explain xkcd - User contributions [en]

3003: Sandwich Helix

2024-10-25T15:50:26Z

172.70.47.88:

{{comic
| number = 3003
| date = October 25, 2024
| title = Sandwich Helix
| image = sandwich_helix_2x.png
| imagesize = 257x376px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = The number one rule of string manipulation is that youâ€™ve got to specify your encodings.
}}

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

This comic details an important issue in communication: even if the content of your message goes through, there might be important context that is necessary to correctly interpret it.

Communication is a way to convey ideas, and Cueball is explaining a concept of communication he calls a "Sandwich Helix", however when pressed on what that is, he says nobody knows -- indicating that over the years communication has failed to retain the meaning of this supposedly very important concept. The humor is that if this truly was the #1 rule of communication, communication should have been able to retain its meaning. On the basis that the number #1 rule about communication would probably be the ''most'' important rule, it might even be construed to be the rule about properly communicating all context (by some apparent analogy), which would he irony — but only if anyone still understood it.

The comic also displays the difference between meaning and message. Cueball is repeating a message (possibly a cliche repeated by self-help authors and influencers), even though the meaning is lost.

The fictitious "Sandwich Helix" plays on another concept in communication, the "{{w|Compliment sandwich|Compliment Sandwich}}", wherein a statement of criticism is sandwiched between two complimentary statements in order to make the negative statement easier to accept. The difference is that the Compliment Sandwich is a communication technique which is well known and whose meaning has not been lost. A possible inspiration for the "helix" part is the Helical Model of Communication. The creator of the model, Frank Dance, emphasised the role of communication problems. He shows communication as a dynamic and non-linear process.

It could also be a reference to the {{w|Spiral model}} of software development, involving iteration and revisiting key stages to keep a project on track, with spirals often being {{w|Spiral#Helices|technically conflated with helices}}.

The title text contains several randomish characters where an apostrophe should be, as an example of a string that did NOT have its encoding handled properly. It is an example of {{w|Mojibake}}. Some special characters and symbols require a special encoding (such as Unicode, UTF-8, etc.) in order to be stored and displayed properly, and are encoded using the equivalent of multiple characters. If the code to display the text doesn't understand what encoding was used, you can get "garbage" similar to what is in the title text. In this case, the original character was probably <code>’</code>, which when encoded in UTF-8 and decoded in Windows-1252 becomes <code>â€™</code>. Similar garbage is seen in the title text of [[1683: Digital Data]].

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

:[Cueball, with his palm out, is standing in front of a class and facing Ponytail and Hairy, who are sitting at their classroom desks.]
:Cueball: Always remember the #1 rule of communication:
:Cueball: ''Sandwich Helix.''
:Ponytail: What does that mean?
:Cueball: Unfortunately, the context has been lost.
:Cueball: But we know the message, and that's the important part.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Ponytail]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Hairy]]

Talk:3003: Sandwich Helix

2024-10-25T15:48:48Z

172.70.47.88:

Sandwich presumably refers to {{w|compliment sandwich}}, but I don’t know what the helix is. --[[User:Galaktos|Galaktos]] ([[User talk:Galaktos|talk]]) 14:03, 25 October 2024 (UTC)

: Maybe {{w|Models of communication#Dance}}? --[[User:Galaktos|Galaktos]] ([[User talk:Galaktos|talk]]) 14:12, 25 October 2024 (UTC)

:The word "Helix" may be a reference to the previous comic. [[User:CategoryGeneral|CategoryGeneral]] ([[User talk:CategoryGeneral|talk]]) 14:36, 25 October 2024 (UTC)

==Grammar==
Minor grammatical point; please feel free to skip this. I just tweaked "a communication technique [...] which meaning has not been lost." to "a communication technique [...] whose meaning has not been lost.". "''Of'' which ''the'' meaning" or "whose meaning" both work, but the latter is less contrived. People keep forgetting that "whose" can refer to objects, as well as to people. <https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/whose#Determiner>

The first rule of communication is "Always talk about communication." [[User:RegularSizedGuy|RegularSizedGuy]] ([[User talk:RegularSizedGuy|talk]]) 15:36, 25 October 2024 (UTC)

==Helix==

I don't think the "helix" refers to software development. It could be about the helical model of communication, which conveys communication as a non-linear process.

This is perhaps a joke with these simplistic "rules" of communication (like the compliment sandwich), which portray communication as something much simpler.

If we assume that communication is a complex and non-linear (as the helical model of communication portrays), we might conclude that there is no such thing as "#1 rule of communication"; something that could be observed by the misuse of the "compliment sandwich".

Talk:3003: Sandwich Helix

2024-10-25T15:45:04Z

172.70.47.88:

Sandwich presumably refers to {{w|compliment sandwich}}, but I don’t know what the helix is. --[[User:Galaktos|Galaktos]] ([[User talk:Galaktos|talk]]) 14:03, 25 October 2024 (UTC)

: Maybe {{w|Models of communication#Dance}}? --[[User:Galaktos|Galaktos]] ([[User talk:Galaktos|talk]]) 14:12, 25 October 2024 (UTC)

:The word "Helix" may be a reference to the previous comic. [[User:CategoryGeneral|CategoryGeneral]] ([[User talk:CategoryGeneral|talk]]) 14:36, 25 October 2024 (UTC)

==Grammar==
Minor grammatical point; please feel free to skip this. I just tweaked "a communication technique [...] which meaning has not been lost." to "a communication technique [...] whose meaning has not been lost.". "''Of'' which ''the'' meaning" or "whose meaning" both work, but the latter is less contrived. People keep forgetting that "whose" can refer to objects, as well as to people. <https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/whose#Determiner>

The first rule of communication is "Always talk about communication." [[User:RegularSizedGuy|RegularSizedGuy]] ([[User talk:RegularSizedGuy|talk]]) 15:36, 25 October 2024 (UTC)

==Helix==

I don't think the "helix" refers to software development. It could be about the helical model of communication, which conveys communication as a non-linear process.

This is perhaps a joke with these simplistic "rules" of communication (like the compliment sandwich), which portray communication as something much simpler.

The conclusion, perhaps, is that there are no simple rules of communication.

Talk:3003: Sandwich Helix

2024-10-25T15:41:05Z

172.70.47.88:

Sandwich presumably refers to {{w|compliment sandwich}}, but I don’t know what the helix is. --[[User:Galaktos|Galaktos]] ([[User talk:Galaktos|talk]]) 14:03, 25 October 2024 (UTC)

: Maybe {{w|Models of communication#Dance}}? --[[User:Galaktos|Galaktos]] ([[User talk:Galaktos|talk]]) 14:12, 25 October 2024 (UTC)

:The word "Helix" may be a reference to the previous comic. [[User:CategoryGeneral|CategoryGeneral]] ([[User talk:CategoryGeneral|talk]]) 14:36, 25 October 2024 (UTC)

==Grammar==
Minor grammatical point; please feel free to skip this. I just tweaked "a communication technique [...] which meaning has not been lost." to "a communication technique [...] whose meaning has not been lost.". "''Of'' which ''the'' meaning" or "whose meaning" both work, but the latter is less contrived. People keep forgetting that "whose" can refer to objects, as well as to people. <https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/whose#Determiner>

The first rule of communication is "Always talk about communication." [[User:RegularSizedGuy|RegularSizedGuy]] ([[User talk:RegularSizedGuy|talk]]) 15:36, 25 October 2024 (UTC)

==Helix==

I don't think the "helix" refers to software development. It could be about the helical model of communication, which conveys communication as a non-linear process.

This is perhaps a joke with these "rules" of communication (like the compliment sandwich), which portray communication as something much simpler.

The conclusion, perhaps, is that there are no simple rules of communication.

Talk:3003: Sandwich Helix

2024-10-25T15:40:16Z

172.70.47.88:

Sandwich presumably refers to {{w|compliment sandwich}}, but I don’t know what the helix is. --[[User:Galaktos|Galaktos]] ([[User talk:Galaktos|talk]]) 14:03, 25 October 2024 (UTC)

: Maybe {{w|Models of communication#Dance}}? --[[User:Galaktos|Galaktos]] ([[User talk:Galaktos|talk]]) 14:12, 25 October 2024 (UTC)

:The word "Helix" may be a reference to the previous comic. [[User:CategoryGeneral|CategoryGeneral]] ([[User talk:CategoryGeneral|talk]]) 14:36, 25 October 2024 (UTC)

==Grammar==
Minor grammatical point; please feel free to skip this. I just tweaked "a communication technique [...] which meaning has not been lost." to "a communication technique [...] whose meaning has not been lost.". "''Of'' which ''the'' meaning" or "whose meaning" both work, but the latter is less contrived. People keep forgetting that "whose" can refer to objects, as well as to people. <https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/whose#Determiner>

The first rule of communication is "Always talk about communication." [[User:RegularSizedGuy|RegularSizedGuy]] ([[User talk:RegularSizedGuy|talk]]) 15:36, 25 October 2024 (UTC)

==Helix==

I don't think the "helix" refers to software development. It could be about the helical model of communication, which conveys communication as a non-linear process.

This is perhaps a joke with these "rules" of communication (like the compliment sandwich), which portray communication as something much simpler.

3003: Sandwich Helix

2024-10-25T15:35:14Z

172.70.47.88:

{{comic
| number = 3003
| date = October 25, 2024
| title = Sandwich Helix
| image = sandwich_helix_2x.png
| imagesize = 257x376px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = The number one rule of string manipulation is that youâ€™ve got to specify your encodings.
}}

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

This comic details an important issue in communication: even if the content of your message goes through, there might be important context that is necessary to correctly interpret it.

Communication is a way to convey ideas, and Cueball is explaining a concept of communication he calls a "Sandwich Helix", however when pressed on what that is, he says nobody knows -- indicating that over the years communication has failed to retain the meaning of this supposedly very important concept. The humor is that if this truly was the #1 rule of communication, communication should have been able to retain its meaning. On the basis that the number #1 rule about communication would probably be the ''most'' important rule, it might even be construed to be the rule about properly communicating all context (by some apparent analogy), which would he irony — but only if anyone still understood it.

The comic also displays the difference between meaning and message. Cueball is repeating a message, even though the meaning is lost.

The fictitious "Sandwich Helix" plays on another concept in communication, the "{{w|Compliment sandwich|Compliment Sandwich}}", wherein a statement of criticism is sandwiched between two complimentary statements in order to make the negative statement easier to accept. The difference is that the Compliment Sandwich is a communication technique which is well known and whose meaning has not been lost. A possible inspiration for the "helix" part is the {{w|Spiral model}} of software development, involving iteration and revisiting key stages to keep a project on track, with spirals often being {{w|Spiral#Helices|technically conflated with helices}}.

It could also refer to the Helical Model of Communication

The title text contains several randomish characters where an apostrophe should be, as an example of a string that did NOT have its encoding handled properly. It is an example of {{w|Mojibake}}. Some special characters and symbols require a special encoding (such as Unicode, UTF-8, etc.) in order to be stored and displayed properly, and are encoded using the equivalent of multiple characters. If the code to display the text doesn't understand what encoding was used, you can get "garbage" similar to what is in the title text. In this case, the original character was probably <code>’</code>, which when encoded in UTF-8 and decoded in Windows-1252 becomes <code>â€™</code>. Similar garbage is seen in the title text of [[1683: Digital Data]].

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

:[Cueball, with his palm out, is standing in front of a class and facing Ponytail and Hairy, who are sitting at their classroom desks.]
:Cueball: Always remember the #1 rule of communication:
:Cueball: ''Sandwich Helix.''
:Ponytail: What does that mean?
:Cueball: Unfortunately, the context has been lost.
:Cueball: But we know the message, and that's the important part.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Ponytail]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Hairy]]

3003: Sandwich Helix

2024-10-25T15:32:00Z

172.70.47.88:

{{comic
| number = 3003
| date = October 25, 2024
| title = Sandwich Helix
| image = sandwich_helix_2x.png
| imagesize = 257x376px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = The number one rule of string manipulation is that youâ€™ve got to specify your encodings.
}}

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

This comic details an important issue in communication: even if the content of your message goes through, there might be important context that is necessary to correctly interpret it.

Communication is a way to convey ideas, and Cueball is explaining a concept of communication he calls a "Sandwich Helix", however when pressed on what that is, he says nobody knows -- indicating that over the years communication has failed to retain the meaning of this supposedly very important concept. The humor is that if this truly was the #1 rule of communication, communication should have been able to retain its meaning. On the basis that the number #1 rule about communication would probably be the ''most'' important rule, it might even be construed to be the rule about properly communicating all context (by some apparent analogy), which would he irony — but only if anyone still understood it.

The comic also displays the difference between meaning and message. Cueball is repeating a message, even though the meaning is lost.

The fictitious "Sandwich Helix" plays on another concept in communication, the "{{w|Compliment sandwich|Compliment Sandwich}}", wherein a statement of criticism is sandwiched between two complimentary statements in order to make the negative statement easier to accept. The difference is that the Compliment Sandwich is a communication technique which is well known and whose meaning has not been lost. A possible inspiration for the "helix" part is the {{w|Spiral model}} of software development, involving iteration and revisiting key stages to keep a project on track, with spirals often being {{w|Spiral#Helices|technically conflated with helices}}.

The title text contains several randomish characters where an apostrophe should be, as an example of a string that did NOT have its encoding handled properly. It is an example of {{w|Mojibake}}. Some special characters and symbols require a special encoding (such as Unicode, UTF-8, etc.) in order to be stored and displayed properly, and are encoded using the equivalent of multiple characters. If the code to display the text doesn't understand what encoding was used, you can get "garbage" similar to what is in the title text. In this case, the original character was probably <code>’</code>, which when encoded in UTF-8 and decoded in Windows-1252 becomes <code>â€™</code>. Similar garbage is seen in the title text of [[1683: Digital Data]].

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

:[Cueball, with his palm out, is standing in front of a class and facing Ponytail and Hairy, who are sitting at their classroom desks.]
:Cueball: Always remember the #1 rule of communication:
:Cueball: ''Sandwich Helix.''
:Ponytail: What does that mean?
:Cueball: Unfortunately, the context has been lost.
:Cueball: But we know the message, and that's the important part.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Ponytail]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Hairy]]

Talk:2999: Bad Map Projection: The United Stralia

2024-10-17T17:24:17Z

172.70.47.88: Request: Map Merge

He forgot the Idaho abbreviation. [[User:Danger Kitty|Danger Kitty]] ([[User talk:Danger Kitty|talk]])
hello[[Special:Contributions/172.68.54.64|172.68.54.64]] 19:49, 16 October 2024 (UTC)

:: And Mississippi has stolen Michigan's abbreviation! [[Special:Contributions/172.70.206.240|172.70.206.240]] 23:18, 16 October 2024 (UTC)

5 likes and I will make this a reality [[User:CalibansCreations|'''<span style="color:#ff0000;">Caliban</span>''']] ([[User talk:CalibansCreations|talk]]) 20:10, 16 October 2024 (UTC)

Probably this is because I'm more familiar with the map of Australia than of the US, but Melbourne seems to have moved quite a bit to the east and is now presumably in Gippsland? Oddly that's the most jarring change for me... [[User:Zoid42|Zoid42]] ([[User talk:Zoid42|talk]]) 20:26, 16 October 2024 (UTC)

:: Yep. {{w|Melbourne Florida}}. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.47.10|172.70.47.10]] 21:56, 16 October 2024 (UTC)

An eight-legged gator with fangs the size of your arm, six eyes, and the ability to spin webs is truly a horrifying thought. [[User:Psychoticpotato|P?sych??otic?pot??at???o ]] ([[User talk:Psychoticpotato|talk]]) 21:07, 16 October 2024 (UTC)

:: At that point most of the NT would become to dangerous for people to live. [[User:SomeRandomNerd|SomeRandomNerd]] ([[User talk:SomeRandomNerd|talk]]) 23:21, 16 October 2024 (UTC)

If find it weird how tasmania is florida, as while they are in the same place, they are the least alike 2 places you could think of. [[User:SomeRandomNerd|SomeRandomNerd]] ([[User talk:SomeRandomNerd|talk]]) 22:35, 16 October 2024 (UTC)

:: Agreed. If cartoons and television have taught me anything, one is home to a bunch of snarling, slobbering, ravenous beasts, moving across the landscape as whirlwinds of wanton destruction. And the other is Tasmania. [[Special:Contributions/172.64.238.130|172.64.238.130]] 04:59, 17 October 2024 (UTC)

Part of the joke is that the contiguous 48 States plus DC have nearly the same area as Australia, though the US has a larger total area. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.109.166|141.101.109.166]] 01:00, 17 October 2024 (UTC)

As an Australian citizen, this map hurts my soul. This is amazingly painful and I kinda love it. [[User:OmniDoom|OmniDoom]] ([[User talk:OmniDoom|talk]]) 01:36, 17 October 2024 (UTC)

:: I apparently now live in Adelaide/Louisiana (or New Orleans/South Australia). [[User:FourW|FourW]] ([[User talk:FourW|talk]]) 06:32, 17 October 2024 (UTC)FourW

Environmentalists will be upset with Randal for finally finishing the {{w|Cross Florida Barge Canal}}. And just in time for the centennial!--[[User:The Mess|The Mess]] ([[User talk:The Mess|talk]]) 07:33, 17 October 2024 (UTC)
:I was wondering if it was a sidelong comment upon the effects of {{w|Hurricane Milton}}... [[Special:Contributions/172.70.160.188|172.70.160.188]]

The distortion of Washington State, where I live, is painful, but funny. Can't wait for comic 3000! [[Special:Contributions/172.71.146.58|172.71.146.58]] 16:00, 17 October 2024 (UTC)

==Request: Map Merge/Morph==
Could someone please post a simple map outline of the contiguous US and of Australia, and then try to merge / morph the two maps together? [[Special:Contributions/172.70.47.88|172.70.47.88]] 17:24, 17 October 2024 (UTC)