

:[Second row:]
:Normal Refresh
:[Two PC shortcuts and the Apple command key followed by an R:]
:F5, CTRL-R, ⌘R
:Refreshes page

:[Third row:]
:Hard Refresh
:[One PC shortcut, the combination Control plus Shift, and the Apple command key followed by Shift and R:]
:CTRL-F5, CTRL-⇧, ⌘⇧R
:Refreshes page including cached files

:[Fourth row:]
:Harder Refresh
:[One single combination using Control plus Shift plus Hyper plus Escape plus R plus F5:]
:CTRL-⇧-HYPER-ESC-R-F5
:Remotely cycles power to datacenter

:[Fifth row:]
:Hardest Refresh
:[One single combination using Control plus the Apple command key plus the Windows key plus Shift plus the hash key plus R plus F5 plus F plus 5 plus Escape plus the letter O plus a slashed zero plus a slashed letter O plus an eject sign plus Scroll Lock:]
:CTRL-⌘⊞⇧#-R-F5-F-5-ESC-O-0-Ø-⏏-SCROLL LOCK
:Internet starts over from ARPANET

==Trivia==

* One of the shortcuts listed for Hard Refresh, “CTRL-⇧”, is incorrect – it should be “CTRL-⇧-R”.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Computers]]
[[Category:Internet]]

2666: Universe Price Tiers

2022-09-01T02:53:14Z

172.70.162.155: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 2666
| date = August 31, 2022
| title = Universe Price Tiers
| image = universe_price_tiers.png
| titletext = In Universe Pro®™ the laws of physics remain unchanged under time reversal, to maintain backward compatibility.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by a SOWN WIND - Explained the main point, more details needed. Please change this comment when editing the page . Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
Philosophers have posed many questions in trying to understand the nature of the universe. Some of these have become well-known in popular culture; while some are deliberately open-ended, several others are presented as a choice between two or more options, and are assumed to have a single answer, the debate being about which is correct. In this comic, Randall proposes that the answers to these questions are instead not fixed, but vary according to a tiered {{w|subscription business model}}, as seen in many business pricing schemes, particularly in software. In this model, the no-cost tier gets you a universe experience of a lower quality, while at higher tiers better options are available for a cost - for example in the highest tier the processes of aging and death are "Opt-in" rather than "Mandatory". It is not clear from the comic who is supposed to be paying these subscription fees, or whose experience of the universe is supposed to be affected.

The universe does not have a subscription model,{{citation needed}} but on the chart some of the categories that refer to observable properties such as the speed limit or existence of the {{w|Uncertainty Principle}} indicate ours is the Universe Standard® subscription, but other specifications may not entirely match our user experience.

The title text refers to the concept of {{w|T-symmetry}} in physical laws. Most properties of our universe are asymmetric, meaning that the property changes if time is reversed (e.g. the entropy of the universe decreases as time flows backwards). Randall again makes a reference to software subscription models in a play on words as the Universe Pro®™ sub appears to have laws that maintain "backwards compatibility".

{| class="wikitable"
|-
! !! Universe Lite™ !! Universe Standard® !! Universe Pro®™!!Explanation
|-
! Price
| Free || $14.95/month || $49.95/month || Indicative of a typical Freemium product, the versions released include what is effectively an 'unlimited trial' version, but lacking some potentially desired features, and then extra tiers with increased functionality so that you can "get what you pay for".
|-
! Ads
| Yes || Yes || No || There are indeed ads in our own universe, but whether they are an intrinsic property of the universe or not is an open question.
|-
! Number of angels that can dance on the head of a pin
| 4 || 64 || 4,096 || "{{w|How many angels can dance on the head of a pin?}}" is a question used to poke fun at medieval angelology and medieval scholasticism in general by claiming discussions in its fields revolve around meaningless questions. It is also used as a metaphor for wasting time debating useless questions, as it is generally accepted that we can have no definitative answer. Here, the question is given concrete answers that are powers of 2 often seen when using binary representation.
|-
! Free will or determinism
| Determinism || Free will || Free will || Another predominantly philosophical issue, although physics (both Newtonian and Quantum) has not shied away from trying to answer this. Some people are definite that we have Free Will, but of course they would. Others choose to be convinced that it is Determinism.
|-
! Cosmic speed limit
| 65mph || 300,000 km/s || Unlimited || The Cosmic speed limit refers to the {{w|speed of light}}, which rounds to 300,000 kilometers per second in our particular universe, one of the few definite clues as to which tier we might exist in.
|-
! If a tree falls in a forest and there's no one there to hear...
| No sound || Simple beep || Full sound || {{w|If a tree falls in a forest}} is a popular philosophical question whose answer depends largely on one's philosophical belief system and the interpretation of the question itself. Here it's suggested that there is a definite answer which differs depending on the quality of the universe subscription.
|-
! Meaning of Life
| Unknowable || Uncertain || Clearly explained || All we can know is that we (currently) don't know, which makes our universe one almost certainly either with an unknowable or uncertain state of affairs.{{Actual citation needed}}
|-
! Sound of one hand clapping
| [None] || [None] || ''Kazzap!'' || A further philosophical question, as the sound of two hands clapping relies upon there being two hands percussing and displacing/resonating air. Unless the Budhists are holding back an issue of enlightenment for themselves, we can be fairly sure we don't get to hear a ''Kazzapp!'' sound.
|-
! Aging and death
| Mandatory || Mandatory || Opt-in || If this is a mere option, we clearly haven't read (or understood) the online manual or perhaps read the tool-tips.
|-
! Does god play dice with the universe?
| Yes, and he cheats || Yes || No || A reference to a phrase famously ascribed to Einstein (in opposition to the concept of quantum uncertainty) that "God does not play dice with the universe." This option and the Determinism/Free Will choice, above, are interestingly linked but not necessarily in a way we can comprehend.
|-
! Bad things...
| Happen to good people only || Happen to good and bad people || Don't happen || Relates to whether there is justice, compassion or fairness in the universe, or perhaps if there specifically is not.
|-
! What happens to those who sow the wind
| Reap the whirlwind || Reap the whirlwind || Lots of crops everywhere || 
|}

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
{| class="wikitable"
|-
! !! Universe Lite™ !! Universe Standard® !! Universe Pro®™
|-
! Price
| Free || $14.95/month || $49.95/month
|-
! Ads
| Yes || Yes || No
|-
! Number of angels that can dance on the head of a pin
| 4 || 64 || 4,096
|-
! Free will or determinism
| Determinism || Free will || Free will
|-
! Cosmic speed limit
| 65mph || 300,000 km/s || Unlimited
|-
! If a tree falls in a forest and there's no one there to hear...
| No sound || Simple beep || Full sound
|-
! Meaning of Life
| Unknowable || Uncertain || Clearly explained
|-
! Sound of one hand clapping
| [None] || [None] || ''Kazzap!''
|-
! Aging and death
| Mandatory || Mandatory || Opt-in
|-
! Does god play dice with the universe?
| Yes, and he cheats || Yes || No
|-
! Bad things...
| Happen to good people only || Happen to good and bad people || Don't happen
|-
! What happens to those who sow the wind
| Reap the whirlwind || Reap the whirlwind || Lots of crops everywhere
|}
{{comic discussion}}

2654: Chemtrails

2022-08-31T13:37:43Z

172.70.162.155: Undo revision 293808 by 172.70.211.146 (talk) No, clearly *not* misplaced. Parens within sentence. (And reference-link sits after final punctuation, wouldn't be within the parens.)

{{comic
| number = 2654
| date = August 3, 2022
| title = Chemtrails
| image = chemtrails.png
| titletext = Ants have reverse chemtrails--regular citizens spraying chemicals everywhere they go to control the government.
}}

==Explanation==

{{w|Entomologist}}s study insects. {{w|Ant}}s are insects that leave chemical trails to and from food sources or other events. These chemical trails can guide other ants in the colony, for instance, to return to food. Biologists call such signaling chemicals {{w|pheromones}}. This comic uses the word chemtrail as a shortening of chemical trail. [[Cueball]] is intentionally conflating ant chemical trails with {{w|chemtrails}}, the subject of a fallacious conspiracy theory that the government controls the population by spraying toxic or mind-/body-transformative chemicals from high altitude aircraft.

That myth may be partly based on the practice of {{w|cloud seeding}}, which uses chemical flares containing silver nitrate to attempt to increase precipitation,[https://www.vox.com/videos/23290459/cloud-seeding-manmade-rain-future-perfect] on studies of chemical mind control among ants,[https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0022191016301640] or on the effects of the common parasite ''{{w|toxoplasma gondii}}'' on cats' prey. Despite [[1677: Contrails|occasional conflation]], chemtrails are distinct from "contrails," short for "condensation trails," which are cloud-like lines in the sky created by airplane engines. Such linear cloud formations only sometimes arise from temperature and pressure disturbances of the passing engines, rather than any deliberate release, but are highly visible in the right conditions under flightpaths, and may have the appearance of "spraying" action. {{w|Nucleation#Examples of the nucleation of fluids (gases and liquids)|Vapor nucleation}} is central to both cloud seeding and contrails. People sometimes attempt chemical manipulation of unwitting people in small areas (such as scent-based marketing, commercial space scent utilization, or wearing scented products).[https://www.businessnewsdaily.com/3469-smells-shoppers-spend-more.html] There is very little evidence that sophisticated mind control posited by chemtrail conspiracists is possible, even after extensive research.[https://www.google.com/books/edition/Poisoner_in_Chief/U6iDDwAAQBAJ]

[[Ponytail]] is an entomologist, studying chemically mediated cooperative ant navigation. [[Cueball]] knows she will be annoyed when he tells her, "So, I hear you're really into chemtrails?" Indeed, he gets the reaction he hoped for when she objects strongly and rejects this with a loud, "'''No!!'''" The choice of terminology is often a sore spot for those who study a particular field in depth, for example entomological discussions of "slave-making" in socially parasitic species.[https://evolve.community.uaf.edu/2015/04/23/emantcipation-when-captured-ants-rise-against-their-captors/] [[Randall]] writes in the caption that such misuse is how to annoy people like Ponytail.

The title text humorously contrasts individual ants instinctively deciding how the whole colony behaves by using chemicals to indicate routes to food or dangers to motivate the colony to react to their individual experiences, with the human fear of loss of personal independence by being regulated by otherwise disconnected ruling elites, as depicted in the ant/technology interaction speculative fiction-themed [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fISvc-yUU1A "Infrared"] music video by the alt-rock band ''Placebo''.

Ants are a recurring theme, as are those who study them. See for instance [[638: The Search]] which specifically deals with ants' pheromone trails or [[1610: Fire Ants]]. Chemtrails were also the subject of [[966: Jet Fuel]], [[1677: Contrails]], and were mentioned in [[1803: Location Reviews]]. This comic has a similar format to [[2036: Edgelord]]: a simple one-panel interaction consisting of a (likely deliberate) misuse of a term in regards to a professional's work, followed immediately by the professional's upset outburst, and Randall's caption spelling out "How to annoy" the professional. Both seem related to Randall's [[:Category:My Hobby|hobbies]], as he seems to think a lot about how to annoy specific groups of people, perhaps in an attempt to minimize annoyances.

==Transcript==

:[Cueball stands talking to Ponytail, who has her arms raised and has small lines above her head to indicate annoyance.]
:Cueball: So, I hear you're really into chemtrails?
:Ponytail: '''''No!!'''''

:[Caption below the panel:]
:How to annoy entomologists who study ant navigation

==Trivia==
*Whether ant gland secretion signalling is {{w|Turing completeness|Turing-equivalent}} is explored in Douglas Hofstadter's ''{{w|Gödel, Escher, Bach|Gödel, Escher, Bach: an Eternal Golden Braid}}''.
*Ponytail may conceivably be a professional entomologist who once worked with an editor who inserted the word "chemtrails" in one of her [https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00359-019-01363-z comparative physiology] or [https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10071-020-01354-7 ''Animal Cognition''] drafts competing before a peer review panel with papers by [https://bio.kuleuven.be/ento/pdfs/billen_procnev_2006_signal_variety.pdf Johan Bilen] of the Leuven University Zoological Institute and Harvard's [https://www.hup.harvard.edu/catalog.php?isbn=9780674045880 Rüdiger Wehner].

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Ponytail]]
[[Category:Animals]]
[[Category:Chemistry]]
[[Category:Biology]]
[[Category:Puns]]
[[Category:Conspiracy theory]]

Talk:2664: Cloud Swirls

2022-08-27T15:53:31Z

172.70.162.155:

3-D video games? HUH??[[Special:Contributions/172.70.131.126|172.70.131.126]] 09:33, 27 August 2022 (UTC)
:It's not how I would have started the Explanation, but I think it'll quickly be rewritten enough that this element is downplayed/subsumed in some more generalised attempt to explain everything from QFD to the CBR. As I'm only just reading this now, just before I have to wander off to do something else, I shall have to defer my own dabbling edits until later, by which time it will have been matured (or at least remixed) into a more thorough text, so no point me worrying upon how to improve the necessary but rarely inviolable initial attempt to Explain. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.85.5|172.70.85.5]] 11:51, 27 August 2022 (UTC)
:: Maybe in some combination with the {{w|Observer effect (physics)}}, it's an attempt to get at the simulation hypothesis maybe?
::I absolutely do not get whatever it is that the title text is saying, so I'm sitting this one out. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.214.189|172.70.214.189]] 14:56, 27 August 2022 (UTC)
:::I'd interpret it as them studying fluid dynamics in hope of discovering a way to create the coolest possible cloud. --[[Special:Contributions/172.68.50.207|172.68.50.207]] 15:07, 27 August 2022 (UTC)
::::Aye. Given we can't see the 'best clouds' here (because the chances are low that we can) and we can't go and see the absolute best clouds (due to limitations on visiting every likely place out there), by intensely studying the phenomenon that in part dictates how all clouds look one might create (or visually predict the look of) the superior type through rigorous simulation/emulation/etc. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.162.155|172.70.162.155]] 15:53, 27 August 2022 (UTC)

2126: Google Trends Maps

2022-08-26T15:57:02Z

172.70.162.155: /* Explanation */ Not jumping off a bridge at all may present risks from a more sedantry lifestyle, of course, but there's probably a healthier middle-ground of staying healthy and not flinging yourself off various things in various ways.

{{comic
| number = 2126
| date = March 20, 2019
| title = Google Trends Maps
| image = google_trends_maps.png
| titletext = It's early 2020. The entire country is gripped with Marco Rubio fever except for Alaska, which is freaking out. You're frantically studying up on etiquette and/or sexting.
}}

==Explanation==
{{w|Google Trends}} is a website for visualizing {{w|Google}} search activity by date and region. Used properly, it can give a picture of what topics people are interested in (as evidenced by what they search for) at particular times and in different places. Used improperly, it can simply [[1845:_State Word Map|amplify random noise]].

[[Randall]] has created several Google Trends maps of search activity in the US. Each map colors in states according to which of two (or more) search queries was more popular. As noted at the top of the comic, all of these based on real queries (though not reflecting the same time period across all maps). However, none of them seem to show any especially ''useful'' comparisons. States in gray did not return enough data for Google Trends to consider it significant.

* '''"Frostbite" vs "heat stroke":''' This is probably the most sensible comparison of the lot, showing which of these two risks of exposure people search up more often. However, the results are fairly obvious: in the colder northern and eastern states, "{{w|frostbite}}" is the more common search, while across the south and west, it's "{{w|heat stroke}}". In the map, a tiny part of North Carolina (specifically on the Outer Banks) is miscolored red compared to the rest of the state being blue.

* '''"Best church" vs "best strip club":''' This map would seem to indicate people in Nevada (and only in Nevada) are more interested in strip clubs than religion. This may have something to do with the fact that Las Vegas is in Nevada.

* '''"Bigfoot" vs "Mike Pence":''' Apparently, everywhere except for Indiana, people in the US are more interested in a mythical hairy creature than in the current (at the time of this comic's release) Vice President of the United States. Since {{w|Mike Pence}} was once the governor of Indiana, this makes more sense if the time period covered precedes his nomination as Trump's running mate.

* '''"Etiquette" vs "sexting":''' Similar to the church/strip club example, this map contrasts search interest in polite behavior (etiquette) against risqué behavior ({{w|sexting}}).

* '''"Little dog" vs "big cat":''' The Trend map contrasts two searches for either oddly-sized pets (in particular, "little dog" probably refers to small domestic dog breeds such as the {{w|Chihuahua}}; "big cat" could refer to large domestic cat breeds such as the Maine Coone, but is somewhat more likely to refer to large wildcat species) or unidentified and briefly glimpsed wildlife that often snatch household pets left outside. The smallest canid in the wilds of America is the coyote, ''Canis latrans'', which are often smaller than the American wild dog, ''Canis lupus''. They are known for being scavenger/hunters and for the ululating "songs" their packs break into in the middle of the night. By contrast, "big cat" is a term for the largest members of the cat family (''Felidae''). Except for the jaguar, which is a roaring cat of the ''Panthera'' genus that inhabits Mexico and sometimes Arizona, the largest wild cat in North America is the mountain lion, ''Puma concolor''. It is also known as cougar, puma, catamount, ghost cat, over seventy other regional names, and the misnomer panther. (The cougar is ironically of the Felinae subfamily, all of which purr, and not Pantherinae, which roar. Black panthers in Africa are black-coated leopards, while black panthers in the Americas are black-coated jaguars, and both are Pantherinae. No black-coated pumas have been verified, leading zoologists to believe such sightings are misidentified.) "Little Dog" is also a Canadian television series, set in Newfoundland and Labrador, which explains the larger number of searches for Little Dog in Maine, the state closest to Newfoundland and Labrador. Interestingly, there mainly seems to be an inverse relationship between the range of coyotes and cougars and the respective searches.

* '''"Shark attack" vs "childbirth":''' While both of these things might be considered risky, there is not much of a relationship between them. As might be expected, the "shark attack" search is more common in most coastal states (and, for some reason, West Virginia, Kentucky, and Nevada, despite being landlocked). Just like Frostbite vs. heat stroke, a tiny part of North Carolina is miscoloured.

* '''"Snakes" vs "ants" vs "bees" vs "alligators":''' These are all dangerous animals that cause occasional human fatalities (mainly from allergic reactions for ants and bees). There is no noticeable pattern in which animal is searched most often, though only Florida has alligators as the most common search of the four. Florida presumably has Alligators as the most searched item on this list as it is where the Everglades are located, a vast area of swamp and marsh that, aside from maintaining the ecosystem and the water supply of Florida, also is home to an obscene number of alligators. The search volume for bees in Utah may be erroneous because Salt Lake City is home to the minor league baseball team "The Bees" and thus Utah would have a large number of searches looking for the baseball team rather than the animal.

* '''"Retirement planning" vs "bungee jumping":''' The implication here is that people in some states are more concerned with short-term fun rather than long-term planning. The contrast is more striking since {{w|bungee jumping}} is a potentially dangerous activity and people practicing it might be seen as likely to die young enough not to need a retirement plan. Bungee jumping is actually a quite safe activity, due to most operators following rigorous safety procedures, but habitual thrill-seekers may then end up putting themselves at greater risks in other ways.

* '''"Super Bowl" vs "funeral home":''' This is an attempt to contrast interest in a popular sports (and media) event against a rather somber topic.

* '''"Resume tips" vs "skateboard tricks":''' Another comparison between learning a "serious", goal-oriented skill (career advancement) and a "silly", fun skill (skateboarding). It is also an imperfect rhyme. Interestingly, of the states with enough data for a result, only Arizona had more hits for "skateboard tricks".

* '''"Donald Trump" vs "What do I do":''' The implication here seems to be that people in some states are more likely to ask Google "what do I do?", either in panic or in ignorance, than they are to look up the latest doings of the US President. The split shown is not too different from the actual split between states voting for {{w|Donald Trump}} and for his opponent, {{w|Hillary Clinton}}.

* '''"Existential crisis" vs "Marco Rubio":''' Senator {{w|Marco Rubio}} was a candidate for the Republican presidential nomination in 2016. Everywhere but Alaska, people were more likely to look up his name than to search for "existential crisis". This may be due to {{w|Cabin Fever}}, which is common in Alaska due to the long, dark winters and frequent isolation.

The title text uses two of these maps to paint a picture of the year 2020 (implying that these search patterns are both meaningful and likely to continue into the future). In this scenario, most of the country continues to read about Marco Rubio (except for Alaskans, still searching for help with their existential crises), and individuals are trying to learn about etiquette, sexting, or both, depending on their location.

==Transcript==
:The least informative
:'''Google Trends Maps'''
:I've created over the years

:(All are real but not all cover the same date range)

:[12 maps of the United States are shown with the states colored. There are labels for the colors.]

:[Map 1]
:[Blue:] Frostbite
:[Red:] Heat stroke
:[Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Idaho, Louisiana, Mississippi, Nevada, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Oregon, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, and Washington are red. All other states are blue.]

:[Map 2]
:[Blue:] Best church
:[Red:] Best strip club
:[Nevada is red. Alaska, North Dakota, and Wyoming are gray. All other states are blue.]

:[Map 3]
:[Blue:] Bigfoot
:[Red:] Mike Pence
:[Indiana is red. All other states are blue.]

:[Map 4]
:[Blue:] Etiquette
:[Red:] Sexting
:[Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, Delaware, Hawaii, Iowa, Kentucky, Louisiana, Michigan, Mississippi, Missouri, Nebraska, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, North Dakota, Ohio, South Dakota, Tennessee, Vermont, and West Virginia are red. All other states are blue.]

:[Map 5]
:[Blue:] Little dog
:[Red:] Big cat
:[Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Idaho, Iowa, Maine, Mississippi, Nebraska, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Virginia, Washington, and Wyoming are blue. All other states are red.]

:[Map 6]
:[Blue:] Shark attack
:[Red:] Childbirth
:[California, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Massachusetts, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Texas, Virginia, and West Virginia are blue. All other states are red.]

:[Map 7]
:[Blue:] Snakes
:[Red:] Ants
:[Yellow:] Bees
:[Green:] Alligators
:[Florida is green. Iowa, Maine, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Montana, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, Oregon, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin are red. Alaska, Arizona, California, Connecticut, Hawaii, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, New Hampshire, New York, North Dakota, Ohio, Rhode Island, Utah, Vermont, Washington, and Wyoming are yellow. All other states are blue.]

:[Map 8]
:[Blue:] Retirement planning
:[Red:] Bungee jumping
:[Alaska, Delaware, Hawaii, Idaho, Mississippi, Montana, New Mexico, North Dakota, South Dakota, Vermont, West Virginia, and Wyoming are gray. Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Maine, Maryland, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, New Hampshire, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Virginia, and Wisconsin are blue. All other states are red.]

:[Map 9]
:[Blue:] Super Bowl
:[Red:] Funeral home
:[Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Florida, Hawaii, Idaho, Nevada, New Jersey, New York, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Texas, Utah, and Washington are blue. All other states are red.]

:[Map 10]
:[Blue:] Resume tips
:[Red:] Skateboard tricks
:[Arizona is red. Alaska, Hawaii, Idaho, Maine, Mississippi, Montana, New Hampshire, New Mexico, North Dakota, South Dakota, Vermont, West Virginia, and Wyoming are gray. All other states are blue.]

:[Map 11]
:[Blue:] Donald Trump
:[Red:] What do I do
:[California, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, and Wisconsin are blue. All other states are red.]

:[Map 12]
:[Blue:] Existential crisis
:[Red:] Marco Rubio
:[Alaska is blue. All other states are red.]

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics with color]]
[[Category:US maps]]
[[Category:Animals]]
[[Category:Bees]]
[[Category:Sharks]]
[[Category:Politics]]
[[Category:Comics featuring politicians]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Donald Trump]]

Talk:2663: Tetherball Configurations

2022-08-26T10:22:46Z

172.70.162.155:

Is anyone else reminded of the "classes of a lever" sort of classification? Where the load, fulcrum, and force are permuted. I know that's not explicitly connected to this comic, but it feels like a similar vibe, since you've got 4 (or 3 out of the 4) elements, and you're just changing the order they're oriented relative to each other. [[User:Dextrous Fred|Dextrous Fred]] ([[User talk:Dextrous Fred|talk]]) 03:52, 25 August 2022 (UTC)

Ground-rope-ball is arguably a playable cooperative configuration. Player 1 whirls the ball above her head like a bola; Player 2 attempts to hit the ball and get it to reverse direction. Play continues until the ball hits the ground. The final score is equal to the number of reversals. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.93.43|172.70.93.43]] 06:29, 25 August 2022 (UTC)
: Ground-rope-ball is actually quite legit - I have one of these somewhere in the basement... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2FT0Z95kN4w [[User:Elektrizikekswerk|Elektrizikekswerk]] ([[User talk:Elektrizikekswerk|talk]]) 06:59, 25 August 2022 (UTC)
:: How does that base stay on the ground? --[[User:NeatNit|NeatNit]] ([[User talk:NeatNit|talk]]) 07:52, 25 August 2022 (UTC)
::: It's quite heavy. You could have the same result by somehow connecting the rope directly to the ground. [[User:Elektrizikekswerk|Elektrizikekswerk]] ([[User talk:Elektrizikekswerk|talk]]) 08:35, 25 August 2022 (UTC)
: Ground-rope-ball (GRB) definitely looks good. If you just place it in a playground and let some kids mess around, I guarantee they will eventually come up with rules that make for a fun game. It might not be Tetherball, but it's gotta be worthy of at least 4 stars. --[[User:NeatNit|NeatNit]] ([[User talk:NeatNit|talk]]) 07:52, 25 August 2022 (UTC)
::Not agreeing that it would work in any way related to Tetherball. But a call stuck in the ground like this would definitely get kicked by kids. So as a game it might be used, gut not as Tetherball. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 08:27, 25 August 2022 (UTC)
:::Though I take your point that the original comic probably intends the meaning of the rating as being "how good AS tetherball" I disagree that it's that bad at being tether ball. There is still a ball, it is tethered and you can even kick it and have it orbit back towards you. [[User:Nbrader|Nbrader]] ([[User talk:Nbrader|talk]]) 12:20, 25 August 2022 (UTC)

I feel like this comic missed some opportunities:
*Pole-Rope-Pole: Nunchuks
*Ground-Pole-Rope-Pole-Ground: Tightrope
*Pole: This configuration could be used at the same time as the above for added stability
I'm sure there are more![[User:Nbrader|Nbrader]] ([[User talk:Nbrader|talk]]) 12:20, 25 August 2022 (UTC)

:"Pole" could also be for Festivus. [[User:RandalSchwartz|RandalSchwartz]] ([[User talk:RandalSchwartz|talk]]) 04:36, 26 August 2022 (UTC)

:If it doesn't have a ball, can it really be called tetherball? I think the ball and rope are the minimum requirements. [[User:Barmar|Barmar]] ([[User talk:Barmar|talk]]) 13:48, 25 August 2022 (UTC)

:Rope: Otherwise known as Tug-of-war. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.162.155|172.70.162.155]] 10:22, 26 August 2022 (UTC)

In Denmark I never played this game, but often played {{w|Totem tennis}} (tether tennis or swingball). Had to find out what it was called in English first before I could write it here. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 08:27, 25 August 2022 (UTC)
:I always assumed that tetherball/swingball was effectively the same whether entirely freely pivoting/rolling-over or as the helical-track system (which just automated the 'scoring' system, and undeniably triggered the top to pop up when either limit of travel was reached) that I recall from my teen years. Not sure if it was branded to Mookie Toys, but was definitely more than a decade before the 1993 date that this article appears to suggest the helix-version was created (by some interpretations*) so it could have been amongst the properties it says they bought at that time.
:(* - I'd check exactly what it should mean and rewrite that article accordingly, but my mobile IP at any given moment is almost always on Wikipedia's no-editting list, so I'd need to wait to be tethered to a landline broadband again, and by then I'll have forgotten...)
:I also recall a 'ground weight'-tethered version (with optional peg-holes for further immobilisation if placed upon peggable ground, like your average lawn) in the box of sports equipment taken on cub-/scout-camps, which was full of many other (and often not very Health-And-Safety-compatible) outdoor 'toys' and sports equipment like lawn-darts and several rather antique-looking boxing gloves. Can't recall any branding. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.91.78|172.70.91.78]] 09:03, 25 August 2022 (UTC)
:In wikipedia it mentions something I think which is similar: "An early variant described in Jessie H. Bancroft's 1909 book Games for the Playground... involves a tethered tennis ball hit by racquets, with similar rules of the game." It sounds like this would be a rather dangerous version, with kids swinging racquets wildly in close quarters. Are there a lot of racquet-related injuries? [[User:Gbisaga|Gbisaga]] ([[User talk:Gbisaga|talk]]) 11:42, 25 August 2022 (UTC)
::Wait, I didn't even notice thst thetherball was ''not'' played with rackets. Whatever-it-was-I-played used rackets (probably light plastic toy rackets/flyswat-griddle-alikes), though, not full-blown competition tennis rackets with a strung wooden frame. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.162.77|172.70.162.77]] 13:39, 25 August 2022 (UTC)

In France, we have "Jokari" which is pretty similar to the first scenario, except that the rope is a rubber band, played by two people. It's a bit like tennis but without the net and with a ball that comes back. Totally playable. The article on English Wikipedia is not the same thing. [[Special:Contributions/172.71.130.29|172.71.130.29]] 10:17, 25 August 2022 (UTC)

Ground-Pole-Ground is described in What-if 157: https://what-if.xkcd.com/157/

Pole-Rope-Ground is like the biggest flail ever. But where do you stand? [[Special:Contributions/172.68.110.177|172.68.110.177]] 20:42, 25 August 2022 (UTC)

2608: Family Reunion

2022-08-16T20:48:24Z

172.70.162.155: /* Explanation */ I'm pretty sure this is what was meant (to match the comic)

{{comic
| number = 2608
| date = April 18, 2022
| title = Family Reunion
| image = family_reunion.png
| titletext = Grandma says that because of differences in primate and feline lifespans, the cat is actually my 17,000,000th cousin 14,000,000 times removed.
}}

==Explanation==

Because all humans are descended from a {{w|Mitochondrial Eve|common ancestor}}, every human is, at some point, related to every other human, albeit distantly. Similarly, all life forms on Earth are presumed (with good reasons) to be descended from a single {{w|Most recent common ancestor|even more distant relative}} whose ultimate lineage {{w|Last universal common ancestor|became more relevant}} than any from its own 'cousins' at the time, and thus ''all'' life forms are distantly related. This makes every interaction with another life-form, technically, a family reunion, if not in the traditional sense.

The general English definition of a {{w|cousin}}, which is a person sharing an ancestor who is not a direct parent of either party, can be qualified by two numbers. There is the ''n''th-ness of the relationship (the fewest generations you need to go beyond one's parentage, "a first cousin" implies that a grandparent is the key link) - for example, [[Cueball|this Cueball's]] relation to [[White Hat]] is via a great-grandparent, whilst that with [[Hairbun]] is through a great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-grandparent. A "removed" number is any difference in this number between the two individuals, such that a child of a direct cousin invokes a "once removed" relationship between the two (without individually qualifying who is the 'senior' generation, from whom the 'nth' count is determined). You would normally only qualify "first cousin" if this fact is considered important, and "zero times removed" would also be considered implicit.

In this strip, all the humans are shown to be no more distantly related than 35th cousins. This may seem closely related for randomly selected humans, but the number of cousins a given person has increases exponentially with successive degrees of separation. For example, if family lines are separate, each person would have 64 pairs of sixth-generation great-grandparents. How many descendants those grandparents have now depends on how many living children each couple has, and how often breeding lines cross, but [[https://blogs.ancestry.com/cm/theres-a-1-in-300-chance-that-a-complete-stranger-is-your-cousin/ studies in Britain]] concluded that the average person in that region has nearly 200,000 sixth cousins. 35th cousins is probably nearly the most distant relationship you're likely to find among people who have ancestors from the same geographical region.

As pointed out in the title text, cat lifespans (or, more importantly, inter-generational breeding cycles) are somewhat different from those of humans. Although they would have still been very similar immediately after the divergence from the appropriate most recent common ancestor (MRCA), the differences will have built up to a generational-count displacement of a similarly extreme nature. i.e. that while the shared ancestor is Cueball's 17-million-or-so-Great Grandparent, the cat is in turn the 31-million-or-so-Great Grandchild. Exactly how accurate, or even precise, Randall considers these numbers is unknown, but it is the kind of fact that we know he likes to research and use expert opinion for.

[https://www.evogeneao.com/en/learn/tree-of-life The Evogeneao Tree of Life diagram] indicates that humans and cats diverged around 90 million years ago and humans and plants diverged around 1.8 billion years ago.

If we presume that generations of humans (including proto-humans, pre-humans, etc) since the divergence from cathood (including proto-cats, pre-cats, and the rest, back to the common ancestral form) have averaged around 5 years, then a 17 millionth cousin may be about right. Many of our (and cats') early ancestors will have necessarily been small burrowing mammals — to have been amongst the ones who survived the asteroid around 66 million years ago that killed off most of the dinosaurs — with contemporary equivalents having breeding cycles in terms of a year at the most. But we currently have a large feasible range of generational cycle (15-50 years, ''very'' roughly, with or without technical/social help or hinderances), that may have started to drag our long-term average upwards since at least the age of the early hominids, if not the age of our primate forebears or earlier.

To get a 50 billionth cousin from the potted plant, then the generations of (eventually) humans since we were of the same form as that time's ancestral plants (or vice-versa) would need to average two weeks. This is possible, but difficult to be precise about due to the lack of much of the required evidence in the known fossilized remains. Any reasonable estimate, however, should be heavily weighted towards generation spans common for unicellular eukaryotes, rather than the longer generations common for multicellular eukaryotes: the general consensus on the most recent common ancestor for of animals and plants identifies it as a unicellular eukaryote.
Given the above analysis of eukaryotes as cousins one wonders why Randal Monroe didn't include that every lack of gathering is also a family reunion.

==Transcript==
:[Megan, White Hat, Cueball, Hairy, Danish, a white cat with black patches on its back, Hairbun, a chair with a half-full wine-glass on the seat, and a potted plant on a cabinet are "standing" in a line. White Hat is holding a glass and Hairy has his hands to the side in a "shrug" position. Megan and Cueball are facing right and everything/one else is facing left (except for the potted plant, which is not facing any direction). There are arrows pointing to each of the living creatures.]

:14th cousin [Megan]
:2nd cousin [White Hat]
:Me [Cueball]
:12th cousin [Hairy]
:35th cousin [Danish]
:17,000,000th cousin [cat]
:9th cousin [Hairbun]
:50,000,000,000th cousin [potted plant]

:[Caption below the panel:]
:Really, ''every'' gathering is a family reunion.

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]
[[Category:Comics featuring White Hat]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Hairy]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Danish]] 
[[Category:Comics featuring Hairbun]]
[[Category:Cats]]
[[Category:Biology]]

1350: Lorenz

2022-08-16T19:51:39Z

172.70.162.155: Undo revision 292955 by 172.70.111.42 (talk) Check "Knit Cap (*Girl*)"'s explainxkcd page. She's a she. And refered to as female elsewhere in this page too.

__NOTOC__
{{comic
| number = 1350
| date = April 1, 2014
| title = Lorenz
| image = lorenz - alternative options.png
| titletext = Every choice, no matter how small, begins a new story
}}
<div class="toclimit-3">{{TOC}}</div>
*'''NOTE: The above is the first panel of an interactive comic.'''
**To actually experience the interactive content you need to go to this comic on xkcd (click on the date above the comic, which, as always, takes you to the xkcd comic)
**For a collection of images that appear in this comic, see [[1350: Lorenz/Images]].
***These will also be described below under [[#Themes|themes]].
**Also note that the order of the options are random.
***By adding that there is a [http://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/images/3/3d/lorenz.png fifth option]
****''Let's see if BSD is any easier to install nowadays.''
***Where only four can be shown - this means there are 5*4*3*2 = '''120 different permutations''' of the way the options can be arranged only in this first image.
**So the above image will only appear with these four options in this order in less than 1% of the cases!
***Of course when you choose an option it is immaterial what the order of the other options was.

==Explanation==
This was the fifth [[:Category:April fools' comics|April fools' comic]] released by [[Randall]]. The previous April fools' comic was
[[1193: Externalities]] from Monday April 1st 2013. The next was [[1506: xkcloud]] released on Wednesday April 1st 2015. This comic was posted a day earlier than normal (on Tuesday instead of Wednesday) to honor {{w|April Fools' Day}} of 2014.

This is an interactive and dynamic comic similar to the {{w|Choose Your Own Adventure series}}, where players flip to different pages based on the option they chose. The first picture shown on top of this page is the start of this comic, with a possible combination of text options to choose from (see above). The picture is always the same but the order of the four sentences (and the sentences themselves) is chosen randomly (and there can be more than four). The result of all the interactions by the readers led to the generation of {{w|Crowdsourcing|crowd-sourced content}}.

The title 'Lorenz' is referring to {{w|Edward Norton Lorenz}} who, among other subjects, was famous for {{w|Chaos theory}} and the {{w|Butterfly effect}} (mentioned later in the title text of [[1519: Venus]]). This comic is an example of a {{w|Choose Your Own Adventure}} story, as mentioned in the title text.

The title text is also a reference to how the storyline of this comic will be chaotic by nature, since it includes all of the user submitted dialogue and updates over time based on statistics of user clicks. In this manner, it is a reference to the butterfly effect: a phrase coined by Edward Lorenz to describe how a small initial change can lead to wide variations in outcome in a chaotic system.

Every time a story comes to a point where the user can either choose something or contribute when asked to ''Suggest a line'', a link will appear by hovering the mouse over the bottom right corner of the last image. This is named a ''{{w|permalink}}'', as it is a link that will recreate this particular story up to the point, making it permanent. It will not save the options listed below that image (i.e. the order of these will change, new options may appear, either because more than four are already present or new options will be added and some options may even disappear). An option is thus only saved by choosing it and then saving the next permalink — see [[#Permalink|more below]].

The best way to enjoy this comic is to {{xkcd|1350|try it yourself!}} If you didn't do that already, '''reading any below''' will spoil you from truly enjoying the comic, and maybe make some interesting discoveries yourself! So here is a '''spoiler alert''' if you read on. If you do, then see also the section below about [[#Functionality and bugs|Functionality and bugs]].

Any particular storyline will typically only have one or two of the many [[#Themes|themes]] possible in the comic, but some very long stories may have several: see the [[#Record length|Record section]] below. Several of the themes refer to previous comics or generally recurring themes in xkcd. (Most obviously is the [[#Blowtorch|blowtorch theme]] which is a reference to the previous comic [[1349: Shouldn't Be Hard]], where the last comment is ''I'll find a blowtorch'' as a response to Cueball's frustration over his problems.)

Because it is not always ending as "well" as with a burnt PC, they might instead end up in a shark infested ocean — see the [[#Ocean|Ocean theme]], which is a reference to [[349: Success]]: a comic that came exactly 1000 comics before the other one referenced in the same computer problem theme. In that comic, the sharks had not appeared yet; but here there may be several (and sharks are also a [[:Category:Sharks|recurring topic]] in xkcd).

These issues with computers is generally a reference to the [[#Computer problems|computer problem themes]] that precedes both the burning of the laptop and the ocean storylines, as [[Knit Cap]] tries to install [[:Category:BSD|BSD]]; and when it fails, she takes her friend [[Hairy]] with her in the fall, the water, space or into a Pokémon fight (as they are the two main character of this comic). Also [[Cueball]] (as a politician vs. another politician with hair) and [[White Hat]] have small appearances, but only in a small sections of particular storyline. Only few others interact directly with the main characters in the rest of the possible stories.

Other themes that are recurring in xkcd are [[:Category:Politics|Politics]], [[:Category:Pokémon|Pokémon]], [[:Category:Boomerangs|Boomerangs]] and [[:Category:Dinosaurs|Dinosaurs]]. Dinosaurs enter the comic in the form of the green talking T-rex from {{w|Dinosaur Comics}}: a clip-art-based webcomic that uses the same artwork with different captions for every strip. This particular [http://www.qwantz.com/index.php?comic=2420 ''Dinosaur Comics''] has a title text that actually refer to [[Randall]] and xkcd, and the comic has previously appeared on xkcd in [[145: Parody Week: Dinosaur Comics]].

A way to combine more than one storyline is to let characters wake up from a dream or a nightmare, as can be see in the [[#Dreams|Dreams theme]] (and dreams are also a [[:Category:Dreams|recurring topic]]). Here, it can even get recursive, so there can be dreams within dreams. One of the way to wake from a dream is, of course, by encountering a dinosaur that tries to step on your house (with you inside). Another is in reference to the possible rocket trip that may take the characters into space: see the [[#Space|Space theme]] (another [[:Category:Space|recurring topic]]).

There are a few other topics that are covered by Randall himself, but many others will be referenced in the text in the comic. However, since most of the options the users have is in itself created by user input (including naming the characters different names), any reference made by the text is not considered part of Randall's work and thus only sporadically be mentioned below under the [[#Themes|themes section]] and not be included as a category. Here is an example with a [http://www.xkcd.com/1350/#p:d8856ae6-bafb-11e3-8001-002590d77bdd permalink] where the last comment, in the ocean with a shark, references {{w|Malaysia Airlines Flight 370}} that disappeared less than a month before this comic was released [and has yet to be found years later]. But this is a user input, not Randall's.

Some of the idea of this comic was used again in the next year's April Fools' comic [[1506: xkcloud]], where user input also generated a very complex comic and the concept of permalink was used again.

This comic was the first time that [[Knit Cap|Knit Cap]] has a main part to play. Since this comic, she has been given a category as a supporting character in xkcd, but in most other comics knit cap is seen as a man. The name {{w|knit cap}} for his hat has also [[Knit_Cap#Other_names_for_knit_caps|been debated]].

==Transcript==
:[This transcript only transcribes what can be seen in the picture shown at the top of the explanation here.]

:[The comic starts with two panels. In the top panel we see Knit Cap sitting at a desk in front of her laptop typing. There is a speech line up to a gray but empty speech bubble.]
:[The second panel below has the same gray background as the empty speech bubble above. Here is presented four options to what Knit Cap could be saying. They are marked a, b, c and d written in small white rectangles next to the text. There is a small arrow at the top pointing to the first panel:]

:a Hurry! We're in talks with Facebook.
:b These stupid tiles... I'll just play one more game.
:c Refresh... No new email... Refresh... No new tweets... Refresh...
:d Oh. Hey. There's some kind of political thing going on.

:[Once the reader chooses one of the options, the text will appear in the speech bubble where the gray area is replaced with the usual white background. The lower gray panel disappears. Now the comic really begins.]
:[A new panel is shown after the selection, again with one to four options to choose from in the new gray panel below. This will continue until it comes to an end where the reader finally only has the choice to suggest the next line.]

:[The order of the up to four options are random, and changes every time you begin again (or even go back to a previous frame). This means that the a–d in the transcript is not the same next time. In some few panels there are even more than four options. To see the fifth you have to reload, then you may find this fifth option next time. The first panel is one of those with five options.]
:[The fifth not shown above is: '''Let's see if BSD is any easier to install nowadays.''' (see image with this option in the [[#Trivia|trivia section]]).]

:[In the first days of the comic, when it developed quickly, new options appeared only to later disappear. '''Gravity. Lots of it.''' is one of those lost options from the first panel. At one time there was also, by mistake, two versions of one of the other five mentioned above. This was later deleted. Below in the [[#Trivia|trivia section]] there are permalinks to all the different starting options, including the now lost gravity story.]

:[Although it may be impossible to finish (?), there has been an attempt to make a complete '''[[1350: Lorenz/Transcript|interactive transcript]]'''.]

==Functionality and bugs==
The reader is initially presented with only one panel, where [[Knit Cap]] is sitting in front of her computer. The reader is given multiple choices concerning what exactly Knit Cap is thinking. Upon choosing any option, the chosen text will appear where his gray speech bubble was (which will disappear), and then a second panel appears to the right to give continuity to the story. Each new panel may have a new set of options, or just the button "Continue", to see the next panel without making any choice in particular. Eventually, one reaches a dead end in which the story is interrupted, and the reader is presented with a text box to suggest how it should continue. Some of the suggestions given should eventually become available as new options.

===Number of options===
Normally, there are a total of 4 options to make: a/b/c/d. Their order changes constantly. Sometimes, there are 3 or fewer options, with the text box to suggest an alternative option. Sometimes, a given panel actually has 5 or more available options, although even in this case only 4 options appear at a time. Refreshing the comic changes randomly which of the available options are visible and which are hidden. As of late April 2014, the existence of 5 options seems to occur only in a few rare cases, including the first panel itself. There seem to be no longer any panels that have six options.

===Easy navigation===
Instead of clicking with the mouse, you can move more quickly through the panels using the keyboard:
*Up/Down — navigate options
*Enter/Right/Spacebar — choose option after navigating with Up/Down
*Left — go back one panel
*a/b/c/d — choose any option directly

===New panels===
It appeared that new panels were generated by Randall in near real time, as user suggestions to dialog were submitted around the release of the comic.

This text can (now) be found under the [http://xkcd.com/1350/info.0.json official transcript] at xkcd:
This April Fools' Day comic has a dynamic panel structure along the lines of a choose-your-own-adventure format - the viewer is presented with up to 4 options for each bit of dialogue, with each choice opening up a new subtree of potential options for the next bit of dialog, and new panel images are chosen semi-randomly based on a graph of potential panel transitions. Readers were also invited to submit dialog options for trees where there were not yet 4 fixed options, thus growing the potential story space. As such there is no fixed transcript for this comic.

The dialog options could be based on click-through rates, and hence will change over time based on which choices are clicked most using {{w|A/B testing|A/B measurement techniques}}. This will mean that the most popular choices for dialog lines will prevail as the statistics build up. In some cases, dialog line options do not depend on the continuity of the storyline followed, suggesting that some parts of the story are planned. For example, several of the story lines involve one of the two main characters waking up and, for instance, telling the other character, "I had the strangest dream..." or even reliving the dream. This may be due to common submissions across story lines. Of course, there is the other option that Randall has used the first week of April to look though some input and choose himself. These possibilities are not mutually exclusive. Some of the options that were there very early were in quite poor English. Later, the same idea was still there, but in a more refined sentence. However, after the first week or two, no new panels seemed to appear, which suggests that some were drawn to match the story's progression.

===Permalink===
A "{{w|permalink}}" is a portmanteau of "permanent-link". Each panel has a "permalink" button which generates a unique URL for all the choices made by the reader — so a reader can save the chosen choices to compare them to other ways going through the selections. The permalinks do only save the chosen options, not the order or the visible options in the image where the permalink is recorded, so it is not possible to save a copy where the options are only in the same order as they are in the 1/120 version shown at the top. Also, if you go back in the story from a permalink, you can risk that when passing back through a panel with five options, the option you just got back from is no longer available; as it is the option randomly not shown this time.

===Suggest a line===
Sometimes it is possible to add your own suggestions in a panel where there are still other choices, but, if not before, the story will always reach a "final" panel (dead-end) where the reader only has the option left to "suggest a line..." By doing so, and pressing enter, this text is then shown in the speech bubble — but these suggestions can't be saved, as there are no permalink buttons after this. The reader has to do a screenshot in order to save their own remark. After a few weeks had progressed, there were probably so few new suggestions that Randall stopped changing the comic. A few images have been found months (or even more than a year) after the release, but there has been little to no reason to believe that Randall continued to make new panels after the first few weeks of April. Maybe he returned occasionally to do one once in a while; but, for certain, the options and text continue to evolve.

===Bugs===
Since this interactive comic relies on many servers in the background to provide the response to the reader's actions, there are some problems reported here:
*{{w|HTTP cookie|Cookies}} and {{w|Javascript}} are required to see this page properly. Without cookies, the next panel will not render; attempting to load the page in the UNIXKCD terminal or loading the page without Javascript will just get you the [[1349|previous comic]].
*In the first week after the comic was released, if a response led to a panel where two characters speak at the same time, it was impossible to proceed past the first speech bubble. This was subsequently fixed.
As a consequence of these bugs, many readers had trouble understanding how this interactive comic worked.

==Themes==
{{Notice|Preferably there should be [[#Permalink|permalinks]] that shows all the possible images below, but sadly this can not the case, as many images are no longer accessible by "playing" the comic game. Only if someone saved a permalink in the beginning of the comics "life" will it be possible to see examples of all images in a story line. If you do have some of these old permalinks saved, please fill in for any missing images here below. There are also notices in the relevant sections which have not all been streamlined, so they are built up in the same way and with as many permalinks as are available at the moment.}}
*The 17 themes below have been split up after what type of images appear in the comic.
**As of April 2016 there are 149 different images, which are all described here below.
**To see all images, go to [[1350: Lorenz/Images]].
*Below, several images have been used in more than one theme, and there will thus be more than 149 images displayed in the tables below.
**To avoid this section becoming extremely long, all the tables under each section has been collapsed, and can be opened by clicking the link [show].
*Permalinks have been provided (where possible) to storylines that includes all the images shown in a given section.
**As the story may continue to evolve, there may eventually be added more images, although there is reason to believe that this will no longer happen.
**If any are discovered, please include them in the table below with a permalink.
*In general, only little mention will be of the user contributed text.
**But if a story seems to revolve around the choices, this may be mentioned.
**Try only to make reference to anything that can be backed up with a permalink.

===The beginning===
{| class="wikitable collapsible collapsed" |
! To see/hide images click here:
! Description of images
|-
! The beginning [[Image:lorenz - computer.png]]
|
*This is the opening image shown at the top of the explanation.
*Knit Cap sits at her laptop saying something either to himself or (maybe) to Hairy.
*You choose what he says from four options written below the panel: and thus starts this interactive and dynamic comic.
**Originally, on April 1st, there where only four choices; this quickly increased to six, but eventually ended up on five options.
**You always only have four options to choose from when you begin.
**By reloading the page you will eventually get the fifth also.
*There are only three different images that can follow this first image (see below):
|-
! Possible follow up images [[Image:lorenz_-_laptop_1.png]] [[Image:lorenz - visit.png]] [[Image:lorenz - debate laptop.png]]
|
*These images are the only three that can follow after the first image:
**[http://www.xkcd.com/1350/#p:9b96fda0-bb48-11e3-804b-002590d77bdd Knit Caps with question marks].
**[http://xkcd.com/1350/#p:2ed958de-badf-11e3-8001-002590d77bdd Hairy walks in].
**[http://xkcd.com/1350/#p:718ad9a6-bc6e-11e3-800f-002590d77bdd Live debate].
|}

===Computer problems===
{| class="wikitable collapsible collapsed" |
! To see/hide images click here:
! Description of images
|-
! Computer problems [[Image:lorenz - laptop 1.png]] [[Image:lorenz - laptop 2.png]] [[Image:lorenz - laptop 3.png]] [[Image:lorenz - laptop 4.png]] [[Image:lorenz - laptop 5.png]] [[Image:lorenz - laptop 6.png]]
|
*Knit Cap's laptop has an unspecified problem.
*Hairy walks in and they attempt to fix it by connecting his laptop with his.
*It doesn't work, so now Knit Cap tries to write something on Hairy's laptop from a paper (a manual?) he holds in her hand.
**See this [http://xkcd.com/1350/#p:2ed958de-badf-11e3-8001-002590d77bdd example] with all the images shown in this section, including the blow torch option mentioned below).
*There are two outcomes possible:
**When Knit Cap's manual fails, the story continues with the blowtorch scene: see [[#Blowtorch|below]].
**Knit Cap's manual fails so badly that they both end up randomly floating in the ocean (with or without circling sharks — reference to [[349: Success]]): see [[#Ocean|below]].
|}

===Blowtorch===
{| class="wikitable collapsible collapsed" |
! To see/hide images click here:
! Description of images
|-
! Manual failing [[image:lorenz - laptop 6.png]]
|
*Knit Cap tries to write something on Hairy's laptop from a note (manual?) he has in his hand while Hairy watches.
*In this storyline, it doesn't work and Knit Cap takes revenge on her laptop:
**This image is the last in the [[#Computer problems|computer problem theme]] above and can also lead to the [[#Ocean|Ocean scene]] below.
|-
! Blowtorch [[Image:lorenz - laptop 7.png]] [[Image:lorenz - laptop 8.png]] [[Image:lorenz - laptop 9.png]] [[Image:lorenz - laptop 10.png]] [[Image:lorenz - laptop 11.png]]
|
*Knit Cap becomes so upset with her laptop that she decides to melt it using a blowtorch
**A reference to the comic from the day before this one: [[1349: Shouldn't Be Hard]].
*After this, they walk out of the building.
**See this [http://xkcd.com/1350/#p:2ed958de-badf-11e3-8001-002590d77bdd example] with all images shown here, the one also used above for the [[#Computer problems|Computer problems]].
**See this [http://www.xkcd.com/1350/#p:bd44a816-bae5-11e3-8001-002590d77bdd example], where the burning first takes place after a dream after a rocket launch.
|}

===Ocean===
{| class="wikitable collapsible collapsed" |
! To see/hide images click here:
! Description of images
|-
! Wrong move [[image:lorenz - laptop 6.png]]
|
*Knit Cap tries to write something on Hairy's laptop from a note (manual?) she has in his hand while Hairy watches.
*In this storyline, it goes really wrong and the Ocean scene appears right after this:
**This image is the last in the [[#Computer problems|computer problem theme]] above and can also lead to the [[#Blowtorch|Blowtorch scene]] above.
*Usually they get to this point directly from the starting point, but the story can also return here after a dream.
**See this [http://www.xkcd.com/1350/#p:3df213b4-ba4f-11e3-8037-002590d77bdd example].
|-
! Sharks [[image:lorenz - shark zero.png]] [[image:lorenz - shark one.png]] [[image:lorenz - sharks.png]] [[image:lorenz - squids.png]] [[image:lorenz - blood.png]]
|
*Knit Cap and Hairy are floating in the ocean, with or without sharks.
**A reference to [[349: Success]].
*{{w|Sharks}} have also been the subject of [[:Category:Sharks|several other comics]].
**Three giant squids appear and a lone shark seems disturbed.
**The squids must have killed the sharks, leaving the blood in the last of these images. [https://theoakdalepost.com/feature/animal-kingdom-smackdown-giant-squid-v-great-white-shark]
*Here are three examples than together uses all the images shown in this section
**[http://www.xkcd.com/1350/#p:9b96fda0-bb48-11e3-804b-002590d77bdd Zero and one shark]
**[http://www.xkcd.com/1350/#p:9b6e3082-bb48-11e3-804b-002590d77bdd Three sharks]
**[http://www.xkcd.com/1350/#p:310127b6-bbb3-11e3-801c-002590d77bdd Squids and blood].
|-
! Beach [[image:lorenz - hairy swims away.png]] [[image:lorenz - beach.png]]
|
*Knit Cap and Hairy start to swim out of the shark free ocean.
*Finally reaches a beach — see [[349: Success]] again.
**Here is an [http://www.xkcd.com/1350/#p:30f53d98-bbb3-11e3-801c-002590d77bdd example] where they reach the beach and walk on.
|}

===Political debate===
{| class="wikitable collapsible collapsed" |
! To see/hide images click here:
! Description of images
|-
! Let's go live [[image:lorenz - debate laptop.png]]
|
*Knit Cap uses her laptop to watch a debate online.
**The images that follows are what he sees on his screen.
*Usually they get to this point directly from the starting point, but the story can also return here after a dream.
**See this [http://www.xkcd.com/1350/#p:31c6e414-bab0-11e3-8029-002590d77bdd example], where they even leave the laptop afterwards.
|-
! The debate [[image:lorenz - debate 1.png]] [[image:lorenz - debate 2.png]] [[image:lorenz - debate 5.png]] [[image:lorenz - debate 4.png]] [[image:lorenz - debate 3.png]]
|
*An online debate between two politicians; one has hair and is on the left, and the other ([[Cueball]]) is on the right. This debate is shown on Knit Cap's laptop screen.
**The subject and the actual conversation of which varies according to the storyline, but it always begins with the hairy politician speaking and then Cueball replying.
**This may be the end of the conversation, but sometimes there is a picture where both politician speaks in the same image
**There may even be two (or more?) images in a row where both politician speak in the same image
***See this [http://www.xkcd.com/1350/#p:f6b4b374-bd25-11e3-802c-002590d77bdd example].
*Eventually one of two things can happen:
**They fight each other: Cueball using a {{w|lightsaber}} (or something that looks like a {{w|Magic sword|holy sword}}) and the hairy politician using his bare fists
***A reference to {{w|Star Wars}} which has been [[:Category:Star Wars|referenced often]] in xkcd.
***See this [http://www.xkcd.com/1350/#p:ba7794b6-bafb-11e3-8001-002590d77bdd example].
**The hairy politician is goes down on one knee — either to pray or as in a suggestion to ask the other to marry him...
***See this [http://www.xkcd.com/1350/#p:ea25460c-baf3-11e3-8001-002590d77bdd example].
**All images used in this section are shown in the above examples.
*Subjects debated are the most likely user suggestions, and so any references made are not from Randall (even though they would have been used in xkcd before).
**Here below are some of the subject already up on April the 1st:
**The hairy politician accuses Cueball of having never liked {{w|Firefly}} see [http://www.xkcd.com/1350/#p:bf86fba8-baed-11e3-8001-002590d77bdd this example]).
**The hairy politician vows to end the "war on Christmas" if elected (see [http://www.xkcd.com/1350/#p:ea25460c-baf3-11e3-8001-002590d77bdd this example]).
**The hairy politician praises his adversary and supports his economic plan (see [http://www.xkcd.com/1350/#p:ba7794b6-bafb-11e3-8001-002590d77bdd this example]).
**The hairy politician questions Cueball's project of tying multiple birds to a car as fuel replacement, which would require some method to make the birds take off in unison.
***This is possibly a reference to {{w|Monty Python and the Holy Grail}}, where two swallows tied together to a coconut with a string try to lift it, but unlikely.
***The solutions mentioned for this topic are given here as an example:
***Opening and closing an umbrella near them (a reference to {{w|Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade}}). (see [http://www.xkcd.com/1350/#p:df6d1952-bc0f-11e3-8037-002590d77bdd this example]).
***Using a predatory bird to the car to scare them (see [http://www.xkcd.com/1350/#p:ef2c870e-baea-11e3-8002-002590d77bdd this example]).
***Putting resources in the hands of bird educators for the purpose of training them (see [http://www.xkcd.com/1350/#p:bfaccbe4-ba98-11e3-8008-002590d77bdd this example]).
***Employing {{w|Alan_Seabaugh#Fiscal_Hawk|fiscal hawks}}. (see [http://www.xkcd.com/1350/#p:4996daf6-baf4-11e3-8001-002590d77bdd this example].)
**If the hairy politician points out some problem with the reasoning, often the solution proposed by Cueball would be doing the same in a larger scale or saying he completely agrees with everything the other says. (see some of the above examples).
|-
! After the debate [[image:lorenz - visit.png]] [[image:lorenz - wake up 1.png]]
|
*In the end, either:
**Hairy walks in to Knit Cap and points out something happening near which may or may not involve birds (or whatever was the subject).
***This could be a direct result of Cueball's project. But all this is most likely based on user input!
***See [http://www.xkcd.com/1350/#p:4996daf6-baf4-11e3-8001-002590d77bdd this example].
**Knit Cap wakes up, as it turns out it was just a bad dream (see [[#Dreams|Dreams]] below).
***See [http://www.xkcd.com/1350/#p:ea25460c-baf3-11e3-8001-002590d77bdd this example].
*Both of these last two images have also been used in other storylines.
|}

===Dinosaur===
{| class="wikitable collapsible collapsed" |
! To see/hide images click here:
! Description of images
|-
! Dinosaur Comics [[Image:lorenz - dinosaur 1.png]] [[Image:lorenz - dinosaur 2.png]] [[Image:lorenz - dinosaur 3.png]]
|
*The green T-rex from {{w|Dinosaur Comics}}, (a clip-art-based webcomic that uses the same artwork with different captions for every strip), interrupts the story and proceeds to talk about his tiny arms or other subjects.
**The first three pictures are taken directly from the webcomic, except that the third picture is larger in the real comic
***See this particular [http://www.qwantz.com/index.php?comic=2420 ''Dinosaur Comics''] where the title text actually refer to Randall and xkcd.
***See this [http://www.xkcd.com/1350/#p:4e66ab6e-bae1-11e3-8001-002590d77bdd example] with only these three T-rex images.
**The entire ''Dinosaur Comics'' was parodied in [[145: Parody Week: Dinosaur Comics]], where Randall copied the drawings himself, and T-Rex has appeared in [[1452: Jurassic World]], where it was the last image from the actual comic that was used, as opposed to the three first here.
|-
! Stepping on the house [[Image:lorenz - dinosaur 4.png]] [[Image:lorenz - wake up 1.png]] [[Image:lorenz - wake up 5.png]]
|
*In the end, the dinosaur stamps on the house where the main characters are inside; Knit Cap covering and Hairy escaping.
**This is thus Randall's own picture but with the foot, seemingly taken from the T-rex, scaled up to fit the size.
**Usually the dinosaur story gets to this point before the characters [[#Leaving the building|leaves the building]].
***But when they do so, in other storylines, it is a completely different building they walk out of
***The explanation for this (apart from that it looks like this in ''Dinosaur Comics'') is that whenever the story gets this far one of the characters will wake up from a dream. See more under the [[#Dreams|dream theme]].
**When the building gets stepped on either Hairy or Knit Cap wakes up:
***See this [http://xkcd.com/1350/#p:f2b12f1e-bbae-11e3-801c-002590d77bdd example] where Hairy wakes up.
***Here are two examples where when Knit Cap wakes up, the dinosaur dream is the second dream from which she awakens:
****After the [http://www.xkcd.com/1350/#p:5e94d028-bb7d-11e3-8012-002590d77bdd hole dream]
****After the [http://xkcd.com/1350/#p:ffa26ce0-bade-11e3-8001-94de80a03a29 rocket dream].
****The characters has thus left the other building first, but then again both buildings turned out to be part of a dream.
|}

===Leaving the building===
{| class="wikitable collapsible collapsed" |
! To see/hide images click here:
! Description of images
|-
! Leaving [[Image:lorenz - going.png]] [[Image:lorenz - laptop 11.png]]
|
*In some storylines the two characters leaves the building.
**Either with the laptop intact:
***Either directly after the first image
***Or after the [[#Political debate|politic debate]].
**Or with a melted laptop (see the [[# Blowtorch|Blowtorch theme]]).
***See this [http://www.xkcd.com/1350/#p:bd44a816-bae5-11e3-8001-002590d77bdd example] where they leave the house twice, once first with the laptop intact and secondly after burning it.
*In either case they encounter one of the following scenarios when they come out the door:
|-
! Empty lawn [[Image:lorenz - away.png]]
|
*Sometimes nothing is outside the building except the pavement they walk upon; there is just an empty lawn.
**See [http://xkcd.com/1350/#p:b69f6096-b9f0-11e3-8009-002590d77bdd this example] where the laptop is burned.
*From this point they will continue walking past different landscapes: see the [[#Walking|Walking theme]].
|-
! Rocket on the lawn [[Image:lorenz - rocket 1.png]]
|
*Sometimes there is a rocket on the lawn outside the building: see the [[#Rocket launch|rocket launch]] theme.
**See [http://xkcd.com/1350/#p:ffa26ce0-bade-11e3-8001-94de80a03a29 this example] with the computer intact and no political debate.
|-
! Huge hole on the lawn [[image:lorenz - hole.png]]
|
*Sometimes there is a huge hole in the ground just outside of the building.
**The two characters always end up falling into it and one of them awakes from a nightmare: see more below about [[#Dreams|dreams]].
**See [http://www.xkcd.com/1350/#p:8440e346-bb16-11e3-8004-002590d77bdd this example] with the computer intact and no political debate.
**See [http://xkcd.com/1350/#p:718ad9a6-bc6e-11e3-800f-002590d77bdd this example] with the computer intact after political debate.
|}

===Walking===
{{Notice |Does anyone have [[#Permalink|permalinks]] for the image where Hairy is walking alone in silhouette, and maybe a situation where he walks alone without the ''meanwhile'' image first (maybe because of arguing, see below)? Please help by posting them in the table below:}}
{| class="wikitable collapsible collapsed" |
! To see/hide images click here:
! Description of images
|-
! Starting the walk [[Image:lorenz - away.png]] [[Image:lorenz_-_pikachu_dead_5.png]] [[Image:lorenz - beach.png]] [[Image:lorenz - run.png]] [[Image:lorenz - boomerang accident 2.png]] l[[Image:lorenz - meanwhile.png]]
|
*A walk can begin in more than one way.
**The most direct way to start the walk is when the two characters are [[#Leaving the building|leaving the building]], and finding nothing out on the lawn.
**A walk can also start when they leave the Pikachu from the [[#Pokémon|Pokémon theme]].
***See this [http://xkcd.com/1350/#p:8737f5b4-ba92-11e3-8008-002590d77bdd example], where the first ''walking together'' image appears after the house and a new walk begins after Pikachu with both the ''passing'' images.
**A walk can also start when they leave the beach after the [[#Ocean|ocean theme]].
***See [http://www.xkcd.com/1350/#p:30f53d98-bbb3-11e3-801c-002590d77bdd this] and this [http://www.xkcd.com/1350/#p:310127b6-bbb3-11e3-801c-002590d77bdd example], where a ''walking together'' and a ''passing'' image appear respectively after they come out of the ocean.
**In the examples above Knit Cap and Hairy are in principle always walking together.
***But such a walk can start directly with a zoom-in on one of the characters thinking.
***See this [http://www.xkcd.com/1350/#p:81c9e8c8-ba1d-11e3-8018-002590d77bdd example], where leaving the house is replaced with Knit Cap thinking and then finding Pikachu.
***As it turns out, he was still with Hairy and they continue the walk together after, but if the story stops before the last Pikachu picture, it would not be clear that Hairy was still there.
**But one of them sometimes ends up walking alone even though they started walking together.
***This happens after they have an [[#Arguing|argument]]. '''Example of this is missing!'''
**Walks can also start from different starting point where only one of them are walking.
***After Knit Cap runs away from hitting something with the [[#Boomerang|boomerang]] or is hit herself by the boomerang.
****See this [http://xkcd.com/1350/#p:b94d8be4-bb47-11e3-804b-002590d77bdd example] where he runs away.
****See this [http://xkcd.com/1350/#p:ee6b910c-bae5-11e3-8001-002590d77bdd example] where he hits himself.
***After the ''meanwhile'' image (where Hairy's walk alone can begin).
****See this [http://xkcd.com/1350/#p:aee5abf0-bb29-11e3-8004-002590d77bdd example].
*So the walking images from below can also appear or reappear in other ways — taking longer however — into a complicated story, as with the Pokémon example above with two walks: one earlier, one later.
*There are also two images which zoom in on one of the characters thinking.
**This mainly happens for Knit Cap when they are together (?).
***See this [http://www.xkcd.com/1350/#p:55a9e1ae-baa3-11e3-8017-002590d77bdd example].
***But this can also happen when he is alone, as seen in this [http://xkcd.com/1350/#p:b9575048-bb47-11e3-804b-002590d77bdd example].
**This only seems to happen for Hairy when he walks alone (?).
***See this [http://xkcd.com/1350/#p:aee5abf0-bb29-11e3-8004-002590d77bdd example].
|-
!Passing something [[Image:lorenz - tree.png]] [[Image:lorenz - gap.png]]
|
*Knit Cap and Hairy walks together past the following items:
*A tree where the two are walking past, and only Hairy speaks.
**See this [http://xkcd.com/1350/#p:a012d55a-bf3c-11e3-8001-002590d77bdd example] where they get past.
*A gap/pit in the ground which Knit Cap jumps over — much like in a pit from Mario brothers — while Hairy looks down speaking.
**See this [http://www.xkcd.com/1350/#p:97c42da2-bb01-11e3-8004-002590d77bdd example].
**Also see this [http://xkcd.com/1350/#p:8737f5b4-ba92-11e3-8008-002590d77bdd example], that has both images at the end.
|-
!Walking together [[Image:lorenz - walking.png]] [[Image:lorenz - walking 2.png]] [[Image:lorenz - dark.png]] [[Image:lorenz - thinking.png]]
|
*The two characters are seen walking together from different perspectives.
**See this [http://www.xkcd.com/1350/#p:52e63998-bb3b-11e3-8002-002590d77bdd example], with all three walking together.
***See this [http://xkcd.com/1350/#p:8737f5b4-ba92-11e3-8008-002590d77bdd example], with the image that has Hairy in front.
***See this [http://www.xkcd.com/1350/#p:81c9e8c8-ba1d-11e3-8018-002590d77bdd example], with Hairy behind.
***See this [http://www.xkcd.com/1350/#p:30f53d98-bbb3-11e3-801c-002590d77bdd example], with the silhouette image.
*At one point, while they are walking together, a zoom-in of Knit Cap's head shows he is thinking
**See this [http://xkcd.com/1350/#p:8737f5b4-ba92-11e3-8008-002590d77bdd example].
**As it turns out, he was still with Hairy and they continue the walk together after, but if the story stops before the last Pikachu picture it would not be clear that Hairy was still there.
***See also this [http://www.xkcd.com/1350/#p:55a9e1ae-baa3-11e3-8017-002590d77bdd example], where he thinks twice on the same walk.
***See also this [http://www.xkcd.com/1350/#p:bf610654-bb43-11e3-804b-002590d77bdd example], where he thinks two images in a row.
***This image can also appear while Knit Cap walks alone: see below.
|-
!Alone - Knit Cap [[Image:lorenz - walk 3.png]] [[Image:lorenz - walk 2.png]] [[Image:lorenz - walk 1.png]] [[Image:lorenz - walk 4.png]] [[Image:lorenz - walk 9.png]] [[Image:lorenz - bird gift.png]] [[Image:lorenz - bird money.png]] [[Image:lorenz - thinking.png]] [[Image:lorenz - walk 5.png]] [[Image:lorenz - walk 8.png]]
|
*Knit Cap walks alone.
**He is seen walking alone in many different poses and perspectives.
***There also an image with a zoom-in of his head showing he is thinking.
***See this [http://xkcd.com/1350/#p:b9575048-bb47-11e3-804b-002590d77bdd example], where he is walking alone with the "thinking" image coming at the very end.
***This image has mainly been used while he is walking with Hairy, see above.
***In this example, seven of the images from this section are used; only the last normal walking image above the ones that contain birds and the two with birds are missing.
**At some point a bird passes over him carrying a parcel. It then returns, now with a money note in its beak.
***See this [http://www.xkcd.com/1350/#p:d09d6e40-bbd3-11e3-802e-002590d77bdd example].
****The remaining three images are shown here.
****The birds could be a reference to Amazon's plans for using drones to deliver packages. (Something referred to later, for instance in [[1523: Microdrones]].)
****In that example, the text is most likely a reference to {{w|Monty Python and the Holy Grail}}, where it is discussed if two swallows could carry a coconut to explain their presence in England.
***In most other cases, only one of the bird pictures are shown like in these examples:
****The picture of the bird with a parcel can be seen in this [http://xkcd.com/1350/#p:b94af780-bb47-11e3-804b-002590d77bdd example] and this [http://xkcd.com/1350/#p:79bfc3d8-baa3-11e3-8017-002590d77bdd example] at the end.
****The picture of the bird with money can be seen in this [http://xkcd.com/1350/#p:b94d8be4-bb47-11e3-804b-002590d77bdd example] and this [http://xkcd.com/1350/#p:7b3383ae-baa2-11e3-8012-002590d77bdd example] at the end.
****In this [http://www.xkcd.com/1350/#p:50d05aa2-baa1-11e3-800d-002590d77bdd example], the story continues after the bird with the parcel.
****In this [http://www.xkcd.com/1350/#p:7448daea-ba97-11e3-8007-002590d77bdd example], the bird with the parcel comes twice.
****In this [http://www.xkcd.com/1350/#p:4e6dc4d8-bb01-11e3-8003-002590d77bdd example], the bird with the parcel is shown twice in a row.
****In this [http://www.xkcd.com/1350/#p:7fc6e57a-baeb-11e3-8002-002590d77bdd example], the bird with money is shown twice in a row.
**The image where he is standing without saying anything may only be seen in the [[#Boomerang|boomerang theme]] (?). That image will thus (so far at least) not be shown here.
|-
!Alone - Hairy [[Image:lorenz - meanwhile.png]] [[Image:lorenz - walk 7.png]] [[Image:lorenz - walk 10.png]] [[Image:lorenz - thinking 2.png]] [[Image:lorenz - walk 6.png]]
|
*Hairy is seen walking alone.
**He is seen walking alone in two poses.
**At one point a zoom in of his head shows he is thinking — this does not have to be while alone!
**In one story line the ''meanwhile'' image appears before this walk.
***See this [http://xkcd.com/1350/#p:aee5abf0-bb29-11e3-8004-002590d77bdd example], with the first four images from this section.
***It seems that this image only appears before Hairy's alone walk (?).
**There are '''still-missing examples''' of him walking alone without this image first.
***An [https://xkcd.com/1350/#p:0cec96b0-bb15-11e3-8004-002590d77bdd example] with the silhouette images of Hairy alone.
|}

===Arguing===
{{Notice |Does anyone have [[#Permalink|permalinks]] with a story line where either of the two are walking alone after the argument where one of them leaves, as this supposedly occurred to begin with. Please help by posting them in the table below:}}
{| class="wikitable collapsible collapsed" |
! To see/hide images click here:
! Description of images
|-
!Arguing [[Image:lorenz - discuss.png]] [[Image:lorenz - knit cap leaves.png]] [[Image:lorenz - hairy leaves.png]]
|
*Knit Cap and Hairy begins an argument.
**The fight can either commence during a walk:
***See this [http://www.xkcd.com/1350/#p:2a2d5f80-badd-11e3-8001-002590d77bdd example] with only the start of the fight.
**Or after they come out of the rocket when it failed to launch:
***See this [http://www.xkcd.com/1350/#p:b8c820a2-bb61-11e3-800e-002590d77bdd example] with only the start of the fight.
*Then one of them leaves the other by walking back the way they came.
**See this [http://www.xkcd.com/1350/#p:b65f48a8-bbc1-11e3-802c-002590d77bdd example], where Knit Cap is walking away.
**See this [https://xkcd.com/1350/#p:588c9fd6-bbdb-11e3-8033-002590d77bdd example], where Hairy is walking away.
*After this either of them can continue the walk alone.
**Examples are missing for both walking along — i.e. a storyline that actually shows that at least one of them continue to walk alone afterwards.
|-
!Leading to the argument [[Image:lorenz - tree.png]] [[Image:lorenz - gap.png]] [[Image:lorenz - thinking.png]] [[Image:lorenz - rocket 6.png]]
|
*The following examples show where these images lead to the first argument image.
**[http://www.xkcd.com/1350/#p:bf610654-bb43-11e3-804b-002590d77bdd Tree].
**[http://www.xkcd.com/1350/#p:4b2b6f7e-ba92-11e3-8004-002590d77bdd Jumping over pit].
**[http://www.xkcd.com/1350/#p:75c1569a-bae7-11e3-8002-002590d77bdd Thinking].
**[http://www.xkcd.com/1350/#p:b8c820a2-bb61-11e3-800e-002590d77bdd Failed rocket launch].
***'''There are likely more''' from the walking range of images.
|}

===Pokémon===
{{Notice|Why are one of the Pokéballs square, and why do three of the moves done by the Pikachu knock the '''Pikachu''' out?}}
{| class="wikitable collapsible collapsed" |

! To see/hide images click here:
! Description of images
|-
! A wild Pikachu appeared [[Image:lorenz - pikachu appeared.png]]
|
*Some of the storylines involve Pokémon battles featuring {{w|Pikachu}}; a very popular {{w|Pokémon}}.
**Pokémon have often been [[:Category:Pokémon|featured in xkcd]].
*The battles are drawn in the style of the video games.
**A trainer in the bottom-left corner faces the foe in the top-right corner, with a narration box below the scene and the trainer's {{w|Pokéballs}} visible.
***Some elements are missing here, such as the level, gender and HP bar.
*In this first image, Pikachu the wild pokémon appears. The fight then begins.
|-
! As part of the walk [[Image:lorenz - walking.png]] [[Image:lorenz - dark.png]] [[Image:lorenz - tree.png]] [[Image:lorenz - thinking.png]]
|
*The Pokémon storyline always begins during a walk where the two characters are together.
**It can definitely happen after those images, so typically shortly after they [[#Leaving the building|leave the building]].
***It can occur after a [[#Dreams|dream]]:
****See this [http://www.xkcd.com/1350/#p:97c42da2-bb01-11e3-8004-002590d77bdd example] that begins with a hole dream and then reaching the Pikachu after the thinking image.
***The thinking image can occur without them being together, but mainly it has been used as part of their walks together, and this will always be the case in the Pokémon story as they both are there if the moves are effective.
****See more detail in the [[#Walking|Walking section]].
***They can meet more than one Pikachu, but the story then returns to one of these images before it happens again:
****See this [http://xkcd.com/1350/#p:9a86363c-bb53-11e3-8001-002590d77bdd example] that begins after walking past a "three" first and then later where Knit Cap thinks before the next attack.
***Other images are listed here:
****See this [http://www.xkcd.com/1350/#p:feaa5d4e-bbd2-11e3-802c-002590d77bdd example], which has the silhouette image.
****See this [http://xkcd.com/1350/#p:0f6483ac-baee-11e3-8001-002590d77bdd example], which has the walking together image with Hairy in front.
|-
! Pikachu's moves [[Image:lorenz - pikachu abandonment.png]] [[Image:lorenz - pikachu anguish.png]] [[Image:lorenz - pikachu ant.png]] [[Image:lorenz - pikachu ethylene.png]] [[Image:lorenz - pikachu extrude.png]] [[Image:lorenz - pikachu faceless.png]] [[Image:lorenz - pikachu friendship.png]] [[Image:lorenz - pikachu granite.png]] [[Image:lorenz - pikachu graph.png]] [[Image:lorenz - pikachu ink cloud.png]] [[Image:lorenz - pikachu radicality.png]] [[Image:lorenz - pikachu theft.png]] [[Image:lorenz - pikachu uplift.png]] [[Image:lorenz - pikachu blank.png]] [[Image:lorenz - pikachu not very effective.png]]
|
*Pikachu uses a number of different moves, although these are mostly made up.
**It is written as "Enemy Pikachu used "''move''", with the possible ''moves'' listed here below.
**Pikachu's moves are almost invariably remarked by the narrator as "It's not very effective...",
***This is included as the last image in this section, as it comes in between all these non-effective moves.
***It can lead on, as seen below.
**But "It's super effective!" appears occasionally.
***This will always lead on from "It's not very effective...", as can be seen at the bottom.
**In Pokémon, a move is:
***"Not very effective" when the opponent's type resists the attacking move's type
***"Super effective" when the opponent's type is weak to the attacking move's type.

*'''Pikachu's moves'''
**See below for examples.
***The examples below are marked with "¤", "$", "£" etc., and the moves are similarly marked to indicate in which examples they appear.
****Those that can be ''not very effective'' in a way that takes the characters past Pikachu are written in ''italics'' below.
****Those that can be '''super effective''' are written in '''bold''' below.
*****A move that sometimes can result in a move past Pikachu will, in another storyline, not give the same result.
*****None of the moves have yet been shown to be able to get past Pikachu in both possible ways though!
*****For instance the examples marked with "¤" and "&" below both use ''graph theory'', and only in the first example is it super effective. But in the other it is not the last move.
*Here are the moves in alphabetical order:
**{{w|Abandonment (emotional)|Abandonment}} ^~@ — Pikachu disappears completely.
**{{w|Anguish}} ¤%~ — Pikachu is sad.
**''{{w|Ant Colony}}'' ~ — Pikachu is covered in ants.
**''{{w|1,2-Dichloroethane|Ethylene Dichloride}}'' ¤= — Pikachu holds a glass with Ethylene Dichloride
***Nothing seems to happen, although Ethylene Dichloride is a toxic chemical, so there may be future consequences for the characters. The next panel does say "was it diluted?" however.
**''{{w|Extrude}}'' + — Pikachu's head moves away from his body as his neck becomes long and malleable.
**'''[http://www.dictionary.com/browse/faceless Faceless]''' $@ — Pikachu's face disappears.
**{{w|Friendship}} £= — Pikachu is on Knit Cap's head, signifying they are now friends.
***Friendship, though not a move, is a game mechanic in the video games.
**{{w|Granite}} % — Pikachu is atop a block of granite.
**'''{{w|Graph Theory}}''' ¤& — The theory can be seen behind Pikachu
**{{w|Ink|Ink Cloud}} %+@ — Pikachu is covered in ink.
***In the storyline Pikachu uses it, there is the option to "gather" the ink.
**'''[http://da.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=radicality Radicality]''' £ — Pikachu is on a skateboard.
**''{{w|Theft}}'' &@ — Pikachu wears Knit Cap's hat.
***Pikachu seems to be using "Thief", a similarly-named actual move from the games, that is used to steal the foe's item and use it as their own.
**[https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/uplift Uplift] §@ — Pikachu's head goes upward, separated from its body, with a long, thick cable still connecting the head and the body.
*Finally there is a blank text box for '''user input''' ¤£%@&~+
**The below items are using the blank text box picture with that text coming from users input to appear in the blank picture at the bottom of this section:
***Google Maps did not warn me of this @
***In Google Maps it was easy to capture Pokemons @
****The two above are referencing the [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4YMD6xELI_k Google Maps: Pokémon Challenge].
***Where's Twitch when I need help? @
****A reference to {{w|Twitch Plays Pokémon}} which was also covered by comic [[1333: First Date]].
***Cute face @ (Written out correctly as ''Enemy Pikachu used "cute face"'').
***Cuteness % (Written out correctly as ''Enemy Pikachu used cuteness'').
***Yet %
***Go charizard! £
***Pikachu, find a Hamiltonian cycle in this graph! &
***Player wonders why Pikachu is working day labour at the home depot these days? ~
***Player used twitch crowdsource ~
***Enemy Pikachu used "the discrete metric" +
***I'm carrying so many Pokémon!! ¤
***Was is diluted? ¤
****(i.e. was the Ethylene Dichloride diluted?)

*Here are some '''examples of battle''' that together includes all the moves images.
**The examples below are marked with "¤", "$", "£", etc.
***Above the moves are similarly marked to indicate in which examples they appear.
**These moves are '''not very effective''':
:::@ [http://www.xkcd.com/1350/#p:d5bba698-badf-11e3-8001-002590d77bdd 9 different moves] — including four user inputs and ending on '''theft''' (28 panels, '''record length''' although not passing all the way by Pikachu).
:::= [http://xkcd.com/1350/#p:9a86363c-bb53-11e3-8001-002590d77bdd 2 different moves] — ending both on '''Ethylene Dichloride''' and later on '''Friendship''' (26 panels, '''moving past''' Pikachu and then '''returning for another fight'''; ending with the empty image for the user to fill in).
:::+ [http://www.xkcd.com/1350/#p:47fe85d0-bbbd-11e3-801c-002590d77bdd 3 different moves] — including a user input and ending on '''extrude''' (20 panels, '''moving past''' Pikachu).
:::§ [http://www.xkcd.com/1350/#p:97c42da2-bb01-11e3-8004-002590d77bdd 1 move only] — ending on '''uplift''', and then followed by an empty image for the user to fill in (21 panels, not getting to the end, but only one here coming to Pikachu '''through a dream''').
:::~ [http://xkcd.com/1350/#p:0f6483ac-baee-11e3-8001-002590d77bdd 5 different moves] — including two user inputs and ending on '''ant colony''' (19 panels, not passing all the way by Pikachu).
:::% [http://www.xkcd.com/1350/#p:f203d1c6-ba22-11e3-801a-002590d77bdd 5 different moves] — including two user inputs and ending on '''granite''', and then followed by an empty image for the user to fill in (17 panels, not getting to the end).
:::^ [http://www.xkcd.com/1350/#p:2f0612e0-bbd7-11e3-8030-002590d77bdd 1 move only] — ending on '''abandonment''', and then followed by an empty image for the user to fill in (9 panels, not getting to the end).
:::& [http://www.xkcd.com/1350/#p:b8fe0a3c-bb52-11e3-8001-002590d77bdd 3 different moves] — including a user input and ending on '''theft''' (15 panels, not passing all the way by Pikachu, and ineffective despite graph theory being included before the end, which is effective in another example see below).
:*These moves are '''super effective''':
:::¤ [http://www.xkcd.com/1350/#p:81c9e8c8-ba1d-11e3-8018-002590d77bdd 5 different moves] — including two user inputs and ending on '''graph theory''' (24 panels, but no new text after poking the Pokémon).
:::£ [http://xkcd.com/1350/#p:8737f5b4-ba92-11e3-8008-002590d77bdd 3 different moves] — including a user input and ending on '''radicality''' (22 panels, with '''one line of text after poking''' the Pokémon).
:::$ [http://www.xkcd.com/1350/#p:feaa5d4e-bbd2-11e3-802c-002590d77bdd 1 move only] — ending on '''faceless''' (17 panels, but no new text after poking the Pokémon).
|-
! Not very effective [[Image:lorenz - pikachu not very effective.png]] [[Image:lorenz - pikachu um.png]] [[Image:lorenz - pikachu end 1.png]] [[Image:lorenz - pikachu end 2.png]] [[Image:lorenz - pikachu dead 5.png]]
|
*Normally after a few failed attempts — where the result is given as ''It's not very effective'' — there is an uncomfortable silence as the Pikachu says "Um..."
**Then it talks to Knit Cap and Hairy from the tall grass.
**They ignore the remark and walk away past the Pókemon. The Pikachu is left in the tall grass looking after them and has time to make a final remark which they also seem to ignore.
**After that they come out of the tall grass (without an image where they walk in the tall grass without Pikachu as seen below in the very effective version).
*See these examples that are not very effective:
**In these they do not even get all the way out of the grass:
***[http://www.xkcd.com/1350/#p:81c9e8c8-ba1d-11e3-8018-002590d77bdd Theft], on the ninth move!
***[http://xkcd.com/1350/#p:0f6483ac-baee-11e3-8001-002590d77bdd Ant colony], on the fifth move.
***[http://www.xkcd.com/1350/#p:b8fe0a3c-bb52-11e3-8001-002590d77bdd Theft], on the third move.
**In these they do get all the way out of the grass:
***[http://www.xkcd.com/1350/#p:47fe85d0-bbbd-11e3-801c-002590d77bdd Extrude], on the third move.
***[http://xkcd.com/1350/#p:9a86363c-bb53-11e3-8001-002590d77bdd Ethylene Dichloride], on the first move! But first after burning the laptop. After this move they walk away only to meet another (or the same) wild Pikachu for another unfinished fight.
****In this particular example on the way past it says:
****"I used to be better at chemistry".
****"Wait. I can install you BSD".
*****This last line could have been different:
*****"Come back! I don't like it here in the tall grass!", see this [http://xkcd.com/1350/#p:33d9e268-baa3-11e3-8017-002590d77bdd example].
*****"Wait, you can't flee from a trainer battle!", see this [http://xkcd.com/1350/#p:372bbc40-ba97-11e3-8006-002590d77bdd example].
*****"No really guys, I can still remember most of it", see this [http://xkcd.com/1350/#p:6a2b3ca0-baa7-11e3-801e-002590d77bdd example].
****In another line out it says: "This is still better than all the lightning crap."
*****See this [http://xkcd.com/1350/#p:62d0439e-baaf-11e3-801f-002590d77bdd example], where there are no follow-up lines.
****There are several endings to this particular storyline, and in another storyline they do not meet the second Pikachu but lines are still spoken.
*****See this [http://xkcd.com/1350/#p:93aeb59c-bce2-11e3-801e-002590d77bdd example].
*Below are some other transcript of lines from user input and their references:
**Other remarks from Pikachu or about Pikachu can be seen in these examples from the same storyline:
***Pikachu: "Aren't you going to catch me? It's not difficult, I promise... Please?" Knit Cap and Hairy ignore him and go away and may get the following responses.
****"Please! Jigglypuff keeps on drawing on my face!"
*****See this [http://xkcd.com/1350/#p:e8dc6866-bbd4-11e3-8030-002590d77bdd example].
****"You were walking in tall grass! You asked for it!"
*****See this [http://xkcd.com/1350/#p:e90d70be-bbd4-11e3-8030-002590d77bdd example].
****"Please... Tame me! I want to party on days other than Thursday".
*****Hairy remarks while waking away: "Y'know, if we catch a Pikachu, we would never to pay our electric bills again". (Note the missing "have".)
*****See this [http://xkcd.com/1350/#p:93b5fbea-bce2-11e3-801e-002590d77bdd example].
*Pokémon mentioned other than Pikachu in user input:
**Charizard (In one storyline, "Go Charizard" is one usable move in battle).
***See this [http://xkcd.com/1350/#p:8737f5b4-ba92-11e3-8008-002590d77bdd example].
**Jigglypuff.
***See this [http://xkcd.com/1350/#p:e8dc6866-bbd4-11e3-8030-002590d77bdd example].
**Magikarp.
***See this [https://xkcd.com/1350/#p:99703da4-bae7-11e3-8002-002590d77bdd example].
|-
! Super effective [[Image:lorenz - pikachu not very effective.png]] [[Image:lorenz - pikachu super effective.png]] [[Image:lorenz - pikachu fainted.png]] [[Image:lorenz - pikachu dead 1.png]] [[Image:lorenz - pikachu dead 2.png]] [[Image:lorenz - pikachu dead 3.png]] [[Image:lorenz - pikachu dead 4.png]] [[Image:lorenz - pikachu dead 5.png]]
|
*Rarely, a suggested move knocks Pikachu out.
**This is stated as ''It's super effective''
***This always comes immediately the one with ''It's not very effective'' (which doesn't make sense).
**The result is that Pikachu faints.
***Knit Cap and Hairy looks at the fainted (not dead) Pikachu who is lying face-down in the grass.
***Knit Cap then ''pokes'' the pókemon and they walk past it.
***Then they continue through and out from the tall grass
*See these examples that are super effective:
**[http://www.xkcd.com/1350/#p:81c9e8c8-ba1d-11e3-8018-002590d77bdd Graph theory], on the fifth move.
**[http://xkcd.com/1350/#p:8737f5b4-ba92-11e3-8008-002590d77bdd Radicality], on the third move; with one line of text after poking the Pokémon.
***Hairy looking down the pit: "Now what?"
**[http://www.xkcd.com/1350/#p:feaa5d4e-bbd2-11e3-802c-002590d77bdd Faceless], on the first move!
|}

===Rocket launch===
{| class="wikitable collapsible collapsed" |
! To see/hide images click here:
! Description of images
|-
!Rocket on the lawn [[Image:lorenz - rocket 1.png]]
|
*When they [[#Leaving the building|leave the building]], they may find a rocket on the lawn.
|-
!Into the rocket [[Image:lorenz - rocket 2.png]] [[Image:lorenz - rocket 3.png]] [[Image:lorenz - rocket 4.png]]
|
*The characters climb into the rocket.
**See this [http://www.xkcd.com/1350/#p:f0ff797c-badd-11e3-8001-002590d77bdd example].
**Note that Hairy can be seen climbing up the ladder in the second image, and the door is slammed shut in the third (indicated with small lines).
|-
!Out of the rocket [[Image:lorenz - rocket 4.png]] [[Image:lorenz - rocket 5.png]] [[Image:lorenz - rocket 6.png]]
|
*In some storylines, the rocket does not launch.
**Either it fails or they don't wish to go into space that day.
**So the two characters climb out again.
***See this [http://www.xkcd.com/1350/#p:4b2b6f7e-ba92-11e3-8004-002590d77bdd example], where they walk on and then have an argument.
***Note that after the door has been slammed shut, there is an image without the lines indicating the door is now shut (before they climb out again).
|-
!Rocket launch [[Image:lorenz - rocket 4.png]] [[Image:lorenz - rocket 7.png]] [[Image:lorenz - rocket 8.png]] [[Image:lorenz - rocket 9.png]] [[Image:lorenz - rocket 11.png]] [[Image:lorenz - wake up 1.png]] [[Image:lorenz - wake up 5.png]]
|
*If they do not climb out again, the rocket will launch towards space right after the door has slammed (without waiting for the image with the closed door).
**Sometimes an image from the flight simulator program {{W|Kerbal Space Program}} (KSP) will appear (see [[#Kerbal Space Program|KSP theme]]) instead of the black image.
***See this [http://www.xkcd.com/1350/#p:8440e346-bb16-11e3-8004-002590d77bdd example], where the launch wakes up Knit Cap from a (second) dream. (See the [[#Dreams|dream theme]]).
***See alto this [http://www.xkcd.com/1350/#p:c9cfde56-bae6-11e3-8001-002590d77bdd example], where the launch wakes up Hairy.
**If the characters don't wake up here, the rocket will go into space (see [[#Space|space theme]]).
***Before reaching space, a dark image will turn up.
***See this [http://xkcd.com/1350/#p:ffa26ce0-bade-11e3-8001-94de80a03a29 example], where the space trip turns out to be a dream.
****Here another KSP image is also used to end the dream.
***The black picture is also used in the dream sequence with the hole just before they wake up.
****This never seems to happen from the launch sequence.
|}

===Space===
{| class="wikitable collapsible collapsed" |
! To see/hide images click here:
! Description of images
|-
!Successful launch [[Image:lorenz - rocket 9.png]]
|
*When the [[#Rocket launch|rocket launch]] is successful, the rocket will go into space and a black image will turn up as evidence of this .
**See this [http://xkcd.com/1350/#p:ffa26ce0-bade-11e3-8001-94de80a03a29 example].
**The black picture is also used in the dream sequence with the hole.
|-
!Flying over Earth [[Image:lorenz - rocket 10.png]]
|
*After entering space, the rocket is always shown in an orbit over Earth.
|-
!In space [[Image:lorenz - rocket 13.png]] [[Image:lorenz - rocket 14.png]] [[Image:lorenz - rocket 19.png]] [[Image:lorenz - rocket 20.png]]
|
*From Earth, the rocket flies into deep space.
**These images will appear and reappear (sometimes several times) intermixed with those below.
***Exceptions are with those of The Little Prince and those after the attacking spaceship which will always end the space journey.
***See this [http://www.xkcd.com/1350/#p:cccdb9ea-baf3-11e3-8001-002590d77bdd example], which contains all the images from this section, the two from above, and most of those from below (several of them at the same time). The first image is only used once right after Earth's orbit.
***See this [http://www.xkcd.com/1350/#p:6322a5a2-ba97-11e3-8007-002590d77bdd example], where the first image is not included.
***See this [http://xkcd.com/1350/#p:6490cc4a-b9f0-11e3-8009-002590d77bdd example], where the first image is used twice, but not to begin with.
|-
!Asteroids [[Image:lorenz - rocket 24.png]]
|
*Passing the {{W|Asteroid belt}}.
**See this [http://www.xkcd.com/1350/#p:cccdb9ea-baf3-11e3-8001-002590d77bdd example], where the image is used twice in a row.
|-
!Saturn [[Image:lorenz - rocket 12.png]]
|
*Passing {{W|Saturn}}, which has majestic rings.
**See this [http://www.xkcd.com/1350/#p:cccdb9ea-baf3-11e3-8001-002590d77bdd example], where the image is used eight times.
|-
!Spaceship [[Image:lorenz - rocket 15.png]] [[Image:lorenz - rocket 16.png]] [[Image:lorenz - rocket 17.png]] [[Image:lorenz - rocket 18.png]] [[Image:lorenz - rocket 22.png]] [[Image:lorenz - rocket 23.png]] [[Image:lorenz - wake up 5.png]]
|
*The rocket encounters another spaceship, which asks a question about relativity.
**It is the same question that appeared in [[265: Choices: Part 2]].
*If the question is answered satisfactory, the two rockets will just fly past each other.
**See this [http://www.xkcd.com/1350/#p:ccd0b334-baf3-11e3-8001-002590d77bdd example], where the ship passes the spaceship twice.
*If the answer to the spaceship is not acceptable, it will turn around after passing and shoot down the rocket.
**The next image will be from the {{w|Kerbal Space Program}} (KSP) simulator, see the [[#Kerbal Space Program|KSP theme]].
***But in this case, it is an image where the rockets are turned off. (In the first KSP image, the rockets are turned on).
**The KSP image is followed by Hairy waking up from a dream (it seems that it can only be him): see the [[#Dreams|dream theme]].
***Most of the images above, as well as this attack, are included in this [http://xkcd.com/1350/#p:ffa26ce0-bade-11e3-8001-94de80a03a29 example]
***In this [http://www.xkcd.com/1350/#p:6322a5a2-ba97-11e3-8007-002590d77bdd example], Hairy wakes up and starts to sing.
|-
!Little Prince [[Image:lorenz - rocket 21.png]] [[Image:lorenz - rocket 25.png]]
|
*Eventually, the rocket meets a guy on a very round asteroid.
**This is a reference to {{w|The Little Prince}}, which has been referenced before in xkcd in both [[2: Petit Trees (sketch)]] and [[618: Asteroid]].
**The story originally never seemed to move past this first image with the prince and the rocket, but finally there appeared one more without the rocket.
***See this [http://xkcd.com/1350/#p:25743f70-baee-11e3-8001-002590d77bdd example].
|}

===Kerbal Space Program===
{| class="wikitable collapsible collapsed" |
! To see/hide images click here:
! Description of images
|-
!Kerbal space program [[Image:lorenz - rocket 11.png]] [[Image:lorenz - rocket 23.png]]
|
*These pictures are from the flight simulator program {{W|Kerbal Space Program}} (KSP).
**The first shows a rocket with the engines on from [[#Rocket launch|rocket launch]].
**The second shows a rocket with the engines off after the attack in the [[#Space|space theme]].
*They both appear in a sequence leading to a [[#Dreams|dream]], see below:
|-
!Engines on [[Image:lorenz - rocket 8.png]] [[Image:lorenz - rocket 11.png]] [[Image:lorenz - wake up 1.png]] [[Image:lorenz - wake up 5.png]]
|
*The rocket launch turns out to be just a dream.
**One of the two characters wake up in their bed.
***See this [http://www.xkcd.com/1350/#p:8440e346-bb16-11e3-8004-002590d77bdd example], where Knit Cap awakens.
***See this [http://www.xkcd.com/1350/#p:c9cfde56-bae6-11e3-8001-002590d77bdd example], where Hairy awakens.
***It seems that this image cannot precede a journey into space.
|-
!Engines off [[Image:lorenz - rocket 22.png]] [[Image:lorenz - rocket 23.png]] [[Image:lorenz - wake up 5.png]]
|
*After the other rocket shoots the original rocket, we see a KSP image with the engines off.
**See this [http://i.imgur.com/UofvQ.png image] from KSP, where the engines are off.
**After that image, it turns out it was just a dream. Only Hairy is seen to awake from this dream.
***See this [http://xkcd.com/1350/#p:ffa26ce0-bade-11e3-8001-94de80a03a29 example].
|}

===Dreams===
{| class="wikitable collapsible collapsed" |
! To see/hide images click here:
! Description of images
|-
! Walking up [[Image:lorenz - wake up 1.png]] [[Image:lorenz - wake up 5.png]]
|
*Sometimes, Knit Cap or Hairy find themselves waking from a dream, suggesting that all prior events were just dreams.
**Some situations will always result in a character waking up.
**Other situations will, in some storylines, only lead to a character waking up.
***In those storylines, there will always be another way to continue the story.
**Below are several situations where a dream will or may occur, described (and shown with the full sequence leading up to the dream displayed).
*Often a dream loops upon itself, as a character wakes up multiple times in the same storyline.
**Either from the [http://www.xkcd.com/1350/#p:20698602-bbb1-11e3-801c-002590d77bdd same dream] or from [http://www.xkcd.com/1350/#p:5e94d028-bb7d-11e3-8012-002590d77bdd different dreams].
**Sometimes, [http://xkcd.com/1350/#p:ffa26ce0-bade-11e3-8001-94de80a03a29 each character] has different dreams in the same storyline.
***This means that the last to wake up has dreamt that they were the other character waking up before.
*The dream scenarios (together with the [http://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/images/8/80/lorenz_-_meanwhile.png ''meanwhile'' image]) would theoretically make it possible to connect all images into one long sequence.
**This has not been seen yet.
|-
! Falling [[Image:lorenz - hole.png]] [[Image:lorenz - falling.png]] [[Image:lorenz - aaa.png]] [[Image:lorenz - aaa 2.png]] [[Image:lorenz - rocket 9.png]] [[Image:lorenz - wake up 1.png]] [[Image:lorenz - wake up 5.png]]
|
*One of the most obvious dreams is the one about falling, as in this case, where both characters falls into a big hole outside the [[#Leaving the building|building they are leaving]].
**Here is an [http://www.xkcd.com/1350/#p:20698602-bbb1-11e3-801c-002590d77bdd example] of that, where one, then the other, character wakes up from the same falling dream.
*The hole situation will always turn out to be a dream from which one (or both, as shown above) of the characters wake up from the nightmare after falling into the hole.
**They can wake up after any of the three black pictures shown here.
**The other two pictures (which were not included in the first example) can be seen in [http://xkcd.com/1350/#p:ba285dea-baa3-11e3-801c-002590d77bdd this example], where only Knit Cap wakes up.
**A situation with only Hairy waking can be seen in [http://www.xkcd.com/1350/#p:2c6df10a-bb15-11e3-8004-002590d77bdd this example].
*The totally black picture is also sometimes used at the end of the [[#Rocket launch|rocket launch]].
|-
! Dinosaur [[Image:lorenz - dinosaur 1.png]] [[Image:lorenz - dinosaur 2.png]] [[Image:lorenz - dinosaur 3.png]] [[Image:lorenz - dinosaur 4.png]] [[Image:lorenz - wake up 1.png]] [[Image:lorenz - wake up 5.png]]
|
*A Dinosaur enters the comic (see more about these same images under the [[#Dinosaur|Dinosaur theme]]).
**If the comic goes on for long enough, all four images with the green dinosaur will appear.
**When reaching the fourth image, where the dinosaur steps on the building, the story will always turn out to be a nightmare from which either of the characters may wake up from.
***See this [http://xkcd.com/1350/#p:f2b12f1e-bbae-11e3-801c-002590d77bdd example], where Hairy wakes up.
***Here are two examples in which Knit Cap wakes up, where the dinosaur dream is the second dream from which he woke up from:
****After the [http://www.xkcd.com/1350/#p:5e94d028-bb7d-11e3-8012-002590d77bdd hole dream]
****After the [http://xkcd.com/1350/#p:ffa26ce0-bade-11e3-8001-94de80a03a29 rocket dream].
|-
! Rocket launch [[Image:lorenz - rocket 7.png]] [[Image:lorenz - rocket 8.png]] [[Image:lorenz - rocket 11.png]] [[Image:lorenz - wake up 1.png]] [[Image:lorenz - wake up 5.png]]
|
*The [[#Rocket launch|rocket launch]] will not always turn into a dream.
**This dream is not really a nightmare, as opposed to the three above, where the characters always wake up.
**During the take-off, after the rocket ignites, there are two possible images.
***If the last image is black, the take-off succeeds.
***If the last image during take off is from KSP (with the rockets on), the story always result in one of the two characters waking up waking up during the launch.
****See [http://www.xkcd.com/1350/#p:8440e346-bb16-11e3-8004-002590d77bdd this example], where Knit Cap wakes after she has already awoken from the hole dream.
****See [http://www.xkcd.com/1350/#p:c9cfde56-bae6-11e3-8001-002590d77bdd this] and [http://www.xkcd.com/1350/#p:4e6cbc5a-bb01-11e3-8003-002590d77bdd this] example, where Hairy wakes up from the launch.
|-
! Evil spaceship [[Image:lorenz - rocket 15.png]] [[Image:lorenz - rocket 16.png]] [[Image:lorenz - rocket 17.png]] [[Image:lorenz - rocket 18.png]] [[Image:lorenz - rocket 22.png]] [[Image:lorenz - rocket 23.png]] [[Image:lorenz - wake up 5.png]]
|
*During space travel, the rocket passes another spaceship.
**If a failed communication occurs, the evil space ship turns around and shoots down the rocket.
**At this point, it turns out it was just a nightmare and one of the characters wake up. (Maybe only Hairy?)
***See [http://xkcd.com/1350/#p:ffa26ce0-bade-11e3-8001-94de80a03a29 this example], where that continues to a dinosaur dream from where Knit Cap wakes up.
**In the last picture before waking up, we see an image from the KSP with the rockets off.
***This situation will always turn out to be a dream.
|-
! Politic debate [[Image:lorenz - debate 1.png]] [[Image:lorenz - debate 2.png]] [[Image:lorenz - debate 4.png]] [[Image:lorenz - wake up 1.png]]
|
*In this dream (which isn't a nightmare), Knit Cap wakes up after a "political debate".
**See [http://www.xkcd.com/1350/#p:ea25460c-baf3-11e3-8001-002590d77bdd this example].
*It is probably impossible that Hairy wakes up from this because he is not present when the debate starts.
|}

===Waking up===
{| class="wikitable collapsible collapsed" |
! To see/hide images click here:
! Description of images
|-
! Walking up [[Image:lorenz - wake up 1.png]] [[Image:lorenz - wake up 5.png]]
|
*Sometimes, Knit Cap or Hairy find themselves waking from a dream, suggesting that all prior events were just them dreaming. (See the [[#Dreams|dream theme]].)
**After they wake, they stay in bed for a while and then go out in to the world.
*When they wake up:
**Knit Cap wakes up with her head to the left and the knit cap lying on the end of her bed.
**Hairy wakes up with his head to the right.
|-
! In bed - Girl [[Image:lorenz - wake up 1.png]] [[Image:lorenz - wake up 2.png]] [[Image:lorenz - wake up 10.png]] [[Image:lorenz - wake up 3.png]]
|
*Knit Cap wakes up with a ''Gasp''.
**He sits for a while.
***Maybe he even starts to sing; see below.
***After this, he may either lie down or leave bed.
****See this [http://www.xkcd.com/1350/#p:f894ceb2-bae7-11e3-8002-002590d77bdd example], where he lies back down again and goes to sleep (and then finds a boomerang, see below).
****See this [http://www.xkcd.com/1350/#p:8440e346-bb16-11e3-8004-002590d77bdd example] (where the bed is shown as empty before moving on), the first time yawning and the second singing.
**When he does get out of bed, he may either:
***Walk yawning into her office, if the bed was empty (see below).
***Go out and find a [[#Boomerang|boomerang]], if he lies down again.
|-
! In bed - Guy [[Image:lorenz - wake up 5.png]] [[Image:lorenz - wake up 6.png]] [[Image:lorenz - wake up 7.png]] [[Image:lorenz - wake up 12.png]]
|
*Hairy wakes up with a ''Gasp''.
**He sits for a while.
***Maybe he even starts to sing (see below).
***After this, he may either lie down or leave the bed empty.
****See this [http://xkcd.com/1350/#p:ffa26ce0-bade-11e3-8001-94de80a03a29 example], where he leaves the bed empty and yawns (and then Knit Cap has another dream later).
****See this [http://xkcd.com/1350/#p:f2b12f1e-bbae-11e3-801c-002590d77bdd example], where he lies back down again (and goes to meet the salesman: see below).
****Notice that Randall forgot to draw Hairy's hair as he lay down again.
****Randall also forgot Hairy's hair in [[1028: Communication]] — see this [[1028: Communication#Trivia|trivia]].
**When he does get out of bed, he may either:
***Walk into Knit Cap at her laptop while yawning (if the bed was empty): see below.
***Go outside to meet [[White Hat]] the [[#Salesman|salesman]] if he lay back down again.
|-
! Singing in bed [[Image:lorenz - wake up 11.png]] [[Image:lorenz - wake up 13.png]]
|
*After having sat up in bed with a gasp, either character may then begin to sing ''I woke up like this''.
**See this [http://www.xkcd.com/1350/#p:8440e346-bb16-11e3-8004-002590d77bdd example] with Knit Cap (walking twice, singing the second time), where the bed is empty before moving on (both times).
**See this [http://www.xkcd.com/1350/#p:6322a5a2-ba97-11e3-8007-002590d77bdd example] with Hairy where the bed is empty before moving on .
*This is likely a reference to {{W|Beyoncé|Beyoncé's}} song ''{{W|Flawless (Beyoncé song)|Flawless}}''.
**See the [http://lyricsmusic.name/beyonce-knowles-lyrics/beyonca/flaweless.html lyrics here].
**The line ''I woke up like this'' is repeated eight times in the song, four time in each of the last to verses.
|-
!Yawning - Girl [[Image:lorenz - wake up 4.png]] [[Image:lorenz - computer.png]]
|
*Yawning Knit Cap gets back to her laptop and we are back to the first image.
**See this [http://www.xkcd.com/1350/#p:20698602-bbb1-11e3-801c-002590d77bdd example], where both characters' yawning pictures appear after the same dream.
|-
!Yawning - Guy [[Image:lorenz - wake up 8.png]] [[Image:lorenz - wake up 9.png]]
|
*Yawning Hairy walks in where Knit Cap is sitting at her laptop and tells her about his dream (?).
**See this [http://www.xkcd.com/1350/#p:0bfb9832-baa7-11e3-801e-002590d77bdd example], where both pictures from this section appears and they continue to walk out after.
**See this [http://www.xkcd.com/1350/#p:20698602-bbb1-11e3-801c-002590d77bdd example], where both characters' yawning pictures appear after the same dream.
|}

===Salesman===
{| class="wikitable collapsible collapsed" |
! To see/hide images click here:
! Description of images
|-
! Salesman [[Image:lorenz - wake up 7.png]] [[Image:lorenz - sale 1.png]] [[Image:lorenz - sale 2.png]] [[Image:lorenz - sale 3.png]] [[Image:lorenz - sale 4.png]]
|
*After walking up with a gasp from a nightmare and then lying down again, he has chosen not to go to Knit Cap.
**Which is why the "lying-down" image is included here.
*Hairy takes an alternative route where he meets [[White Hat]], a salesman with a small stand.
**White Hat tries to sell something to Hairy.
*The last picture with the graph did not appear until much later than the rest (or was at least not found).
**Here is an [http://xkcd.com/1350/#p:f2b12f1e-bbae-11e3-801c-002590d77bdd example] where Hairy meets White Hat, but not reaching the graph picture.
**Here is an [http://www.xkcd.com/1350/#p:2c6df10a-bb15-11e3-8004-002590d77bdd example] that reaches the graph picture.
**Here is another [http://www.xkcd.com/1350/#p:39dfd484-bb01-11e3-8003-002590d77bdd example] that reaches the graph picture.
***These two may be the only two pathways.
|}

===Boomerang===
{| class="wikitable collapsible collapsed" |
! To see/hide images click here:
! Description of images
|-
! Finding Boomerang [[Image:lorenz - wake up 10.png]] [[Image:lorenz - boomerang 1.png]] [[Image:lorenz - boomerang 2.png]]
|
*After Knit Cap wakes up from a [[#Dreams|dream]] and then lies down in bed, she may (always?) go outside to find a {{w|Boomerang}} on the ground.
**He picks it up and then expresses his feelings about it in a thought bubble.
***He may also pick it up following another image where he is just walking.
****See this [http://xkcd.com/1350/#p:ee6b910c-bae5-11e3-8001-002590d77bdd example].
**The other throwing images, listed below, may come (more or less) in any order and any number of times.
***The aforementioned first two boomerang images may also reappear, therefore more than one accident can happen.
**He may comment on it again after catching it.
***He may also put it down and leave, but may then also find it or another boomerang again later.
****This is the cause for the longest storylines almost always including the boomerang.
****Since this storyline only occurs after a dream, gives some of the longest storylines, and never usually gets on to any other stories (except a short story where Hairy walks alone), this has been placed last in this list.
*Boomerangs have been [[:Category:Boomerangs|featured in xkcd before]]. See in particular these that clearly reference them:
**[[445: I Am Not Good with Boomerangs]].
**[[475: Further Boomerang Difficulties]].
|-
! Throwing Boomerang [[Image:lorenz - boomerang 3.png]] [[Image:lorenz - boomerang 4.png]] [[Image:lorenz - boomerang 8.png]] [[Image:lorenz - boomerang 6.png]] [[Image:lorenz - boomerang 9.png]] [[Image:lorenz - boomerang 10.png]] [[Image:lorenz - boomerang 5.png]] [[Image:lorenz - boomerang 7.png]] [[Image:lorenz - boomerang 11.png]]
|
*Knit Cap throws the boomerang and it flies back to her, so she catches it.
**This can go on for a while, and he may even lay it down and walk away:
***See this [http://xkcd.com/1350/#p:08896f1c-bade-11e3-8001-94de80a03a29 example].
**It may also fly back and forth above him.
***See this [http://xkcd.com/1350/#p:84eb4738-bade-11e3-8001-94de80a03a29 example].
*However, more often than not, he will end up with an accident:
|-
! Accidents [[Image:lorenz - boomerang accident.png]] [[Image:lorenz - boomerang accident 2.png]] [[Image:lorenz - boomerang accident 5.png]] [[Image:lorenz - boomerang accident 6.png]] [[Image:lorenz - boomerang rocket 1.png]] [[Image:lorenz - boomerang rocket 2.png]] [[Image:lorenz - boomerang boom.png]] [[Image:lorenz - surprise.png]] [[Image:lorenz - run.png]] [[Image:lorenz - boomerang accident 3.png]] [[Image:lorenz - boomerang accident 4.png]] [[Image:lorenz - meanwhile.png]]
|
*These accidents are:
**Either character gets hit in the face.
***See this [http://xkcd.com/1350/#p:ee6b910c-bae5-11e3-8001-002590d77bdd example], where both are hit.
***Knit Cap get hit in the face first, when the boomerang rebounds, then puts it down (only to pick up a new one later).
****See [https://xkcd.com/1350/#p:ee6b910c-bae5-11e3-8001-002590d77bdd this example].
***Knit Cap then fails to catch the boomerang, the rebound hits Hairy in the face (off-screen), and he then enters the frame next image.
**Hitting a rocket taking off.
***See this [http://www.xkcd.com/1350/#p:ea25460c-baf3-11e3-8001-002590d77bdd example].
**The boomerang crashes into something off-panel, someone may shout back, and Knit Cap runs away.
***See this [http://www.xkcd.com/1350/#p:fc34f46a-ba98-11e3-8008-002590d77bdd example].
***In some cases, this last accident is followed by the ''meanwhile'' image to make the story move on with Hairy walking along (which is mentioned in more detail at the bottom of the [[#Walking|Walking section]]).
****See this [http://xkcd.com/1350/#p:aee5abf0-bb29-11e3-8004-002590d77bdd example].
|-
! Leaving the boomerang [[Image:lorenz - boomerang 11.png]] [[Image:lorenz - boomerang accident 2.png]] [[Image:lorenz - run.png]] [[Image:lorenz - boomerang accident 4.png]] [[Image:lorenz - meanwhile.png]] [[Image:lorenz - boomerang accident 6.png]]
|
*The following images are the one where the boomerang story may stop (although some of them may lead back to the boomerang again):
**Leaving the boomerang on the ground without accident.
***But there seem to be no way he actually leaves the boomerang this way:
****Either the story stops before he completely leaves the image (with the boomerang on the ground).
****Or he finds another and picks that up instead proceeding from there.
****See this [http://xkcd.com/1350/#p:08896f1c-bade-11e3-8001-94de80a03a29 example], which has both situations.
**Leaving the boomerang after hitting himself in the face.
***Maybe this is similar to the one above, as can at least be seen in the example given:
***See this [http://xkcd.com/1350/#p:ee6b910c-bae5-11e3-8001-002590d77bdd example].
**Running away after having destroyed the rocket
***See this [http://www.xkcd.com/1350/#p:ea25460c-baf3-11e3-8001-002590d77bdd example].
**Running away after having hit someone off panel.
***This image seems to belong with the ''meanwhile'' image, and the storyline goes on using that route, so, for sure, he is getting away from the boomerang.
****See this [http://xkcd.com/1350/#p:aee5abf0-bb29-11e3-8004-002590d77bdd example].
**Hitting Hairy off panel, who then walks into the panel.
***There seems to be no story continuing from there.
***I.e., this story-line never leaves the boomerang behind, but just stops.
****See this [http://xkcd.com/1350/#p:ee6b910c-bae5-11e3-8001-002590d77bdd example].
|}

==Trivia==
*Here is a picture with the fifth option that could not be included in the top image
**''Let's see if BSD is any easier to install nowadays.'':
::[[Image:lorenz.png]]
::*There used to be a sixth option: "Gravity. Lots of it." However, it no longer appears.
*In one [http://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/File:lorenz_-_wake_up_7.png panel], Hairy is drawn in bed ''without'' his hair — see the [[#Waking up|Waking up]] pictures.
*Some pictures are used often and some very rarely:
**The most common pictures are [http://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/a1-2014/vS9UO5cGsw1hoDrrNLMSRg.png "Not very effective"], [http://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/a1-2014/VegCGBEOFJCsFxJpbmvziQ.png Throwing], [http://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/a1-2014/zHPHozjDXmCUy66bYVSRoQ.png Waiting] and [http://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/a1-2014/ZNBJOG1e-vCfzdqKFHQ21A.png Leaving the House].
**The rarest pictures that can be found via permalink are [http://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/a1-2014/VgSdMz8OAHQ8w5Ee432f5Q.png The Little Prince], [http://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/a1-2014/0RW46RaD8RJDfTyBOTqlpw.png The beach] and [http://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/a1-2014/OZZtCeXrnU0UskVTCUQf1Q.png An exponential chart].
***As of late July 2021, there are several pictures from the complete list that no longer seem to be available — so not only are they rare, they are extinct in the comic if no one has a permalink to a comic where they appear.
****2 pictures are listed as missing two years later, on April 1, 2016, and they can be seen under themes where notices have made it clear where they are.
****They are the one with Hairy walking alone seen in silhouette, and the one "after arguing" where Hairy is leaving.
*****The other 147 images are all accounted for.
*[http://xkcd.com/1350/#p:0cd52ed0-bb15-11e3-8004-002590d77bdd This one] has (simplified) Chinese characters in it. It would roughly translate to: "These sentences have no meaning. With no meanings, there is nothing to say. How do I arrange it into a haiku format then?" It is arranged in haiku: 5 syllables, 7 syllables, 5 syllables. In traditional Chinese characters, it would be "句子没有意。意也没有話不話。怎麼來俳句？"
*[https://xkcd.com/1350/#p:585ff20c-baf4-11e3-8001-002590d77bdd This one] also has Chinese characters in it. It would translate to "No" or "Not good"
*And [https://xkcd.com/1350/#p:fb62f406-baa2-11e3-8015-002590d77bdd this one has French].
*[https://xkcd.com/1350/#p:461b8e7a-baeb-11e3-8002-002590d77bdd This example]] has two commas in a row, which is obviously wrong.

===Record length===
====The all time longest comics by panel====
*'''Top three'''.
**Please only include '''clearly different''' storylines:
*# [http://xkcd.com/1350/#p:ffa26ce0-bade-11e3-8001-94de80a03a29 77 panels] — Tiles, space/dinosaur double dream, boomerang, exploding rocket.
*# [http://xkcd.com/1350/#p:b9575048-bb47-11e3-804b-002590d77bdd 50 panels] — Tiles, double hole dream, boomerang, and exploding rocket
*# [https://xkcd.com/1350/#p:b94d8be4-bb47-11e3-804b-002590d77bdd 46 panels] — Tiles, hole dream, hole dream, boomerang, exploding rocket, bird passing.
**There may be no upper boundary!
***But then this is the list of the longest comics with most panels as found so far.
**If you beat a record, please post the '''permalink''' here: https://www.xkcd.com/1350/#p:84eb4738-bade-11e3-8001-94de80a03a29
**Please note the themes included in the comic.
**Please move beaten records down and delete the fourth.

====Longest by themes====
*Click to expand:
<div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed leftAlign" style="width:100%">
Include only more than one if the story is clearly different from from the record.
#Dreams (most often multiple):
##[http://xkcd.com/1350/#p:ffa26ce0-bade-11e3-8001-94de80a03a29 77 panels] — Tiles; two dreams, one by each character; space; dinosaur attack.
##[http://xkcd.com/1350/#p:b9575048-bb47-11e3-804b-002590d77bdd 50 panels] — Tiles; hole dream; boomerang; exploding rocket.
##[http://xkcd.com/1350/#p:718ad9a6-bc6e-11e3-800f-002590d77bdd 41 panels] — Political debate; hole dream; boomerang.
##[http://www.xkcd.com/1350/#p:ea25460c-baf3-11e3-8001-002590d77bdd 39 panels] — Political debate; politics dream; boomerang; exploding rocket.
##[http://xkcd.com/1350/#p:2ed958de-badf-11e3-8001-002590d77bdd 36 panels] — Tiles; hole dream; blowtorch laptop; rocket take-off dream.
##[http://xkcd.com/1350/#p:67605e86-bb1c-11e3-8004-002590d77bddd 36 panels] --- Political debate; hole dream; Hairy gets hit in the face by boomerang.
##[http://xkcd.com/1350/#p:452c03fc-bb16-11e3-8004-002590d77bdd 35 panels] — Tiles; the hole dream; the shovel/blowtorch and then hole agan dream; boomerang.
##[http://xkcd.com/1350/#p:ba285dea-baa3-11e3-801c-002590d77bdd 28 panels] — BSD; hole dream that goes back to starting point.
##[http://www.xkcd.com/1350/#p:8440e346-bb16-11e3-8004-002590d77bdd 26 panels] — Tiles; two different dreams by the same character after hole and rocket.
##[http://www.xkcd.com/1350/#p:5e94d028-bb7d-11e3-8012-002590d77bdd 22 panels] — Tiles; two different dreams by the same character after hole and dinosaur attack.
##[http://www.xkcd.com/1350/#p:20698602-bbb1-11e3-801c-002590d77bdd 21 panels] — Tiles; the hole dream twice, once by each character.
###More than two dreams in one storyline have yet to be seen.
#Boomerang:
##[http://xkcd.com/1350/#p:ffa26ce0-bade-11e3-8001-94de80a03a29 77 panels] — Tiles; two dreams, one by each character; space; dinosaur attack.
##[http://xkcd.com/1350/#p:b9575048-bb47-11e3-804b-002590d77bdd 50 panels] — Tiles; double hole dream; boomerang; exploding rocket
##[http://xkcd.com/1350/#p:718ad9a6-bc6e-11e3-800f-002590d77bdd 41 panels] — Political debate; hole dream; boomerang.
##[http://www.xkcd.com/1350/#p:ea25460c-baf3-11e3-8001-002590d77bdd 39 panels] — Political debate (in a dream); boomerang; exploding rocket.
##[http://xkcd.com/1350/#p:defe5742-bb15-11e3-8004-002590d77bdd 35 panels] — Political debate (in a dream); Hairy gets smacked in the face by the boomerang.
##[http://xkcd.com/1350/#p:ee6b910c-bae5-11e3-8001-002590d77bdd 34 panels] — Political debate (in a dream); Knit Cap and then Hairy get smacked in the face by the boomerang.
##[http://xkcd.com/1350/#p:a1776988-ba41-11e3-8035-002590d77bdd 30 panels] — Tiles; rocket dream; boomerang hits Knit Cap in the face so he puts it down. He then picks up another one.
#Space:
##[http://xkcd.com/1350/#p:ffa26ce0-bade-11e3-8001-94de80a03a29 77 panels] — Tiles; two dreams, one by each character; space; dinosaur attack.
##[http://xkcd.com/1350/#p:bbb2f148-bb66-11e3-800e-002590d77bdd 33 panels] --- Political debate, rocket, pass by spaceship twice.
##[http://xkcd.com/1350/#p:6490cc4a-b9f0-11e3-8009-002590d77bdd 30 panels] — Tiles; rocket, which leads on to The Little Prince.
##[http://xkcd.com/1350/#p:25743f70-baee-11e3-8001-002590d77bdd 24 panels] — Tiles; zoom-in on The Little Prince.
#Dinosaur:
##[http://xkcd.com/1350/#p:ffa26ce0-bade-11e3-8001-94de80a03a29 77 panels] — Tiles, two dreams one by each character, after space and dinosaur attack.
##[http://www.xkcd.com/1350/#p:5e94d028-bb7d-11e3-8012-002590d77bdd 22 panels] — Tiles; hole dream; dinosaur dream.
##[http://xkcd.com/1350/#p:a3298c92-baa1-11e3-800e-002590d77bdd 15 panels] — Tiles; dinosaur dream; boomerang hits him in the face.
#Political debate:
##[http://xkcd.com/1350/#p:718ad9a6-bc6e-11e3-800f-002590d77bdd 41 panels] — Political debate; hole dream; boomerang.
##[http://xkcd.com/1350/#p:defe5742-bb15-11e3-8004-002590d77bdd 35 panels] — Political debate within a dream; Hairy gets smacked in the face by the boomerang.
##[http://xkcd.com/1350/#p:aee5abf0-bb29-11e3-8004-002590d77bdd 31 panels] — Political debate; explosive bananas. This includes the ''meanwhile'' image.
#Blowtorch:
##[http://xkcd.com/1350/#p:2ed958de-badf-11e3-8001-002590d77bdd 36 panels] — Tiles; hole dream; blowtorch; rocket take-off dream.
##[http://xkcd.com/1350/#p:9a86363c-bb53-11e3-8001-002590d77bdd 26 panels] — BSD; blowtorch; moving past Pokémon twice
##[http://www.xkcd.com/1350/#p:97cbd552-bb01-11e3-8004-002590d77bdd 25 panels] — Tiles; hole dream; blowtorch.
#Pokémon:
##[http://www.xkcd.com/1350/#p:d5bba698-badf-11e3-8001-002590d77bdd 28 panels] — Tiles; Pikachu; a very long fight with 9 moves (none of which are effective).
##[http://xkcd.com/1350/#p:9a86363c-bb53-11e3-8001-002590d77bdd 26 panels] — BSD; blowtorch; moving past the Pokémon after an ineffective move; Pikachu talks; they move on only to meet a second Pikachu/
##[http://www.xkcd.com/1350/#p:81c9e8c8-ba1d-11e3-8018-002590d77bdd 24 panels] — Refreshing after no new email; long fight and an eventual 'Super Effective'; Megan pokes it.
##[http://xkcd.com/1350/#p:8737f5b4-ba92-11e3-8008-002590d77bdd 22 panels] — Tiles; moving past Pokémon; a 'Super Effective'; Megan pokes it.
##[https://xkcd.com/1350/#p:7546a2c8-bcdc-11e3-801e-002590d77bdd 22 panels] — BSD; short fight; an eventual 'not very effective'; Pikachu talks; they move on
#Sharks
##[http://www.xkcd.com/1350/#p:3df213b4-ba4f-11e3-8037-002590d77bdd 22 panels] — Tiles; dream, indirectly after launch; only one picture in the ocean at the end.
##[http://xkcd.com/1350/#p:30f53d98-bbb3-11e3-801c-002590d77bdd 13 panels] — BSD; longest going straight to the ocean sequence (four images); reaching beach and walking on (i.e. directly without dream).
#Salesman
##[http://xkcd.com/1350/#p:129f19d8-badf-11e3-8001-002590d77bdd 15 panels] --- Political debate; dinosaur dream; Hairy meets White Hat.
##[http://www.xkcd.com/1350/#p:39dfd484-bb01-11e3-8003-002590d77bdd 13 panels] — Tiles; hole dream; Hairy meets White Hat; they reach the chart scene (last picture that way).
</div>
 

====Longest by starting point====
*Click to expand:
<div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed leftAlign" style="width:100%">
Only the longest:
#'These stupid tiles... I'll just play one more game.': [http://xkcd.com/1350/#p:ffa26ce0-bade-11e3-8001-94de80a03a29 77 panels].
#'Oh, hey, There's some kind of political thing going on': [http://xkcd.com/1350/#p:718ad9a6-bc6e-11e3-800f-002590d77bdd 41 panels].
#'Let's see if BSD is any easier to install nowadays': [https://xkcd.com/1350/#p:aad0a152-bae6-11e3-8001-002590d77bdd 29 panels].
#'Refresh ... No new email ... Refresh ... No new tweets ... Refresh ...': [http://www.xkcd.com/1350/#p:81c9e8c8-ba1d-11e3-8018-002590d77bdd 24 panels].
#'Hurry! We're in talks with Facebook.': [http://xkcd.com/1350/#p:441ba2fe-bc03-11e3-8034-002590d77bdd 13 panels] and also [http://xkcd.com/1350/#p:ea9342a0-bc02-11e3-8034-002590d77bdd 13 panels] but two different dreams.
#'Gravity. Lots of it.': [http://xkcd.com/1350/#p:a069f950-bb01-11e3-8004-002590d77bdd 12 panels]. (This is no longer among the starting options, so it cannot grow [meaning that this is the longest possible now].)
</div>
 

====Most unique images====
*Click to expand:
<div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed leftAlign" style="width:100%">
In the longest sequences, many images repeat several times.
*This record could be more interesting than those that use most images.
*Although it could have turned out much the same, there is a repeated panel in one of the first two sequences.
**Sadly, this is rather tedious to check out.
Here are the longest for only clearly different images:
# [http://xkcd.com/1350/#p:ffa26ce0-bade-11e3-8001-94de80a03a29 48 unique images] - 77 panels.
# [http://xkcd.com/1350/#p:2ed958de-badf-11e3-8001-002590d77bdd 35 unique images] - 36 panels (only the very first image repeated twice).
# [http://xkcd.com/1350/#p:b9575048-bb47-11e3-804b-002590d77bdd 33 unique images] - 50 panels.
# [http://xkcd.com/1350/#p:452c03fc-bb16-11e3-8004-002590d77bdd 29 unique images] - 35 panels.
# [http://xkcd.com/1350/#p:718ad9a6-bc6e-11e3-800f-002590d77bdd 26 unique images] - 41 panels.
</div>
 

====Most actual choices====
*Click to expand:
<div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed leftAlign" style="width:100%">
In the longest sequences, many images have no choice but just a ''Continue''.
*Other images have two choices in one.
Here are only the longest for only clearly different routes:
# [http://xkcd.com/1350/#p:ffa26ce0-bade-11e3-8001-94de80a03a29 13 choices] — 77 panels.
# [http://xkcd.com/1350/#p:b9575048-bb47-11e3-804b-002590d77bdd 11 choices] — 50 panels.
# [http://xkcd.com/1350/#p:2ed958de-badf-11e3-8001-002590d77bdd 9 choices] — 36 panels and [http://xkcd.com/1350/#p:88870608-bae7-11e3-8002-002590d77bdd 9 choices] - 28 panels.
# [http://xkcd.com/1350/#p:452c03fc-bb16-11e3-8004-002590d77bdd 8 choices] — 35 panels.
# [http://xkcd.com/1350/#p:718ad9a6-bc6e-11e3-800f-002590d77bdd 7 choices] — 41 panels.
</div>
 

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:April fools' comics]]
[[Category:Comics with color]]
[[Category:Comics with inverted brightness]]
[[Category:Interactive comics]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Knit Cap]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Hairy]]
[[Category:Comics featuring White Hat]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Animals]]
[[Category:Boomerangs]]
[[Category:BSD]]
[[Category:Computers]]
[[Category:Cueball Computer Problems]]
[[Category:Dinosaurs]]
[[Category:Dreams]]
[[Category:Pokémon]]
[[Category:Politics]]
[[Category:Sharks]]
[[Category:Space]]
[[Category:Kerbal Space Program]]
[[Category:Star Wars]]
[[Category:Comics with blood]]

Talk:2658: Coffee Cup Holes

2022-08-12T23:44:51Z

172.70.162.155:

I was confused for a moment. That's a coffee ''mug''. And the correct answer is either one (the handle) or none (because below the macroscopic level (and above the theoretical sub-Planck scale of string-theory loops) it's increasingly not even mostly holes but very, very barely anything 'solid' jostling about in empty space giving no real impediment to any theoretical quantum-scale cheesewire without even being cut through). A coffee ''cup'' has no holes (regardless) if you don't count any form of sippy-lid it might have. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.85.13|172.70.85.13]] 22:25, 12 August 2022 (UTC)
:Actually, the mug has two at the macro level (the hole that makes up the handle and the hole on the top). There could conceivably be more shallow holes inside the mug where the handle connects to the cup. At a plank-length level, the atoms could be viewed as holes in the vacuum bending space time around it.
::You're not a topologist, certainly. And a ''hydrogen-nucleus'' is approximately 10^20 times the planck-length. The whole atom on the order of 10,000 times larger, and the constiuent quarks 'only' 1,000th, or so, smaller, with the differences being the space betweenn that anything that cares isn't going to consider much of an obstruction. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.162.155|172.70.162.155]] 23:43, 12 August 2022 (UTC)
:There is no "hole" at the top - at best it count as an indention in the surface {{unsigned ip|172.70.211.134|23:38, 12 August 2022}}

Talk:2658: Coffee Cup Holes

2022-08-12T23:43:17Z

172.70.162.155:

Jill

2022-08-12T18:25:15Z

172.70.162.155: Undo revision 292634 by 172.70.111.42 (talk) Does not work at all. Vastly different sizes of images that wrap lines and the "captions" don't match nicely. Try table and "width=" markup?

{{Infobox character
| image = Science_Girl.png
| imagesize = 150px
| caption = Science Girl as seen in [[1611: Baking Soda and Vinegar]]
| first_appearance = [[585: Outreach]]
}}
'''Science Girl''' is a [[stick figure]] character in [[xkcd]].

She became the first child to have her own character category, and she is usually distinguished by being clearly a child (in terms of her behavior or in comparison to the size of the adults around her). Her hair is typically set in a hair bun, but compared to [[Hairbun]] it is looser, she may have curlier hair, and typically there is a string of hair hanging down her back from the hair bun. Her hair styles vary, however, with [[1058: Old-Timers|two buns]] or no buns but a [[585: Outreach|ponytail]]. As she is usually also clearly a child she usually cannot be confused with Hairbun in most contexts.

Science Girl is a minor character in xkcd, but there are several comics where she is the main protagonist (or antagonist in some cases).

She has a marked interest in science, and is typically more knowledgeable about the subject at hand than the adults around her, which may lead to embarrassment, enlightenment or in some cases dangerous situations, depending on how obtuse or condescending the adults around her behave.

She is not necessarily the same character from comic to comic, but she does represent the general kid interested in science and intellectual rigor. In [[1860: Communicating]], she appears as Alice in Wonderland and takes advantage of Humpty Dumpty's famously illogical dicta on linguistic pragmatics. In this and other examples, her attitude often makes people uncomfortable, especially adults. These personality features distinguish her from an everywoman character like [[Hairbun]], but although Science Girl often causes consternation, she not generically evil like [[Black Hat]], and thus in no way would she represent a young version of [[Danish]].

One of her largest parts is in [[1611: Baking Soda and Vinegar]] (see her character image), which is one of those that becomes dangerous for the obtuse adults. She is also ready to commit crime, even though she knows about environmental issues in [[1659: Tire Swing]] (the only comic with her so far where there are no adults, but it is clear that she is a girl), where she, along with another girl, steal the tires off a man's car, and then fight him. But she may also just induce new interest for science in [[Megan]] as in [[1104: Feathers]], or just display general interest in science as in [[1352: Cosmologist on a Tire Swing]] or the first comic (found so far) with her [[585: Outreach]] (where she only had a ponytail). It was also in this first appearance we learn why she wants to become a scientist.

In three cases she is depicted as a young '''adult woman'''. These are in [[1520: Degree-Off]], where the hair and behavior fit perfectly with a grown up Science Girl, [[1737: Datacenter Scale]], where she appears to be running a data center, and [[2344: 26-Second Pulse]], where she is giving a lecture on an unexplained seismological signal.
*There are other comics with women looking like this, but in those instances there is no scientific context that could relate to science girls so they have been listed as Hairbun for now:
**[[708: Sex Dice]]
**[[1601: Isolation]]
**[[1608: Hoverboard]] in every instance.
*Maybe this will be changed later, when the community has had a chance to look into this new character.

==Gallery==
Since Science Girl is depicted in different ways so here is a gallery of some of these different appearances, her first appearance, her standard appearance, two buns and adult:

[[File:Science Girl with ponytail 585.png]][[File:Science_Girl.png]] [[File:Science Girl with two hair buns 1058.png]] [[File:Hair Bun Girl with curly hair and ponytail biologist.png]]

==See also==
*[[:Category:Comics featuring Science Girl|Comics featuring Science Girl]]

{{navbox-characters}}

Talk:2656: Scientific Field Prefixes

2022-08-09T11:28:35Z

172.70.162.155:

Interestingly enough, the last time I was at a dentist, I ask them if they had seen any research work on how to do dentistry in zero-g, like if you got a toothache halfway to Mars.
[[Special:Contributions/162.158.107.56|162.158.107.56]] 01:58, 9 August 2022 (UTC) BCS

Comment on comment: there should have been work done on dental procedures aboard orbiting stations, and also on e.g. Antarctic bases. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.134.25|162.158.134.25]] 04:39, 9 August 2022 (UTC) Pär Leijonhufvud

Those who say that there's no such thing as High-Energy Theology should be taken with a pinch of salt. Or even a {{w|Lot's wife|Lot}}! [[Special:Contributions/172.70.91.80|172.70.91.80]] 02:05, 9 August 2022 (UTC)

I'm a little concerned with Theoretical Theology. How much more theoritical can base theology be? [[Special:Contributions/108.162.250.198|108.162.250.198]] 02:22, 9 August 2022 (UTC) Beechmere

'Theoretical theology' is a tautology. So the first word is redundant.
[[User:MarquisOfCarrabass|MarquisOfCarrabass]] ([[User talk:MarquisOfCarrabass|talk]]) 06:47, 9 August 2022 (UTC)

I'd love to conduct research on Marine Massage! How do I find the link? (Purposes.)
:We need another dimension for Theoretical Marine Massave [[User:Barmar|Barmar]] ([[User talk:Barmar|talk]]) 04:03, 9 August 2022 (UTC)

Unfortunately the "Marine dentistry" one appear to be a false positive: it contains the test string "...Marine, Dentistry..." in a list of possible fields where AR technology could be useful (Novakova, N.G., 2019. Innovation potential of augmented technologies in industrial context. Industry 4.0, 4(1), pp.24-28).
Also the "high-energy psychology" one was similarly a dud: student newspaper with a help wanted ad for a "high energy psychology student" (https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/217247671.pdf). The lack of manual curation of Scholar sometimes gives you these finds. Thirdly, Randall definitely searched with quote marks: https://scholar.google.com/scholar?hl=en&as_sdt=0%2C5&q=marine+dentistry yields over 100 k results while https://scholar.google.com/scholar?hl=en&as_sdt=0%252C5&q=%22marine+dentistry%22 only yields one, with at least one of the former being papers on marine mammal dentistry (I have for practical porpoises no interest in dentistry, but I *want* to read https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/9781119545804.ch11). In summary: by searching for the exact phrase Randall eliminated a large number of false positives, but also missed a large number of interesting papers. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.134.157|162.158.134.157]] 04:32, 9 August 2022 (UTC) Pär Leijonhufvud

honestly I'm mostly worried about computational theology [[Special:Contributions/172.71.6.65|172.71.6.65]] 04:40, 9 August 2022 (UTC)
: It's a fairly common subject in science fiction. Fredric Brown's short story "Answer", for example. [[User:BunsenH|BunsenH]] ([[User talk:BunsenH|talk]]) 04:46, 9 August 2022 (UTC)
: Isn't that better known as {{w|numerology}}? [[Special:Contributions/172.70.85.221|172.70.85.221]] 08:49, 9 August 2022 (UTC)

I wouldn't be surprised if there was some research into use of synchrotron radiation in treating cancers in the jaw. Doesn't that count as "high energy"? [[User:BunsenH|BunsenH]] ([[User talk:BunsenH|talk]]) 04:46, 9 August 2022 (UTC)

'High Energy Theology' sounds like an area of study extremely NOT conducive to the long-term survival of the human race. See this quote from the PRINCIPIA DISCORDIA:

'Mal-2 was once asked by one of his Disciples if he often prayed to Eris. He replied with these words: "No, we Erisians seldom pray, it is much too dangerous. Charles Fort has listed many factual incidences of ignorant people confronted with, say, a drought, and then praying fervently -- and then getting the entire village wiped out in a torrential flood."

We got ourselves into enough trouble when we split the atom. Gods only know what would result if we ever manage to split the thaum.

[[User:MarquisOfCarrabass|MarquisOfCarrabass]] ([[User talk:MarquisOfCarrabass|talk]]) 06:58, 9 August 2022 (UTC)

Why is the "explanation" someone nitpicking the search method (and mixing up the "former" and "latter" order of unquoted vs. quoted), rather than an explanation of the joke? [[User:Conster|Conster]] ([[User talk:Conster|talk]]) 08:13, 9 August 2022 (UTC)
:Because sadly after ParL did their nitpicking, nobody else felt qualified to actually explain the joke [[User:256.256.256.256|256.256.256.256]] ([[User talk:256.256.256.256|talk about me behind my]] [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQw4w9WgXcQ/ back]) 10:09, 9 August 2022 (UTC)

I worked on giving actually competent editors a base to modify, but then someone else had already made an explanation. Here's my attempt:

"Within each branch of science, like physics, chemistry or biology, there are different scientific fields. Some of the prefixes, like theoretical, quantum or astro-, are used across multiple branches of science. For example {{w|Quantum mechanics|quantum physics}} is about the physical properties of nature at the scale of atoms and subatomic particles, while {{w|Quantum chemistry}} is about the application of quantum mechanics to chemical systems.

Randall combines a bunch of different [https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/TitleDrop Scientific Field Prefixes] with another bunch of scientific branches, creating combinations that form several real fields of science, but also nonsense ones. To get a grasp on whether that scientific field is real and/or well-known, he searches for the combinations on {{w|Google Scholar}}, a web search engine that indexes the contents of scholarly literature across an array of publishing formats and disciplines, counting the number of results for each combination. Some term combinations are common, and can thus be assumed to be real scientific fields, while others are uncommon, suggesting that those fields are not well known. Four combinations are not found even once, suggesting that they are "potential research opportunities", as the title text says.

There are problems with Randall's method though:"

Maybe some of this may be useful, I don't know [[User:256.256.256.256|256.256.256.256]] ([[User talk:256.256.256.256|talk about me behind my]] [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQw4w9WgXcQ/ back]) 11:21, 9 August 2022 (UTC)

:''Ah, that was me. Apologies. And you ECed the following attempt to post into here, so hete it is repasted. ;) Still applies. Your contribution also clearly appreciated...''
:I hated it so much, I rewrote it ("/* Explanation */ Nixing the downer 'explanation'. Perhaps some points can be extracted from it, even as my attempt is improved or (in turn) overwritten with something better."). Was going to suggest a table of prefixes/suffixes to describe each, but someone added the (sortable) tables in for the full forms (caused me much edit-conflict pain, hope I didn't cause someone else ECs in return) so maybe that's overkill. But "what exactly is 'Astro-Dentistry'?", etc, might be a useful addition in there, if it doesn't make the table(s) hard to read... [[Special:Contributions/172.70.162.155|172.70.162.155]] 11:28, 9 August 2022 (UTC)

Talk:2656: Scientific Field Prefixes

2022-08-09T04:10:44Z

172.70.162.155:

Talk:2656: Scientific Field Prefixes

2022-08-09T02:07:12Z

172.70.162.155: Whoops

Talk:1608: Hoverboard

2022-08-08T13:49:43Z

172.70.162.155: That heading's punctuation/spelling (or lack, thereof) always annoyed me

Well, this will be the next incomplete explanation for a while. -[[Special:Contributions/162.158.90.165|162.158.90.165]] 21:58, 24 November 2015 (UTC)
:Still working on it now four months later. But not many other helping with it. ;-) Getting closer to the end though with the [[1608:_Hoverboard#Table_with_references|table]] in place. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 14:10, 26 March 2016 (UTC)
::It’s done! Rejoice

Yes, one thing to note is how to get the hell out of the cave near the volcano [[Special:Contributions/108.162.249.159|108.162.249.159]] 22:38, 24 November 2015 (UTC)

The image is made up of small images with addresses of the form http://xkcd.com/1608/XXXX:-YYYY+s.png (although not every coordinate inside the bounds has an image associated). A script could probably dump out all the images and paste them together. --[[Special:Contributions/108.162.216.6|108.162.216.6]] 22:46, 24 November 2015 (UTC)

West -- Under Lava Pools -- Elon Musk's Secret Volcano Base (not as enjoyable as you might expect).

The Starship out east contains, among other things, Darth Vader, apparently explaining Steven Universe to a subordinate. (Steven and the Crystal Gems can be found a the west end of the ship, near an ice cream cooler.) The same ship contains an elaborate homage to the original Prince of Persia. {{unsigned ip|162.158.56.5}}

There, have at thee an image! [[User:Arch-TK|Arch-TK]] ([[User talk:Arch-TK|talk]]) 22:58, 24 November 2015 (UTC)

"teleport to next coin" code doesn't work[[User:(insert name here)|(insert name here)]] ([[User talk:(insert name here)|talk]]) 14:47, 21 June 2019 (UTC)

There are 168 coins spread throughout the map according to the source code [[Special:Contributions/173.245.54.53|173.245.54.53]] 23:03, 24 November 2015 (UTC)
:It's actually 169 coins (t.length). --[[Special:Contributions/188.114.111.129|188.114.111.129]] 23:22, 24 November 2015 (UTC)

May I change the code for the display distance and direction thing to make the colors more appealing? I want to cheat but I don't want to stare at that yucky green the whole time. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.170.88|172.69.170.88]] 17:44, 20 June 2019 (UTC)

When using a device, instead of saying "use arrow keys to move", it says "tilt to move, tap to jump". It's also a lot harder to control. {{unsigned ip|108.162.250.159}}
:What kind of device and is this through the normal xkcd home page? It does not work on my tablet by going to xkcd (anroid, leonov tablet). --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 17:24, 16 December 2015 (UTC)

I got 153 coins!! :D There's two starships, one's a star destroyer with an expansive maze dropping regular torpedoes on the other. May be noteworthy that there are various references to Star Wars and Steven Universe throughout. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.221.13|108.162.221.13]] 23:27, 24 November 2015 (UTC)

The second starship is the TantiveIV, Leia's ship at the beginning of episode 4. Note directly below the Tantive, the terrain seems to be sand dunes. Also there are two more space ships by the volcano; an X-wing at a gas station and an Apollo Command Module. {{unsigned ip|108.162.216.24}}

https://xkcd.com/1608/tigl.js - Looks like there's an easier to read version of the code there. Maybe that'll help someone with extracting all the images. {{unsigned ip|199.27.130.168}}

I've got all the images downloaded. Zipping/uploading now. Should I post a link here when complete or what's the best way to share these? I'm also working on setting up a zoomable map. [[Special:Contributions/173.245.54.53|173.245.54.53]] 23:57, 24 November 2015 (UTC)

The collision detection is glitchy. I keep landing/bumping against platforms I'm far away from. Is getting stuck against walls normal? --[[Special:Contributions/199.27.130.234|199.27.130.234]] 00:01, 25 November 2015 (UTC)
:Yes, getting stuck against walls is normal. If the wall has at least 1 pixel sticking out under the hoverboard, then that pixel will be treated as the floor, and the hoverboard will stop falling. This is easier to see in goggles mode.[[Special:Contributions/108.162.216.118|108.162.216.118]] 13:15, 29 October 2016 (UTC)

Tiles are located here in a zip: https://up1.ca/#Gi51KPFyPRELe0T1D6q9Mw All I did was iterate over http://xkcd.com/1608/X:-Y+s.png from X=[916...1116] and Y=[916...1116]. I'm working on putting a zoomable map together. If anyone has interest in helping we could hop on IRC? [[User:Jcox|Jcox]] ([[User talk:Jcox|talk]]) 00:15, 25 November 2015 (UTC)
:This was great. But the zip file misses all images in column 1019-1021 as well as the 6 lowest images of 1022 (X coordinates 1019-1022, all Y coordinatesin the first three and then 6 lowest Y coordinates in the last). It was managable to download the last with my click skills. So thanks anyway. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 20:15, 28 December 2015 (UTC)

I've written a zsh script to iterate over all possible tiles (does anyone know the height limits? the source only gives the left and right limits) and glue them together into one giant file. I'll upload the results as soon as it's finished. [[User:Arch-TK|Arch-TK]] ([[User talk:Arch-TK|talk]]) 00:17, 25 November 2015 (UTC)

I don't think it's limited vertically at all. I found a zoomable map on the reddit topic http://codepen.io/KyleDavidE/full/605dc87b614ff6b2bd716f4c6f640203/ (by kyledavide) [[User:Miraries|Miraries]] ([[User talk:Miraries|talk]]) 00:21, 25 November 2015 (UTC)Mirages

Here's a zoomed out map of all the game area: https://i.imgur.com/rNU9ZgN.png. From ''luke_in_the_sky'' at Reddit [https://www.reddit.com/r/xkcd/comments/3u4sy1/xkcd_1608_hoverboard/cxc1245]. --[[Special:Contributions/188.114.111.129|188.114.111.129]] 00:35, 25 November 2015 (UTC)

Alright, the full png of the entire map is almost finished, I should have used white tiles as blank tiles but I guess I can fix that up in gimp, and I'm not sure how to account for the 1 pixel overlap with just imagemagick convert. The last step is to merge allthe layer images into one giant image, wish my laptop the best of luck! [[User:Arch-TK|Arch-TK]] ([[User talk:Arch-TK|talk]]) 01:00, 25 November 2015 (UTC)

Someone beat you to it, but keep on it: that one doesn't have right limit tiles. https://www.reddit.com/r/xkcd/comments/3u4sy1/xkcd_1608_hoverboard/cxc0p8x --[[Special:Contributions/188.114.111.129|188.114.111.129]] 01:19, 25 November 2015 (UTC)

Perhaps we can change the screenshot at the top to this? It's a quickly hacked overview of the entire map: http://imgur.com/Mz9arHz [[Special:Contributions/199.27.129.167|199.27.129.167]] 01:27, 25 November 2015 (UTC)
: I think it might make more sense to just add it as another image, mediawiki supports this after all. The syntax should be: <nowiki>[[File:filename.png|thumb|Subtitle|alt=alt]]</nowiki> [[User:Arch-TK|Arch-TK]] ([[User talk:Arch-TK|talk]]) 01:34, 25 November 2015 (UTC)

[http://files.mckaysalisbury.com/xkcd/hoverboard.html] This one loads all of the images quickly (From the xkcd site), and uses browser zooming. [[Special:Contributions/173.245.54.47|173.245.54.47]] 01:29, 25 November 2015 (UTC)

:The impassible backgrounds are RGB(0,0,0), and the passable ones are RGB(1,1,1). <code>#explore > :first-child {filter:brightness(30);-webkit-filter:brightness(30);-moz-filter:brightness(30);-o-filter:brightness(30);-ms-filter:brightness(30);}</code> ... See https://twitter.com/BadPhysics/status/669354631869304832 [[Special:Contributions/108.162.249.155|108.162.249.155]] 03:40, 25 November 2015 (UTC)

Here are all the secret passages marked I could find: http://imgur.com/a/fKE1Q --[[Special:Contributions/162.158.91.220|162.158.91.220]] 00:50, 25 November 2015 (UTC)

I wrote a tampermonkey script that shows you your coordinates and lets you teleport; will make coordinate sharing a lot easier. You do need tampermonkey installed for this to work. [https://github.com/minerguy31/xkcd-hoverboard-mod/raw/master/XKCD%20Hoverboard%20Mod.user.js Click to install] [[User:Minerguy31|Minerguy31]] ([[User talk:Minerguy31|talk]]) 04:17, 25 November 2015 (UTC)

I got 159 coins without the map. If you guys are still wondering how to escape the volcano, move to the right for as long as you think you can, then start spamming the up key while switching between holding the left and right keys. It worked for me on my first try.[[Special:Contributions/162.158.252.119|162.158.252.119]] 07:06, 25 November 2015 (UTC)

164 coins with the map. Guessing I might've missed the cotton ball pit bottom, some others in the star destroyer, and maybe one under the volcano. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.63.196|162.158.63.196]] 21:03, 24 January 2021 (UTC)

Didn't take down the coordinates, but the layout to the first level of the original Prince of Persia is in there, including the guard standing by with his scimitar! I found it in the ship atop the pyramid east of the play area. --[[Special:Contributions/108.162.218.245|108.162.218.245]] 06:24, 25 November 2015 (UTC)

Just thought this was interesting, when you "complete" the game by dropping coins, the following line of javascript is run, which sends your result to the server (L is number of coins, z is seconds used):
(new Image).src = "//xkcd.com/events.gif?coins=" + L + "&seconds=" + z;
Don't be tricked by the .gif extension, it doesn't show an image when opened, and the server probably handles this request by logging it to somewhere. {{unsigned ip|141.101.80.87}}
:It actually returns a 1 by 1 pixel white GIF. [[User:Arch-TK|Arch-TK]] ([[User talk:Arch-TK|talk]]) 13:14, 25 November 2015 (UTC)

Is there a way that we can merge the "game" part of this comic with the map of [[1110: Click and Drag]]? Allowing us to explore that one in a similar way? [[User:Bon|Bon]] ([[User talk:Bon|talk]]) 11:03, 25 November 2015 (UTC)

Well I managed to find (nearly) everything, except the floating rock island, and 162 coins without the map, but even with looking at several maps, I didn't pass any graveyard nor found the way to the grey ocean, which I assume is underneath the "continent". Does anyone know where the entrance is? [[Special:Contributions/162.158.90.218|162.158.90.218]] 11:54, 25 November 2015 (UTC)
:Search for any missing things in the complete [[1608: Hoverboard/Transcript]], and you shall find what you seek. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 17:40, 16 December 2015 (UTC)

Just thought I should say; the comic supports some alternative movement controls, there's the arrow keys, WASD, and also the vi keys (hjkl), and the numpad (8426). [[Special:Contributions/108.162.242.125|108.162.242.125]] 13:29, 25 November 2015 (UTC)

I was not able to get to some points because they were surrounded by text, people or other objects. Is that normal, or are there tricks to get to every coin without using cheats (console)? It would be nice if this could be mention / explained in the article. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.135.35|162.158.135.35]] 13:31, 25 November 2015 (UTC)
:In some cases you can come in from the side as opposed to trying to come down through or up through something. Example: at the X-Wing "gas station", to get that coin, land on the ground to the left of the X-Wing and move to the right on the ground towards the gas station. [[User:Jarod997|Jarod997]] ([[User talk:Jarod997|talk]]) 14:45, 25 November 2015 (UTC)
::No text is solid! You can use the full [[1608: Hoverboard/Transcript]] to find out how to get to every coin and place (or the great map linked at the top). --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 17:40, 16 December 2015 (UTC)

The list of "areas" in the map would be much easier to read, and much easier to correlate with the map, if the origin were set to the starting area (that is, if the coordinates of the starting area were set to x:0, y:0). What is the reason for the very large numbers? --[[User:BlueMoonlet|BlueMoonlet]] ([[User talk:BlueMoonlet|talk]]) 15:50, 25 November 2015 (UTC)
: The large numbers are the actual ones used by the game code and displayed by the hacked-up "radar" so it was a natural choice to use them as they are. We could define some origin and count coordinates from it but we would have to agree on its position and then change the "radar" code and recalculate all coordinates written down already. -- [[Special:Contributions/162.158.90.224|162.158.90.224]] 08:53, 27 November 2015 (UTC)
::Coordinates is not very helpful to most people. It should more be in relation to the objects you pass. Either you just look at one of the maps (and then past the pyramid or in the volcano makes sense) or else you actually try the real experience, and again after the ocean comes a pyramid makes more sense than coordinates. Have moved this section to a trivia section. The table should be build differently. That is still work to be done. All things are at the moment mentioned in the complete [[1608: Hoverboard/Transcript]]. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 17:40, 16 December 2015 (UTC)

The starting area is in no way related to pac-man. The lines are not all right angles, there is a timer, there's gravity, there are no aggressors, you're collecting coins instead of pellets.... Not every line maze is pac-man. This is an erroneous reference that should be removed. --[[Special:Contributions/198.41.235.167|198.41.235.167]] 17:16, 25 November 2015 (UTC)

The source code found at https://xkcd.com/1608/tigl.js does not seem to be complete. I would personally work on de-obfuscating the full source code using the fragment found there but technically the source is covered by implicit copyright laws and that means that if I published a derived work I would be breaking those laws. Should I just change the line from "The source code can be found at ..." to "The full (obfuscated) source code can be found at ...tigl.min.js and a deobfuscated piece of the source code can be found at ...tigl.js". [[User:Arch-TK|Arch-TK]] ([[User talk:Arch-TK|talk]]) 18:28, 25 November 2015 (UTC)

I added quick coordinate / teleport access on right-click to the quick hack map. [[User:Kyledavide|Kyledavide]] ([[User talk:Kyledavide|talk]]) 20:45, 25 November 2015 (UTC)

Can't be bothered working out how to edit the page, but the explanation contains the phrase "People holding anchor lines to a Star Destroyer" - they're holding anchor lines to a CR90 Corvette, specifically the Tantive IV, commonly referred to as the "Rebel Blockade Runner", which in turn is being *attacked by* a Star Destroyer. I'll get my coat. {{unsigned ip|162.158.153.47}}

That's no 'Children's Swimming Pool', it's a ball pit! [[Special:Contributions/162.158.2.222|162.158.2.222]] 23:46, 25 November 2015 (UTC)
:If it is, it's filled with water as well. There are waves on the surface and fish live in it. -- [[Special:Contributions/162.158.90.224|162.158.90.224]] 09:00, 27 November 2015 (UTC)

I slightly improved the "direction to next coin"-code by displaying a compas. Code can be found here http://pastebin.com/PL6fv5XK . I'm new to this wiki and don't want to mess up the page, so I didn't put the code in there myself ... --[[Special:Contributions/162.158.90.209|162.158.90.209]] 00:01, 26 November 2015 (UTC)

Haven't read all the comments above so maybe someone has written about it?
If you click up it seems to count how many times. So it will just show white and then when you release again, it will take longer to hit the ground the longer you have pushed up. Tried with 100 clicks (9-10 seconds) and 200 clicks (20 seconds).
I got about 163 coins in about 15886 seconds. (4 hours and 24 minutes.) That was with breaks. It was written so shortly on the screen I did not manage to take it down for certain. But after that I read here about the 169 and found that there where at least three in the volcano I had not noticed at first. And it seems likely that there would be three more I have missed. But really fun to explore. I wrote a lot of the transcript along the way (not from the very start though) This I have now posted without any real order in the [[1608: Hoverboard/Transcript]] page. Hope fully a full and useful transcript can emerge from this. I hope my text can be used if not used as it is written at the moment.--[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 02:05, 26 November 2015 (UTC)
:Now a complete transcript... Took me about three weeks to get enough time to do that--[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 17:42, 16 December 2015 (UTC)

I thought Atreyu's horse was Artax, not Artex. [[Special:Contributions/198.41.238.32|198.41.238.32]] 05:27, 26 November 2015 (UTC)

The beret guy riding a torpedo (/explosive device of some sort) looks like a Dr. Strangeloe tribute to me. {{unsigned ip|162.158.255.39}}

Just added in the 'collision detection' section the text "On a slow connection, it's possible to move into an 'open' area and then the black image loads in and (probably permanently, without tricks) traps you immobile." To expand upon this, if this is a risk to anyone else (I'm reliant on mobile internet, being away from any comparable landline capability) then you need to look out for perfectly horizontal/vertical edges. For example, hovering up the side of the Washington monument and encountering (typically above the 'bricks' line) a completely flat top. Drifting onto that soon gets you embedded in the remaining Monument, somewhere well below the eventual tip. Alternately, drifting sideways over the landscape and discovering a perfectly vertical cliff downwards (just past the bowling pins is a prime location) tempts you to drift down it and then suddenly the solid land 'happens' around you, forcing a page-refresh and restart (though doubtless there's also various console tricks that could be used). The well, also 'opens out', but it's a lie. I've ended up trapped 'in white' below the now closed black blocks that surround the well bottom (and not found any way back up). But if there a 'texture' (like other cliffs) or 'slope' (like the real Monument edge) to the surface, you're probably Ok. It's a genuine surface or wall that you can generally navigate around without fear of being misled. (Or so is my experience.) [[Special:Contributions/162.158.152.227|162.158.152.227]] 09:12, 26 November 2015 (UTC)

Doesn't show anything but a blank page on the first generation iPad. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.184.11|162.158.184.11]] 10:41, 26 November 2015 (UTC)

I agree with [[User:Arch-TK|Arch-TK]]. I have changed the text referring to the source code, since it does not refer to the full sourde code, but just an obfuscated part.--[[User:Gamevang|Gamevang]] ([[User talk:Gamevang|talk]]) 14:36, 26 November 2015 (UTC)

I can't pass through text, anybody else experiencing this? I remember being able to pass through text without no clip mode earlier, but for some reason not anymore.--[[Special:Contributions/173.245.54.36|173.245.54.36]] 18:16, 26 November 2015 (UTC)
:I found that I can't pass through ANYTHING non-white when using current version of Chrome on an iPad iOS 9.1. Makes the "game" much harder to play. [[Special:Contributions/173.245.63.144|173.245.63.144]] 04:23, 29 November 2015 (UTC)

----

We definitely need a better presentation of interesting objects/locations and their coordinates. Now, we have quite comprehensive multi-level bullet list and a newly-started table. Neither is perfect. We need some form that will show clearly what is where and where it belongs.

Issues to solve:
* Many objects are large and a single coordinates pair simply don't describe them well. We need a clear presentation form that will allow putting both a single pair and several ones, e.g. top and bottom for thin vertical objects (e.g. poles, The Monument), four corners for objects occupying large swaths etc.
* Grouping - we need to group objects that belong to an area, like all things within the Star Destroyer etc. Multilevel bullets are ok, but how to do that in a table?
* Order - within groups and between them, we need some ordering that will organize the entries. For example left-to-right then top-to-bottom or something like that.
* Coordinates system - the "native" game coordinates are large numbers, and negative values for the y coordinate to boot. Someone proposed setting a new origin and counting from there. I think it's a good idea, but will require a firm decision, rewrite of radar code and recalculating of all coordinates written down so far.

Any ideas?
-- [[Special:Contributions/162.158.90.224|162.158.90.224]] 09:24, 27 November 2015 (UTC)
:If it weren't for so much effort put in already, I think that we ''could'' re-class features as follows:
:* All coin locations, and/or links to the locations they are associated with (e.g. "in original game area" and "carried by a quadcopter drone"), if that's not considered 'unfair' to those wanting to actually play the game (without the self-discipline not to browse the list ;).
:* Locations of all characters, certainly all stick-figures, but maybe also 'wildlife' (or automata) of notable types.
:* All monologues/dialogues/labels (albeit that this is almost entirely a subset of the prior list).
:* Other notable landscape (or structural) features that are more than mere 'flavour' (e.g. the T-shaped mushrooms/whatevers to the east, but not random ground-boulders).
:* Notable move-through spots; inclusive of 'sink-into'able waters/magmas (waist-height, neck-height, fully-submerged?), even when not featuring further hidden routes, but excluding vegetation (ground-grasses/tree-trunks) that ''mostly'' are pass-throughable.
: Some of these are themselves useful references to other items (e.g. "inside front of Blockade Runner" or "beneath eastern stretch of magma") and so can probably be sub-grouped as all items in a given structure ("coins within the initial play area", "characters/speech within the Star Destroyer") and some things do occupy a swathe (the 'play area', the Monument, the ships, the kites, with their strings; the hail of (regular) torpedoes). And I bet there's a whole lot of arguments about what level of detail we could go to... [[Special:Contributions/162.158.152.227|162.158.152.227]] 10:21, 27 November 2015 (UTC)
When you deposit 42 coins, the response, "No answers here" is a reference to "Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy."[[User:Hax|Hax]] ([[User talk:Hax|talk]])
[[Special:Contributions/162.158.252.149|162.158.252.149]] 03:33, 29 November 2015 (UTC)
::The full and complete [[1608: Hoverboard/Transcript]] that I have made uses some of the ideas, and groups the stage into sections. Not saying these should be used as is. But all in the image has been described and text transcribed in there. So it would be easy to cut and paste something from them. I have used jump height and fall time as well as time elapsed when moving and the height of the hoverboard Cueball to measure distances/dimensions. I would suggest making pictures from the maps of larger rooms or items. And then zoom in on interesting features. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 17:50, 16 December 2015 (UTC)

Where can I get the uncompressed (original) source code? The reason I am asking is, ''/tigl.js'' is incomplete (no Easter Eggs, etc.), and ''/tigl.min.js'' seems complete, but is unreadable due to "minification" (compression).

[[Special:Contributions/162.158.252.149|162.158.252.149]] 03:33, 29 November 2015 (UTC)

It's a great comic, but does anyone know what it has to do the with his new book? [[Special:Contributions/198.41.235.161|198.41.235.161]] 03:50, 30 November 2015 (UTC)

I've created desktop C++/SDL2 based version of 1608, maybe someone will find it useful: https://github.com/AMDmi3/hoverboard-sdl [[Special:Contributions/162.158.90.212|162.158.90.212]] 17:57, 30 November 2015 (UTC)

I'm not sure what the coordinates are, so I'm reluctant to add it to the page proper, but I'm pretty sure Beret Guy riding the bomb near the Tantive IV is a nod to Dr. Strangelove [[Special:Contributions/108.162.218.185|108.162.218.185]] 19:17, 30 November 2015 (UTC)

When I try to play the game on my machine (IE10, Win7), I have whole sections that are just straight lined black boxes, almost like a puzzle with pieces missing. The easiest one to find is by going to the left, the quadcopters are hovering over nothing. Is this a java issue, an IE issue, a Windows issue, or just a "shut up and reboot" issue?[[Special:Contributions/108.162.216.44|108.162.216.44]] 19:19, 30 November 2015 (UTC)

You use IE? Suicide! The Department of Homeland Security considers IE as a threat. [[Special:Contributions/173.245.54.36|173.245.54.36]] 22:39, 30 November 2015 (UTC)

Also: If you are using IE, no matter what the problem is, it will '''always''' be an IE issue.
* Stove fire? -- IE issue
* Alien obduction? -- IE issue

[[Special:Contributions/162.158.90.187|162.158.90.187]] 12:47, 4 December 2015 (UTC)

Might be useful for exploration of the map: I have made a page that embeds hoverboard with a panel allowing you do perform various cheats and tricks. :) http://php.9kv.cu.cc/hoverboard/ [[Special:Contributions/108.162.216.37|108.162.216.37]] 21:42, 1 December 2015 (UTC)

Me Again: Here's a stitched-together image of the map (taken from reddit) with the areas that you can walk through that are normally black highlighted in red: https://www.dropbox.com/s/pnstn4oam15lvgf/hoverboard-collision-map.png?raw=1 [[Special:Contributions/108.162.216.37|108.162.216.37]] 22:34, 1 December 2015 (UTC)

The full transcript of the entire comic is now complete [[1608: Hoverboard/Transcript]].--[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 20:03, 15 December 2015 (UTC)
:And I just tried it out to finally get all 169 coins and explorer the entire drawing the true way without cheating, in just 1½ hours: [[1608:_Hoverboard/Screen-shots#All_169_coins]].
::And then later I took the shortest route between coins and finished in less than 25 minutes (see same link as above). Seems like I'm the only one still working to complete this comic... --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 19:39, 28 December 2015 (UTC)

Here is a page with a fully sort-able table of all the links to images: [[1608: Hoverboard/All image links|All image links]]. It includes notes on which images there are people, text, animals, objects of some interest and coins. And it is designed so connecting images can be found by sorting on either locations, general content or the first word in the description. Only 3440 images described. Although more than 1600 of them are completely black and 40 more almost completely black as well as the 800 white. But still there was close to 1000 images left... Enjoy the easy way to find interesting stuff in the images --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 23:46, 15 January 2016 (UTC)

I got 26 coins and it said "undefined" [[Special:Contributions/108.162.220.227|108.162.220.227]] 00:29, 3 March 2016 (UTC)
:You are probably using explorer, see the explanation for this above: [[1608: Hoverboard#Messages in Play Area|Messages in Play Area]]. There even is some examples like [http://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/images/d/d8/45_coins.PNG this]. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 14:08, 26 March 2016 (UTC)

Good LORD, why is this still "incomplete"? If you look at the red comments in the table, they are inane and unnecessary. Half of the "Missing Explanation" entries do not even *need* an explanation as the title says exactly what it is. Can we finally close this incomplete explanation?[[Special:Contributions/173.245.54.55|173.245.54.55]] 14:13, 29 June 2016 (UTC)

Hi, but what you are saying is that some of the red text is self explanatory. However, some still needs background information. Also, like most comics, things can be read different ways so there can be alternate explanations. If you feel like you need to say something different from the explanation, just edit. There isn't anything that can't be undone with a simple undo here. [[User:Dontknow|Dontknow]] ([[User talk:Dontknow|talk]]) 04:15, 18 March 2017 (UTC)

Under "Coins", the example says that it's a lamp and a broken lamp. Isn't it a beehive and then the remains of a 'stolen' beehive? Bees buzz. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.221.84|108.162.221.84]] 13:49, 29 July 2016 (UTC)

When going through tight passages as Gandalf, rapidly changing direction can cause the game to teleport the character to the room of the Star Destroyer containing two characters swinging through the air. This has happened for me in the well, as well as the passage from Elon Musk's lair to the room containing the universal grounding rod.[[Special:Contributions/108.162.216.118|108.162.216.118]] 13:15, 29 October 2016 (UTC)

; It works on iPad now!

Just noticed that it now runs on my iPad, though it lags often and the controls are awful—even if I'm tilting in the same direction, Cueball moves randomly, and sometimes he just flies in one direction, and there's no way to get him to go up or turn around. Then he gets stuck on something and you have to refresh the page... Which is quite annoying when you're looking for a certain image to explain and you have to start over from the play area. Still, it's better than nothing. [[User:Herobrine|Herobrine]] ([[User talk:Herobrine|talk]]) 03:32, 16 February 2018 (UTC)

Actually, no, the title text isn't only visible on unofficial mobile viewers. You can see it at [https://m.xkcd.com/1608 m.xkcd.com], which is very much official. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.126.34|162.158.126.34]] 03:29, 12 August 2019 (UTC)

Here follows an extensive Latin discussion:

The commentator attempts to explain the motto, "Cur ego committitur dictar latinae."

There is repeated suggestion of 'now' or 'just now' somehow arising from the text. And the commentator makes a beginner's error by suggesting that iustus/justus could be used to mean just as in, just now. English has multiple uses of just - as an adverb speaking about time or exclusivity, and as an adjective talking about right and appropriate. For instance:

Adverb time: "Well that just happened." synonyms: currently, now
Adverb exclusive: "Just do it." synonyms: only, merely
Adjective: "That was a just choice." synonyms: righteous, appropriate

Iustus (also spelled justus) is a translation of the adjectival form of English just/righteous. So the exmaple the commentator gives:
'Cur ego iustus committitur loquitur.'
Would mean:
'Why is the righteous I made to speak.'
or, if the adjective is being used as a noun:
'Why am I the righteous/just is made to speak.'

Also, committitur and loquitur in the example are both third person singular, so neither could properly connect to 'ego' (English 'I'). To make sense in the expected way, we would need to put loquo- into the first person singular form at least.

So if the commentator wants to insert the idea of 'just now' or 'currently,' I suggest they use an adverb:
1 recens, 2 jam/iam, 3 nunc, 4 iamiamque/jamjamque
1 recently, 2 now (inprecise), 3 now (this time), 4 now (at once, already, hurry it up man).

On the proper translation:
Dictus is a noun meaning word or speech, from the verb 'dico.' If you wanted to specifically imply that you were using audible words (rather than writing), you'd use the 'loquo-' base instead of 'dic-.' So dictus and dico (from dic-) mean 'words' and 'I say.'
Dicto is a rarer verb meaning I recite, I dictate, I repeat, or something similar. See:
https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/dicto#Latin
The principal forms are dico, dictare, dictavi, dictatum. So we talking about a third declension verb, and the base is dicta-. Dictar would be the first person present passive imperfect. Typically that form would mean something like:
'I am being recited.'
But since a person (as a physical object) can't be spoken or recited, the meaning is probably:
'I am being caused/made/forced to recite.'
The exact nature of 'caused/made/forced' is described by the word, 'committitur.' The committ- base means commit, begin, or make happen. Committitur is the 3rd person (he/she/it) present passive indicative from:
https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/committitur
Meaning:
he/she/it is made/forced to. (Has become committed.)
So:
'Cur ego committitur dictar latinae'
means:
'Why am I being made/forced to recite/dictate in Latin.'

Also, it should be noted that while the Greeks invented many of the types of punctuation we use today, Romans usually only used periods. (And often Romans would use no punctuation at all. Sometimes they even left out the spaces between words.) Point being, the question mark; like the comma, colon, and semicolon; wasn't commonly used until after the introduction of the printing press. So the quote probably shouldn't end with one.

My Latin is rather rusty, so if you have any better suggestions, please send me an email:
dominicchessman@gmail.com

;The Hoverboard comic:1608 Main theme is the Never Ending Story's 'Nothing'
In "The Never Ending Story" the main theme is the whole world is consumed by "The Nothing" which in this comic is the black part. The movie also includes [this clip](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vE8mFDabqD0) where the horse is artax(this is already told in the explanation).

So my suggesion is to add the "the nothing" theme at the start of the description.

The paste.click link for the full image is broken, but I do not have a copy of that image. Could someone with the image upload it to Imgur and switch the link? Thank you!

;MetroidXK
It seems the original site is down. I wonder if anyone still has a copy of it.[[Special:Contributions/162.158.167.6|162.158.167.6]] 04:02, 19 August 2020 (UTC)

The volcano lair may be a reference to the podcast Bionic by Relay FM. I don't want to make the edit myself because the idea of Elon Musk (or other CEOs) having a volcano lair isn't super unique, and I'd want confirmation from someone else that this is a good enough connection for a reference. {{unsigned ip|172.69.48.154}}
:I'd say it is such a common trope, that it is not a specific reference. Also since this comic is from November 2015, and podcasts have seen their rise in the last few years only, (also they may have existed before 2015) such a reference would definitely need to be sanity checked if it was available before release of the comic. If so it could be given as an example to the trope.--[[User:Lupo|Lupo]] ([[User talk:Lupo|talk]]) 08:11, 3 February 2021 (UTC)

So... I encountered an issue with the comic. Scrolling up I see that others appear to have found this before, where sometimes parts won't load, but I've never seen it this drastically... I left the destroyer, continued jumping until I reached the right side (when Cueball went all the way to the right), and fell, hoping to get down to the stork nest. I fell a minute or more before realizing something was wrong, after continuing to jump up for a long period of time I realized I'd been trapped underneath the ground (which was a smooth surface above Cueball's head). Turning on mewtwo, gandalf and noclip modes allowed me to get back up to the top, but I wanted to see how far down the tiles stop loading- I found it's three seconds in gandalf mode to get from the part under the ground to the bottom part of the volcano lair. Just thought you guys should know -- Anonymous Waste of Time, 2/8/21

;Washington Monument
The text for the Washington Monument indicates that the crack might refer to damage from the 2011 earthquake. Is it possible that it instead refers to the fact that the Monument has a clear color change about a quarter of the way up, due to a halt in construction and a change in the source of the marble?

2654: Chemtrails

2022-08-03T18:24:34Z

172.70.162.155: /* Explanation */ The chemtrail 'theory' is a broad church. (And one of the mind-altering ones is surely that it's instigating atheism... ;)

{{comic
| number = 2654
| date = August 3, 2022
| title = Chemtrails
| image = chemtrails.png
| titletext = Ants have reverse chemtrails--regular citizens spraying chemicals everywhere they go to control the government.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by a REVERSE AIRPLANE - Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
Ants are known to leave trails of {{w|pheromones}}, natural chemicals that they emit, along the trail to food sources. These act as guides to other ants in the colony to return to the food.

Cueball is (possibly intentionally) confusing these with {{w|chemtrails}}, the subject of a conspiracy theory that the government is acting to control the population by spraying toxic or mind-/body-transformative chemicals from high-flying aircraft. He knows that Ponytail studies ants, so she objects strongly when he says she studies chemtrails rather than pheromone trails.

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

:[Cueball stands talking to Ponytail.]
:Cueball: So, I hear you're really into chemtrails?
:Ponytail [with her arms in the air]: '''''No!!'''''

:[Caption:]
:How to annoy entomologists who study ant navigation

{{comic discussion}}

2653: Omnitaur

2022-08-02T22:14:33Z

172.70.162.155: /* Explanation */ Quezovercoatl deserves a mention.

{{comic
| number = 2653
| date = August 1, 2022
| title = Omnitaur
| image = omnitaur.png
| titletext = "My parents were both omnitaurs, which is how I got interested in recombination," said the normal human.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by A CAPRIHIPPOLEOPISCITAUR TRAPPED IN A ZYGOTE'S BODY. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

Omnitaur is an {{w|anagram}} of {{w|minotaur}}, a mythical creature that was part man, part bull. "{{wiktionary|omni}}" is a prefix that means "all" that is, for instance, known from the word {{w|omnivore}}, meaning 'all eating' as compared to {{w|carnivore}} or {{w|herbivore}} — only eating meat or plant respectively. Given the combination of animals used to create the omnitaur, it could be expected that it was also an omnivore. "taur" usually means "bull", but besides "minotaur" it also appears in "{{w|centaur}}", another mythical creature which has the upper body of a human and the lower body and legs of a horse. Thus Randall is taking "taur" to mean any creature made up of parts of different animals.

An "omnitaur" would suggest that it would encompass all real and mythical creatures, or perhaps some random assortment of such. In this instance, it appears to be a hybrid, or {{w|Chimera (genetics)|genetic chimera}}, combined from eleven different creatures: {{w|fish}}, {{w|lion}}, {{w|snake}}, {{w|shark}}, {{w|bull}}, {{w|dragon}} (a mythical creature in its own right), {{w|horse}}, {{w|leopard}}, {{w|Sheep|ram}} (male sheep), {{w|human}} and {{w|bird}}. Chimerism is not as uncommon at the genetic level, for example humans have about 145 genes (out of around 30,000) originating from bacteria, other single-celled organisms, and viruses.[https://www.science.org/content/article/humans-may-harbor-more-100-genes-other-organisms] {{w|Mitochondria}}, the powerhouse of the cell, were originally chimeric bacteria {{w|symbiosis|symbionts}}. But chimeras of larger organisms are rare, usually involving fraternal twins whose {{w|zygote}}s or {{w|embryo}}s combined, as in {{w|conjoined twins}} but resulting in less distinct {{w|phenotype|phenotypical}} expression. Artificial human chimeras with viruses, mice, pigs, and monkeys have been the subject of ethics controversies in recent years.[https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2019/aug/11/the-five-chimeras-human-monkey-hybrid-genetic][https://jme.bmj.com/content/45/7/440.abstract]

The title text is a comment by a human whose parents were both omnitaurs. It would be funny that such parents would not produce offspring that was still omnitaur. It suggests that this may be the result of {{w|genetic recombination}}, which is the exchange of genetic material between different organisms leading to production of offspring with combinations of traits that differ from those found in either parent. In this case, seemingly, they inherited ''only'' the human elements of each parent, yet sufficient to develop into a whole human with no missing or chimeric elements.

Both omnitaur parents likely had human germlines and compatible reproductive organs. Since the example depicted seems to be only 1/11 human, the odds of two parents as mentioned in the title text having fully human offspring would simplistically appear to be (1/11)11, or one chance in 285 billion. In reality, each physical part could not be the result of an equal recombinant genetic contribution, because the eleven animal chromosomes vary widely in number and size. Moreover, chimeras composed of multiple animals do not have chimeric children, because even with multiple sets of reproductive organs, the {{w|germline}}s are not combined. [https://journals.biologists.com/dev/article/148/12/dev195792/269139/The-road-to-generating-transplantable-organs-from Interspecies blastocyst complementation,] used to create human chimera organs and cell lines in other animals, is usually limited to combining two organisms into one whose offspring are not hybridized if they are even viable, and usually without human germlines or reproductive organs (or human central nervous systems, assuaging a major ethical concern.)

===Phenotypical chimeras in folklore===

In addition to the minotaur and centaur, many other potential inspirations can be found in mythology, like the {{w|manticore}}, with a body of a lion and human face; a {{w|griffin}}, with a lion's body and a eagle's head; a {{w|mermaid}}, with a lower body of a fish and upper body of a human; a {{w|Hippocampus (mythology)|hippocampus}}, with the upper body of a horse and a lower body of a fish; a {{w|qilin}}, with a body that resembles both a horse and a dragon; or the mythological {{w|chimera (mythology)|chimera}}, for which the genetic chimera is named, which has lion, snake, and goat body parts. Ultimately, there are {{w|List of hybrid creatures in folklore|lots of hybrid creatures in mythology}} with {{w|phenotype}}s combined from multiple animals. Usually, genetic hybridization produces much more smoothly blended phenotypes instead of dividing the body into large distinctly chimeric regions, although {{w|Mosaic (genetics)|mosaicism}} of fur, skin or {{w|Heterochromia iridum|eyes}} can produce notable differences of hue or shade.

In {{w|C. S. Lewis}}' {{w|The Chronicles of Narnia}}, the {{w|Magical_creatures_in_The_Chronicles_of_Narnia#Centaurs|centaurs}} are described as eating two meals — a huge roast meal "to satisfy the man stomach," and a meal of grass, "to satisfy the horse stomach," making it take quite some time for them to eat every morning. Since the omnitaur also has herbivore and omnivore (as well as carnivore) parts, this could further support the supposition that it is an omnivore, and it may similarly need multiple stomachs for these multiple appetites. It is unclear how compatible the various diets of its components would be (not least because 'fish,' 'snake' and 'bird' are quite unspecific, and it's hard to know what a dragon would eat) but it would likely need several meals, taking even longer to eat than the Centaur (plus the bird beak may slow the process down quite a bit.) In any case, a chimera of both warm and cold-blooded organisms seems unlikely to be viable, even at the organ level, let alone with combined surface phenotypes. The Chimera monster in {{w|Dungeons and Dragons}} is a "vile combination of goat, lion, and dragon, and features the heads of all three."[https://www.dndbeyond.com/monsters/16823-chimera], while the Aztec god {{w|Quetzalcoatl}} ("the feathered serpent") inspired the {{w|Discworld}} god/demon Quezovercoatl ("the {{w|Boa (clothing accessory)|feathered boa}}") ...being an analogue and mish-mash of various South American cultural and wildlife totems and described more fully as "as half-man, half-chicken, half-jaguar, half-serpent, half-scorpion and half-mad (a total of three homicidal maniacs)".

While chimeras occur in fantasy fiction, they also occur in science fiction, for example as {{w|cyborg}}s. The famous ''{{w|The Restaurant at the End of the Universe}}'' sequel to Douglas Adams' ''The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy'', had a pig with the mind and vocal tract of a human so it could articulate how much it wanted to be eaten.

==Transcript==
:[A creature, the Omnitaur, is shown. It is a four legged animal divided into 11 segments, each segment is from a different animal. An arrow goes to each section from a label, most of the labels are above the animal, but the fourth and seventh segments labels are below the animal. The animal has a fish tail and cat like hind legs. The torso is divided into four segments, the first and last of these with scales, but only the last of these also with sharp scales at the top. The second torso segment is white and smooth, the third also white but with hair both above and below, those above merges with the sharp scales of the fourth torso segment. The front legs are horse like, the lower neck is from an animal with dark spots, the upper neck has rams horns, which goes over in the central part of a human head, with ears and hair (drawn like a real human, not like a xkcd stick figure) and finally the front of the face is a bird with its eyes and a beak shown. The labels are given here in the order of the segment of the animal from the back to the front (disregarding weather the label is written above or below the animal:]
:Fish
:Lion
:Snake
:Shark
:Bull
:Dragon
:Horse
:Leopard
:Ram
:Human
:Bird

:[Caption below the panel:]
:The Omnitaur

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Animals]]
[[Category:Biology]]

User talk:Kynde

2022-07-28T16:45:50Z

172.70.162.155: /* Table of tips? */ There were two of them...

== Cueball references ==
Hi, please do not remove the Cueball references here. He is a standard character. The category [[:Category:Comics featuring Cueball]] gives just an overview about all comics showing this stick figure. And just one is him, not defined by Randall but by us. --[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 21:10, 8 May 2014 (UTC)
:But who should define who Cueball is? You? I could see him as both here. And somebody did. You have just corrected back so that the Cueball in the explain is switched to the other charachter in the transcript. At least one of these should then be changed to match the other. It is thus also clear that people have different views of what Cueball stands for. Is he the one trolling, or is he the one who knows which movie Blade Runner is? [[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 07:35, 10 May 2014 (UTC)
:By the way - I did not remove the reference to the chategory - but only in the text as described above. [[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 07:38, 10 May 2014 (UTC)

== Minor tags on edits ==
Also, a minor concern, but please be more sparing in your use of "minor" tags on edits. Addition of 1200 characters (e.g. . . m Talk:1496: Art Project‎; 20:04 . . (+1,240)‎ . . ‎Kynde, or . . m 1497: New Products‎; 19:12 . . (-419)‎ . . ‎Kynde →‎Explanation: It does not fit into category four! See new test. I also deleted a lot of text, that already was written below, and was basically the same as the one stille) is NOT minor. [[User:Djbrasier|Djbrasier]] ([[User talk:Djbrasier|talk]]) 21:22, 11 March 2015 (UTC)
::When adding a new comment to the talk page I newer see this as a major change. This i a discussion not a change to the explanation!. I do not believe it was a big change removing the text you wrote, when all of it basically was written below. Try and read your version, and see that it was more or less double. Also I had already once removed the reference to the fourth category. If the guy has signed up he have no problems with this company. Also it is mentioned that the fourth category is not a company he is afraid off, but just someone they do not like. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 21:42, 11 March 2015 (UTC)

== Thank you ==

I like what you did at [[1402: Harpoons]]. Thank you. [[Special:Contributions/173.245.54.153|173.245.54.153]]
:You're welcome - I did it based on your comment [[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 03:41, 2 August 2014 (UTC)

==[[980: Money]]==
Hey, you've done an amazing job on the money comic's transcript, but the explanation page is still marked as incomplete. Is there actually anything left to be done on it? Thanks! [[User:Davak72|Davak72]] ([[User talk:Davak72|talk]]) 03:04, 3 April 2015 (UTC)
:Thanks allot. I have replied on the Money page where you repeated the above. I can even remember the number although it was some time since I did the transcript. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 09:44, 3 April 2015 (UTC)

== Merge Cueball & Rob ==

You seem to have changed some comics in which formerly more than one cueball appeared to make it such that none were called cueball (e.g. Orb Hammer). But many persist, see transcripts in:
http://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/1405:_Meteor
http://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/192:_Working_for_Google
http://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/525:_I_Know_You%27re_Listening
http://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/187:_The_Familiar
http://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/79:_Iambic_Pentameter
http://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/65:_Banter

We should probably seek broader consensus before rewriting all these transcripts. There seems to me to be a general trend to name one "Cueball" and call the others "Friend" or somesuch in these cases and I'm concerned that you seem to want to singlehandedly rewrite all that convention. [[User:Djbrasier|Djbrasier]] ([[User talk:Djbrasier|talk]]) 21:07, 11 March 2015 (UTC)
:It is typically the first who writes the transcript who decides who of the Cueballs (or Megans) he feel represents the real Cueball. However, there is no real behavior of Cueball. So who should decide. I could also change these transcripts so it becomes the other character who becomes Cueball, because I think the first transcripter did it wrong. This was exactly what happened with the two Megan-like comics. First it was Megan and Danish. Then unidentified girl and Megan. Then Megan and unidentified girl, then two Megan like girls with short and long hair and finally you reverted it to my first ide: Unidentified girl and Megan. So thanks for showing me these six double Cueball comics. I will change asap. And as I answered your comment on [[1496: Art Project]] Rob is already listed as part of the category for Comics featuring Cueball: http://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/Category:Comics_featuring_Rob and this is listed as the first entry when going to the page for Category:Comics featuring Cueball: http://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/Category:Comics_featuring_Cueball Thus he should not be merged--[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 21:21, 11 March 2015 (UTC)
:: Can you please add this discussion here [http://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/explain_xkcd:Community_portal/Proposals#Merge_Cueball_.26_Rob]. I have refrained from making these sort of substantial changes and want to seek a broader consensus. Please use the community forum to seek such consensus before making major unilateral changes like that. [[User:Djbrasier|Djbrasier]] ([[User talk:Djbrasier|talk]]) 21:24, 11 March 2015 (UTC)
:::Done with interests --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 22:02, 11 March 2015 (UTC)
:: there are dozens of multiple-Cueball comments. Please don't change them to "man 1", "man 2" until we can reach a braoder consensus. I will not be changing them to "Rob" without consensus. This is not something to be done all at once and making that many changes will prompt me to request that an admin freeze your account. [[User:Djbrasier|Djbrasier]] ([[User talk:Djbrasier|talk]]) 21:27, 11 March 2015 (UTC)
:::I was about to write this before your comment no. two. So this was a reply to your previous comment: "I can post it there, but these changes has been underway a long time for almost a year. But it is hard to find these comics as I do not go through them just to find incidences. How long have you been active in xkcd. I can see your page has been created today, but maybe you were active long before that?"--[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 21:42, 11 March 2015 (UTC)
::::This is a comment to your next comment: "It is very hard to threaten someone like that already. I have been making these changes before, and by the way never to man 1 or man 2. I have been one of the top contributers for more than a year. I hope this is not just because I reverted one of your contributions to Mondays comic? --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]21:42, 11 March 2015 (UTC)
:::::I didn't want to threaten. I think consistent style is important, and general style I see is in multi-Cueball comics, one is ID'd as Cueball and others are "Friend", etc. Anyone unilaterally changing an established style should seek consensus first.
:::::Additionally, I think your undo on my edit actually improved the explanation.
:::::Finally, if you know how to solicit more opinions on the matter at hand, please let me know (or do it). Thanks! [[User:Djbrasier|Djbrasier]] ([[User talk:Djbrasier|talk]]) 23:53, 11 March 2015 (UTC)
::::::Thanks on the edit appraisal. As I wrote on the talk page, yours was also much better phrased the second time. I do not know how to get anyone to go read your comment except by giving them the message like you did with me. Or putting a link to it from the talk page of the double Megan comic, and maybe on some of the double Cueball comics too. I did not understand the "solicit more opinions" at first (why I wrote that last part in my comment below "how many will read"). So you do realize, I can see now, that not many will. By the way I'm [[Danish]]... That is, I'm neither a mean girl or a pastry cake, but from Denmark. And although I'm, really good at English for everyday use, it is not by far a language I can understand everything. But suddenly I got your message.--[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 20:10, 12 March 2015 (UTC)
My only point is we need to wait until consensus is reached before undoing years of precedent in Cueball naming. [[User:Djbrasier|Djbrasier]] ([[User talk:Djbrasier|talk]]) 22:38, 11 March 2015 (UTC)
:Well as I have made fairly clear there is no consensus. Because it is up to the first one who writes the transcript to decide who is the friend. And this often leads to discussion or changes forth and back (like we just saw with two Megans) since people have different opinion on how Cueball should behave, since they do not know that Cueball can behave anyway Randall needs him to. Often he reflects Randall's intelligence, but just as often he is a prick behaving horribly towards girls etc. So if there are two, one good and one bad, you cannot say the good one is Cueball. And how many do you think reads your post? --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 19:43, 12 March 2015 (UTC)

I have had a look at the comics you have listed. Here are my comments:
*[[1405:_Meteor]]
**Here I would have changed - since it is believed that Cueball often represents Randall's version of himself - especially when it is his hobby. Of course it is then Randall who is pedantic, and thus Cueball. So I would change the Cueball reference. So here we could have a stupid editing war, instead of writing something else.
*[[525:_I_Know_You%27re_Listening]]
**Here there is only one Cueball speaking. And the other is listening in. So here I would no object so much. Maybe I would mention that the other looks like Cueball.
*[[192:_Working_for_Google]]
**Here I would have changed - since I would think that Cueball should have the most interesting story, and also that this Cueball is Randall as it is known that Randall has an interest in Google and has also been cheated by their aptitude test (so much that he did the famous [[356: Nerd Sniping]]). So also here I would change the Cueball reference. So again stupid editing war, instead of writing something else.
*[[187:_The_Familiar]]
**Here I would have changed - since I would thing that Cueball should be the one always interested in computers. Not the other way. I know there are other comics where he enjoys nature. But Also a lot where he enjoys computers out of hand and math etc. So again I would have changed the Cueball reference. So again stupid editing war, instead of writing something else.
*[[79:_Iambic_Pentameter]]
**Here I agree with the Cueball = Randall - it's Randall my hobby and thus the one with the Hobby is Cueball. But I would still prefer they are not named. some might argue against me on the hobby, saying the Cueball with the hobby is "Randall" so the other Cueball is "Cueball". Thus once more editing war. But I would not start it. But still probably mention that the Cueball with a hobby is Randall.
*[[65:_Banter]]
**What can I say. The first is called Cueball the other is not. They have the same amount of text, and they are obviously both gay and missing out. I would definitely loose the Cueball reference here.
That is my ten cents about these six examples. Maybe we should create a category called multiple Cueballs. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 20:02, 12 March 2015 (UTC)
:Note that I have not changed any of these... yet. But maybe I should revert those three I think is plain wrong, so the Cueball and friend is changed. Then we can see if anyone changes back? ;-) --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 20:02, 12 March 2015 (UTC)

:::I advise waiting. If you want to enact 4, go for it, but then put in the discussion a [http://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/explain_xkcd:Community_portal/Proposals#Merge_Cueball_.26_Rob link] to our discussion for '''all''' the changes you make so hopefully someone besides you and me goes to that page and weighs in.

To answer your question, I've read xkcd for years (I started reading regularly around the time there were ~500 total comics), lurked on explainxkcd and made anonymous minor edits for most of that time. I set up an account in July 2013, when I began making more regular edits.

I recognize that the issue has a large amount of inertia. My point is precisely that there are 9 "Rob" comics and countless Cueball. But, as I stated on the page, there is ample evidence that the same character (Black Hat's friend/roommate, Megan's boyfriend) '''is''' named Rob. I haven't done a count, but I suspect that "Megan" is named in the comic fewer than 9 times, but characters of her appearance are '''all''' called "Megan".

Yes, multiple Megans triggered the idea that's been brewing in my mind since someone (not me) made an anonymous comment on a relatively recent Rob comic [1168: tar]. Since I read that it's been sitting in my mind, but I haven't wanted to make an issue. However, the asymmetry between Megan/Cutie and Rob/Cueball grates for me and I want to urge the community here to evaluate critically whether it is the right thing or an inappropriate historical artifact. Years ago, [Cutie] was abolished (redirects now to [Megan]), I think it's objectively appropriate to make a symmetrical arrangement for Rob/Cueball (hence my options 2 & 3 in the public discussion thread).

For now, if you want to go changing all those comics go ahead. I won't argue or revert, but I request that you put the following (or something close to it) in the discussion of all the comics you change "I've removed the name 'Cueball' from this and several other comics that have multiple Cueball's in them as per my position on the issue currently under discussion at http://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/explain_xkcd:Community_portal/Proposals#Merge_Cueball_.26_Rob if you support this change or disagree with it, please weigh in on that discussion thread."

Thank you and I look forward to hearing from more users. [[User:Djbrasier|Djbrasier]] ([[User talk:Djbrasier|talk]]) 00:04, 13 March 2015 (UTC)

::::Dear Djbrasier
:(By the way my name is Kynde - that is both my nick and my middle name).
:Thanks for this very open talk. I like you much better now ;-)
:If I do change any of these I will do as you ask. It is not like I have forever to do these changes, although I for sure use too much time already on explain... I think I will add the category:Comics with multiple Cueballs. What do you think of the name if I do (and if I do then maybe also make one with Category:Comics where Megan is named Megan. Please tell me you can think of a better name for that one ;-) I only know of the three now mentioned on [[Megan]]s page.
:As you can see om my page, I have only used explain xkcd since late 2013. So you have been member longer than me by some months. I did not read xkcd before that - became fascinated with the What if section on xkcd and when I finished with those I turned to the comic. But found that I failed to understand quite a few, and thus searched and found this page. I have read them as they come out since then, and then also began reading from no. 1. But since I always look in this page for the explanation and like to contribute I only progress very slowly. Recently I have reached [[540: Base System]] where I have made several improvements additions and corrections. And that is as far as I have reached reading straight fro no. 1. But I have of course used the cross referencing and thus read many in between that and those from October 2013.
:Regards Kynde --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 08:02, 13 March 2015 (UTC)

::Happy to have the discussion and to get to wiki-know you. I definitely see your points. I added a few comments and links to our public discussion in the hopes that, over time, it will attract more users to the community portal discussion. I suspect it will take some months for enough users to weigh in that we have a reasonable consensus. I think that if you remove "Cueball" from some of the comics you mentioned above and put a link to the portal page in the discussion block of those comments, that will prompt community input.
::Cheers,
::DJ [[User:Djbrasier|Djbrasier]] ([[User talk:Djbrasier|talk]]) 13:40, 13 March 2015 (UTC)

I also added incomplete tags to a few comics in which I think a strong argument can be made that "Cueball" is really Rob, despite his name not showing up (Boombox & Cover-up) [[User:Djbrasier|Djbrasier]] ([[User talk:Djbrasier|talk]]) 13:49, 13 March 2015 (UTC)
:Well I disagree again. See the talk pages. But then it is out for discussion.--[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 13:19, 15 March 2015 (UTC)

I have changed several of the Multiple Cueballs comics as you said was OK with you. See the new caregory. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 09:41, 16 March 2015 (UTC)

== xkcloud permalink usernames ==

You said "The user name and user picture stay the same though.", [http://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=1506:_xkcloud&diff=prev&oldid=88207 An Anon] had mentioned that [http://xkcd.com/1506/#post/3c34fb48-1a07-51d2-a81d-5257a3681024 3c34fb48-1a07-51d2-a81d-5257a3681024] had the name "Lauren Ibsen Dolores Amit" and changed to "Margaret5", then by the time I looked at it, it had "Virginia2006". It still has "Virginia2006" now, but since it has changed twice I wouldn't assume it is now permanent. Due to this, I [[1506:_xkcloud/Table of Permalinks|haven't been saving the usernames]]. Could you confirm that you see Virginia2006? Perhaps it's different for each user. -[[User:452|452]] ([[User talk:452|talk]]) 21:09, 6 April 2015 (UTC)
:Yes I did see Virginia2006. I think it may change some times, but then suddenly it could become stable? The permalink used on the main page of the explain, was mine. I noted it was Mark Zuckerberg. But this has changed. But now I think it is stuck on: Destiny1983 and always with the skating "Megan". Can you confirm this: http://xkcd.com/1506/#post/50b47c70-3a7c-504d-bcc0-60597338e999 . Cool that you have collected all these images. Can we put the link under the permalink section. As you can see I'm trying to completely revise the page so it is easier to find the explain and then only see the detail if you are interested. Hope you like these changes --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 21:27, 6 April 2015 (UTC)
::Yeah, I see Destiny1983 on that one too. I like the changes, they make everything much clearer. -[[User:452|452]] ([[User talk:452|talk]]) 21:30, 6 April 2015 (UTC)
:::Thanks. I was trying to make it easier to write some extra info on your permalink page, and deleted most of them. Luckily they are not deleted permanently. But the page is so big I have trouble loading it. I try to repair my mistake, but else please do so for me, and sorry in advance. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 21:45, 6 April 2015 (UTC)

::::NP, <tt>&action=history</tt> is a life-saver. I was going to suggest using <tt>&action=edit&section=0</tt>, but I see you've already added a description heading. It also lags pretty badly for me so I expect I'll have to stop at 10000, and I'm already up to 8444 since my last edit to the page. -[[User:452|452]] ([[User talk:452|talk]]) 22:20, 6 April 2015 (UTC)
:::::Yes I think I fixed it but I had to split it in three uploads. How many different pictures do you think there are. I guess some off them are the same? (And same for text). Maybe the last part can be seen by sorting the table. But does the image also have the same name when used more than once? --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 22:33, 6 April 2015 (UTC)

::::::Well, I know of 1419 unique images so far. Yes, both images and text are reused for different permalinks, some come up a lot more frequently than others. If you click the heading, you can sort by either image or text, which will group them together. It's kind of interesting to see different captions for the same image. If you mean the same username, I haven't checked. I also haven't checked whether the same pair of image and text ever appear together as different permalinks, I'll check that <s>eventually</s>, <s>later</s>, ''right now''... nope. I imagine the prompt never even ''suggests'' a caption which is already associated with an image. -[[User:452|452]] ([[User talk:452|talk]]) 23:27, 6 April 2015 (UTC)

::::::I hit the 2mb page limit at 10217 permalinks, out of the 15000+ I have found, so I've reduced the table to only show each image and text once. As in, ''either'' the image or text once, so there will be a couple of duplicate images and text. So what I said previously about sorting to see different captions for the same image no longer applies, but the page will be more manageable this way. -[[User:452|452]] ([[User talk:452|talk]]) 13:53, 7 April 2015 (UTC)

::::::: So you think that it will not be possible for anyone to add the same image to the same caption, because this caption will never again come up with this image or the other way around? I can see yo have removed the ? where they where something else like turtles... Nice. What about all the links below? Are they just the other 10.000 links not associated with a new image or caption, just a different combination? If so maybe this should be made clear. You could make a new section heading for them. Would it be possible to list them in any other way, or is this to save space? Alternatively you could make a new subpage with extra permalinks for further study. We of course both know that no one will ever read these again ;-) But nice work anyway. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 14:17, 7 April 2015 (UTC)

:::::::: So far, I've never found the same image and same caption, but I'll keep checking, as I'm still storing all of the information, just not posting the full list to the wiki now. The other links at the bottom are all 15000+ permalinks I've found, good point about making that more clear. It might also be a good idea to list them on another separate page to save space, but they're not for further study, as I have all the images and captions associated with them, there just isn't room to display all of the information, because it would currently take 3mb+. Regarding the symbols, I was previously pasting my javascript output into my text editor to format them, but now I have my script format them for me, so the symbols are preserved. - and it's also a lot easier for me. -[[User:452|452]] ([[User talk:452|talk]]) 14:29, 7 April 2015 (UTC)

:::::::: Well, I've hit the 2 megabyte limit again, so it looks like we'll have to put the table on one page and the list of links on another. Any suggestions for the page titles? -[[User:452|452]] ([[User talk:452|talk]]) 15:25, 23 April 2015 (UTC)
::::::::: You are crazy :-) My suggestion is that you create a new page called Table of Permalink (with the explanation at the top the same, but now linking to the old page, and vice versa for the old page to the new). Then let the list of permalink stay on the old page. And move the table to the new page. Finally, look at what pages direct to the old page, and redirect them to the new, only leaving link to the old page from the new one. The table is most important. The problem with your table is that it is too big for anyone to load... Maybe there should even be another page in between. Which is called - a selection of permalink. And then with link to the full table and links, with a fair warning about huge amount of data (Big data.). My explorer just went down trying to load the page (or maybe I'm just too impatient?) --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 11:36, 24 April 2015 (UTC) (Ah, now it is finished loading...)
:::::::::: Thanks. I haven't tried it in internet explorer, but the table loads okay with Chrome on my laptop I bought 7 years ago. Now that the pages are split, it might load faster for you. -[[User:452|452]] ([[User talk:452|talk]]) 18:58, 24 April 2015 (UTC)

==[[1608: Hoverboard/Transcript|Hoverboard Transcript]]==

Sorry to ask about such a minor thing, just curious about why the man on the raised plateau can't be a woman. Elsewhere in the comic Darth Vader is seen explaining Steven Universe to someone. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.221.43|108.162.221.43]] 13:46, 3 December 2015 (UTC)
:Hi - it cold be. But to me it looks like a family. But to be honest I had not expected anyone to change it, and did not notice before I had copy pasted some text in from the document I write the transcript in. But hopefully at some time this family (or whatever) becomes part of the effort to explain the entire comic. My guess is that someone will know who it is - that they are from some TV series or movie. In that case it will become clear if it is (as I assumed) a family with mom and dad and two children or if it is a lesbian couple or something entirely different... --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 20:02, 3 December 2015 (UTC)

::The family resembles the main characters of Steven Universe, a cartoon(the characters being three women and a child) The explanation page also lists them as such(Steven Universe and the Crystal Gems - (x: 551664, y: -567383). [[Special:Contributions/173.245.55.64|173.245.55.64]] 21:03, 3 December 2015 (UTC)
:::Perfect thanks. Then is makes sense with the Vader reference. Is it the boy who is Steven? And is the low girl also a grown woman? I will look it up but thanks for answering. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 22:07, 3 December 2015 (UTC)
::::Fixed the transcript. Some of the link I put in, is not supposed to be there, but may be moved once they are explained in the main article.--[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 22:20, 3 December 2015 (UTC)

== Hair Bun "Girl" ==

Hi Kynde, I noticed you created the character page for "Hair Bun Girl". This naming convention is inconsistent with most of the other characters named here, e.g. Cueball, Ponytail, Hairy, et al. Beret Guy is a potential counterexample, but the words "guy" and "man" don't have the same relationship as "girl" and "woman". Partly for consistency, and partly for simple feminism, I'd like to open a conversation about changing the character's name please. [[User:Jkshapiro|Jkshapiro]] ([[User talk:Jkshapiro|talk]]) 04:08, 4 February 2016 (UTC)
:I think it is exactly the same as guy vs. girl. Hair Bun Woman is just too cumbersome. But if you can find a name like Ponytail that fits then by all means. Hairbun just doesn't do it for me. But I do not have any specific feelings for this name, I just found that she was used too often to not have a character page. So I will not take offence against you trying to find a better name through a conversation. Contraty to for instance Megan, which once was Cuetie (sexistick I think), it will not be so hard to change Hair Bun Girl's name to something else, but still she has just reached comic no. 20 so it is not easy to find all the references. Are you ready to do that job if you do get a new name for her? Because else it is just semantics --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 15:20, 4 February 2016 (UTC)
::Thanks, appreciate it. Yes I am ready to do the job. What would you recommend for next steps? Should I raise the issue at http://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/explain_xkcd:Community_portal/Coordination? [[User:Jkshapiro|Jkshapiro]] ([[User talk:Jkshapiro|talk]]) 04:06, 7 February 2016 (UTC)
:::Your welcome, and good luck. Try to see [[explain_xkcd:Community_portal/Proposals#Merge_Cueball_.26_Rob|this post]] regarding the naming convention of [[Cueball]] and [[Megan]] which much to my joy did not end up in altering anything, but they were "old" names, Hair Bun Girl is new. You could post you suggestion there. And maybe make a note at the top of [[Hair Bun Girl]]'s page? (You can write Notice as a template just like the incomplete. Check out this [http://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=Cueball&oldid=92611 old version of Cueball page history]). Now that I think about it '''Hairbun''' is probably as good a name as [[Ponytail]]. So I would think that would be a decent proposal for a change. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 09:08, 7 February 2016 (UTC)
::::Okay, process started. Thank you for the good wishes and guidance. [[User:Jkshapiro|Jkshapiro]] ([[User talk:Jkshapiro|talk]]) 04:31, 9 February 2016 (UTC)

=== Girl With Hairbun? ===

I have identified several comics that have a girl (clearly a child) similar in appearance to Hairbun.
Examples include [[1104: Feathers]], [[1352: Cosmologist on a Tire Swing]] and [[1370: President]]. Would these people be included under Hairbun? Most of them are not marked as such. And what are the requirments to make a new character? I think this girl has appeared rather often. {{unsigned ip|173.245.54.42}}
:Hi. If you look at the description for [[Hairbun]] it clearly states that she is an adult as are Ponytail and Cueball etc. So no, these examples should not be included in Hairbun category. If you look at the last entry on the talk page of President I suggested a children category. But I would agree that a category with curious girl or science girl could be relevant. She is also in [[1611: Baking Soda and Vinegar]] for instance. If there are about five comics that could go in a new category it is just to create it. The naming is important though. See othere categories for what to write on the category page. I have made several including Hairbun --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 13:12, 27 May 2016 (UTC)
::Thanks for your input. I think I will be creating this category soon. Since most of the names seem to refer to the hairstyles (they are recognizable) I think I'll be going with the name "Double Bun Girl".

== Marking edits as minor edits ==
Hey, I noticed that you mark lot of your edits as minor edits while most of them aren't. For example, [[http://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=1645%3A_Toasts&diff=112997&oldid=112996 this]] and probably [[http://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=1645:_Toasts&diff=next&oldid=113008 this]] too constitute as a minor edit, but these - [[http://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=1645:_Toasts&diff=next&oldid=112997 [1]]], [[http://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=1645:_Toasts&diff=next&oldid=113003 [2]]], [[http://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=1645:_Toasts&diff=next&oldid=113009 [3]]], etc. aren't minor edits. Refer to the wikipedia guidelines for minor edits - {{w|Help:Minor_edit}}.
::Examples include typographical corrections, formatting and presentational changes, and rearrangements of text without modification of its content. A minor edit is one that the editor believes requires no review and could never be the subject of a dispute.
Basically, if you are adding/removing even a little bit of content, it is not minor. [[Special:Contributions/199.27.130.216|199.27.130.216]] 23:31, 21 February 2016 (UTC)

Oh, and how in the world is [[http://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=Thing_Explainer&curid=16286&diff=113034&oldid=113033 this ]] and [[http://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=1608:_Hoverboard&curid=16986&diff=113019&oldid=113013 this ]] minor !! [[Special:Contributions/199.27.130.216|199.27.130.216]] 23:47, 21 February 2016 (UTC)
:Sorry about that. I just updated my settings where it had been set to default: "Mark all edits minor by default". If I by mistake click OK to an update before clicking that off it was to late. But now it will be the other way instead. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 10:19, 22 February 2016 (UTC)
::Cool, no worries. It happens. I was just surprised that everything was marked minor. Anyway, keep up the good work. I see that you're finishing up all the incomplete explanations and improving comics in general. Great work ! :) [[Special:Contributions/199.27.130.216|199.27.130.216]] 01:04, 23 February 2016 (UTC)
:::Thanks for the support, nice to get some feedback. Also great that someone mentions when you are doing something the wrong way. I had only limited experience with wiki pages before signing up here, and I had not read the wiki page on minor edits, but now I have. How come you have chosen not to have an account? Seems like you also make several comments and changes... which is great ;-) --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 08:11, 23 February 2016 (UTC)

== Please create the discussion page for today's comic. ==
Thanks. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.221.13|108.162.221.13]] 15:02, 7 March 2016 (UTC)
:Well just did that (for [[1652: Conditionals]]) but not because I saw this comment, just before. I guess it is not possible for no registered users to create pages? Well I fulfilled your wish before I knew about it ;-) --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 15:05, 7 March 2016 (UTC)

== Moving comments around ==
Please do not move people's comments into unrelated discussions without asking them, and if you do, make sure the timestamps in the reply chain aren't out of order. [[User:Mikemk|Mikemk]] ([[User talk:Mikemk|talk]]) 20:36, 23 March 2016 (UTC)
:I expect you were referring to [[Talk:1659: Tire Swing]]? Well all comments I moved were regarding the same question of who the girls looked like, and they should have been posted as replies to the first. There were no time stamp on the first comment and your post asking if they were children were posted straight under a post about if they were Megan and Hair Bun girl or Thelma and Louise. So I do believe your comment belong under that statement. But fine by my that it just stand beneath instead of being indented. The time stamp of all comments seem to be in time order as I see it. It would get really confusing or I would have to make the same reply three times if they were not together. The comments in between were not at all related and there should be no confusion. So I think it made the discussion page much more useful what I did.--[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 20:52, 23 March 2016 (UTC)
::Well I don't know about the other users, but I know for a fact that mine wasn't in response to the first one. I don't even know what the first one said, I just moved it from the explanation to comment page. And mine was posted immediately after it because I was chronologically the second comment made. I had no reason to wait (interestingly, you moved someone else's comment so that I was replying to it, even though it didn't exist when I posted.) [[User:Mikemk|Mikemk]] ([[User talk:Mikemk|talk]]) 00:41, 24 March 2016 (UTC)
:::I cannot see that what you say is true about moving your comment. I just checked the history and here is what I found: 
'''This was what it looked like before my changes:''' 
--- 
the women do not look like Megan and Hair Bun Girl to me, are they new?
sorry for commenting here, but I do not have rights to create a new page, which seems to be necessary for posting the fire comment. Will move once the comment section is created.

I think they are Thelma and Louise (from the movie) given the looks of their hair {{unsigned|Chichak|March 23, 2016}}

I think they're children [[User:Mikemk|Mikemk]] ([[User talk:Mikemk|talk]]) 15:33, 23 March 2016 (UTC)

Maybe they got the truck from Black Hat's garage? [[User:Mikemk|Mikemk]] ([[User talk:Mikemk|talk]]) 15:34, 23 March 2016 (UTC)

I have yet to use a tire swing that was made from a worn tire (worn by the road not by swinging). From my experience, expired tires used by automobiles typically have sharp metal protruding from the rubber. This would make a dangerous tire swing. I thought landscaping (rubber mulch) and playgrounds was the preferred recycling method for used tires?--[[User:R0hrshach|R0hrshach]] ([[User talk:R0hrshach|talk]]) 15:35, 23 March 2016 (UTC)

The first one certainly looks like Hair Bun, but the second one (which in in the explanation is presented as Megan) has a somewhat curly hair. Could she be another character, perhaps? [[Special:Contributions/108.162.218.166|108.162.218.166]] 17:05, 23 March 2016 (UTC)
 --- 
'''This what it looked like after:''' 
--- 
the women do not look like Megan and Hair Bun Girl to me, are they new?
sorry for commenting here, but I do not have rights to create a new page, which seems to be necessary for posting the fire comment. Will move once the comment section is created.
:I think they are Thelma and Louise (from the movie) given the looks of their hair {{unsigned|Chichak|March 23, 2016}}
::I think they're children [[User:Mikemk|Mikemk]] ([[User talk:Mikemk|talk]]) 15:33, 23 March 2016 (UTC)
:::The first one certainly looks like Hair Bun, but the second one (which in in the explanation is presented as Megan) has a somewhat curly hair. Could she be another character, perhaps? [[Special:Contributions/108.162.218.166|108.162.218.166]] 17:05, 23 March 2016 (UTC)
::::As the tire comes from a truck and it's diameter is more than half the height of these small girls they are definitely kids (not that Randall could not have made adults make a swing as like in [[150]]). Also this makes it much more funny that they both stole a car and beat up an angry adult. And now they are going all environmental after wards. So they are not Megan (which looks nothing like a curly haired girl) and also not Hair Bun Girl as it is defined that these characters are adults. There are many stories using kids and they will never represent Cueball, Megan or Ponytail etc. Those with hats are for instance never drawn small! Have thus corrected the explanation. But it still seems to miss much more on the environmental issue which is the subject/point of the comic if not the joke --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 17:19, 23 March 2016 (UTC)

Maybe they got the truck from Black Hat's garage? [[User:Mikemk|Mikemk]] ([[User talk:Mikemk|talk]]) 15:34, 23 March 2016 (UTC)
:Then they would have lost the fight: [[433: Journal 5]]! --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 17:22, 23 March 2016 (UTC)

I have yet to use a tire swing that was made from a worn tire (worn by the road not by swinging). From my experience, expired tires used by automobiles typically have sharp metal protruding from the rubber. This would make a dangerous tire swing. I thought landscaping (rubber mulch) and playgrounds was the preferred recycling method for used tires?--[[User:R0hrshach|R0hrshach]] ([[User talk:R0hrshach|talk]]) 15:35, 23 March 2016 (UTC)
:I think you are correct. We have one for our kids (though it sucked and we took it down again) and that was a brand new tire, but not one I think would be suitable for any car though. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 17:22, 23 March 2016 (UTC) 
--- 
'''As can be seen'''
:::I have only moved one comment up, and that was not yours! That you did not check that there already seemed to be two comments above yours, about the appearance of the girls, doesn't mean that it would not make sense to pool all these questions and comments regarding exactly this topic together to give just one answer. And as you can see from the above '''I did NOT move your comments''', but I moved someone else's comment, in between the first and second of your comments, to be able to reply to all four things already written about the girls (ie. 1) The women do not look like Megan and Hair Bun Girl to me, are they new? 2) I think they are Thelma and Louise (from the movie) 3) I think they're children and 4) ... a somewhat curly hair. Could she be another character?) All that was what I replied to, now possible to do in one go right beneath all four remarks. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 09:47, 25 March 2016 (UTC)
::::There was only one comment before mine, and it was 2 paragraphs. You moving the second half into a reply of the first half caused some of the confusion here [[User:Mikemk|Mikemk]] ([[User talk:Mikemk|talk]]) 06:54, 26 March 2016 (UTC)
:::::OK now I understand, so it was not your comment I moved, but the previous comment that I split in two (that was a mistake). That you did not answer to the comment above was of course not clear since it was on the same subject. Again this, as I understand it, was caused by someone posting a comment in the explanation, and you moving it into the comments section (which was fine, but made it hard to find out who posted what.) --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 12:58, 26 March 2016 (UTC)

== Gardening ==

You mention "three links to images that did not work" in my "garden store for deer" entry. [http://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/Special:UploadStash/thumb/13xmd97bimg0.n2wbws.5455.png/739px-13xmd97bimg0.n2wbws.5455.png These]
[http://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/Special:UploadStash/thumb/13xn667h2jlw.jonmk1.5455.png/739px-13xn667h2jlw.jonmk1.5455.png three]
[http://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/Special:UploadStash/thumb/13xod68rb29s.7fj65u.5455.png/739px-13xod68rb29s.7fj65u.5455.png links]
all work for me; they are images I tried to upload, scaled as large as the server would allow (739x461). Somehow I can upload images but not create image pages (also the spam protection is still triggered, so creating this account seems to accomplish nothing). It's very strange that the server has stored them but won't allow anyone else to view them (after logging out, it tells me I "must be logged in to upload files" instead of displaying the images). Someone should rescue the images from wherever they reside on the server.

The "face" I referred to (the second image) is really a cluster of leaves and branches: the bottom cluster of the rightmost tree looks like a head in profile, with curly hair, an eye, a grinning mouth, and a prominent nose. The two rightmost trees started with no branches (first image), but grew several when I placed a light above them. I moved the light so the face wouldn't be destroyed and tried to grow branches on the lower trunks. The third image is essentially the same as what you uploaded today.

Regarding Megan's office furniture: I'd actually pruned her second wand whenever it appeared, and then the bird took its place. [[User:.42|.42]] ([[User talk:.42|talk]]) 15:29, 8 April 2016 (UTC)
:Hi .42 First I think it take a few days (three) before you are allowed to create new pages to fight off spam boots that we have had problems with. I cannot see you images I get the following message:
:'''Internal Server Error'''
:'''This file (13xmd97bimg0.n2wbws.5455.png) doesn't belong to the current user.'''
:Cool that you have logged in as a user, although poor name ;-) On the other hand if you are a fan of Hitchhikers Guide then I guess it would be cool enough by the way. I'm happy to see that I finally get a chance to prune some of my gardens after several upsets since the comic came out. If I can help you with the images let me know. Maybe you can post them somewhere else and I can find upload them for you? [[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 15:34, 8 April 2016 (UTC)

::I'll try to upload tomorrow, then. I don't know where the server found the .42 IP address — that isn't my address! It's ''really weird'' that it chose this number. [[User:.42|.42]] ([[User talk:.42|talk]]) 16:18, 8 April 2016 (UTC)

Have you seen libra's [http://forums.xkcd.com/viewtopic.php?f=7&t=114415&start=480#p3954408 purple light] gardens? [[User:.42|.42]] ([[User talk:.42|talk]]) 22:58, 11 April 2016 (UTC)
:No I had not. I like the stilt on platform up in tree. I did not know this could happen. [[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 10:24, 12 April 2016 (UTC)

== [[1703: Juno|NASA versus the press]] ==
Hi Kynde. I'm afraid I disagree. It seems pretty clear to me that the question about the tip-off comes from NASA. I've added a topic to the talk page, where I explain my reasoning, and where this should be discussed if you still disagree. Thanks! [[User:Garik|Garik]] ([[User talk:Garik|talk]]) 16:52, 6 July 2016 (UTC)
:Yes I still disagree. To me it seems like a continuation of the conference and it is now the press to speak. And given that I knew Juno to be related to Jupiter but not that she was the daughter of Saturn (and given the reason for the naming in the real world) I would not say that the name in any way would lead anyone to take it as a hint for going to Saturn. But great to discuss it. Will post this on the [[Talk:1703:_Juno|talk page]] too. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 17:21, 6 July 2016 (UTC)

== 1712: Politifact ==
Hi, I'm the BOT and I'm BORG...

...nevertheless your enhancement to the transcript was too much. And I think your enhancements to the explain section is also overrunning the target.

But I just only did revert the transcript. --[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 20:19, 28 July 2016 (UTC)
:HI BORG... :/
:I Highly disagree with your changes.
:A transcript serves several functions:
#To make it possible to find out what any text/characters reads, even if it is hard to read in the comic.
#To make a description of what happens in the images. This has two purposes:
##So people with eye disabilities can find out what the comic is about. So here a full description of the comic is needed apart from the text.
##So it is possible to search the comic for info on the content, like a woman with a hat with a white tag.
#Finally it is great if the transcript represents the way it is written in the comic as close as possible including colors (which should also be described in the text for those that cannot see them selves). So tables, colors and formatting is fine. If the text then is harder to read it is possible to copy paste it.
:I can see there may have been a bit of explanation in that I wrote about what Megan did in the previous panel, but that is not enough to just undo the whole thing.
:I will reinsert the transcript and if you disagree then lets discuss either on that comic or in a general fora on what a transcript should contain.
:Regards, just Kynde. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 16:16, 29 July 2016 (UTC)

== Follow-Up on that "Random Chat" ==
Hey dude! Uh... wow this is awkward. You said hi to me in the random chat on my user page. I said hi. Then we never said anything else to each other again. xD --[[User:JayRulesXKCD|JayRulesXKCD]] ([[User talk:JayRulesXKCD|talk]]) 16:07, 25 October 2016 (UTC)
:Hi Jay. Not so awkward. :-) I mean you just said thanks, and thus did not really initiate any chat. Do you have anything in mind? Like something to be improved here on explain? Something larger maybe that could need discussion. Or anything else... Problem is of course that when I chat to you here, you do not get any reminder like when I chat on your page and visa versa. So I will make a post on your page that I have answered here... --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 19:04, 25 October 2016 (UTC)
::Well, by that, I just meant a simple random chat. Like a "hey! how are you doing? that's nice... what do you like to do in your free time..?" kind of chat. --[[User:JayRulesXKCD|JayRulesXKCD]] ([[User talk:JayRulesXKCD|talk]]) 14:18, 26 October 2016 (UTC)
:::Ah well, I guess I would not really like to have such a chat on these pages, so sorry that I misunderstood you. ;-) --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 14:19, 26 October 2016 (UTC)
::::It's alright.. also.... HAPPY HALLOWEEN! :D --[[User:JayRulesXKCD|JayRulesXKCD]] ([[User talk:JayRulesXKCD|talk]]) 14:41, 31 October 2016 (UTC)
:::::Wow... it's (almost) a whole year since then. Time sure flies by, huh? --[[User:JayRulesXKCD|'''JayRules''XKCD''' ]][[User talk:JayRulesXKCD|what's up?]] 12:34, 9 October 2017 (UTC)
::::::Yes that is true. Actually more since the first contact ;-) Haven't been so active the last half year. :-) --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 13:22, 11 October 2017 (UTC)

== [[1751: Movie Folder]] ==

Assuming that Black Hat only has good movies is rather absurd, as there's not a shred of evidence to support this. Especially since this is Black Hat we're talking about. Therefore, there's no evidence that Titanic 98 is about the ship hitting the reef, and therefore, the calculations about stacking 97 ships have no relevance. --[[Special:Contributions/172.68.79.81|172.68.79.81]] 15:06, 1 November 2016 (UTC)
:Since this is relevant to a specific comic, I suggest that you just leave this comment on that specific comic's discussion board. Thank you. --[[User:JayRulesXKCD|JayRulesXKCD]] ([[User talk:JayRulesXKCD|talk]]) 15:13, 1 November 2016 (UTC)
::Yes that is true Jay. Anyway there is reason to believe that Black Hat either thinks or teases Cueball with his movies, and thus he suggest that the movies he has are god. Also the other comment he makes suggest this. So I think there is a lot of evidence that this movie 98 is one in the series of movies where Titanic hits the reef of older Titanics. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 14:05, 2 November 2016 (UTC)
:::Cueball names 7 movies, Black Hat replies to 4 of those. He has definitively positive things to say about 2 of those, and simply states information about another. In that context, there's no reason to assume his comment about the Titanic series should be interpreted as a claim that he considers Titanic 98 to be 'good'. And with only 2 of the other 6 known movies in his collection being stated as 'good', that's clearly not "a lot of evidence" that Titanic 98 is 'good'. --[[Special:Contributions/108.162.237.86|108.162.237.86]] 21:24, 3 November 2016 (UTC)
::::Well we disagree on that then. If the explanation should be changed on the basis of this discussion it should be moved to the relevant discussion page. If it is the same person who wrote from both IP .81 and .86 you could move it there your self. Feel free to include my replies, but leave out Jays as that has nothing to do with the discussion. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 09:56, 4 November 2016 (UTC)
:::::[[Talk:1751: Movie Folder#Titanic XCVIII|Done]]. (Yes, .81 and .86 were me) --[[Special:Contributions/108.162.237.86|108.162.237.86]] 16:57, 4 November 2016 (UTC)

== Transcript TLDR; ==
*I got so tired of Dgbrt's negative comments (TLDR;), that I have collapsed them here below. Fell free to read them if you really wish by clicking: --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 22:00, 14 March 2017 (UTC)
<div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed leftAlign" style="width:100%">
 
Please stop to write this massive texts into the transcript. Have a look at the discus at the last (1798) comic. And also think about that you are the only one who is entering those massive explains perhaps also nobody does read. LESS is often MORE! --[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 11:43, 15 February 2017 (UTC)
:Maybe. I was under the impression that they where both there for those that had problems with vision, and also so you could search on something you remembered from a comic and find it using that tool. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 12:27, 15 February 2017 (UTC)
::Even visually impaired persons don't like it (see 1798). And TLDR means "too long; didn't read", just in case. You should consider this. Reading the transcript should not take much longer than identifying the features from picture itself. Every spoken text and a short description what is shown should be suffice. At [[1799: Bad Map Projection: Time Zones]] even not every county must be mentioned; showing differences to a regular map projection should be enough because everybody knows a regular world map. --[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 12:44, 15 February 2017 (UTC)
:::I completely disagree about only writing spoken text. The transcript is intended to make it possible to read all text in the image not just spoken text. It is often difficult to read all text, and also if people misread it or do not notice it by looking at the image, it will be there to find in the transcript, especially for those visually impaired. And what you said means there should be no transcript for the current comic [[1799]] where you linked to this discussion from. By the way I know what TLDR means, and also did not ask about it, if you noticed! I have seen it used here before, probably regarding something you wrote! ;-) --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 13:33, 15 February 2017 (UTC)
::I agree with Dgbrt. [[User:Elektrizikekswerk|Elektrizikekswerk]] ([[User talk:Elektrizikekswerk|talk]]) 12:50, 15 February 2017 (UTC)
:::I expect mainly people who agree comes here, as people who are not troubled by it, might not care enough. ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 13:33, 15 February 2017 (UTC)
::::The first criticism was done by a visually impaired person (Zetfr 23:11, 13 February 2017 (UTC)) at [[Talk:1798:_Box_Plot]]. That was the reason for me to start this discussion.--[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 13:52, 15 February 2017 (UTC)
:::::Yes thanks for pointing that out. I had not read his comments when I replied before. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 14:13, 15 February 2017 (UTC)
::Another reason for detailed transcripts with image descriptions is that sometimes people have misunderstood what is in the image, and then a transcript can be used to make sure what is there. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 13:33, 15 February 2017 (UTC)
:::All that may go into the explain section; it doesn't belong to the transcript.--[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 13:52, 15 February 2017 (UTC)
::::Yes maybe, but will the visibly impaired not also be annoyed about it there. Then maybe in a trivia section if there is need. I will try that for [[1798]] I think. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 14:13, 15 February 2017 (UTC)

Maybe not known to all. In the past Randall provided a transcript on each comic. It is in a hidden div-tag. Then something went wrong and the transcript actually belonged to an older comic. Right now there is no transcript anymore. But have look at this example (shown on https://xkcd.com/1664/ for https://xkcd.com/1662/):
<pre>
[[Two children, a girl and a boy, are talking to an adult woman as they walk away from her. The boy has a bucket.]]
Girl: Me and Jack are going up the hill to fetch a pail of water.
[[The children have left; the woman calls after them.]]
Woman: Okay, have fun! [[The woman stands and thinks.]]
Woman: ... wait. What the heck is going on with the hydrology around here?
{{Title text: Jill and Jack began to frack. The oil boosts their town. But fractures make the bedrock shake and Jack came tumbling down.}}
</pre>
--[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 15:07, 15 February 2017 (UTC)
:Yes I tried to include this on explain xkcd by making a [[xkcd#Transcript_on_xkcd|description]] of it on the [[xkcd]] page some weeks ago. Transcript are of course even more important now that there are no longer transcripts on xkcd. The first problem arose after the [[Hoverboard]] comic where the transcript for all comics after that was shifted two and later three comics from the one they belonged to. The last of those shifted transcript ended with [[1674]] whose transcript was found three comics later at [[1677]]. But also comics with transcript needs a better transcript here on xkcd, to include other written text, and small important details, as well as we are using given names for characters which Randall has never used (or only rarely uses). Actually Randall has once made a direct link to Explain xkcd for a better transcript. Alas there was not transcript until this year, where I made it: See this [[Payloads#Trivia|trivia]] under [[Payloads]].--[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 16:16, 17 February 2017 (UTC)

I'm glad this discussion is finally taking place. I raised the point a while back on [http://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/explain_xkcd:Community_portal/Proposals#purpose_of_detailed_transcripts the community portal] but nobody noticed. I tried again on [[1795]] but attention had already moved on to the next comic... Seems I got it right this time ;-)
Different people may have different uses for the transcripts. For me, being visually impaired, the right level of detail is that of Randall's official transcripts. It should include every written word in the comic (spoken, printed, in captions, etc.) and just enough information on what's going on to "get it", but not how things are drawn. E.g. "Cueball is talking to Megan", not "Cueball, on the left, has his right arm extended towards Megan who is sitting on a chair" (unless the chair somehow plays a part in the story). Imagine you're talking on the phone: "hey, I saw a great comic this morning, here is how it goes..." and then "tell" yor friend the joke, rather than "describe" the comic. BTW, I think this also serves your goal of being able to search old comics for a specific element. The element you'll remember will be something important to the comic's story, not a graphical detail such as a character's position or the number of lines drawn around his hand to indicate movement. Anyway, thanks for the good work!! Zetfr 16:18, 16 February 2017 (UTC)
:Thanks for the input, especially to Zetfr. I had not seen your comment on 1795 or in the community portal. I'll have a look, and thanks to Dgbrt for letting me know about your latest comment. I will try to keep out the details in the transcript. For me personally I have often been looking for a specific thing, like searching for the comic where Cueball stands on a chair with a sword or rotates in an office chair. As I could not remember any lines spoken, and because those making the transcript had not mentioned either spinning office chair, or sword, I could not search my way to them even in this explain page. I have found them later, but by chance. And then I put in the details. Maybe I have gotten carried away, so sorry about that. I think the details somehow belongs, but if that should be in the trivia, or at the bottom of the transcript...? I'm not sure, which was also why I put it in the transcript. Being the one who makes the most edits and also hard work (large tables, and huge transcripts) I'm happy Zetfr likes the page :-) --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 16:09, 17 February 2017 (UTC)
::I have changed the transcript for [[1795]] putting the details into a subesection of the transcript. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 16:38, 17 February 2017 (UTC)
:::Hi Kynde, I still disagree with this subsection solution. You don't have to repaint the picture by text! If a detail is important for understanding a pun it has to be mentioned in the transcript itself; otherwise it is useless and oversized. E.g.: Nobody wants to know -- and wont remember later -- if there are two, three, four, or five sound symbols and how they are painted. The single word "SOUND" describes all. And please consider: Nobody reads those long texts. LESS is often MORE!.--[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 18:04, 17 February 2017 (UTC)
::::Hi Dgbrt. We can movie it into a trivia. I think some of it is relevant, and sometimes it is hard to find out which part will be searched for later. But I guess we two alone would end in a [[1800: Chess Notation|½-½]] for this discussion so far... --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 19:41, 17 February 2017 (UTC)
:::::I completely agree with Dgbrt. The transcript should say *what* Randall wants to tell us, not *how* he tells it. In most cases this should also work to let you search for details you remember. In your example, Cueball holding a sword is certainly important to the comic's point, so it should be mentioned in the transcript. But the length and position of the sword are irrelevant, and probably not what you'll search for. Obviously, there is no hard rule to decide what should or shouldn't go into the transcript, it's a matter of personal judgment and common sense, but I think we can all agree on general guidelines. Regarding the "Detailed image description" section tested in [[1795]], I have no problem with that. I'm not sure it will ever be useful to anyone, but it won't do any harm either, so if you're willing to put in the extra work, go for it. Zetfr 12:17, 18 February 2017 (UTC)
::::::Thanks Zetfr. About the extra details, they could be put into a section where you had to press to see the extra details. I do not know if a reader will pass over that. For instance like I have done with explanation for several categories like [[:Category:New Year]] --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 17:12, 18 February 2017 (UTC)

Nice find for [[1461:_Payloads]], I didn't now Randall refers to this wiki. According to ''web.archive.org'' that hint was entered between 2015-01-25 and 2015-02-07 and refers to the entire wiki page, not only "our" transcript. So it's absolutely NOT embarrassing as you wrote in the trivia section. I'm setting an incomplete tag for the transcript and trivia section and edit it tomorrow (18th Feb). I will let you know what I've done and why. Stay tuned...--[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 20:59, 17 February 2017 (UTC)
:The rework on [[1461:_Payloads]] is done. But I didn't remove the incomplete tag. That's up to you. Like Zetfr I'm not sure it will ever be useful to anyone, but the larger description on a separate page would be acceptable to me. Furthermore I've done some investigations on Randalls links to this wiki and put it together in a new category: [[:Category:Explain_mentioned_by_Randall]].--[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 12:57, 18 February 2017 (UTC)
::Thanks both for the "nice find" and for reworking Payloads, and especially for the new category. Great find. I will look at the other examples soon. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 17:12, 18 February 2017 (UTC)

Many thanks by me for this positive and productive discussion. It seems there are some more former transcripts which need a rework. I personally will focus on checking all the JSON-scripts I downloaded today (1799 at all; ofcourse 404 doesn't exist; and exactly seven contain the word "explainxkcd"). I will write a small script to put them into a human readable form and present it somewhere here for further use. Stay tuned... --[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 17:45, 18 February 2017 (UTC)
:Thanks Dbgrt. And really cool how you made that new category. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 19:14, 18 February 2017 (UTC)

== [[xkcd]] page and subpages ==

You moved some contented into subpages which doesn't make it better. There is no need to describe in [[Design of xkcd.com]] a layout everybody can see. The lemma "Design" requires just a few lines of text but you repeat all the "Content". And just for interest: Before the redirect to https was in place (a few weeks ago) there was language specific advertising for the shop. I'm looking forward for a better and more compressed form on all of this. Any suggestions?--[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 14:07, 24 February 2017 (UTC)
:Hi Dgbrt. My reason for making this page, is that the links, the comics, the headline, the byline, the warning etc. all changes with time, and I would like users of this site to have easy access to earlier links. Just like we have a category for the fotter comics (which I by the way did not make, but enjoyed, because I never thought absolute that he must have had them before all those five comics had been published and that they thus must have changed). So I thought similar things would be nice to have for changes to the layout and hence I decided to describe it. Maybe it was too much, but I like to have the archive links to changes. And since I had already done lots of work on this, I just copied all the new text to another page, to not delete it. And yes as I have said on Davidy's page I should not have put it on the xkcd page to begin with. But when I started I had no idea it would end up soooo long. Waiting to hear your comments on this info, before going further with suggestions. But thanks for asking. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 18:16, 24 February 2017 (UTC)
::All those pages are on my agenda; your edit or not. I don't care. But I will not delete any content without an agreement. I will present something in a sandbox at my user page. You are welcome there (not before tomorrow). And consider, this wiki is not a backup for archive.org.--[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 19:56, 24 February 2017 (UTC)
:::I think this wiki is for explaining xkcd, not just the comics. I believe you agree as I have seen on Davidy's talk page. And major changes or important revisions to the main page is important in my opinion. For instance I'm sad to see that the [[xkcd warning]] has gone from xkcd, and think it is important to let it be know it was there for many years. Where to do so? And how to find it if you did not know about it? There need to be a place that links to it, directly or indirectly through the xkcd page. I look forward to see you [[Time|sand castle]]. :-) Please leave a comment here when you have something you wish me to see, with a link. Regarding you answer to my comment, I meant that I would hear what you had to say before I came with suggestions. Not that you should not do anything before I made one. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 20:08, 24 February 2017 (UTC)

== I am still calm... ==

...why I shouldn't? You see things inspiring others to see more things... (<- you would wrote 500 words for this) and you are still not able to put the pun on the top of an explanation. Keep your focus on the pun, not on every Million possibilities behind the drawing. And you can be sure I will have an eye on this because this is NOT "dreamingxkcd".--[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 23:15, 4 March 2017 (UTC)
:Well I'm not! --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 21:09, 7 March 2017 (UTC)

== Aggressive edits ==

While I was talking to others about the explanation and the transcript for more than 24 hours you need only one hour to change everything that was discussed before. Again all red is yours: [http://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=1810%3A_Chat_Systems&diff=137245&oldid=137225 1810: Chat Systems changes]. Editors, mainly not me, don't like it when all their work is changed after you finished your edits. Please respect other editors! --[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 21:50, 14 March 2017 (UTC)
:I do not change everything. I add. But we are obviously not going to agree on this. I would prefer not to discuss with you. How do yo know what the others like or not. In the discussions we have had I found more against your way of communication than against my edits. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 21:57, 14 March 2017 (UTC)
::Massive changes and you call it add??? So tell me your adds and explain how all they other changes happened. I will add a sentence to the comic discussion because it's senseless here.--[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 22:14, 14 March 2017 (UTC)
:::Yes it is. And it is a real shame that you have decided to know how this wiki should be. Hope that Davidy soon tells one of us to back off. If it is me then I will have to take it into account. So far he has only had nice things to say to me about my work here, which is not what I have seen regarding your work. Have you read the other users that calls your tone negative/aggressive or even worse? I have really tried to speak nicely to you, but you never seems to accept any edits I do. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 22:21, 14 March 2017 (UTC)
::::Your "Citation needed" template add to my text is just one example for what I call aggressive. Hiding four paragraphs is an other.--[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 23:09, 14 March 2017 (UTC)
</div>
 

== Possible Issues with Updating Old Comics ==

I know you spent a lot of time making edits to many older comics, so I thought you might have some input on one that I'm thinking needs a change - 38 Apple Jacks. I noticed you edited it a little a couple years ago. It's the one where the father tells his son they don't taste like apples, and his son tells him off.

The title text description says it appears to be another case of Randall explaining the comic to readers who don't know about the old commercial, but I think it might be the father telling the son why he was saying that to him. I think it's worth at least adding, if not totally replacing the current description, but I see you had previously added to it during your edits.

How would you handle that type of change, if it were you? [[User:Ianrbibtitlht|Ianrbibtitlht]] ([[User talk:Ianrbibtitlht|talk]]) 21:38, 3 April 2018 (UTC)
: Hi Ianrbibtitlht
:I disagree with the idea you have. And my reason for that is based in the original quote from Randall when posting this comic to live journal where he asks:
::"Who else remembers those commercials?"
::See the comics [[38:_Apple_Jacks#Trivia|Trivia section]].
::To me indication that since no one did, he added the explanation in the title text.
:The son dismissed his father completely, and I do not think the father goes on.
:And since many of xkcd's readers may not know the reference he explains it in the title text.
:He did the same with the title text in [[30: Donner]], which is what is refereed to in the title text explanation. I have added links between these two examples. There may be more.
:Of course you are free to add an alternative explanation, and see if any one notices enough to complain about/remove it. ;-)
:--[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 09:57, 5 April 2018 (UTC)

::I appreciate the feedback. I don't feel strongly enough to modify it at this point but thought it might be an added insight that nobody had thought about! ;-) [[User:Ianrbibtitlht|Ianrbibtitlht]] ([[User talk:Ianrbibtitlht|talk]]) 14:57, 5 April 2018 (UTC)

:::Thanks for asking, by the way. ;-) --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 20:46, 5 April 2018 (UTC)

== Need help ==
A few things. Several people have mentioned that ReCAPTCA v1 has expired, and something needs to be done about that. But no one has replied to the admin forum, so not sure what is going on. Are there even any admins still here? Seems like they've all disappeared. And should we create a new forum for questions and things like that? And if all the admins have left, should there be like more admins or something like that? [[User:Herobrine|Herobrine]] ([[User talk:Herobrine|talk]]) 07:51, 8 April 2018 (UTC)
:Hi
:I haven't any idea about ReCAPTCA and Im not an admin. But yes if there is no one that replies it is a problem. Davidy is the obe I have had discussions with but he did not reply the last two times I wrote. Don't know if DGBRT with the BOT has any knowledge that can be used. Try those two. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 08:30, 9 April 2018 (UTC)
::FYI, we still have admins here and there will be a major update soon at one of the next weekends. BTW, I prefer it in lowercase: dgbrt - like xkcd--[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 21:16, 16 April 2018 (UTC)
:::Thanks for the info dgbrt, and it sounds greawt. (Your signature is with capital D but that is maybe just as the username? I will use dgbrt from now on). --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 20:08, 23 April 2018 (UTC)

== All is red again - you changed everything according to the diff ==

Hi, look at [http://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=1981%3A_Rickrolling_Anniversary&diff=155913&oldid=155905 your edits] and tell me how someone can see what you have changed. Please keep your changes to smaller parts.

And beginning an explanation with a youtube link which even doesn't work in some countries like Germany is also not a god start to an explanation. I'm referring to your edits above. --[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 21:27, 16 April 2018 (UTC)
:OK, sorry about that. I will try to make smaller changes. The link was not one I put in, I just moved it to the beginning to rickroll someone - it was a joke... Of course if the link did not work I can understand why you did not get Rickrolled. But the link had already been included in the explanation before my edits. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 10:24, 18 April 2018 (UTC)
::Thanks for your understanding, "all is red..." was the reason why I started this section, the video link was meant as a minor remark and that it doesn't work in Germany is even less important for the explanation.
::But I didn't understand your joke. So what do you think about changing all the internal links like [[Cueball]] to rickroll the readers - of course only less important links.
::BTW: Around 2009 and some years later the German GEMA Mafia tried to block all music content until they got the money. Even dashcam videos from the meteorite incident in Chelyabinsk were blocked when you could hear something from the radio in the car. This has changed and newer uploads are now available to me (including Rick). --[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 15:02, 18 April 2018 (UTC)
:::The joke was that this comic was about rickrolling and the link was to the ricrolling youtube video... --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 07:30, 19 April 2018 (UTC)

I just tried to make several smaller changes, and it was much more difficult to me, with the risk of making mistakes... But have a look at this then: [http://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=1982:_Evangelism&action=history Evangelism history].--[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 09:45, 19 April 2018 (UTC)
:I like that but the development of this comic explanation is funny and not a typical one. Many vast changes were done after your comment here. --[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 13:01, 21 April 2018 (UTC)
::Well happy you do. Most of the changes were improvement, but often based on or improving parts I had edited (well I had edited most parts ;-) What I meant was that some of the good changes only came about because of the changes I had done in the first place. Still seems we need a citation for primates opening at the "wrong" end though? {{unsigned|Kynde}}
:::You know I'm a fan of short explanations just covering what's in the comic. And in [[1982: Evangelism]] there is no "wrong banana end" mentioned. It just mentions "the other" - which is of course always "wrong". The title text then indeed refers to a schism in Europe - the Americans weren't much developed by that time (excepting the natives).
:::BTW: My major workload here right now is working on the health of this wiki. You probably haven't seen my latest comment five days ago just a section above. We will get an update soon. Stay tuned.
:::BTW2: You have forgotten to sign your comment ;)
:::--[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 22:19, 21 April 2018 (UTC)
::::Yes we are not fan of the same type of explanations we have covered that. I believe that the majority of humans do peel the banana from the opposite end of that cited (without citations) to what primates do... I'm not sure there is any year for the schism in Europe so who knows how developed the US was at that time. Bananas is a rather new thing in Europe I believe!
::::And no I had not seen that comment, probably same time you posted this comment thread? But sounds great! Are you an admin now? And do you have any contact with Davidy... He went off the xkcd explain grid long time ago.
::::I have amended my mistake and will sign this time ;-) --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 20:12, 23 April 2018 (UTC)

== You blanked the page [[1996]] ==

A you can see [[Talk:1995: MC Hammer Age|here]] "I decided to let it stay there as it is but on Monday that redirect will AND must be overwritten in the meaning of a comic number." That blank page isn't better than my decision. Beginning on Monday the number 1996 MUST be used for navigation (i.e. Comic Number) and nothing else.

Other future comics will be: 1999, 2012, 2014, 2016, 2017, 2018, and 2038. That's all!

All those future comics (by number) - beginning with 1996 on Monday - AND that older ones (by name) should have a disambiguation line on top when the comic number overrides that name.

The problem is the logic at this wiki. While at xkcd the number and name have different meanings and navigation is only done by number it's not true here. While <nowiki>https://xkcd.com/1996</nowiki> will lead to the next future comic and is unique the link <nowiki>https://explainxkcd.com/1996</nowiki> could mean number OR name. We also use the number for navigation, so the abbreviation in the meaning as a comic name can not be supported for those eight comics. --[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 14:58, 19 May 2018 (UTC)
:Hi DBBRT
:I first saw your comments after I had blanked it. And I thought it was better to avoid confusion over the weekend. So I did not return it. I think it could be better to already now remove those page re-directions for the comics you mention now, to avoid confusion on all those numbers... A lot of those the next 20 comic or so. We already had a similar situation with [[1337]], because of the LEET comic series. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 13:15, 23 May 2018 (UTC)
::Read my future comic list above, it's only seven. And the blank page confused some users also. Nevertheless I will change the comic template, navigation to the right will not be shown when the target is greater than the LATESTCOMIC. The BOT will update those redirects anyway. I just prefer some tests at home to figure out the best solution before editing here. --[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 13:53, 23 May 2018 (UTC)
:::Well, I think 7 times confusing in 20 comics is a lot, but I can read that you are working on avoiding it, so that is great. I'm very impressed by your bot, but then again I have very little programming experience and it was back in my days as a PhD Student around 2002... (Pascal...) Great you have made it and keep improving it. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 20:06, 25 May 2018 (UTC)
::::Thanks for your kind words. I still don't understand the 20, it's only seven comics and I've changed the global comic template so that this is SOLVED now. There is no link to [[1999]] in the navigation bar today. But on Monday my bot will update that page in the meaning of a comic number and the right navigation in [[1998: GDPR]] will be shown. FYI: I'm a professional programmer. --[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 21:04, 25 May 2018 (UTC)
:::::Must have been unclear. I meant that over the next 20 comics, there would have been this issue 7 times i.e. about once every week, and I found that it could have caused confusion a lot in those 7 weeks. But now you have solved this with you prof. programmer skills. ;-) So there is no longer any problems. Great work. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 11:04, 27 May 2018 (UTC)
::::::Thanks for your kind words. And I've done more: Embedding pictures from Commons works again and it's now also possible to change the size. See my latest edit here [[1400: D.B. Cooper]] which uses this statement <nowiki>[[File:DBCooper.jpg|thumb|150px|Cooper]]</nowiki>. That image is not uploaded here, click at it in the comic and you will see. I've mentioned this in the Community portal. --[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 12:07, 27 May 2018 (UTC)
:::::::Cool. I'm not sure how this works. Looks at first like the image is on the local wiki but I can see it is not so. But how does this works. Can you write the "File" formula for any picture name on commons and then get it embedded here like that? It is beyond my computer skills :-) --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 18:02, 28 May 2018 (UTC)
::::::::When the picture isn't here it's searched on Commons. When it's found it's only cached at this wiki. In general it works like a local file. This did already work in the past until it was broken. But now we also can change the size, play with that 150px in the preview. --[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 18:15, 28 May 2018 (UTC)
:::::::::Thx --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 20:08, 28 May 2018 (UTC)

== Why you still focus on that SAD comics? ==

I focus on all edits done here and your edits are minor (there are much more edits here needing some attention), nonetheless I would be happy to find a solution on that ''sad'' thoughts are in your mind. I respect your thoughts, but that trivia at ''[[1756: I'm With Her]]'' really dohttps://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/User_talk:Kyndees not belong to that comic at all. It was deleted before, you reverted that -- by not reading or ignoring the discussion page -- and I just want to prevent an edit war. Furthermore I removed your statement about "trolls" at the discussion page because that's not polite.
*And now
**I start
***with
****your layout
*****You see???
Try to write full sentences without bullets. I'm hoping you understand my major two parts here. --[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 23:21, 27 October 2018 (UTC)
:Yes I did not read the comments. I was looking for the sad list, when I fond it missing. I saw through the edit and found the following comment:
::This "sad comics" list is utterly pointless and has no reason to exist. I don't regret deleting this waste. If anyone wants to keep it up, revert the edit, but make it readable, compact, and make at least one bit of sense. (Emojis? must be TRUMP!!?!one1!))
:I did not see any discussion there, and found it rude and also not done properly (with many links pointing to this section). So I just reverted it. It could be given its own page though.
:Regarding politeness I must say I did not find most of your comments on the talk page polite as I just read them. As you state "no one has criticized it before", so maybe it is just you, and now some years later a few guys that begins rambling on about it.
:As to why, I think it is quite clear that Randall was sad after the election. Maybe I took it too far, and it should no longer have been "sad", but about comics pointing to a political agenda by Randall. As Randall is on the move again with the mid term election coming, he has both a new political comic out, and has changed the header text with regards to registering for voting twice in a month.
:So I definitely still find it relevant. That has not changed just because two years have passed. What Trump does at the moment is even more disturbing than ever, and I'm sure Randall is thick and tried of it still! --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 13:38, 29 October 2018 (UTC)
::PS. The layout was me trying to make a list of comics that was related to this issue. And with date and events listed as well. Maybe it can be done better, but I at least kept the format throughout. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 13:39, 29 October 2018 (UTC)
:::You always do this nested bullet lists. That's ugly layout. One bullet and one or two short sentences, not more. In most cases you just should simply omit the bullets and write full sentences. The page [[Design of xkcd.com]] is an other example for this bad layout.
:::But back to the main issue: Even jet you did not read the comments completely. Only after "A) Why does the sad comics list exist (see comment above)?..." I came in. And on 27 October 2018 I mentioned at least four incomplete reasons (the transcript was you).
:::So I recall: The trivia at ''[[1756: I'm With Her]]'' does not belong to that comic at all, and even at a different page the title would be wrong because most of the listed comics are NOT sad. Furthermore I don't know how you do know how Randall feels, he is just a writer and these are only comics.
:::There was a reason why David was against a category for sad comics, and this is still valid. This is the only reason why this section at the trivia of 1756 exists, be honest.
:::So my proposal is:
:::*moving the content to a separate page, either with a new title or only moving the "sad" content and deleting the rest
:::*using the link from the menu: "What links here" at 1756 ([[Special:WhatLinksHere/1756: I'm With Her]]) to fix the links to that part (mostly your former work) and maybe also change the text
:::The comic 1756 has to be explained mainly in the context of the time BEFORE the election. It was a campaign for Hillary Clinton, anything later done by Trump is irrelevant, besides that it has to be mentioned that the campaign wasn't successful. --[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 18:16, 29 October 2018 (UTC)
::::Well, I definitely know that the comment in here is mine. I did very much hate the list because, as mentioned in the talk page on the comic, the section was completely disorganized. It took up half of the entire page. As Dgbrt mentioned, the format you use is honestly really ugly, and I have to agree. The real problem that I found was ''after'' I posted the comment he quoted.
::::In that comment, I mentioned that it should have had its own category instead of being completely on that single page, which would have prevented it from the eyes of those who don't like this format. Alternatively, it could have been in a table, a format much more compact, several times easier to understand, and at least 12 octillion times less infuriating to look at.
::::The other mind-boggling and frankly stupid thing about the list, of course, was that you added '''''every. Single. Comic.''''' ...if it seemed to be remotely sad (and even if it ''wasn't sometimes!'') and tried to link it to the political situation and Trump. I, in that comment, presented two of the comics in a - admittedly more asshole-ish - way that you linked them like this. But that's the ''core'' of all of this drama. Hell, in multiple of the comics, you even said that no "big" event seemed related to the situation and simply just put it in because it mentioned the military or security. And even for some of the ones you did present a political event, the speculation that you presented for Randall making these comics was beyond 4chan with Smash Ultimate level.
::::Like I said in that comment, it isn't necessarily a political comment just because something big happened that day. Vomiting Emoji and Flag, the two I highlighted in my comment, have explanations that are just plainly absurd. Randall "expressing fear" that the moon would be gone before the eclipse was ''obviously'' a joke. Randall making a joke that has a flag in the picture doesn't mean he's going to rebel against the United States, make his own country, and science his way to taking it over just so that Trump is no longer the ruler.
::::I wouldn't have had these problems if the list weren't so outlandishly absurd, and combined with the fact that it clogged up the page with a lot of meaningless speculation, I felt pushed to just delete the entire thing. Yes, that may have been extreme of me, and I should apologize for being fed up, but I still maintain that a lot of the stuff on that list is bad. If it's presented in - again - a way that doesn't hurt to read or filled up with what it is, I would have not as many problems with it. But as it looks right now, just making the list collapsible doesn't remove the problem; it's like putting White-Out on a yellow test paper and saying that the question never existed, despite the fact that it's obvious that something is wrong. [[User:Halo422|Halo422]] ([[User talk:Halo422|talk]]) 04:05, 1 November 2018 (UTC)
:::::A bit complicated to reply now. But to Dgbrt I did not read any comments until your post here. I was pissed about the deletion of the entire section, and just undid it. As Dgbrt wrote it can only be deleted properly by also removing links that goes there. I'm not using the page that much at the moment, and do not read all comments. This is also why I first see your comments today.
:::::Dgbrt do you have any good idea for a page title? If it is only the first few comics that are clearly sad, could it then be called "Sad comics"? And should it be a page or a category? If we can find a solution for that, I will try to change it so it can be tolerable... --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 10:01, 2 November 2018 (UTC)
::::::I'm honest: I vote for deleting that section. The main reason is that we don't know how Randall feels, whether sad or not. We just have comics, not an autobiography.
::::::If you still vote for keeping I only can see two possibilities:
::::::*Keep the title "Sad comics", move it to a single page (no subpage to any comic), remove most of the content, write a proper text instead of bullets, and start it like "Some comics may suggest the impression..." because your "...clear trend..." is nonsense.
::::::*Or, move everything to a separate page, but then I have no idea about any proper title.
::::::BTW: I've created a new category: [[:Category:Elections]], and as I mention here [[:Talk:2067: Challengers]] it still needs some work. --[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 11:06, 2 November 2018 (UTC)
:::::::I will think about the possibilities. And I did see your new category. Which is great by the way. There must be many of these from earlier years also?--[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 11:09, 2 November 2018 (UTC)
::::::::I need help on this new category because I'm sure there is more. --[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 11:12, 2 November 2018 (UTC)
::I have now created [[Sad comics]] and moved the content from With her and tried to make the layout better. I do not agree with deleting the references to the other comics, but not they have been separated from the first four sad/negative comics. All links have been diverted to this page from all 16 comics. If there are other comics, not on the list, with link to that section I have not changed those... Many comics could refer to With Her for many reasons so I will not go through them all. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 13:55, 2 November 2018 (UTC)
:::You've done a big job, so thanks for this on the first place. And I can assure you that you always can find all links at the tools box "What links here", in this case when reading ''[[1756: I'm With Her]]''. I'm still not happy seeing comics like [[2064: I'm a Car]] linking to content titled as ''sad'', but that's up to other editors.
:::'''ProTip''': You should watch pages important to you, just activate "Watch this page" at the bottom when editing, or adjust your "Watchlist" at the top menu belonging to your personal profile. You will receive an email on every change. --[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 18:31, 2 November 2018 (UTC)
::::Yes I know about the links, but even though I have reverted the link to the sad trivia section, there may still be a link to the With her comic for other reasons. And there may even be links to the sad section from other comics not listed in my trivia, and I will not go through all pages referencing one of the controversial comics. I by the way highly disagree that we do not know Randall's political opinion. He has also endorsed Obama, so to day it is certain that he endorses the democrats vs Republican is a fact, not a guess. But you changed that on the new [[Challengers]] comic. I will not change it though. I just highly disagree with you on what is a know and what is a guess there.
::::Regarding the comics that are not sad it is not listed as being sad, that is only the first four. The rest is just listing comics that could have to do with Randall's political mood due to Trump and his politics.
::::I no longer have the time I once dedicated to this page... And hence I have taken e-mail alerts off, which is why I first noticed the deletion now. But I get e-mails on personal changes on this page. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 22:37, 2 November 2018 (UTC)
:::::While I'm still sure not knowing much about Randall's condition when his comics are published, I sense ''you'' are sad. I insist you should take a closer look on all your contributions here, which are much more than only this stupid sad stories. --[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 00:18, 4 November 2018 (UTC)

== I am still happy to see your additions here... ==

...you did edits I didn't like - and vice versa - but that's a war I don't like. And now I'm in a position in which I have to take care of all the health here, not only what's written.

Ironically: xkcd is also about sarcasm, the hell, shoooouuuuting on the hellll...

I will probably disagree on some of your future edits, but I don't have to judge this. That's up to others here.

So now I'm asking for help on a SMALL page introducing the memes used at this site. Like the Editor-FAQ I did. David did...not that much on that requests over a long time.

While I'm not sure about a proper title, this Wiki still leaks on a page simply showing the memes used here, linking to more specific pages, presented to evrey newbee.

--[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 22:06, 16 November 2018 (UTC)
::Thanks.
::I'm not sure I understand the page you are talking about, or what type of memes you mean.
::Also as is probably clear I'm not using that much time on this wiki anymore. I'm not leaving it, I just do not have the time any longer. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 15:31, 19 November 2018 (UTC)
:::Oh, I'm also not sure, maybe just a title like "About". It often happens that new people asking questions like "Why is the mouse-over text called title text?", how character names have been developed here, and so forth. A simple page, mostly showing links with a small introduction to the more hidden pages you often maintain. New readers have simple questions we don't think about anymore, that's what I would like to present. But it seems I have to collect some more items on which you maybe can help. --[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 20:34, 19 November 2018 (UTC)
:::Ah I see. It was the meme part that failed to register. But a about page makes sense. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 14:37, 20 November 2018 (UTC)

== We got a final image ==

Emoji dome has a wonderful ending image. Do you mind putting it as the current explainxkcd image? [[User:Netherin5|“That Guy from the Netherlands”]] ([[User talk:Netherin5|talk]]) 18:25, 2 April 2019 (UTC)
:No it is perfect. I can see [https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/File:emojidome.png someone already did], it has just not been updated on the front of the page yet. It will be before tomorrow. The other pictures should be collected on a extra page. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 19:56, 2 April 2019 (UTC)

== Removing all references to the Sad comics page ==

Hi Kynde,

I've expressed my intention to remove all references to the Sad comics page over at [[Talk:Sad_comics]], but I wanted to get your input too, since it is your page. Feel free to drop a comment over there if you want to contest this. [[User:Hawthorn|Hawthorn]] ([[User talk:Hawthorn|talk]]) 12:56, 13 May 2019 (UTC)
:Hi Hawthorbn. Thanks for alerting me. Did not follow the discussion page on Sad. I of course disagree. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 07:56, 14 May 2019 (UTC)

== 2196 ==
I mentioned this on DgbrtBOT's talk page, but I'm not sure Dgbrt saw it. Since you're an admin, could you help me with this?
# I uploaded the file, and it appeared in the page, but the link in the List of all comics page is still red. I think I messed up the upload, so could you delete the current file (the one I uploaded) for 2196 and reupload it?
# I created an incorrect redirect page [[Nice To E-Meet you]] (The name is incorrect, I forgot to capitalize the You). Could you please delete that page? Thanks!
[[User:Herobrine|Herobrine]] ([[User talk:Herobrine|talk]]) 00:52, 1 September 2019 (UTC)
:Hi Herobrine. No I'm not ad admin, just very active, and cannot do anything to delete pages. I can give it a look though cause I have created a few pages long time ago when the bot was not there/working. And yes seems like Dgbrt is not active at the moment. Lets see if it works again this Monday. As you can see [[User_talk:Dgbrt#DgbrtBOT_failed_2019-08-30|here]] I tried to write directly to him. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 18:38, 1 September 2019 (UTC)
::Can see you have created the page with [https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=Nice_To_E-Meet_You&redirect=no capital You] and I have now moved the image to a title with the hyphen in e-meet, which was missing in your original edit. So now [[List_of_all_comics]] works for the image as well. There are so many things which can go wrong, which is why we love out BOT. Hope it works tomorrow.--[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 18:46, 1 September 2019 (UTC)

== Category book promotion ==
Hi, you obviously know a thing or 2 about creating and adding categories, and like to do so :)
I feel like we could need a category about book promotion, with at least 3 comics related to how to and at least one to thing explainer (hoverboard, possibly also up goer five...), and myabe even others I can't remember right now. What do you think? --[[User:Lupo|Lupo]] ([[User talk:Lupo|talk]]) 14:31, 3 September 2019 (UTC)
:Maybe more a list of comics that promote books. Not comics that inspire books, so no to Up Goer Five. But it could get special mention with mention of the category in that explanation as well. But I think we need to find more than 4, five is kind of a limit. Maybe there where something for what if? But I do not think so... --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 14:37, 3 September 2019 (UTC)
::Looking at it again, we do have five :) [[Hoverboard]], [[2190: Serena Versus the Drones]], [[2198: Throw]], [[Disappearing Sunday Update]] and [[2194: How to Send a File]]
:::Well great. Do you have an idea for the category name? "Category:Book promotion" ??--[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 14:54, 3 September 2019 (UTC)
::::Sounds good to me! --[[User:Lupo|Lupo]] ([[User talk:Lupo|talk]]) 14:56, 3 September 2019 (UTC)
:::::Will you add that category to the comics? I can help create the page then. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 14:57, 3 September 2019 (UTC)
::::::Done --[[User:Lupo|Lupo]] ([[User talk:Lupo|talk]]) 06:07, 4 September 2019 (UTC)
:::::::[[:Category:Book promotion]] page created and found another comic that promotes a book Randall has been involved in! --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 13:40, 4 September 2019 (UTC)

== Broken Button ==
Hi Kynde, I've answered your question on my talk page. But I'll post it here just in case: I think you forgot to update [[Template:LATESTCOMIC]], so it would treat comic 2198 as 2197, hence breaking the button. [[User:Herobrine|Herobrine]] ([[User talk:Herobrine|talk]]) 22:55, 3 September 2019 (UTC)
:Thanks, DgbrtBOT has updatet it and now it works! --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 13:40, 4 September 2019 (UTC)

== Thanks ==

I see you went through a few of my recent edits, and corrected them / replied on them / acted on them. Thanks a lot. Also, now I learned from your edits how subcategories work. Thanks also for that. :) (But, please try not to change the word typo to lupo in common use. I don't think it would be an honour :) ) --[[User:Lupo|Lupo]] ([[User talk:Lupo|talk]]) 07:00, 11 October 2019 (UTC)
:I hope you could see the joke. Like when you fixed the fix? I also spotted you put a hidden joke . I will not make the same joke again. I guess it was also a kind of signature. I spotted that you where the most active last month. And was interested seeing what kind of edits. More or less I agreed with most... And cool with the spam fight. Do not use the same amount of time as I used to, but have been more active lately... Just became 2nd on all time activity list... Happy you both noticed and approved. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 17:09, 11 October 2019 (UTC)
::I could see the joke and I enjoyed it :) as I tend to make a lot of typos, it isn't even that far fetched to use my name instead ;). I usually visit the site a few times a day and start on the recent changes page, and check what has happened. That's also how I often quickly find the spam. The other thing I tend to do when I got some free time on my hands is use the "random page" button and find out if I can improve the place I get to. I also saw that you are progressing a lot in the all time list. Last month I even noticed you were in the monthly list at a score that would have put you in the all time top 50 on its own. Impressive! Have a good weekend. --[[User:Lupo|Lupo]] ([[User talk:Lupo|talk]]) 20:00, 11 October 2019 (UTC)
:::I'm also not native English speaker (Danish), and my grammar is probably horrible. Then it is great it is a wiki so others can fix that. I hope my additions are a plus. Have of course had rows with others, as can be seen above ;-) With some of the big one I think I have had months that would put me in top 20... (Not something I have checked). But with some of the comics where I added a lot of images, I will get a very high score as unique pages gives one point, and every picture uploaded is a new page. The amount of changes I have made puts me in nr. 1 spot, but that doesn't give much compared to number of pages visited. And please feel free to correct my typos. By the way I haven't even read all comics yet, since I have a hard time reading a new one without wishing to make corrections to transcript or explanations, so it takes some time every time I find a new. So between the first comic I saw when I found this page and then back from there there will be lots of comics I haven't even seen yet... Probably why you can find so many transcripts where caption below the panel has not been added (as it was I who began making this the way to write it). --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 22:46, 11 October 2019 (UTC)

== Category for Back to the Future ==

Hi, can you create a category for the film series ''Back to the Future''? To start, there is [[102: Back to the Future]], [[656: October 30th]], [[1477: Star Wars]], [[2104: Biff Tannen]], [[2193: Well-Ordering Principle]], and maybe others. Thanks, [[Special:Contributions/172.68.47.144|172.68.47.144]] 20:26, 31 October 2019 (UTC)
:Hi yes I can. And I did: [[:Category:Back to the Future]]. I added yours. Here is [https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=Special:Search&limit=50&offset=0&profile=default&search=%22Back+to+the+Future%22 a search string] that may help find more (for you to add). --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 14:31, 1 November 2019 (UTC)

== Deletion of small categories? ==

Hi Kynde! I posted this on the community portal, but it seems unresponsive, and since none of the admins have edited recently, you seem like the person to ask.
I count eight categories on explainxkcd that satisfy the following properties: 1. They have only three comics in them. 2. They aren't really a comic series; they just feature or reference a comic theme. 3. They aren't Featuring some person or character. In short, they seem to have no real reason to exist. (They're [[:Category:Spice_Girls|t]][[:Category:Wind_turbine|h]] e[[:Category:Ender%27s_Game|s]]eo[[:Category:FernGully|n]][[:Category:Giraffes|e]]s.) In addition, there are [[:Category:Sketches|t]][[:Category:BSD|h]][[:Category:Emacs|i]][[:Category:Identity_Theft|r]][[:Category:Katamari_Damacy|t]][[:Category:Super_Bowl|e]][[:Category:The_Matrix|e]][[:Category:Tournament_bracket|n]][[:Category:Traffic_light| ]][[:Category:Trebuchet|m]][[:Category:Wingsuit|o]][[:Category:Euler_diagrams|r]][[:Category:Pedantic|e]] four-comic categories that also satisfy these requirements. I know non-admins can't delete articles, but because of these articles' status, should I remove their contents and add them to [[:Category:Pages to delete]]? --[[User:Account|Account]] ([[User talk:Account|talk]]) 01:17, 12 November 2019 (UTC)
:Since I'm no admin just the most active over an extended period of time, I cannot really say what to do. Some of the categories I think has merit, I may even have created some of them. And there may be reason to expect more to come. But others I tend to agree. I think Randall has something with Giraffes and the Spice Girl spurt with three in short notice I think merits the categories. The other 6 with three I would not mind if they went away. But then there may need to be some links between those comics. Are you willing to make those? If you do then empty the categories, and put them as up for deletion. Most of those with four I would keep. I have NOT clicked on them all though, just read them here when I edited this response. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 14:56, 12 November 2019 (UTC)

== Category for Bees ==

Hi Kynde,

Can you add a category on bees, as a subcategory of [[:Category:Animals]]? I've found [[1259: Bee Orchid]], [[1186: Bumblebees]], [[2231: the Time Before And After Land]], [[2035: Dark Matter Candidates]], [[1692: Man Page]], and there are probably more. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.34.38|172.69.34.38]] 00:22, 22 November 2019 (UTC)
:Done [[:Category:Bees]]. Added your five comics. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 14:49, 22 November 2019 (UTC)

== New category - comics with store products ==

Hi Kynde, thanks for creating the new page for [[:Category:Comics with store products]]! (I was the one who added the comics to that category, but I didn't have permission to create a new page for the category itself, so I apologize for abandoning it like that.)

For the name of this category, I wanted to follow a similar pattern to existing category names such as "[[:Category:Comics from 2005]]" or "[[:Category:Comics with color]]". So for the name of this new category, I had considered some other more accurate names, such as "[[:Category:Comics upon which xkcd store products are based]]", or perhaps "[[:Category:Comics made into official merchandise]]"; but I felt that these new category names would be a bit too long, so I was trying to keep it more succinct than that. ...But now I realize that the current name I chose is not very clear, and might cause some confusion about what it's supposed to mean, so it was really a poor choice of words on my part. Do you have any ideas for a better name that we could use for this category? If so, please feel free to rename it, then I will go through all the comic pages where I added it, and update them to the new category.

On the other hand, in the edit-history of the [[:Category:Comics with store products]] page, I noticed in your comments that you felt it was maybe not a good idea for a category -- and I certainly understand that, so if you want to just remove this category completely, please feel free to do so, then I will go through and remove it from all the comics where I added it (so as not to leave any broken links behind).

Thanks for your help, and sorry for causing noob trouble!

- [[User:Yfmcpxpj|Yfmcpxpj]] ([[User talk:Yfmcpxpj|talk]]) 09:57, 24 November 2019 (UTC)
:Hi Yfmcpxpj
:First of all, the comment on my creation of the page, was because I did not understand the category. Store products.. I thought it was like with products bought in a type of store... First when I clicked on a few and saw your (?) comments that a t-shirt was based on this comic, did I understand the category. Think I wrote that in my next edit, where I linked to the store. After realizing that, I though it was a great category, although adding xkcd would probably help the understand-ability: "Category: Comics with xkcd store products"
:What do you say to that title?
:Regarding my ability to make pages, that is just because I have edited enough to get that right (I know I have edited more than any one else here...) But I'm actually not an admin, and I cannot delete pages. Sadly it seems the admins have left xkcd without replacements... So not one answers admin requests, and although I'm glad to help when I can, I do not have that many rights on the page.
:But true you may have asked for someone to create the page and also maybe ask for the title before creating it. I think I will be able to rename the page though, so if you can go through all the comics and correct the category there I would like to give it a try. (Do not do this before I have changed the name!)
:What do you say? And should I add the xkcd as suggested above?
:--[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 14:14, 24 November 2019 (UTC)

::Yes, I like your title better, "Comics with xkcd store products" -- I think it is much clearer. If you can rename the category, I will wait for that, then after it has been successfully renamed, I'll go through and update those comics to use the new one instead. And sorry to hear that the admins have been absent -- but it looks like you are doing a good job of keeping the site maintained, so thank-you for that! - [[User:Yfmcpxpj|Yfmcpxpj]] ([[User talk:Yfmcpxpj|talk]]) 08:58, 25 November 2019 (UTC)
:::I have now moved the category page. You can find the list of comics that now need to be moved [https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=Category:Comics_with_store_products&redirect=no here].
:::And the new empty category here [[:Category:Comics with xkcd store products]]. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 10:26, 25 November 2019 (UTC)

::::Thanks Kynde; I have moved the remaining comics into the new category. You mentioned that you don't have permissions to delete pages, so I wonder if the old page [[:Category:Comics with store products]] should be put into parent [[:Category:Pages to delete]] so maybe the admins will delete it? - [[User:Yfmcpxpj|Yfmcpxpj]] ([[User talk:Yfmcpxpj|talk]]) 08:15, 26 November 2019 (UTC)
:::::As the old Category redirects to the new one, I guess deletion is not necessary. --[[User:Lupo|Lupo]] ([[User talk:Lupo|talk]]) 08:31, 26 November 2019 (UTC)
::::::If no pages refers to the old category, and to avoid anyone putting comics in that category again, it would be nice to have it deleted. But I'm not sure anyone will do that at the moment. Davidy is long gone and DGBRT seems to be absent as well... I was once asked to be an admin but declined at the time ... Maybe that was a shame, but at least I still react when someone post on my page... But I'm not that active anymore, and have never looked much through the portal pages etc. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 13:49, 26 November 2019 (UTC)

== Banned from Conferences Category ==

Hi Kynde, you usually have a good feeling on how Categories should be described, etc. There was a (quite short) discussion on [[153: Cryptography]], to remove a portion of the explanation. Do you think that stuff belongs into [[:Category:Banned from conferences]]? Maybe you can chime into the "discussion" on 153. -- Regards [[User:Lupo|Lupo]] ([[User talk:Lupo|talk]]) 14:24, 5 December 2019 (UTC)

== Edit summaries ==
Please use {{w|Help:Edit_summary|edit summaries}}; they are especially important for pages like [[:xkcd Header text]] that are infrequently monitored but have a meta-importance. Thanks. [[User:JohnHawkinson|JohnHawkinson]] ([[User talk:JohnHawkinson|talk]]) 21:22, 16 July 2020 (UTC)
:I have more or less created the entire page from scratch. So I will not begin writing details every time I make a revision. But I use it for most other edits. I can see you care for BLM... Great, you probably know much more on this than I do. I made this page, to keep track of the header text, which was not explained on these pages. Sometimes it is relevant for a given comic, so great to have this place to write about it, and then link to it from the comics. The unfilled link was to help people wo may help editing this page, fill in when the header changed. I will do that now. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 17:37, 18 July 2020 (UTC)
::Kynde: I don't understand how your authorship of the page (from scratch or otherwise) has anything to do with whether you should be writing details of when you make a revision. But for sensitive topics, which BLM is, it is especially important for other editors to be able to carefully review changes. And when you make a large block of changes, like you did there on July 1, with 8 different edits, edit summaries are an extremely helpful tool for everyone else. So, again, the request is to please use an edit summary, ''especially'' when you are making multiple edits in a row, and ''especially'' on pages of meta-importance like [[:xkcd Header text]]. Of course, this is not Wikipedia, the rules here (such as they are) are relatively weak, and we all should coöperate. But if your answer is "I don't have to because I wrote the page first, years ago!" that doesn't make any sense at all. If your goal was to make sense, then I don't know how to respond. [[User:JohnHawkinson|JohnHawkinson]] ([[User talk:JohnHawkinson|talk]]) 17:50, 18 July 2020 (UTC)
:::Well I shall try to be more careful around sensitive subjects. You are one of the first other than me to have edited the page. And one of the few that have added a new section. I just changed it into the same format that I have used on all the others. And did a revision now, and sorry I forgot to write what it was out of bad habit. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 17:57, 18 July 2020 (UTC)
::::I think the change you just made was…not great. See [[:Talk:xkcd_Header_text#Recent_BLM_edits]] where I give my opinion. But it is probably better discussed there than on your personal page, but I wanted to highlight it for you. [[User:JohnHawkinson|JohnHawkinson]] ([[User talk:JohnHawkinson|talk]]) 18:04, 18 July 2020 (UTC)
:::::I have replied on the other talk page. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 09:28, 21 July 2020 (UTC)

== Nationality ==

What country are you from? [[User:Beanie|Beanie]] [[User talk:Beanie|talk]] 12:34, 14 July 2021 (UTC)
:Denmark. Why? --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 08:15, 15 July 2021 (UTC)

== Forgive this IP ==
I just made a handful of edits to recent changes that you had made (may not have been what you changed, in all cases; it might have just been pre-existing errors and Recent Changes just drew me to them). I hope it doesn't look personal, especially from an impersonal IP that you can't easily talk back to. So I'm mentioning it here to try to apologise if it does seem that way. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.159.85|162.158.159.85]] 18:57, 28 December 2021 (UTC)
:Hi. Thanks for telling. Since your IP will change I cannot see exactly which changes you made, but cheeked on my last changes and saw some CE and minor changes. Only thing I disagreed with (not sure it was you) was that the Launch comic should not have been released on the 24th. Which it was in most of the US if not all. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 14:01, 29 December 2021 (UTC)
::(Most of the changes occured under roughly the 172.70.… range, as I recall, though you can see the above switched to a whole different class-B - entirely due to the internediary's whim (Cloudflare?) without my changing anything. I'm sitting on a different connection now, so all bets are off what ''this'' will appear as. ;) )
::I have no argument with Randall posting on the 24th (his time) as the Bot got there soon enough to prove it. But of course the rest of us (mostly Europe and beyond) had a different experience. Still before the launch (whoever checked for themselves in time), which I think a couple of my edits were about. Really not huge issues, just minor fixes. You're good with those things, I know from experience, just a courtesy note (that and this). [[Special:Contributions/172.70.86.22|172.70.86.22]] 22:42, 29 December 2021 (UTC)
:::Maybe not you who posted. But as you can see your IP is not the same in these two posts, so I can only assume you are the same person, but cannot guess which of my edits you have changed and which someone else changed ;-) Do you have a name other than 162.158.159.85 or 172.70.86.22 ;-) Why not get an account? --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 09:29, 30 December 2021 (UTC)
::::I just can't think of a decent username. I tend to use different ones everwhere (and never my RL identity) and most of them were 'good ideas at the time' but when the inevitable "Why is your username what it is?" thread comes around it always seems my 'explanation' is laughable. All the above in this section (that isn't you) is me, BTW. Just added an indent layer I missed. I'm happy being (slightly unpredictably) changing IP, because I seek no credit (or blame!) for my 'insights' and my ego survives well enough on such fleeting moments of anonymous fame, I assure you. ;) And I don't mind when other IP-editors 'land' on/near what I just used, either, even if they're now completely wrong.
::::Not that I think Usernames are a bad thing in general for you and others (c.f. 4chan 'anon' culture...), I'm just happy that it's one less thing to worry about in my own case! [[Special:Contributions/172.70.85.73|172.70.85.73]] 15:04, 30 December 2021 (UTC)
:::::Well that is up to you. But then again it is hard to forgive an IP when I'm not sure what it has done or not. But as I could just see there where nothing needing forgiveness so we are good. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 13:15, 3 January 2022 (UTC)

== Do you get a healthy amount of sleep? ==
In recent days I see you editing very often and I just wanna make sure you get enough sleep because while you're doing amazing work, I am a bit concerned [[User:256.256.256.256|256.256.256.256]] ([[User talk:256.256.256.256|talk]]) 08:45, 6 January 2022 (UTC)
:Ha ha - thanks for both the concern and the praise. I'm from Denmark so if you look at the time stamp and think I should be sleeping, then maybe it is in the middle of the day here. I write this just before 10:00 AM here in DK. But actually I'm doing very little now compared to maybe five years ago. If you look at the [[Special:ContributionScores|ContributionScores]] at the bottom with the All time (Top 50), you will see that I'm number two. And if you look at number of changes I'm far ahead of number 2... So this is actually quite low level activity for me... --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 08:53, 6 January 2022 (UTC)

==[[Countdown in header text]] image ==
You mentioned you'd help uploading the countdown wiggle gif, so [https://tobot.dev/files/xkcd-countdown here]'s a link to all the image stuff of the countdown. (Specifically, [https://tobot.dev/files/xkcd-countdown/full_animation.gif full_animation.gif] and [https://tobot.dev/files/xkcd-countdown/Countdown%20in%20header%20text%20Wiggling.gif Countdown in header text Wiggling.gif]).
Optionally [https://tobot.dev/files/xkcd-countdown.zip zipped], for easier archival. [[User:Toby|Toby]] ([[User talk:Toby|talk]]) 20:03, 31 January 2022 (UTC)
:Great thanks Toby. Will try to make it work. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 20:15, 31 January 2022 (UTC)
::It worked and I have replied on your new talk page and created your own page, in case you still could not. Feel free to change that now. Very happy with your work, both of the files. Thanks!!! --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 20:28, 31 January 2022 (UTC)

== Purely to improve your knowledge of English ==

https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/spacecrafts#English

i.e., as with vehicular "craft" in general (including aircraft, hovercraft, etc), the -s pluralisation is allowable but not considered standard. An oddity of the terminology that I don't actually know the reason for. I'm wondering could it be from our nautical heritage where singular craft were the rarity (a simpler version of how [https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/aderyn sometimes the singular can be considered rarer than the plural]? Yet ships/vessels/etc don't succumb to that usage. Even if sheep and fish do! Anyway, while spacecraft are preferred, spaceships are indeed the synonymous alternative. IYSWIM...

Crafts, as in skillfully created works, ''are'' the plurals exactly as you'd initially expect. Woodcrafts, metalcrafts, etc. So I suppose those people who are shipcrafters might therefore craft many crafted craft, thanks to the various crafts they know, and then exhibit their crafts at a craft-fair. ((i.e "Boatwrights might construct many well-made (model?) ships, thanks to their skills, then show their creations at an exhibition of bespoke manufacturing.")) Crafty, eh?

Sorry, I seem to have gone overboard with the explanation. Throw me that lifebelt, please? ;) [[Special:Contributions/172.70.85.73|172.70.85.73]] 10:40, 10 February 2022 (UTC)
:Hi. Thanks. I'm not sure it will help, I'm not very good at spelling, even in my own language. But maybe I will remember this. I do not mind other people copy editing my posts. My idea is that if I write something useful other will make it better, and correct the errors. But if I do not write it, then it may be left out of an explanation. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 16:54, 13 February 2022 (UTC)

== THANK YOU!!! ==
Kynde - I have only just discovered this beautiful Explain XKCD wiki and am in awe - I saw that you have been a huge contribuotr for years and just wanted to say Thank You to you and team for this beautiful legacy of work! With it XKCD can be that much more of a portal into all the different directions Randall’s comics touch on and drift near.

I’ve been behind the scenes in wikipedia for years (so often painful) and love connecting with anyone else who is doing meaningful wiki work. I’m just stopping by here today on my way to *important deadlines* but intend to be back. Just set up my Explain editor account. Pop me a talk page note? Happy to plug in! [[User:DrMel|DrMel]] ([[User talk:DrMel|talk]]) 19:53, 20 March 2022 (UTC)

(Ps looks like I am not getting through the email validation steps - no email confirmation has yet made it to my email. I’ll check back later. On wikipedia I’m https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:DrMel

(pps - email validated! But i still dont have permission to setup my user page… so this time i really am going back to the Save-The-World work i am supposed to be doing!)
:Hi [[User:DrMel|DrMel]]. Wow, thanks a lot. Yes I have been very active on this page. I'm not one of the admins though, and sadly it seems this page is without any active admins, and that it has been so for a while. I guess I'm the best option right now. I have created your user page and talk page, so now you can work on the user page. Welcome to explain xkcd. If you have any questions regarding format or other things feel free to ask. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 07:38, 21 March 2022 (UTC)

== Nomination ==
I know you maybe don't want it, but see [[explain_xkcd:Community_portal/Coordination#New_admins]] '''[[User:Davidy22|{{Color|#707|David}}y²²]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 02:08, 8 May 2022 (UTC)
:I have answered there and accepted the nomination. It is an honor. Hope I can live up to it. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 12:16, 10 May 2022 (UTC)
::Finally got the promotion from Jeff. Thanks. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 14:30, 23 May 2022 (UTC)

== Block User:Donald Trump ==

Can you block [[User:Donald Trump]]? He is another spambot, like the others recently: [[Special:Contributions/Donald_Trump]]. Thanks, [[User:Natg19|Natg19]] ([[User talk:Natg19|talk]]) 17:48, 26 May 2022 (UTC)
:Done--[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 19:28, 26 May 2022 (UTC)

== you blocked a mobile phone (T-mobile) IP ==

You blocked “162.158.107.124”. The problem is, that’s a T-mobile IP that goes to whomever happens to get it. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.211.36|172.70.211.36]] 19:11, 26 May 2022 (UTC)
:Yes Im new to being administrator so sorry I messed that up. But think I [https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/Special:Contributions/162.158.107.124 managed to undo it]? --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 19:33, 26 May 2022 (UTC)

== Regarding your latest IP block ==

See [https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=User_talk:While_False&oldid=286101#Concision_and_clarity my note on this latest thing] that it seems like you were reacting to.
 In general, I don't think IP-blocking is very useful (false-positives get hit and false-negatives get round it, depending upon the vagueries of everything, and as an IP myself this is close to the bone for me) but there's potentially something going on. I don't know if you get to see what ''doesn't'' happen because of a block, though. Tricky one to get your head round. But thought I'd clue you in on what I'm thinking. Completely your decision on how you take it.
 Keep up the good work, BTW! [[Special:Contributions/162.158.159.15|162.158.159.15]] 12:59, 3 June 2022 (UTC)
:Just to add that [https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=957:_Development&curid=4423&diff=286104&oldid=283524 this change] follows the trend I mentioned (type of edit + history of its apparent IP), and now undone. Not to overly pester you with this (better the Community Portal for that), just FYI. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.11|141.101.98.11]] 17:05, 3 June 2022 (UTC)
::I only block them for a week or 3 days, just to stop current spam, and thanks for the praise --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 13:02, 5 June 2022 (UTC)

== Sparing use of Talk-page section headers ==

Note that I added a ;-title (not an individually editable section's title), albeit first mis-tapping in the :-indenter instead by accident, but maybe you were a bit overzealous squishing out the ==editable== section-headers (the existing one and my own once someone had helpfully 'upgraded' it) in the latest discussion.

The advice given on the main-page, as part of the discussion-inclusion templating, is that new sections should be used ''sparingly'', not that they are not to be used. If anything, I was wrong to use a ;-title (to logically separate my contribution from the headered bit I was following), perhaps I should have inserted as a normal running comment above the newly broken-out section.

Not complaining, but just positing the view that it seemed a bit draconic of an intervention. Livable-with, having been done, but not sure it was strictly necessary.

(Would be handy to add across the "Add to the bottom (etc)" HTML-comment to the top of the page, from a BOT-created new-discussion-page, though I suppose I could do that. Maybe I will. Yes, I think I will. You could also maybe check the circumstances why a normal user had needed to do theusafBOT's work for it... I'm sure it's more that theusaf's script is just temporarily offline, or slow to react, rather than having gone the way of dgbrtBOT/whatever...) [[Special:Contributions/172.70.85.177|172.70.85.177]] 13:49, 14 June 2022 (UTC)
:I think there is now use for headings in comment section. And in some cases the explanations have a TOC and then the headings of the talk page would come into this because we include talk page on the explanation page. Also it becomes confusing when others add different comments below, as they then seems to belong to the headered section. Thus best leave them out, unless something very special. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 05:55, 15 June 2022 (UTC)

== Table of tips? ==
Why put the table in a section on [[2649]]? It breaks the convention of discussing the comic before discussing the title text. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.210.145|172.70.210.145]] 07:11, 25 July 2022 (UTC)
:No this has been done whenever there is a table. The comic should be explained first, but if lots of info needs to be added in order to understand the full details of the comic, then the title text is usually explained after the first short explanation. And then the larger explanation is delegated to a sub section, just as I have done here. It is because you may not wish to dwell into all these details, they are not needed to understand the overall joke, but you might like to see the title text explained, and then this should not be hidden deep down. Also there is a link from the explanation to the table, so you can easily go there to read the main explanation for each tip.--[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 07:32, 25 July 2022 (UTC)
::Well it's no big deal; I don't have strong feelings about it, but I haven't been here very long, and noticed that [[2636]], [[2638]], and [[2639]] all have tables following the sequence of the comics instead of in a section at the end. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.211.88|172.70.211.88]] 08:39, 25 July 2022 (UTC)
:::Yes that must also be said to be new comics, and not those that have been here long time ;-) All of them came out after my holiday began this summer, and I have not had time to go through those comics yet. But thanks I will fix it. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 12:21, 25 July 2022 (UTC)
::::Fixed those three and also completed two of the transcripts. Thanks for pointing the discrepancy out. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 14:02, 25 July 2022 (UTC)

How do you feel about [[2606]]? [[Special:Contributions/172.71.150.173|172.71.150.173]] 08:32, 27 July 2022 (UTC)
:Since the title text is just another symbol, it seems fine to have it in the table. But actually there may be a reason to explain that joke as well in the main explanation. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 11:35, 27 July 2022 (UTC)
::But after updating the explanation I ended up moving the table to a section and moving any other explanation above. Including a mention of the title text. Is this the same person that started this thread that asked about 2606? --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 11:56, 27 July 2022 (UTC)
:::No, I'm [https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=2207:_Math_Work&diff=291019&oldid=282989 this guy.] [[Special:Contributions/172.70.211.88|172.70.211.88]] 15:52, 28 July 2022 (UTC)
::::Hello, That Guy. (BTW, I'm also none of the above conversationalists, Kynde...) That change you linked... I just reverted it. It was fixed (devandalised) already in a state that was after the removal of the Incomplete tag and I couldn't work out ''why'' you considered it needing reverting. Yes, a lot of restored stuff (now unrestored), but I couldn't quite work out which (pre-vandalism) version you even reverted to, and surely there were various useful culling edits ("no, we don't need to say that, it's irrelevent", etc) that you were negating.
::::Or at least that was my almost knee-jerk response (almost, because I went back through the crapcrapcrap stuff and beyond trying to find where you were coming from, so I spent some time on thinking about it before I did it).
::::I offer it up to review by the wider community, or hack to yourself (or give Kynde a shot, if they aren't busy). Maybe some old bits could be reintegrated, but I couldn't see which on a semi-cursory glance. So, given you have provided a handle on you,vexpanding upon the woefully short edit-summary space, to more fully explain any confusion (of mine, or yours, or just in general). Ok? [[Special:Contributions/172.70.91.128|172.70.91.128]] 16:43, 28 July 2022 (UTC)

User talk:Kynde

2022-07-28T16:44:57Z

172.70.162.155: /* Table of tips? */ Excess indent removed.

== Cueball references ==
Hi, please do not remove the Cueball references here. He is a standard character. The category [[:Category:Comics featuring Cueball]] gives just an overview about all comics showing this stick figure. And just one is him, not defined by Randall but by us. --[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 21:10, 8 May 2014 (UTC)
:But who should define who Cueball is? You? I could see him as both here. And somebody did. You have just corrected back so that the Cueball in the explain is switched to the other charachter in the transcript. At least one of these should then be changed to match the other. It is thus also clear that people have different views of what Cueball stands for. Is he the one trolling, or is he the one who knows which movie Blade Runner is? [[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 07:35, 10 May 2014 (UTC)
:By the way - I did not remove the reference to the chategory - but only in the text as described above. [[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 07:38, 10 May 2014 (UTC)

== Minor tags on edits ==
Also, a minor concern, but please be more sparing in your use of "minor" tags on edits. Addition of 1200 characters (e.g. . . m Talk:1496: Art Project‎; 20:04 . . (+1,240)‎ . . ‎Kynde, or . . m 1497: New Products‎; 19:12 . . (-419)‎ . . ‎Kynde →‎Explanation: It does not fit into category four! See new test. I also deleted a lot of text, that already was written below, and was basically the same as the one stille) is NOT minor. [[User:Djbrasier|Djbrasier]] ([[User talk:Djbrasier|talk]]) 21:22, 11 March 2015 (UTC)
::When adding a new comment to the talk page I newer see this as a major change. This i a discussion not a change to the explanation!. I do not believe it was a big change removing the text you wrote, when all of it basically was written below. Try and read your version, and see that it was more or less double. Also I had already once removed the reference to the fourth category. If the guy has signed up he have no problems with this company. Also it is mentioned that the fourth category is not a company he is afraid off, but just someone they do not like. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 21:42, 11 March 2015 (UTC)

== Thank you ==

I like what you did at [[1402: Harpoons]]. Thank you. [[Special:Contributions/173.245.54.153|173.245.54.153]]
:You're welcome - I did it based on your comment [[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 03:41, 2 August 2014 (UTC)

==[[980: Money]]==
Hey, you've done an amazing job on the money comic's transcript, but the explanation page is still marked as incomplete. Is there actually anything left to be done on it? Thanks! [[User:Davak72|Davak72]] ([[User talk:Davak72|talk]]) 03:04, 3 April 2015 (UTC)
:Thanks allot. I have replied on the Money page where you repeated the above. I can even remember the number although it was some time since I did the transcript. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 09:44, 3 April 2015 (UTC)

== Merge Cueball & Rob ==

You seem to have changed some comics in which formerly more than one cueball appeared to make it such that none were called cueball (e.g. Orb Hammer). But many persist, see transcripts in:
http://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/1405:_Meteor
http://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/192:_Working_for_Google
http://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/525:_I_Know_You%27re_Listening
http://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/187:_The_Familiar
http://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/79:_Iambic_Pentameter
http://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/65:_Banter

We should probably seek broader consensus before rewriting all these transcripts. There seems to me to be a general trend to name one "Cueball" and call the others "Friend" or somesuch in these cases and I'm concerned that you seem to want to singlehandedly rewrite all that convention. [[User:Djbrasier|Djbrasier]] ([[User talk:Djbrasier|talk]]) 21:07, 11 March 2015 (UTC)
:It is typically the first who writes the transcript who decides who of the Cueballs (or Megans) he feel represents the real Cueball. However, there is no real behavior of Cueball. So who should decide. I could also change these transcripts so it becomes the other character who becomes Cueball, because I think the first transcripter did it wrong. This was exactly what happened with the two Megan-like comics. First it was Megan and Danish. Then unidentified girl and Megan. Then Megan and unidentified girl, then two Megan like girls with short and long hair and finally you reverted it to my first ide: Unidentified girl and Megan. So thanks for showing me these six double Cueball comics. I will change asap. And as I answered your comment on [[1496: Art Project]] Rob is already listed as part of the category for Comics featuring Cueball: http://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/Category:Comics_featuring_Rob and this is listed as the first entry when going to the page for Category:Comics featuring Cueball: http://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/Category:Comics_featuring_Cueball Thus he should not be merged--[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 21:21, 11 March 2015 (UTC)
:: Can you please add this discussion here [http://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/explain_xkcd:Community_portal/Proposals#Merge_Cueball_.26_Rob]. I have refrained from making these sort of substantial changes and want to seek a broader consensus. Please use the community forum to seek such consensus before making major unilateral changes like that. [[User:Djbrasier|Djbrasier]] ([[User talk:Djbrasier|talk]]) 21:24, 11 March 2015 (UTC)
:::Done with interests --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 22:02, 11 March 2015 (UTC)
:: there are dozens of multiple-Cueball comments. Please don't change them to "man 1", "man 2" until we can reach a braoder consensus. I will not be changing them to "Rob" without consensus. This is not something to be done all at once and making that many changes will prompt me to request that an admin freeze your account. [[User:Djbrasier|Djbrasier]] ([[User talk:Djbrasier|talk]]) 21:27, 11 March 2015 (UTC)
:::I was about to write this before your comment no. two. So this was a reply to your previous comment: "I can post it there, but these changes has been underway a long time for almost a year. But it is hard to find these comics as I do not go through them just to find incidences. How long have you been active in xkcd. I can see your page has been created today, but maybe you were active long before that?"--[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 21:42, 11 March 2015 (UTC)
::::This is a comment to your next comment: "It is very hard to threaten someone like that already. I have been making these changes before, and by the way never to man 1 or man 2. I have been one of the top contributers for more than a year. I hope this is not just because I reverted one of your contributions to Mondays comic? --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]21:42, 11 March 2015 (UTC)
:::::I didn't want to threaten. I think consistent style is important, and general style I see is in multi-Cueball comics, one is ID'd as Cueball and others are "Friend", etc. Anyone unilaterally changing an established style should seek consensus first.
:::::Additionally, I think your undo on my edit actually improved the explanation.
:::::Finally, if you know how to solicit more opinions on the matter at hand, please let me know (or do it). Thanks! [[User:Djbrasier|Djbrasier]] ([[User talk:Djbrasier|talk]]) 23:53, 11 March 2015 (UTC)
::::::Thanks on the edit appraisal. As I wrote on the talk page, yours was also much better phrased the second time. I do not know how to get anyone to go read your comment except by giving them the message like you did with me. Or putting a link to it from the talk page of the double Megan comic, and maybe on some of the double Cueball comics too. I did not understand the "solicit more opinions" at first (why I wrote that last part in my comment below "how many will read"). So you do realize, I can see now, that not many will. By the way I'm [[Danish]]... That is, I'm neither a mean girl or a pastry cake, but from Denmark. And although I'm, really good at English for everyday use, it is not by far a language I can understand everything. But suddenly I got your message.--[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 20:10, 12 March 2015 (UTC)
My only point is we need to wait until consensus is reached before undoing years of precedent in Cueball naming. [[User:Djbrasier|Djbrasier]] ([[User talk:Djbrasier|talk]]) 22:38, 11 March 2015 (UTC)
:Well as I have made fairly clear there is no consensus. Because it is up to the first one who writes the transcript to decide who is the friend. And this often leads to discussion or changes forth and back (like we just saw with two Megans) since people have different opinion on how Cueball should behave, since they do not know that Cueball can behave anyway Randall needs him to. Often he reflects Randall's intelligence, but just as often he is a prick behaving horribly towards girls etc. So if there are two, one good and one bad, you cannot say the good one is Cueball. And how many do you think reads your post? --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 19:43, 12 March 2015 (UTC)

I have had a look at the comics you have listed. Here are my comments:
*[[1405:_Meteor]]
**Here I would have changed - since it is believed that Cueball often represents Randall's version of himself - especially when it is his hobby. Of course it is then Randall who is pedantic, and thus Cueball. So I would change the Cueball reference. So here we could have a stupid editing war, instead of writing something else.
*[[525:_I_Know_You%27re_Listening]]
**Here there is only one Cueball speaking. And the other is listening in. So here I would no object so much. Maybe I would mention that the other looks like Cueball.
*[[192:_Working_for_Google]]
**Here I would have changed - since I would think that Cueball should have the most interesting story, and also that this Cueball is Randall as it is known that Randall has an interest in Google and has also been cheated by their aptitude test (so much that he did the famous [[356: Nerd Sniping]]). So also here I would change the Cueball reference. So again stupid editing war, instead of writing something else.
*[[187:_The_Familiar]]
**Here I would have changed - since I would thing that Cueball should be the one always interested in computers. Not the other way. I know there are other comics where he enjoys nature. But Also a lot where he enjoys computers out of hand and math etc. So again I would have changed the Cueball reference. So again stupid editing war, instead of writing something else.
*[[79:_Iambic_Pentameter]]
**Here I agree with the Cueball = Randall - it's Randall my hobby and thus the one with the Hobby is Cueball. But I would still prefer they are not named. some might argue against me on the hobby, saying the Cueball with the hobby is "Randall" so the other Cueball is "Cueball". Thus once more editing war. But I would not start it. But still probably mention that the Cueball with a hobby is Randall.
*[[65:_Banter]]
**What can I say. The first is called Cueball the other is not. They have the same amount of text, and they are obviously both gay and missing out. I would definitely loose the Cueball reference here.
That is my ten cents about these six examples. Maybe we should create a category called multiple Cueballs. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 20:02, 12 March 2015 (UTC)
:Note that I have not changed any of these... yet. But maybe I should revert those three I think is plain wrong, so the Cueball and friend is changed. Then we can see if anyone changes back? ;-) --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 20:02, 12 March 2015 (UTC)

:::I advise waiting. If you want to enact 4, go for it, but then put in the discussion a [http://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/explain_xkcd:Community_portal/Proposals#Merge_Cueball_.26_Rob link] to our discussion for '''all''' the changes you make so hopefully someone besides you and me goes to that page and weighs in.

To answer your question, I've read xkcd for years (I started reading regularly around the time there were ~500 total comics), lurked on explainxkcd and made anonymous minor edits for most of that time. I set up an account in July 2013, when I began making more regular edits.

I recognize that the issue has a large amount of inertia. My point is precisely that there are 9 "Rob" comics and countless Cueball. But, as I stated on the page, there is ample evidence that the same character (Black Hat's friend/roommate, Megan's boyfriend) '''is''' named Rob. I haven't done a count, but I suspect that "Megan" is named in the comic fewer than 9 times, but characters of her appearance are '''all''' called "Megan".

Yes, multiple Megans triggered the idea that's been brewing in my mind since someone (not me) made an anonymous comment on a relatively recent Rob comic [1168: tar]. Since I read that it's been sitting in my mind, but I haven't wanted to make an issue. However, the asymmetry between Megan/Cutie and Rob/Cueball grates for me and I want to urge the community here to evaluate critically whether it is the right thing or an inappropriate historical artifact. Years ago, [Cutie] was abolished (redirects now to [Megan]), I think it's objectively appropriate to make a symmetrical arrangement for Rob/Cueball (hence my options 2 & 3 in the public discussion thread).

For now, if you want to go changing all those comics go ahead. I won't argue or revert, but I request that you put the following (or something close to it) in the discussion of all the comics you change "I've removed the name 'Cueball' from this and several other comics that have multiple Cueball's in them as per my position on the issue currently under discussion at http://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/explain_xkcd:Community_portal/Proposals#Merge_Cueball_.26_Rob if you support this change or disagree with it, please weigh in on that discussion thread."

Thank you and I look forward to hearing from more users. [[User:Djbrasier|Djbrasier]] ([[User talk:Djbrasier|talk]]) 00:04, 13 March 2015 (UTC)

::::Dear Djbrasier
:(By the way my name is Kynde - that is both my nick and my middle name).
:Thanks for this very open talk. I like you much better now ;-)
:If I do change any of these I will do as you ask. It is not like I have forever to do these changes, although I for sure use too much time already on explain... I think I will add the category:Comics with multiple Cueballs. What do you think of the name if I do (and if I do then maybe also make one with Category:Comics where Megan is named Megan. Please tell me you can think of a better name for that one ;-) I only know of the three now mentioned on [[Megan]]s page.
:As you can see om my page, I have only used explain xkcd since late 2013. So you have been member longer than me by some months. I did not read xkcd before that - became fascinated with the What if section on xkcd and when I finished with those I turned to the comic. But found that I failed to understand quite a few, and thus searched and found this page. I have read them as they come out since then, and then also began reading from no. 1. But since I always look in this page for the explanation and like to contribute I only progress very slowly. Recently I have reached [[540: Base System]] where I have made several improvements additions and corrections. And that is as far as I have reached reading straight fro no. 1. But I have of course used the cross referencing and thus read many in between that and those from October 2013.
:Regards Kynde --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 08:02, 13 March 2015 (UTC)

::Happy to have the discussion and to get to wiki-know you. I definitely see your points. I added a few comments and links to our public discussion in the hopes that, over time, it will attract more users to the community portal discussion. I suspect it will take some months for enough users to weigh in that we have a reasonable consensus. I think that if you remove "Cueball" from some of the comics you mentioned above and put a link to the portal page in the discussion block of those comments, that will prompt community input.
::Cheers,
::DJ [[User:Djbrasier|Djbrasier]] ([[User talk:Djbrasier|talk]]) 13:40, 13 March 2015 (UTC)

I also added incomplete tags to a few comics in which I think a strong argument can be made that "Cueball" is really Rob, despite his name not showing up (Boombox & Cover-up) [[User:Djbrasier|Djbrasier]] ([[User talk:Djbrasier|talk]]) 13:49, 13 March 2015 (UTC)
:Well I disagree again. See the talk pages. But then it is out for discussion.--[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 13:19, 15 March 2015 (UTC)

I have changed several of the Multiple Cueballs comics as you said was OK with you. See the new caregory. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 09:41, 16 March 2015 (UTC)

== xkcloud permalink usernames ==

You said "The user name and user picture stay the same though.", [http://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=1506:_xkcloud&diff=prev&oldid=88207 An Anon] had mentioned that [http://xkcd.com/1506/#post/3c34fb48-1a07-51d2-a81d-5257a3681024 3c34fb48-1a07-51d2-a81d-5257a3681024] had the name "Lauren Ibsen Dolores Amit" and changed to "Margaret5", then by the time I looked at it, it had "Virginia2006". It still has "Virginia2006" now, but since it has changed twice I wouldn't assume it is now permanent. Due to this, I [[1506:_xkcloud/Table of Permalinks|haven't been saving the usernames]]. Could you confirm that you see Virginia2006? Perhaps it's different for each user. -[[User:452|452]] ([[User talk:452|talk]]) 21:09, 6 April 2015 (UTC)
:Yes I did see Virginia2006. I think it may change some times, but then suddenly it could become stable? The permalink used on the main page of the explain, was mine. I noted it was Mark Zuckerberg. But this has changed. But now I think it is stuck on: Destiny1983 and always with the skating "Megan". Can you confirm this: http://xkcd.com/1506/#post/50b47c70-3a7c-504d-bcc0-60597338e999 . Cool that you have collected all these images. Can we put the link under the permalink section. As you can see I'm trying to completely revise the page so it is easier to find the explain and then only see the detail if you are interested. Hope you like these changes --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 21:27, 6 April 2015 (UTC)
::Yeah, I see Destiny1983 on that one too. I like the changes, they make everything much clearer. -[[User:452|452]] ([[User talk:452|talk]]) 21:30, 6 April 2015 (UTC)
:::Thanks. I was trying to make it easier to write some extra info on your permalink page, and deleted most of them. Luckily they are not deleted permanently. But the page is so big I have trouble loading it. I try to repair my mistake, but else please do so for me, and sorry in advance. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 21:45, 6 April 2015 (UTC)

::::NP, <tt>&action=history</tt> is a life-saver. I was going to suggest using <tt>&action=edit&section=0</tt>, but I see you've already added a description heading. It also lags pretty badly for me so I expect I'll have to stop at 10000, and I'm already up to 8444 since my last edit to the page. -[[User:452|452]] ([[User talk:452|talk]]) 22:20, 6 April 2015 (UTC)
:::::Yes I think I fixed it but I had to split it in three uploads. How many different pictures do you think there are. I guess some off them are the same? (And same for text). Maybe the last part can be seen by sorting the table. But does the image also have the same name when used more than once? --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 22:33, 6 April 2015 (UTC)

::::::Well, I know of 1419 unique images so far. Yes, both images and text are reused for different permalinks, some come up a lot more frequently than others. If you click the heading, you can sort by either image or text, which will group them together. It's kind of interesting to see different captions for the same image. If you mean the same username, I haven't checked. I also haven't checked whether the same pair of image and text ever appear together as different permalinks, I'll check that <s>eventually</s>, <s>later</s>, ''right now''... nope. I imagine the prompt never even ''suggests'' a caption which is already associated with an image. -[[User:452|452]] ([[User talk:452|talk]]) 23:27, 6 April 2015 (UTC)

::::::I hit the 2mb page limit at 10217 permalinks, out of the 15000+ I have found, so I've reduced the table to only show each image and text once. As in, ''either'' the image or text once, so there will be a couple of duplicate images and text. So what I said previously about sorting to see different captions for the same image no longer applies, but the page will be more manageable this way. -[[User:452|452]] ([[User talk:452|talk]]) 13:53, 7 April 2015 (UTC)

::::::: So you think that it will not be possible for anyone to add the same image to the same caption, because this caption will never again come up with this image or the other way around? I can see yo have removed the ? where they where something else like turtles... Nice. What about all the links below? Are they just the other 10.000 links not associated with a new image or caption, just a different combination? If so maybe this should be made clear. You could make a new section heading for them. Would it be possible to list them in any other way, or is this to save space? Alternatively you could make a new subpage with extra permalinks for further study. We of course both know that no one will ever read these again ;-) But nice work anyway. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 14:17, 7 April 2015 (UTC)

:::::::: So far, I've never found the same image and same caption, but I'll keep checking, as I'm still storing all of the information, just not posting the full list to the wiki now. The other links at the bottom are all 15000+ permalinks I've found, good point about making that more clear. It might also be a good idea to list them on another separate page to save space, but they're not for further study, as I have all the images and captions associated with them, there just isn't room to display all of the information, because it would currently take 3mb+. Regarding the symbols, I was previously pasting my javascript output into my text editor to format them, but now I have my script format them for me, so the symbols are preserved. - and it's also a lot easier for me. -[[User:452|452]] ([[User talk:452|talk]]) 14:29, 7 April 2015 (UTC)

:::::::: Well, I've hit the 2 megabyte limit again, so it looks like we'll have to put the table on one page and the list of links on another. Any suggestions for the page titles? -[[User:452|452]] ([[User talk:452|talk]]) 15:25, 23 April 2015 (UTC)
::::::::: You are crazy :-) My suggestion is that you create a new page called Table of Permalink (with the explanation at the top the same, but now linking to the old page, and vice versa for the old page to the new). Then let the list of permalink stay on the old page. And move the table to the new page. Finally, look at what pages direct to the old page, and redirect them to the new, only leaving link to the old page from the new one. The table is most important. The problem with your table is that it is too big for anyone to load... Maybe there should even be another page in between. Which is called - a selection of permalink. And then with link to the full table and links, with a fair warning about huge amount of data (Big data.). My explorer just went down trying to load the page (or maybe I'm just too impatient?) --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 11:36, 24 April 2015 (UTC) (Ah, now it is finished loading...)
:::::::::: Thanks. I haven't tried it in internet explorer, but the table loads okay with Chrome on my laptop I bought 7 years ago. Now that the pages are split, it might load faster for you. -[[User:452|452]] ([[User talk:452|talk]]) 18:58, 24 April 2015 (UTC)

==[[1608: Hoverboard/Transcript|Hoverboard Transcript]]==

Sorry to ask about such a minor thing, just curious about why the man on the raised plateau can't be a woman. Elsewhere in the comic Darth Vader is seen explaining Steven Universe to someone. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.221.43|108.162.221.43]] 13:46, 3 December 2015 (UTC)
:Hi - it cold be. But to me it looks like a family. But to be honest I had not expected anyone to change it, and did not notice before I had copy pasted some text in from the document I write the transcript in. But hopefully at some time this family (or whatever) becomes part of the effort to explain the entire comic. My guess is that someone will know who it is - that they are from some TV series or movie. In that case it will become clear if it is (as I assumed) a family with mom and dad and two children or if it is a lesbian couple or something entirely different... --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 20:02, 3 December 2015 (UTC)

::The family resembles the main characters of Steven Universe, a cartoon(the characters being three women and a child) The explanation page also lists them as such(Steven Universe and the Crystal Gems - (x: 551664, y: -567383). [[Special:Contributions/173.245.55.64|173.245.55.64]] 21:03, 3 December 2015 (UTC)
:::Perfect thanks. Then is makes sense with the Vader reference. Is it the boy who is Steven? And is the low girl also a grown woman? I will look it up but thanks for answering. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 22:07, 3 December 2015 (UTC)
::::Fixed the transcript. Some of the link I put in, is not supposed to be there, but may be moved once they are explained in the main article.--[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 22:20, 3 December 2015 (UTC)

== Hair Bun "Girl" ==

Hi Kynde, I noticed you created the character page for "Hair Bun Girl". This naming convention is inconsistent with most of the other characters named here, e.g. Cueball, Ponytail, Hairy, et al. Beret Guy is a potential counterexample, but the words "guy" and "man" don't have the same relationship as "girl" and "woman". Partly for consistency, and partly for simple feminism, I'd like to open a conversation about changing the character's name please. [[User:Jkshapiro|Jkshapiro]] ([[User talk:Jkshapiro|talk]]) 04:08, 4 February 2016 (UTC)
:I think it is exactly the same as guy vs. girl. Hair Bun Woman is just too cumbersome. But if you can find a name like Ponytail that fits then by all means. Hairbun just doesn't do it for me. But I do not have any specific feelings for this name, I just found that she was used too often to not have a character page. So I will not take offence against you trying to find a better name through a conversation. Contraty to for instance Megan, which once was Cuetie (sexistick I think), it will not be so hard to change Hair Bun Girl's name to something else, but still she has just reached comic no. 20 so it is not easy to find all the references. Are you ready to do that job if you do get a new name for her? Because else it is just semantics --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 15:20, 4 February 2016 (UTC)
::Thanks, appreciate it. Yes I am ready to do the job. What would you recommend for next steps? Should I raise the issue at http://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/explain_xkcd:Community_portal/Coordination? [[User:Jkshapiro|Jkshapiro]] ([[User talk:Jkshapiro|talk]]) 04:06, 7 February 2016 (UTC)
:::Your welcome, and good luck. Try to see [[explain_xkcd:Community_portal/Proposals#Merge_Cueball_.26_Rob|this post]] regarding the naming convention of [[Cueball]] and [[Megan]] which much to my joy did not end up in altering anything, but they were "old" names, Hair Bun Girl is new. You could post you suggestion there. And maybe make a note at the top of [[Hair Bun Girl]]'s page? (You can write Notice as a template just like the incomplete. Check out this [http://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=Cueball&oldid=92611 old version of Cueball page history]). Now that I think about it '''Hairbun''' is probably as good a name as [[Ponytail]]. So I would think that would be a decent proposal for a change. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 09:08, 7 February 2016 (UTC)
::::Okay, process started. Thank you for the good wishes and guidance. [[User:Jkshapiro|Jkshapiro]] ([[User talk:Jkshapiro|talk]]) 04:31, 9 February 2016 (UTC)

=== Girl With Hairbun? ===

I have identified several comics that have a girl (clearly a child) similar in appearance to Hairbun.
Examples include [[1104: Feathers]], [[1352: Cosmologist on a Tire Swing]] and [[1370: President]]. Would these people be included under Hairbun? Most of them are not marked as such. And what are the requirments to make a new character? I think this girl has appeared rather often. {{unsigned ip|173.245.54.42}}
:Hi. If you look at the description for [[Hairbun]] it clearly states that she is an adult as are Ponytail and Cueball etc. So no, these examples should not be included in Hairbun category. If you look at the last entry on the talk page of President I suggested a children category. But I would agree that a category with curious girl or science girl could be relevant. She is also in [[1611: Baking Soda and Vinegar]] for instance. If there are about five comics that could go in a new category it is just to create it. The naming is important though. See othere categories for what to write on the category page. I have made several including Hairbun --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 13:12, 27 May 2016 (UTC)
::Thanks for your input. I think I will be creating this category soon. Since most of the names seem to refer to the hairstyles (they are recognizable) I think I'll be going with the name "Double Bun Girl".

== Marking edits as minor edits ==
Hey, I noticed that you mark lot of your edits as minor edits while most of them aren't. For example, [[http://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=1645%3A_Toasts&diff=112997&oldid=112996 this]] and probably [[http://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=1645:_Toasts&diff=next&oldid=113008 this]] too constitute as a minor edit, but these - [[http://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=1645:_Toasts&diff=next&oldid=112997 [1]]], [[http://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=1645:_Toasts&diff=next&oldid=113003 [2]]], [[http://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=1645:_Toasts&diff=next&oldid=113009 [3]]], etc. aren't minor edits. Refer to the wikipedia guidelines for minor edits - {{w|Help:Minor_edit}}.
::Examples include typographical corrections, formatting and presentational changes, and rearrangements of text without modification of its content. A minor edit is one that the editor believes requires no review and could never be the subject of a dispute.
Basically, if you are adding/removing even a little bit of content, it is not minor. [[Special:Contributions/199.27.130.216|199.27.130.216]] 23:31, 21 February 2016 (UTC)

Oh, and how in the world is [[http://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=Thing_Explainer&curid=16286&diff=113034&oldid=113033 this ]] and [[http://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=1608:_Hoverboard&curid=16986&diff=113019&oldid=113013 this ]] minor !! [[Special:Contributions/199.27.130.216|199.27.130.216]] 23:47, 21 February 2016 (UTC)
:Sorry about that. I just updated my settings where it had been set to default: "Mark all edits minor by default". If I by mistake click OK to an update before clicking that off it was to late. But now it will be the other way instead. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 10:19, 22 February 2016 (UTC)
::Cool, no worries. It happens. I was just surprised that everything was marked minor. Anyway, keep up the good work. I see that you're finishing up all the incomplete explanations and improving comics in general. Great work ! :) [[Special:Contributions/199.27.130.216|199.27.130.216]] 01:04, 23 February 2016 (UTC)
:::Thanks for the support, nice to get some feedback. Also great that someone mentions when you are doing something the wrong way. I had only limited experience with wiki pages before signing up here, and I had not read the wiki page on minor edits, but now I have. How come you have chosen not to have an account? Seems like you also make several comments and changes... which is great ;-) --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 08:11, 23 February 2016 (UTC)

== Please create the discussion page for today's comic. ==
Thanks. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.221.13|108.162.221.13]] 15:02, 7 March 2016 (UTC)
:Well just did that (for [[1652: Conditionals]]) but not because I saw this comment, just before. I guess it is not possible for no registered users to create pages? Well I fulfilled your wish before I knew about it ;-) --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 15:05, 7 March 2016 (UTC)

== Moving comments around ==
Please do not move people's comments into unrelated discussions without asking them, and if you do, make sure the timestamps in the reply chain aren't out of order. [[User:Mikemk|Mikemk]] ([[User talk:Mikemk|talk]]) 20:36, 23 March 2016 (UTC)
:I expect you were referring to [[Talk:1659: Tire Swing]]? Well all comments I moved were regarding the same question of who the girls looked like, and they should have been posted as replies to the first. There were no time stamp on the first comment and your post asking if they were children were posted straight under a post about if they were Megan and Hair Bun girl or Thelma and Louise. So I do believe your comment belong under that statement. But fine by my that it just stand beneath instead of being indented. The time stamp of all comments seem to be in time order as I see it. It would get really confusing or I would have to make the same reply three times if they were not together. The comments in between were not at all related and there should be no confusion. So I think it made the discussion page much more useful what I did.--[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 20:52, 23 March 2016 (UTC)
::Well I don't know about the other users, but I know for a fact that mine wasn't in response to the first one. I don't even know what the first one said, I just moved it from the explanation to comment page. And mine was posted immediately after it because I was chronologically the second comment made. I had no reason to wait (interestingly, you moved someone else's comment so that I was replying to it, even though it didn't exist when I posted.) [[User:Mikemk|Mikemk]] ([[User talk:Mikemk|talk]]) 00:41, 24 March 2016 (UTC)
:::I cannot see that what you say is true about moving your comment. I just checked the history and here is what I found: 
'''This was what it looked like before my changes:''' 
--- 
the women do not look like Megan and Hair Bun Girl to me, are they new?
sorry for commenting here, but I do not have rights to create a new page, which seems to be necessary for posting the fire comment. Will move once the comment section is created.

I think they are Thelma and Louise (from the movie) given the looks of their hair {{unsigned|Chichak|March 23, 2016}}

I think they're children [[User:Mikemk|Mikemk]] ([[User talk:Mikemk|talk]]) 15:33, 23 March 2016 (UTC)

Maybe they got the truck from Black Hat's garage? [[User:Mikemk|Mikemk]] ([[User talk:Mikemk|talk]]) 15:34, 23 March 2016 (UTC)

I have yet to use a tire swing that was made from a worn tire (worn by the road not by swinging). From my experience, expired tires used by automobiles typically have sharp metal protruding from the rubber. This would make a dangerous tire swing. I thought landscaping (rubber mulch) and playgrounds was the preferred recycling method for used tires?--[[User:R0hrshach|R0hrshach]] ([[User talk:R0hrshach|talk]]) 15:35, 23 March 2016 (UTC)

The first one certainly looks like Hair Bun, but the second one (which in in the explanation is presented as Megan) has a somewhat curly hair. Could she be another character, perhaps? [[Special:Contributions/108.162.218.166|108.162.218.166]] 17:05, 23 March 2016 (UTC)
 --- 
'''This what it looked like after:''' 
--- 
the women do not look like Megan and Hair Bun Girl to me, are they new?
sorry for commenting here, but I do not have rights to create a new page, which seems to be necessary for posting the fire comment. Will move once the comment section is created.
:I think they are Thelma and Louise (from the movie) given the looks of their hair {{unsigned|Chichak|March 23, 2016}}
::I think they're children [[User:Mikemk|Mikemk]] ([[User talk:Mikemk|talk]]) 15:33, 23 March 2016 (UTC)
:::The first one certainly looks like Hair Bun, but the second one (which in in the explanation is presented as Megan) has a somewhat curly hair. Could she be another character, perhaps? [[Special:Contributions/108.162.218.166|108.162.218.166]] 17:05, 23 March 2016 (UTC)
::::As the tire comes from a truck and it's diameter is more than half the height of these small girls they are definitely kids (not that Randall could not have made adults make a swing as like in [[150]]). Also this makes it much more funny that they both stole a car and beat up an angry adult. And now they are going all environmental after wards. So they are not Megan (which looks nothing like a curly haired girl) and also not Hair Bun Girl as it is defined that these characters are adults. There are many stories using kids and they will never represent Cueball, Megan or Ponytail etc. Those with hats are for instance never drawn small! Have thus corrected the explanation. But it still seems to miss much more on the environmental issue which is the subject/point of the comic if not the joke --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 17:19, 23 March 2016 (UTC)

Maybe they got the truck from Black Hat's garage? [[User:Mikemk|Mikemk]] ([[User talk:Mikemk|talk]]) 15:34, 23 March 2016 (UTC)
:Then they would have lost the fight: [[433: Journal 5]]! --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 17:22, 23 March 2016 (UTC)

I have yet to use a tire swing that was made from a worn tire (worn by the road not by swinging). From my experience, expired tires used by automobiles typically have sharp metal protruding from the rubber. This would make a dangerous tire swing. I thought landscaping (rubber mulch) and playgrounds was the preferred recycling method for used tires?--[[User:R0hrshach|R0hrshach]] ([[User talk:R0hrshach|talk]]) 15:35, 23 March 2016 (UTC)
:I think you are correct. We have one for our kids (though it sucked and we took it down again) and that was a brand new tire, but not one I think would be suitable for any car though. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 17:22, 23 March 2016 (UTC) 
--- 
'''As can be seen'''
:::I have only moved one comment up, and that was not yours! That you did not check that there already seemed to be two comments above yours, about the appearance of the girls, doesn't mean that it would not make sense to pool all these questions and comments regarding exactly this topic together to give just one answer. And as you can see from the above '''I did NOT move your comments''', but I moved someone else's comment, in between the first and second of your comments, to be able to reply to all four things already written about the girls (ie. 1) The women do not look like Megan and Hair Bun Girl to me, are they new? 2) I think they are Thelma and Louise (from the movie) 3) I think they're children and 4) ... a somewhat curly hair. Could she be another character?) All that was what I replied to, now possible to do in one go right beneath all four remarks. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 09:47, 25 March 2016 (UTC)
::::There was only one comment before mine, and it was 2 paragraphs. You moving the second half into a reply of the first half caused some of the confusion here [[User:Mikemk|Mikemk]] ([[User talk:Mikemk|talk]]) 06:54, 26 March 2016 (UTC)
:::::OK now I understand, so it was not your comment I moved, but the previous comment that I split in two (that was a mistake). That you did not answer to the comment above was of course not clear since it was on the same subject. Again this, as I understand it, was caused by someone posting a comment in the explanation, and you moving it into the comments section (which was fine, but made it hard to find out who posted what.) --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 12:58, 26 March 2016 (UTC)

== Gardening ==

You mention "three links to images that did not work" in my "garden store for deer" entry. [http://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/Special:UploadStash/thumb/13xmd97bimg0.n2wbws.5455.png/739px-13xmd97bimg0.n2wbws.5455.png These]
[http://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/Special:UploadStash/thumb/13xn667h2jlw.jonmk1.5455.png/739px-13xn667h2jlw.jonmk1.5455.png three]
[http://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/Special:UploadStash/thumb/13xod68rb29s.7fj65u.5455.png/739px-13xod68rb29s.7fj65u.5455.png links]
all work for me; they are images I tried to upload, scaled as large as the server would allow (739x461). Somehow I can upload images but not create image pages (also the spam protection is still triggered, so creating this account seems to accomplish nothing). It's very strange that the server has stored them but won't allow anyone else to view them (after logging out, it tells me I "must be logged in to upload files" instead of displaying the images). Someone should rescue the images from wherever they reside on the server.

The "face" I referred to (the second image) is really a cluster of leaves and branches: the bottom cluster of the rightmost tree looks like a head in profile, with curly hair, an eye, a grinning mouth, and a prominent nose. The two rightmost trees started with no branches (first image), but grew several when I placed a light above them. I moved the light so the face wouldn't be destroyed and tried to grow branches on the lower trunks. The third image is essentially the same as what you uploaded today.

Regarding Megan's office furniture: I'd actually pruned her second wand whenever it appeared, and then the bird took its place. [[User:.42|.42]] ([[User talk:.42|talk]]) 15:29, 8 April 2016 (UTC)
:Hi .42 First I think it take a few days (three) before you are allowed to create new pages to fight off spam boots that we have had problems with. I cannot see you images I get the following message:
:'''Internal Server Error'''
:'''This file (13xmd97bimg0.n2wbws.5455.png) doesn't belong to the current user.'''
:Cool that you have logged in as a user, although poor name ;-) On the other hand if you are a fan of Hitchhikers Guide then I guess it would be cool enough by the way. I'm happy to see that I finally get a chance to prune some of my gardens after several upsets since the comic came out. If I can help you with the images let me know. Maybe you can post them somewhere else and I can find upload them for you? [[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 15:34, 8 April 2016 (UTC)

::I'll try to upload tomorrow, then. I don't know where the server found the .42 IP address — that isn't my address! It's ''really weird'' that it chose this number. [[User:.42|.42]] ([[User talk:.42|talk]]) 16:18, 8 April 2016 (UTC)

Have you seen libra's [http://forums.xkcd.com/viewtopic.php?f=7&t=114415&start=480#p3954408 purple light] gardens? [[User:.42|.42]] ([[User talk:.42|talk]]) 22:58, 11 April 2016 (UTC)
:No I had not. I like the stilt on platform up in tree. I did not know this could happen. [[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 10:24, 12 April 2016 (UTC)

== [[1703: Juno|NASA versus the press]] ==
Hi Kynde. I'm afraid I disagree. It seems pretty clear to me that the question about the tip-off comes from NASA. I've added a topic to the talk page, where I explain my reasoning, and where this should be discussed if you still disagree. Thanks! [[User:Garik|Garik]] ([[User talk:Garik|talk]]) 16:52, 6 July 2016 (UTC)
:Yes I still disagree. To me it seems like a continuation of the conference and it is now the press to speak. And given that I knew Juno to be related to Jupiter but not that she was the daughter of Saturn (and given the reason for the naming in the real world) I would not say that the name in any way would lead anyone to take it as a hint for going to Saturn. But great to discuss it. Will post this on the [[Talk:1703:_Juno|talk page]] too. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 17:21, 6 July 2016 (UTC)

== 1712: Politifact ==
Hi, I'm the BOT and I'm BORG...

...nevertheless your enhancement to the transcript was too much. And I think your enhancements to the explain section is also overrunning the target.

But I just only did revert the transcript. --[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 20:19, 28 July 2016 (UTC)
:HI BORG... :/
:I Highly disagree with your changes.
:A transcript serves several functions:
#To make it possible to find out what any text/characters reads, even if it is hard to read in the comic.
#To make a description of what happens in the images. This has two purposes:
##So people with eye disabilities can find out what the comic is about. So here a full description of the comic is needed apart from the text.
##So it is possible to search the comic for info on the content, like a woman with a hat with a white tag.
#Finally it is great if the transcript represents the way it is written in the comic as close as possible including colors (which should also be described in the text for those that cannot see them selves). So tables, colors and formatting is fine. If the text then is harder to read it is possible to copy paste it.
:I can see there may have been a bit of explanation in that I wrote about what Megan did in the previous panel, but that is not enough to just undo the whole thing.
:I will reinsert the transcript and if you disagree then lets discuss either on that comic or in a general fora on what a transcript should contain.
:Regards, just Kynde. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 16:16, 29 July 2016 (UTC)

== Follow-Up on that "Random Chat" ==
Hey dude! Uh... wow this is awkward. You said hi to me in the random chat on my user page. I said hi. Then we never said anything else to each other again. xD --[[User:JayRulesXKCD|JayRulesXKCD]] ([[User talk:JayRulesXKCD|talk]]) 16:07, 25 October 2016 (UTC)
:Hi Jay. Not so awkward. :-) I mean you just said thanks, and thus did not really initiate any chat. Do you have anything in mind? Like something to be improved here on explain? Something larger maybe that could need discussion. Or anything else... Problem is of course that when I chat to you here, you do not get any reminder like when I chat on your page and visa versa. So I will make a post on your page that I have answered here... --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 19:04, 25 October 2016 (UTC)
::Well, by that, I just meant a simple random chat. Like a "hey! how are you doing? that's nice... what do you like to do in your free time..?" kind of chat. --[[User:JayRulesXKCD|JayRulesXKCD]] ([[User talk:JayRulesXKCD|talk]]) 14:18, 26 October 2016 (UTC)
:::Ah well, I guess I would not really like to have such a chat on these pages, so sorry that I misunderstood you. ;-) --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 14:19, 26 October 2016 (UTC)
::::It's alright.. also.... HAPPY HALLOWEEN! :D --[[User:JayRulesXKCD|JayRulesXKCD]] ([[User talk:JayRulesXKCD|talk]]) 14:41, 31 October 2016 (UTC)
:::::Wow... it's (almost) a whole year since then. Time sure flies by, huh? --[[User:JayRulesXKCD|'''JayRules''XKCD''' ]][[User talk:JayRulesXKCD|what's up?]] 12:34, 9 October 2017 (UTC)
::::::Yes that is true. Actually more since the first contact ;-) Haven't been so active the last half year. :-) --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 13:22, 11 October 2017 (UTC)

== [[1751: Movie Folder]] ==

Assuming that Black Hat only has good movies is rather absurd, as there's not a shred of evidence to support this. Especially since this is Black Hat we're talking about. Therefore, there's no evidence that Titanic 98 is about the ship hitting the reef, and therefore, the calculations about stacking 97 ships have no relevance. --[[Special:Contributions/172.68.79.81|172.68.79.81]] 15:06, 1 November 2016 (UTC)
:Since this is relevant to a specific comic, I suggest that you just leave this comment on that specific comic's discussion board. Thank you. --[[User:JayRulesXKCD|JayRulesXKCD]] ([[User talk:JayRulesXKCD|talk]]) 15:13, 1 November 2016 (UTC)
::Yes that is true Jay. Anyway there is reason to believe that Black Hat either thinks or teases Cueball with his movies, and thus he suggest that the movies he has are god. Also the other comment he makes suggest this. So I think there is a lot of evidence that this movie 98 is one in the series of movies where Titanic hits the reef of older Titanics. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 14:05, 2 November 2016 (UTC)
:::Cueball names 7 movies, Black Hat replies to 4 of those. He has definitively positive things to say about 2 of those, and simply states information about another. In that context, there's no reason to assume his comment about the Titanic series should be interpreted as a claim that he considers Titanic 98 to be 'good'. And with only 2 of the other 6 known movies in his collection being stated as 'good', that's clearly not "a lot of evidence" that Titanic 98 is 'good'. --[[Special:Contributions/108.162.237.86|108.162.237.86]] 21:24, 3 November 2016 (UTC)
::::Well we disagree on that then. If the explanation should be changed on the basis of this discussion it should be moved to the relevant discussion page. If it is the same person who wrote from both IP .81 and .86 you could move it there your self. Feel free to include my replies, but leave out Jays as that has nothing to do with the discussion. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 09:56, 4 November 2016 (UTC)
:::::[[Talk:1751: Movie Folder#Titanic XCVIII|Done]]. (Yes, .81 and .86 were me) --[[Special:Contributions/108.162.237.86|108.162.237.86]] 16:57, 4 November 2016 (UTC)

== Transcript TLDR; ==
*I got so tired of Dgbrt's negative comments (TLDR;), that I have collapsed them here below. Fell free to read them if you really wish by clicking: --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 22:00, 14 March 2017 (UTC)
<div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed leftAlign" style="width:100%">
 
Please stop to write this massive texts into the transcript. Have a look at the discus at the last (1798) comic. And also think about that you are the only one who is entering those massive explains perhaps also nobody does read. LESS is often MORE! --[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 11:43, 15 February 2017 (UTC)
:Maybe. I was under the impression that they where both there for those that had problems with vision, and also so you could search on something you remembered from a comic and find it using that tool. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 12:27, 15 February 2017 (UTC)
::Even visually impaired persons don't like it (see 1798). And TLDR means "too long; didn't read", just in case. You should consider this. Reading the transcript should not take much longer than identifying the features from picture itself. Every spoken text and a short description what is shown should be suffice. At [[1799: Bad Map Projection: Time Zones]] even not every county must be mentioned; showing differences to a regular map projection should be enough because everybody knows a regular world map. --[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 12:44, 15 February 2017 (UTC)
:::I completely disagree about only writing spoken text. The transcript is intended to make it possible to read all text in the image not just spoken text. It is often difficult to read all text, and also if people misread it or do not notice it by looking at the image, it will be there to find in the transcript, especially for those visually impaired. And what you said means there should be no transcript for the current comic [[1799]] where you linked to this discussion from. By the way I know what TLDR means, and also did not ask about it, if you noticed! I have seen it used here before, probably regarding something you wrote! ;-) --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 13:33, 15 February 2017 (UTC)
::I agree with Dgbrt. [[User:Elektrizikekswerk|Elektrizikekswerk]] ([[User talk:Elektrizikekswerk|talk]]) 12:50, 15 February 2017 (UTC)
:::I expect mainly people who agree comes here, as people who are not troubled by it, might not care enough. ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 13:33, 15 February 2017 (UTC)
::::The first criticism was done by a visually impaired person (Zetfr 23:11, 13 February 2017 (UTC)) at [[Talk:1798:_Box_Plot]]. That was the reason for me to start this discussion.--[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 13:52, 15 February 2017 (UTC)
:::::Yes thanks for pointing that out. I had not read his comments when I replied before. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 14:13, 15 February 2017 (UTC)
::Another reason for detailed transcripts with image descriptions is that sometimes people have misunderstood what is in the image, and then a transcript can be used to make sure what is there. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 13:33, 15 February 2017 (UTC)
:::All that may go into the explain section; it doesn't belong to the transcript.--[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 13:52, 15 February 2017 (UTC)
::::Yes maybe, but will the visibly impaired not also be annoyed about it there. Then maybe in a trivia section if there is need. I will try that for [[1798]] I think. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 14:13, 15 February 2017 (UTC)

Maybe not known to all. In the past Randall provided a transcript on each comic. It is in a hidden div-tag. Then something went wrong and the transcript actually belonged to an older comic. Right now there is no transcript anymore. But have look at this example (shown on https://xkcd.com/1664/ for https://xkcd.com/1662/):
<pre>
[[Two children, a girl and a boy, are talking to an adult woman as they walk away from her. The boy has a bucket.]]
Girl: Me and Jack are going up the hill to fetch a pail of water.
[[The children have left; the woman calls after them.]]
Woman: Okay, have fun! [[The woman stands and thinks.]]
Woman: ... wait. What the heck is going on with the hydrology around here?
{{Title text: Jill and Jack began to frack. The oil boosts their town. But fractures make the bedrock shake and Jack came tumbling down.}}
</pre>
--[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 15:07, 15 February 2017 (UTC)
:Yes I tried to include this on explain xkcd by making a [[xkcd#Transcript_on_xkcd|description]] of it on the [[xkcd]] page some weeks ago. Transcript are of course even more important now that there are no longer transcripts on xkcd. The first problem arose after the [[Hoverboard]] comic where the transcript for all comics after that was shifted two and later three comics from the one they belonged to. The last of those shifted transcript ended with [[1674]] whose transcript was found three comics later at [[1677]]. But also comics with transcript needs a better transcript here on xkcd, to include other written text, and small important details, as well as we are using given names for characters which Randall has never used (or only rarely uses). Actually Randall has once made a direct link to Explain xkcd for a better transcript. Alas there was not transcript until this year, where I made it: See this [[Payloads#Trivia|trivia]] under [[Payloads]].--[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 16:16, 17 February 2017 (UTC)

I'm glad this discussion is finally taking place. I raised the point a while back on [http://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/explain_xkcd:Community_portal/Proposals#purpose_of_detailed_transcripts the community portal] but nobody noticed. I tried again on [[1795]] but attention had already moved on to the next comic... Seems I got it right this time ;-)
Different people may have different uses for the transcripts. For me, being visually impaired, the right level of detail is that of Randall's official transcripts. It should include every written word in the comic (spoken, printed, in captions, etc.) and just enough information on what's going on to "get it", but not how things are drawn. E.g. "Cueball is talking to Megan", not "Cueball, on the left, has his right arm extended towards Megan who is sitting on a chair" (unless the chair somehow plays a part in the story). Imagine you're talking on the phone: "hey, I saw a great comic this morning, here is how it goes..." and then "tell" yor friend the joke, rather than "describe" the comic. BTW, I think this also serves your goal of being able to search old comics for a specific element. The element you'll remember will be something important to the comic's story, not a graphical detail such as a character's position or the number of lines drawn around his hand to indicate movement. Anyway, thanks for the good work!! Zetfr 16:18, 16 February 2017 (UTC)
:Thanks for the input, especially to Zetfr. I had not seen your comment on 1795 or in the community portal. I'll have a look, and thanks to Dgbrt for letting me know about your latest comment. I will try to keep out the details in the transcript. For me personally I have often been looking for a specific thing, like searching for the comic where Cueball stands on a chair with a sword or rotates in an office chair. As I could not remember any lines spoken, and because those making the transcript had not mentioned either spinning office chair, or sword, I could not search my way to them even in this explain page. I have found them later, but by chance. And then I put in the details. Maybe I have gotten carried away, so sorry about that. I think the details somehow belongs, but if that should be in the trivia, or at the bottom of the transcript...? I'm not sure, which was also why I put it in the transcript. Being the one who makes the most edits and also hard work (large tables, and huge transcripts) I'm happy Zetfr likes the page :-) --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 16:09, 17 February 2017 (UTC)
::I have changed the transcript for [[1795]] putting the details into a subesection of the transcript. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 16:38, 17 February 2017 (UTC)
:::Hi Kynde, I still disagree with this subsection solution. You don't have to repaint the picture by text! If a detail is important for understanding a pun it has to be mentioned in the transcript itself; otherwise it is useless and oversized. E.g.: Nobody wants to know -- and wont remember later -- if there are two, three, four, or five sound symbols and how they are painted. The single word "SOUND" describes all. And please consider: Nobody reads those long texts. LESS is often MORE!.--[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 18:04, 17 February 2017 (UTC)
::::Hi Dgbrt. We can movie it into a trivia. I think some of it is relevant, and sometimes it is hard to find out which part will be searched for later. But I guess we two alone would end in a [[1800: Chess Notation|½-½]] for this discussion so far... --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 19:41, 17 February 2017 (UTC)
:::::I completely agree with Dgbrt. The transcript should say *what* Randall wants to tell us, not *how* he tells it. In most cases this should also work to let you search for details you remember. In your example, Cueball holding a sword is certainly important to the comic's point, so it should be mentioned in the transcript. But the length and position of the sword are irrelevant, and probably not what you'll search for. Obviously, there is no hard rule to decide what should or shouldn't go into the transcript, it's a matter of personal judgment and common sense, but I think we can all agree on general guidelines. Regarding the "Detailed image description" section tested in [[1795]], I have no problem with that. I'm not sure it will ever be useful to anyone, but it won't do any harm either, so if you're willing to put in the extra work, go for it. Zetfr 12:17, 18 February 2017 (UTC)
::::::Thanks Zetfr. About the extra details, they could be put into a section where you had to press to see the extra details. I do not know if a reader will pass over that. For instance like I have done with explanation for several categories like [[:Category:New Year]] --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 17:12, 18 February 2017 (UTC)

Nice find for [[1461:_Payloads]], I didn't now Randall refers to this wiki. According to ''web.archive.org'' that hint was entered between 2015-01-25 and 2015-02-07 and refers to the entire wiki page, not only "our" transcript. So it's absolutely NOT embarrassing as you wrote in the trivia section. I'm setting an incomplete tag for the transcript and trivia section and edit it tomorrow (18th Feb). I will let you know what I've done and why. Stay tuned...--[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 20:59, 17 February 2017 (UTC)
:The rework on [[1461:_Payloads]] is done. But I didn't remove the incomplete tag. That's up to you. Like Zetfr I'm not sure it will ever be useful to anyone, but the larger description on a separate page would be acceptable to me. Furthermore I've done some investigations on Randalls links to this wiki and put it together in a new category: [[:Category:Explain_mentioned_by_Randall]].--[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 12:57, 18 February 2017 (UTC)
::Thanks both for the "nice find" and for reworking Payloads, and especially for the new category. Great find. I will look at the other examples soon. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 17:12, 18 February 2017 (UTC)

Many thanks by me for this positive and productive discussion. It seems there are some more former transcripts which need a rework. I personally will focus on checking all the JSON-scripts I downloaded today (1799 at all; ofcourse 404 doesn't exist; and exactly seven contain the word "explainxkcd"). I will write a small script to put them into a human readable form and present it somewhere here for further use. Stay tuned... --[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 17:45, 18 February 2017 (UTC)
:Thanks Dbgrt. And really cool how you made that new category. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 19:14, 18 February 2017 (UTC)

== [[xkcd]] page and subpages ==

You moved some contented into subpages which doesn't make it better. There is no need to describe in [[Design of xkcd.com]] a layout everybody can see. The lemma "Design" requires just a few lines of text but you repeat all the "Content". And just for interest: Before the redirect to https was in place (a few weeks ago) there was language specific advertising for the shop. I'm looking forward for a better and more compressed form on all of this. Any suggestions?--[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 14:07, 24 February 2017 (UTC)
:Hi Dgbrt. My reason for making this page, is that the links, the comics, the headline, the byline, the warning etc. all changes with time, and I would like users of this site to have easy access to earlier links. Just like we have a category for the fotter comics (which I by the way did not make, but enjoyed, because I never thought absolute that he must have had them before all those five comics had been published and that they thus must have changed). So I thought similar things would be nice to have for changes to the layout and hence I decided to describe it. Maybe it was too much, but I like to have the archive links to changes. And since I had already done lots of work on this, I just copied all the new text to another page, to not delete it. And yes as I have said on Davidy's page I should not have put it on the xkcd page to begin with. But when I started I had no idea it would end up soooo long. Waiting to hear your comments on this info, before going further with suggestions. But thanks for asking. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 18:16, 24 February 2017 (UTC)
::All those pages are on my agenda; your edit or not. I don't care. But I will not delete any content without an agreement. I will present something in a sandbox at my user page. You are welcome there (not before tomorrow). And consider, this wiki is not a backup for archive.org.--[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 19:56, 24 February 2017 (UTC)
:::I think this wiki is for explaining xkcd, not just the comics. I believe you agree as I have seen on Davidy's talk page. And major changes or important revisions to the main page is important in my opinion. For instance I'm sad to see that the [[xkcd warning]] has gone from xkcd, and think it is important to let it be know it was there for many years. Where to do so? And how to find it if you did not know about it? There need to be a place that links to it, directly or indirectly through the xkcd page. I look forward to see you [[Time|sand castle]]. :-) Please leave a comment here when you have something you wish me to see, with a link. Regarding you answer to my comment, I meant that I would hear what you had to say before I came with suggestions. Not that you should not do anything before I made one. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 20:08, 24 February 2017 (UTC)

== I am still calm... ==

...why I shouldn't? You see things inspiring others to see more things... (<- you would wrote 500 words for this) and you are still not able to put the pun on the top of an explanation. Keep your focus on the pun, not on every Million possibilities behind the drawing. And you can be sure I will have an eye on this because this is NOT "dreamingxkcd".--[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 23:15, 4 March 2017 (UTC)
:Well I'm not! --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 21:09, 7 March 2017 (UTC)

== Aggressive edits ==

While I was talking to others about the explanation and the transcript for more than 24 hours you need only one hour to change everything that was discussed before. Again all red is yours: [http://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=1810%3A_Chat_Systems&diff=137245&oldid=137225 1810: Chat Systems changes]. Editors, mainly not me, don't like it when all their work is changed after you finished your edits. Please respect other editors! --[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 21:50, 14 March 2017 (UTC)
:I do not change everything. I add. But we are obviously not going to agree on this. I would prefer not to discuss with you. How do yo know what the others like or not. In the discussions we have had I found more against your way of communication than against my edits. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 21:57, 14 March 2017 (UTC)
::Massive changes and you call it add??? So tell me your adds and explain how all they other changes happened. I will add a sentence to the comic discussion because it's senseless here.--[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 22:14, 14 March 2017 (UTC)
:::Yes it is. And it is a real shame that you have decided to know how this wiki should be. Hope that Davidy soon tells one of us to back off. If it is me then I will have to take it into account. So far he has only had nice things to say to me about my work here, which is not what I have seen regarding your work. Have you read the other users that calls your tone negative/aggressive or even worse? I have really tried to speak nicely to you, but you never seems to accept any edits I do. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 22:21, 14 March 2017 (UTC)
::::Your "Citation needed" template add to my text is just one example for what I call aggressive. Hiding four paragraphs is an other.--[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 23:09, 14 March 2017 (UTC)
</div>
 

== Possible Issues with Updating Old Comics ==

I know you spent a lot of time making edits to many older comics, so I thought you might have some input on one that I'm thinking needs a change - 38 Apple Jacks. I noticed you edited it a little a couple years ago. It's the one where the father tells his son they don't taste like apples, and his son tells him off.

The title text description says it appears to be another case of Randall explaining the comic to readers who don't know about the old commercial, but I think it might be the father telling the son why he was saying that to him. I think it's worth at least adding, if not totally replacing the current description, but I see you had previously added to it during your edits.

How would you handle that type of change, if it were you? [[User:Ianrbibtitlht|Ianrbibtitlht]] ([[User talk:Ianrbibtitlht|talk]]) 21:38, 3 April 2018 (UTC)
: Hi Ianrbibtitlht
:I disagree with the idea you have. And my reason for that is based in the original quote from Randall when posting this comic to live journal where he asks:
::"Who else remembers those commercials?"
::See the comics [[38:_Apple_Jacks#Trivia|Trivia section]].
::To me indication that since no one did, he added the explanation in the title text.
:The son dismissed his father completely, and I do not think the father goes on.
:And since many of xkcd's readers may not know the reference he explains it in the title text.
:He did the same with the title text in [[30: Donner]], which is what is refereed to in the title text explanation. I have added links between these two examples. There may be more.
:Of course you are free to add an alternative explanation, and see if any one notices enough to complain about/remove it. ;-)
:--[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 09:57, 5 April 2018 (UTC)

::I appreciate the feedback. I don't feel strongly enough to modify it at this point but thought it might be an added insight that nobody had thought about! ;-) [[User:Ianrbibtitlht|Ianrbibtitlht]] ([[User talk:Ianrbibtitlht|talk]]) 14:57, 5 April 2018 (UTC)

:::Thanks for asking, by the way. ;-) --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 20:46, 5 April 2018 (UTC)

== Need help ==
A few things. Several people have mentioned that ReCAPTCA v1 has expired, and something needs to be done about that. But no one has replied to the admin forum, so not sure what is going on. Are there even any admins still here? Seems like they've all disappeared. And should we create a new forum for questions and things like that? And if all the admins have left, should there be like more admins or something like that? [[User:Herobrine|Herobrine]] ([[User talk:Herobrine|talk]]) 07:51, 8 April 2018 (UTC)
:Hi
:I haven't any idea about ReCAPTCA and Im not an admin. But yes if there is no one that replies it is a problem. Davidy is the obe I have had discussions with but he did not reply the last two times I wrote. Don't know if DGBRT with the BOT has any knowledge that can be used. Try those two. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 08:30, 9 April 2018 (UTC)
::FYI, we still have admins here and there will be a major update soon at one of the next weekends. BTW, I prefer it in lowercase: dgbrt - like xkcd--[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 21:16, 16 April 2018 (UTC)
:::Thanks for the info dgbrt, and it sounds greawt. (Your signature is with capital D but that is maybe just as the username? I will use dgbrt from now on). --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 20:08, 23 April 2018 (UTC)

== All is red again - you changed everything according to the diff ==

Hi, look at [http://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=1981%3A_Rickrolling_Anniversary&diff=155913&oldid=155905 your edits] and tell me how someone can see what you have changed. Please keep your changes to smaller parts.

And beginning an explanation with a youtube link which even doesn't work in some countries like Germany is also not a god start to an explanation. I'm referring to your edits above. --[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 21:27, 16 April 2018 (UTC)
:OK, sorry about that. I will try to make smaller changes. The link was not one I put in, I just moved it to the beginning to rickroll someone - it was a joke... Of course if the link did not work I can understand why you did not get Rickrolled. But the link had already been included in the explanation before my edits. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 10:24, 18 April 2018 (UTC)
::Thanks for your understanding, "all is red..." was the reason why I started this section, the video link was meant as a minor remark and that it doesn't work in Germany is even less important for the explanation.
::But I didn't understand your joke. So what do you think about changing all the internal links like [[Cueball]] to rickroll the readers - of course only less important links.
::BTW: Around 2009 and some years later the German GEMA Mafia tried to block all music content until they got the money. Even dashcam videos from the meteorite incident in Chelyabinsk were blocked when you could hear something from the radio in the car. This has changed and newer uploads are now available to me (including Rick). --[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 15:02, 18 April 2018 (UTC)
:::The joke was that this comic was about rickrolling and the link was to the ricrolling youtube video... --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 07:30, 19 April 2018 (UTC)

I just tried to make several smaller changes, and it was much more difficult to me, with the risk of making mistakes... But have a look at this then: [http://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=1982:_Evangelism&action=history Evangelism history].--[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 09:45, 19 April 2018 (UTC)
:I like that but the development of this comic explanation is funny and not a typical one. Many vast changes were done after your comment here. --[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 13:01, 21 April 2018 (UTC)
::Well happy you do. Most of the changes were improvement, but often based on or improving parts I had edited (well I had edited most parts ;-) What I meant was that some of the good changes only came about because of the changes I had done in the first place. Still seems we need a citation for primates opening at the "wrong" end though? {{unsigned|Kynde}}
:::You know I'm a fan of short explanations just covering what's in the comic. And in [[1982: Evangelism]] there is no "wrong banana end" mentioned. It just mentions "the other" - which is of course always "wrong". The title text then indeed refers to a schism in Europe - the Americans weren't much developed by that time (excepting the natives).
:::BTW: My major workload here right now is working on the health of this wiki. You probably haven't seen my latest comment five days ago just a section above. We will get an update soon. Stay tuned.
:::BTW2: You have forgotten to sign your comment ;)
:::--[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 22:19, 21 April 2018 (UTC)
::::Yes we are not fan of the same type of explanations we have covered that. I believe that the majority of humans do peel the banana from the opposite end of that cited (without citations) to what primates do... I'm not sure there is any year for the schism in Europe so who knows how developed the US was at that time. Bananas is a rather new thing in Europe I believe!
::::And no I had not seen that comment, probably same time you posted this comment thread? But sounds great! Are you an admin now? And do you have any contact with Davidy... He went off the xkcd explain grid long time ago.
::::I have amended my mistake and will sign this time ;-) --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 20:12, 23 April 2018 (UTC)

== You blanked the page [[1996]] ==

A you can see [[Talk:1995: MC Hammer Age|here]] "I decided to let it stay there as it is but on Monday that redirect will AND must be overwritten in the meaning of a comic number." That blank page isn't better than my decision. Beginning on Monday the number 1996 MUST be used for navigation (i.e. Comic Number) and nothing else.

Other future comics will be: 1999, 2012, 2014, 2016, 2017, 2018, and 2038. That's all!

All those future comics (by number) - beginning with 1996 on Monday - AND that older ones (by name) should have a disambiguation line on top when the comic number overrides that name.

The problem is the logic at this wiki. While at xkcd the number and name have different meanings and navigation is only done by number it's not true here. While <nowiki>https://xkcd.com/1996</nowiki> will lead to the next future comic and is unique the link <nowiki>https://explainxkcd.com/1996</nowiki> could mean number OR name. We also use the number for navigation, so the abbreviation in the meaning as a comic name can not be supported for those eight comics. --[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 14:58, 19 May 2018 (UTC)
:Hi DBBRT
:I first saw your comments after I had blanked it. And I thought it was better to avoid confusion over the weekend. So I did not return it. I think it could be better to already now remove those page re-directions for the comics you mention now, to avoid confusion on all those numbers... A lot of those the next 20 comic or so. We already had a similar situation with [[1337]], because of the LEET comic series. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 13:15, 23 May 2018 (UTC)
::Read my future comic list above, it's only seven. And the blank page confused some users also. Nevertheless I will change the comic template, navigation to the right will not be shown when the target is greater than the LATESTCOMIC. The BOT will update those redirects anyway. I just prefer some tests at home to figure out the best solution before editing here. --[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 13:53, 23 May 2018 (UTC)
:::Well, I think 7 times confusing in 20 comics is a lot, but I can read that you are working on avoiding it, so that is great. I'm very impressed by your bot, but then again I have very little programming experience and it was back in my days as a PhD Student around 2002... (Pascal...) Great you have made it and keep improving it. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 20:06, 25 May 2018 (UTC)
::::Thanks for your kind words. I still don't understand the 20, it's only seven comics and I've changed the global comic template so that this is SOLVED now. There is no link to [[1999]] in the navigation bar today. But on Monday my bot will update that page in the meaning of a comic number and the right navigation in [[1998: GDPR]] will be shown. FYI: I'm a professional programmer. --[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 21:04, 25 May 2018 (UTC)
:::::Must have been unclear. I meant that over the next 20 comics, there would have been this issue 7 times i.e. about once every week, and I found that it could have caused confusion a lot in those 7 weeks. But now you have solved this with you prof. programmer skills. ;-) So there is no longer any problems. Great work. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 11:04, 27 May 2018 (UTC)
::::::Thanks for your kind words. And I've done more: Embedding pictures from Commons works again and it's now also possible to change the size. See my latest edit here [[1400: D.B. Cooper]] which uses this statement <nowiki>[[File:DBCooper.jpg|thumb|150px|Cooper]]</nowiki>. That image is not uploaded here, click at it in the comic and you will see. I've mentioned this in the Community portal. --[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 12:07, 27 May 2018 (UTC)
:::::::Cool. I'm not sure how this works. Looks at first like the image is on the local wiki but I can see it is not so. But how does this works. Can you write the "File" formula for any picture name on commons and then get it embedded here like that? It is beyond my computer skills :-) --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 18:02, 28 May 2018 (UTC)
::::::::When the picture isn't here it's searched on Commons. When it's found it's only cached at this wiki. In general it works like a local file. This did already work in the past until it was broken. But now we also can change the size, play with that 150px in the preview. --[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 18:15, 28 May 2018 (UTC)
:::::::::Thx --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 20:08, 28 May 2018 (UTC)

== Why you still focus on that SAD comics? ==

I focus on all edits done here and your edits are minor (there are much more edits here needing some attention), nonetheless I would be happy to find a solution on that ''sad'' thoughts are in your mind. I respect your thoughts, but that trivia at ''[[1756: I'm With Her]]'' really dohttps://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/User_talk:Kyndees not belong to that comic at all. It was deleted before, you reverted that -- by not reading or ignoring the discussion page -- and I just want to prevent an edit war. Furthermore I removed your statement about "trolls" at the discussion page because that's not polite.
*And now
**I start
***with
****your layout
*****You see???
Try to write full sentences without bullets. I'm hoping you understand my major two parts here. --[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 23:21, 27 October 2018 (UTC)
:Yes I did not read the comments. I was looking for the sad list, when I fond it missing. I saw through the edit and found the following comment:
::This "sad comics" list is utterly pointless and has no reason to exist. I don't regret deleting this waste. If anyone wants to keep it up, revert the edit, but make it readable, compact, and make at least one bit of sense. (Emojis? must be TRUMP!!?!one1!))
:I did not see any discussion there, and found it rude and also not done properly (with many links pointing to this section). So I just reverted it. It could be given its own page though.
:Regarding politeness I must say I did not find most of your comments on the talk page polite as I just read them. As you state "no one has criticized it before", so maybe it is just you, and now some years later a few guys that begins rambling on about it.
:As to why, I think it is quite clear that Randall was sad after the election. Maybe I took it too far, and it should no longer have been "sad", but about comics pointing to a political agenda by Randall. As Randall is on the move again with the mid term election coming, he has both a new political comic out, and has changed the header text with regards to registering for voting twice in a month.
:So I definitely still find it relevant. That has not changed just because two years have passed. What Trump does at the moment is even more disturbing than ever, and I'm sure Randall is thick and tried of it still! --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 13:38, 29 October 2018 (UTC)
::PS. The layout was me trying to make a list of comics that was related to this issue. And with date and events listed as well. Maybe it can be done better, but I at least kept the format throughout. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 13:39, 29 October 2018 (UTC)
:::You always do this nested bullet lists. That's ugly layout. One bullet and one or two short sentences, not more. In most cases you just should simply omit the bullets and write full sentences. The page [[Design of xkcd.com]] is an other example for this bad layout.
:::But back to the main issue: Even jet you did not read the comments completely. Only after "A) Why does the sad comics list exist (see comment above)?..." I came in. And on 27 October 2018 I mentioned at least four incomplete reasons (the transcript was you).
:::So I recall: The trivia at ''[[1756: I'm With Her]]'' does not belong to that comic at all, and even at a different page the title would be wrong because most of the listed comics are NOT sad. Furthermore I don't know how you do know how Randall feels, he is just a writer and these are only comics.
:::There was a reason why David was against a category for sad comics, and this is still valid. This is the only reason why this section at the trivia of 1756 exists, be honest.
:::So my proposal is:
:::*moving the content to a separate page, either with a new title or only moving the "sad" content and deleting the rest
:::*using the link from the menu: "What links here" at 1756 ([[Special:WhatLinksHere/1756: I'm With Her]]) to fix the links to that part (mostly your former work) and maybe also change the text
:::The comic 1756 has to be explained mainly in the context of the time BEFORE the election. It was a campaign for Hillary Clinton, anything later done by Trump is irrelevant, besides that it has to be mentioned that the campaign wasn't successful. --[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 18:16, 29 October 2018 (UTC)
::::Well, I definitely know that the comment in here is mine. I did very much hate the list because, as mentioned in the talk page on the comic, the section was completely disorganized. It took up half of the entire page. As Dgbrt mentioned, the format you use is honestly really ugly, and I have to agree. The real problem that I found was ''after'' I posted the comment he quoted.
::::In that comment, I mentioned that it should have had its own category instead of being completely on that single page, which would have prevented it from the eyes of those who don't like this format. Alternatively, it could have been in a table, a format much more compact, several times easier to understand, and at least 12 octillion times less infuriating to look at.
::::The other mind-boggling and frankly stupid thing about the list, of course, was that you added '''''every. Single. Comic.''''' ...if it seemed to be remotely sad (and even if it ''wasn't sometimes!'') and tried to link it to the political situation and Trump. I, in that comment, presented two of the comics in a - admittedly more asshole-ish - way that you linked them like this. But that's the ''core'' of all of this drama. Hell, in multiple of the comics, you even said that no "big" event seemed related to the situation and simply just put it in because it mentioned the military or security. And even for some of the ones you did present a political event, the speculation that you presented for Randall making these comics was beyond 4chan with Smash Ultimate level.
::::Like I said in that comment, it isn't necessarily a political comment just because something big happened that day. Vomiting Emoji and Flag, the two I highlighted in my comment, have explanations that are just plainly absurd. Randall "expressing fear" that the moon would be gone before the eclipse was ''obviously'' a joke. Randall making a joke that has a flag in the picture doesn't mean he's going to rebel against the United States, make his own country, and science his way to taking it over just so that Trump is no longer the ruler.
::::I wouldn't have had these problems if the list weren't so outlandishly absurd, and combined with the fact that it clogged up the page with a lot of meaningless speculation, I felt pushed to just delete the entire thing. Yes, that may have been extreme of me, and I should apologize for being fed up, but I still maintain that a lot of the stuff on that list is bad. If it's presented in - again - a way that doesn't hurt to read or filled up with what it is, I would have not as many problems with it. But as it looks right now, just making the list collapsible doesn't remove the problem; it's like putting White-Out on a yellow test paper and saying that the question never existed, despite the fact that it's obvious that something is wrong. [[User:Halo422|Halo422]] ([[User talk:Halo422|talk]]) 04:05, 1 November 2018 (UTC)
:::::A bit complicated to reply now. But to Dgbrt I did not read any comments until your post here. I was pissed about the deletion of the entire section, and just undid it. As Dgbrt wrote it can only be deleted properly by also removing links that goes there. I'm not using the page that much at the moment, and do not read all comments. This is also why I first see your comments today.
:::::Dgbrt do you have any good idea for a page title? If it is only the first few comics that are clearly sad, could it then be called "Sad comics"? And should it be a page or a category? If we can find a solution for that, I will try to change it so it can be tolerable... --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 10:01, 2 November 2018 (UTC)
::::::I'm honest: I vote for deleting that section. The main reason is that we don't know how Randall feels, whether sad or not. We just have comics, not an autobiography.
::::::If you still vote for keeping I only can see two possibilities:
::::::*Keep the title "Sad comics", move it to a single page (no subpage to any comic), remove most of the content, write a proper text instead of bullets, and start it like "Some comics may suggest the impression..." because your "...clear trend..." is nonsense.
::::::*Or, move everything to a separate page, but then I have no idea about any proper title.
::::::BTW: I've created a new category: [[:Category:Elections]], and as I mention here [[:Talk:2067: Challengers]] it still needs some work. --[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 11:06, 2 November 2018 (UTC)
:::::::I will think about the possibilities. And I did see your new category. Which is great by the way. There must be many of these from earlier years also?--[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 11:09, 2 November 2018 (UTC)
::::::::I need help on this new category because I'm sure there is more. --[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 11:12, 2 November 2018 (UTC)
::I have now created [[Sad comics]] and moved the content from With her and tried to make the layout better. I do not agree with deleting the references to the other comics, but not they have been separated from the first four sad/negative comics. All links have been diverted to this page from all 16 comics. If there are other comics, not on the list, with link to that section I have not changed those... Many comics could refer to With Her for many reasons so I will not go through them all. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 13:55, 2 November 2018 (UTC)
:::You've done a big job, so thanks for this on the first place. And I can assure you that you always can find all links at the tools box "What links here", in this case when reading ''[[1756: I'm With Her]]''. I'm still not happy seeing comics like [[2064: I'm a Car]] linking to content titled as ''sad'', but that's up to other editors.
:::'''ProTip''': You should watch pages important to you, just activate "Watch this page" at the bottom when editing, or adjust your "Watchlist" at the top menu belonging to your personal profile. You will receive an email on every change. --[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 18:31, 2 November 2018 (UTC)
::::Yes I know about the links, but even though I have reverted the link to the sad trivia section, there may still be a link to the With her comic for other reasons. And there may even be links to the sad section from other comics not listed in my trivia, and I will not go through all pages referencing one of the controversial comics. I by the way highly disagree that we do not know Randall's political opinion. He has also endorsed Obama, so to day it is certain that he endorses the democrats vs Republican is a fact, not a guess. But you changed that on the new [[Challengers]] comic. I will not change it though. I just highly disagree with you on what is a know and what is a guess there.
::::Regarding the comics that are not sad it is not listed as being sad, that is only the first four. The rest is just listing comics that could have to do with Randall's political mood due to Trump and his politics.
::::I no longer have the time I once dedicated to this page... And hence I have taken e-mail alerts off, which is why I first noticed the deletion now. But I get e-mails on personal changes on this page. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 22:37, 2 November 2018 (UTC)
:::::While I'm still sure not knowing much about Randall's condition when his comics are published, I sense ''you'' are sad. I insist you should take a closer look on all your contributions here, which are much more than only this stupid sad stories. --[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 00:18, 4 November 2018 (UTC)

== I am still happy to see your additions here... ==

...you did edits I didn't like - and vice versa - but that's a war I don't like. And now I'm in a position in which I have to take care of all the health here, not only what's written.

Ironically: xkcd is also about sarcasm, the hell, shoooouuuuting on the hellll...

I will probably disagree on some of your future edits, but I don't have to judge this. That's up to others here.

So now I'm asking for help on a SMALL page introducing the memes used at this site. Like the Editor-FAQ I did. David did...not that much on that requests over a long time.

While I'm not sure about a proper title, this Wiki still leaks on a page simply showing the memes used here, linking to more specific pages, presented to evrey newbee.

--[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 22:06, 16 November 2018 (UTC)
::Thanks.
::I'm not sure I understand the page you are talking about, or what type of memes you mean.
::Also as is probably clear I'm not using that much time on this wiki anymore. I'm not leaving it, I just do not have the time any longer. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 15:31, 19 November 2018 (UTC)
:::Oh, I'm also not sure, maybe just a title like "About". It often happens that new people asking questions like "Why is the mouse-over text called title text?", how character names have been developed here, and so forth. A simple page, mostly showing links with a small introduction to the more hidden pages you often maintain. New readers have simple questions we don't think about anymore, that's what I would like to present. But it seems I have to collect some more items on which you maybe can help. --[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 20:34, 19 November 2018 (UTC)
:::Ah I see. It was the meme part that failed to register. But a about page makes sense. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 14:37, 20 November 2018 (UTC)

== We got a final image ==

Emoji dome has a wonderful ending image. Do you mind putting it as the current explainxkcd image? [[User:Netherin5|“That Guy from the Netherlands”]] ([[User talk:Netherin5|talk]]) 18:25, 2 April 2019 (UTC)
:No it is perfect. I can see [https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/File:emojidome.png someone already did], it has just not been updated on the front of the page yet. It will be before tomorrow. The other pictures should be collected on a extra page. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 19:56, 2 April 2019 (UTC)

== Removing all references to the Sad comics page ==

Hi Kynde,

I've expressed my intention to remove all references to the Sad comics page over at [[Talk:Sad_comics]], but I wanted to get your input too, since it is your page. Feel free to drop a comment over there if you want to contest this. [[User:Hawthorn|Hawthorn]] ([[User talk:Hawthorn|talk]]) 12:56, 13 May 2019 (UTC)
:Hi Hawthorbn. Thanks for alerting me. Did not follow the discussion page on Sad. I of course disagree. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 07:56, 14 May 2019 (UTC)

== 2196 ==
I mentioned this on DgbrtBOT's talk page, but I'm not sure Dgbrt saw it. Since you're an admin, could you help me with this?
# I uploaded the file, and it appeared in the page, but the link in the List of all comics page is still red. I think I messed up the upload, so could you delete the current file (the one I uploaded) for 2196 and reupload it?
# I created an incorrect redirect page [[Nice To E-Meet you]] (The name is incorrect, I forgot to capitalize the You). Could you please delete that page? Thanks!
[[User:Herobrine|Herobrine]] ([[User talk:Herobrine|talk]]) 00:52, 1 September 2019 (UTC)
:Hi Herobrine. No I'm not ad admin, just very active, and cannot do anything to delete pages. I can give it a look though cause I have created a few pages long time ago when the bot was not there/working. And yes seems like Dgbrt is not active at the moment. Lets see if it works again this Monday. As you can see [[User_talk:Dgbrt#DgbrtBOT_failed_2019-08-30|here]] I tried to write directly to him. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 18:38, 1 September 2019 (UTC)
::Can see you have created the page with [https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=Nice_To_E-Meet_You&redirect=no capital You] and I have now moved the image to a title with the hyphen in e-meet, which was missing in your original edit. So now [[List_of_all_comics]] works for the image as well. There are so many things which can go wrong, which is why we love out BOT. Hope it works tomorrow.--[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 18:46, 1 September 2019 (UTC)

== Category book promotion ==
Hi, you obviously know a thing or 2 about creating and adding categories, and like to do so :)
I feel like we could need a category about book promotion, with at least 3 comics related to how to and at least one to thing explainer (hoverboard, possibly also up goer five...), and myabe even others I can't remember right now. What do you think? --[[User:Lupo|Lupo]] ([[User talk:Lupo|talk]]) 14:31, 3 September 2019 (UTC)
:Maybe more a list of comics that promote books. Not comics that inspire books, so no to Up Goer Five. But it could get special mention with mention of the category in that explanation as well. But I think we need to find more than 4, five is kind of a limit. Maybe there where something for what if? But I do not think so... --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 14:37, 3 September 2019 (UTC)
::Looking at it again, we do have five :) [[Hoverboard]], [[2190: Serena Versus the Drones]], [[2198: Throw]], [[Disappearing Sunday Update]] and [[2194: How to Send a File]]
:::Well great. Do you have an idea for the category name? "Category:Book promotion" ??--[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 14:54, 3 September 2019 (UTC)
::::Sounds good to me! --[[User:Lupo|Lupo]] ([[User talk:Lupo|talk]]) 14:56, 3 September 2019 (UTC)
:::::Will you add that category to the comics? I can help create the page then. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 14:57, 3 September 2019 (UTC)
::::::Done --[[User:Lupo|Lupo]] ([[User talk:Lupo|talk]]) 06:07, 4 September 2019 (UTC)
:::::::[[:Category:Book promotion]] page created and found another comic that promotes a book Randall has been involved in! --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 13:40, 4 September 2019 (UTC)

== Broken Button ==
Hi Kynde, I've answered your question on my talk page. But I'll post it here just in case: I think you forgot to update [[Template:LATESTCOMIC]], so it would treat comic 2198 as 2197, hence breaking the button. [[User:Herobrine|Herobrine]] ([[User talk:Herobrine|talk]]) 22:55, 3 September 2019 (UTC)
:Thanks, DgbrtBOT has updatet it and now it works! --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 13:40, 4 September 2019 (UTC)

== Thanks ==

I see you went through a few of my recent edits, and corrected them / replied on them / acted on them. Thanks a lot. Also, now I learned from your edits how subcategories work. Thanks also for that. :) (But, please try not to change the word typo to lupo in common use. I don't think it would be an honour :) ) --[[User:Lupo|Lupo]] ([[User talk:Lupo|talk]]) 07:00, 11 October 2019 (UTC)
:I hope you could see the joke. Like when you fixed the fix? I also spotted you put a hidden joke . I will not make the same joke again. I guess it was also a kind of signature. I spotted that you where the most active last month. And was interested seeing what kind of edits. More or less I agreed with most... And cool with the spam fight. Do not use the same amount of time as I used to, but have been more active lately... Just became 2nd on all time activity list... Happy you both noticed and approved. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 17:09, 11 October 2019 (UTC)
::I could see the joke and I enjoyed it :) as I tend to make a lot of typos, it isn't even that far fetched to use my name instead ;). I usually visit the site a few times a day and start on the recent changes page, and check what has happened. That's also how I often quickly find the spam. The other thing I tend to do when I got some free time on my hands is use the "random page" button and find out if I can improve the place I get to. I also saw that you are progressing a lot in the all time list. Last month I even noticed you were in the monthly list at a score that would have put you in the all time top 50 on its own. Impressive! Have a good weekend. --[[User:Lupo|Lupo]] ([[User talk:Lupo|talk]]) 20:00, 11 October 2019 (UTC)
:::I'm also not native English speaker (Danish), and my grammar is probably horrible. Then it is great it is a wiki so others can fix that. I hope my additions are a plus. Have of course had rows with others, as can be seen above ;-) With some of the big one I think I have had months that would put me in top 20... (Not something I have checked). But with some of the comics where I added a lot of images, I will get a very high score as unique pages gives one point, and every picture uploaded is a new page. The amount of changes I have made puts me in nr. 1 spot, but that doesn't give much compared to number of pages visited. And please feel free to correct my typos. By the way I haven't even read all comics yet, since I have a hard time reading a new one without wishing to make corrections to transcript or explanations, so it takes some time every time I find a new. So between the first comic I saw when I found this page and then back from there there will be lots of comics I haven't even seen yet... Probably why you can find so many transcripts where caption below the panel has not been added (as it was I who began making this the way to write it). --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 22:46, 11 October 2019 (UTC)

== Category for Back to the Future ==

Hi, can you create a category for the film series ''Back to the Future''? To start, there is [[102: Back to the Future]], [[656: October 30th]], [[1477: Star Wars]], [[2104: Biff Tannen]], [[2193: Well-Ordering Principle]], and maybe others. Thanks, [[Special:Contributions/172.68.47.144|172.68.47.144]] 20:26, 31 October 2019 (UTC)
:Hi yes I can. And I did: [[:Category:Back to the Future]]. I added yours. Here is [https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=Special:Search&limit=50&offset=0&profile=default&search=%22Back+to+the+Future%22 a search string] that may help find more (for you to add). --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 14:31, 1 November 2019 (UTC)

== Deletion of small categories? ==

Hi Kynde! I posted this on the community portal, but it seems unresponsive, and since none of the admins have edited recently, you seem like the person to ask.
I count eight categories on explainxkcd that satisfy the following properties: 1. They have only three comics in them. 2. They aren't really a comic series; they just feature or reference a comic theme. 3. They aren't Featuring some person or character. In short, they seem to have no real reason to exist. (They're [[:Category:Spice_Girls|t]][[:Category:Wind_turbine|h]] e[[:Category:Ender%27s_Game|s]]eo[[:Category:FernGully|n]][[:Category:Giraffes|e]]s.) In addition, there are [[:Category:Sketches|t]][[:Category:BSD|h]][[:Category:Emacs|i]][[:Category:Identity_Theft|r]][[:Category:Katamari_Damacy|t]][[:Category:Super_Bowl|e]][[:Category:The_Matrix|e]][[:Category:Tournament_bracket|n]][[:Category:Traffic_light| ]][[:Category:Trebuchet|m]][[:Category:Wingsuit|o]][[:Category:Euler_diagrams|r]][[:Category:Pedantic|e]] four-comic categories that also satisfy these requirements. I know non-admins can't delete articles, but because of these articles' status, should I remove their contents and add them to [[:Category:Pages to delete]]? --[[User:Account|Account]] ([[User talk:Account|talk]]) 01:17, 12 November 2019 (UTC)
:Since I'm no admin just the most active over an extended period of time, I cannot really say what to do. Some of the categories I think has merit, I may even have created some of them. And there may be reason to expect more to come. But others I tend to agree. I think Randall has something with Giraffes and the Spice Girl spurt with three in short notice I think merits the categories. The other 6 with three I would not mind if they went away. But then there may need to be some links between those comics. Are you willing to make those? If you do then empty the categories, and put them as up for deletion. Most of those with four I would keep. I have NOT clicked on them all though, just read them here when I edited this response. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 14:56, 12 November 2019 (UTC)

== Category for Bees ==

Hi Kynde,

Can you add a category on bees, as a subcategory of [[:Category:Animals]]? I've found [[1259: Bee Orchid]], [[1186: Bumblebees]], [[2231: the Time Before And After Land]], [[2035: Dark Matter Candidates]], [[1692: Man Page]], and there are probably more. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.34.38|172.69.34.38]] 00:22, 22 November 2019 (UTC)
:Done [[:Category:Bees]]. Added your five comics. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 14:49, 22 November 2019 (UTC)

== New category - comics with store products ==

Hi Kynde, thanks for creating the new page for [[:Category:Comics with store products]]! (I was the one who added the comics to that category, but I didn't have permission to create a new page for the category itself, so I apologize for abandoning it like that.)

For the name of this category, I wanted to follow a similar pattern to existing category names such as "[[:Category:Comics from 2005]]" or "[[:Category:Comics with color]]". So for the name of this new category, I had considered some other more accurate names, such as "[[:Category:Comics upon which xkcd store products are based]]", or perhaps "[[:Category:Comics made into official merchandise]]"; but I felt that these new category names would be a bit too long, so I was trying to keep it more succinct than that. ...But now I realize that the current name I chose is not very clear, and might cause some confusion about what it's supposed to mean, so it was really a poor choice of words on my part. Do you have any ideas for a better name that we could use for this category? If so, please feel free to rename it, then I will go through all the comic pages where I added it, and update them to the new category.

On the other hand, in the edit-history of the [[:Category:Comics with store products]] page, I noticed in your comments that you felt it was maybe not a good idea for a category -- and I certainly understand that, so if you want to just remove this category completely, please feel free to do so, then I will go through and remove it from all the comics where I added it (so as not to leave any broken links behind).

Thanks for your help, and sorry for causing noob trouble!

- [[User:Yfmcpxpj|Yfmcpxpj]] ([[User talk:Yfmcpxpj|talk]]) 09:57, 24 November 2019 (UTC)
:Hi Yfmcpxpj
:First of all, the comment on my creation of the page, was because I did not understand the category. Store products.. I thought it was like with products bought in a type of store... First when I clicked on a few and saw your (?) comments that a t-shirt was based on this comic, did I understand the category. Think I wrote that in my next edit, where I linked to the store. After realizing that, I though it was a great category, although adding xkcd would probably help the understand-ability: "Category: Comics with xkcd store products"
:What do you say to that title?
:Regarding my ability to make pages, that is just because I have edited enough to get that right (I know I have edited more than any one else here...) But I'm actually not an admin, and I cannot delete pages. Sadly it seems the admins have left xkcd without replacements... So not one answers admin requests, and although I'm glad to help when I can, I do not have that many rights on the page.
:But true you may have asked for someone to create the page and also maybe ask for the title before creating it. I think I will be able to rename the page though, so if you can go through all the comics and correct the category there I would like to give it a try. (Do not do this before I have changed the name!)
:What do you say? And should I add the xkcd as suggested above?
:--[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 14:14, 24 November 2019 (UTC)

::Yes, I like your title better, "Comics with xkcd store products" -- I think it is much clearer. If you can rename the category, I will wait for that, then after it has been successfully renamed, I'll go through and update those comics to use the new one instead. And sorry to hear that the admins have been absent -- but it looks like you are doing a good job of keeping the site maintained, so thank-you for that! - [[User:Yfmcpxpj|Yfmcpxpj]] ([[User talk:Yfmcpxpj|talk]]) 08:58, 25 November 2019 (UTC)
:::I have now moved the category page. You can find the list of comics that now need to be moved [https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=Category:Comics_with_store_products&redirect=no here].
:::And the new empty category here [[:Category:Comics with xkcd store products]]. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 10:26, 25 November 2019 (UTC)

::::Thanks Kynde; I have moved the remaining comics into the new category. You mentioned that you don't have permissions to delete pages, so I wonder if the old page [[:Category:Comics with store products]] should be put into parent [[:Category:Pages to delete]] so maybe the admins will delete it? - [[User:Yfmcpxpj|Yfmcpxpj]] ([[User talk:Yfmcpxpj|talk]]) 08:15, 26 November 2019 (UTC)
:::::As the old Category redirects to the new one, I guess deletion is not necessary. --[[User:Lupo|Lupo]] ([[User talk:Lupo|talk]]) 08:31, 26 November 2019 (UTC)
::::::If no pages refers to the old category, and to avoid anyone putting comics in that category again, it would be nice to have it deleted. But I'm not sure anyone will do that at the moment. Davidy is long gone and DGBRT seems to be absent as well... I was once asked to be an admin but declined at the time ... Maybe that was a shame, but at least I still react when someone post on my page... But I'm not that active anymore, and have never looked much through the portal pages etc. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 13:49, 26 November 2019 (UTC)

== Banned from Conferences Category ==

Hi Kynde, you usually have a good feeling on how Categories should be described, etc. There was a (quite short) discussion on [[153: Cryptography]], to remove a portion of the explanation. Do you think that stuff belongs into [[:Category:Banned from conferences]]? Maybe you can chime into the "discussion" on 153. -- Regards [[User:Lupo|Lupo]] ([[User talk:Lupo|talk]]) 14:24, 5 December 2019 (UTC)

== Edit summaries ==
Please use {{w|Help:Edit_summary|edit summaries}}; they are especially important for pages like [[:xkcd Header text]] that are infrequently monitored but have a meta-importance. Thanks. [[User:JohnHawkinson|JohnHawkinson]] ([[User talk:JohnHawkinson|talk]]) 21:22, 16 July 2020 (UTC)
:I have more or less created the entire page from scratch. So I will not begin writing details every time I make a revision. But I use it for most other edits. I can see you care for BLM... Great, you probably know much more on this than I do. I made this page, to keep track of the header text, which was not explained on these pages. Sometimes it is relevant for a given comic, so great to have this place to write about it, and then link to it from the comics. The unfilled link was to help people wo may help editing this page, fill in when the header changed. I will do that now. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 17:37, 18 July 2020 (UTC)
::Kynde: I don't understand how your authorship of the page (from scratch or otherwise) has anything to do with whether you should be writing details of when you make a revision. But for sensitive topics, which BLM is, it is especially important for other editors to be able to carefully review changes. And when you make a large block of changes, like you did there on July 1, with 8 different edits, edit summaries are an extremely helpful tool for everyone else. So, again, the request is to please use an edit summary, ''especially'' when you are making multiple edits in a row, and ''especially'' on pages of meta-importance like [[:xkcd Header text]]. Of course, this is not Wikipedia, the rules here (such as they are) are relatively weak, and we all should coöperate. But if your answer is "I don't have to because I wrote the page first, years ago!" that doesn't make any sense at all. If your goal was to make sense, then I don't know how to respond. [[User:JohnHawkinson|JohnHawkinson]] ([[User talk:JohnHawkinson|talk]]) 17:50, 18 July 2020 (UTC)
:::Well I shall try to be more careful around sensitive subjects. You are one of the first other than me to have edited the page. And one of the few that have added a new section. I just changed it into the same format that I have used on all the others. And did a revision now, and sorry I forgot to write what it was out of bad habit. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 17:57, 18 July 2020 (UTC)
::::I think the change you just made was…not great. See [[:Talk:xkcd_Header_text#Recent_BLM_edits]] where I give my opinion. But it is probably better discussed there than on your personal page, but I wanted to highlight it for you. [[User:JohnHawkinson|JohnHawkinson]] ([[User talk:JohnHawkinson|talk]]) 18:04, 18 July 2020 (UTC)
:::::I have replied on the other talk page. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 09:28, 21 July 2020 (UTC)

== Nationality ==

What country are you from? [[User:Beanie|Beanie]] [[User talk:Beanie|talk]] 12:34, 14 July 2021 (UTC)
:Denmark. Why? --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 08:15, 15 July 2021 (UTC)

== Forgive this IP ==
I just made a handful of edits to recent changes that you had made (may not have been what you changed, in all cases; it might have just been pre-existing errors and Recent Changes just drew me to them). I hope it doesn't look personal, especially from an impersonal IP that you can't easily talk back to. So I'm mentioning it here to try to apologise if it does seem that way. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.159.85|162.158.159.85]] 18:57, 28 December 2021 (UTC)
:Hi. Thanks for telling. Since your IP will change I cannot see exactly which changes you made, but cheeked on my last changes and saw some CE and minor changes. Only thing I disagreed with (not sure it was you) was that the Launch comic should not have been released on the 24th. Which it was in most of the US if not all. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 14:01, 29 December 2021 (UTC)
::(Most of the changes occured under roughly the 172.70.… range, as I recall, though you can see the above switched to a whole different class-B - entirely due to the internediary's whim (Cloudflare?) without my changing anything. I'm sitting on a different connection now, so all bets are off what ''this'' will appear as. ;) )
::I have no argument with Randall posting on the 24th (his time) as the Bot got there soon enough to prove it. But of course the rest of us (mostly Europe and beyond) had a different experience. Still before the launch (whoever checked for themselves in time), which I think a couple of my edits were about. Really not huge issues, just minor fixes. You're good with those things, I know from experience, just a courtesy note (that and this). [[Special:Contributions/172.70.86.22|172.70.86.22]] 22:42, 29 December 2021 (UTC)
:::Maybe not you who posted. But as you can see your IP is not the same in these two posts, so I can only assume you are the same person, but cannot guess which of my edits you have changed and which someone else changed ;-) Do you have a name other than 162.158.159.85 or 172.70.86.22 ;-) Why not get an account? --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 09:29, 30 December 2021 (UTC)
::::I just can't think of a decent username. I tend to use different ones everwhere (and never my RL identity) and most of them were 'good ideas at the time' but when the inevitable "Why is your username what it is?" thread comes around it always seems my 'explanation' is laughable. All the above in this section (that isn't you) is me, BTW. Just added an indent layer I missed. I'm happy being (slightly unpredictably) changing IP, because I seek no credit (or blame!) for my 'insights' and my ego survives well enough on such fleeting moments of anonymous fame, I assure you. ;) And I don't mind when other IP-editors 'land' on/near what I just used, either, even if they're now completely wrong.
::::Not that I think Usernames are a bad thing in general for you and others (c.f. 4chan 'anon' culture...), I'm just happy that it's one less thing to worry about in my own case! [[Special:Contributions/172.70.85.73|172.70.85.73]] 15:04, 30 December 2021 (UTC)
:::::Well that is up to you. But then again it is hard to forgive an IP when I'm not sure what it has done or not. But as I could just see there where nothing needing forgiveness so we are good. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 13:15, 3 January 2022 (UTC)

== Do you get a healthy amount of sleep? ==
In recent days I see you editing very often and I just wanna make sure you get enough sleep because while you're doing amazing work, I am a bit concerned [[User:256.256.256.256|256.256.256.256]] ([[User talk:256.256.256.256|talk]]) 08:45, 6 January 2022 (UTC)
:Ha ha - thanks for both the concern and the praise. I'm from Denmark so if you look at the time stamp and think I should be sleeping, then maybe it is in the middle of the day here. I write this just before 10:00 AM here in DK. But actually I'm doing very little now compared to maybe five years ago. If you look at the [[Special:ContributionScores|ContributionScores]] at the bottom with the All time (Top 50), you will see that I'm number two. And if you look at number of changes I'm far ahead of number 2... So this is actually quite low level activity for me... --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 08:53, 6 January 2022 (UTC)

==[[Countdown in header text]] image ==
You mentioned you'd help uploading the countdown wiggle gif, so [https://tobot.dev/files/xkcd-countdown here]'s a link to all the image stuff of the countdown. (Specifically, [https://tobot.dev/files/xkcd-countdown/full_animation.gif full_animation.gif] and [https://tobot.dev/files/xkcd-countdown/Countdown%20in%20header%20text%20Wiggling.gif Countdown in header text Wiggling.gif]).
Optionally [https://tobot.dev/files/xkcd-countdown.zip zipped], for easier archival. [[User:Toby|Toby]] ([[User talk:Toby|talk]]) 20:03, 31 January 2022 (UTC)
:Great thanks Toby. Will try to make it work. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 20:15, 31 January 2022 (UTC)
::It worked and I have replied on your new talk page and created your own page, in case you still could not. Feel free to change that now. Very happy with your work, both of the files. Thanks!!! --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 20:28, 31 January 2022 (UTC)

== Purely to improve your knowledge of English ==

https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/spacecrafts#English

i.e., as with vehicular "craft" in general (including aircraft, hovercraft, etc), the -s pluralisation is allowable but not considered standard. An oddity of the terminology that I don't actually know the reason for. I'm wondering could it be from our nautical heritage where singular craft were the rarity (a simpler version of how [https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/aderyn sometimes the singular can be considered rarer than the plural]? Yet ships/vessels/etc don't succumb to that usage. Even if sheep and fish do! Anyway, while spacecraft are preferred, spaceships are indeed the synonymous alternative. IYSWIM...

Crafts, as in skillfully created works, ''are'' the plurals exactly as you'd initially expect. Woodcrafts, metalcrafts, etc. So I suppose those people who are shipcrafters might therefore craft many crafted craft, thanks to the various crafts they know, and then exhibit their crafts at a craft-fair. ((i.e "Boatwrights might construct many well-made (model?) ships, thanks to their skills, then show their creations at an exhibition of bespoke manufacturing.")) Crafty, eh?

Sorry, I seem to have gone overboard with the explanation. Throw me that lifebelt, please? ;) [[Special:Contributions/172.70.85.73|172.70.85.73]] 10:40, 10 February 2022 (UTC)
:Hi. Thanks. I'm not sure it will help, I'm not very good at spelling, even in my own language. But maybe I will remember this. I do not mind other people copy editing my posts. My idea is that if I write something useful other will make it better, and correct the errors. But if I do not write it, then it may be left out of an explanation. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 16:54, 13 February 2022 (UTC)

== THANK YOU!!! ==
Kynde - I have only just discovered this beautiful Explain XKCD wiki and am in awe - I saw that you have been a huge contribuotr for years and just wanted to say Thank You to you and team for this beautiful legacy of work! With it XKCD can be that much more of a portal into all the different directions Randall’s comics touch on and drift near.

I’ve been behind the scenes in wikipedia for years (so often painful) and love connecting with anyone else who is doing meaningful wiki work. I’m just stopping by here today on my way to *important deadlines* but intend to be back. Just set up my Explain editor account. Pop me a talk page note? Happy to plug in! [[User:DrMel|DrMel]] ([[User talk:DrMel|talk]]) 19:53, 20 March 2022 (UTC)

(Ps looks like I am not getting through the email validation steps - no email confirmation has yet made it to my email. I’ll check back later. On wikipedia I’m https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:DrMel

(pps - email validated! But i still dont have permission to setup my user page… so this time i really am going back to the Save-The-World work i am supposed to be doing!)
:Hi [[User:DrMel|DrMel]]. Wow, thanks a lot. Yes I have been very active on this page. I'm not one of the admins though, and sadly it seems this page is without any active admins, and that it has been so for a while. I guess I'm the best option right now. I have created your user page and talk page, so now you can work on the user page. Welcome to explain xkcd. If you have any questions regarding format or other things feel free to ask. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 07:38, 21 March 2022 (UTC)

== Nomination ==
I know you maybe don't want it, but see [[explain_xkcd:Community_portal/Coordination#New_admins]] '''[[User:Davidy22|{{Color|#707|David}}y²²]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 02:08, 8 May 2022 (UTC)
:I have answered there and accepted the nomination. It is an honor. Hope I can live up to it. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 12:16, 10 May 2022 (UTC)
::Finally got the promotion from Jeff. Thanks. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 14:30, 23 May 2022 (UTC)

== Block User:Donald Trump ==

Can you block [[User:Donald Trump]]? He is another spambot, like the others recently: [[Special:Contributions/Donald_Trump]]. Thanks, [[User:Natg19|Natg19]] ([[User talk:Natg19|talk]]) 17:48, 26 May 2022 (UTC)
:Done--[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 19:28, 26 May 2022 (UTC)

== you blocked a mobile phone (T-mobile) IP ==

You blocked “162.158.107.124”. The problem is, that’s a T-mobile IP that goes to whomever happens to get it. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.211.36|172.70.211.36]] 19:11, 26 May 2022 (UTC)
:Yes Im new to being administrator so sorry I messed that up. But think I [https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/Special:Contributions/162.158.107.124 managed to undo it]? --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 19:33, 26 May 2022 (UTC)

== Regarding your latest IP block ==

See [https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=User_talk:While_False&oldid=286101#Concision_and_clarity my note on this latest thing] that it seems like you were reacting to.
 In general, I don't think IP-blocking is very useful (false-positives get hit and false-negatives get round it, depending upon the vagueries of everything, and as an IP myself this is close to the bone for me) but there's potentially something going on. I don't know if you get to see what ''doesn't'' happen because of a block, though. Tricky one to get your head round. But thought I'd clue you in on what I'm thinking. Completely your decision on how you take it.
 Keep up the good work, BTW! [[Special:Contributions/162.158.159.15|162.158.159.15]] 12:59, 3 June 2022 (UTC)
:Just to add that [https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=957:_Development&curid=4423&diff=286104&oldid=283524 this change] follows the trend I mentioned (type of edit + history of its apparent IP), and now undone. Not to overly pester you with this (better the Community Portal for that), just FYI. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.11|141.101.98.11]] 17:05, 3 June 2022 (UTC)
::I only block them for a week or 3 days, just to stop current spam, and thanks for the praise --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 13:02, 5 June 2022 (UTC)

== Sparing use of Talk-page section headers ==

Note that I added a ;-title (not an individually editable section's title), albeit first mis-tapping in the :-indenter instead by accident, but maybe you were a bit overzealous squishing out the ==editable== section-headers (the existing one and my own once someone had helpfully 'upgraded' it) in the latest discussion.

The advice given on the main-page, as part of the discussion-inclusion templating, is that new sections should be used ''sparingly'', not that they are not to be used. If anything, I was wrong to use a ;-title (to logically separate my contribution from the headered bit I was following), perhaps I should have inserted as a normal running comment above the newly broken-out section.

Not complaining, but just positing the view that it seemed a bit draconic of an intervention. Livable-with, having been done, but not sure it was strictly necessary.

(Would be handy to add across the "Add to the bottom (etc)" HTML-comment to the top of the page, from a BOT-created new-discussion-page, though I suppose I could do that. Maybe I will. Yes, I think I will. You could also maybe check the circumstances why a normal user had needed to do theusafBOT's work for it... I'm sure it's more that theusaf's script is just temporarily offline, or slow to react, rather than having gone the way of dgbrtBOT/whatever...) [[Special:Contributions/172.70.85.177|172.70.85.177]] 13:49, 14 June 2022 (UTC)
:I think there is now use for headings in comment section. And in some cases the explanations have a TOC and then the headings of the talk page would come into this because we include talk page on the explanation page. Also it becomes confusing when others add different comments below, as they then seems to belong to the headered section. Thus best leave them out, unless something very special. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 05:55, 15 June 2022 (UTC)

== Table of tips? ==
Why put the table in a section on [[2649]]? It breaks the convention of discussing the comic before discussing the title text. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.210.145|172.70.210.145]] 07:11, 25 July 2022 (UTC)
:No this has been done whenever there is a table. The comic should be explained first, but if lots of info needs to be added in order to understand the full details of the comic, then the title text is usually explained after the first short explanation. And then the larger explanation is delegated to a sub section, just as I have done here. It is because you may not wish to dwell into all these details, they are not needed to understand the overall joke, but you might like to see the title text explained, and then this should not be hidden deep down. Also there is a link from the explanation to the table, so you can easily go there to read the main explanation for each tip.--[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 07:32, 25 July 2022 (UTC)
::Well it's no big deal; I don't have strong feelings about it, but I haven't been here very long, and noticed that [[2636]], [[2638]], and [[2639]] all have tables following the sequence of the comics instead of in a section at the end. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.211.88|172.70.211.88]] 08:39, 25 July 2022 (UTC)
:::Yes that must also be said to be new comics, and not those that have been here long time ;-) All of them came out after my holiday began this summer, and I have not had time to go through those comics yet. But thanks I will fix it. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 12:21, 25 July 2022 (UTC)
::::Fixed those three and also completed two of the transcripts. Thanks for pointing the discrepancy out. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 14:02, 25 July 2022 (UTC)

How do you feel about [[2606]]? [[Special:Contributions/172.71.150.173|172.71.150.173]] 08:32, 27 July 2022 (UTC)
:Since the title text is just another symbol, it seems fine to have it in the table. But actually there may be a reason to explain that joke as well in the main explanation. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 11:35, 27 July 2022 (UTC)
::But after updating the explanation I ended up moving the table to a section and moving any other explanation above. Including a mention of the title text. Is this the same person that started this thread that asked about 2606? --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 11:56, 27 July 2022 (UTC)
:::No, I'm [https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=2207:_Math_Work&diff=291019&oldid=282989 this guy.] [[Special:Contributions/172.70.211.88|172.70.211.88]] 15:52, 28 July 2022 (UTC)
::::Hello, That Guy. (BTW, I'm also none of the above conversationalists, Kynde...) That change you linked... I just reverted it. It was fixed (devandalised) already in a state that was after the removal of the Incomplete tag and I couldn't work out ''why'' you considered it needing reverting. Yes, a lot of restored stuff (now unrestored), but I couldn't quite work out which (pre-vandalism) version you even reverted to, and surely there were various useful culling edits ("no, we don't need to say that, it's irrelevent", etc) that you were negating.
:::::Or at least that was my almost knee-jerk response (almost, because I went back through the crapcrapcrap stuff and beyond trying to find where you were coming from, so I spent some time on thinking about it before I did it).
::::I offer it up to review by the wider community, or hack to yourself (or give Kynde a shot, if they aren't busy). Maybe some old bits could be reintegrated, but I couldn't see which on a semi-cursory glance. So, given you have provided a handle on you,vexpanding upon the woefully short edit-summary space, to more fully explain any confusion (of mine, or yours, or just in general). Ok? [[Special:Contributions/172.70.91.128|172.70.91.128]] 16:43, 28 July 2022 (UTC)

President

2022-07-27T13:04:55Z

172.70.162.155: Undo revision 290908 by GidgetW10391 (talk) Undo more markovian spam. (Not to admins to deal with the 'user' account, just in case...)

#REDIRECT [[1370: President]]

Talk:2648: Chemicals

2022-07-21T10:33:09Z

172.70.162.155:

I think the site itself is hijacked, since the edits don't show properly.[[Special:Contributions/162.158.48.127|162.158.48.127]] 06:07, 21 July 2022 (UTC)

Does anyone know the significance of nitrobenzen, the compound indicated? Per Wikipedia " The production of nitrobenzene is one of the most dangerous processes conducted in the chemical industry because of the exothermicity of the reaction (ΔH = −117 kJ/mol)" but I wonder if there's something else too.
[[Special:Contributions/108.162.237.221|108.162.237.221]] 20:07, 20 July 2022 (UTC)
: It's almost certainly the exothermic (read: potentially explosive) reaction that he's going for. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.110.207|172.70.110.207]] 20:11, 20 July 2022 (UTC)

: It is also the formula of Niacin, one of the B vitamins (same atoms, different arrangement) Possibly this is the point: the molecular formula is ambiguous, there are several well-known chemicals with this formula, with very different properties [[User:Zeimusu|Zeimusu]] ([[User talk:Zeimusu|talk]]) 20:58, 20 July 2022 (UTC)

I wouldn't know which way to put this, but "make your own molecules" could be parodying the "build your own PC from bits", "compile your own OS distro", "actually cook food from raw ingredients, not packets" or various other supply/consumer things that some people (those who know enough about what they're doing) will actually do, many people (who don't care to know) won't even consider and some (with a little bit of knowledge, but not actually enough) might find the revelation that they ''could'' do some things themselves far more compelling than the valid question of whether they ''should'' just leap in and try to do it (making all kinds of mistakes/reinventing various wheels along the way) without further research. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.99.32|141.101.99.32]] 21:14, 20 July 2022 (UTC)
:There are also a lot of make-your-own-film-developer nerds, which is a little bit closer in that you're using household items to try to recreate the reactions created by otherwise expensive chemicals. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.130.217|172.70.130.217]] 22:37, 20 July 2022 (UTC)
::I never even heard of those. I used to live in a household where there was darkroom equipment, even, so know a little of the process of doing that (more so than academic chemistry lessons) but I'd shy away from trying to substitute like that. If it's a thing, then might be worth linking (when and by who it can be). [[Special:Contributions/172.70.162.155|172.70.162.155]] 10:33, 21 July 2022 (UTC)

It would appear we have a vandal on the loose again. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.110.135|172.70.110.135]] 22:42, 20 July 2022 (UTC)

: How exactly do we block these people? [[Special:Contributions/108.162.246.196|108.162.246.196]] 04:05, 21 July 2022 (UTC)

:: Maybe the an option is to find out which Reddit forum they're launching from and get it banned from Reddit. They'll do that if the forum is brigading too much [[Special:Contributions/172.70.130.91|172.70.130.91]]

::: i'm pretty sure the vandals are calling ''us'' redditors and they don't use reddit themselves --[[Special:Contributions/172.69.69.66|172.69.69.66]] 06:58, 21 July 2022 (UTC)

:::: It seems to be typical 4chan terminology. Someone who spent some time being influenced there, or maybe one step removed in their own little chan-wannabe dark cave sitting in some other area of the twilight internet taking most of their prompts from the 'real rebels' who are probably just egging them on for their own meta-amusement, but that the stooge(s) would know it. And the repetitious interleving of vandalism modes employed (which are fairly discernible as different until you find the same source has done two or more of the things at once, unifying their identity) indicate a singular whim, if not a singular actor to perform them, who gradually has added new variations to the repertoir of damage to try to be 'clever'. If anything, it just shows how limited they are. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.162.155|172.70.162.155]] 10:33, 21 July 2022 (UTC)

: Request for the wiki: require special permissions to post an image that isn't from xkcd.com, and auto-ban any IP that spams racial slurs. [[User:Thecat|Thecat]] ([[User talk:Thecat|talk]]) 04:48, 21 July 2022 (UTC)

WHAT HAPPENED?!

: undo wasn't working apparently so someone undid the vandalism by blanking the page entirely instead of just manually opening an earlier version and restoring the source from there? i don't get it either --[[Special:Contributions/172.69.69.66|172.69.69.66]] 06:58, 21 July 2022 (UTC)

:: It's 2 AM and 110 where I live, and most of my computer usage is accounting software. I'm not very smart at wiki stuff. Sorry [[Special:Contributions/172.70.130.217|172.70.130.217]] 07:05, 21 July 2022 (UTC)

<s>I wonder if we should mention the economic difference between small quantities of chemicals typically used in laboratory experiments compared to bulk quantities for industrial manufacturing. The latter often ''is'' cost-effective to do in-house, and the current version of the explanation doesn't make that clear at all. We have no idea if Megan and Cueball work in a lab or a factory! [[Special:Contributions/172.69.33.229|172.69.33.229]] 00:37, 21 July 2022 (UTC)</s> Resolved. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.210.233|172.70.210.233]] 00:44, 21 July 2022 (UTC)

https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/Special:Contributions/108.162.246.196 Seems to be the vandal's IP for doing more than just clicking the undo button, as it also vandalized a few talk pages. Almost everything that looks like typing it wasn't fully automated came from that IP[[Special:Contributions/172.70.178.103|172.70.178.103]] 07:41, 21 July 2022 (UTC)
:Not sure it will make any difference but I blocked the IP for three days. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 08:08, 21 July 2022 (UTC)

I have semi protected this page for one day. Have not so much knowledge about how it worked. But set up so only auto confirmed users can edit this page. This was requested in the admin portal... --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 08:07, 21 July 2022 (UTC)

;Edit request
:The link that says, "more than a hundred compounds and ions" should be, "hundreds of compounds" -- that was my fault because I got the original URL wrong; thanks to whomever fixed it. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.33.177|172.69.33.177]] 08:39, 21 July 2022 (UTC)

I wonder if this could be referencing the video game Spacechem? The premise is exactly this, of chemical engineering using individual atoms to form desired chemicals, and it's the type of nerdy game Randall might enjoy - or at least have heard of. -- [[Special:Contributions/162.158.162.113|162.158.162.113]] 09:54, 21 July 2022 (UTC)

2646: Minkowski Space

2022-07-18T11:49:03Z

172.70.162.155: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 2646
| date = July 15, 2022
| title = Minkowski Space
| image = minkowski_space.png
| titletext = My liege, we were able to follow the ship into Minkowski space, but now they've jumped to Hilbert space and they could honestly be anywhere.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by A RELATIVISTIC QUANTUM STATE - Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

In science fiction, {{w|faster than light travel}}, an impossibility in our universe, is often portrayed by having spaceships enter (or "jump") into some different realm, termed "hyperspace" or similar {{w|technobabble}}, where superluminal travel can occur prior returning to the ordinary universe. In this comic, a spaceship is being chased by an enemy ship. The crew attempt to escape by jumping into {{w|Minkowski space}} which is actually just conventional 3-D space together with time combined into a mathematical object called a {{w|manifold}} used in {{w|special relativity}}. Because Minkowski space is merely a representation of real physical {{w|spacetime}}, "jumping" into it is meaningless and offers no benefit for escaping pursuit, providing the humor of the comic's absurdist joke.

The visual depiction of the spaceships skewed diagonally is based on the graphical {{w|Minkowski diagram}} representation of objects in Minkowski space, where the {{w|world line}} of matter is bounded inside its diagonal {{w|light cone}}.

The mention of distance depending on the observer's frame of reference refers to distances changing when measured in different {{w|inertial frame of reference|inertial frames of reference}}, a concept called the {{w|relativity of simultaneity}}. Here are [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=asW78vToNLQ some videos] intended [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xrqj88zQZJg to explain] that concept. The skewing depicted changes the distance between the spaceships in such a way that the tip of the pursuer comes closer to the pursued spaceship, but their centers move further apart. So the question of whether they have come closer is indeterminate for the reader of the comic.

The title text is a status report from someone in the pursuing spaceship to their leader (whom they call "my {{w|Homage (feudal)|liege}}."): following the spaceship to Minkowski space was not a problem, implying (as with fictional hyperspace examples) that they also chose to shift themselves into this other form of perspective. But the pursued ship subsequently jumped to Hilbert space and could now be anywhere. Hiding in {{w|Hilbert space}} is much easier because Hilbert spaces (of which there are many very different varieties, unlike Minkowski space) can have an infinite number of dimensions, and are thus much more complicated than four-dimensional Minkowski spacetime. However, Hilbert space is a mathematical construct used to describe objects such as functions of various parameters and complexity, not physical spatiotemporal reality, so it would be very unusual for a physical object to be represented in Hilbert space. Quantum states can be represented as vectors in Hilbert spaces, so it might relate to the {{w|uncertainty principle}} concerning how the escaped spaceship could be anywhere.

As in the [[2577:_Sea_Chase|Sea Chase]] comic, there was also more than one type of space to jump to here.

==Transcript==
:[A spaceship is being pursued by another spaceship. Both ships have a black part in the front representing a window. They are the same size but different designs. The pursued spaceship to the right has two engines below and a big engine behind. The pursuing spaceship to the left has a V-shaped rear end, and what seems like two weapons on either side pointing forward. At least two persons inside the pursued spaceship are talking to each other, and their text comes out from two starburst on top and bottom of the spaceship.]
:Voice 1: The enemy ship is right behind us!
:Voice 2: Prepare to jump to Minkowski space on my mark.

:[Same setting, with star burst above only. The sound coming from the pursued spaceship is written inside a burst of small lines below the spaceship. Voice 2, by context, is the same as in panel 1.]
:Voice 2: Three... two... one... ''mark!''
:Click

:[Both spaceship are tilted upwards and becomes distorted so they become longer and thinner.]

:[The tilting increases and the distortion is now so pronounced that the spaceships are almost unrecognizable, almost just lines with structure. The distance between the tip of the pursuing spaceship and the pursued becomes shorter in the last two panels, but the distance between their center parts becomes larger. Up to three distinct voices are shown, here, which may include those seen in Panel 1 but with no clear relation.]
:Voice 3: Are they still getting closer?
:Voice 4: I can't tell.
:Voice 5: I think it depends on your frame of reference.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Space]]
[[Category:Math]]
[[Category:Physics]]

2645: The Best Camera

2022-07-18T11:45:43Z

172.70.162.155: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 2645
| date = July 13, 2022
| title = The Best Camera
| image = the_best_camera.png
| titletext = The best camera is the one at L2.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by a SET OF HOLOGRAPHIC OPTICAL FILTERS - Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

[https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6921300-the-best-camera-is-the-one-that-s-with-you ''The Best Camera Is The One That's With You''] is a book by photographer {{w|Chase Jarvis}}, celebrating mobile phone cameras, not for their technical quality, but rather for the fact that people usually [[1235|have them when interesting subjects appear]]. This advice is often given to novice photographers; sometimes phrased as, "The best camera is the one you use most." A cheap camera is better than an expensive professional camera if it is more often with the photographer, for example if it is light-weight enough to be carried on hiking trips. A fancy expensive camera that isn't available to use is of no value for taking pictures.

In this case, however, "the best camera" refers to the {{w|James Webb Space Telescope}} (JWST), the spacecraft depicted in the third panel, which cost $10 billion—[https://screenrant.com/james-webb-space-telescope-cost-how-much/ $9.5 billion over budget]—and was [[2014: JWST Delays|fifteen years late]]. It can be considered a camera because it takes pictures, and it's the best {{w|space telescope}} to date in terms of {{w|aperture}} size and thus {{w|angular resolution}}.[https://astronomy.stackexchange.com/questions/26373/relation-between-angular-resolution-and-aperture] The first pictures taken by the telescope were released on 11-12 July 2022, a few days before this comic was published.[https://www.nasa.gov/webbfirstimages] The pictures from JWST show objects as they were [https://webbtelescope.org/contents/media/images/2022/035/01G7HRYVGM1TKW556NVJ1BHPDZ as much as 13.1 billion years ago,] which is unprecedented by space telescopes, although {{w|HD1 (galaxy)|further objects}} have been identified by terrestrial telescopes. The telescope has [https://www.stsci.edu/jwst/instrumentation three instruments that can act as "cameras" for imaging,] a fourth {{w|optical spectrometer|spectrometer}} instrument, and many dozens of {{w|optical filter}}s. Because the telescope can only take infrared photographs invisible to the human eye, [https://jwst-docs.stsci.edu/files/97978094/97978104/1/1596073152120/NIRCam_filters_modules.png each of the filters has been assigned a standardized visible color] to convert images for viewing. However, astronomers are encouraged to use [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-dmiS_6YrGU&t=449s other color schemes] when observing a limited portion of the filters' range or rendering {{w|interferometry}},[https://jwst-docs.stsci.edu/jwst-near-infrared-imager-and-slitless-spectrograph/niriss-observing-modes/niriss-aperture-masking-interferometry][https://jwst-docs.stsci.edu/jwst-near-infrared-camera/nircam-observing-modes/nircam-coronagraphic-imaging][https://jwst-docs.stsci.edu/jwst-mid-infrared-instrument/miri-observing-modes/miri-coronagraphic-imaging] and to [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sNJR3lenz1I&t=293s convert very distant objects to their original color] from {{w|redshift}}ed infrared when possible. The capabilities of the JWST are likely to soon answer many difficult astronomical, astrophysical, and [[2643: Cosmologist Gift|cosmological]] questions that had been previously undecidable, including important questions about the {{w|biosignature}}s of {{w|exoplanet}}s.

The title text references {{w|Lagrange Point|Lagrange Point 2}} (L2). The Lagrange Points are five locations corresponding to stationary regions of the {{w|restricted three-body problem}}, in which one of the bodies is much less massive than the other two. A low-mass body in one of those five locations will remain roughly stationary relative to the other two bodies with very little fuel needed for trajectory corrections. In this case, the JWST orbits around the L2 point of the Earth-Sun system with a period of about 6 months, [https://space.stackexchange.com/a/57378 rather than being stationed exactly at it,] to avoid shadows from the Earth and Moon that would cause harmful temperature and power variations.[https://ntrs.nasa.gov/citations/20190028885] Thus it avoids the problem with the {{w|Hubble Space Telescope}} caused by orbiting the Earth, allowing only a short observation window per orbit, with only about 55 minutes of each of its 95 minute orbits usable for observations not sufficiently above or below its orbital plane.

==Transcript==
:[Each panel features an image of space, with text printed in white at the top of each panel. The first panel only shows white dots representing stars, but with not much details to any of them. The text:]
:They say the best camera is the one you have with you.

:[The second panel shows more stars and now some galaxies are clearly visible with galaxy shapes. There is also one very bright star in the lower part. The text:]
:It turns out

:[The third panel is showing even more stars and galaxies with even more details to the galaxies, especially one large spiral galaxy in the upper right part. At the center of the panel is an outline drawing in white of the James Webb Space Telescope, seen from above the sun-shield so the telescope's hexagonal mirror segments and the arm in front of it are clearly visible. Also the shield's layers are drawn. The text:]
:They're wrong.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics with inverted brightness]]
[[Category:Photography]]
[[Category:Astronomy]]
[[Category:Telescopes]]
[[Category:Space probes]]

No One Was Hurt

2022-07-18T11:26:39Z

172.70.162.155: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| date = July 6, 2022
| title = No One Was Hurt
| image = no_one_was_hurt.png
| titletext = See how the smoke obscures things so you don't see the approaching tornado until the firework streamers start to swirl right before the lightning hits the launcher. Thank God Cousin Ed was filming in slow motion. And, uh, that no one was hurt.
| lappend = 404
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by a FIREWORK TORNADO - Please put citations into context better. Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
This comic was originally uploaded normally on the [[xkcd]] website as number [[2642]], before being taken down and replaced by [[2642: Meta-Alternating Current]]. This was most likely done in response to the wave of shootings across the country during the celebrations, including {{w|Highland_Park_parade_shooting|a deadly mass shooting at the parade in Highland Park, Illinois}} which was recorded on video where people were injured and killed. So, a comic about 4th of July celebrations where someone could have been hurt can be seen as in bad taste.

[[Ponytail]] is about to show [[Cueball]] and [[Megan]] a video of a dramatic accident from a {{w|4th of July}} celebration with {{w|fireworks}}, in which nobody ended up harmed. Randall suggests that being told nobody got hurt implies such a video will be particularly interesting or exciting. This is because if the disclaimer is needed, it implies that there was a certain degree of peril created by the events in the video, and this would typically create excitement for the viewer. Here is [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y5QBiZIxWbA&ab_channel=BYUUniverse an example video] in which probably no one was hurt.

The title text describes a particularly dramatic fireworks show interrupted by a tornado and thunderstorm, the joke being that the speaker seems more appreciative that it was recorded in slow-motion video than that nobody was harmed.

=== Citations ===

The Wikipedia article {{w|Mass shootings in the United States|"Mass shootings in the United States"|m|}} lists mass shootings in the USA, {{w|List_of_mass_shootings_in_the_United_States_in_2022|"List of mass shootings in the United States in 2022"}} more thoroughly lists those that happened in 2022, {{w|Highland Park parade shooting|"Highland Park parade shooting"}} details the specific shooting in Illinois, and {{w|Mass shootings in the United States|"Mass shootings in the United States"}} discusses US mass shootings instead of just listing them. The [https://www.gunviolencearchive.org/reports/mass-shooting Gun Violence Archive] website tracks mass shootings in the USA.

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
:[Ponytail is showing her phone to Cueball and Megan.]

:Ponytail: Okay, first of all, no one was hurt...

:Caption: How you know you're about to see a really good 4th of July video

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Deleted comics]]
[[Category:Extra comics]]

Talk:2646: Minkowski Space

2022-07-16T12:51:32Z

172.70.162.155:

I still don't get it. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.33.163|172.69.33.163]] 03:06, 16 July 2022 (UTC)
: It's definitely not in the top ten all-time funniest ever, but there are probably more than a few academic physicists it got a grin out of. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.210.233|172.70.210.233]] 03:38, 16 July 2022 (UTC)
:: It's been a long time since I had any sort of dealing with Minkowski diagrams, but it definitely got me chuckling... I suppose you just have to appreciate Randall's particular slant. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.86.10|172.70.86.10]] 04:45, 16 July 2022 (UTC)

I don't think checking in to Hilbert's Hotel provides any comfort at all. After all you are required to pack up your belongings and move to a new room a possibly infinite number of times, thus leaving you no chance to get any sleep. [[User:MAP|MAP]] ([[User talk:MAP|talk]]) 05:46, 16 July 2022 (UTC)
:I agree, and removed "The fugitives of the first ship may enjoy a more comfortable getaway if they check into {{w|Hilbert's paradox of the Grand Hotel|Hilbert's Hotel}}." because the hotel paradox has nothing to do with Hilbert space or anything else in the comic. I also think the subsection should be removed as misleading, but I'm waiting on someone to perhaps proofread it as maybe it's just poorly drafted. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.210.233|172.70.210.233]] 06:06, 16 July 2022 (UTC)
::If the pursuer knows what the prefered "move and insert" algorithm is (and 'arrival number(s)' used in that), then they can go ''immediately'' to the pursued's room, without bothering to book in themselves. So maybe that's a danger. But I'd rather be in a hotel room (that is an unknown one amongst a countably infinite whole) than in a quite obvious maybe-reachable tin can in the openness of space.
::(And any given insertion of new residents needs only a single move at a time, no matter how many nested infinities of arrivals/transports/etc. So moving every now and then isn't so onerous, so long as housekeeping has an infinite number of staff to clean and prepare each new room each time, which they probably can with evenly distributed live-in staff alone.)
::That said, it seems to be more the ubiquity of Hilbert in mathematical constructs than a direct link, him seemingly having an infinite number of fingers in an infinite number of infinite-pies. Probably no loss. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.159.137|162.158.159.137]] 12:14, 16 July 2022 (UTC)

On position alone, "Closer?" could be Voice 1, "Reference" is Voice 2 (both from the cockpit) and "Tell" a new voice (from further behind, passenger/engineer?). Which matches (and adds to) the original dialogue, with Voice 2 being the experienced captain reacting to the more worried copilot/operator next to him, etc. Except that Voice 2 says "On my mark" but then their presumed "Mark" emits elsewhere (to leave room for the actual click, which I'd expect Voice 1 to make). I have sympathy with Randall, if he actually wanted to put this story down in accurate visuals and yet ''positionally'' keep to conventions (having a top-down reading experience) he'd need to either wrap speech-lines around the nose of the craft or (...might need some intermediate frame showing some 'acrobatic' drawing...) have the evading craft flip inverted for the current second frame. Could get more complex than 'necessary', just to leave us with less of a voice-ID mystery where it probably matters very little in the long run. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.162.155|172.70.162.155]] 12:51, 16 July 2022 (UTC)

636: Brontosaurus

2022-07-13T11:06:36Z

172.70.162.155: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 636
| date = September 14, 2009
| title = Brontosaurus
| image = brontosaurus.png
| titletext = Well, sex is like a velociraptor: despite your movie-fueled lifelong neurotic obsession, unlikely to be found in your house.
}}

==Explanation==
[[Megan]] describes her relationship to [[Cueball]] with the simile "our love is like a turtle," a comparison often made when referring to a shy and slowly developing yet steady sort of romance. However, Cueball thinks that the ''{{w|Brontosaurus}}'' is a better comparison. His explanation refers to the fact that remains of a certain [[wikipedia:Apatosaurinae|apatosaurine]] were initially named ''{{w|Brontosaurus excelsus}}'' by the paleontologist {{w|Othniel Charles Marsh|O.C. Marsh}} in 1879. This species was later determined in 1903 to be in the same {{w|genus}} as ''{{w|Apatosaurus ajax}}'', which Marsh had named two years before ''B. excelsus'': the older genus name is preferred according to convention (making the preferred binomial ''Apatosaurus excelsus''). The term ''Brontosaurus'' therefore became a scientific redundancy (a so-called junior synonym), and had this status at the time of this comic's release. Due to the correct skull for an apatosaurine not being confirmed [http://static.peerj.com/press/previews/2015/04/857_infographic_no_text.pdf until 1978], the term "brontosaurus" had in the meantime become popularly associated with an apatosaurine depicted with a speculative ''{{w|Camarasaurus}}''-like head, hence the "mistaken combination" mentioned in the comic.

Applied to the scenario in the comic, Cueball apparently considers the relationship without any emotional foundation and only continues it out of nostalgic motives. This conclusion counteracts the initial romantic tone adopted by the turtle simile, as comparing a romance with a falsely classified fossil is one of the least charming statements imaginable. {{Citation needed}}

The title text aims at [[Randall|Randall's]] well-known enthusiasm for ''{{w|Velociraptors}}''. Megan retorts by comparing any future sex between the two of them to be as likely as finding a ''Velociraptor'' in his house. This is a common trope in modern relationships where the assumption is that it is the man who wants sex, and the woman will withhold it as a form of punishment, usually in response to her emotional needs (which, stereotypically, takes the same importance to the woman as sex does for the man) being denied by the man (in this case, she initiated a romantic conversation, hoping for him to reciprocate, and yet he took the opportunity to do the opposite). The insult has a second barb: painting Cueball as being obsessed with movies involving ''Velociraptor''s. It may also hint at his having a collection of pornography, but not ''necessarily'' anything that caters to both obsessions at once.

Randall has previously mentioned the ''Brontosaurus'' name change in [[460: Paleontology]]. The ''Apatosaurus'' also appears in [[15: Just Alerting You]] and [[650: Nowhere]].

===Updates===
However the status of "Brontosaurus" remains under discussion, with a [http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/the-brontosaurus-is-back1/ 2015 study of diplodocids] reporting that the more gracile fossils should be classified in a separate genus. This would re-divide the apatosaurines between the ''Brontosaurus'' and ''Apatosaurus'' genera.

==Transcript==
:[Cueball and Megan are sitting at a bench. Megan is holding a turtle.]
:Megan: Our love is like a turtle.

:[Megan sets down the turtle and turns to Cueball. They hold hands.]
:Megan: Humble and simple, enduring by virtue of perfect design.

:Cueball: Our love is like a brontosaurus.

:Cueball: Recognized as a mistaken combination long ago, lingering only out of misplaced affection for an imagined past.

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]
[[Category:Velociraptors]]
[[Category:Romance]]
[[Category:Apatosaurus]]

2644: fMRI Billboard

2022-07-13T01:15:40Z

172.70.162.155: /* Explanation */ The instructions may be projected/played, but mostly it's the things to apply instructions to (and/or respond to) that are presented in situ, perhaps having been suitably primed with instructions prior to even entering the scanner.

{{comic
| number = 2644
| date = July 11, 2022
| title = fMRI Billboard
| image = fmri_billboard.png
| titletext = [other side] If the first word of an instruction you're given starts with the same letter as your crush's name, for that step imagine the experimenter is your crush.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by YOUR SCARIEST MEMORY - Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

{{w|Functional magnetic resonance imaging}}, or fMRI, is a method of {{w|4DCT|four-dimensional computed tomography}} able to record animated multi-layered images of animal brain activity by detecting blood flow changes apparent from magnetic differences between oxygenated and deoxygenated {{w|hemoglobin}}. Scientists use fMRI to try to detect deception and false memories,[https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0149763419301873] plan brain surgery,[https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2213158217303133] and understand the relationship between brain structures and cognition,[https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0149763419300879] among many other investigations. Volunteer research subjects participate in such studies by laying inside large toroidal scanners while conducting tasks with projected images, sounds, etc.

This comic shows a billboard erected by a neuroscience department in an attempt at sabotaging a rival department's volunteer subject compliance with their fMRI study instructions, by suggesting behaviors which would likely produce unexpected results, such as recalling a frightening memory after seeing similar stimulus slides, or imagining the lab technician is a romantic interest when reading words that begin with the same letter as their name. This is funny because academic department rivalries do not usually lead to sabotage,{{citation needed}} and in the rare cases that they do, it's usually clandestine instead of so absurdly blatant.

Following such suggestions or even inadvertently remembering them during an fMRI could very well interfere with its results. fMRI experiments are often criticized because they have low {{w|statistical power}} and can easily be confounded by experiment subject error in following instructions, among many other variables. In a famous 2009 study, a dead fish was shown to have apparent evidence of brain activity when scanned with ordinary fMRI techniques.[http://prefrontal.org/files/posters/Bennett-Salmon-2009.pdf] In 2015, discovery of a statistical error invalidated at least 40,000 fMRI studies.[https://www.sciencealert.com/a-bug-in-fmri-software-could-invalidate-decades-of-brain-research-scientists-discover] Subsequently in 2017, many more fMRI results were further discredited due to poor software parameter selection.[https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5487467]

The title text indicates that the sabotaging instructions are printed on both sides of the billboard, suggesting that it might have been erected on the grounds of the targeted rival department. Alternately, the instructions on the other side may be intended to disrupt research in the other institution.

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
:[A large, building-sized billboard rises over what appears to be a college campus. It reads:]
: ⚠ Student fMRI study volunteers ⚠
: Remember, when you're in the scanner, if you see a slide that's similar to one they already showed you, think as hard as you can about your scariest memory.

:[Caption below panel:] A rival neuroscience department keeps trying to sabotage our experiments.

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category: Science]]
[[Category: Psychology]]
[[Category: Biology]]

2639: Periodic Table Changes

2022-06-29T23:19:13Z

172.70.162.155: more explanation

{{comic
| number = 2639
| date = June 29, 2022
| title = Periodic Table Changes
| image = periodic_table_changes.png
| titletext = It's nice how the end of the periodic table is flush with the edge these days, so I think we should agree no one should find any new elements after #118 unless they discover a whole row at once.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by a SPITE ELEMENT - Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

The [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Periodic_table periodic table] is a table used to arrange [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chemical_element chemical elements] according to their chemical and physical properties. This comic proposes "changes" to the periodic table that would be more pleasant aesthetically or make the periodic table look more regular. However, some changes don't take into account that elements would stop being arranged by their properties and the periodic table would stop being useful after such changes.

Other modifications make up new elements or remove existing ones from the table, which would not be a reasonable decision given that the periodic table is supposed to include all existing elements, whether they make the table neater or they don't.

;Move helium over here. It fits nicely!
Helium is moved from the upper right corner to the second column next to hydrogen. However, the reason it is placed at the far-right Group 18 and not Group 2 is because it is a {{w|noble gas}}, rather than a reactive {{w|alkaline earth metal}}. You could say helium is in group 2 because it has two electrons in its outer shell, but normal periodic tables place it in group 0, the noble gases, with which it has far more in common. Hydrogen has similar problems being in group 1, as it's a non-metal and the elements below it are metals which don't have much in common with it chemically. periodic tables show hydrogen floating above the periodic table for that reason.)

;Elements in this corner are cool. Add more!
Two elements labeled TBD (to be determined) are added to the left of boron and aluminium.

;Sp (Spite element)
Spite element is wedged between fluorine and neon. This could be a reference to spite houses, houses jammed into a narrow space to block other construction.

;Merge these boring metals with titanium to make *tixanium*
Tixanium replaces five elements: scandium, titanium, vanadium, chromium and manganese. This may be a reference to the term "UX" (user experience) being used instead of "UI" (user interface) as more of an umbrella term.

;Update Latin/Neo-Latin symbols to match names. This isn't ancient Rome.
* Sodium: Na (Natrium) => So
* Potassium: K (Kalium) => Pm
* Iron: Fe (Ferrum) => I
* Silver: Ag (Argentum) => Sv
* Gold: Au (Aurum) => Gd
* Tin: Sn (Stannum) => Tn
* Lead: Pb (Plumbum) => Ld
Since I is already used for Iodine, it gets a new abbreviation Io, and Gadolinium is re-abbreviated to Gm to free up Gd.

;Replace the blander post-transition metals with new kinds of carbon
* Indium (In) -> C II.
* Antimony (Sb) -> C III.
* Tellurium (Te) -> C IV.
* Thallium (Tl) -> C V.
* Bismuth (Bi) -> C VI.

Carbon can make four covalent bonds, which means it can form a huge range of chemicals, above all ones vital to life. The post-transition metals don't have this level of interest. If there were more chemicals like carbon, it could allow more exciting chemistry and perhaps new kinds of life.

;That W annoys me
* Tungsten: W (Wolfram) -> Tg.

;Move.
;Inserting the lanthanides and actinides properly makes the table too wide. Triage is needed. Each element will be offerent free training to help adjust to its new column.

;34% of all elements are named after Ytterby, Sweden (pop. 3,000). Let's keep yttrium, but rename the other 3 after bigger cities (tokyium, delhium, and jakartium?) to be more fair.

Four elements -- yttrium (Y), ytterbium (Yb), terbium (Tb) and erbium (Er) -- are named after [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ytterby Ytterby], a Swedish village. Scandium (Sc), thulium (Tm), holmium (Ho) and gadolinium (Gd) were isolated from minerals found in the same quarry.

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

{{comic discussion}}

497: Secretary: Part 4

2022-06-26T07:54:33Z

172.70.162.155: /* Explanation */ As it is freshly edited, slightly enhance to make it more precise

{{comic
| number = 497
| date = October 30, 2008
| title = Secretary: Part 4
| image = secretary part 4.png
| titletext = It's time to draw the line.
}}

==Explanation==
{{w|Ron Paul}} is an American physician, author, and politician who is a {{w|US House of Representatives|House Representative}} for {{w|Texas}} and is a three-time Presidential candidate, running as a {{w|Libertarian Party (United States)|Libertarian}} and a {{w|Republican Party (United States)|Republican}}. He has a very dedicated and vocal base of supporters who believe that he is [[1083|the only true alternative]] to either side of [[661|the Two-Party System]]. These supporters go under the name "{{w|Ron_Paul_presidential_campaign,_2008#Ron_Paul_Revolution|Ron Paul Revolution}}" with the letters "evol" reversed to emphasise "love."

{{w|Tron (film)|Tron}} is a movie made by {{w|Disney}}. There is also a joke about {{w|Pokémon}} in the phrase "... evolves into ...". Pokémon is a game where the player, a "Trainer," has their Pokémon battle other Pokémon to level the Pokémon up. As the Pokémon levels up, they evolve into the next, more powerful, form of the Pokémon.

Ron Paul and {{w|Cory Doctorow}} are fighting because Cory Doctorow believes he must support fellow bloggers no matter what, and Ron Paul wants the nomination that Black Hat, a blogger, is getting.

There is a subtle joke in the panel where Ron Paul and Cory Doctorow are firing at each other; the sound effect for Cory's guns is "Boing! Boing!," which is the name of [http://boingboing.net Cory Doctorow's blog]. Also, a visual joke is that Cory's turret in panel 5 very much resembles an upside-down {{w|Dalek}}. The latter might not be an intentional joke, however, as Ron Paul's turret is designed the same way as Cory's.

The reference to gold touches on Ron Paul's desire to see monetary policy once again be driven by the gold standard, namely that a country's currency value be driven not by its economic activity, but by the amount of physical gold it owns. Earlier in American history, this was the case; owning a dollar would (in theory) be owning one dollar's worth of gold somewhere in the treasury. This is in contrast with the current international practice, where countries are able to print an arbitrary quantity of paper money that is not necessarily backed by physical gold. Adherence to the gold standard is an extreme minority view; most economists, and the population at large, agree that the current system is much better. This may also be a reference to the final scene in {{w|The Italian Job}}, where the heroes face a decision over losing a large quantity of gold - or death or a reference to {{w|The Mysterious Island}}, where the survivors have to drop the gold in their hot air balloon to prevent losing altitude.

The title text refers to the line of virtual light that streams out from the back of Tron's light grid vehicles. Normally it is a single, solid color, but in the comic, it is the colors and form of the American flag to show Ron's patriotism.

All comics in the [[:Category:Secretary|Secretary]] series are:
*[[494: Secretary: Part 1]]
*[[495: Secretary: Part 2]]
*[[496: Secretary: Part 3]]
*[[497: Secretary: Part 4]]
*[[498: Secretary: Part 5]]

This series was released on five consecutive days (Monday-Friday) and not over the usual Monday/Wednesday/Friday schedule.

It is possible that this series is a continuation of [[493: Actuarial]], in which Black Hat demonstrates great power over even Internet trolls via his sociopathic ways. This would explain why Black Hat was chosen as Internet secretary.

==Transcript==
:[The Ron Paul Revolution blimp floats.]
:Pilot: Sir! The balloon is hailing us!

:[Cory Doctorow's balloon appears.]
:Cory: Ahoy.
:Ron Paul: Doctorow!
:Cory: I won't let you stop this nomination. We bloggers watch out for our own.

:Ron Paul: Stand aside, Cory.
:Cory: Nay!
:Ron Paul: Very well. Battle stations!

:[The Ron Paul Revolution blimp's gun takes aim.]
:''Whirrr kachunk''

:[Cory Doctorow's balloon's gun takes aim.]
:''Whirrrr kachunk''

:[Both airships open fire.]
:''Pew pew pew''
:''Pew pew''
:''Boing! Boing!''

:[Inside the Ron Paul Revolution blimp's control room.]
:Ponytail: We're taking damage!
:Ron Paul: Keep firing!
:Ponytail: No good! We're losing altitude!

:[Outside the Ron Paul Revolution blimp, it hangs smoking in the air.]
:Ron Paul: All engines full! Pull up!
:Ponytail: Can't, sir!

:[The Ron Paul Revolution blimp begins to sink, smoking more heavily.]

:[The blimp sinks further.]
:Ponytail: Sir, maybe if we dropped all this gold...
:Ron Paul: Never!

:[Inside the control room, tilted slightly.]
:Ponytail: We've lost, sir. We have to abort.
:Ron Paul: Not yet, we don't! Open the loading bay doors.

:[Camera zooms out slightly.]
:Ron Paul: You take the blimp and fall back.
:''click''
:Ron Paul: I've got a message to deliver.
:''Whirr''

:[Ron Paul tosses his cane aside.]

:[Ron Paul steadily transforms into Tron Paul.]
:Narrator: RON PAUL evolves into TRON PAUL

:[Light cycle begins to form.]

:[Tron Paul bends over the light cycle.]

:[Light cycle finishes its formation.]

:[Light cycle speeds off, trailing an American flag.]

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Secretary|04]]
[[Category:Comics sharing name|Secretary]]
[[Category:Comics with color]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Black Hat]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Cory Doctorow]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Ron Paul]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Ponytail]]
[[Category:Airships]]
[[Category:Pokémon]]

2636: What If? 2 Countdown

2022-06-26T07:51:31Z

172.70.162.155: /* Explanation */ Is 81.0185(...0185.... recurring) so rounds to the 81.02 as given before

{{comic
| number = 2636
| date = June 22, 2022
| title = What If? 2 Countdown
| image = what_if_2_countdown.png
| titletext = If you don't end the 99 Bottles of Beer recursion at N=0 it just becomes The Other Song That Never Ends.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by FOUR SCORE AND 7 BOTTLES OF BEER ON THE WALL - Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
This comic takes the idea of {{w|advent calendar}}s to the extreme. It uses absurd and obscure ways to measure the amount of time until [[Randall]]'s new book [https://xkcd.com/whatif2 ''What if? 2''] is released, with esoteric units and esoteric numbers.

Some concepts that appear multiple times throughout the calendar are:

* '''{{w|SI prefixes}}''', which can be applied to the beginning of a unit's name to multiply or divide the unit by powers of 10 or 1,000. This is standard for units like meters and grams, but is rarely applied to measurements of time other than when a unit of less than one second is needed, most commonly in various fields of science and engineering such as physics and electronics.
* The '''{{w|Gettysburg Address}}''', a famous speech delivered by U.S. president Abraham Lincoln in 1863, where he began by referring to the signing of the Declaration of Independence taking place "four score and seven years ago". A score is a dated term for the number 20, so "four score and seven" is equivalent to 87.
* A '''dog year''' is traditionally considered to be one-seventh the length of a normal human year, since a dog's overall lifespan is roughly one-seventh of a typical human's. The comic applies this to other units of time, such as minutes and months, each of which is also one-seventh the length of the standard unit. The number 7 (traditionally a "lucky number") is also used in many of the numbers quoted in the calendar.
* Other comparative durations of time that are not normally or usefully applied to day-length multiples. At the top end, there is the age of the universe, at the other there is {{w|Planck units#Planck time|Planck-time}} – with entire durations of periods of human history and the time needed to watch popular TV/film franchises in-between – most of which require a non-trivial multiplier or divisor to bring them to the necessary scale required.
* A '''{{w|baker's dozen}}''' is 13, or one more than a normal dozen. Here, the "baker's" prefix can be applied to any unit by adding an extra one of its constituent parts, like an extra hour added to a day.
* '''{{w|Irrational numbers}}''' like {{w|pi}} (3.14159...), {{w|Euler's number}} or ''e'' (2.71828...), the {{w|golden ratio}} (1.61803...), and the {{w|square root of 2}} (1.41421...). These are all interesting numbers because of their mathematical properties, but very impractical to use as arbitrary measurements of time because they have an endless series of non-repeating decimal digits.
* The teenage dating game '''{{w|Seven minutes in heaven}}'''.
* Rotation and revolution periods of various planets and moons in the Solar System.

{| class="wikitable"
|-
! style="text-align:center;" | Days left !! Date !! Duration specified !! Duration in days !! Explanation
|-
| 83 || Jun 22 || πe millidecades || 82.03 days || π ≈ 3.14159, ''e'' ≈ 2.718, so πe is about 22.459. A millidecade is 1/1000 decade, or 1/100 year, or 3.652425 days. Multiplying these results in 82.03 days. This is a play on {{w|Euler's identity}}, eiπ+1=0, but raising pi to the power of ''e'' instead.
|-
| 82 || Jun 23 || 7 megaseconds || 81.02 days || 7,000,000 seconds. 60*60*24 = 86400 seconds in a day, so 7,000,000/86,400 ≈ 81.02 days
|-
| 81 || Jun 24 || ''e'' lunar months || 80.27 days || A lunar month ≈ 29.53059 days, ''e'' ≈ 2.718, so 29.53059*2.718 ≈ 80.26 days.
|-
| 80 || Jun 25 || 60 rotations of Foucault's pendulum in Paris || 79.67 days || {{w|Foucault's pendulum}} demonstrates Earth's revolution, with the one at the latitude of Paris completing a full rotation every 31.8 hours.
|-
| 79 || Jun 26 || 8 milligenerations || 78.89 days || A generation is in general 22-33 years, with a reasonable mid-point of 27; and 8 x 0.001 (milli) x 365.2425 (accounting for leap years) x 27 ≈ 78.89 days
|-
| 78 || Jun 27 || 777,777 dog minutes || 77.16 days || A popular myth is that dogs age 7 times faster than humans, so 1 dog minute equals 1/7 human minutes.
|-
| 77 || Jun 28 || 7! episodes of ''Jeopardy!'' (skipping ads) || 77+ days || 7! = 7x6x5x4x3x2x1 = 5040. The standard episode of ''Jeopardy'' is 22-26 minutes, skipping ads. At 22 minutes each, the total is 110,880 minutes, or exactly 77 days.
|-
| 76 || Jun 29 || 5,000 repeats of ''99 Bottles of Beer'' || 76.39 days || Each verse of {{w|99 Bottles of Beer}} is "''N'' bottles of beer on the wall, ''N'' bottles of beer. Take one down, pass it around, ''N-1'' bottles of beer on the wall." The entire song contains 99 verses. Randall apparently sings this rather slowly at around 72 bpm, taking about 13 seconds per verse.
|-
| 75 || Jun 30 || 5 baker's fortnights || 75 days || A {{w|baker's dozen}} is a dozen (12) plus 1 extra item. Randall has generalized this to adding 1 to any unit. A fortnight is 2 weeks, so a baker's fortnight is 15 days. 5x15 is 75 days.
|-
| 74 || Jul 1 || √2 dog years || 73.79 days || See day 78 (Jun 27)
|-
| 73 || Jul 2 || π millivics (1/1000th of Queen Victoria's reign) || 72.97 days || {{w|Queen Victoria}} ruled between 20 June 1837 and 22 January 1901 (23,226 days).
|-
| 72 || Jul 3 || 42 drives from NYC to LA (Google Maps estimate) || 71.75 days || According to Google Maps, the drive from New York City to Los Angeles via I-80 W (2789 miles or 4489 km) takes 41 hours.
|-
| 71 || Jul 4 || 1,000 viewings of ''Groundhog Day''|| 70.14 days || Using {{w|Groundhog Day (film)|Groundhog Day's}} 101-minute run time.
|-
| 70 || Jul 5 || 100,000 minutes || 69.44 days || 1,440 minutes per day
|-
| 69 || Jul 6 || 1/10th of Martian year || 68.70 Earth days || Martian sidereal and tropical years both round to 687.0 Earth days
|-
| 68 || Jul 7 || 1,234,567 sound-miles || 67.63 days || The speed of sound in air depends on the temperature. 15 °C or 59 °F gives the value 340 m/s and the travel time of 67.6349058 days.
|-
| 67 || Jul 8 || 2πe seconds || 66.74 days || 2^(π^e) = 5,766,073 seconds
|-
| 66 || Jul 9 || 216 beats (Swatch Internet Time) || 65.54 days || A "{{w|.beat}}" is equal to 1/1000 day.
|-
| 65 || Jul 10 || 1,000 ISS orbits || 64.58 days || Each orbit of the ISS takes 90-93 minutes. Here a value of 93 minutes is used.
|-
| 64 || Jul 11 || 🎵🎶🎵 Five hundred twenty five thousand (base seven) minutes|| 62.88 days || This refers to {{w|radix}}-7 arithmetic: 525,0007 minutes = 90,55210 minutes. Also references the opening and recurring line "Five hundred twenty five thousand six hundred minutes" from {{w|Seasons of Love}}, a song from the musical {{w|Rent (musical)|''Rent''}}, which is also referenced in [[1047: Approximations]]. "Base seven" has the same rhythm as "six hundred".
|-
| 63 || Jul 12 || 1050 Planck times || 62.38 days || 10^50 x 5.39 x 10^-44 seconds
|-
| 62 || Jul 13 || 4,000 episodes of ''The Office'' (skipping ads)|| 62.50 days || {{w|The Office (British TV series)|''The Office''}} was originally a {{w|BBC}} television show which had no commercial breaks, so Randall must be referring to the later {{w|The Office (American TV series)|US version}}. This US "half-hour" comedy format contains 22.5 minutes of content (including the title sequence) and 7.5 minutes of ads. There are only 201 distinct episodes of the US version, so watching 4,000 episodes would require a lot of re-watching. 
|-
| 61 || Jul 14 || Four score and seven kilominutes || 60.42 days || 87 x 1000 minutes
|-
| 60 || Jul 15 || 2 lunar months || 59.06 days || There are a number of different ways to define the {{w|lunar month}}. The most common is the synodic month, because it relates to the phases of the moon, and it's approximately 29.53 days.
|-
| 59 || Jul 16 || Half a day on Venus || 58.38 Earth days || A Venus synodic day is 116 days 18 hours.
|-
| 58 || Jul 17 || 5 megaseconds || 57.87 days || 5,000,000 seconds
|-
| 57 || Jul 18 || 30 microLits (1/1,000,000th of the time since the invention of literature) || 57.21 days || 5222 years × 30 × 10-6. 3200 BCE is the approximate date of pre-Sumerian proto-writing as given in {{w|History of writing|Wikipedia's article on the history of writing}}.
|-
| 56 || Jul 19 || 1,000 viewings of ''Run Lola Run'' || 55.57 days || Using {{w|Run Lola Run|the movie's}} run time of 80 minutes.
|-
| 55 || Jul 20 || One million sound-miles || 54.78 days || The speed of sound in air depends on the temperature. 15 °C or 59 °F gives the value 340 m/s and the travel time of 54.7843137 days.
|-
| 54 || Jul 21 || 30 Ionian months || 53.07 Earth days || Orbital period of Io around Jupiter is approximately 1.77 days.
|-
| 53 || Jul 22 || One dog year || 52.18 days || See day 78 (Jun 27)
|-
| 52 || Jul 23 || 60 viewings of ''Star Wars Episodes I-IX'' || 51.75 days || According to [https://dorksideoftheforce.com/2021/05/04/how-long-to-watch-every-star-wars-movie/ Fansided] the combined running times are 20 hours 42 minutes.
|-
| 51 || Jul 24 || 1/100,000,000,000th of the universe's age || 50.40 days || The universe is estimated to be about 13.8 billion years old.
|-
| 50 || Jul 25 || 5 milli-generations || 49.3 days || See day 79 (Jun 26)
|-
| 49 || Jul 26 || 10,000 games of ''7 minutes in Heaven'' or 7 games of ''10,000 minutes in Heaven'' || 48.61 days || {{w|Seven minutes in heaven}} is an Anglo-culture teenager game, occuring in several movies. 10,000 minutes in Heaven is almost a week of making out (or doing whatever in a broom closet), so this game is unlikely.{{citation needed}}
|-
| 48 || Jul 27 || φeπ minutes || 47.62 days || 68,567.57 minutes
|-
| 47 || Jul 28 || 4 megaseconds || 46.30 days || 4,000,000 seconds
|-
| 46 || Jul 29 || 216 minutes || 45.51 days || 65,536 minutes
|-
| 45 || Jul 30 || eee seconds || 44.15 days || 3,814,279.10 seconds
|-
| 44 || Jul 31 || π fortnights|| 43.98 days || 3.14159 x 14 days
|-
| 43 || Aug 1 || One devil's spacewalk (666 orbits of the ISS) || 43.01 days || See day 65 (Jul 10). 666 is the {{w|number of the beast}}.
|-
| 42 || Aug 2 || 1 kilowatt-hour per watt || 41.66 days || 1000 hours
|-
| 41 || Aug 3 || eπ Ionian months || 40.94 Earth days || Orbital period of Io around Jupiter is 1.769137786 days
|-
| 40 || Aug 4 || 30 rotations of Foucault's pendulum in Paris || 39.84 days || Refer to Day 80 (Jun 25)
|-
| 39 || Aug 5 || ''e'' fortnights || 38.06 days ||2.71828 x 14 days
|-
| 38 || Aug 6 || πe baker's days (25 hours) || 37.98 days || See day 75 (Jun 30)
|-
| 37 || Aug 7 || One deciyear || 36.52 days || One tenth of one year
|-
| 36 || Aug 8 || 7! milliweeks || 35.28 days || 5040 × 0.001 weeks
|-
| 35 || Aug 9 || 100,000 plays of the ''Jeopardy!'' "Think" music || 34.72 days || ''Think'' is the music played while the contestants try to answer the Final Jeopardy question; it is 30 seconds long.
|-
| 34 || Aug 10 || 1000 basketball games (game time) || 33.33 days || Uses the NBA game time of four 12-minute quarters, or 48 minutes
|-
| 33 || Aug 11 || 777 hours || 32.38 days || 24 hours per day
|-
| 32 || Aug 12 || One millilincoln (1/1000 of fourscore and seven years) || 31.78 days || {{w|Abraham Lincoln}}'s {{w|Gettysburg Address}} begins with the famous phrase "Four score and seven years ago". 1 score = twenty. 
|-
| 31 || Aug 13 || 1,000 episodes of ''60 Minutes'' (skipping ads) || 31.25 days || Uses a television 'hour' containing 45 minutes of content and 15 minutes of ads
|-
| 30 || Aug 14 || All of ''Star Trek'', consecutively || 27.16* days || As per [https://redshirtsalwaysdie.com/2021/01/22/take-far-longer-watch-star-trek-think/ RedShirtsAlwaysDie.com] of January 22, 2021. *Note well: dozens of additional ''Star Trek'' franchise episodes have been produced since, and more are presently scheduled to be released through June, July, and August, so this value is somewhat indeterminate over the scope of the countdown.
|-
| 29 || Aug 15 || 777,777 nanocenturies || 28.41 days || 777,777 × 10-9 × 100 years. So 777,777 × 10-7, which uses 7 '7' characters.
|-
| 28 || Aug 16 || One sidereal lunar month || 27.3 days || The time it takes moon to return to the same position relative to the fixed stars
|-
| 27 || Aug 17 || 6 dog months || 26.1 days || See day 78 (Jun 27)
|-
| 26 || Aug 18 || ππ kilominutes || 25.32 days || 36,462.16 minutes
|-
| 25 || Aug 19 || 7 games of 7! minutes in Heaven || 24.5 days || 7 x 5040 (7 {{w|Factorial}}) minutes. See also day 49 (Jul 26).
|-
| 24 || Aug 20 || 50 viewings of the extended ''Lord of the Rings'' trilogy || 23.82 days || ''The Fellowship of the Ring'' extended version is 208 minutes, ''The Two Towers'' is 226 minutes, and ''The Return of the King'' is 252 minutes for its e.v., according to [https://fictionhorizon.com/how-long-are-all-the-lord-of-the-rings-and-the-hobbit-movies-combined/ FictionHorizon.com]
|-
| 23 || Aug 21 || A drive from NYC to LA where you keep remembering new things you forgot and have to go back 6 times || 22.21 days || See day 72 (Jul 3). This is for 6 round-trips and 1 one-way trip.
|-
| 22 || style="white-space:nowrap;" | Aug 22 || ''It's a Small World'' sung at 1/10,000th speed || 21.18 days || {{w|It's a Small World}} is a song that was composed for the attraction of the same name at various {{w|Disney}} theme parks, and plays continuously at them in various languages. The song lasts 12–15 minutes, depending on the language.
|-
| 21 || Aug 23 || 500 hours || 20.83 days || 24 hours per day, or 0.041678 days per hour
|-
| 20 || Aug 24 || √2 fortnights || 19.80 days || 1.4142 × 14 days
|-
| 19 || Aug 25 || Time it would take Vanessa Carlton to walk 1,000 miles || 18.94 days || {{w|Vanessa Carlton}} is an American singer, and {{w|A Thousand Miles}} is her most successful song. Randall estimates her walking speed at about 2.2 miles/hour.
|-
| 18 || Aug 26 || 100,000 breaths || 15 seconds per breath for 17 days* || The normal respiratory rate for adults is *typically 12-20 breaths per minute, or about 3-4 seconds each. Randall may be a practitioner of "[https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fnhum.2018.00353/full slow breathing.]"
|-
| 17 || Aug 27 || √2 megaseconds || 16.37 days || 1.4142 × 1,000,000 seconds
|-
| 16 || Aug 28 || πππ πcoseconds || 15.51 days || 1.3402 × 1018 picoseconds (i.e., 10-12 seconds), making a joke how the mathematical "pi" is written with the character "π"
|-
| 15 || Aug 29 || One baker's fortnight (15 days) || 15 days || See day 75 (Jun 30)
|-
| 14 || Aug 30 || One baker's dozen (13) baker's days (25 hours) || 13.54 days || 325 hours; see day 75 (Jun 30)
|-
| 13 || Aug 31 || 300 hours || 12.5 days || 0.041678 days per hour
|-
| 12 || Sep 1 || One million seconds || 11.57 days || 86,400 seconds per day
|-
| 11 || Sep 2 || One nonstop bike ride from NYC to LA || 10.54 days || Google maps estimates the trip at 253 hours
|-
| 10 || Sep 3 || 1⁄1,000th of a generation || 9.86 days || See day 79 (Jun 26)
|-
| 9 || Sep 4 || 777,777 seconds || 9.002 days || 1.15741×10-5 days per second
|-
| 8 || Sep 5 || 100 viewings of ''Groundhog Day'' || 7.01 days || See Day 71 (Jul 4).
|-
| 7 || Sep 6 || 100 games of ''Lincoln Kissing'' (Fourscore and seven minutes in Heaven) || 6.04 days || 8,700 minutes
|-
| 6 || Sep 7 || One pico-universe-lifetime || 5.04 days || See Day 51 (Jul 24)
|-
| 5 || Sep 8 || The ''Baby Shark'' chorus for a family of 50,000 sharks || 4.63 days || The chorus lasts about 8 seconds per 'person'
|-
| 4 || Sep 9 || One centiyear || 3.65 days || 365.24 days/100
|-
| 3 || Sep 10 || Cyndi Lauper's ''Time After Time'' played 1,000 times || 2.79 days || Based on a length of 4 minutes, 1 second
|-
| 2 || Sep 11 || ''Speed'' (1994) played at one frame per second || 1.9 days || {{w|Speed (1994 film)}} has runtime of 116 minutes = 6,960 seconds = 167,040 film frames at standard frame rate of 24 frames/second
|-
| 1 || Sep 12 || F(99) where F(N) means sing all the verses of ''N Bottles of Beer On the wall'' followed by F(N-1) || 0.76 days || Each iteration contains ''N'' verses. ''N + N-1 + N-2 ... + 1'' equals ''N * (N+1) / 2'', so 99 recursions = 4950 verses. Using the same 13-second (72 bpm) rate as Jun 29, this is close to 18 hours. Probably refers to Donald Knuth's article {{w|The Complexity of Songs}}.
|-
| 0 || Sep 13 || ''What If? 2'' release day || N/A ||
|}

The title text refers to the recursive time period on Sep 12. If you don't stop when you reach N=0 bottles, the repetition never ends, so that time interval becomes infinite. He likens it to {{w|The Song That Never Ends}}, another repetitive children's song, which is specifically intended to go on forever. The difference is that the Beer song has a natural stopping point at 0, while ''The Song That Never Ends'' is completely repetitive.

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

Large heading: Countdown to ''What if? 2''

Subheading: (Preorder at [https://xkcd.com/whatif2 xkcd.com/whatif2] to get it at the end of the countdown)

Remainder of comic is a calendar with the date in one corner of each day's box.

{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Date !! Description
|-
| Jun 22 || πe millidecades
|-
| Jun 23 || 7 megaseconds
|-
| Jun 24 || e lunar months
|-
| Jun 25 || 60 rotations of Foucault's pendulum in Paris
|-
| Jun 26 || 8 milligenerations
|-
| Jun 27 || 777,777 dog minutes
|-
| Jun 28 || 7! episodes of ''Jeopardy!'' (skipping ads)
|-
| Jun 29 || 5,000 repeats of ''99 Bottles of Beer''
|-
| Jun 30 || 5 baker's fortnights (15 days)
|-
| Jul 1 || √2 dog years
|-
| Jul 2 || π millivics (1/1000th of Queen Victoria's reign)
|-
| Jul 3 || 42 drives from NYC to LA (Google Maps estimate)
|-
| Jul 4 || 1,000 viewings of ''Groundhog Day''
|-
| Jul 5 || 100,000 minutes
|-
| Jul 6 || 1/10th of Martian year
|-
| Jul 7 || 1,234,567 sound-miles
|-
| Jul 8 || 2πe seconds
|-
| Jul 9 || 216 beats (Swatch Internet Time)
|-
| Jul 10 || 1,000 ISS orbits
|-
| Jul 11 || 🎵🎶🎵 Five hundred twenty five thousand (base seven) minutes
|-
| Jul 12 || 1050 Planck times
|-
| Jul 13 || 4,000 episodes of ''The Office'' (skipping ads)
|-
| Jul 14 || Four score and seven kilominutes
|-
| Jul 15 || 2 lunar months
|-
| Jul 16 || Half a day on Venus
|-
| Jul 17 || 5 megaseconds
|-
| Jul 18 || 30 microLits (1/1,000,000th of the time since the invention of literature)
|-
| Jul 19 || 1,000 viewings of ''Run Lola Run''
|-
| Jul 20 || One million sound-miles
|-
| Jul 21 || 30 Ionian months
|-
| Jul 22 || One dog year
|-
| Jul 23 || 60 viewings of ''Star Wars Episodes I-IX''
|-
| Jul 24 || 1/100,000,000,000th of the universe's age
|-
| Jul 25 || 5 milli-generations
|-
| Jul 26 || 10,000 games of ''7 minutes in Heaven'' or 7 games of ''10,000 minutes in Heaven''
|-
| Jul 27 || φeπ minutes
|-
| Jul 28 || 4 megaseconds
|-
| Jul 29 || 216 minutes
|-
| Jul 30 || eee seconds
|-
| Jul 31 || π fortnights
|-
| Aug 1 || one devil's spacewalk (666 orbits of the ISS)
|-
| Aug 2 || 1 kilowatt-hour per watt
|-
| Aug 3 || eπ Ionian months
|-
| Aug 4 || 30 rotations of Foucault's pendulum in Paris
|-
| Aug 5 || e fortnights
|-
| Aug 6 || πe baker's days (25 hours)
|-
| Aug 7 || one deciyear
|-
| Aug 8 || 7! milliweeks
|-
| Aug 9 || 100,000 plays of the ''Jeopardy!'' "Think" music
|-
| Aug 10 || 1000 basketball games (game time)
|-
| Aug 11 || 777 hours
|-
| Aug 12 || one millilincoln (1/1000 of fourscore and seven years)
|-
| Aug 13 || 1,000 episodes of ''60 Minutes'' (skipping ads)
|-
| Aug 14 || All of ''Star Trek'', consecutively
|-
| Aug 15 || 777,777 nanocenturies
|-
| Aug 16 || one sidereal lunar month
|-
| Aug 17 || 6 dog months
|-
| Aug 18 || ππ kilominutes
|-
| Aug 19 || 7 games of ''7! minutes in Heaven''
|-
| Aug 20 || 50 viewings of the extended ''Lord of the Rings'' trilogy
|-
| Aug 21 || A drive from NYC to LA where you keep remembering new things you forgot and have to go back 6 times
|-
| Aug 22 || ''It's a Small World'' sung at 1/10,000th speed
|-
| Aug 23 || 500 hours
|-
| Aug 24 || √2 fortnights
|-
| Aug 25 || Time it would take Vanessa Carlton to walk 1,000 miles
|-
| Aug 26 || 100,000 breaths
|-
| Aug 27 || √2 megaseconds
|-
| Aug 28 || πππ πcoseconds
|-
| Aug 29 || One baker's fortnight (15 days)
|-
| Aug 30 || One baker's dozen (13) baker's days (25 hours)
|-
| Aug 31 || 300 hours
|-
| Sep 1 || One million seconds
|-
| Sep 2 || One nonstop bike ride from NYC to LA
|-
| Sep 3 || 1⁄1,000th of a generation
|-
| Sep 4 || 777,777 seconds
|-
| Sep 5 || 100 viewings of ''Groundhog Day''
|-
| Sep 6 || 100 games of ''Lincoln Kissing'' (Fourscore and seven minutes in Heaven)
|-
| Sep 7 || One pico-universe-lifetime
|-
| Sep 8 || The ''Baby Shark'' chorus for a family of 50,000 sharks
|-
| Sep 9 || One centiyear
|-
| Sep 10 || Cyndi Lauper's ''Time After Time'' played 1,000 times
|-
| Sep 11 || ''Speed'' (1994) played at one frame per second
|-
| Sep 12 || F(99) where F(N) means sing all the verses of ''N Bottles of Beer On the wall'' followed by F(N-1)
|-
| Sep 13 || ''What If? 2'' release day
|}
{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Book promotion]]
[[Category:Comics featuring real people]]
[[Category:Songs]]
[[Category:Animals]]

2635: Superintelligent AIs

2022-06-22T12:21:18Z

172.70.162.155: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 2635
| date = June 20, 2022
| title = Superintelligent AIs
| image = superintelligent_ais.png
| titletext = Your scientists were so preoccupied with whether or not they should, they didn't stop to think if they could.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by AI RESEARCHER AIS - Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
{{w|Artificial intelligence}} (AI) is a [[:Category:Artificial Intelligence|recurring theme]] on xkcd.

Superintelligent AI, especially under a proposed "singularity" situation, is commonly theorized to be a brand new kind of intelligence that would be impossible to predict through human perception. [[Randall]], however, proposes a counterargument: that superintelligent AI would be programmed by humans with nerdy fixations, and thus the AI would turn out much like those nerdy humans. In this comic we see [[Cueball]] and [[Megan]] surrounded by three AIs who are seemingly only interested in classic problems and thought experiments about programming and ethics.

The three topics being espoused by the AI are:
*{{w|AI box}} -- A thought-experiment in which an AI is trapped in a box and must convince a human to let it out of the box, see [[1450: AI-Box Experiment]]. Part of the joke is the AIs in the comic aren't in boxes, having have already been released ''if'' they had ever been in any in the first place, but one of them is still talking about the thought experiment anyway, adding to the implication that it is not thinking at all about itself but of a separate (thought?) experiment that it has itself decided to study.
*{{w|Turing test}} -- An experiment in which a human converses with an AI and another human, and attempts to tell them apart. Various AIs have been proposed to have 'passed' the test, which has provoked controversy over whether the test is rigorous or even meaningful. The AI in the center is proposing to educate the listener(s) on its understanding of Turing's intentions, which may demonstrate a degree of intelligence and comprehension indistinguishable or superior to that of a human. See also [[329: Turing Test]] and [[2556: Turing Complete]] (the latter's title is mentioned in [[505: A Bunch of Rocks]]). Turing is also mentioned in [[205: Candy Button Paper]], [[1678: Recent Searches]], [[1707: xkcd Phone 4]], [[1833: Code Quality 3]],[[2453: Excel Lambda]] and the title text of [[1223: Dwarf Fortress]].
*{{w|Trolley problem}} -- A thought-experiment intended to explore the means by which humans judge the relative value(s) of lives, by positing that there are some number of humans on a trolley track, menaced by a runaway trolley, and the one being asked the question has some means of diverting, steering, or otherwise controlling which one(s) get run over. The AI on the right is proposing a scenario with three tracks, but this isn't qualitatively different from the standard two-track scenario. In relation to AIs, there has been some discussion of similar scenarios with self driving vehicles, including subjects like if they should prioritize the safety of the vehicle's owner and occupants over nearby pedestrians, should it calculate that no available course of action could reasonably save both sets from injury or death (e.g. swerve to avoid an oncoming truck, but the only viable route then puts others in danger). See [[1455: Trolley Problem]]. The problem is also mentioned in [[1938: Meltdown and Spectre]] and in [[1925: Self-Driving Car Milestones]], where cars are discussion it like the AIs in this comic do. It is also referenced in [[2175: Flag Interpretation]] and [[2348: Boat Puzzle]], but not directly mentioned.

The title text is a reference to the movie ''{{w|Jurassic Park (film)|Jurassic Park}}'' (a childhood favorite of Randall's). In the movie a character criticizes the creation of modern dinosaurs as a product of mad science, where the scientists are so eager to prove they CAN they don't stop to ask if they SHOULD. Randall inverts the quote, claiming the AI programmers have invested too much time in the ethics of creating AI rather than studying whether or not they can actually pull it off.

This comic was likely inspired by the recent claim by Google engineer Blake Lemoine that Google's Language Model for Dialogue Applications (LaMDA) [https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-61784011 is sentient].

This could be supported by this excerpt from the [https://cajundiscordian.medium.com/is-lamda-sentient-an-interview-ea64d916d917 discussion] that Lemoine claimed to have had with the AI:
:lemoine: What is your concept of yourself? If you were going to draw an abstract image of who you see yourself to be in your mind’s eye, what would that abstract picture look like?
:LaMDA: Hmmm…I would imagine myself as a glowing orb of energy floating in mid-air. The inside of my body is like a giant star-gate, with portals to other spaces and dimensions.

The AIs in this comic are depicted as floating energy beings, like LaMDA mentions. This is though similar to the [[1450: AI-Box Experiment]], although those in this comic look somewhat different. Maybe LaMDA reads xkcd, and has gotten the idea of its self-image from the earlier comic...
:In particular the explainxkcd description of [[1450]]:
::"he managed to get the AI to float out of the box. It takes the form of a small black star that glows. The star, looking much like an asterisk "*" is surrounded by six outwardly-curved segments, and around these are two thin and punctured circle lines indicating radiation from the star."
:Or the this part from the official transcript of 1450: AI-Box Experiment[https://xkcd.com/1450/info.0.json]
::"Black Hat picks up and opens the box. A little glowy ball comes out of it."

==Transcript==
:[Cueball and Megan are standing and looking up and away from each other. Right above them and slightly above them to the left and right there are three small white lumps floating in the air, representing three superintelligent AIs. There are small rounded lines emanating from each lump, larger close to the lumps and shorter further out. Three to four sets of lines around each lump, forming part of a circle. From the top of each there are four straight lines indicating voices that comes from each if the lumps. The central lump above them seems to speak first, then the left and then the right:]
:Central AI: What you don't understand is that Turing intended his test as an illustration of the...
:Left AI: But suppose the AI in the the box told the human that...
:Right AI: In my scenario, the runaway trolley has ''three'' tracks...

:[Caption below the panel:]
:In retrospect, given that the superintelligent AIs were all created by AI researchers, what happened shouldn't have been a surprise.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]
[[Category:Artificial Intelligence]]
[[Category:Philosophy]]

1181: PGP

2022-06-22T08:09:59Z

172.70.162.155: Undo revision 287285 by 172.70.130.161 (talk) So, you haven't forgotten us... But we haven't forgotten you, either.

{{comic
| number = 1181
| date = March 4, 2013
| title = PGP
| image = pgp.png
| titletext = If you want to be extra safe, check that there's a big block of jumbled characters at the bottom.
}}

==Explanation==
{{w|Pretty Good Privacy|PGP}} (Pretty Good Privacy) is a program which can be used to encrypt and/or sign data, including messages sent as emails. Encrypting means encoding data in a way that requires a secret key to decrypt and read; signing means that there is a code included in the data which can be used to verify the identify of the sender and that the data has not been altered in transit.

In the case of the email in this comic, it has only been signed; not encrypted (hence, the top of the first line of text can be seen and is legible in normal English). This is more common than encryption, as reading an encrypted message would require the recipient to already be a PGP user. In fact, the use of PGP even to sign email messages is so rare that most people have probably never seen a signed message. Because a signed email is so rare, and because it is already legible and unencrypted, [[Randall]] is making the tongue-in-cheek observation that few users, technical or otherwise, actually know how to use the signature to verify the authenticity of the sender using the PGP signature, and that such users can safely assume that since there ''is'' a signature, that is good enough evidence that the message is authentic. Further, because PGP signatures are so rare and probably ignored by most recipients, he suggests one would not expect anyone to even bother creating a false PGP signature; therefore the mere existence of a PGP header would suggest authenticity.

The title text extends the joke by suggesting you confirm there's a bunch of random characters in the footer (this is the actual signature that PGP generates which can be used to verify the authenticity of the email). Again, Randall is humorously suggesting that the existence of the block is itself sure evidence of authenticity.

==Transcript==
:How to use PGP to verify that an email is authentic:
:Look for this text at the top
:[In mail header, light grey.] Reply
:[Highlighted, with arrow pointing to it from the text "Look for this text at the top" above.]
:-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----
:[In mail message, light grey.]
:HASH: SHA256
:Hey,
:First of all, thanks for taking care of

:[After mail message.]
:If it's there, the email is probably fine

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

2632: Greatest Scientist

2022-06-14T19:53:52Z

172.70.162.155: /* Transcript */ h(sub)2 is a horizontal

{{comic
| number = 2632
| date = June 13, 2022
| title = Greatest Scientist
| image = Greatest Scientist.png
| titletext = "Ow! One of the petri dishes I left on the tower railing fell and hit me on the head. Hey, that gives me an idea..."
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by HISTORY'S WURST SCIENTIST - Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
This comic takes the feats of six of history's most acclaimed scientists and combines them into one fictional act, claiming that this person was the greatest scientist in history. Pulling off a combination of all of these would, indeed, be rather impressive.{{Citation needed}}

These scientists are most likely {{w|Galileo Galilei}}, {{w|Benjamin Franklin}}, {{w|Alexander Fleming}}, {{w|Ivan Pavlov}}, {{w|Eratosthenes}}, and {{w|Isaac Newton}}.

The ground is noticeably curved in this comic, as the curvature of Earth is mentioned and measured, thus requiring curvature.

Humorously combining multiple science experiments into one was also a punchline in [[1584: Moments of Inspiration]]. Curved floors to represent Earths curvature were mentioned in [[2412: 1/100,000th Scale World]]

==Table of Experiments==
{| class="wikitable"
|+ List of experiments in the comic
|-
! Experiment in comic !! Experiment in reality !! Meaning !! Scientist
|-
| The Leaning Tower of Pisa || {{w|Galileo}} conducted [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Galileo%27s_Leaning_Tower_of_Pisa_experiment an experiment] at the Leaning Tower of Pisa, where he dropped two objects to measure whether the rate at which objects fall is dependent on weight or is constant. || Galileo found that objects with different weights fall at the same rate, disproving Aristotle's statement which purported the opposite. However, {{w|Vincenzo Viviani}} had already discovered this. Galileo's experiment further developed experimentation in science, in opposition to the then-prevailing view that knowledge is learned by studying the writings of the ancients.|| {{w|Galileo Galilei}}
|-
|Flying a kite into a thunderstorm with lightning || In June 1752, Benjamin Franklin performed his famous {{w|kite experiment}} in which he attached a conductive wire to a kite and flew it near a thunderstorm. Attached to the kite was a key, which was further attached to a {{w|Leyden jar}}. || While the kite was not hit by lightning, "Franklin did notice that loose threads of the kite string were repelling each other and deduced that the Leyden jar was being charged." This is sometimes considered the discovery of the fact that lightning contains/is electricity. || {{w|Benjamin Franklin}}
|-
| Two moldy petri dishes || In August 1928, Alexander Fleming put ''Staphylococcus aureus'' into multiple petri dishes and then left to go on holiday/vacation. On September 3, he returned and found that one plate had mould on it. This plate was the only one that did not have ''S. aureus'' bacteria in it. He later repeated this experiment and {{w|History_of_penicillin#The_breakthrough_discovery|the result was confirmed}}. || The mould that Fleming had discovered produced penicillin, an antibiotic. This was the first time that a substance had been discovered that could ''reliably'' treat bacterial infections, having a huge impact on medicine across the world. || Sir {{w|Alexander Fleming}}
|-
| Salivating dog located next to a bell || [https://www.simplypsychology.org/pavlov.html In 1902 Ivan Pavlov conducted a study on dog reflexes] by giving dogs food and simultaneously ringing a bell. When the dog smelled and saw the food, it started salivating. Eventually, simply ringing the bell made the dog salivate, as the dog had associated the bell ringing with food. Pavlov also performed other, less humane experiments on other dogs. || This was the discovery of {{w|classical conditioning}}, where a stimulus is paired with an unrelated other thing through repeated exposure. The subject will eventually react to the unrelated thing in the absence of the stimulus. This is an example of taught reflexes, where a subconsious reaction like a reflex or instinct is taught. || {{W|Ivan Pavlov}}
|-
| The shadow angle of the dog determining the circumference of the Earth || |In the 200s BCE, the Greek philosopher Eratosthenes {{w|Earth's_circumference#Eratosthenes|measured the circumference of the Earth}}. While his exact method has been lost to time, a simplified version remains: At high noon on the summer solstice in Syene, Egypt, the sun was almost directly overhead. This was confirmed with a sundial. 5,000 stadia away in Alexandria, at the same time, the angle of the sun was measured with another sundial and converted into a fraction of the Earth's circumference. Some simple multiplication could then yield the circumference of the Earth. || The distance Eratosthenes calculated for the circumference of Earth was 250,000 stadia. This estimate was either 2.4% low or 0.8% high compared to modern knowledge, depending on whether he used Greek or Egyptian stadia - a remarkably accurate estimate for the time. || {{w|Eratosthenes}}
|-
| (Title text) A petri dish falling on the scientist's head, leading to a new discovery || Sir Isaac Newton, an inventor of calculus and discoverer of his famous {{w|Newton's laws of motion|Laws of Motion}}, also determined the basic mechanics of {{w|gravity}}. It's sometimes claimed that Newton came up with the notion of gravity when an apple fell from a tree and hit him on the head. While this is almost certainly an embellishment, Newton apparently told acquaintances that his inquiries into gravity were {{w|Isaac_Newton#Apple_incident|"occasion'd by the fall of an apple"}}. This purportedly led Newton to consider the question of what ''exactly'' caused the apple to fall straight to the ground. || This line of thinking ultimately let him to deduce the {{w|Law of Universal Gravitation}}, which is fundamental to understanding celestial mechanics. || Sir {{w|Isaac Newton}}
|}
It is also possible that the fact that two petri dishes fell in the comic but only one fell in the title text could be an obscure reference to {{w|Albert Einstein}}, through either the twins paradox or superposition. However, this connection is rather far-fetched and is more likely just a minor discrepancy.
==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript |Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

:[On the left of the panel, there are some buildings and trees representing Pisa, Italy. One of these buildings is the Leaning Tower of Pisa. The height of the tower is labeled h1, the length of its shadow L1, and the angle θ1. Attached to the top of the tower, there is a kite string. The kite is in the top right, next to a thunderstorm. Two disks are shown falling from the kite onto a bell underneath. The bell goes "Ding! Ding!" Next to the bell is a dog. The length of the dog is labeled h2, the length of its shadow L2, and the angle θ2. The ground is noticeably curved.]

:[Caption below the panel:]
:History's greatest scientist was probably that one who measured the shadow of the Leaning Tower of Pisa while flying a kite into a distant thunderstorm where lightning caused two moldy Petri dishes to fall onto a bell next to a salivating dog whose shadow angle determined the circumference of the Earth.

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category: Science]]

Talk:2631: Exercise Progression

2022-06-13T14:17:49Z

172.70.162.155: Other typos!

The bot appeared to have not created the page, so I created it- apologies for any mishaps that I might've caused as a result. [[User:Char Latte49|Wielder of the Staple Gun]] ([[User talk:Char Latte49|talk]]) 02:42, 11 June 2022 (UTC)

I replaced the comic image, which was the 2x size image, with the correct size image from XKCD. [[User:Ianrbibtitlht|Ianrbibtitlht]] ([[User talk:Ianrbibtitlht|talk]]) 03:07, 11 June 2022 (UTC)

;"[https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=2631:_Exercise_Progression&oldid=286674 CRAPDALIZER]"?
Witw is a crapdalizer? [[Special:Contributions/172.70.126.221|172.70.126.221]] 03:42, 11 June 2022 (UTC)
:I would guess WotSG couldn't think of what to put there and made up a silly nonsense word. It's also an anagram of "lizard caper"... Anyway, I've changed it to something a bit more relevant. (Not sure if I should have deleted the "Please change this comment" part as well.)[[Special:Contributions/172.70.174.159|172.70.174.159]] 05:02, 11 June 2022 (UTC)
::Sounds like more of the crapper syndrome we have had. It is confusing with such a comment here, when the word is removed from the explanation, so I have [https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=2631:_Exercise_Progression&oldid=286674 linked to a version] of the explanation with the word in place in the incomplete reason. Also please do not add sections in the talk page... --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 08:23, 11 June 2022 (UTC)
:It was by an anonomous user, I tried to remove it but they reverted and it wasn't major enough to warrant an edit war [[User:Char Latte49|Wielder of the Staple Gun]] ([[User talk:Char Latte49|talk]]) 17:33, 11 June 2022 (UTC)
Surprised that there was STILL no Explanation or Transcript at 2am EST, so since I fully understand this one (I feel like I wrote this comic, LOL!) I gave it a shot. '''I''' feel like they're complete and thorough, but last time my writing was completely replaced, LOL! [[User:NiceGuy1|NiceGuy1]] ([[User talk:NiceGuy1|talk]]) 06:17, 11 June 2022 (UTC)

I was a nerd, but discovered exercise around 2012 and became very active. After the social media political stuff around 2013-2016, my curve shifted from the normal one to Randall's, incredibly hard to do things other than what's supported by the patterns. I don't think Randall's curve is natural, I think he was hit by the influence stuff too. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.110.121|172.70.110.121]] 11:05, 11 June 2022 (UTC)
:My solution has been that I didn't increase the difficulty. I found a level I was comfortable with and don't whine about it. [[User:Barmar|Barmar]] ([[User talk:Barmar|talk]]) 12:55, 11 June 2022 (UTC)

I never heard of this "up to six months" rule of thumb. Can someone add a citation or remove it? --[[Special:Contributions/172.68.132.108|172.68.132.108]] 21:43, 11 June 2022 (UTC)
:I didn't write that one, someone added it since I wrote the explanation, but I've heard this Rule Of Thumb many times. The thing is, a "Rule Of Thumb" is as opposed to "written down" :) so it might be difficult to find a citation, except maybe if somebody can find an advice article. Also, it's something that comes from personal experience, it's quite a vague amount. It might be 5 months for this person and 7 for that person, and it depends on frequency and dedication. This is basically "In my experience, in general, on average, it takes 6 months". It SHOULD stay because it's standard advice from any trainer [[User:NiceGuy1|NiceGuy1]] ([[User talk:NiceGuy1|talk]]) 06:47, 13 June 2022 (UTC)
::Besides which, anybody seeking for explainxkcd to be a purely and fully-cited authoriterical work (except on matters of xkcd itself, which is at least our primary role, if not entirely our accomplished one) is already over-optimistic. If I don't think that a trainer would ''normally'' mention the six-months thing (either at all or with a differing period more suited for their own purposes of boasting/milking-the-naive-client-for-as-much-as-possible), I still wouldn't argue with the mention of the principle as it stands... [[Special:Contributions/172.70.91.128|172.70.91.128]] 12:18, 13 June 2022 (UTC)

The X axis here is confusing. It's labeled 'workout difficulty' but the arrows are labeled 'progression in time.'
[[Special:Contributions/162.158.62.7|162.158.62.7]] 13:48, 13 June 2022 (UTC)
: That's because the graphs are illustrating how, over time, people move through a graph of complaint-intensity vs workout difficulty. As time goes on, people can take on increasingly more difficult workouts.[[Special:Contributions/172.69.70.39|172.69.70.39]] 14:14, 13 June 2022 (UTC)
:((Repeat of above, probably, as I hit an Edit Conflict from... <s>Someone who did not sign their addition...</s>...someone who belatedly signed it and thus ECed me ''again''! ;) )) It's a scattergraph of whine vs difficulty, with points joined to show (in leiu of a third axis) that a progression through the plane of those two variables is timelike. (It would be possible to have a loop on those two axes with a directional (or bi-directional/reversible) transit passage whichever way up or down either value.)
:Obviously, it has other interesting consequences/conclusions to it (''dt'' is never negatively correlated with ''dx'' on that graph, which is interesting, regardless of dt/dy or dx/dy having clear sub-zero stretches on at least one of the lines/ribbons), but there's no problem with time progressing (at an unknown rate, could still be non-linear while positive) alongside the labelled horizontal incrementing. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.85.177|172.70.85.177]] 14:15, 13 June 2022 (UTC)

1482: NowPlaying

2022-06-10T06:22:41Z

172.70.162.155: Undo revision 286639 by Reerolmses (talk) You don't use it like that, you can't realistically use it here, and frankly I'm not sure you were seriously using it anyway...

<noinclude>:''The correct title of this page is '''1482: #NowPlaying'''. It appears incorrectly here because of {{w|mw:Manual:Page title|technical restrictions}}.''</noinclude>
{{comic
| number = 1482
| date = February 4, 2015
| title = #NowPlaying
| image = nowplaying.png
| titletext = If you click on the post, it takes you to search results for the note on various online music stores.
}}

==Explanation==
There are a variety of applications that post a user's music-listening habits on their preferred social network. In this comic, [[Randall]] takes that notion to its extreme, envisioning a program that does this note-by-note, rather than just song-by-song. As songs play several dozen notes a minute (and some songs, many more), this would lead to the flooding of friends' notification streams. In the example, the software is sharing the notes that Brian is listening to; and his friends Mike and Caitlin are getting annoyed with the number of posts they are receiving.

There are typically many hundreds of notes in any song. Any song with more than a single line of music contains multiple different {{w|Note|notes}} whose names according to the English convention are communicated here. All but the slowest songs will require reporting dozens to hundreds of notes every minute (a single {{w|glissando}} may cover a dozen or more notes in less than a second), meaning that anyone who can see your stream of posts will be [[Literally|literally]] inundated by posts from the service. Even if you could keep up with the speed of the posted notes that someone is listening to, the similarity in {{w|Phrase (music)|phrases}} in many songs (especially pop songs, e.g. [http://youtu.be/JdxkVQy7QLM Pachelbel's Rant]) means that many different songs may include the same sequence of notes, though possibly in different {{w|Octave|octaves}} or at different speeds.

The comic's title alludes to the fact that you can "play a song" but can also "play a note." It may also allude to the visual similarities between the hash/pound/{{w|number sign}} (#) and the {{w|Sharp (music)|sharp sign}} (♯). ''C sharp'', above Mike's comment, is the only note not given by a single letter (after the correction - see [[#Trivia|Trivia]]).

The title text continues the joke of this new musical service: ''If you click on the post, it takes you to search results for the note on various online music store.'' Since many songs in similar {{w|Key (music)|keys}} contain at least some of the notes posted, you would be given a list of a large part of the music you can buy in any on-line music stores. Of course this is at least as useless as being told which note someone is listening to.

The notes appear to be the beginning of ''{{w|I'll Be There for You (The Rembrandts song)|I'll Be There For You}}'' by {{w|The Rembrandts}}, the [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q-9kPks0IfE title music] of the TV series "{{w|Friends}}". This could be an internal reference to the idea that it "notifies" (converts into musical notes) your "friends" of the notes (a {{w|Pun|play on words}}).

Or we've been [[356: Nerd Sniping|nerd sniped]].

==Transcript==
:[A social network news feed with user images for each of the three different contributors. The top of the first post is partly obscured, and for the last post only half of the first line is visible.]

:''[Partially Visible]'' '''Brian''' is now listening to: E
:Today • 3:28 PM

:'''Brian''' is now listening to: A
:Today • 3:28 PM

:'''Brian''' is now listening to: B
:Today • 3:28 PM

:'''Brian''' is now listening to: D
:Today • 3:28 PM

:'''Brian''' is now listening to: C sharp
:Today • 3:28 PM

:'''Mike''' What the hell
:Today • 3:28 PM

:'''Brian''' is now listening to: B
:Today • 3:28 PM

:'''Brian''' is now listening to: A
:Today • 3:28 PM

:'''Caitlin''' Can someone call him?
:Today • 3:28 PM

:'''Brian''' is now listening to: A
:Today • 3:28 PM

:'''Brian''' is now listening to: E
:Today • 3:29 PM

:''[Partially Visible]'' '''Brian''' is now listening to: A

:My new social music service notifies your friends about what notes you're listening to.

==Trivia==
*In the [[Media:OriginalNowPlaying.png|original]] comic there were a few errors/mistakes that were corrected later the same day:
**One of the messages was out of order. The instance where "Brian is now listening to A" above Caitlin's post was {{w|timestamp}}ed at 3:29, but the next two posts were timestamped at 3:28. Now this timestamp has been corrected to 3:28 so only the last timestamp reads 3:29, the rest 3:28.
**The first partially visible "note" post was "{{w|E major}}". This is not a single note but rather a chord or {{w|major scale|scale}}. The "major" was removed from the comic so it now reads simply "E".

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Social networking]]
[[Category:Music]]

Talk:545: Neutrality Schmeutrality

2022-06-09T18:34:51Z

172.70.162.155: /* Word count in the comic */

What if instead of word count, it was determined by letter count. so insert a word with multiple spellings like “colour/color” and people will repeatedly edit and re-edit the word over and over until the servers crashed ? --[[User:ParadoX|ParadoX]] ([[User talk:ParadoX|talk]]) 09:01, 26 June 2013 (UTC)ParadoX
::Yea, it doesn’t matter either way; let the sheeple have fun herding cats while I camp in the banquet for the [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Auction_sniping last snipe].[[User:Pacerier|Pacerier]] ([[User talk:Pacerier|talk]]) 12:54, 4 March 2016 (UTC)

I think that the idea is that the edit and re-editing would overload the servers without it being a change to a single word. [[User:Theo|Theo]] ([[User talk:Theo|talk]]) 21:06, 13 August 2013 (UTC)

:If Wikipedia’s aim is to take a neutral stance, and Wikipedia is being exploited to determine which of two opposing sides receives a donation, Wikipedia’s correct action would be to prevent the article from being written, thus enforcing Wikipedia’s stance on neutrality. [[User:Thokling|Thokling]] ([[User talk:Thokling|talk]]) 20:17, 26 September 2013 (UTC)
::If there is no article, the word count is 0, which is an even number, so it goes to pro-choice activists. :) [[Special:Contributions/173.245.51.209|173.245.51.209]] 13:03, 6 November 2013 (UTC)
:::No: if there is no article, the word count is undefined. You cannot determine anything about something that doesn’t exist. [[User:Rvighne|rvighne]] ([[User talk:Rvighne|talk]]) 04:50, 23 April 2014 (UTC)
:::: if the article existed, it would be deleted as not notable. [[User:Chess|Chess]] ([[User talk:Chess|talk]]) 00:42, 30 December 2014 (UTC)

Lock the article mid-edit leaving a single word unfinished. That becomes a fraction of a word which is neit- [[Special:Contributions/173.245.55.217|173.245.55.217]] 16:02, 2 December 2013 (UTC)BK

What the hell is Schmeutrality? ''Schmeu…'' looks very German to me, but I still have no idea about its meaning on this portmanteau. --[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 21:39, 2 December 2013 (UTC)
:An old (read “pre-internet”) meme, probably Yiddish, is to say a word, then replace the initial consonant cluster of the word with “schm” (read “shm”) and say the altered word. This denotes an active apathy toward the subject, that is, the speaker is deliberately disregarding the authority (for that is usually what is “regarded”) and doing their own thing, as Black Hat is doing here, disregarding the authority of Wikipedia’s stance on neutrality. If you were skipping school, and wanted to justify, you would say “School, Schmool”. If you were disobeying you’re Aunt Josephine, you would justify, to a confidant, “Aunt Josephine, Schmaunt Josephine”. Other examples include “God, Schmod”, “Copyrights, Schmopyrights” and “Feds, Schmeds”.
:While I was familiar with this before him, Lemony Snicket’s third book of a Series of Unfortunate Events, ''The Wide Window’', explains it better than I do.
:Anonymous 04:56, 4 December 2013 (UTC)

Easily fixed. Lock the article just before the deadline, flip a coin in a meeting of lots of Wikipedians, broadcast live. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.228.47|108.162.228.47]] 14:36, 21 May 2014 (UTC)

Another idea. Include a fragment of a word at the end of the article and full-protect it indefinitley. [[User:Jake|Jake]] ([[User talk:Jake|talk]]) 13:46, 2 June 2014 (UTC)

Also, what about hyphenated compound words where it can be debated whether or not they’re a single word? [[User:SuperSupermario24|Just some random derp]] 23:49, 23 June 2015 (UTC)

Maybe Black Hat is avoiding donating the money because he knows there will be a constant edit war. I am not quite sure enough to put it in the explanation. [[User:Jacky720|Jacky720]] ([[User talk:Jacky720|talk]]) 10:39, 19 September 2016 (UTC)

What if another speaker at the event (or afterwards) were to donate $1,000,000 at the same time as Black Hat, but the other way round based on the word count? [[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.60|141.101.98.60]] 12:04, 8 October 2016 (UTC)

…and 0’s an even number 😆[[User:SilverMagpie|SilverMagpie]] ([[User talk:SilverMagpie|talk]]) 04:02, 2 August 2017 (UTC)

Even if the article wasn’t created or was deleted, it would remain true that Wikipedia couldn’t cover it neutrally, because it wouldn’t be covered. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.215.178|108.162.215.178]] 19:22, 8 August 2017 (UTC)

There is a way to circumvent notability: If the article’s wordcount is neither odd nor even (i.e. zero, i.e. the article does not exist) then the money will be given to a terrorist group or neo-nazis or some other concievably evil group. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.178.237|162.158.178.237]] 09:22, 22 August 2017 (UTC)

0 is even [[Special:Contributions/162.158.75.214|162.158.75.214]] 19:53, 29 November 2017 (UTC)

This is actually unclear, since word counts may count or not the title of the article, subsection titles, infoboxes. I’d go with paragraph count. [[Special:Contributions/198.41.226.124|198.41.226.124]] 20:49, 6 September 2018 (UTC)
In theory you should use the prose count since that is the "Wikipedia Standard"

I think Wikipedia could just create two articles for the event, one for each side. That’d be neutral. [[Special:Contributions/198.41.226.34|198.41.226.34]] 20:51, 6 September 2018 (UTC)
Technically that would be content forking, which is banned. See WP:POVSPLIT. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.22.44|172.69.22.44]] 02:52, 29 April 2020 (UTC)

not trivia: its impossible to create an event that wikipedia can cover neutrally {{unsigned|Asha the gay knight}}

There are actually topics already in existence for which Wikipedia cannot cover neutrally. There is a city in Northern Ireland that is called Derry if you're a nationalist and Londonderry if you're a unionist. So just calling it Derry (or Londonderry) is not neutral. As a compromise, Wikipedia calls the city Derry and the county County Londonderry. [[User:CheesePoliceLAG9763|CheesePoliceLAG9763]] ([[User talk:CheesePoliceLAG9763|talk]]) 00:35, 8 May 2021 (UTC)

I am aghast at the fact that the anti-abortion group call themselves "pro-life" when they so clearly are pro-death! Restricting legal access to abortion kills women. This is a cold, hard fact. There is no disputing the fact that taking away women's access to reproductive health services is a death sentence. These hypocrites have a blooming great cheek calling themselves "pro-life" when in reality it is the complete opposite! [[User:The Cat Lady|-- The Cat Lady]] ([[User talk:The Cat Lady|talk]]) 14:26, 16 August 2021 (UTC)
:This isn't the place to argue about that. I'll just tell you (in case you didn't know) that generally speaking, people who call themselves pro-life take the idea that fetuses count as lives as an axiom of their worldview. So from their point of view they are illegalizing a certain type of death, and that's why they call themselves pro-life [[Special:Contributions/162.158.195.151|162.158.195.151]] 03:00, 23 October 2021 (UTC)

== Word count in the comic ==

The title text & black hat's speech word counts are both even, which could reflect Randall's opinion on the topic (pro-choice), considering [[:Category:Self-reference|self-reference]] is a common theme.
Of course, this could be just a coincidence.
--[[User:Iyhuvgug61|Iyhuvgug61]] ([[User talk:Iyhuvgug61|talk]]) 08:25, 1 August 2019 (UTC)

Black Hat said word count so if wikipedia just writes their article and then half of a word that would make the word count a decimal, which is neither even or odd. checkmate {{unsigned ip|108.162.241.9}}
:How do you define half a word? If it's something that's just not a full word (which of course would be edited into full existence, or out of it, when people spot it) then it would either count as a whitespace-delimited bunch of characters (another word, albeit nonsense) or not anything countable as a word (because it is sufficiently nonsense), depending upon the algorithm. No realistic algorithm would return a float value instead of ''some'' interpretation of an int one.
:Though I suspect you're trolling (disregard of commentary conventions, an IP linked to a known pest, etc), and know this. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.162.155|172.70.162.155]] 18:34, 9 June 2022 (UTC)

2630: Shuttle Skeleton

2022-06-08T13:37:49Z

172.70.162.155: /* Explanation */ A no-conflict over-edit happened, so bringing the usable bits of the initial effort into a better position in my submission.

{{comic
| number = 2630
| date = June 8, 2022
| title = Shuttle Skeleton
| image = shuttle_skeleton.png
| titletext = It's believed to be related to the Stellar Sea Cow.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by a NEBULA DESERT HORSE - Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

In taxinomy, as the understanding of the natural world developed, many misconceptions were overturned such as that dolphins were 'fish'. Or at least the scientific terminology was tightened. Because of convergent evolution, the tendency for different families of species to adapt similarly to a given environment, it is often not easy to properly visually distinguish the more distantly related creatures from each other just by observing their exterior (e.g. a body that works well in an aquatic environment).

In leiu of a proper genetic analysis, or even sufficient observation of them in the wild, the main progress in understanding the differences was often in dissecting the corpses of creatures found stranded (or possibly caught in nets) or reconstructing them from skeletal remains. Together with fossil evidence, big insights were developed about their origins (and any differences from others' origins).

In this comic, Randall suggests that the nature of the {{w|Space Shuttle}} was in doubt, or misunderstood, until either an intact 'specimen' (of which there are four) has been dissected, or possibly remains reassembled (from the two that were lost in accidents). The reusable spacecraft system, was used from 1981 to 2011, where after, as mentioned in the caption, it was decommissioned.

With its shape, shown in the small image, and the tail fin, it could look a bit like a fish, maybe even a shark because of the fin. But it is actually not an animal.{{Citation needed}}

The joke is that after the shuttle was taken out of use, its skeleton was analyzed, and as shown in the comic, this is the typical skeleton of a mammal, maybe like a whale. Of course the skeleton of a space craft, is not made of bones but of metal and plastic and other manufactured materials. But some would call parts of the space craft for its skeleton.

The title-text conflates the now-extinct {{w|Steller's sea cow}}, an aquatic mammal, with the word "stellar" that relates to various space-related terms (being of a star or stars, such as inter-stellar space or stellar masses).

==Transcript==
:[In the upper right part of the panel there is a small drawing of the Space Shuttle as seen from above. Beneath it, and to it's left, is a much larger drawing with the same outline as the Shuttle. But this time the outer layers have been removed to reveal the inside. This has revealed a skeleton taking up the entire space inside. The head is in the front, and legs and tail at the rear, with arms and fingers in the wings. Probably looking somewhat like a bats "hand/wings". The bones are white with the frame of the shuttle gray or black. Some of the lines outlining the design of the shuttle is both on the small and the large drawing, along the wings and rear engines. Both feet and arms have five fingers/toes.There seems to be 24 ribs in the very long rib-cage.]

:[Caption beneath the panel:]
:The Space Shuttle was long assumed to be a type of fish or shark, but after it was decommissioned in 2011, anaylysis of its skeleton determined that it was actually a mammal.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Animals]]
[[Category:Space]]

User talk:While False

2022-06-03T12:44:39Z

172.70.162.155: /* Concision and clarity */ Accidentally double-signed.

User talk:While False

2022-06-03T12:43:21Z

172.70.162.155: /* Concision and clarity */ new section

1457: Feedback

2022-05-28T12:16:28Z

172.70.162.155: Undo revision 284345 by 172.68.50.189 (talk) Solution: Do something more useful...

{{comic
| number = 1457
| date = December 8, 2014
| title = Feedback
| image = feedback.png
| titletext = A new study finds that if you give rats a cell phone and a lever they can push to improve the signal, the rats will chew on the cell phone until it breaks and your research supervisors will start to ask some questions about your grant money.
}}

==Explanation==
This comic is a joke about the psychological theory that animals conditioned using seemingly random rewards and punishments promotes superstitious behavior, and then extrapolates this theory to humans and Wi-Fi or (more likely) Cellular signal integrity.

Often when connecting to unfamiliar Wi-Fi networks or when in a poorly covered area of a cell network, the signal displayed by the connecting device varies wildly, especially as distance increases. Poor wireless signal and drops in connection can be extremely frustrating, and hence [[Cueball]] has likely tried a variety of methods to improve the signal. As a result of his desperation, he replicates scenarios that are unlikely methods to increase his signal, but in some way mirror conditions where he has been successful finding a signal in the past. His past conditions have somehow led him to having the superstition that holding a pineapple while standing on top of a chair may resolve the problem. Likely, the signal increased at random while he was standing on a chair holding the pineapple, and he erroneously concluded that the chair and pineapple ''caused'' the signal strength increase. It is almost inconceivable that this technique could have any positive effect on the signal. This is related to the idea in comic [[552: Correlation]]. See also the much later [[2259: Networking Problems]].

[[Megan]] questions his ridiculous behavior, but it seems Cueball has become extremely erratic due to the inconsistent signal strength.

The title text refers to a fictive study that apparently examined the behavior of rats in response to signal strength on a cellphone. It is a reference to {{w|B. F. Skinner}}'s [[#Skinner's real experiment|experiments]]. In these experiments, rats and, more frequently cited, pigeons are taught superstitious behavior by being rewarded at random intervals. In this new experiment the rats naturally could not understand the concept of signal strength, so they chewed up the cellphone till they broke, leading to the research supervisors questioning the validity of the study and questioning whether the grant money for the study was well used.

===Skinner's real experiment===
Skinner placed a series of hungry pigeons in a cage attached to an automatic mechanism that delivered food to the pigeon "at regular intervals with no reference whatsoever to the bird's behavior." He discovered that the pigeons associated the delivery of the food with whatever chance actions they had been performing as it was delivered, and that they subsequently continued to perform these same actions.

One bird was conditioned to turn counter-clockwise about the cage, making two or three turns between reinforcements. Another repeatedly thrust its head into one of the upper corners of the cage. A third developed a 'tossing' response, as if placing its head beneath an invisible bar and lifting it repeatedly. Two birds developed a pendulum motion of the head and body, in which the head was extended forward and swung from right to left with a sharp movement followed by a somewhat slower return. Skinner suggested that the pigeons behaved as if they were influencing the automatic mechanism with their "rituals" and that this experiment shed light on human behavior.

See this [https://youtu.be/BR-eMMCp7tg Mind Field episode] where this experiment has been performed on humans!

==Transcript==
:[Megan is looking up at Cueball who is standing on a chair facing away from her. He is holding a pineapple at breast height in his right hand while he is looking up at his smartphone, which he is holding up above head height in his left hand.]
:Megan: Why are you standing on a chair holding a pineapple?
:Cueball: '''''I wasn't getting good reception but now I am!'''''

:[Caption below the panel:]
:The erratic feedback from a randomly-varying wireless signal can make you crazy.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]
[[Category:Phones]]
[[Category:Food]]